Hari Om everybody,
just recently I’ve been to one of these big events where Amma gives free hugs to everybody who like to have one. I don’t want to be judgemental or negative, but there was a very strange energy in this place that kind of shocked me. I’m usually familiar with Hindu ritual, satsang and singing bhajans, but at the event the energy seemd to be rather stressful and negative. It’s hard to describe, but there was this “me first” mentality going on, people trying to cut in between lines, ‘reserving’ seats in the front rows (actually we had to sit far in the back of the huge hall, as [I]all[/I] seats had been ‘reserved’ with pillows or blankets). Basically nobody was smiling. Really, I’ve tried to smile at some people and get in contact, but it was impossible. Don’t know, maybe it was me, but at similar events in India (satsang, singing bhajans) the energy was usually always very good and people were friendly.
I’m just reading “Yoga School Drop Out” by Lucy Edge and she describes similar feelings when being at Ammas ashram in Kerala. One guy told her, that Amma takes the energy of Westerners (as they already have so much) to give it to those people who really need it. Sounds weird, I know, but it kind of resembles what I felt at the event.
Veganlove