On 06/16/2011 10:46 AM, Rick Archer wrote: > Interesting, honest account. I've been seeing Amma for about 12 years and > have been meditating regularly (TM) since 1968. I can't dispute any of the > externals you describe. I think your description of those is accurate. A lot > of it is, as you say, necessary to manage the crowds that Amma hugs. Very > carefully thought-out, detailed procedures are in place to keep things > flowing smoothly. A few extra seconds spent unnecessarily with each person > can mean hours in the course of a day. Amma is 57. All this has taken a toll > on her body and every effort is made to lessen her load. The whole scene is > very Indian, even cult-like.
I saw Ammachi only once while staying at the Kerela ashram. Funny thing was watching Indian teenagers throwing a tantrum because their parents had dragged them along and they didn't like being at an ashram with all the rules. I've visited the San Ramon ashram once when a friend was visiting and wanted to see but that was not when Ammachi was there. At the Kerela ashram I was talking to the videographer and realized the guy standing next to him was a TM mucky-mucky back in the day I knew. I also knew his wife who I spotted later in the distance. However after chatting with him I no longer saw them during the duration of the stay which made me wonder if they had some rule about talking to visitors who had known them in the past. ;-)
