March 15, 2010
Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru
An engineering student shares his experiences of doing seva at Amma’s Brahmasthan program.
It was with a lot of anticipation that I left my house on the morning of February 17, 2010.
No, I am not talking about yet another day of college. I am talking about Amma’s visit to Bangalore where she was giving darshan at the ashram. This visit lasted two full days, during which Amma gave darshan continually along with satsang and bhajans.
My friends and I went there as volunteers and we did seva once we got there. What I mean when I say seva is, cutting vegetables, crowd control, washing dishes, serving food, looking after chappals in the chappal stand, etc.
This was a different experience for all of us. We had our share of fun too! Laughing at our mate who was stuck at the chappal stand only to realize the next minute that we were assigned kitchen duty to cut a sackful of onions!
It was moments like these which enlivened our whole experience and gave us the energy to go on without sleeping for two whole days. We began to enjoy ourselves once we got going, and got into the task given to us.
We got our free time also, wherein we went about refreshing the body and the mind at the various stalls loaded with choice foodstuffs. People whom we had seen until now, only from an academic point of view were all around us helping us with the chores. It gave us all a wonderful perspective towards our college and its life.
There was one thing that did inspire us to be more diligent; the number of people who had come to receive Amma’s darshan. It was an overwhelming sight to see people in their thousands, line up in queues, till four in the morning to receive darshan. Multitudes of people from all walks of life with so many thoughts and expectations all came and went back satisfied. This spoke volumes for itself.
The darshan was accompanied by many cultural programs which were organized by the students of the college. Those who had to wait, were enjoying themselves seeing the dances and dramas, taking place. Also there were bhajans sung by the students. Even though there were an astounding amount of people, the ever-polite devotees organized the process beautifully and made sure that every single person got darshan.
At the end I was very happy. I had been able to help in some small way. We did receive our fruits of labor. Not apples or oranges but a hug from Amma.
– Abhishek Thyagarajan, 6th sem, ASE Bengaluru
