Beginning as far back as early February in Ojai, you could feel the anticipation growing over the upcoming visit by our beloved Amma Sri Karunamayi, coming to the United States the first week in April for her World Tour 2009 and perhaps more importantly, before spending four days in LA, coming to our neighboring city Ventura.

And so the Blessings At Our Doorstep Fundraiser event in Ojai was born. Thanks to the generosity and tireless efforts of Kelly Luscombe and her husband Chris the event was held in the beauty that is the Blue Veranda and the place that Kelly and Chris call home. They opened their doors to the entire community and beyond one beautiful and memorable Saturday in mid March, it was an event to remember.

The big moment came Wednesday morning, April 1, when Amma herself arrived at our doorstep.   The women holding coconuts formed two lines out front of the Spiritual Living Center in Ventura, to create an isle for Amma to walk down between us and into the church when she arrived.

The moment Amma's white car pulled to the curb we could feel her bringing the blessings. And as she stepped out and greeted us all with her eyes of pure love and her smile of warm affection, we melted into the overwhelming intensity of her loving energy as her holy presence descended on us one and all and swept us into her light.

We followed and watched, continuing to chant, as she greeted the first two shy, beautiful children holding a card for her. Amma continued to stop, greet and touch the people who were waiting inside as she entered and walked down the aisles. People reached out for her on the way. Some began to cry, others stood still and bowed with hands in prayer position. The room seemed to fill with what one woman from Brazil who was there called "the most golden light I have ever seen", all the while feeling her heart chakra opening up to the love and letting the tears of joy flow from not just her, but many others too in the room.

She then greeted us and shortly into her opening remarks invited us to do laughing yoga which we did wholeheartedly, with huge pleasure as we simply could not contain the joy of her sight.

Amma humbly spoke of very simple, yet profound concepts and ideas, illuminating for us once again the truth of who we are.

People could not leave the room. One woman said: "I was hungry and I wanted to go to where the food was, but I just couldn't leave my seat. I wanted to soak up every second of that amazing energy that filled that room while she was there".

Many people came throughout the day and kept coming. One lady, who had to work, came back and forth three times just to be sure to get a blessing with Amma. Another entered the hall before Amma got there, aiding a very sickly woman, who kept saying she couldn't stay and wanted to leave. She said Amma had healed her friend "look at her, she's not shaking anymore. She feels better and she wants to stay!"

People came from all walks of life, faiths and backgrounds. Parents brought their children who received Saraswati Diksha. 

Saraswati Diksha is the attunement of the student to the holy vibration of Divine Mother in the form of Saraswati. Using a tulsi (holy basil) twig dipped in honey, Amma inscribes the Saraswati mantra on the tongue of the student.

Meditation retreat
On April 4, over a 100 people gathered at the Unitarian Church of Rancho Palos Verdes for the meditation retreat. Amma arrived around 9 am with her sister whom we lovingly call "Akkaya" or older sister in Telugu, which is her native language. Amma's smile isn't just on her mouth and cheeks. It radiates from her eyes transforming us even before the car comes to a halt. One can tell how much she anticipates being with us each day, which is much more than what we can do for us.

As she graced the podium with her presence, her first words were "Welcome my babies to this meditation retreat." As we gazed at her with folded hands and unsure, she said "Laughing Yoga!" and began to laugh. She said "Smile my children, laugh sweet babies. You are in the presence of Amma, your mother. Don't be so serious. You can relax and laugh." She continued laughing as we all joined in. She said "Leave all your troubles of the city, of Los Angeles, of your home and family and enjoy in the presence of your mother. Laugh!" She kept repeating that we must relax since our mother is there to take care of all our troubles and worries.

At the retreat she taught us basic yogic postures and pranayamas for eternal vital health. She said "if you do not have good health, nothing else matters." She gave us 8 yogasanas and 6 pranayamas. Pranayama comes from two root words in Sanskrit "prana" meaning life and "yama" meaning control. Pranayama is an ancient practice in India where the student gains control over his life by controlling his breath.

The breathing exercise (pranayama) helps us control our life eventually by cleansing the body, silencing the mind and rising above all into the "OM" our true nature. She gave us simple steps for self-mastery and self-realization or salvation, which is possible for everyone, everyday.

When we were doing the yogasanas, (yogic postures), she said that if we are not able to do a certain posture to perfection, it means we have a blockage in that part of the body. These blockages are emotions stuck in our body and as we continue to do the yogasanas everyday, our blockages will be removed gradually and our body will gain more and more flexibility.

At lunch she blessed the food and served food to each of her children with her own hands. It was like being back in India, when our mother puts together a plate for us and serves us, feed us. She was feeding us her love, so we could fill ourselves up, experience it and become it.

She taught us much from the Indian scriptures and told us that the ancient sages never exaggerated. They never spoke an extra word or even an alphabet. The truth is in the scriptures and in the words she was offering us. She kept on reassuring us of how everything is taken care of.

She mentioned that earth was under the eclipse of Saturn until March 26th 2009 and hence all over the world we had economic turbulence.

She also told us that now that the eclipse is over this year all the world leaders and economist and planners are doing their best to put us all together in a positive way and next year is going to be financially abundant for all of us. But we must work now.