Adopt-A- Street Banner For Amma’s Tour

The SoCal Satsang is pleased to announce that Amma will be returning to LAX Area on June 15th thru 19th. In order to spread the word about Amma’s visit, we will current 2012 tour information on banners in prime street locations around Los Angeles.

Adopt an Amma banner now!  Click here.

Gift Cards and General Donations

No Contribution is considered too small… Gift cards and general donations supports us in provide thousands of people the opportunity to see Amma for free in Los Angeles.

Click here to donate.
 
 

General Food Donation Giving

Please review the wish list food items to be donated and let us know what you like to bring!

Click here for the Food Donation Wish List

Saturday, May 19
10 am – 2 pm

MA Center LA
128 S. Catalina Avenue
Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Please RSVP to:  Namità

namita@ammateam.org
310-745-3041

Photo: Volunteer Dan Steinberg

Get the latest Amma Tour Text Alerts on your phone from Amma Los Angeles

To get text alerts from Amma Los Angeles on your phone, do the following.

1. Sign up for Twitter at http://www.twitter.com
2. Associate your phone with your Twitter Account by going to the Twitter Mobile Settings page.
3. To register your mobile phone, input your mobile phone number preceded by the + sign. Check the box to allow Twitter to send messages to your phone.
4. Once you receive the text message, you need to send the verification code you received via text message to 40404 (this number will vary from location to location so check the site before you send). You are now set up to receive Twitter notifications on your cell phone.
5. Follow Amma Los Angeles by entering the twitter user name @ammalosangeles in the Twitter search box. Click the “Follow” button to follow Amma Los Angeles.
6. Click the phone icon on Amma Los Angeles’ Twitter profile page to start receiving text notifications. The phone icon is to the right of the “Following” button.

I had not been brave enough to join the sevite cleaning crew that had worked so hard wiping decades of grime off the surfaces for Amma’s June visit, but I had observed Navaratri and attended a few special Satsang events there. Then, this past February, the Work Parties began: an open invitation to volunteers to spend a few hours every other Saturday working on some aspect of the renovation together.

At the first Work Party, it was thrilling to all the attendees to discover that the building was already looking so different. Gone were the partitions and rooms, fixtures and furniture. But there was still plaster, and plenty of it, so the volunteers started on the dusty job of blasting the walls.

Unless one has some experience or is particularly adept at such things, handling heavy tools requires patience and concentration; it was not easy by any means, but it was tremendously satisfying, and dare I say, fun. Like many people, I am at a computer a lot; tough physical activity like chipping away at a wall for hours on end is not in my normal routine. This kind of activity is, without a doubt, humbling and grounding, but it also exhausted my “monkey-mind”. The dancing thoughts stopped their circles in the midst of the dust as the plaster fell away from the wall.

Some new faces came to the Center two weeks later at the next Work Party. Most of us had the unenviable task of scraping tar off the floor where, as some of you may recall, the dance floor had been. I was not so eager about this particular job, but as we stepped into the upper floor, the beauty of the place left us in absolute awe. The demolition crew had stripped the building down to its essence. The spectacular ceiling and the enormity of the hall, the vastness of the space, had been completely hidden underneath. If you were there during Amma’s visit or at any subsequent event, you will be absolutely astounded at the transformation.

Despite some calluses on the hand, I returned for the next Work Party to help finish scraping the tar.  Again, some new faces came who braved the rain that particular Saturday. We were scraping, sweeping, sweating and wet-vacuuming the rain from the floor. Hands hurt and arms ache after these Work Parties, but I unabashedly look forward to the next one, and the next. You may probably wonder, “Why is that so?”

I leave absolutely giddy every time I work in the Center. I am incredulous because I feel this is an unprecedented gift, to be allowed to work there in its infancy stage. It will never be like this again—raw, unpolished, rough, bursting with potential. Amma is giving us the opportunity not only to serve, but also to make the Center feel like it is truly ours. Indeed, this experience is perhaps the closest that I will ever come to knowing a sense of “the old days with Amma…the early days,” when there were only a few around. Yet while Amma is not at the Center physically, in my heart I feel that working in the Center is the next best thing to being in her full radiance. To me, the Center is her.

– Kaliyyaa

Volunteers were greeted on the front steps of the Center – the same steps that were graced by Amma last June when she inaugurated the building.  A table filled with refreshments and snacks on the front door landing became the rest area throughout the day for the group.

The on-site construction manager oriented the volunteers on how to use a plaster chipper, a tool that drills plaster off wall.  Each volunteer was outfitted with safety glasses, dust masks, earplugs and gloves and then educated on technique:  while holding the chipper, pull the trigger and simultaneously push the drill into the wall, chipping off the plaster to reveal the original block wall beneath.  Most of the volunteers had no previous experience, but within minutes, the plaster started coming down.

The Center’s overseeing project manager, a construction professional who has dedicated day and night for over a year to the project, was delighted with the results.  “It exceeded my wildest dreams.  Removal of old plaster from the block walls that had suffered from years of neglect was a sight to behold.  Volunteers who had probably never handled chipping hammers tackled The Wall like seasoned professionals and accomplished an amazing amount of work.” 

After working 15-minute shifts with the chippers, volunteers emerged from the building, hair and clothing dusted with white plaster.  They grabbed a drink, a snack, and after savoring the ocean breeze, went back to work.  “There’s something so satisfying about tearing down a wall!” said an enthusiastic worker, biting into a cookie.

Chipping plaster wasn’t the only task at hand:  several decades-old plants that had been growing against the building were marked for removal in preparation for exterior renovation.  Volunteers went to work, unearthing old planter borders and removing plants for relocation to new homes.

As the renovation of the MA Center progresses, it requires the support of both unskilled and skilled volunteers.  When a professional land survey of the site was required, experienced land surveyor devotees from San Diego stepped forward and got the work party underway – arriving early Saturday morning and working all day, performing a site survey, tying together utility and surface features with location and elevations to prepare a site plan to satisfy the city’s plan check requirements.

An exquisitely prepared vegetarian Indian lunch was donated by Orange County devotees and delivered to the worksite.  Everyone gathered to eat outside, sitting on the steps, enjoying the warmth of the sun and looking out at the blue ocean. Around 2 pm, right on schedule, the plaster was almost off the wall and the day’s tasks nearly completed.  Each volunteer was offered a cup of payasam dessert and chocolate chip cookies to enjoy on the ride home.

An Auspicious Beginning 

There were many ‘firsts’ on this beautiful day, yet this was the second Amma Work Party.  The first work party occurred on Saturday, January 14, 2012 when, with great joy, volunteers from Los Angeles and San Diego met to put their hearts, minds and bodies to work on the new Center, tearing out a wall and planning electrical and site survey requirements.  This official start date of January 14 is known in India as Makar Sankranti.  According to Jyotisha, it is a celebration of impending spring when the sun has ceased its southerly march in winter and moves in an auspicious northerly direction.  Associated with light, knowledge and spiritual illumination, Makar Sankranti is an advantageous, well-timed commencement for Amma’s work parties to begin.

Is it possible, then, that similar to the sacred dip into the holy river Ganges that residents traditionally offer on Makar Sankranti, perhaps our dip is into the form of Amma’s Center, emerging before our eyes here in Southern California?

Volunteers came from all over Southern California to participate: San Diego, Orange County, Redondo Beach, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.  For more information on how you can experience the MA Center LA Renovation Project, please contact Namita at namita@ammateam.org, 310-745-3041.

Photos courtesy of Dan Steinberg

Watch programs about Amma, spiritual talks, and question & answer sessions.  Listen to bhajans.  Follow her on tours around the world.

Here are a few Amrita TV Programs with English subtitles:

Amritamgamaya

(Monday – Thursday) Spirtual talks by Amma’s Swami and Swamini disciples – all week day evenings.

Watch a couple of clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuiVqrUnSlo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiaUm-Pcit0

Amritavarsham

(Weekends)

Listen to satsangs and bhajans by Amma. Get to know the message of life in the simple but profound words of Amma. The program comprises of question answer sessions and discourses by Amma, followed by soulful bhajans led by Amma The final segment of the program consists of talk by Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, senior disciple of Amma.

Watch a couple of clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL-AK4hP-KU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igi4VJzD37o

Ammayodoppam

(Weekends)

Savour the divine presence of Amma. Enjoy Amma’s tours across the world in Ammayodoppam, which literally means “being along with Amma”. Watch Amma traversing the length and breadth of India and countries  around the globe — embracing people and sharing love — cutting across continents and cultures. Witness  the unique power of Amma’s love and compassion which transcends geographical boundaries and artificial barriers

Watch a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzk8AqArzoE&feature=related

Please let us know how you’d like to offer your precious time and energy.

Namita
MA Center LA Renovation Project
namita@ammateam.org
310-745-3041