AYUDH Bay Area

This weekend we had the opportunity of serving food to many people at the annual Marin County fair. People’s favorites included the new chocolate bars, Dahi Batata Sev Puri (an addition to the chaat menu), masala dosas, and mango lassi.

As we stood near a bridge to the fairgrounds with samples for people to try, we heard many wonderful stories of people meeting Mother in San Rafael and other stops on Her World Tours many years ago. One person met Mother over 36 years ago in Boston, and later received a name from Mother, “Kripakaran.” Years later at his bar mitzvah, he found out that his Hebrew name, given to him at birth, means “Giver of Grace,” the exact meaning of the name given to him by Mother! Recognizing Mother’s name from our banner, he and other passers-by excitedly showed us Mother’s pictures treasured in their wallets, making us deeply feel her divine presence in our tent.

By Amma’s Grace, everybody is excited to return to the fairgrounds near San Ramon during Memorial Day weekend, for the Art and Wind Festival.

🌱Happy Vishu from all of us in San Ramon! 🌸

We have an exciting Vishu experience to tell you this year as we carried out Amma’s tradition of handing out plants to promote tree planting and ecological restoration, known as Vishu Thaineetam.

Last winter, one of Amma’s devotees got Rama Tulasi seeds from the Ashram and grew them in two medium-sized pots. She gave them to us, and including plants from other generous parents and devotees around the Bay Area, we had a total of 15 plants to give away to children for Vishu Thaineetam.

As we were setting up for the distribution, a devotee in the ashram stopped by and opened up one of the Tulasi pots. Many of us were shocked and amazed when each of the two Tulasi plants magically turned out to be over 60 healthy saplings each!

Taking this to be Amma’s infinite grace, we rapidly transplanted these individual plants into planter pots and chai cups. An unexpectedly massive crowd showed up at the Ashram, making this our BIGGEST Vishu sapling distribution ever. In total, Swami Dayamritananda Puri distributed all the Tulasi plants, a couple of DIY planter kits we assembled, other donated plants such as periwinkle, lavender, cilantro, and chrysanthemum, and additional seed packets, making sure everybody there received a Vishu Thaineetam special.

We are speechless for how Amma provides without even asking!