Kollam, Kerala. 70th birthday of Birthday of Mata Amrithanandamayi Devi alias Amma was celebrated, on October 3, in Vallikkavu, Kollam. Representatives from about 198 countries are reported to have come to Vallikkavu to participate in the celebrations. PM Narendra Modi conveyed the birthday greetings to Amma vide a video in Malayalam. Several union ministers and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan addressed the gathering assembled in Vallikkavu to participate in the birthday celebrations. Thousands of devotees were present there to take part in the celebrations filled with devotion, bhakti and respects.
Representatives of 70 countries, clad in their respective traditional attire, brought potful soils from their countries and poured in to a big pot. Soil from all Bharatiya states were also added into it. Amma put flowers into the big pot and planted a sandalwood sapling in it. She prayed before planting it. Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Columbia and Kuwait were some of the countries soils were brought from. Planting of sandalwood sapling symbolized the message of world unity cutting across ethnicity or class. It stands for the fragrance of humanity, love and affection.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said that Amma embodies advaita, a sublime union where discrimination and distinction dissolve, leaving only Sivam, the goodness and perfect unity. He added that celebrating Amma’s life is akin to honouring the timeless Bharatiya spiritual tradition, a beacon of age-old wisdom.
Swami Amruthaswaroopananda, vice chairman of Amruthanandamayi Mat, led the satsang in the morning. It was followed by Gurupaduka pooja and then meditation and lectures led by Amma.
Union Ministers Mahendranath Pande, V. Muraleedharan, Aswinikumar Choubey, Kerala Assembly Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar, LoP in Kerala Assembly V. D Satheesan and MPs (LS) Sasi Tharoor, N.K. Premachandran, A.M. Arif and M.K. Raghavan and mega film personality Mohanlal were among the prominent persons who were present.
Amruthakeerthi Puraskars were presented to Kannada writer S.L. Bhairappa, Acharaya M.R. Rajesh, Vedic scholar Prof. Sreevaraham Chandrasekharan Nair and Dr. K.S. Radhakrishnan, former Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (Kalati) and former Chairman of Kerala PSC.
Dr. Thu An Engu, founder of Global Forum, Houston, presented World Leader Puraskaram to Amma.
