May the Christ take birth in your heart !

December 28, 2008

May the Christ take birth in your heart

Christmas in Amritapuri December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day both fell on darshan days in

Amritapuri, and Amma was still giving darshan when the midnight hour

struck on the 25th. While Amma continued to embrace her children, she

had Swami Amritaswarupananda read out a message she had prepared.

In Amma's message she said that if we look back on the teachings of

all mahatmas—be they Christ, Krishna or Buddha—we will see that their

main teachings were love and faith. " All the mahatmas have stressed

these two things, " Amma said. " The rest is commentary. "

Amma went on to explain the significance of Christ both referring to

himself as " the son of man " as well as " the son of God. " She said that

a devotee with love and faith would not see these two statements as a

contradiction, but instead would understand that Christ meant he was

both the body, which exists in time, and the Atma, which is beyond

time. " He meant that he was both a human being, as well as God, " Amma

said. " He meant `I am this [the world] and I am that [consciousness].' "

" On Christmas Day, Christian children exchange gifts and kind words

and wish one another Merry Christmas. This really reflects a sense of

brotherhood. But amidst our celebrations, we should also remember the

life and teachings of Christ. Christmas is also a day for taking a vow

to put Christ's teachings into action. May the Christ child take birth

in the hearts of all my children. May our lives be full of love and

the spirit of sacrifice. May my children become examples for others to

emulate " Amma concluded.

Before Amma's message, there were Christmas carols in German, Russian,

Spanish and Finnish languages by the devotees from the west. There

were also traditional Flamenco and Opera dances, which added spirit to

the celebrations of Christmas in Amritapuri.

—Kannadi

Watch Christmas celebration photos here

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