What a beautiful soul-filling day! A day to remember for all the right reasons.
When Grow Amma U.K. was started to raise funds for Amma’s next visit and the M.A. Centre at Bromley earlier this year I put my thinking cap on to think of ways to raise funds and came up with a “Kirtan Day Festival”. We have a large Memorial Hall opposite where I live and the committee gave us a charity rate to book (about £150 for the day for the hall, lounge, and kitchen). I had connections with other singers and musicians through the U.K Bhakti network and have social networking experience which came in very useful.
A team of about 12 of us joined on WhatsApp and 5 members sponsored the total hall hire. It all flowed and came together very easily; my motto was “Keep it simple”.
We had a wonderful trained sound technician with sound equipment, artistic folk who decorated the hall and the altar with pictures, candles, and crystals, and volunteers who sang, baked, and cooked delicious food for the breaks.. Amma was our main focus, she sat in the centre looking lovingly at us. We also paid respect to other lineages and deities to create an all-inclusive atmosphere.
People of all ages and from near and far bathed in Amma’s glow. A day of devotion is not without its challenges, and all were faced with equanimity, humour, and kindness.
Everyone provided homemade curries, dhal, and of course cake. We only asked attendees for donations and trusted we would raise enough.
Even with the inviting handmade sign on the road in such a small village in Herefordshire, I didn’t expect to have too many “pop-ins”. However, by Amma’s Grace one lady was house hunting and found her way to us and was overwhelmed to find us celebrating and singing to Amma in such a “random” place; she cried tears of joy and happiness as she met Amma and was hoping to introduce a young family member to Her. Another young family found us on their hike and popped in and sang along, the words were obviously familiar to them and they were right at home. We opened up the doors and our hearts and folk found us.
I feel we fulfilled our aim; we brought people together in the community, in love, we had a beautiful time, and we shared and sang together. We raised £400 for Grow Amma U.K. Asked if I would do this again my answer is of course! However, we have learned from the process and I would make it even simpler and have less food for one thing. Maybe a shorter day as it was a long weekend.
It’s always great to sing with others and share our different styles as well as the familiar kirtans. We had everyone up singing and dancing and having fun whilst enjoying the devotional aspect.
I also held a birthday kirtan in our home beginning of this year and raised £130 from donations. We hope to offer another kirtan soon, watch this space, get in touch if you are interested…do join us. katrinasuryadevi@gmail.com
In Amma
