Pledge and Pray: Join the One-hundred Million Mantra for Peace Project (OMM) —Chant And Change Your Life, Your Community and Your World
On September 21st, 2004, Amma (Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, aka: The Hugging Saint or Ammachi) said,
“Today, the need for prayer and spiritual practices is greater than ever before,” Amma said. “There are people who think, ‘What can my individual prayers possibly change?’ We shouldn’t think this way. Through prayer, we are sowing the seeds of love. If just one flower were to blossom in the middle of a desert, wouldn’t it at least be something. If a tree were to grow there, wouldn’t it at least provide some small amount of shade? May the prayers of crores of people like us fill the atmosphere with love and compassion and thereby help bring about a change in their attitudes, at least to some extent.”
Devotees were more than surprised when, at the end of each meditation session with Amma during Summer U.S. Tour 2015, Amma did not end with Her traditional pattern of chanting three mantras for peace. She kept on chanting for nine repetitions. Then Amma spoke; something that I had never heard her do in a morning program in 18 years. She quietly warned of dark clouds of negativity swirling. She told us how, when the Skylab satellite was returning to Earth, it was feared to strike a city and kill many people. She said that everyone prayed and the satellite fell harmlessly in the ocean. Amma counseled that only prayer can help us, now.
After Amma’s (Mata Amritanandamayi-aka The Hugging Saint) 2015 Northern California Tour visit, 130 friends, students and Amma devotees joined me in a pledge to chant One Million Mantras of Lokah Samastah Sukhinoh Bhavantu by Her birthday on September 27th, 2015. Word spread through email and Facebook, jumping oceans and continents. Within a few weeks, there were participants from San Ramon to Canada to India to Australia who committed to chant at least one round (mala) of 108 repetitions a day, about 1.4 million mantras. The M. A. Center in San Ramon, CA added the chant to the weekly Saturday Satsang. Several additional Amma devotees received Her blessing to grow the vision when Amma visited Toronto.
Inspired by the power of adding 6-12 minutes of silent chanting-mantra japa-and enthusiasm of participants, we’re expanding the OMM project to a minimum of One-hundred Million Mantras starting and ending on Amma’s birthday 9/27/15.
You are invited to join One-hundred Million Mantras for Peace Project. Email me with your pledge of one or more malas (108 x repetitions). If your satsang, sangha, yoga class, spiritual center or friends want to participate, request an Excel form so we can periodically total pledges and track our progress to the goal.