LA Tour Contact Us Amma.org
DownTown Women's Center 7-12-09 (continued)
Mother’s Kitchen embodies Amma’s teaching of SEVA, or service.
The Los Angeles based group regularly donates time and resources to feed those in need.
On this first visit to the Downtown Women’s Shelter in Los Angeles, the group, comprised of both men and women, put on aprons, hairnets and rubber gloves.
Homemade macaroni warmed in the large oven. Vegetarian chili cooked on the stovetop. Bell peppers were sliced and tossed into the salad. Corn muffins were sliced, warmed and buttered. Each process blessed with special food preparation prayers chanted silently by the devotees. The entire meal spread across a giant metal counter top. The servers stood behind each station where the recipients, moved through a line on the other side of the counter and could choose the contents of their plates. SEVA brings blessings to both the giver and receiver.
As a newcomer, with my meeting Amma for the first time only a month prior to the Mother’s Kitchen event, I felt instantly welcomed and encouraged by the group. I enjoy new expressions of kindness, creativity and resourcefulness. This experience inside the kitchen of the Downtown Women’s Shelter shined a light on both sides of that metal counter. Everyone was connected. I believe this to be a hope of Amma’s: for all souls to connect in the bountiful light. Funny, how this awareness may sometimes disguise itself as a luncheon.
The sounds in the kitchen-slash-dining hall maintained a moderate volume. This remains an interesting detail to note given that 65 plus total residents, either day visitors or permanent live-ins, sat together at 12 or so picnic length folding tables. White tablecloths added a bit of ceremony to the eating area. The seating area received early afternoon sunlight from the big, gymnasium type windows, similar in design in that they open from the ceiling and end halfway down the wall. Both conversation and silence flowed from the tables across from our work-slash-office area. Undoubtedly, it sounds quiet when people eat food that they enjoy, but this held a feeling of relief, respect and gratitude. Every person in that room had a story and every choice we ever made brought us together on that July day. Every decision we made, our parents made, their parents made and on back to beginning of time; all brings us to this moment. The food stimulated taste and smell. The interaction stimulated the mind. And the kindness displayed during that moment created, with utmost certainty, a healing path into the future.
