AMMA once said, “If you pray with a specific desire, He (GOD) may give you what you asked. If you do not ask for any specific fa vour, He will give you what you ‘need’ and only when you need. There is a subtle difference between ‘what we want and what we need’. In reality, we do not know what exactly we need. Many people come to Amma with various desires. Mother usually never categorically says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to their prayers. It is the experience of many devotees that they ultimately get more than what they asked for.
Brother Sri A.L.N.V. Prasada Rao, a landlord of Machilipatnam, though had no faith in Amma, used to accompany his wife, who was a staunch devotee of Amma.
Sri Prasada Rao let out one of his houses for rent to a gentleman who later became a counselor in the local Municipality. After some time, Sri Prasada Rao wanted to repair and renovate his house and requested the tenant to vacate the house. To have a house. vacating a tenant especially when he happens to be a political leader is not an easy task. Sri Prasada Rao also faced a tough time as the tenant did not oblige him.
In utter desperation, our brother represented his problem to Amma, during one of his visits. Amma heard him but offered no comment. Sri Prasada Rao also didn’t expect anything to happen.
After nearly one year, Amma called him from a large gathering and told him: “Your house will be vacated soon. You may start the construction as planned”. After getting over the shock of this sudden. favor, he managed to mumble “but now, I don’t have any money”. “You will get the money needed”, assured Amma.
Armed with this assurance, Sri Prasada Rao went to his tenant and renewed his old request. This time, the counselor not only agreed to vacate, but by using his influence, he got all the plans approved and permission granted by the Municipality. Not only that, he also arranged necessary finance for the purpose!!
‘Kumkum’ (vermilion powder) and the famous kumkum mark play a very significant role in the lives of devotee children of Amma. Amma used to give ‘kumkum’ packets to all Her children taking leave of Her and place a beautiful ‘kumkum’ mark on their foreheads, sometimes a long vertical one, sometimes a curved one like half moon. It is also a regular practice for the inmates of ‘House of All’ to inform Amma whenever they had to go out and receive Her permission and blessing. in the form of the ‘kumkum’ mark. If for any reason, Amma didn’t or couldn’t bestow the mark, it came to be understood that Amma did not favor the trip.
Mr. Richard Schiffman is an American journalist and author of the book “MOTHER OF ALL”. He used to stay in Jillellamudi for some time whenever he visited India. During one of his sojourns, he had to go to Bapatla on some personal work urgently. As Amma was sleeping, he left without taking permission or the ‘kumkum’ mark, but with considerable trepidation. On his way to the seventh mile to catch the bus, he was wondering whether anything untoward would happen to him. Maybe, my money will be stolen, he mused and precisely that was what happened at Bapatla! As he placed his hand in the pocket to get the purse, he found the purse missing!
There was only one more occasion when he failed to get his ‘kumkum’ mark. This time, the van broke down before it reached the seventh mile and he had to return back to Jillellamudi!