Inspired by Amrita Virtual Academy and the Amritapuri Gardens
Rudraksha seeds from Amritapuri’s rudraksha trees.
I visited Amritapuri for the first time at the start of 2025 and visited the Rudraksha Farm — one of the Amritapuri gardens. These gardens inspired me so much from a Youtube video I saw, around 2020. At Amritapuri, the gardeners practice “Amritaculture”: a unique combination of Amma’s wisdom, permaculture, biodynamics, regenerative practices, and more.
As the Amritaculture instructors are quite active in serving in these gardens, I caught many glimpses of the techniques through their courses on the Amrita Virtual Academy online platform. The garden is a sacred grove, lovingly cultivated, according to Amma’s instructions, by many people over the years. Each volunteer performs seva (selfless service) while at the ashram. In addition to hosting the Amritaculture classes, the garden is home to plenty of Tulasi and other medicinal plants, a family of frogs (personally blessed by Amma), turtles, earthworms, tropical birds—and plenty of other wildlife, too mysterious to be seen at first glance.
The Rudraksha Farm has been a huge inspiration to me. It has been motivating especially since hearing directly from the people who work the land there—such as Lola, Chandrika, and Seetala—through the Amritaculture courses on Amrita Virtual Academy. I’ve also been inspired from reading a little bit about Amma’s vision of sacred groves.
The Tulasi plant is considered holy and has many medicinal properties.
In Amma’s book Eternal Wisdom – Part 2, while talking about Vedic homas and yagnas, Amma says, “If we cannot perform such ceremonies, we should grow plenty of medicinal trees and plants, because they also cleanse the air. Many diseases will be prevented if we breathe the air that has come into contact with medicinal plants”. I read these words while sheltering-in-place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Amma has been very clear that the pandemic is a wake-up call from Nature and an opportunity to make changes to treat Nature properly.
Because I was so personally overwhelmed with the pain and burden from years of improper living, I was keen to find meaningful ways to wake up and change course. I didn’t have any doubt that a tree can embody the Divine Mother’s presence. Before seeing Amma’s photo, or meeting her, I hugged a tree, it hugged me back, and for the first time, I felt a maternal love, free from conditions or expectations. So, attempting to grow a sacred grove of medicinal trees and plants, as an offering to the Divine seemed more than reasonable to me. In this way I could help purify the atmosphere in both my hometown and current residence in Los Angeles.
Applying the Lessons In California
At present, the garden I care for here in Southern California is a mixture of plants left by the previous caretakers, vegetables, and a make-shift nursery.
The banyan tree outside one of the buildings in Amritapuri.
I jokingly call my garden “Destruction Farms”. When I wake up early and do my chores with alertness, I have faith that Amma must be slowly destroying my likes and dislikes. When I cling to my likes and dislikes, such as sleeping-in and eating sweets instead of doing chores, I can plainly see how destructive it is for the plants.
Similarly, having a strong attachment to each plant’s wellbeing, I have seen how destructive are the actions of people who are motivated by their desire for name, fame, and position. I have seen plants I love get killed or maimed without remorse, and I have watched my own mind enter into futile states of seeking retribution.
Somehow, the thought of Amma’s consolation, and her words have kept me going. She says that “surrender is not something you do to others”. I can’t fathom the subtler realities of karma and its fruits. However, I have read from Swamini Krishnamrita Prana, in Smiling Within, that “Everything is Divine Will. Whatever comes, no matter how painful, is always for the best. It honestly is”. Furthermore, when Amma chastises the adharmas (harms) against Nature, she has said, “No one is willing to introspect, honestly evaluate themselves and change their behavior. As a result, we are unable to look around us with love for others, or to protect Nature with respect”. To me, this means that unless I can see such people with the same love I have for Amma, I am not fully able to properly protect Nature; I have to keep introspecting and making efforts to change accordingly.
Seva (selfless service) in one of Amritapuri´s gardens.
So, it might still take some time before there is a sacred grove to visit here in Los Angeles, and I still have not managed to grow very many of my own vegetables, like Amma has requested in the past. Nevertheless, I did get a boost of encouragement during Amma’s New Year Message. Amongst her other suggestions, Amma said to “awaken selfless love within you and allow it to express itself daily. Take care of at least one plant”.
In the past, I had used my nursery to grow Tulasi for devotees. Now, along with a few other local GreenFriends members, the nursery has joined an ongoing effort to distribute plants at the local satsangs, so that devotees can follow Amma’s suggestions. So far, in addition to a few more Tulasi, we have distributed fig trees, white guava, white sapote, grape vines, ground cherry, dragon fruit plants, six varieties of ornamental succulents, aloe vera, culinary sage, mint, oregano, three varieties of milkweed, one tropical ash tree, and two peepul trees.
A holy moment with Amma, planting a sapling.
Devotees are regularly admiring the quality of the plants I bring to satsang. I’m certain their admiration is due to the loving care which the Amritaculture instructors demonstrated for me. The devotees lament that such beautiful plants will most likely die in their care. Personally, it doesn’t bother me if I have to keep growing new plants. If we keep growing the selfless love within, allowing it to express daily, there will be plenty of sacred groves to visit in Los Angeles, and elsewhere too.
Om lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu
May all beings be happy and peaceful.
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A special thank you to Charles for writing such a heartfelt blog. If you would like to learn more about the Amrita Virtual Academy gardening and nature courses, you can do so here.
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Footnotes:
- There are many videos on Amritapuri gardens and Amritaculture on the AVA platform! Check out the Gardening classes https://www.amritavirtualacademy.com/enrollments?collection_id=413333 and also Nature sections of the Satsang Library.
- Page 90
- Page 87
- Amritavarshan 71 Satsang ((Amma’s 71st Birthday)
- Greenfriends is the international environmental branch of Amma’s organization. https://amma.org/groups-centres/greenfriends/