🌸 Feminine Grace – 24 Hours in the AVA Membership

🌸 Feminine Grace – 24 Hours in the AVA Membership

by | Sep 13, 2024 | Amrita Prasadam, Amrita Virtual Academy, Cooking, Music, Natural Plant Dyeing

Written by Tanmayi, Netherlands

For almost two years I have been doing seva (“selfless service”) for Amrita Virtual Academy. And, since I rarely get to take any of the courses, I honestly got very curious about all that’s in the Amrita Virtual Academy Membership. I love almost all the topics I see, and want to know exactly what I can learn. So, I decided to try out the Membership for 24 hours, have fun, and take you along. You’re invited to join me as I share my weekend adventure with you! 

SATURDAY NIGHT

To begin, let me first login, and take another look at the AVA Membership…
On the Student Dashboard I see all kinds of courses presented right away. Hmm… What shall I choose? I’ve got to start somewhere. What I’ve been longing to check out are the  “Natural Living: Health and Harmony” and  “Art of Natural Plant Dyeing” courses, plus the “Amrita Prasadam Indian Cooking” and “Devotional Singing” courses. (I also work as a classical singer, so I am curious to dive more deeply into devotional singing.) 
Also, I looooove, love, love cooking, so I want to see the amazing recipes and videos of the Indian Cooking classes.


My only activity tonight is to look around the Student Dashboard, and watch some of the content, so I know what to plan for tomorrow. Let’s start with my absolute favorite, Natural Living!!!

Exploring the Wellness Course, “Natural Living: Health and Harmony”

Oooh, a prayer to Amma before the course starts. Love it! 

And, the video shows the Ecoshop in Amritapuri! I’m in India now, so I can easily go there. But, I imagine if you are in the West, and you miss the ashram here, then seeing the Ecoshop can literally feel like AVA is bringing Amritapuri into your home. 

Oooh, we can learn to make eco-friendly gifts that support nature!

Look, it’s my singing friend in the video! “Hi Tejasvini! You look so cute in your white-and-pink sari!”

Right, we are going to make Mist Sprays with Essential Oils!
I have wanted to do that for so long. I don’t have the essential oils at home that she speaks about, but tomorrow I will check which oils I DO have, and then make a home-and-body spray! Yippie! 

Okay, next…I would love to cook something this weekend from the Indian Cooking courses. 

Oooee, what are these Vegan Bliss Balls in Natural Living? 

Wait, what? I seriously have everything in my flat (apartment) to make these balls tomorrow! But you know, since I’m no longer tired, I’m going to start making them right away. 

Looking in my kitchen I see I have 90% of the ingredients, and have decided to replace the oatmeal with puffed quinoa. First I mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients, and make the bliss balls. Wauw, they are delicious! And, so easy to make.

Well, after that, I am still energized, so I’m going to see if I have any essential oils to make the mist spray taught in the course. Hmmm, I don’t have any, except a few final drops. But, what I do have, is a brown, plastic spray bottle I can use for when I do have oils. (You can see a photo of the brown bottle above and a fabric strip of my mum’s embroidered roses pictured in the background.) I’m going to head over to the Ecoshop in the coming days, and check if I can get some affordable oils to make my own spray. We will be going on tour with Amma soon, so I don’t want to spend too much now.

SUNDAY MORNING

Learning Indian Cooking with the “Amrita Prasadam” Courses

There are so many wonderful Amrita Prasadam videos and recipes to choose from! I decided to make dosas, and check out the recipe for Coconut Chutney. Cool—all the recipe videos are right there on the Cooking page. (I clicked on “Cooking” in the left menu, on the Student Dashboard to bring up the Cooking page. I could also just type “coconut chutney” in the search bar to get there.) And, there is a video with the recipe: “Masala Dosa & Coconut Chutney”. Right, I see this is high-level Indian cooking. This is a great recipe for coconut chutney, but I don’t have everything needed in my little kitchen, so let’s make it with what I have! Yeah! It turned out to be yummy. Thank you, Vaju! <3 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Starting the Devotional Singing Course!

The prayer to Amma in the beginning is really awesome. Since we do it before every seva in the ashram, it becomes a regular part of life. Also, it’s beautiful how the focus of the singing course is on connecting more to Amma by singing bhajans. Ooo… I see it’s a course for 8 weeks.

I looked quickly through it and saw videos with all kinds of vocal exercises to learn ragas. (A raga is like a set of rules for building a melody—very similar to the Western concept of a music scale or mode.)

Wauw! I wanna learn this. And you know what’s amazing? You can make a video of yourself, and send it in to the teaching assistant to get feedback on your singing! In the coming weeks I will continue taking this singing course with Ratna. (She’s Brahmachari Ramanandamritaji’s sister!)
I have seen the satsang, “The Essence of Music”, with Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri in the past weeks, and it is just gold! A must watch for music lovers.

SUNDAY EVENING 

Enjoying The Art of Natural Plant Dyeing

Now, finally I can go into The Art of Natural Plant Dyeing! I was ‘dying’ to dive into this one… Okay, I see now that the course includes 12 hours of videos. So, let’s get started!

This whole course was recorded here in Amritapuri, in the Saraswati house—a place not everybody knows of yet. I was there a while ago, and it felt as if I went into the forest to see the medicine lady (the good witch) of the village to learn about the healing properties of different plants and herbs.

The sevites (volunteers) in the Saraswati house make all kinds of beautiful clothes with fabrics and natural dyes—one of the ultimate feminine and natural spots in Amritapuri. 

Ayurvastra is an old ‘craft’ or ‘science’ about the healing art of natural plants in fabric. I learned from the class that it takes far more time to dye fabrics this way than it does to dye fabrics for the clothes we buy in regular shops. But, it is so healing for us, and also for the environment. “Fast fashion” becomes landfill garbage. I would love a sari dyed with Ayurvastra! Also in the Amrita Boutique here in Amritapuri, garments are sold that are made by Padma, who volunteers in the Saraswati house. (You can see her in the photo here, along with our Mindful Movement instructor, Neelima.) 

Like Devotional Singing, Art of Natural Plant Dyeing is an 8-week course. I will be watching it in parts in the coming weeks, since I don’t want to overload myself now.

CONCLUSION

I’ve learned it’s especially good if you can join the year-long AVA Membership option, because, dear Goddess, it’s so beautiful, all this content! Soooo much valuable learning, plus arts and crafts…I am so grateful I have found this.

I didn’t even get into the language courses, the retreats, and the gardening courses yet. This is a true treasure chest of knowledge, with amazing spiritual lessons and satsangs everywhere you look! Truly “Learning Values Through the Arts!”

Love, Tanmayi
Netherlands

P.S. Hey, that’s me in the AVA Membership… Ooooh It’s from my own little singing course…

Indian Cooking Class, A Learning and Dining Feast!

Indian Cooking Class, A Learning and Dining Feast!

by | May 13, 2024 | Amrita Prasadam, Cooking

In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 25th (2024), a group of enthusiastic, volunteer cooks met up at the MA Center Switzerland. They gathered to continue preparations for an Indian feast to be served to approximately 40 enthusiastic cooking class students.

The cooking and initial preparations had already begun at 6 a.m. the day before: washing and cutting vegetables, arranging tables and chairs, and planning the process in detail. So, soon the kitchen was filled with the scent of fragrant spices.

By 10 a.m., the curious students began arriving to delve deeply into the traditional intricacies of Indian cooking. Amrita Virtual Academy’s visiting cooking instructor, Vaju Moorthy, opened the cooking class by sharing stories of personal childhood experiences that awakened a deep love of Indian cuisine within her.

Afterwards, the participants listened eagerly to her step-by-step instructions given for making the popular Indian breakfast dish, Uppama (or, “Upma”)—made of ground wheat or quinoa, with vegetables, spices and herbs.

Many questions arose, such as, “How do you make the dough for Uppama?” “What is the most important thing?” “What is the optimal consistency before and after fermentation?” “What should it smell like?”

All the students received a folder with a detailed description of the recipes, ingredients, procedure and possible alternatives. Some participants diligently took notes. At the end, everyone stood at the front of the stove to get a taste of the fried dough, inspect the special mixer blades, and discuss their impressions of the class. 

With the excellent guidance of Amrita Virtual Academy’s cooking instructor, Vaju Moorthy, the meal was ready to be served to all the students by noon. The Uppama turned out to be delicious, resulting in some people eating more than they usually do. Everyone found the company to be delightful, too. Many stayed until late afternoon to chat, and share their experiences with each other.

Vaju Moorthy is a cooking instructor for Amrita Virtual Academy.

“When I talk about cooking, the first thing that comes to mind is my mother. She was an excellent cook; her food was loved by the whole family, and everyone who visited our home. I learned a lot just by watching her prepare the food, and serve people.” – Vaju Moorthy

Join our online cooking classes with Vaju, by signing up for our monthly or annual AVA membership. In the AVA membership, there are 60+ online courses on different themes available for you.

Join here!

Amrita Prasadam

Learn more about authentic Indian cooking through the online cooking courses with Amrita Virtual Academy. There are more than 70 recipes from across India available. You can follow the course at your own pace through instructional videos.
In addition to delicious snacks—such as Masala Dosa, and healthier options, like Quinoa Uppama—we also demonstrate how to prepare traditional foods associated with the important festivals of the year.    

This post was originally written in German and posted on the website of MA Center Switzerland. See the original post: https://www.macenter.ch/news/2024/2/28/rckblick-authentisches-indisches-kochen-und-essen