I was recently blessed to stay six months in Amritapuri, India, and do seva (“selfless service”) for Amrita Virtual Academy. Even though the seva was in an office there, I realized how closely connected we are to Nature in Amritapuri, at all times. There are trees, bushes, plants and birds almost everywhere. Even in the seva office, I could feel the breeze from the sea when the window was open, and, at times, I could see the smallest snake outside the window. (There was a mosquito net covering the window, so we always felt safe 🙂.) The ashram is surrounded by the backwaters and the Arabian sea, which you can see from the higher buildings or when you take a walk.
When you arrive at Amritapuri’s International Office, there are so many flowers and flowering bushes welcoming you, for example: the many bougainvilleas (pictured below). When you go a bit further through the gate, towards the temple (the heart of Amritapuri) the majestic peepal tree, with its heart-shaped leaves and all its birds, greets you, setting the tone of holiness of the place.
Even on the walls, by the Western Café, there are recycled bottles with hanging plants. Also the mango tree there is in full bloom and loaded with ripening mangoes now.
Next to the Indian Canteen, a sacred banyan tree stands grandly. Amma planted this tree in a ceremony during Amritavarsham 50 (the celebration of Amma’s 50th birthday), with water from rivers all over the world. (There is a video on Youtube from the Amritavarshan celebration, here.)
Even sitting in the big hall where Amma’s daily program is often conducted, you are surrounded by Nature. You can hear the wind, the rain, and the birds, as the structure does not have closed walls. These sounds, I find, are conducive for going within and help to give a feeling of connectedness with all of creation. The experience makes me think of this quote from Amma:
There is a rhythm to everything in the cosmos. The wind, the rain, the waves, the flow of our breath and heartbeat—everything has a rhythm. Similarly, there is a rhythm in life. Our thoughts and actions create the rhythm and melody. When the rhythm of our thoughts is lost, it reflects in our actions. This will, in turn, throw off the rhythm of life itself. Today, that is what we are seeing all around us.
-Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi)
The appreciation for the connectedness to Nature in Amritapuri, made me check into the Gardening and Nature content Amrita Virtual Academy offers. As I write this, summer is in full swing in India, and, of course, the weather is very different here than in more northern countries, like my home country of Sweden. But, gardening is a year-round activity, and it’s great to prepare in advance! And, summer is a great time for the preparation of seed saving. Winter is the time for the planning and planting of seedlings. Both subjects are covered in the AVA courses! There are so many ways to connect with Nature, both by being in nature and by gardening, so I wanted to see what the AVA library offers. As I found that the library is quite vast, I decided to make a compilation of the content, and share it with you, so you can easily check out whatever you feel drawn to!
Amma’s Garden & Message
A very special, intimate, and inspiring clip that I feel is a good start, is the Amma’s Garden & Message, a vlog with Amma. [AVA Members can click here to view it]. You can find it in the Satsang Library, where all the satsangs from Amrita Virtual Academy’s courses and retreats are archived and sorted by topic for easy viewing. This short vlog is one that everyone can enjoy, whether you are into gardening or not, as it gives you some precious moments with Amma.
There is also a sweet video from one of the rooftop gardens in Amritapuri that you can watch on YouTube. Vikasita gives you a relaxing and devotional tour among the plants and vegetables. Since the video is on Youtube, you can watch it whether you have joined the Amrita Virtual Academy membership or not. Watch the Amritapuri Terrace Garden Tour 🍅
Amritaculture – Gardening as a Spiritual Practice
“Amritaculture” is a series of devotional gardening courses taught by a global team of expert gardeners. They offer an in-depth approach to gardening for both beginners and seasoned growers. The courses are especially helpful if you have a place where you can garden, whether it’s outdoors or even indoors, with some pots by the window. Amritaculture can help you to make gardening a spiritual practice; to deepen your connection to Amma, to your own Self, and to all of Creation. It teaches you how to grow your own food, which Amma has stressed for many years as being important. The courses also aim to help you increase your love and devotion to Nature, which we know is very needed in this age, both for our own well-being, and for the well-being of the world.
Something great I found is, if you have any doubts throughout the process of gardening with Amritaculture, there are possibilities to ask questions in the AVA forum, and also a library of recorded Q&A sessions to see how other gardener’s trouble-shooted their gardening season with the AVA instructors.
Amritaculture’s “Grow and Serve” with Green Friends Australia [AVA Members can watch it here] is a special, short and heartfelt program where a family of three from Australia (Kalivati, Ribhu and little Suriya) share how they started a Community Garden project during the Covid-lockdown. They started by creating their own garden. Then, they looked to see if they could help others to do the same. Thus, they ended up helping devotees establish gardens, and from that point, the project grew bigger. Without telling the whole story, they are now serving a wider community along the Sunshine Coast!
Here you can read more about GreenFriends and projects around the globe. Maybe there is a group for you to join in your country, too!
Earth Day Retreat – April 20, 2025
On April 20, there will be a brand new Earth Day Retreat in the AVA Membership. The title of the retreat is “The Five Mothers”. I am very curious what it will be like… Find out more here!
Inside the AVA Membership are also the one-day or two-day long Earth Day Retreats from 2023 and 2024! The retreats are titled, “Nurture Mother Nature” and “You are the Self-effulgent Sun”.
You can do the retreats with the guidance of a suggested schedule, or in a self-paced manner. The retreats offer an opportunity for focused sadhana, coupled with love for Nature. Within each retreat are sessions guided by many competent spiritual seekers, as well as senior swamis/swaminis. The sessions feature yoga, guided meditations, mantra japa, DIY sessions, and also sessions that teach you more about the culture Amma grew up in.
Natural Living: Workshop series
There is also the “Natural Living” workshop series, which includes high-quality DIY episodes, ranging from a workshop taught by French Swamini Amritajyoti Prana, presenting tips on how to use essential oils, to a workshop taught by Meenamba, who has led the great Amrita Upcycling project in Amritapuri since many years. Meenamba teaches how to make practical tote bags from recycled plastics, and much more. Our dear Tanmayi, from Amrita Virtual Academy, shares more about the “Natural Living” series in a blog she wrote while testing an episode. You can read about her experience here.
In the end, what I really enjoyed about the Nature and Garden content, is the mix of spiritual teachings and the practical application through different workshops and sessions that carry Amma’s way and message so well… high spirit, but feet on the ground!
What I want to mention also, is the valuable course about one of the foundations of our life: soil. In “Soul of the Soil”, Seetala and Chandrika teach on growing more organic food with less work by harnessing the power of microbiology. Learn to use current research methods on regenerative agriculture combined with love and respect for Nature’s perfect interplay.
Thanks to Nistula for sharing her inspiring experience with Amrita Virtual Academy.
We encourage you to join the Earth Day Retreat 2025 here. It is going to be a beautiful retreat about The Five Mothers of Ancient India. The retreat is part of the AVA Membership. As an Amrita Virtual Academy member, you have access to more than 80 different courses and retreats in different fields. Discover more about the AVA Membership here. Or sign-up here.
In December 2022, I began taking music instrument classes from Amrita Virtual Academy, starting with the ganjira. In February 2024, I also started learning kaimani. Both classes have had a strong impact on my life, my path and my sadhana. They have given me access to a practice that has sent its roots deep into many areas of my life.
The classes have helped connect me to other spiritual seekers in a beautiful way. They have challenged me to expand at multiple levels and shown me that it is most important that my actions be connected to love. They have also shown me that Amma is very much with me, that her plans are often surprising, and that her work is deep and constant. I feel very lucky to find myself in these classes. I would not have predicted that I would do something like this.
In this first blog post, I would like to tell the story about how, by Amma’s Grace, I started to attend these classes, beginning with the ganjira, and how I found my ganjira teacher, Br. Vipin.
The story begins in Amma’s Ashram Amritapuri….
The first time I remember hearing a ganjira was in the Kali temple at Amritapuri. It was in the fall of 2022 on my first trip to India. Every morning, women gather for archana in the Kali temple. The 1000 Names of the Divine Mother are followed by the Sri Mahisausuramardini Stotram – a chant depicting an epic battle where the Divine Mother in the form of Durga slays various demons. Normally, there are no instruments played during the chanting but one day, the woman who was leading the chant played the ganjira.
This changed everything for me.
The stotram came to life. I became enchanted and wondered if I could learn to play that instrument to bring this experience home with me.
Connecting to the ganjira back home
I am not really musical, and I had never heard a ganjira played like that before. No one I spoke to had either. The thought of my learning to play one seemed like a long shot. But as it turned out, some time after I got home, I saw lessons offered online through the Amrita Virtual Academy. So now, all I needed was the instrument.
A few weeks later, I rode with a friend to the San Ramon Ashram in California to attend satsang.
That very night, someone was playing a ganjira, in the bookstore, after bhajans. And sure enough, he was a student of Br. Vipin who teaches both in-person and online ganjira classes through Amrita Virtual Academy. We then discovered that a few ganjiras were for sale in the bookstore. We each bought one that very night.
“This is how the Amma introduced me to my teacher and to my instrument.“
But that is not the end of her grace.
The online classes
Now that I had my own ganjira, I quickly signed up for the online class. The class is detailed and starts with a comprehensive lesson on how to approach the instrument, how to hold it, and how to respect it.
Br. Vipin introduces a few basic beats (or rhythms) used in Indian music which we are encouraged to practice with a metronome. Then step by step, beat by beat, the classes add something new each time. Each section of the course is followed by an invitation to connect with Br. Vipin and submit a sample of our homework in video format. Br. Vipin then responds with encouraging words and clear and precise recommendations for improvement.
At the beginning, my playing was a bit stiff, my timing was off, and in some ways, not strong. Despite this, we—the ganjira and I—would practice and play together. If I found an exercise too challenging to do on my own with the metronome. I would just set a 20 minute timer and play along with Br. Vipin and the demonstration videos, until it felt natural to me.
Returning to Amritapuri
In September 2023, I returned to Amritapuri where I was able to meet Br. Vipin in person and take in-person lessons. During our first lesson at the beach, he mentioned that this day was Ganesh Chaturthi (celebration of the birth of Lord Ganesh) and that a group of young people would be playing bhajans as part of the Ganesh puja at the Kalari (the space where Amma first started to give darshan and where the fire ceremonies are now held). He invited me to join them. It turned out to be a wonderful experience—very vibrant, fun and dynamic. This opened up to other opportunities for me to play along with others.
There is a video from the Ganesh Chaturthi 2023. You can see it here.
Shortly after Ganesh Chaturthi, during Onam (the harvest festival of Kerala where the relationship between man and Nature and human beings and God, is celebrated—read more here), I was able to hear first-hand other forms of percussion that are found in Kerala. This helped to give me a context for what I was trying to create with the ganjira.
“As we continued our in-person lessons, Br. Vipin helped refine my playing. He stressed that the purpose of playing is a meditation—a way to come closer to God, to bring the name of God to others, and to multiply the blessings of what we have received.“
The ganjira as part of my spiritual path
Br. Vipin also gave tips to help me reduce my tension by encouraging me to slow down, relax, be in the moment and to play naturally. Through these suggestions, as well as through the focus on playing as a meditation, he wove ganjira playing into my spiritual path.
In Napa Valley, California (also known as wine country) people talk about “terroir”, a way of referring to the unique, recognizable qualities that a specific soil of an area offers to a grape, and later to the wine it produces. Being immersed in the rhythms of Amritapuri and the surrounding area, I was able to feel that terroir of the rhythms of the Ganjira. I could hear them echoing from their origin.
Recognizing this instrument as a form of Amma’s love has helped me to keep practicing. Every now and then, I hear something lovely in my playing—it feels like a kind of grace, an attunement with the beauty contained within all things. This has become my meditation practice.
Try out the Ganjira Course with Brahmachari Vipin, here.
Amrita Virtual Academy offers a wide range of musical classes, from singing to learning different instruments. See more here.
As a Amrita Virtual Academy member you have access to more than 60 different courses in different fields. Discover more about the AVA Membership here, and join.
During the coronavirus pandemic, we began offering online music classes. Before, I only taught the Ganjira in person, and only at Amritapuri. Many students were eager to learn, but some could only visit the ashram for one or two weeks and so did not have enough time to delve deep into their studies or take many lessons.
Since people couldn’t come to Amritapuri at all during the pandemic, we began to conduct Ganjira classes online through Amrita Virtual Academy, with great benefit. As learning an instrument can take some time, students could progress from home at their own pace through a large variety of rhythms and beats. They could submit video assignments or join us for live sessions according to their own schedules. It was really inspiring to connect over Zoom and offer feedback and encouragement. Our students are so sincere and dedicated. Here is some feedback from one of our Ganjira students from Spain named Sridevi:
I have just finished the first Ganjira (Headed Tambourine) course and I want to share my experience with you.
As a whole, it has been a blessing, as are all of the ways Amma gives us to grow and become closer to ourselves. I would not say that learning a new instrument has always been easy for me, but the whole time I felt I was in the best company possible. During the classes I felt very well cared for — guided through all of the hurdles and gently brought out of any potholes on the road of learning.
I had never learned how to play any other instrument before I started the Ganjira course at Amrita Virtual Academy — a virtual holy space inspired by Amma. Because of this my progress felt slow, but the effort was worth it to grow closer to Amma’s teachings and the feelings of inner spiritual presence this musical sadhana offers.
Learning an instrument is a very easy and sweet way to keep your mind on God all day, because you go so deep into the lesson that you can spend a great part of the day delving into the bhajan you are studying that week. It also helps us become oblivious to any toxic atmospheres we may be subjected to in our day-to-day lives. Bhajans are a great inner companion — always offering positive thoughts and vibrations — in contrast with what we sometimes have to hear when living in the world. Immersing ourselves in bhajans is like wearing a shield!
Devotional practices are always sweet, even from the beginning. However, trying to learn something new can be frustrating at times, and that is a great time to practice some of the qualities Amma constantly reminds us to cultivate: patience, acceptance, will-power, perseverance, determination to continue, focus, and self-confidence. It is a very long list!
Playing takes a lot of coordination, as the left hand also plays its part in making the music! One hand (the right) strikes the Ganjira, while the other hand (the left), helps tune and adjust the quality of the sound. I’m so grateful for this excellent step-by-step course, which helped me make strong progress in learning this instrument.
I’m sure that anyone with an interest in learning the Ganjira will really enjoy this course, and soon be joyfully playing along with Amma’s bhajans. May the grace of the divine be with you all in your musical inner journey! May the Divine Mother bless us all with her presence within every time we pick up our instruments.
Om Namah Shivaya! Sridevi
It really brightens my heart to hear such beautiful thoughts from this student, who obviously has been studying hard while connecting with the depths and deep benefits available from the gangira and other instruments we teach at Amrita Virtual Academy.
We are so grateful to all our students who have helped AVA come to life. It has been a beautiful few years together. We look forward to further learning and growing together. If you have any questions about the Ganjira, please contact us at support@amritavirtualacademy.com.
