[Tavern-Talk] AMARTITHI VOLUNTEERS

[Tavern-Talk]

AMARTITHI VOLUNTEERS

29th January 2008, Meherabad:

Amartithi is almost upon us. Officially the program begins tomorrow, 
January 30th, with a musical rendering of the Parvardigar prayer in 
Hindi by the Ahmednagar Centre. But for many Baba lovers, especially 
from the various Baba centres throughout India, the Amartithi 
programme began yesterday, three in the afternoon, with a meeting of 
the Amartithi volunteers in the large veranda on the backside of 
Hostel D in outer Meherabad.

Though probably most Amartithi pilgrims and day visitors are unaware 
of it, Amartithi as a large-scale public event depends in large 
measure on its volunteer programme, an annual triumph of 
coordination, dedication, and hard work. Most of the volunteers 
travel to Meherabad from afar, often by overnight train trips of 
twelve or eighteen or twenty-four hours from coastal Andhra or 
Hamirpur or Delhi or Bangalore. Most volunteers, again, have to take 
a five or six day leave from work; and while at Meherabad, instead of 
just basking in Baba's presence as some of us do, they divide their 
time between pilgrimage and volunteer duties.

Yet despite the sacrifices that the job entails, this year's tally 
boasts about 885 men and women, most of whom, together with their 
twenty-five to thirty group heads, were gathered in Hostel D 
yesterday for the introductory session presided over by trustees Jal 
Dastur and Shridhar Kelkar. This annual meeting always focuses on 
practical details - the five-day Amartithi schedule, the importance 
of wearing badges when exiting and reentering pilgrim tents, 
management of luggage, curfew, the organization of the Samadhi 
detail. Increasingly public events at Meherabad take place on a 
multilingual basis; and in yesterday's meeting Jal and Shridhar's 
explanations and exhortations in English were translated into Hindi 
and Telugu. Yet what most impressed me was how little needed to be 
said. Obviously the job assignments and their timings had largely 
been worked out within the groups before Amartithi, and the 
volunteers already knew what they needed to do before they came.

The last few nights have been exceptionally chilly by Ahmednagar 
standards; yet despite this, a morning sun after breakfast saw many 
little platoons of volunteers fanning out across the Trust estate on 
their various assignments. By mid-morning a small army had gathered 
on the Hill, where a thousand tarpaulins had to be spread as flooring 
under the large pandal that extends from the Samadhi down to the 
amphitheater. By tomorrow afternoon this pandal will have been 
transformed into the hub of a little city, the center and focus of 
which is, for forty-eight hours, the Samadhi itself.

----

2nd February 2008, Meherabad:

The crowds have come and gone, the buses and trains and jeeps have 
carried thousands away, and yet this morning there is still a long 
line for darshan at the Tomb. Many of those in the queue are wearing 
volunteer badges. For these volunteers, this might be their first 
chance for darshan since Amartithi began, although they may have been 
on the Hill the whole time, helping with the darshan line, giving 
water to pilgrims in the queue, acting as security guards around the 
Hill or in the parking lots, or perhaps cleaning the toilets at the 
back.

The sight of this morning's quiet crowd, patiently waiting their turn 
for a few seconds in the Tomb, recalls to mind that Baba often gave a 
special darshan for the volunteers at the end of His mass darshan 
programmes.

May His Love inspire these lovers to come again next year and to make 
the most of the precious chance to offer service to their Beloved at 
Amartithi.

--------

== Ward Parks
for Tavern Talk
4 February 2008

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Tavern Talk is the electronic newsletter of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust
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