Author?

[Guest guest]

This was written by someone named Sakshi. The Fairfield Satsang might like

to reprint it in the "Our Mother of Grace" book we put out every summer.

Does someone know who Sakshi is so that we may contact him/her for

permission?

 

When Amma "Adopts" a Village

February 13, 2005

Samanthampettai, Nagore,

India

 

When a child is hurt sometimes he doesn't cry� until he sees his mother.

However many tears the men and women of Samanthampettai had been holding

back, they all seemed to come to the surface this week when their Amma came

to check on them. Though they had never seen her before or read her

biography, they seemed to know her to be their own the moment they looked

into her eyes?unhesitatingly rushing forward to experience the asylum of her

arms.

 

In two days, Amma visited eight villages in the districts of Nagapattinam,

Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal, Pondicherry. In Samanthampettai, a village in

Nagapattinam that Amma has adopted, Amma walked door-to-door, entering the

families' living quarters and listening to their heartbreaking tales. The

Ashram has already constructed 100 temporary shelters in Nagapattinam and is

in the process of constructing 1,700 permanent homes in three villages.

However, as Amma made her way through Samanthampettai, she made it clear

that her idea of "adopting a village" is more than the reconstruction of

houses.

 

 

In the first shelter, there was a boy who'd been feeling poorly ever since

the tsunami. He had been treated, but had yet to regain his vigour. Amma

told the mother that she felt he had some internal injury and that he should

be taken to AIMS (Amrita Institute of Medical Science's super-specialty

hospital in Cochin.) Amma told one of the brahmacharis to write a letter of

explanation for the mother and to arrange bus fare for her and the boy.

 

In the next house were two small children?a boy of about six and a girl of

about four whose mother had died. Amma held the boy so close to her, looking

deeply into his eyes and telling him, "Your mother is not dead. She is still

there. The Atman is eternal. Be sure to study well; that will make her

happy." The girl is too young to comprehend her mother's death. "Mom went to

the sea," she tells Amma.

 

In the next house are a young woman and an old man. The woman tells Amma

that her husband died. "Pray for the uplift of his soul," Amma tells her, as

she wipes her tears. The woman nods in promise. "Only because you are

giving, do we have food," she tells Amma as she falls into her arms.

 

At another house, Amma speaks with a mother whose two children were pulled

from her arms by the powerful waters of the sea. Amma learns that she has

had her "tubes tied" and can no longer have children. Amma tells the woman

and her husband that the Ashram will pay for them to go to AIMS where she

can have reverse-canal surgery so that they can once again have children.

 

In the next shelter, there are a mother and father whose children were

playing at the beach when the tsunami came. They were all lost. Amma pulls

the parents to her chest, and they break down in tears. She tells them to

pray for their little ones.

 

A few houses down the road, Amma speaks with Vanita and Balachandran, a

sister and her younger brother whose parents are now dead. "Shall I take you

to Kerala and give you a job there?" Amma asks the girl upon learning that

she has only studied up to the 5th standard. The girl agrees. "If you don't

like the job in Cochin, Amma will give you a job in a school in Madras,

okay?" Amma then tells the boy he can come along with his sister.

 

Another house finds a young mother, Punitavati, holding an infant

girl?"Amrita Devi." Amma takes the child into crook of her arm as Punitavati

tells her story. She was in her final week of pregnancy when the tsunami

destroyed her home. Upon finding Punitavati in such a hapless and expectant

state, the brahmacharis (renunciates) arranged for her stay at a local

hospital until she delivered the baby. The doctors there told Punitavati

that if she hadn't had been admitted, there was a strong possibility she

would have died in labour due to a complication in her delivery.

 

In the next house, Amma consoles a mother and father over the death of their

child?the candles lit before the child's photograph on an altar glowing in

the background.

 

In the next house, another child is dead.

 

A grandmother�

 

In the next, another child�

 

The next, four children�

 

Son died�

 

Six-months pregnant daughter died�

 

 

Bhagyavati also has had her tubes tied. Again Amma tells the woman she can

have her surgery reversed for free if she wishes at the Ashram's hospital in

Cochin.

 

In the next house, a mother tells Amma that her son is now afraid to sleep

at night. He was at the beach when the waves came, playing with his friends.

They were all washed away. Only the boy survived?rescued by someone who saw

him holding his hand above the water. "Don't be afraid," Amma tells him as

she takes him into her arms. "Mother Sea won't betray you."

 

A little way down the path, Amma comes to a shelter housing two brothers and

sisters, each pair of which have lost their parents. "Would you like to come

and work in Cochin?" Amma asks them?

 

In the next house is a boy of about six with one of his legs wrapped in a

plaster cast. Amma lifts him into her arms and holds him there as she speaks

to his mother. "Amma doesn't feel this cast was done properly," she says.

"You should send him straight to AIMS. This swami will give you a letter and

arrange your bus fare." Then to the boy: "When you see the water, don't be

afraid. The sea is our mother."

 

 

In the next house is a father holding a two-year-old boy. His wife is dead.

The child is traumatised, acting insane. He won't leave his father's arms,

even to take a candy from Amma. Looking at the man, one can see he is doing

all he can to hold it together. Amma strokes his arm lovingly. "Take the boy

to where other children are playing," She tells him. "When he sees them

playing for some time, he will change. He may even forget everything."

 

When Amma adopts a village, she gives the people there everything she

possibly can: food, shelter, medicine, education, jobs, love.

 

The villagers of Samanthampettai were both excited and in tears. They

thanked Amma for coming and blessing their village. Amma told them, "There

is no need to thank Amma. Amma is not a guest. Amma is a member of your

family."

 

The villagers then told Amma that they wanted to rename their village after

her?"Amritakupam," or Immortal Cove. They asked Amma to unveil a placard

immortalising the event. "Amma doesn't need any board," Amma said. "Your

happiness is my board."

 

The villagers responded, "Amma, the moment we saw your face, we forget all

of our sorrows. We are all happy."

 

-- Sakshi