Pics by Rons Bantwal (SS)
Inputs from Times of India
Mumbai, Mar 19: When Mata Amritanandamayi (54) announced a Rs 200 cr plan to check suicide by the farmers of Maharashtra and Kerala, the mandarins of Mantralaya wondered how this primary school dropout was going to raise the funds.
But in the minds of lakhs of her devotees, there was not a shadow of doubt that she would indeed fulfil her promise. Said a devotee ESK Nair, "her track record was there for all to see. She never makes an empty announcement."
On a visit to the city, Amma, as she is affectionately called by her devotees, made it a point to call on chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and be briefed about the grim situation in Vidarbha where over 2,000 cotton growers have ended their lives.
She told Deshmukh categorically: "Compared to the overall statistics, suicides by farmers may seem to be relatively small. But in absolute terms they are large and cause me deep concern. Something is amiss if these suicides continue despite the economic packages announced by the government."
When the Kutch was ravaged by an earthquake, she had over 1,200 homes built within a few months. When the coastal areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka were ravaged by the tsunami, her volunteers built a few thousand homes, gave financial help to the affected fishermen and planted one lakh casurina trees to check soil erosion.
When hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the U.S. she donated a few lakh dollars towards relief activities. A large super speciality hospital in Kochi, a deemed university in Coimbatore and scores of year-round social welfare activities mark the activities of the Math founded by her.
Over the years, a few thousand crore rupees have been spent on these activities. The source of funds is essentially donations by devotees.
The USP of this spiritual leader from Kerala is her ability to feel the pain in others. She is called in the West "the Hugging Saint of India." In the past three decades she has hugged a record 24 million people.
An otherwise tough-hearted minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal told an audience here, barely able to keep his tears in check: "I lost my mother when I was young. But when Amma hugs me I feel the warmth of my own mother."