Volunteers from Embracing the World, in collaboration with the Spanish NGO, Visio Sense Fronteres recently completed a cataract eye surgery camp in Iten, Kenya. Over the course of a week the team successfully completed 235 surgeries restoring the sight to local villagers in the area.

Dr Isabel is a long-time devotee of Amma from Spain and the head of Visio Sense Fronteres. In 2008, Amma told her she should go to Kenya and do eye camps and surgeries. She has now been going all over Africa, regularly conducting camps since 2011.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate on this most recent camp in Iten, Kenya with Dr Isabel and her team. As soon as we arrived at the Iten County Referral Hospital, all the equipment and supplies were immediately set up and the cataract surgeries got underway. That afternoon itself, the team performed 19 cataract surgeries.

For the rest of the week, the team arrived at the clinic by 8am, and began reviewing the patients from the day before and then starting surgeries for the new patients by 10 am. This would continue without a break until 10 pm each night.

The team consisted of Dr Tomas and Dr Jose who were the ophthalmologists performing the eye surgeries and 2 scrub theatre assistants, Dr Laura and Nurse Ivana. Ms Leyre was the theatre coordinator and dealt with the running of the operation theatre. All of these people had taken time from their own busy lives, using their holidays to do seva for the patients of Iten.

There were local staff from Nairobi who came to help at the camp, which included nurses and helpers from Iten Hospital for the organisation of patients, translation and communication and general patient care.

Dr Isabel and another optician, Dr Rafa oversaw reviewing all the pre-selected patients from the local team. They would decide if surgery was possible. They would then put tape on each patients’ forehead above the affected eye and mark it with an ‘f’ or an ‘e’ (this was the type of machine that would need to be used) and also a number which was their place in the queue. Some patients had a ‘?’ applied which meant they needed further assessment to see if they could benefit from the surgery.

The average age of patients was over 60 years old with some in their 40’s and 50’s. Cataracts, are cloudy, opaque areas that develop in the normally clear lens inside the eye, obstructing light and resulting in blurred, hazy, or reduced vision.

Primarily a result of aging, they typically develop slowly after age 60-65 due to protein breakdown, causing symptoms like fading colours, glare, and poor night vision. Surgery is the only effective treatment. Without this surgery these people have very limited hope, with reduced mobility, inability to work and provide for their families. But after the surgery their sight is completely restored and their quality of life greatly improved.

During the surgical preparation, the team was getting ready to operate on a local 8-year-old boy. Unfortunately, he had dangerously low oxygen levels and it turns out he was suffering from pneumonia. Because of the timely diagnosis and intervention of the medical team, he was admitted to the local Emergency Room where he was treated with oxygen and IV antibiotics. We visited him on our last day and he was much better and recovering from pneumonia.

One of the youngest patients to receive the surgery was a 17-year-old named Judith. She had cataracts in both eyes which had come about due to poorly controlled diabetes. She had lost vision in 1 eye a year before and 1 eye a few months prior to the eye camp. She could only see shapes and shadows and was unable to walk without the assistance of her father. She had her left eye done one day and the second eye done the next day. After the surgeries she was able to walk unassisted. She and her father were both beyond happy that she had regained her vision.

As a nurse and a photographer my role was a mixture of both.
I was documenting everything and also spent some time scrubbed (sterile) assisting the surgeries and helping with the general patient care.

The week was full of inspiration and magic. The team who had come in service from Spain were awe-inspiring. All of them were so full of love and energy and commitment. We were working roughly 14 hours every day and everyone did it with enthusiasm and love. It was inspiring to be around such compassion and love.

This had a direct impact on the patients. At first, the patients and their families were very reserved. A mixture of fear, distrust and apprehension. The first day there were not many smiles, but by the end of the week, all the patients were smiling, laughing and hugging us and wanting photos with us all. It was such a beautiful experience to see them open up when they realised the team was there to help them.

One of the local nurses shared that during this week, he had learned from our team how to be more caring and compassionate. He said he was inspired by witnessing everyone care for his people of Iten in such a compassionate and dignified way.

Mr. Wisley Rotich, the Governor of Elgeyo Marakwet County, came to visit the camp twice that week. He was also touched to see how the dedication and compassion of the volunteers not only brought vision back to those who could not see, but also smiles to their faces.

Someone once told me, that when Amma visited Africa, she remarked that she didn’t want to leave, because she felt there was so much poverty there … so much opportunity to serve with love the people who have so much suffering. Upon departing at the end of the camp, I fully understood Amma’s words and I felt the same way. I hope I am blessed to be able to return in the future and do more seva there.

-Kirti Collyer

see more photos..

but yesterday was different. while i was assisting amma during mantra initiation, i sensed the rumours are true. after the mantra, amma stepped down from the peetham and the stage doors were closed.

the news spread quickly across the ashram. the hall filled up. people waited in silence, anticipation thick in the air. a completely different vibration.

after few minutes the doors opened.

amma was seated on the peetham in a red sari and blouse with yellow and golden designs, a crown on her head, malas adorning her neck. eyes closed. hands full with flowers. the hall froze. utter silence.

yes. devi bhava.!!!

goosebumps. tears rolled down the cheek.

mantras were chanted. arati was done. the family started performing the pada puja, were in tears. they themselves were unsure if amma would accept their prayer, if she would appear in silk sari and crown before them.

there were two padapujas. because of the first family even the second family got the chance to do theirs in devi bhava.

in amritapuri, amma has not performed devi bhava for the last 17 years. children born after the 2004 tsunami have never seen it. most ashram children hadn’t either. so when the doors opened, some were thrilled, some cried, some trembled, few couldn’t contain their emotions.

the whole session lasted hardly 30 minutes. but late into the night, people kept speaking about the beauty of devi bhava and the blessing they received. today, a few told me they couldn’t sleep at all. such was the power. such was the energy.

* * *

how it happened—amma explained today, just before bhajans. the devotees doing padapuja wanted to place the crown on her head. instead of simply draping a sari over her white clothes, she had to wear it properly. that meant changing the white dress, putting on a blouse, untying her hair, and then placing the crown.
none of this was planned or intentional. amma wasn’t aiming for anything. it unfolded naturally, shaped by the prayers of the devotees.

** ** **

from now on, many will surely pray to do padapuja in devi bhava. and amma may oblige. who knows how the divine responds to the prayers of devotees.

what is special about devi bhava? nothing special really. amma only gives us a chance—to understand who she truly is… which she always is.

dhyanamrita
23 dec 2025, amritapuri

so i created an email id. started sharing small, inspiring incidents that were happening around amma during bharata yatra with some devotees.
devotees loved it.
they responded with so much gratitude.
that’s when i thought — why not start an email newsletter?

so i asked amma.
her answer surprised me.
she said — “that’s not enough. start a website.”
amma clearly said — it’s for her devotees.

start a website

i had no clue how to build a website. i didn’t even know the basics. but i was excited. curious. so i started exploring.

i found out we needed a domain and a server. so i wrote to swami paramatmananda at the sanramon center.
he replied, “dear dhyanamrita, how are you going to do this work from amritapuri where there is practically no connection to the internet?”

he was right.
internet in amritapuri meant dial-up. it took 6-8 minutes ringing and another 30-40 seconds to connect if you are lucky. 90% of the time, the connection will drop and will start dialing again. sending a single plain text email could take 40 minutes.

it was in that situation that i was planning to start webdevelopment in amritapuri. funny right?

still, i wrote back,
“i don’t know. but amma asked me. so i have to do it.”
and i started.

amritavani, the email newsletter

with help from a college staff, i created the first email newsletter.
since internet was better in AIMS, Kochi, i took all the content in a floppy drive along with all collected email ids, worked through out night, and sent it out on april 1st. {read the blog}

then we, myself priyan and remya packed up content, photos, and left for ettimadai. because there was better internet there, plus some computer-savvy support.

building the first version

i called a meeting with some staff. told them my vision. they were ready to help. gave them a deadline — “i want the website online by april 15.” they agreed.

every evening after college classes, they came. someone wrote html code. someone scanned photos. another did photoshop layouts. someone else typed content and proofread it. we worked late. sometimes till sunrise.

with the converted digital content, we started creating webpages. it was in pure html and css.

we had around 20 index pages to create for different sections — each with a different layout and design. so much was amma’s work. it was impossible to contain them in few pages.

some nights, the staffs were too tired due to the work of their class rooms. but they all worked enthusiastically. i got a special tea and snacks arranged for them.
one guy was very lazy. he would promise, but rarely show up — i used to go to his house, wake him up, and drag him to the computer lab. one day, i had to go to his house. knocked on the door. his wife opened the door. despited repeatedly calling him, i had to pour water on him, lifting his blanket. it was fun. then he woud work through out the night. no one had laptops back then. we had to work in the computer lab after college hours, make use of the facility and get our work done.

the date was approaching… i was pressurising them to finish the pages. web pages were not ready yet. i had another meeeting with them. reminded about the dead line. all of them were of the opininon it cant be finished before april 15th.

“no” i said, “i want this to go onlline… on april 15th.”
what to do now?
“with the available index pages we will create 20 pages and announce the website. let us keep updating the posts.” i suggested. all agreed.

by that time we got a domain registred, www.amritapuri.org. nowadays this happens in minutes. but it was not like that back then.

another problem was to get a feseable server to host. negotiation was going on. unfortunately it would not be available before april 15!
what to do? i want the site to be up.

sreevalsan came with an idea to create a folder amritpauri and temporarily host it on the university server. i agreed. we pointed the dns to this folder. on 15 april 2000, vishu day, — the site was up and live. first target achieved.

back to amritapuri — the real test

three days later, we moved to an independent server. the design and content updates continued daily. this went on for about three months.

then me, priyan and remya came back to amritapuri. and now the real work began. in ettimadai, i had support staff. in amritapuri, i had to do it all by myself. it was very tough.

i started learning everything — html, css, basic photoshop, image compression, ftp, ssh and more. over time, i learned over 20 different programs at that time.

internet was still painfully slow. i have to make sure that every image had to be less than 5kb. the upload was happening. navigating via the terminal window to upload to the correct folder was always a headache. if you uploaded to the wrong folder, the image wouldn’t show on the html pages. that too after hours of internet tapas. frustration was constant.

“thought of the moment”

i’d like to share an interesting moment from those days.
one feature i wanted on the ‘mother page’ was called “thought of the moment.” each time someone refreshed the page, a new quote from amma would appear. but there was a technical limitation — if the quote was too long, it would break the html layout. once in a while the desin would fall apart. already a few hundred quotes were in the collection. what is causing the problem? what is the character limit? i need to find out.

so i started testing. uploaded quote after quote. refreshed the page hundreds of times. we had no test server at that time. everything was live. dangerous. and the net was painfully slow.

after a full week of testing, i finally figured out the exact number of characters that would fit. i uploaded the final version. refreshed the page with satisfaction. and do you know what quote appeared?

“human calculation fails in the case of god’s grace – amma.”

my tests couldn’t have been more perfect than this.

upgrades and experiments

i started using an html editor called hotmetal pro. few weeks later i found dreamweaver — and it really helped. dreams started taking shape on those pages.

later, i switched from html to php pages. learned how to create templates. but each design change meant copy-pasting everything again. 100s of pages and they are increasing day by day!

upgrades started to happen regularly.

while creating the news for the web, i needed pics that supported the writeups. the ashram photographers weren’t providing news worthy photos. i explained what i needed — but they didn’t get it.

the digital camers had just hit the market. a devotee named lakshman gifted me a camera sony cyber-shot. i could take photos by myself. now another problem. i only knew what i wanted. i didnt know about photogrphy. so started asking pro photographers. their answers didn’t help much. all of them were analog photographers. they knew very little about digital photography.
so again — i just started figuring it out by trial and error method. youtube tutorials were not availabe at that time.

cms and wordpress

it was time for a majour upgrade. the cms, content management system was getting popular. i had to learn about databases, mysql, backups backend stuff.

that’s when wordpress came. it was a blessing. in less than five minutes, one can set up a site and it will be live!!
now i need to copy all few hundred pages into the database. we migrated all content to the new system. i had already copy pasted more than 20 times by now. so this is not a big challege, i thought.

webcast in 2003

i learned about server load balancing, streaming, backups. for amma’s 50th birthday, we streamed her darshan live for 4 full days. can you believe it? it was in 2003. we set up our own streaming server, rented a server in singapore to broadcast and we made it happen. today it’s a tap on a phone.
back then, it was a massive effort.

the rise of google and social media

then came the google explosion. google changed everything about the way we use the web — search, seo, rss, indexing, ranking. then came social media — facebook, twitter, youtube. more integration. more learning. more work of integration.

mobile first

in 2012, we launched the amma app — a mobile app to connect all amma-related activities.

in recent times as smart phones became the primary, prominent device, we moved to ‘mobile-first’ design of the web. after the basic preparations, thanks to abhilash and priyan — we switched the design overnight. {read the blog }

fonding memories and gratitude

many helped build and maintain this website over the years.
santosh joseph, priyan faud, ramya kay, gitamba oshoot, sachin dante, vinay marshall, gautam harvey, abhilash schikowski, devadath jandirk veenstra, prabha dreier, janani noia, prana carpenter, mira prakfelt, bruno gaurish, vivek schaap, viveka koichi, viswanath lausti, sri pati, mahendra bhagat, anoop vijay, sreevalsan m, vinod sheshan, sundar lal, deependra dev, sujith cs, manoj kumar g, sooriakumar k, rajesh chandran, rajesh burman, bijoy sivan, ajai narendran, sushil kumar, br. atmaprakash, br. harikesh, br. ekamrita chaitanya, br. narayanamrita, br neelakandamrita, br. sravanamrita, br. srinivasa chaitanya, br viswanathamrita, unmesh vakil, anand pillai, naveen bhatt, jayashree vinod, minu anand, aneesh ms, vijaya lakshmi, super sudhakar, sudhamayi schoenmeier, michael sofroniou, ramesh kannan, jayakumar muthuswamy, pradeep achan, ramesh raghavan, narinder anand, prabhakaran, sachin vinay, br. sai ram, sankar narayanan, nithin kk — and many more.

i don’t remember all of them, but on this occasion of amritapuri.org turning 25, i remember many.
thanks and loving gratitude to each one of you.

40+ domains, one vision

today i manage more than 40 domains and subdomains. across multiple languages in indian and foreign. registered and hosted on different servers.

and it continues…

technology changes. content grows. trends come and go. the body changes. the mind changes. but through all these changes, but one thing stays the same — amma’s presence behind it all. i try to express the unexpressable, the changeless though these changes.

thank you amma for making me your tool to express your glory for your children to be ‘online with Amma’.

-swami dhyanamrita
17 April 2025, amritapuri

We have all seen beautiful images of snakes on Amma’s head, or the video of the chipmunk running up and down Amma’s arm. When you stay some time at the ashram, you will eventually notice that every night, at twilight, thousands of birds flock from all directions, flying in to the ashram from across the backwaters, all insisting to sleep only in the ashram trees. They have an entire palm tree forest to choose from, but come bedtime, they all flock here to sleep in Amma’s Divine lap.

These mysteries abound around Amma, and one such mystical experience caught my attention some years ago:

The sun was rising over the Arunachala mountain in Tiruvanamalai, and Amma was continuing her night-long darshan well into the morning. Only a smattering of people were in the field below the stage, already hiding in the shade from the hot morning sun. The open field which had once been completely full of people the night before was now empty. Most of the remaining people were gathered on and around the stage, huddled, all watching and admiring the miracle of Amma’s darshan.

As I peered up toward the stage, I saw yet one more group of beings gathering quite close to, and in fact right above, Amma on the stage: dragonflies. Curiously, hundreds of dragonflies were all flitting and fluttering in an enthusiastic clump just above the center of the stage, with what would have been a perfect view of the splendor of Amma’s radiant face after her all-night darshan.

I couldn’t help but feel that these were not mere dragonflies. Were the beings of the subtle realms so desperate to catch a glimpse of Amma’s darshan? After all, where was the pond? Where were the flowers? There certainly was one reservoir with the most fragrant flower in all the three worlds on that stage. Did the devas themselves come in disguise to see it?

Shortly after Amma’s 2020 tour to Thiruvanamalai, came the pandemic. But dragonflies did not need to practice social distancing, and I began to see a familiar whimsical sight during bhajans: like clockwork, at the start of the Arati, while Amma sat gazing out at all of us, one lone dragonfly would appear out of nowhere, flying this way and that, back and forth in front of the stage and all around Amma. This was not a single occurrence and continued for years. Even to this day, I often catch a glimpse of one lone dragonfly flitting through the bhajan hall during bhajans or Arati.

This subtle, mystical experience culminated on the auspicious morning of Amma’s birthday on the 27th of September, 2022. That morning, I decided to sit outside on the balcony to enjoy the morning sun. I sat, admiring the stretch of palm tress and the ocean, and then I began to notice: oh! A dragonfly!

Oh! Another one. And another one! My focus shifted from the ocean in the distance to the – hundreds – of dragonflies that were flying right in front of me through the air. I stood up and peered down over the balcony and saw the most breathtaking view of all: There, down below, literally directly above the roof of Amma’s house on the morning of Her birthday, were thousands of dragonflies.

Laying these words, and my awe of Amma’s immeasurable omniscience that spans all of creation, at Her Divine Lotus Feet.

-Tejaswini

On my journey with fellow students from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham to volunteer for the inauguration of Amrita Hospital in Delhi, one person caught my attention. While we were all enjoying, making conversation, and singing our hearts out on a two-day train trip, he simply admired things, clicked pictures of moments and wandered alone like a reserved traveller. He seemed more engrossed in his own world of thoughts. What fascinated our eyes didn’t seem to interest him.

There was something about him that made me want to notice him more. Even when we tried to engage him in conversations, he would simply not utter a word.

And just like what we call a miracle, there seemed to be a visible result of divine intervention.
It was the day we got darshan from Amma. Most of us were here to meet Amma for the first time and I was curious about how this person was going to answer Amma if she talks to him.

We were all taken by surprise when we saw him interacting with Amma. To this day, I wonder about how such a reticent person spontaneously asked Amma for a selfie. This moment felt more meaningful than just someone asking Amma for a photograph.

They say:

“Muukam Karoti Vaacaalam Panggum Langghayate Girim |
Yat-Krpaa Tamaham Vande Param-Aananda Maadhavam ||”

This describes the wonder of Lord Krishna, by whose mercy a mute can possess the power to articulate, and the lame to cross mountains.

This incident was about how he felt that he belonged, how he was comfortable and how his heart found the connection. What did he find in Amma that he didn’t find in anyone else? Why only Amma?

Was it Amma’s welcoming presence, her contagious smile, her warmth, or her unconditional love?
It’s always surprising how one can have a connection with Amma, regardless of age, race, religion, culture, or class. Because none of that matters and that’s the beautiful thing about connecting to the purest form of love. And when asked about his moment with Amma, his words were: “It was special!”

-G Ananya

Amma always tells us that the first quality we need to develop is shraddha, awareness. Shraddha leads us to Bhakti, pure love for God, and Bhakti ultimately leads us to Vishvasa, unshakable faith in our true Self.

When we arrived in Faridabad, I was very impressed to see so many people working very hard sometimes in dangerous places without getting hurt, even ladies carrying heavy loads and using machines. I realised that this was possible only because they had developed concentration and focus on their work.

So I started to analyze myself to see if I had such focus in my own life and realised how much I lacked shraddha in my actions: for example I would forget where I put my hat or my tooth brush, I wouldn’t pay attention while walking and would twist my ankle, or I wouldn’t listen properly to what I was told…

So, every morning I started asking Amma to help me develop concentration and awareness in my actions.
Soon I was able to get more focus and become more aware of things and beings around me. I was able to do my cleaning seva without getting hurt, and I was even able to sit for meditation next to Amma without being distracted by the other kids!

Amma said recently during meditation, when a blind man tries to walk in a new place he will have to put a lot of efforts not to stumble and fall, similarly we are all like blind people on the spiritual path and we need the help of a Sadguru to open our inner eye.

Amma’s grace is always there, all we need to do is to put the right kind of efforts instead of complaining about the situations.

I pray to Amma to help us develop awareness and perform every action with concentration and love.

Jivan, France, 10 years old

It was the last day of our 4 – day bus pilgrimage and everyone was a little fried. As we entered Delhi, our group of approximately 40 vehicles were drawing quite a bit of attention. Suddenly, I noticed people on the streets waving to us and making pranam gestures. They recognized these were Amma buses and were showing their reverence to Her. It was extremely touching. As our bus pulled onto the property and I got my first glimpse of the hospital, I gasped, my jaw dropped and my eyes welled up with tears. I could not believe what I was seeing! Words and photographs cannot capture the magnitude and scope of this project and the millions of people who will benefit from this one act of mercy and compassion.

Before we exited the bus, we were warned that the hospital site is an “active” construction zone so we must be alert and aware at all times and whatever we do, “No texting while walking!” I didn’t quite grasp the seriousness of their words until I stepped off the bus. The entire complex is being built real-time, literally right under our feet. For example, you might walk to the Western canteen for lunch on a dirt path but walk back after lunch on a brick sidewalk. It’s so beautiful to witness how many hands and hearts are involved in this project and how Amma’s love bridges all gender, cultural, racial and socio-economic gaps. She has brought her children from all over the world from different backgrounds with different skill-sets together, to serve side by side. Everyone is included and valued and therefore, the spirit of unity, camaraderie, enthusiasm, reverence and gratitude is palpable in the air.

In addition to the hospital providing medical care for her human children, Amma is also creating a much-needed nature sanctuary throughout the grounds, providing refuge for birds, insects and other animals. There are many trees being planted all over the campus. These trees are providing shade for people to gather and rest under. There are also flowers and shrubs being planted everywhere which are attracting a variety of insects and butterflies. Amma’s compassion for all beings is truly boundless!

I would be lying if I said there weren’t moments when I felt like giving up and booking the first possible flight out of here. As a westerner who has had a very comfortable and privileged life, this whole experience has been way outside of my comfort zone and stretched me beyond the limits of what I thought I could endure. I’ve never been so dirty, so tired and had to fight so hard to overcome my own mental weaknesses. By continuously chanting my mantra and laying all of my frustration and fear at Amma’s feet, she is helping me overcome my self-imposed limitations one by one and revealing to me an inner strength I never knew I had. The most priceless gift in all of this is, because of the Amrita Silent Retreats, I am able to access the silence within me in the midst of all the chaos and construction noise. For someone who has suffered with complex PTSD most of my life, this is nothing short of a miracle.

I will be eternally grateful for all of the discomfort and hardships I have faced during this pilgrimage because I am not the same person I was before we started. I am stronger, more resilient. I am not a kitten, I am Amma’s lion cub! Amma has also shown me through this experience the truth of her words, “Where there is Love, anything is effortless.”

– Diya Heal, USA

When Rama decided to build a bridge over the ocean to rescue Sita from Ravana’s clutches, the huge army of monkeys went to work carrying huge rocks for the construction. However, a small squirrel couldn’t carry such loads, so, in order to contribute to it, it rolled around in the sand, climbed onto the bridge under construction and shaked its body to drop the sand between the rocks.

That’s exactly the feeling I’ve had since we arrived here, to be this little squirrel in the middle of a gigantic work, with buildings that touch the sky, in the middle of a pharaonic construction site. I am a small bubble in the middle of this hospital which is itself a small bubble in the universe of the Divine Mother, our beloved Amma.

This is so true here, when we see the workers, men and women, hospital staff, swaminis, swamis, brahmacharinis, brahmacharis and westerners working together as nimitta matram (instruments of the Divine) to prepare for the inauguration of the hospital.

This project is a huge Yagna, and everyday, we can feel Amma infusing Her divine energy more and more into this place, making this hospital more and more sacred, ready to receive and alleviate the sufferings of the world.

It is also so obvious that this site under construction is a reflection of our own mind, also undergoing work to attain citta suddhi (purity of mind). This Yagna is going on here inside all of us at all times, burning away our negativities and bringing light and joy everywhere.

The squirrel in the Ramayana teaches us the attitude we should cultivate: service, humility, acceptance and of course, puja mano bhava (performing every action as an offering) and prasadha buddhi (accepting the outcome whatever it is). This is the perfect place and time to try to put these teachings into practice. And then tears of joy and gratitude to be part of this historical event spontaneously start to flow down our cheeks.

We are so blessed to have Amma in our lives, and the world is so blessed to have such an incarnation of the Supreme demonstrating once again through this hospital Her unconditional and infinite love for all humanity. Satakoti pranams to You Amma (millions of prostrations to You).

Jyotirup – France

Arriving at Amma’s hospital in Faridabad was an amazing sight. It was breathtaking to see the enormous grounds that stretched for miles on end. The towering buildings were unlike anything I had imagined and the air was filled with excitement. The hospital still had much work that needed to be done, and as I explored I pondered how it would all come together. It was quiet dusty and still largely a construction site.

Over one week later the hospital atmosphere has changed completely. Even after being with Amma on many tours, it never fails to amaze me how Amma’s arrival transforms any area, even a construction site into an ashram. The area, once quiet and dusty, now was filled with the hustle and bustle of Amma’s children of all ages as they sifted through debris, joyously preparing the hospital to accept patients. There are canteens, juice stalls, shops, medical facilities, etc. all erected in just the short week after Amma’s arrival.

Amma’s love and dedication transforms all that she touches. Amma always says where there is love there is no effort needed. Amma’s second hospital serves as an example of her tireless dedication to the upliftment of the world. As each year passes, Amma seems to be able to accomplish more and more. One would think this effort would grow increasingly difficult with each passing year, but Amma shows what it truly means to love.

-Shivesh, USA