Tsunami - Letters for Amritapuri

Dear all,
There is so much to say about what has happened in this part of the world. I will start with the most useful for those that don't want to take the time with this email. Amma came out at the AICT, where some of us are being house after being evacuated, and Her simple message to us was to pray for the ones who have lost their lives, here in India, in Sri Lanka, in Indonesia.

In Amritapuri, we had little warning of what was to happen on the day after Christmas. It was a Devi Bhava day and Amma was giving darshan in the temple building. Thank Goddes for that because as Amma said later, if She had been giving darshan in the huge structure behind the temple, there could have been mass panic there and a stampede where people would have been injured and some could have died. As it was, by Amma's grace, practically no one at the ashram of thousands of visitors that day, was injured.

Just before lunch time, I was walking out by the Kalari and saw a devotee running towards the Kali temple. I thought, how lucky, it was a sign that something special with Amma was about to happen, as the only time I see women running around here is when Amma is coming out or is calling them to Her side. Immediately after, I saw a group of people all running towards the temple and i thought, is Amma going to do something really special, like dance? I asked one woman and she said, "a tidal wave is coming and Amma asked everyone to come inside the temple". i also ran at that point and simultaneously a rush of water came over our lower legs spreading throughout the ashram grounds. When I went in the temple, Amma was standing where She was giving darshan previously motioning for everyone to come inside the temple. People were being told to go upstairs under the green roof and pray. I saw some devotees were out in the increasingly deep water helping some of the villagers and devotees to safety. in some places, the water reached above wasteline and we knew that this was extremely serious for the villagers and their children who lived between the ashram and the ocean.

Amma left the vicinity of the Kali temple and went up the spiral staircase. The waters continued to rise. Initially, Amma was giving very strong warnings to everyone to stay up high in the buildings as She, Herself waded through the waters. Still some devotees were being brought to safety in the temple. Eventually, the waters began to recede. Amma, taking advantage of this as we had heard another wave could be on the way, stood at the bottom of the temple steps, seeing that each of Her devotees that had come for Devi Bhava were safely escorted out and to the boats to cross the backwaters and take refuge at Her schools in Vallikavu. After, the westerners, brahmacharies and bramacharinis were all safely taken into Vallikavu. Amma said She wouldn't leave until everyone, including the animals (cows and elephants) were safe. The elephants were taken to the Ayurvedic College in Vallikavu and the cows took up residence in the main area of the Kali temple.

There are many stories of Amma's compassion spreading itself through the devotees during the incident. For a long time during the flood of water devotees were out wading through the water searching for people who needed help. One devotee told me he picked up two children who were about to be overcome by the wave while playing near the ocean. Ropes were attached to the temple so people could grap hold to make their way into the safety of Amma's sanctuary.

Amma has since set up many, many refugee camps and medical care, not only for the devotees as the government asked for the evacuation of the area, but for all the thousands of villagers who were left homeless and lost loved ones in this sad incident.

I pray that we all find inspiration and strength to continue to hold tight to Amma's precious feet and to strive to serve Her in these times and always.

with love,
Valsala

Dear Dayamritaji,
I'm sure you are in contact with the ashram here but in case not I wanted to write to you quickly as we have internet access here today. Kalika and myself are unhurt as well as every one here at Mothers ashram went unharmed from the Tsunami due to Ammas grace. There is quite a lot of destruction here in the surrounding village and we know the death toll is over 125 but again no one was hurt in the ashram itself though it took quite a lot of water. Amma evacuated the ashram personally and we ended up at the computer college were we are in good spirits for the most part and trying to feed and house and help the local residents with medical aid. I have been part of the rescue efforts and have been filming all the incidents round the clock. Again, Amma and most of us are all ok, please pray for us,

with love and friendship in Amma,
Vijayan

Hi Everyone,
Well we are still in the engineering college waiting to go back to the ashram. We are housing all the people from the island who live right on the beach, entire villages, in little shacks- all their huts and houses were
swept away. These people live as close as the equivalent of one block away from the ashram. The island is several km long. The ashram is housing and feeding them all about 30 thousand people!! Some are at the college with us! They are in about 5 of our colleges and schools in the area. No one is allowed back on the island yet, perhaps tomorrow we'll be able to go.

I live on the 6th floor so none of my stuff were affected and Henry lives high up too. We have a computer room with about 15 computers I think were all destroyed.

The miracle was that 15 thousand people were in the ashram at the time and no one was hurt. Everyone on the island was evacuated , 45 thousand people including the ashram residents and visitors. 100 or so fishing people from the villages near the ashram were died in the waters...

Henry was right in the middle of it when the wave came. I was on the the third floor so I didn't experience any of it as I left the ashram when the water had already subsided in the area I was crossing. But Henry was right there.

He was outside setting up the food for lunch which we serve under a big roof and which serves as an open air auditorium in which there is a stage where devotional singing happens at dusk.

All of a sudden from the back entrance of the ashram black muddy water started pouring in. The entrance is about 2 blocks from the ocean. We have our cafe there also with a refrigerator for the cold drinks all outside. The water kept gushing in forcefully and within 10 minutes the whole ashram was under about 4 feet (1 meter and 1/2) of dark muddy water. Henry immdiately ran up on the stage and watched the whole place get flooded from there. Our cafe refrigerator and some neighbor's fridges were floating in the water that had filled up the whole auditorium.

Outside the back gate is a parking lot, and cars were floating along also, trees, chairs, tables, pots, pans etc etc. The entire interiour of cafe kitchen was being swept out of the windows and doors, tupperware, tomatoes, vegetables, freshly made loaves of bread, everything!! Sound system equipment, big speakers were all swept away found later when the waters went down on the opposite side of the ashram.

Everyone left the ashram once the water went down- which happen almost immediately, leaving behind a dark muddy mess...But another miracle, our western lunch sitting in big pots on top of the tables in the auditorium was left intact, the soup, the salad, bread and christmas cake was still standing!!! Henry was watching it, as fridges were floating by, nothing hit the tables which would have upset the big pots of 50 kg of soup which were keeping the tables steady by their weight. I quess the current wasn't strong at that point so the tables were left standing. The good news is that we all ate the lunch later brought over by boat to the engineering college on the other side of the backwaters on the mainland. Henry helped to bring the pots over. So now we are waiting to go back to the ashram. some people are already there cleaning up.

We are fine. Henry is sitting next to me just having given me a detailed account of the the rising waters. We are going into the village to buy t-shirts as we havent been able to get a change of clothes for a couple of days... We have everything food, water tea. Bye for now!!

love
Ann and Henry

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