Namah shivaya

I  wanted to share with you all an interesting conversation I had with one of our First year ECE students this evening. His name is Anand. Some of you may be able to relate to it. I have heard innumerable such stories over the past 17 years since meeting Amma, but coming from our own student, related in such an innocent style, I had to share this with you.

I was walking along the  grounds under the huge pandal this evening, when this boy came up to me.  He wanted to know where the food serving counters are going to be for tomorrow’s mega birthday event. I pointed  out to him the possible places and asked him whether he was enjoying the event and whether he was glad he stayed back for the birthday, unlike many of his classmates who ran away home.
He replied “Of course sir, this is so thrilling. I had heard of the earlier Amritavarsham event in 2003 …. The first time I met Amma was also in a very big event- the brahmasthanam festival in cochin 2006”.

So I said “Oh, you met Amma in 2006?”

“Yes Sir” He replied  “I met Amma in 2006, but have been a devotee since 2000 itself”.

“Really?” I asked him “How come you were a devotee for 6 years without seeing Her?”

“The circumstances of my life  were like that sir” he replied.

And then he proceeded to tell me his story:

“Sir, Amma saved my life ” he continued. “I was extremely sick with a combined cerebral encephalitis and spinal meningitis. The doctors had given up hope and I was in a coma for several days ….    I was initially down with a high fever .. My parents gave me some paracetamol thinking that it was a normal fever. But the fever continued, and they admitted me into the city hospital.
The doctor there also could not diagnose what it was, and gave me some more paracetamol injections. My blood test showed an ESR count of 72! ( the normal is supposed to be  around 15, and if you have an infection it goes to 30 or so.. 72 is dangerously high!) But still the doctor couldn’t diagnose what was wrong with me.

“Meanwhile I was getting delirious and slipping into a coma …. My parents had just heard of AIMS, started by Amma whom they had never met.  The doctor in the city hospital recommended that they take me to AIMS, as it was a  super specialty hospital, but he warned my parents that there was very little hope.

As a last resort, my desperate parents took me to AIMS. There there was one Dr.Subramaniam, and team who conducted some tests. He took some serum from my brain and spine, and came back with the worst possible diagnosis-  I had both cerebral encephalitis and spinal meningitis. Both my brain and spine were almost gone, and there was very little hope. I was in a coma at that time.

He told my parents that there was literally no hope left, and that even if by some miracle, I survive, I would mostly  end up being paralyzed or like a vegetable with no memory, speech, cognition etc.

He told my father that the only hope was Amma. Other than some miraculous intervention, there was no hope. My father , who up till that point, had never met Amma or heard much of Her, out of sheer desperation started praying to Her.

…. well, my fever started subsiding .and i started improving. My father would sit next to me and ask me questions “What is your mothers name? do you remember me ?” etc etc .. in an attempt to get through to me and try  to see if I would return to my senses.

One day, he again asked me ” What is your mother’s name “.. to which  i didnt reply .. then he asked me some more questions and again he asked me , trying one more time  “What is your mothers name ?”

I suddenly replied “Gita “…. my father’s eyes overflowed with tears of joy.. the doctor came running and told him that surely there was hope now… and I came back to  normal….

For my parents and me, it is clear that it was Amma who saved my life.. After this , I have written 7 books and poems , he said.”One of my books was appreciated by Dr.Adbul Kalaam, and another was  recommended by the Indian society of letters”.

Hearing this narrative from the student, I was quite stunned. He has come back from a coma, and written 7 books!  And received a letter of appreciation from Dr.APJ!!

“Wow” I said.. and  asked him if I could share his story with other people, and he readily agreed.

And then I asked him something to which his answer  blew me away:

“Did you dedicate your books to Amma ?” I asked him.

To which he replied with a sweet smile :

“SIR, MY WHOLE LIFE IS DEDICATED TO HER!!!! “.

– Bala

25 sep 2009