Ammu - The Legend

Who is Ammu? Child, angel or fantasy? Why did she come into this world? Why did she quit so early? Was there a purpose and reason for her coming and her leaving? These are questions, which each one of us might have posed regarding our own lives. Is there a specific need for our existence? Is there a valid reason why we are propelled into this world at one particular moment in space and time and are forced to leave as suddenly at another particular moment?

Ammu's story is one that will pull at the heartstrings of anyone who reads it. The purpose of her life is so deep that it gives a reason for the purpose of human life as well.

A beautiful child who hardly lived any life. While living she touched a lot of lives quite positively. She brought happiness and smiles to so many faces and spread unconditional love which was quite unfathomable to many conditoned lives around. The turck around the the bend that took her life- was it the end of a life - or begining of a purpose. On Aug 23, 2000 around 10.30AM, AMMU left the world further to a truck accident. While the whole sea of relatives stood helpless she left the earth leaving a big vacuum in the minds of many.

The Ammu story......... Was this the end? Was this the beginning?

Can God demand the sacrifice of a beloved child? In the Old Testament, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son. The father attempts to make this supreme sacrifice, which in turn brings great benefit to the Jews. Christ Himself, the only begotten son of the Father was crucified on the cross so that mankind could be saved. Without the crucifixion there would be no Christianity.

When a mother brings the dead body of her child to the Buddha and asks him to revive him, the Master replied. "If you can bring me a grain of rice from the house of any family where no death has occurred, I will revive your son for you."The poor distraught woman ran from house to house imploring someone to tell her that there had been no death in their house. At last she was forced to return with the news that she had drawn a blank at every house. And the Buddha looked compassionately at her and said, "My daughter, death is the constant companion of every life. Fear not something that is inevitable. Seek that which is constant.

Valmiki says that out of shoka comes sloka. Poetry, creation arises out of sorrow! The whole of the Ramayana was inspired by the sorrow felt by the poet at the sight of a bird whose mate had been killed by a careless hunter's cruel arrow.

The Greeks were masters in the art of tragedy. They said that all tragedy brought about a catharsis in the human mind, which in turn gave birth to happenings.So also the whole

inspiration for the creation of "Ammu Care" comes from the sorrow of a father at the death of his beloved daughter, so brutally slaughtered beneath the wheels of an unknown truck.

One begins to wonder if there is a deep purpose in every apparently bizarre and brutal incident in life. Is there a purpose and plan in this apparently insane world in which we live? What is the purpose of human life? What is the need for human death? Does God fulfill Himself through the horrifying as well as the sanctifying incidents of life? These are questions, which must surely perplex the minds of all contemplative souls. The Ammu incident shows us that there is indeed a deep purpose and plan in every apparent haphazard incident.

Out of Arjuna's sorrow (Vishada) in the first chapter of the Sreemad Bhagavad Gita, the immortal advice of the Gita was given, which has inspired all the generations that followed. So also from the depths of the sorrow felt by a father, the magnificent plan of "Ammu Care" has developed which will no doubt prove to be of immense help to countless people all over the world. May the Gitacharya Himself take the reins of this project into His capable hands and guide the management with as much dexterity as He guided Arjuna's chariot through the gory battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Mata Devi Vanamali,
Tapovan, Rishikesh, Himalayas