Love of power takes away our power of love

23-24 February 2007—Sri Lanka Two years after the tsunami, almost all of the relief work Amma pledged to do has been done, or is well under way. In Kerala and in Tamil Nadu, those who lost their homes are living in new ones. A brahmachari is stationed in Andaman and Nicobar and will be there till the work is complete.

On the invitation of His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse to inaugurate the 100 houses which were built by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Amma left Amritapuri for Sri Lanka on the 22nd of February, only 48 hours before she had to depart for her North Indian Tour.

The next day, she arrived at Temple Trees, the Sri Lankan Presidential Palace in Colombo. Amma was welcomed by Maheswari Velayudhan, the Secretary to the President. In her speech, the Secretary expressed her profound gratitude to Amma, on behalf of the Government and people of Sri Lanka, for the assistance provided by the M.A. Math in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

In her speech, Amma said that she was very grateful for having been given the opportunity to serve the people of Sri Lanka.

 H.E. the President of Sri Lanka had a private meeting with Amma.

Later in the evening, there was a reception for the ministers of the Government, the devotees who had worked tirelessly to build the houses, and the housing recipients themselves. In her talk, Amma reiterated her gratitude to the country, its people and its President for this opportunity to serve the victims of the tsunami. She added, "Amma is immensely sad about the present warlike situation in this country. Amma prays to the Supreme that peace comes to this country." Later in the talk, she commented, "Our love of power takes away our power of love. Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country, rich in resources, and with such strong, beautiful, good-natured and courageous people. If the present situation in this country changes, it would be like gold becoming fragrant. May the Supreme shed his grace on this country so it experiences peace and harmony very soon."

After her satsang, Amma then personally distributed the keys of the houses to the tsunami victims, and then gave darshan for several hours. It was the first-time darshan for almost everyone there. At the end of the darshan, she sang the bhajan Ishwar Tumhi, in Sinhalese. The next day Amma, among so many other things the world's expert on time management, returned to Amritapuri with just hours to go before she had to depart for her 2007 North Indian Tour.

—Sree