Mata Amritanandamayi, spiritual leader, has said that disappearance of compassionate hearts is a serious problem facing society.
She was speaking at a function organised at her ashram, Amritapuri, some 15 km from here, to celebrate her 58th birthday on Tuesday.
She said the consequences of dwindling compassion needed serious contemplation. People took pride in increasing their intellectual abilities. “But our hearts, which should be flowing like a river, is becoming like dry wells,” she said.
She said what made society beautiful was the unity of hearts. But today, whether in family or professional relationships, people were unable to communicate from the heart. “We hold many meetings, but our hearts do not meet,” she said.
The Mata said many people lived just like machines. She stressed the need for making an effort to be more compassionate. Terrorism persisted and the threat of war was rising. Natural disasters had increased. Suicides and fatal accidents were becoming common. Ego and greed were spreading like cancer in society. Every day, in many instances, human beings displayed no value for human values.
She said men were no longer the protectors of women but were instead their tormentors. If Kerala was to save itself from this situation, the State must free itself from liquor, lust, and love for money. One among the three was enough to dement the mind. “Just imagine the state of someone who finds himself in the grip of all three,” she said.
Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan presented this year's Amritakeerti Puraskar to M.P. Veerendrakumar, managing director of the Mathrubhumi daily, for his literary work Haimavathabhoovil .
Mr. Sankaranarayanan inaugurated the Amrita Santwanam home nursing programme.
In his address, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said nobody in the world had launched a project such as Amrita Santwanam to create a cadre of 10,000 home nurses for providing care to the old and sick who were not looked after by their children. He said the Mata had now become a mother to the whole world.
Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh, who inaugurated a free online tuition programme of Amrita University, said the network of the Amrita professional institutions was impressive and the government would only be glad to help such institutions.
Union Minster of State for Power K.C. Venugopal, who presented the Amritasree Suraksha cheques and scholarships to beneficiaries, said Amritapuri had become a nerve centre for human values across the world.
N. Peethambara Kurup, MP, presented the Amrita Nidhi pension cheques to the beneficiaries.
The birthday celebrations began with a “Pada Puja” by Swami Amritaswarupananda, vice-chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math. The swami welcomed the gathering after the Mata's address.
