Amma and the farmer suicides

Have you heard of Amma? She is commonly referred to as the "hugging saint."

Unlike most babies who come screaming into the world, Amma arrived smiling on September 27, 1953 in Kerala, India.

As a child, Amma continued to beam – and show her unique approach to life. Hers lips were constantly moving in silent prayer and mantras. Or she was singing impromptu devotional songs she created at will.

At a young age, Amma felt compelled to help those less fortunate. She bathed and tended the disenfranchised elderly in her village. She fed the hungry poor. She was forever giving away items from her own lower-caste home to help those in need, much to the dismay of her family, who thought their daughter was not quite right and relegated her to completing simple domestic chores.

Amma´s brother was apoplectic when his sister began hugging others, including those of the opposite sex, which was considered a taboo. It is said that he considered stabbing his sister to stop her hugging.

These days, hugging is not a problem. It has been reported that Amma has individually hugged over 50,000 people in one day and 25 million people in three decades of service.

Around the world, people have stood in lines for hours for the grace of one of Amma´s hugs. Amma has received her petitioners for hours on end, late into the night, without pause or intermission for as long as needed. Given her desire to tend all who request a hug, Amma has been known to go 20+ hours at a stretch.

Timothy Conway, Ph.D., author of the book,Women of Power and Grace, wrote, "Just her stamina - embracing these millions of people one by one, day after day, without a break, all over the world - is some kind of divine gift. No mere human resources could accomplish this."

Amma is considered a walking embodiment of compassion and unconditional love; and her hugs are just that, embraces of love and acceptance.

Amma says, "My sole mission is to love and serve one and all."

Not only does Amma hug, Amma has, to quote the Christian Science Monitor, "spurred a host of humanitarian activities in India and elsewhere. They include charitable hospitals and hospices, free housing for the poor, a widows pension program, orphanages and schools for destitute children."

The wide reach of Amma´s heart brings to mind another arm of Amma´s charitable outreach -- the epidemic of farmer suicides in India.

I quote from Amma´s website (www.amma.org):

"Due to economic pressures leading to irresolvable debt associated with continually failing crops, many farmers have been committing suicide by drinking the very pesticides that no longer work on their crops. Especially in South India, with the growing rise of climate changes and other factors, crop failure has become more and more common causing suicide to spread like an epidemic amongst the suffering farmers. For example, in 2006 in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra alone, there were 1,044 reported suicides - one every eight hours."

That would be 3 suicides a day. That would be three families who were constantly struggling against the elements; who were knee-deep in defeat at ruined crops; and who went to bed with hopelessness and hunger. Now, these families are shattered with grief and trauma at the loss of one (sometimes two) parent(s)/spouse.

In 2007, Amma pledged massive financial relief to the hard-hit agricultural areas, but she allowed that would not be enough: "The problem cannot be solved through economic packages alone … what is needed is social and spiritual interventions so that the farmers realize that suicide is not the way out. In fact, it only further aggravates the problem for the families."

Amma, then, did her magic. She spearheaded counseling and education programs, and created scholarships for tens of thousands of farmers´ children who live below the poverty line. She also established vocational training for thousands of women, many of whom are wives who inherited farm debt from their deceased husbands. Amma is committed to decreasing the risk factors for suicide in this and following generations.

However, there remains the GMO and pesticide factor as detailed on www.amma.org:

"Currently many non-organic, commercial foods are genetically modified. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) present a profound danger to humans as well as the ecosystem. Many species of animals, such as the monarch butterflies are becoming extinct due to the GMOs. For vegetarians, GMOs pose another problem, as they are frequently spliced from animal DNA. It is hypothesized by many experts that the GMO food will eventually even alter human DNA. As GMOs are a recent creation their long term effects are unknown.

In India and other developing nations, western based GMO / pesticide companies are aggressively promoting extremely heavy use of chemicals for farming. This is leading to serious depletion of soil and contamination of the water. Many insects are developing stronger resistance to pesticides and sometimes even huge amounts of chemical are ineffective. ….many farmers have little or no yield, year after year."

Amma suggests we support organic farmers. And her point is well taken; whatever chemicals or other toxicities we put into our earth and waters will ultimately make their way into our physical systems – and with great alacrity -- given the shrinking of the global village.

Like the rock tossed into the pond, the ripple effects of both the heartaches and the recovery efforts will continue to undulate throughout generations.

copyright 2008 by Adele Ryan McDowell