The journey of the Divine Mother
By Dr. Chandradevi Kamalanathan

"When the ethnic riots started in Sri Lanka, in 1983, I was living in Poobalakrishna Ashram, Swamiji's first Ashram in Matale. The Ashram was situated at the foot of a small hill, on the road to Kandy. It consisted of a big hall for religious activities, Swamiji's building and, a little higher up, the orphans' building with an attached kitchen. Our Ashram was small but beautiful, surrounded by trees and flowering bushes. At that time we had two statues which had been materialized by Swamiji. One of Krishna and one of Bhuvaneshwari. He had made them respectively in 1978 and 1981 and they were always kept in Swamiji's room and not in the prayer hall. Whenever Swamiji would visit his devotees' houses he used to take Krishna with him but Amman, the Divine Mother, always remained in his room.

My close association with Amman happened unexpectedly on 3 rd July 1983. I was with the children when suddenly I heard several explosions nearby. After a few seconds, I saw that the children's roof was burning. During previous days extreme tension prevailed between the Tamil and Sinhala communities and I immediately understood that we were being attacked. We all ran to Swamiji's house for safety. Hand made bombs were exploding all over the place and we were frightened. An old man passed by and advised us to stay all together under the big neem tree.

Near the temple there was a big hall used for marriages. Swamiji had arranged that we could all get food. People were about to serve our meals when we heard the sound of breaking glass. This was another attack. We rushed back to the temple and locked ourselves inside. We were all imploring Mother for Her grace and protection. Some tear gas bombs were flying inside the temple through the open roof. It was full of smoke and we were terribly scared. All started to run towards the back side of the temple where a door opened to a jasmine garden. My husband, Kamalanathan, (now Swami Kamalananda) and I were trying to persuade one man to get up from his seat. He did not want to leave because he had lost hope. Swami Kamalananda had taken the big Krishna statue from the Ashram hall and he couldn't carry it anymore because it was too heavy. A temple priest took it and locked it in a safe place. All insisted that I should also leave Amman and Krishna statues but I had not the heart to do so and I was determined to carry them whatever happened. We hid in the jasmine garden. Suddenly we saw that the Amman temple chariot and our Ashram van, parked very near, were on fire. We were really shocked! How could they burn Amman's chariot? The temple elephant started trumpeting and believe it or not, I saw it crying. The elephant tried to break its chains and we were so much absorbed by this scene that we did not notice that all had moved from the garden. We did not know where they had gone. Luckily one of the temple priests saw us and sent us to a Muslim college behind the garden. The people there took care of us and, during the following weeks, that college became a refugee camp.

I kept Amman and Krishna very carefully in my bag and whatever I did, wherever I went, I would carry them with me. During the night I would keep the bag under my head, as a pillow, so that no one could steal them.We stayed in the camp for one month. Because I am a doctor, I used to help in the camp red cross. We had a lot of work because the riots were still going on. Swamiji was not with us and we did not know what had happened to him. We were very worried. Soon after, we received notes from him saying that he was safe and that he was making arrangements to send us to Puliyankulam, another branch of the Ashram near Jaffna. We arrived there one month later. There was not enough accommodation for all (with the children we were nearly 150 people) and most of us spent the rainy season living under cloth tents. Our living conditions were difficult, especially at the beginning. Sometimes we did not have enough food to feed everyone. It was amazing to observe that something would always happen to help us. At the last minute someone would send us rice and we could feed everyone. This convinced me that Swamiji and the Divine Mother were caring for us and helping us constantly. One week after our arrival, Swamiji visited us. We were so happy to see him! He also seemed very happy to see us! Still Krishna and Amman were with me. I told Swami, "Before leaving the Ashram, you told us that we could take whatever we wanted from your room… I took the Krishna and Amman statue. Can I keep them with me?" Without hesitation, Swami answered that I could keep them. I was joking and, as I really had no intention to keep them with me, I handed over Krishna and Amman to Swamiji. From then on, Swamiji did their Abishekams in his room.

The first time Swamiji went to India he took Amman with him. A little while later, he came back to Sri Lanka and asked us who wanted to go to live with him in India. I, and a few others followed him to India in Amman's company. Krishna stayed in Puliyankulam with the children, who joined us later, in 1986. The protection of the Divine Mother has always been with us during these difficult times. She saved our lives. When we were all praying to Her in Matale temple, Mother taught us that the "Muslim Mother" cannot be set apart from the "Christian Mother" or from the "Hindu Mother". Mother is One and Universal. She is taking care of us. If we have faith in Her and if we call her sincerely, in whatever form we like, She will surely answer our prayers and fulfill our wishes."

Om Prema Shanti !