Amma Consoles Victims of Varanasi Bomb Blast

March 26, 2006

Amma Consoles Victims of Varanasi Bomb Blast Bharata Yatra 2006 24 March 2006

— Benares Hindu University Hospital, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

On 7 March, the ancient city of Varanasi made worldwide headlines when

bomb blasts went off at its Sankat Mochana Hanuman Temple and railway station.

Twenty people were killed and more than 100 were injured.

On Amma's way from Lucknow to Ranchi on 23rd March, she stopped for the night

in the ancient city. Upon her arrival, devotees requested her to visit Benares

Hindu University Hospital, where 10 bomb-blast victims remained inpatients.

As hospital doctors guided Amma from room to room, tears flowed from her eyes.

Amma stood at the victims' bedsides, kissed their cheeks and offered words of

consolement to those who were conscious. But mainly she was silent.

In the intensive-care unit, Amma visited a 17-year-old boy named

Ratish Kumar. Only a few days before Amma's visit he had developed intense

internal bleeding, which the doctors were unable to stop. He was breathing only

with the help of a ventilator. Amma gently touched his feet, closed her eyes and

offered her prayers. Later she told those with her that she felt he would die

soon. The next day, Amma was sent word that in fact he had passed.

Amma spent time with inpatients hospitalized for ailments unrelated to

the blasts as well, including one man who had recently attempted suicide.

Upon Amma's instruction, the Ashram is giving each of the 10 victims Rs. 5000

to help pay for their immediate hospital expenses. She also offered further

financial assistance through the Amrita Nidhi lifetime-pension program and

offered to build houses for any victim lacking proper shelter through the Amrita

Kuteeram homes-for-the-homeless program.

—Sakshi

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