Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 67th birthday of Amma was celebrated on September 27th exclusively as a day of global prayers for world peace. Ashram residents and devotees around the world dedicated the day to meditation, chanting of prayers and worship.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita) has been awarded a UNESCO Chair for Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development. The Chair supports the university’s mandate to strengthen sustainable development in villages across India, and Amrita will develop a comprehensive framework for academic engagement in order to do so.

AYUDH Kenya has partnered with Safaricom Foundation to distribute white canes worth more than $250,000. Safaricom is a leading communications company in Africa that works in partnership with communities to positively transform people’s lives. AYUDH is our international youth movement.

The project will see 10,000 children and youth identified by the Kenya Union of the Blind and Kenya Society for the Blind receive white canes, while the Safaricom Foundation will distribute the remaining white canes to 10,000 blind and visually impaired people identified by AYUDH Kenya.

by Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri

COVID-19 has been an eyeopener, helping us to reflect on our attitudes and actions. Many are making resolves to stop making the same mistakes - resolutions to be more loving, more compassionate and caring to both their fellow human beings as well as to Nature. But in the past century, hasn’t humanity experienced many such eye openers?

Global

From Amritapuri to Munich to Los Angeles, our volunteers have been sewing cloth masks at home to distribute in their communities. The coronavirus has driven the need for protection all the way from frontline health workers to the homeless in city streets.

At the beginning of March, Amma instructed residents in Amritapuri to wear masks, and so the tailoring department began production for the ashram and surrounding area. Next, residents at the MA Center in Germany asked for the patterns. Aparna, who is with Amritapuri’s tailoring department, quickly responded with instructions.

As of today, the coronavirus pandemic has infected nearly 14,500,000 people around the world, according to official counts. At least 605,000 people have died, and the virus has been detected in nearly every country.

Amma advises to never forget the lessons that Nature is teaching us during these times. Here are some of her words on how to proceed with courage, practise caution and alertness, and pray for grace.-

May 2020, North America

Amid the flurry of midterms and exams at the end of an unprecedented, virtual semester, a different kind of whirring could also be heard from the Atlanta home of one AYUDH Americas member--the whirring of an army of 3D printers. Vajraang Kamat, an aerospace engineering undergraduate student at Georgia Tech, began experimenting with 3D printing N95-style masks for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in early April. The masks consist of a reusable and sterilizable 3D mask shell made from biodegradable material with an insert for a small, disposable HEPA filter square. Vajraang sent a few of these to doctors on the front lines in New York City where personal protective equipment was extremely scarce, and the response was overwhelming. The physicians expressed so much gratitude and even sent feedback and selfies of themselves wearing the masks. Soon, additional hospitals and healthcare workers across the country were asking for help.

May 2020, Kerala, India

Faculty at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are utilizing India’s national lockdown to innovate new products and hacks to help in the fight against COVID-19. More than 60 faculty from various fields — including medicine, nanoscience, AI, big data, sensor-manufacturing and material sciences — are participating.

April 2020, Kerala, India

Amma is donating ₹13 crores ($1.7 million U.S.) to help combat and contain COVID-19 as well as to provide relief to those physically, mentally and economically affected by the virus. Embracing the World will also provide free care to COVID-19 patients at Amrita Hospital. Rs. 10 crores will go to the Central Government’s PM CARES Fund, and ₹3 crores will go to the Kerala Government’s Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

Tamil Nadu, India

In February 2020, Amrita SeRVe took a fundamental step toward a more regenerative, healthier and organic form of agriculture. The tribal community in the village of Sadivayal (located in the heart of Bholapetti Reserve Forest, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu) received Organic-Agriculture certification, becoming the first Amrita SeRVe farmers’ group to obtain this status. Their certification is with regards to the production of mixed vegetables, mango and rice.