To begin with, this statement should destroy for good a blind belief that is deeply rooted in her Western devotees heart :
"The Math is also prepared to provide free education to those children who have lost both parents in the calamity"So, Amma herself acknowledges that her educational institutions are not free at all. Students must pay to study in the schools that she has built with our donations. She can sometimes be prepared to welcome a few of them for free. But "prepared" doesn't mean "determined". Did the Mata Amritanandamayi Math really offered free education to these children? We don't know. One thing is sure : she doesn't intend to help the children who have lost only one parent in the calamity. The least we can say is that her generosity is not as unconditional as her love.
The next statement scatters another myth fuelled by her devotees :
"Asked why she could not predict the calamity, she said she was only an ordinary human being"A lot of devotees think that she can foresee the future. Saying that she can see the future would require her to explain why she remains always silent, letting deliberately thousands of people die worldwide. She has chosen to say the truth. She is not able to predict anything. Will the devotees hold on to their fantasies in spite of their guru's own statement? She was in Paris in October 2015 and 130 people were killed during a terrorist attack a month later in that same city. Will the devotees grip on to their deluded belief in spite of the facts?
She is just human but maybe she is gifted with outstanding qualities. Wisdom for instance often fits spiritual guides. What kind of wise words can she offer to comfort the world after an awful calamity such as a tsunami?
"She said she believed the natural calamities were triggered by overexploitation of nature because of population explosion""Population explosion"? Aren't greed and negligence usually held responsible for the damages caused to the environment? The most polluting lands are not necessarily the most populated ones.
In fact Amma says that she "believed", so she is only sharing her personal theory. Yet. Althought she is not sure about the causes, she has a radical cure to prevent any disaster to ever occur again :
"Nature's fury can be expected anytime. Birth control is the only solution"Preventing the people from making too many babies is the "only" way to solve all environmental problems? Why infantilizing people with such an authoritarian solution? Why not emphasizing awareness and the sense of responsibility? Why not prompting us to grow a little bit and learn to make the right choices daily? What about alternative sources of energy, sustainable developement, wastes recycling, avoiding overconsumption?
Does she know what she is talking about or she is blindly delivering baseless belief? This last quote is likely to help us make our mind :
"I personally went to the coastline and led the relief activities though woman venturing into the sea is believed to be bad omen"Is this enlightened empowering wisdom or crude disempowering superstition? Should we ask all women sailing the seven seas to immediately head home because they could bring bad luck to the world?
Amma's UNO speeches are carefully crafted but when she speaks for herself that's a different story. It seems like both devotees and guru are led by blind beliefs.