Put Yourself In Their Pain

30 April 2008 — Amritapuri

The first and second graduating batches of the Amrita College of Nursing in Cochin came to Amritapuri today. The students have all but concluded their five-year courses—the first batch will graduate on May 15, the second on October 15th. Each of the students had Amma’s darshan, with Amma handing out diplomas herself. The students also requested Amma to take a photo with them as a group, to which she agreed.

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“I feel I really benefitted from all the advanced facilities available at AIMS, as it is super-specialty hospital,” said Deepu Prasad, 22, from Idukki. Deepu says his next goal will be to pursue an MSc Nursing degree at Amrita. [The course is currently in inspection stages.]

Sherin, 28, from Ernakulam, says the most valuable thing she learned at Amrita was to see the divinity in each person she is treating. “We learned to greet everyone by saying ‘Om namah shivaya.’ [I bow down to the Divinity within you.] When we see each person as divine, we will put in maximum effort to serve him.” Sherin is planning to go for Masters in Nursing.

Krishna Das, 23, from Edappal, Malapuram District, said that he was happy to have been able to participate in several social-service activities during his education. “In 2005, we spent one month in the tsunami-hit areas, distributing medicine, making dressings, helping the doctors, transporting patients. It was a great opportunity.” His immediate plans are to prepare for his ILs so that he can become eligible to work abroad. His goal is to get a job in Australia.

Rashmi, 23, from Cochin, has been accepted as a Clinical Instructor. She feels one of the chief advantages of studying at Amrita was that AIMS is a social-service oriented hospital. “We were able to learn more about spirituality. We were very lucky to have Amma’s soothing presence during our studies. We learned the difference between sympathy and empathy. Sympathy is merely feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is putting our self in their place and truly indentifying with their pain.”

—Tulasi