Kalinagar, West Bengal has a literacy rate of 62%, however, most children drop out of school after 8th standard because they need to work.

Twenty women came to Amritapuri for a two-week course in tailoring and crochet via upcycling. The students from Amrita SeRVe villages were taught how to take old and discarded materials and make them into new things—things that can often be sold for a higher price.

Harirampura was so isolated, during monsoon it used to be cut off completely due to floods. After starting work there in 2013, things began to rapidly change for the better.

Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri visits two villages to monitor progress and hear from local residents about what else is needed. In each place, he was careful to speak to the villagers in detail as they took turns to explain their problems to him.

During a speech at the United Nations, Amma expressed her hope that university students all over the world would consider interning in villages.

Sometimes when we live around Amma, events of true giving arise from places of such compassion, it never ceases to surprise. The results go beyond what could’ve even been imagined. The story of Pandit Arun Sharmaji is one of these stories.