An exceptional Tara Maa Devotee called Andy

Andreas Egon Harweg (Andy), a name not at all familiar amongst us. To begin with he, a German served 10 years in the German Airforce. He was an Aeronautical Engineer, an MCSE.
Financially he could support himself very well.
He was a master in Bujitsu. Bujitsu has long been regarded as a premiere form of self-defense.
So basically, he was a worldly man, enjoyed his life to fullest, and earned plenty.

Once he went to Bangkok in the year 2000. There on his way to India he met an Indian man, a devotee of Taramaa in the airport lounge. They exchanged smiles and started talking to each other. Then they boarded the flight which was coming to Kolkata. In the flight they spend some quality time, chatted on various topics but Andy said he wanted to go to Bangalore from Kolkata.

He also said from Bangkok he had made an appointment with a Bangalore based palm reader. On being asked why he was traveling all the way from Bangkok to meet him in Bangalore he said he wanted a Direction in life. Then the Indian man told him about A Tara Maa Mandir (Temple) in Kolkata. After landing in Kolkata Airport that Indian man helped him to book a flight to Bangalore, gave his phone number and told Andy to contact him whenever he wanted.
After a day from Bangalore Andy called up that Indian man and said he could not find that palm reader. He said he wasted his time, money and energy. He was very disturbed, disgusted and promised he would never come back to India. He also said that he didn't have enough cash to board a flight from Bangalore to Kolkata. He only had a few travellers' cheques which he didn't know from where to encash. This Indian man advised him to take a train, book a seat in an Air-conditioned coach and come to Kolkata.

He landed in Howrah Station, phoned that Indian man to say that he was really tired and didn't have any idea as to what was happening with him. The Indian man told Andy to take a cab (Taxi) and reach Hotel Taj Bengal. Andy reached there and waited for his Indian friend in the lobby. Andy's Indian friend reached there bought him some snacks in the hotel's coffee shop and took him to his house. On their way to his house they went to that Tara Maa Temple.
This Temple was in a Tara Maa devotee's house. He went inside the Temple and was awestruck after seeing Tara Maa's life-size laminated photo. Andy was overjoyed, excited and energized to see Tara Maa. He immediately took his words back and said he would surely return to this place. The next day he went back to Germany.

No matter which part of the world he was he would keep regular contacts with his Indian friend over telephone. He started to visit Kolkata. Initially, it was 1 month in a year. He would come and extend his stay and eventually it was 6 months at a stretch. During his visit he would stay with his Indian friend and would visit Tara Maa's Temple every now and then. He learned all the Hindu ways of worshipping God, how to offer a Puja to a Deity, what to do in a Temple, and learned many Sanskrit Shlokas or Prayers. He would offer the best of sweets (mishtis/mithais), freshest fruits of the lot to Tara Maa, buy costly saris in which Tara Maa would look extremely beautiful.

He had quit drinking, smoking, given up non vegetarian food items, onions and garlic. He would all the time pray. Andy had given up on all the worldly pleasures of life. The whole day he was either listening to holy songs and mantras on his MP3 player or uttering mantras by counting on the beads from his Rudraksh necklace.

He had given up all his other businesses and used to earn only what he needed for his trip to India. He used to lament the fact that he had to go back to Germany as being a foreigner he could not stay more than 180 days at a stretch. He used to go back to Germany and would drive trucks (18 wheelers) and do a lot of temporary jobs which used to fetch him good money. He used to call up his Indian friend and would say "Let me earn a little more so that I could spend the entire amount on Tara Maa during my stay in Kolkata."

During his trip to Kolkata he would visit different temples in India. Sometimes alone and sometimes in a small group (a few other devotees of Tara Maa) he would visit the various holy temples (Peethasthaan). He simply loved his Tirth Yatras.
On one of his holy trips he went to Benaras (Varanasi). There he was not allowed to go inside the temple. He sat on the gate with tears in his eyes and said "What if Shiva visits the temple as a foreigner and not allowed to go in."

He went to Mansarovar and did the Holy Kora (Going Round) of the Kailash Mountain. He was the only person in the group (mostly Indians) who mustered the courage to take dips (14 times) in the holy water of Mansarovar Lake.
Andy did everything that he heard could help him to get to Tara Maa and attain Moksha. He was a perfectionist like most Germans usually are.
On July 2006 he left for a Holy trip of the Himalayas from Kolkata. He had planned to cover Kedarnath, Badrinath, Panch Kedar, Sapt Badri, Bansinarayan, Gomukh-Gangotri, Tapovan and Yamunotri. He completed all but Yamunotri which was the last destination of his trip could not be completed. On his way back from Tapovan he once again went to Gomukh and sat to meditate right near the mouth of the cave. A huge chunk of Ice fell from the Glacier above into the water of the Ganges and he was washed ashore (in fact no one saw what happened after that). That was the last that anyone saw Andy.
The Mataji who has been living in Tapovan for the last 40 years had remarked after seeing Andy that she had never in her life had seen a greater devotee of Tara Maa. She told about an incident from the day before this accident happened. She said that Andy reached her hut in Tapovan in the late afternoon and was offered tea which he readily accepted. But when he saw Tara Maa in her Temple he said "I can't have tea right now". Instead of having hot tea in that cold weather, after a strenuous journey he undressed himself, wore a towel and went to take a bath under a fountain near Shivling Parvat (Mountain). There in that ice cold water he took holy dips, came out and prayed to God for half an hour in that freezing temperature. After that he went inside that Mataji's Ashram and asked for a cup of hot tea. Everyone present there was taken aback and was wondering how a person could do that.

He made impossible possible.
This was Andy in short.
He took devotion to a different level.

Message to Andy: Andy we all love you. This site cannot be complete without you. We miss you but also believe you are with us.