Matarani Ki Jai…!
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known affectionately known as “Amma,” is a world-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian. Throughout her life, she has embraced more than 40 million people worldwide, sometimes sitting nearly 24 hours to do so. Amma’s humanitarian organization, Embracing the World, is an NGO with consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic Social Council, providing compassionate service to those in need around the world. Amma’s life is the embodiment of love, compassion and selflessness.
She recently returned to the United States for the first time since 2019. Public programs will be held in the LA Area this week.
Amma Appears in Kerala, India
During 1952’s monsoon season in Kerala, Southern India, a young lady named Damayanti had a series of auspicious dreams about the Hindu deities Krishna and Kali. In the dreams they had piercing black eyes and blue skin. In the last dream, she saw herself giving birth to baby Krishna, who then suckled at her breast. The next day, Damayanti realized she was pregnant. It was an uncomfortable pregnancy, and her husband, Sugunandan, feared the worst. However, the birth itself was quick and painless. The family doctor worried about the child, for she had not cried during birth and rarely made any sounds. Moreover, her skin was blueish. But in the end, the child, with piercing black eyes, was fine. They named her “Sudhamani,” which is Sanskrit for “ambrosial jewel.”
Young Sudhami c. MAM
Sudhamani could stand, walk, and sing long before developmental standards. She worshipped cows and cried in devotion for Krishna, humming his hymns and reciting his name. Her family was disturbed, having never taught her such things. Sometimes her brothers and sisters would find her in the coastal backwaters in a meditative state, lost to the world. Amma’s family were convinced the strange Sudhamani would bring shame to their family. She was severely punished for her odd behavior.
Amma In Ecstacy c. MAM
At nine, they stopped her schooling in order for her to cook, clean and care for her younger brothers and sisters. As part of her chores, she would walk to more than 30 homes a day, asking the inhabitants for vegetable scraps to feed to the family cows.
The young girl couldn’t understand why the ocean provided the same opportunities of abundance to every fisherman in and yet the circumstances in each home were so far-ranging. In one thatched-roof hut, a family would be well-provided for—healthy, happy and grateful—while next door a similar family would be hungry and hopeless. Next door to them, could be an elder, riddled with illness, with no one to provide care.
Sudhamani Contemplates c. MAM
So upset by this disparity, Sudhamani considered throwing herself into fire out of protest. As she contemplated these conditions, she heard an answer from within: “It is because of the individuals’ past actions that they suffer.” But she was not satisfied with this answer. She pondered further and said, “If a person falls into a ditch, isn’t it my responsibility to help them out? So, if these people are meant to suffer because of their previous actions, isn’t it my duty to also help them?”
Show Us A Miracle
One day, Sudhamani and her little brother Satish were gathering grass for their cows when they walked past an open courtyard gate. The Big Sis stood perfectly still as she heard people reading the Srimad Bhagavatam (the stories of Krishna). When a bhajan (devotional song) began, she dropped her bundle of grass and charged past the gate. Her body vibrated out of control, as her posture and expression and way of moving began to assimilate those associated with Krishna’s. So shocked by what they were seeing, some of the attendees ran into town to tell the neighbors. Naysayers yelled out, “If you really are Krishna show us a miracle!” Sudhamani said, “You have the real gem inside you. Why do you want to see an imitation?” They ganged up, “Prove to us that you have manifested Krishna. Show us a miracle!”
Young Sudhamani/Amma in Krishna Bhavana c. MAM
News spread through the series of Southern Indian fishing villages, and after some convincing, Sudhamani agreed to attend the next reading of the Srimad Bhagavatam. This time, Sudhamani asked a well-known skeptic to empty a copper pot and fill it with fresh spring water. She prayed over it before instructing the skeptic to stick his fingers in the water. They came out covered in yogurt. Again, she had him dip his digits into the copper pot. This time they came out covered in panchamritam—one of Krishna’s favorite puddings! The crowd murmured in wonder as the thousand were served from a quart-size container.
Amma’s mother, Damayanti, who had previously been a strong disciplinarian with her daughter—regularly scolding her and even beating her—later said of the evening, “Changing water into pudding couldn’t be done by an ordinary person. After that, I saw her as God.”
News of Sudhamani spread, and seekers started to come.
Amritapuri Early Days c. MAM
Soon the backyard banyan tree wasn’t big enough for the followers so Amma’s father donated the family cowshed to be used as a temple. Sudhamani would welcome worshippers with a warm hug. People started calling her “Amma” because of her motherly manner, and in return Amma would whisper into their ears, “My darling, darling daughter” or “My darling, darling son.”
Embracing The World
People from around the planet came for Amma’s embrace. By 1987 the demand for her darshan-embrace was so high that, at the request of devotees in America, a world tour was arranged. At first it was in private homes and small church halls. Now, there’s a line outside New York City’s Javits Center practically all the way down to the Lincoln Tunnel. Longtime devotees, sincere seekers, and first-timers have ranging experiences from the karmic and profound, to the understated and subtle. There are extreme stories, like Dattan the Lepper—whose wounds, sores, and puss Amma sucked until his symptoms subsided. And then there’s this particular curmudgeonly gent of name and fame in Los Angeles who swears, “Nothing happens when I hug her,” yet year after year he keeps coming back. Something that always sticks out, is the worn-out widow who was contemplating suicide when someone handed her an Amma flier. The Hilton Hotel hosting Amma was on her way home, so she checked it out as a final stop here on Earth. The worn-out widow sobbed uncontrollably in Amma’s lap until it seemed like something inside her seemed to crack. Seven years later, she has the most radiant smile, while doing endless seva (selfless service) at Amma’s public programs.
Amma’s Children c. MAM
Awaken Children
For three decades Amma toured endlessly through London, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Milan, Tokyo, Toronto, Nairobi, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, all throughout India, and in the United States: Seattle, San Ramon, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, New York City and other cities. In each of these cities there are free programs that consist of discourse, bhajans [devotional songs], a prayer for world peace, and the blessing of darshan [Amma’s embrace]. Amma often leads the massive halls in an English bhajan called “Everyone in the World”
Everyone in the world should sleep without fear,
at least for one night, sleep without fear…
Everyone in the world should eat ‘til they’re full,
at least for one day, eat ‘til they’re full…
Everyone in the world there should be one day when here is no violence,
no one is injured, no one is hurt…
All people young and old should serve the poor and needy,
at least for one day, serve selflessly…
This is my dream, this is my prayer,
love is the answer,
love is the way.
Amma doesn’t just wish and pray for compassion and change, she leads by example.
In a book written by one of her most senior disciples, Swami Krishnamrita Prana, Opening to Grace, a woman recalls, “Every day my father sharpened a butcher’s knife and kept it ready to kill my mother. Not one night did we sleep without fear. My sister and I shivered in fear if we ever saw our father’s shadow. Each day we would pray, “May night never come.” The father murdered the mother, whose body was returned home from the morgue in the middle of the night. The woman continues, “I drew the sheet back and saw my mother covered in stitches, totally unrecognizable. I don’t know what happened after that, When I regained consciousness people were sitting around me, fanning.”
Embracing The World, And The Next Generation c. MAM
The girls were brought to Amma’s orphanage where she held them close and encouraged their studies. Since many in the hostel had come from challenging circumstances the camaraderie became like that of a family they’d never known. Children learned of comfort and kinship. The girl got good grades, and graduated with honors, when Amma asked her to enroll in the Bachelor’s of Business and Management School of Amrita University. She graduated, worked for a few years, completed her Master’s degree and was offered a job at Amrita University. The girl (now a woman) is responsible for the sustainable development of some of the 101 villages adopted by Amma’s ashram. Eight weeks into the job, she met her future husband. He had a similar sad background and the two have found so much healing in one another. She says, “Thanks to Amma’s care and love, the family we will create together will be much happier than the ones we were raised in.
Love Is The Answer, Love Is The Way: Amritapuri Ashram
From the humble family hut where Amma’s darshan began, a booming metropolis has sprung. The original cowshed remains next to the Kali Temple, but the rest of the area is almost unrecognizable. Aside from the rooms for the monastic disciples, Amma’s Amritapuri Ashram includes apartments for householder devotees residents, hostels for students, and guest quarters for visitors. Temples and worship halls, clerical offices, classrooms and places to get food. Approximately 3,500 residents in total.
Amritapuri Ashram Kali Temple c. MAM
Across the river is the Amritapuri campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham NAAC (an autonomous accreditation agency under the Indian government’s University Grants Commission) has granted Amrita an A++ grade, the highest it can offer. Amrita has consistently found a place among the top 10 universities in India. It has nine campuses in total, multidisciplinary teaching and research institution with a student base of approximately 24,000+.
In nearby Kochi is the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Amrita Hospital), a state-of-the-art teaching hospital that serves has provided completely free treatment to more than 5 million patients—more than $105 million in charitable medical care since 1998. And in 2022, a second such hospital was built near Delhi in northern India.
Rainbow Over Amritapuri + Kerala Backwaters c. MAM
Embracing the World: Love as Service Work
In his 2013 New York Times piece, Jake Halpern explains: “In 2003, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, then the president of India, was so impressed with Amma’s charitable work that he donated almost his entire annual salary to her organization. His enthusiasm may stem from the simple fact that Amma appears to do what politicians cannot. Mr. Chandy, the chief minister of Kerala, told me rather dejectedly, “The government has so many limitations, but Amma gives an order and next day the work will start.”
Amma’s umbrella charity “Embracing The World” have a diverse steams of focus including education, health care, gender equality & women’s empowerment, environmental protection, disaster relief, research, food, water & shelter. Her practical philanthropy helps to enrich each aspect of someone’s life. Examples include the following.
Earthquake in Gujarat
When the 2001 earthquake that struck Gujarat claimed 20,000 lives, Amma immediately dispensed disaster-relief teams and psychological support. Her volunteers constructed a total of 1,200 earthquake-proof houses, community centers, schools, temples, and even a church and a mosque. When the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami hit Kerala, villagers from Gujarat travelled to Kerala to return Amma’s kindness. They joined Amma’s teams who were offering food, housing, medical and counseling services to those effected. Children who survived the tsunami were give art classes to draw about their experiences, and swimming lessons to overcome their fear of water, which they had seen wash away their homes and loved ones. Together, Amma, her sevites built more than 6,000 new homes for victims to start their new lives.
Support for Farmers and Families
Crop failure and debt has caused hundred of thousands of farmers to commit suicide since 1997. With no hope for future generations, often entire families end their lives together. Amma’s charities have provided advanced farming, and environmental education to adults, while more than 100,000 children have received school scholarships and stipends. More recently a homestead garden project was launched. Seeds were distributed to upwards of 5,000 families who now sustain themselves.
Embracing The World Participants
Self-Relience, Education & Employment
Amma’s Amrita SREE program (Self-Reliance, Education & Employment) has provided 300,000+ women with vocational education, assistance in creating sustainable business plan, access to micro-credit loans and micro-savings accounts from government-regulated banks.
And much, much more…(For a full list click here ).
Mangala Arati c. MAM
Amma Amma Taye: Staying up All Night With Amma
Meanwhile, in America, the final night of Amma’s programs in each city—called Devi Bhava—Amma stays up all night until about 9 or 10:00 a.m. the next morning, embracing one and all, giving mantras, performing weddings, baby’s first feedings and other auspicious acts.
The standard scene is as follows: You arrive at the location and get a darshan token. Your darshan token is sort of like a deli-counter number, signifying when you’re up for your embrace. While extremely organized, no two experiences are the same. On the rare occurrence someone will arrive to no line, immediately receive a token and be whisked to the front of the hall for their hug.
Offering flowers and receiving hugs
The Experience with Amma
Most will wait for a some hours, receive their token, enjoy the program and enchantment, receive their hug and happily return home. Others will wait and wait and wait. Receive a token. Accidentally lose it in the bathroom. Walk to the parking lot defeated. Only to bump into the long-lost loved one they’d always hoped to reconnect with, an elder needing assistance who drops the most prescient pearl of wisdom, the stranger with the ideal job opportunity, or similar. They return to the hall to see their token is being called, find it on the floor, receive Amma’s darshan, feel like every cell of their body has been recharged, and return to their daily lives, a more authentic version of themselves.
And yet another group may travel, work and serve Amma never asking for a hug, knowing that to be in her presence is the blessing itself. The lilas [divine plays] are infinite, intricate and specific to each soul. As the tour staff says, “Amma knows you’re here!”
Giselle Receives An Embrace From Amma c. MAM
In the time between receiving a darshan token and being held in the arms of the Amma, there can be the aforementioned programs as well plenty of space to wonder and discover. Rooms, halls, and floors are filled with a carnival of activity. There is music, mediation, videos of Amma’s extensive humanitarian work. Service opportunities and sacred shopping to financially support it.
Available for purchase—with all proceeds going to Amma’s charitable mission—are Indian meals and snacks, coffee, sweet, snacks and chai. Books, audio, traditional India saris, Western T-shirts and sweatshirts, bath and body products (including aromatherapy oils), home, temple and worship items, Ayurvedic herbs, personalized chiropractic care and massage, radiance healing, astrological readings and much much more.
Engaging with the sevites who pour their heart into these products and projects is as educational as it is inspiring. They are quick with an Amma anecdote that speaks directly to your current (unmentioned) circumstance. Seeing many of the same faces year after year brings its own form of comfort — joyful and familiar. Deep and transformative.
My Religion Is Love
At the heart of Amma’s life and teachings is her message of universal oneness. It is rooted in that fundamental concept of Indian spirituality, that Amma embraces and dedicates her life to uplifting one and all.
As Amma says, “My religion is love.”
Amma’s Embrace c. MAM
See Amma on Tour *Now*
July 13-16, 2024
Hyatt Regency Irvine
17900 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92614
For more info click here.
July 19-22 Albuquerque, NM
July 25-29 Washington, DC
July 31-August 2 Boston, MA
August 5-7 New York, NY
August 9-11 Chicago, IL
For more information on the tour click here.
For more information about Amma go to Amma.org
Author’s Note; All photos are copyright of Mata Amritanandamayi Math and Amritapuri.org.
To Check Out Amy’s Work Go To; Sense + Color, You Can Reach Her At IG: Amy_V_Dewhurst + AmyVDewhurst@SenseAndColor.co #PutYourGoodWhereItWillDoTheMost