The Myth of the Saint Amma
Paola Boncompagni
'L'Espresso'
May 2001
She's Indian. She's 47. Since 25 years she hugs and kisses followers
from all over the world. A divine mission. She opens schools, hospitals,
old people's homes...
Seated on two cushions in lotus posture, Mata Amritanandamayi is
surrounded by a cloud of incense and sacred music. She is wearing
a white sari and a small diamond on her nose. She has a dark complexion
and a child's face. Her devotees call her Amma, which means Mother.
From the stage were she is sitting, surrounded by her disciples,
she is facing the hundreds of people standing in a queue since hours
to receive her divine hug.
She is a living Goddess and many have come here to Trivandrum (South
India) travelling for thousands of kilometers from all over the
country, to meet her. She is there for all and she hugs everyone
individually: a few seconds cheek to cheek, a kiss and few words
in the ear. The hug breaks and someone cries, another one seems
suddenly to enter a state of bliss.
One more hug. Since 25 years this is Amma's life, every day she
hugs thousands of people. She begins at 9.30 in the morning, and
finishes at 5 p.m., she then retires to eat and rest, but at 7.30
p.m. She resumes meeting people with no breaks until 4 in the morning!
She has hugged so many people that she has an indelible sign on
her right cheek. She has hugged up to 25 thousand people in one
day.
"When she goes to rest in her room" said a disciple,
"she has a lot to do. She clears off the mail, she speaks to
her disciples and meditates. She eats very little and doesn't sleep
more then two hours a night". In the State of Kerala she has
her main 'ashram', with 900 disciples and residents, another 17
branches are spread all around India. Other centers are in Australia,
Bahrein, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, California, New Mexico, Michigan.
The 'hugged' people are in thousands in France, the United Kingdom,
Italy, Finland, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Mauritius Islands.
She is on tour for six months a year, and has traveled the world
20 times.
"I quit my job to follow Amma..." says her American press-man
Rob Sidon, "I was an executive in one of the main movies companies
in the U.S., but when I met her my life changed completely. I began
to follow her in Europe, the United States and India. Her touch
is sacred and we estimate that she has hugged 18 million people
already."
At the beginning of her mission Amma was criticized, but now no
more: the institutions that she established all over India are numerous
and some are technologically very advanced. In her 'Amrita Institute
of Computer Technology' people study the most sophisticated computer
techniques and the 'Amrita Institute of Science' offers specializations
in seven scientific subjects. There are also schools, old people's
homes, thousands of houses for the homeless, and pensions for widows
and handicapped people. But the most impressive is AIMS ('Amrita
Institute of Medical Sciences'), a non-profit hospital that offers
free treatment with most advanced technologies to those that cannot
afford a surgery or an operation. Inaugurated in Kerala three years
ago, AIMS has 900 beds, nine surgery halls and a section for intense
therapy with 80 beds. It's the gem of the large charity network
of Amma, and was inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister Shri Atal
Bihari Vajpayee.
Amma's institutions are run by donation, moreover many of the people
working there are volunteers, from the trash man to the specialized
surgeon. Here in India, among her followers we noticed a large number
of westerners. "Amma has programs in 20 countries" says
Sidon, "she is of course very well-known in South India, but
in places like Paris she has one of the most crowded programs too.
In Finland she's so popular that the politicians often mention her
in their talks."
Amma is Hindu by birth, but she supports all great religions. Last
August she was a guest of the United Nations for the World Summit
of Religious Leaders. Swami Paramatmananda is her disciple since
twenty years, "I sit close to her while she hugs important
business people as well as leprous beggars. She has been hugging
people since 25 years and she won't stop doing it. She says that
she is connected to a source of energy that is God. The people she
hugs seem to experience something new that brings a change in their
life. Amma is never tired and she is all the time smiling."
It's 5 p.m. and at last, Amma stands up. Followed by some disciples
and singers she is about to leave the stage. Women dressed with
saris, old toothless ladies, children, men and boys, Indians and
Westerns, all call for her. They don't want her to go. She smiles,
gives some more hugs and then disappears behind the stage. Many
people prostrate and kiss the place where she was standing.
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