Millions: Be Embraced
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
October 2001
Bonn, 28. October. How do you dress for a meeting with an enlightened
being from India, a holy person, a divine mother? It would have
been worthwhile to think about it. You can meet Mata Amritanandamyi
being dressed in almost any way, but not with shoes. Walking on
the stone floor with thin socks you soon feel cold and you envy
all those people who have brought woolen socks with them.
Most of the visitors come to see Amma to be embraced by her. That
is Amma's trademark. At each stop she embraces hundreds.
People are waiting patiently. Some look just as one would imagine
visitors of an esoteric fair would; most of them, though, are dressed
in very ordinary ways: athletic young men, serious-looking elder
gentlemen and fashionable ladies
Right in front of Amma's chair you are asked to kneel down. Amma
pulls you towards her and presses your head against her left shoulder,
touching your cheek to her cheek. Sometimes she seems to murmur
something into your ear. She speaks only Malayalam, her native language.
After ten to twenty seconds she releases you; she might pull you
back again, pat your cheek, kiss your forehead. Then she puts a
flower petal and a candy in your hand and reaches for the next person.
In India, darshan, a meeting with a holy person, traditionally
takes place in a very formal and honorable way. The holy person
looks into your eyes and at the most touches your face a little.
Embracing is Amma's invention. Amma was born 1953 into a low caste.
As a child she had visions and felt herself to be "one with
God and Love". Since 1980 she has been following an inner call
and wants to transmit Divine Love to human beings. For Amma, embracing
somebody was originally just a spontaneous act towards the poorest
of the poor who sought her solace. Since then she has embraced 15
million people, say her followers. In her Ashram in the South of
India she embraces up to 12,000 people a day.
Since 1987 Amma has been touring the whole world once a year, visiting
her growing crowd of followers. She travels simply and on a low
budget. The profit from the sales of books, CD's and religious objects
is said to be invested in Amma's charitable projects in India: hospitals,
schools, and other aid for the poor. She is fighting against the
negative effects of the caste system and against the oppression
of woman.
Her visitors in Bonn feel as if they too have received a generous
gift. Walking away from being hugged, many of them laugh and cry
at the same time and are totally moved.. What do you feel? A man
says: "Pure love, pure truth." A woman says: "You
feel totally accepted, you feel just as you ever desired to feel."
"Despite that. we are very sincere Christians, even though
the church might not want to hear that," says one woman.
That Amma's visitors have to return to the harsh, cold world isn't
a problem, says Amma. "It is not important to live close to
a radio station. The important thing is to tune your radio."
Amma is "on the air" in London today.
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