Ma Comes to Mumbai
Times of India
--Priya Jestin
March 2001
The long queue shows no sign of abating. People wait patiently
for their turn. At the end of the queue sits a women draped in white,
with a huge bindi on her forehead and ad engaging smile. She stretches
out her arms and gives a loving hug to each person and talks like
a mother would to her children. This is no ordinary moment. Amma
as Mata Amritanandamayi is called, has woven her spell of magic
once again.
Over the years Mata Amritanandamayi's charisma has helped create
a spiritual empire dedicated to the service of humanity. She has
inspired scores of people-from the common man to the CEO-to volunteer
at hospitals, schools, and colleges run by the Mata Amritanandamayi
Mission Trust.
Sudhamani, as Amma was named by her parents, was born 48 years
ago into a poor Kerala family. She started composing hymns when
she was just five. "I had an intense love of the Divine Name
from childhood, I would repeat the Lord's Name incessantly with
every breath. Divine thoughts constantly flowed in my mind, no matter
where I was or what I was doing," she recollects.
Second of eight children, Sudhamani was forced to discontinue her
studies after the fourth grade as her parents needed her to baby-sit
her siblings. From looking after sisters and brothers to showering
love on the elderly, poor, and ill of the village was just a natural
extension. She did it all with ease, going out of her way to serve
them. She would even steal food grains from her family storeroom
to feed the hungry. Once, she even gave away her mother's only gold
bangle to a needy stranger, and had to suffer her father's thrashing
for the act.
Sudhamani was often seen singing away in a state of ecstatic devotion
or blissfully immersed in meditation. Initially, her parents brushed
off her unworldly ways as sheer eccentricity. However, they soon
got fed up of her behavior and locked her out of the house. Villagers,
equally foxed by her 'weird' ways, ridiculed her by throwing stones
at her. Yet despite these abuses, Sudhamani remained undisturbed,
oblivious to the harassment. It was just a matter of time then before
her kind nature won over hearts. Sudhamani began disseminating spiritual
knowledge and people flocked to her.
"The greatest of all blessings", according to Amma, "is
to rouse an aspirant to the glory of divinity within. The awkward
man solves his problems for himself and becomes a blessing to society."
She is always exhorting her followers to do their bit for the poor.
" I desire peace for the people. In this world where so many
live in luxury and comfort, there are many who are also suffering
poverty and starvation. With cooperation and love, we must serve
the world selflessly and unconditionally", she says.
Today, her work has blossomed into the Mata Amritandamayi Mission
Trust, a worldwide organization engaged in charity. Apart from running
hospitals, the trust also manages educational institutions. It recently
set up a school in each Mumbai and Pune. Volunteer doctors; also
run medical camps across the country.
Every Sunday, the Mata Amritandamayi Math in Nerul, Navi Mumbai,
conducts a medical camp for the underprivileged. "Walk into
the kitchen of the Math and you'll see top executives and tier wives
cooking meals for a thousand-plus people," observes a devotee.
Points out Avayamrita Chaitanya, head of the Nerul Math, "In
the aftermath of the Gujarat quake, several of our doctors rushed
to Bhuj to attend victims."
Recently, the trust embarked on a plan to construct 25,000 houses
for the homeless across nine states, including Maharashtra.
A devotee has the last word: " we are all trying to do our
bit to make life a bit easy for the poor. As Amma tells us, 'A drop
of water cannot be a river. It's the coming together of countless
drops that creates the flow. The real flow of life lies in unity,
in the oneness that arises out of love'."
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