Mata Amritanandamayi
Mātā Amritanandamayī Devi(माता अमृतानन्दमयी), also known by her followers as 'Amma', 'Ammachi' or 'Mother' (born
September 27,
1953), was born
Sudhamani in the small village of Parayakadavu, near
Kollam,
Kerala. She is widely respected as a loving
humanitarian and revered by some as a
mahatma (great soul) and a living
saint.
Sudhamani was born to a family of fishermen (see
Arayan). Her schooling ended when she was nine, and she began to take care of her younger siblings and the family domestic work full-time. From these humble beginnings she began her journey on the path to "universal motherhood", which took her to the
United Nations General Assembly, where she addressed the world.
[[# BBC-News Article About Mata]Her devotees claim that she had many
mystical experiences as a child. Since
1981, she has been teaching spiritual aspirants all over the world. She founded a worldwide organization, the
Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is engaged in many
spiritual and
charitable activities.
International events
*
1993,
Chicago: speech at the "
Parliament of the World's Religions" 100th Anniversary.
*
1995,
New York: address at the
Interfaith Celebrations at the 50th Anniversary of the UN.
*
2000, New York: keynote address at the
Millennium Peace Summit, UN General Assembly.
*
2002,
Geneva: keynote address at the
Global Peace Initiative of
Women Religious & Spiritual Leaders at the UN.
*
2002, Geneva: "
Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence" from
The World Movement for Non-Violence at UN headquarters.
*
2004, Barcelona, [Parliament of World Religions].
*
2006, New York,
James Parks Morton Interfaith award.
Recognition
In
1993, she was one of the representatives of
Hinduism at the
Parliament of the World's Religions in
Chicago.
Amritanandamayi was the keynote speaker at
The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, at the UN in
Geneva, Switzerland held in October
2002. This was an initiative of the UN'
Millennium World Peace Summit, in which Amritanandamayi spoke in August
2000.
In 2002 Amritanandamayi was presented with the
Gandhi-King Award for
Non-Violence by
The World Movement for Nonviolence at the UN General Assembly Hall (Palais Des Nations) in Geneva in recognition of her lifelong work in furthering the principles of non-violence. The three previous recipients of the award were
Kofi Annan,
Nelson Mandela, and
primatologist Dr.
Jane Goodall.
Senior Disciples
The first set of
monastic disciples of Amritanandamayi came to her in the late
1970s. Today, they as well as other disciples and devotees look after the
ashram's multifaceted activities. The first disciple to be initiated as a
sanyasi was
Swami Amritaswarupananda. Others senior disciples are Swami Turiyamritananda,
Swami Ramakrishnananda,
Swami Purnamritananda and
Swami Amritatmananda. The Ashram is now known as
Amritapuri.
Amritanandamayi is known to the world media as 'the hugging saint'. She offers warm hugs to everyone who approaches her and in India she has been known to individually hug over 50,000 people in a day, sitting sometimes for over 20 hours. Worldwide, Amritanandamayi is said to have hugged at least 30 million people in the past 30 years.
[[# BBC-News Article About Mata]"Darshan â€" The Embrace", a film on the life of Amritanandamayi was officially selected for showcasing at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival. Jan Kounen, an award winning filmmaker who was born in Netherlands and is based in France, directed the film. Manuel De La Roche of
France, is the producer. Jan Kounen and his crew began shooting the footage for the film in 2003 during Amritavarsham50
[1], Amritanandamayi's 50th birthday celebrations in Kochi. The team also traveled with Amritanandamayi on her Indian and International tours in order to complete the movie. About the film, Kounen says, "when I first took up the project and started filming, I thought, 'Amma is a good person, doing good things, in turn I can do something good for her'. But as it went on, I realized, no, I am the one who is receiving the gift".
Amritanandamayi is also well known for her singing of
Bhajans, or Indian devotional chants. Amritanandamayi joins the daily chanting when she is present at ashram. She has sung in over 30 different languages. Since her early childhood she has composed hundreds of bhajans. The senior swamis are accomplished musicians in both vocal and instrumental areas of music.
Mata Amritanandamayi Math executes various charitable and humanitarian projects.
[#Social Service,]. Examples include a program to build 100,000 homes for the poor; hospitals; orphanages; hospices; women's shelters; pension disbursements for widows; community aid centers; homes for the aged; eye clinics; and speech therapy centers.
[#Social Service,] Many of Amma's centers in the US run 'Mother's Kitchen', or 'vegetarian soup-kitchens', where volunteers prepare and serve meals to the poor and needy.
Recently, Mata Amritanandamayi Math announced a billion rupees (23 million dollars) in aid to the victims of the
2004 tsunami[#Tsunami relief]. The Math's relief work is happening in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar islands and in Sri Lanka
[2].
In
September 2005, Mata Amritanandamayi donated $1,000,000 to the Bush-Clinton
Hurricane Katrina fund.
[#Hurricane relief]. She also sent a top aide to the devastated areas soon after the storm struck in the United States to assess the kind of help needed by victims.
In
October 2005, thousands of blankets were sent and distributed to the survivors of the Kashmir and Pakistan earthquake.
Many of Amritanandamayi's followers believe in her powers to perform
miracles. For instance, she mentioned in an interview
[3] given to
The Week (
Kottayam, Kerala,
September 21,
2003) that she is often asked by her devotees to perform miracles. She goes on to say that water was miraculously changed to
panchamrutham (a sweet often prepared for
Hindu religious ceremonies) in her presence and that her devotees were able to light
lamps out of conches filled with water. Such claims cause many people to be
skeptical of her powers while fueling more devotion in others
[4].
Amritanandamayi, her followers and their activities have not been above
criticism. Many
writers and
social activists (mainly
rationalists and
atheists) have expressed doubts about her divine powers. Her critics allege that the ashram authorities counter criticism with threats. An example are the threats said to have been received by Paul Zacharia, a well known
Malayalam writer, for writing a critical essay in a
journal published from Kerala. A book by rationalist writer
Sreeni Pattathanam (see references) was published in
1985 which talks of suspicious deaths reported from the precincts of her ashram which he says need investigation.
Recently an outbreak of
measles was signaled in Australia[
5] by the West Australian Department of Health and is reported[
6] to have been spread by Amritanandamayi and her followers largely due to her practice of hugging followers. (CDNA),
Political Gateway. However it should be noted that
Measles spreads through air and does not necessarily need any body contact with the infected persons. The reported outbreak was denied by an official of Mata Amritanandamayi mutt which stated that all 48 members accompanying Amritanandamayi were "hale and hearty".
Explanation by Amritanandamayi mutt officialThese are described in detail by
Sreeni Pattathanam. He has written a book,
Matha Amritanandamayi: Divya Kathakalum Yatharthyavum (Matha Amritanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities), first published in 1985, that later became controversial and brought the threat of legal action from one resident of the ashram against the author.
*
Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust*
Mata Amritanandamayi Math*
Amrita survey *
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (the University which she found and is also the Chancellor)
J and Friends Sing and Chant For Amma - A
compact disc of devotional songs written and recorded by
American alternative rock musician/songwriter
J Mascis (
Dinosaur Jr), an open follower of Ammachi. All of the proceeds from the CD go to Amma's charites.
#
BBC-News article about Amritanandamayi#
Hurricane relief#
Tsunami relief #
Social Service #
Amma: Healing the Heart of the World by
Judith Cornell, (William Morrow & Company, ISBN 068817079X)#''Messages from Amma: In the Language of the Heart by
Janine Canan (Ten Speed Press, ISBN 1587612143)#''Getting to Joy: A Western Householder's Spiritual Journey with Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi) by
Karuna Poole (Shantini Center, ISBN 0964362929)#
Department of Health issues measles warning:
CDNA#
Measles outbreak linked to 'divine hugs'
United Press international*
Amritapuri.org (official mission site - India)
*
Amma.org (official mission site - USA)
*
AIMS Hospital (Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre)*
Embracing the world (
The Week cover feature)
*
Amma (The Rick Ross Institute)
*
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Apologetics Index)
