MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI

'Mātā Amritanandamayī Devi' (Devanagiri: माता अमृतानन्‍दमयी, Malayalam: മാതാ അമൃതാനന്ദമയി; born September 27, 1953) is an Indian spiritual leader revered as a saint by her followers, who also know her as "Amma", "Ammachi" or "Mother". She is a widely respected humanitarian and called by some "the hugging saint".^[1]

Early life

Amritanandamayi was born ''Sudhamani'' in the small village of Parayakadavu (now partially known as Amritapuri), near Kollam, Kerala in 1953. Sudhamani was born to a fishing family of the Arayan caste. Her schooling ended when she was nine, and she began to take care of her younger siblings and the family domestic work full-time.

Rise to fame

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. From humble beginnings she undertook a journey to attain "universal motherhood". She addressed the United Nations General Assembly.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.
She is also considered by some to be an avatar of the Great Mother.

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.^[4] Other senior disciples are Swami Turiyamritananda, Swami Ramakrishnananda, Swami Purnamritananda and Swami Amritatmananda. The Ashram is now known as Amritapuri. Bramachari Dayamrita Chaitanya is one of Amma's senior disciples stationed at the MA Center located in San Ramon, CA. He is in charge of all activities performed by the MA center in the US and all branch groups.

Darshan

Worldwide, Amritanandamayi is said to have hugged at least 30 million people in the past 30 years.^[5]
"Darshan – 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,^[6] 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"''.^[7]

Matruvani

''Matruvani'' is a monthly magazines concerned with spirituality in India.
It is published by the Amritapuri Ashram in both Indian and European languages. ''Matruvani'' was first published in 1984. The magazine has been translated into
English, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Hindi. ''European Matruvani'' is also published in French, German, Italian, Finnish and Spanish.

Amritapuri

'Amritapuri' is the main Ashram of Amritanandamayi. It is located in Parayakadavu, Kollam, Kerala about 120km north of Thiruvananthapuram and 120km south of Cochin. Amritapuri is also the name by which the location of the ashram is now known.
Amritapuri is also one of the campuses of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Humanitarian activities

Mata Amritanandamayi Math's website describes various charitable and humanitarian projects undertaken by the organisation.^[8] 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.^[8] 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.
The Mata Amritanandamayi Math runs 33 schools, 12 temples, one super-speciality hospital in Kochi, feeds thousands during mass kitchen, provides pension every year to over 15,000 widows, builds 25,000 houses annually for the homeless and has 35 Amma welfare centres all over the world to spread her spiritual message.^[10]
Recently, Mata Amritanandamayi Math announced a billion rupees (23 million dollars) in aid to the victims of the 2004 tsunami.^[11] The Math's relief work is happening in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar islands and in Sri Lanka.^[12]
In September 2005, Mata Amritanandamayi donated $1,000,000 to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina fund.^[13] 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.^[14]

Criticism

In June of 2007, Amma came under criticism from dozens of elected officials, religious and community leaders throughout the state of California as a result of her choice to stay at the LAX Hilton during a labor dispute. Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun Magazine and a leader of the progressive Jewish community in Southern California declined an award he was scheduled to receive from Amritanandamayi, and said in a letter addressed to her "''Amma, there is no possibility of creating a more loving and caring world that I know you are so committed to so long as spiritual leaders like yourself fail to link spiritual ideals to concrete social justice for poor and working people."''^[15] Her decision to stay at the hotel caused public outcry from religious leaders and workers participating in the hotel boycott.^[16]
A book critical of the Amritanandamayi ashram written by the Kerala-based head of the Indian Rationalist Association Sreeni Pattathanam led a political furor when the State government sanctioned prosecution of Pattathanam, the owner of the publishing company and the printer of the book. The order followed directions from the Kerala High Court to the State's Home Department for considering an application by a high ranking devotee and inmate of the Mata Amritanandamayi Ashramam, T.K. Ajan, to criminally prosecute the three^[17], based on criticisms found in the book. The order ultimately received international attention, and was rescinded after criticism by Humanists, Rationalists, writers, and the Communist Party.

Notes

1. Los Angeles Times: The Week In Photos, (2006). www.latimes.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2006.
2. BBC-News Article About Mata Amritanandamayi
3. Award - Interfaith Center New York
4. ''Ammachi - A Biography of Mata Amritanandamayi'' by Swami Amritaswarupananda, ISBN 1-879410-60-5
5. BBC-News Article About Mata Amritranandamayi
6. Amritavarsham 50, Amma's 50th B 'day celebrations @ Amritavarsham.org
7. ''I am Receiving the Gift'', Interview with Kannadi on September 10th 2004, Cochin, Kerala, Available Online
8. Social Service,
9. Social Service,
10. Hindustan Times, ''"Healing wounds with a hug"'' by Surendra Singh, October 9th 2003, Available Online
11. Tsunami relief
12. Amrita Tsunami Relief & Rehabilitation Projects in India Srilanka Asia
13. Hurricane relief
14. M. A. Math Responds to Kashmir Earthquake Available Online
15. Rabbi Lerner's Response to Amma — A Jewish Magazine, an Interfaith Movemen
16. Amma, 'Hugging Saint' of India, Stirs Controversy Over Refusal to Honor Hotel Boycott
17. "Move to prosecute rationalist leader criticised", ''The Hindu'', Jan 29, 2004

References

★ 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 0-688-17079-X)

★ ''Messages from Amma: In the Language of the Heart''by Janine Canan (Ten Speed Press, ISBN 1-58761-214-3)

★ ''Department of Health issues measles warning'': CDNA

★ ''Getting to Joy: A Western Householder's Spiritual Journey with Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi)'' by Karuna Poole (Shantini Center, ISBN 0-9643629-2-9)

★ ''The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World'' by Theresa Cheung (Barnes & Nobles, Inc, ISBN 0-7607-90233-X)

External links

★ Amritapuri.org (official mission site - India)

★ Amma.org (official mission site - USA)

★ Embracing the world (''The Week'' cover feature)

★ Amma (The Rick Ross Institute)

★ Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Apologetics Index)

★ ''Darshan the Embrace'' Trailer

★ Global Guru Amma

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