Her followers refer to this hug as a darshan - Sanskrit for an audience or session in the presence of a saint. It seems her doctrine is fairly universal - she hugs people as a mother hugs a child. So, too, do Christians, Jews, and, presumably, people of other faiths. In 1995, she spoke at the United Nations' 50th anniversary commemoration.Īt Columbia University, many Hindu people kneel on the lines. In 1993, Amma served as president of the Centenary Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. The lines around her simply grew, and now she has millions of followers. In her early 20s, she began offering her blessing to others. Born to fisher folk in 1953, she left school at a young age to care for her family. She came from the Indian state of Kerala.
She has known poverty herself, and her rise to prominence is inexplicable. When it is time to go home to eat her rice and curry supper, her white sari is often blackened from soot. In India, she can reach out to 15,000 people. She works in two sessions - morning and evening - always smiles, and breaks only to meditate, eat and sleep. Nobody can deny there is something magic about her - it's her energy, an unbelievable ability to work 18 hours a day, often seven days a week. Swamis, clad in orange suits, direct the traffic. At noon, several hundred people, many who had waited since 8 a.m., kneel in concentric circles around her. Chanting, drumming and the twang of a sitar fill the room. She is traveling with an entourage of 50 supporters, volunteers who say she is changing the world with simple tenderness.
"hugging tour," which includes stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and Boston. Her name is Mata Amritanandamayi and she is affectionately called "Amma," or "Mother." Her followers compare her to Mother Teresa and say she has embraced more than 20 million people all over the globe.Īmma is now on a 10-city U.S. They will wait for hours, kneeling in line, for a one-minute caress. This tiny, cherubic Indian woman holds and kisses me - just as she has more than thousands of other New Yorkers at Columbia University.
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