Acceptance Speech

Amma bows down to all of you, who are truly the embodiments of supreme love and pure consciousness

This award has been instituted in fond remembrance of two great personalities - Mahatma Gandhi and Reverend Martin Luther King. Amma's prayer on this occasion is that all those people who pray and work for peace all over the world gain more strength and inspiration, and that more and more people work for world peace. Amma is receiving this award on their behalf. Amma's life has been offered to the world, therefore She doesn't make any claims.

Both Mahatma Gandhi and Reverend Martin Luther King dreamt of a world in which human beings are recognised and loved as human beings, without prejudice of any kind. Remembering them, Amma also places a vision of the future before you.

Amma, too, has a dream. It is a vision of a world in which women and men progress together, a world in which all men respect the fact that, like the two wings of a bird, women and men are of equal value. For without the two in perfect balance, humanity cannot progress.

Dr. King was courageous like a lion, yet in his heart he was as soft as a flower. He risked his life for the sake of love, equality, and the other noble ideals he upheld. He had to struggle with great perseverance against the people of his own country.

And Mahatma Gandhi didn't just preach. He put his words into action. He dedicated his whole life to peace and non-violence. Even though he could have been the prime minister or president of India, Gandhi declined because he had no desire whatsoever for fame or power. In fact, at the stroke of midnight, when India was declared independent, Gandhi was found consoling the victims of a riot-affected area.

It is easy to awaken someone who is asleep. You just shake the person once or twice. But you can shake a person who is pretending to be asleep a hundred times and it won't have any effect. The majority of people belong to the latter category. It is high time that we all truly wake up. Unless the baser animal tendencies in people are subdued, our vision for the future of humanity will not come true, and peace will remain only a distant dream.

Let us have the courage and perseverance, born out of spiritual practice, to realise this dream. For this to happen, each one of us needs to discover and bring to light our innate qualities of faith, love, patience, and self-sacrifice for the good of all. This is what Amma calls true motherhood

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