The Star

Queen of Hugs

Hailed by her followers as a 'living saint', she has hugged millions of people worldwide over the past 25 years, giving unconditional love. Those who have been embraced by her feel a connection that melts their egos and opens their hearts. Her touch, they say, is therapeutic for the healthy, and healing for the infirm. Amma makes her first visit to Malaysia next week. T.Selva who went to Singapore to find out what draws so many people to her, writes about his experience with the Divine Mother.

Her name is Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, which means "mother of immortal bliss" in Sanskrit. Her work is to give and give, and to personally wipe away tears through selfless love, compassion and service. She greets each person with a warm smile and out-stretched arms and each darshan (blessing) is like an embrace between two old friends.

Reuters, in the year 2000, reported that she had hugged an estimated 20 million people. Dr. Timothy Conway, author of the book Women of Power and Grace and an expert on spiritual figures, describes Amma as "one of the most glorious lights to appear in the history of religion. Just her stamina - embracing these millions of people one by one, day after day, without a break, all over the world - is some kind of divine gift. No mere human resources could accomplish this."

My first meeting with her was on her 16th annual visit to Singapore last year, at a temple hall in Serangoon Road which was packed with over 1,000 people.

Shortly before Amma (as she is called) showed up, her followers formed a single file and chanted a Sanskrit mantra, Aum Namah Shivaya (may peace be with you), as salutation. She arrived clad in a white linen sari and was escorted by her senior disciples who were Indians and Americans.

Amma sat on a dais, while young and old knelt barefoot and moved forward in an orderly manner to receive her blessings. She embraces people of all religions.

According to her senior disciple, Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, Amma's hugs are meant to "awaken the motherhood within" by providing a feminine balance to what she sees as a masculine energy-dominating society. She helps people find inner peace and brings them closer to God through her teachings and presence.

Amma, whom the Western media has dubbed "the guru of hugs", loves everyone equally, regardless of race, religion, caste, creed or position in life.

A couple who was hugged by her before me, wept and were speechless when Amma asked them: "Is there anything you want to ask me?"

When my turn came, I moved closer to her with my wife and she greeted us with a wide smile and embraced us, whispering in my left ear "son, son, son", and in my wife's ear, "daughter, daughter, daughter".

Amma had her arms wrapped around me and she was laughing and so happy; I felt I was absorbing love. She then lifted my chin and dotted my forehead with sandalwood paste, before tossing rose petals over our heads and giving us sacred ashes in small envelopes. The whole session lasted less than a minute.

Her hug was not just physical contact but a divine one, and I could feel the positive energy she radiated. She was brimming with joy and love.

The soothing ritual went on for 20 hours to the strains of bhajan (Indian devotional songs). She is said to have slept only two hours before returning the following day to offer her services.

Cameras are prohibited at her sessions but Amma allowed me to take pictures, following my request to write about her noble feat.

A relative of mine, who had three blockages in her artery, had an unusual experience. She broke down when she was hugged by Amma and though she did not tell her anything, Amma rubbed her chest with her right hand and told her not to worry, as though she knew her medical problem.

A week later, when my relative went to fix a date for her angiogram, the doctors who examined her could not find the blockage anymore, and since then she has no longer been a heart patient.

Singapore lawyer Rajen Menon, who has been responsible for bringing Amma to the republic for 16 years now, was quick to say that Amma is not a faith healer. He said some people have found immediate relief from their conditions, while others have left with no results.

This proved true when I spoke to many devotees who said meeting Amma can bring about strength, grief, bliss or nothing.

Amma, in her discourse, said through an interpreter that "the intellect has reached its peek, but the heart has remained dry. Knowledge without devotion is like eating stones. All problems in the world are due to lack of love.

"When you have real love for others, you don't feel a burden and there is no effort involved. It's like the natural flow of the river. Do you ask the river, 'How do you flow?' There is no answer for it."

She only speaks Malayalam but says that the language of universal loves does not need words. Her love and teachings are often communicated through silence.

Amma helps people find inner peace by bringing them closer to God through her teachings and presence. She teaches that spirituality is the science and art of harmonious living.

She does not ask for money, food or lodging, but with donations she has established in India orphanages for 600 children, a hospice, a home for battered women, a hospital that provides free treatment for the poor, 19 schools and colleges, 25,000 houses for the homeless and a monthly pension scheme for poor widows.

One of her major projects in an 800-bed state-of-the-art hospital in India that offers pediatric and cardiac care, organ transplants, neurosurgery and other treatments free-of-charge to the needy.

She has also delivered talks at the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations General Assemble in New York.

Her spiritual centers are located in over 20 countries, including Europe, the United States, Japan, Africa, Australia, and Asia.

Amma was born in 1953 to a poor fisherman's family in a small village in Kerala, southern India. She was an outcast partly because her skin had a strange bluish tint. From her live of poverty and rejection she learned to comfort the afflicted.

Since childhood, Amma has been devoted to Lord Krishna (the Hindu god of love and preserver of the Universe), and was committed to demonstrating love and compassion for the poor.

When she was 18, she had a "divine manifestation" in which she declared before a small group in her village that she and Lord Krishna are one.

Following this, she began attracting followers, and after immersing herself in rigorous spiritual practices, her following grew.

According to Amma: "Love is the foundation of the world. Where there is love, there is peace. Where there is selfishness, there is misery and suffering." Many who have received her hugs have come away saying it was not enough, and I was one of them.

After my first experience with Amma, I travelled to Brisbane a week later to receive more of her hugs when she was on tour in Australia.