Amma’s Healing Hug

By Manoj Kaimal

Saturday April 10, 2004

MALAYSIA is gearing up for the visit of one of the great spiritual leaders of our time, Mata Amritanandamayi, or simply Amma (Mother), on April 23 & 24 in Kuala Lumpur.

Amma’s most famous expression of love is through the simplest of gestures – an embrace. In this manner Amma has blessed and consoled countless people throughout the world.

In many parts of the world, she is known as the “saint with the healing hug”.

Amma, whose real name is Sudhamani, came from a very poor fishing village in Kerala, India. Even from a very young age her spiritual propensity was already evident. She was often found in a meditative trance, and by the age of five, had already begun composing devotional songs with deep mystical insights.

After years of austere spiritual practices, she came to the conclusion that she was an embodiment of nature’s motherly love.

When someone asked Amma why she receives every person, whether he is rich or poor, healthy or frail, with a loving embrace, Amma replied, “If you ask the river, ‘Why do you flow?’ what can it say?”

Since 1987, Amma has been visiting cities all over the world to preach her message of love. Wherever she goes, Amma talks about the need for love and compassion in today’s world.

The 51-year-old spiritual leader says the root cause of all the problems that beset the family, society and the world is the lack of love. Amma urges people to open their hearts to care for each other.

She is today considered a living saint who has earned international recognition from the United Nations (UN) and other bodies.

In 1993, Amma was elected as one of the three Presidents of Hinduism by the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. That same year Hinduism Today, an international journal on Indian issues and matters, conferred the “Hindu Renaissance Award” on Amma.

In October 1995, she was a guest speaker at the Inter-Faith Celebrations held in New York to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UN.

More recently Amma was invited by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to attend and address the World Peace Conference in New York in August, 2000.

In 2002, Amma received the Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence at a UN conference of women spiritual leaders in Geneva. Amma was also invited to Nairobi, Kenya to present the Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence to the 2003 recipient Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s president.

Dr Jane Goodall, in presenting Amma with the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence said, “She stands here in front of us, God’s love in a human body.”