L'Espresso

The Myth of the Saint Amma

She's Indian. She's 47.

Since 25 years she hugs and kisses followers from all over the world.

A divine mission. She opens schools, hospitals, old people's homes...

Seated on two cushions in lotus posture, Mata Amritanandamayi is surrounded by a cloud of incense and sacred music. She is wearing a white sari and a small diamond on her nose. She has a dark complexion and a child's face. Her devotees call her Amma, which means Mother. From the stage were she is sitting, surrounded by her disciples, she is facing the hundreds of people standing in a queue since hours to receive her divine hug.

She is a living Goddess and many have come here to Trivandrum (South India) travelling for thousands of kilometres from all over the country, to meet her. She is there for all and she hugs everyone individually: a few seconds cheek to cheek, a kiss and few words in the ear. The hug breaks and someone cries, another one seems suddenly to enter a state of bliss.

One more hug. Since 25 years this is Amma's life, every day she hugs thousands of people. She begins at 9.30 in the morning, and finishes at 5 p.m., she then retires to eat and rest, but at 7.30 p.m. She resumes meeting people with no breaks until 4 in the morning! She has hugged so many people that she has an indelible sign on her right cheek. She has hugged up to 25 thousand people in one day.

"When she goes to rest in her room" said a disciple, "she has a lot to do. She clears off the mail, she speaks to her disciples and meditates. She eats very little and doesn't sleep more then two hours a night". In the State of Kerala she has her main 'ashram', with 900 disciples and residents, another 17 branches are spread all around India. Other centres are in Australia, Bahrein, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, California, New Mexico, Michigan. The 'hugged' people are in thousands in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Mauritius Islands. She is on tour for six months a year, and has travelled the world 20 times.

"I quit my job to follow Amma..." says her American pressman Rob Sidon, "I was an executive in one of the main movies companies in the US, but when I met her my life changed completely. I began to follow her in Europe, the United States and India. Her touch is sacred and we estimate that she has hugged 18 million people already."

At the beginning of her mission Amma was criticised, but now no more: the institutions that she established all over India are numerous and some are technologically very advanced. In her 'Amrita Institute of Computer Technology' people study the most sophisticated computer techniques and the 'Amrita Institute of Science' offers specialisations in seven scientific subjects. There are also schools, old people's homes, thousands of houses for the homeless, and pensions for widows and handicapped people. But the most impressive is AIMS ('Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences'), a non-profit hospital that offers free treatment with most advanced technologies to those that cannot afford a surgery or an operation. Inaugurated in Kerala three years ago, AIMS has 900 beds, nine surgery halls and a section for intense therapy with 80 beds. It's the gem of the large charity network of Amma, and was inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Amma's institutions are run by donation, moreover many of the people working there are volunteers, from the trash man to the specialised surgeon. Here in India, among her followers we noticed a large number of westerners. "Amma has programmes in 20 countries" says Sidon, "she is of course very well-known in South India, but in places like Paris she has one of the most crowded programmes too. In Finland she's so popular that the politicians often mention her in their talks."

Amma is Hindu by birth, but she supports all great religions. Last August she was a guest of the United Nations for the World Summit of Religious Leaders. Swami Paramatmananda is her disciple since twenty years, "I sit close to her while she hugs important business people as well as leprous beggars. She has been hugging people since 25 years and she won't stop doing it. She says that she is connected to a source of energy that is God. The people she hugs seem to experience something new that brings a change in their life. Amma is never tired and she is all the time smiling."

It's 5 p.m. and at last, Amma stands up. Followed by some disciples and singers she is about to leave the stage. Women dressed with saris, old toothless ladies, children, men and boys, Indians and Westerns, all call for her. They don't want her to go. She smiles, gives some more hugs and then disappears behind the stage. Many people prostrate and kiss the place where she was standing.

By Paola Boncompagni