Translated from Finnish:  HELSINGIN SANOMAT is the biggest newspaper in the country.

People queued to get a hug from the Divine Mother Amma

The Holy Mother preaches love and equality between the sexes.

12 Oct, 2003

Hannele Tulonen

The big hall of Kaapelitehdas was converted into an Indian temple on Saturday. There was the scent of incense, the healing circles of meditators, Mandalas seemed to turn around on the walls as the Hindu Gods peeped at the assembled crowd.

More than a thousand people received a number to get a hug from Mother Amma. This  was repeated in the evening.

Mother Amma was sitting in the end of the hall during the day. People were queuing to her, either on their knees or moving forward gradually while sitting on the carpet. Many had a flower in their hands.

“It will take at least 7 hours”, said 15 year old Mark Lepre, from Vantaa. He had number 1050. He had come to see Amma with her mother Eila Lepre. Elia has been doing yoga for several years. The organizers of the event promised that all who wanted a hug would get one. The beginning was just a bit slow, as the invalids and families with small children were first to kneel down before Amma.

The Divine Mother squeezed and stroked all in a thorough and determined way. Many left the site with tears in their eyes. This was Amma’s fifth visit to Finland, but Eila Lepre was with her for the first time.

“I have no expectations, I’ll take what comes” said Lepre. “The path of yoga is about being connected to the to the Universe and the Inner Self.”

“It’s not for me at the moment, but maybe later,” said her son regarding spirituality. For now he is more interested in Hapkido, a Korean form of martial arts.

Antti, 28 years, has however been present every time Amma has visited Finland. “The hug is not the most important thing. She gives in so many other ways. It’s enough to be close to her”, says Antti.

The queuers had a chance to watch video clips about Amma’s life and speeches. In them she passionately spoke of equality between the sexes. As she strived to awaken her audience, she resembled the Finnish master speaker Gyro Kaleen, who his time tried to wake up Finns as a theosopher. Amma teaches that women should awaken to their universal motherhood, their strongest quality, even if they haven’t given birth. “Motherhood is love, it is the breath of life”, said Amma.

But man also should not suppress his feminine aspect.

“The ultimate defeat of society will follow if the women become like men”, preached Amma on the screen.

“She also sees the spiritual pain and suffering of the westerners”, says Antti Juhani Wihuri with gratitude from the Finnish Amma-center.

According to Wihuri, Amma is a seer and a wizard, in a similar vein to the ancient Finnish Shamans!

The Finnish translation of Judith Cornell’s biography of Amma was also released on Sunday, published by Basam Books.

In the mornings 25 happy people whose names were picked in a draw, were able to ask a question directly of Amma. The Finnish devotees of Amma have gatherings in 11 cities. Around 10 Finns have even moved to Amma’s Indian ashram.

A ritual of fire and light was a part of the program, during which water was blessed with a purifying fire. The holy water will remain holy no matter how much it is diluted with ordinary tap water.

The Cultural Minister, Tanja Karpela, met with Amma prior to the evening program. Father Ambrosius visited Kaapelitehdas during the day. 

HELSINGIN SANOMAT: articles side column information:

Mata Amritanandamayi, Amma, was born into a poor fisherman’s family in Kerala, Southern India 50 years ago.

People started to regard this mistreated but selfless girl as holy and started to come to her. Amma gave them a blessing through a hug, darshan.

Amma is said to have hugged more than 21 million people world-wide.

Amma also expresses her motherhood by charity work. She has established and supports several schools, research centers, hospitals and orphanages.

With her hugs alone, Amma has transformed Hinduism. Traditionally a person higher in the caste-system was not allowed to touch the citizen belonging to the lower caste.

Her status as a spiritual teacher and supporter of female priesthood has promoted the status of women. Her pension system for widows has also helped in this area. By marrying couples where the bride’s family were very poor, she has also affected the heavy dowry system of India.

Amma was granted the Gandhi-King peace award in 2002.