SRDRS-1

Her Name Is Mata Amritanandamayi

Her name is Mata Amritanandamayi and she comes from India. She is also known by a name that is easier to remember: Amma. Her profession is to embrace people and to collect money for her charities. And that is exactly what she is doing in Frauenfeld, her only stop in Switzerland on her European Tour. Our correspondent Robert Ruckstuhl has met her:

(…) In the foggy weather the Festhalle Rüegerholz doesn't look very hospitable. But as soon as you enter the hall the air is filled with the peculiar aroma of incense and the sound of murmuring and Indian music. Amma, sitting at the very front of the hall, is embracing one person after another; she is surrounded by people in white dresses, helping the people come to her.

Now we are standing beside her and are allowed to ask questions. Amma is answering while continuing to embrace people. "I gather energy from within myself, everyone is inside me". And to the question why she does this hugging, she says that it would be like asking a Mother why she loves her children so much. "That is just the way it is". And she grabs the next woman, holds her to her chest and whispers with her hoarse voice in a kind of singsong: "My darling daughter, my darling daughter," into her ear.

(…) I keep asking people what they feel when they are getting embraced, but nobody seems to be able or willing to put the experience into words. Except one therapist from Konstanz, Germany, who has seen Amma for the first time: "I felt peace and harmony, a very pleasant feeling." But it is clear that all those who have seen Amma more than once have had a profound experience. It seems though, that one cannot point out something common, that is valid for everybody. Except maybe that to get a motherly embrace is very beautiful, even for an adult.

(Translated from state-run Swiss radio station SRDRS-1) (excerpted)