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The long queue shows no sign of abating. People wait
patiently for their turn. At the end of the queue sits
a women draped in white, with a huge bindi on her forehead
and ad engaging smile. She stretches out her arms and
gives a loving hug to each person and talks like a mother
would to her children. This is no ordinary moment. Amma
as Mata Amritanandamayi is called, has woven her spell
of magic once again.
Over the years Mata Amritanandamayi's charisma has
helped create a spiritual empire dedicated to the service
of humanity. She has inspired scores of people-from
the common man to the CEO-to volunteer at hospitals,
schools, and colleges run by the Mata Amritanandamayi
Mission Trust.
Sudhamani, as Amma was named by her parents, was born
48 years ago into a poor Kerala family. She started
composing hymns when she was just five. "I had
an intense love of the Divine Name from childhood, I
would repeat the Lord's Name incessantly with every
breath. Divine thoughts constantly flowed in my mind,
no matter where I was or what I was doing," she
recollects.
Second of eight children, Sudhamani was forced to discontinue
her studies after the fourth grade as her parents needed
her to baby-sit her siblings. From looking after sisters
and brothers to showering love on the elderly, poor,
and ill of the village was just a natural extension.
She did it all with ease, going out of her way to serve
them. She would even steal food grains from her family
storeroom to feed the hungry. Once, she even gave away
her mother's only gold bangle to a needy stranger, and
had to suffer her father's thrashing for the act.
Sudhamani was often seen singing away in a state of
ecstatic devotion or blissfully immersed in meditation.
Initially, her parents brushed off her unworldly ways
as sheer eccentricity. However, they soon got fed up
of her behaviour and locked her out of the house. Villagers,
equally foxed by her 'weird' ways, ridiculed her by
throwing stones at her. Yet despite these abuses, Sudhamani
remained undisturbed, oblivious to the harassment. It
was just a matter of time then before her kind nature
won over hearts. Sudhamani began disseminating spiritual
knowledge and people flocked to her.
"The greatest of all blessings", according
to Amma, "is to rouse an aspirant to the glory
of divinity within. The awkward man solves his problems
for himself and becomes a blessing to society."
She is always exhorting her followers to do their bit
for the poor. " I desire peace for the people.
In this world where so many live in luxury and comfort,
there are many who are also suffering poverty and starvation.
With co-operation and love, we must serve the world
selflessly and unconditionally", she says.
Today, her work has blossomed into the Mata Amritanandamayi
Mission Trust, a worldwide organisation engaged in charity.
Apart from running hospitals, the trust also manages
educational institutions. It recently set up a school
in each Mumbai and Pune. Volunteer doctors; also run
medical camps across the country.
Every Sunday, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in Nerul,
Navi Mumbai, conducts a medical camp for the underprivileged.
"Walk into the kitchen of the Math and you'll see
top executives and tier wives cooking meals for a thousand-plus
people," observes a devotee. Points out Avayamrita
Chaitanya, head of the Nerul Math, "In the aftermath
of the Gujarat quake, several of our doctors rushed
to Bhuj to attend victims."
Recently, the trust embarked on a plan to construct
25,000 houses for the homeless across nine states, including
Maharashtra.
A devotee has the last word: " we are all trying
to do our bit to make life a bit easy for the poor.
As Amma tells us, 'A drop of water cannot be a river.
It's the coming together of countless drops that creates
the flow. The real flow of life lies in unity, in the
oneness that arises out of love'."
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