Author: T P Sreenivasan
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: June 22, 2006
URL: http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/22tps.htm
Mata Amritanandamayi (Mother of Immortal Bliss),
'the hugging saint', grew up and attained fame in a village not far from my
ancestral home. But I met her for the first time in Washington, DC with thousands
of American devotees lined up to get comforted by her motherly hug.
There is nothing unusual about India rediscovering
its gems only after they have been admired abroad. But for a person, who speaks
nothing but Malayalam, preaches no intricate philosophy and claims no divinity,
the following that she has gathered around the world is nothing but a miracle.
The five star hotel in Washington, DC was
reverberating with Hindu hymns and Vedic chants as I entered its roomy lounge.
Pictures of Amma, as she is popularly known, were everywhere and American
women, some of them clad in white saris and men, many of them in Indian costumes,
were selling food and other necessities and portraits and dolls of Amma.
At one end of the banquet hall was a stage
on which Amma sat in the company of her disciples and there was a long line
of people, sitting in line, slowly moving towards her in total silence. As
a person neared her, there was someone at hand to remove any sharp objects
and to give a quick clean up before she hugged him.
As Amma hugged me, she said nothing even though
I was introduced to her. What she whispered in my ears were no magic mantras,
but simple Malayalam words, normally used while petting children.
Since she had already accepted an invitation
from my wife to visit our home, I reiterated the invitation and she simply
broke into a childlike giggle and said that she would come. She warned me,
however, that she might come at an unearthly hour. Indeed, she kept her promise
and stopped at our Maryland home on her way from Washington to New York at
about 3 am and stayed for nearly an hour.
Amma talked to us, including our houseguest,
Ambassador K P Fabian, like a long lost relative, catching up with family
news, interspersed with prayers. We asked her questions about her work, her
devotees and her mission. Her answers were simple. She said that her message
was just love, love for God and love for all beings. She spoke of her accomplishments
as though she herself was surprised by them. She had no idea, it seemed, why
so many people gathered to hear her and to serve the causes dear to her.
I finally asked her why she hugged everyone.
"What else can a mother do to console her children?" she asked.
She said that she used to hug the sick and the infirm, but others felt deprived
and so she decided to hug everyone who came to see her. I was struck that
her explanation was simple and convincing.
Hugging every devotee, even the sCeptical
ones, imposes a physical strain on her. Since she does not discriminate against
anyone and makes sure that nobody goes away without seeing her, she has to
stay in one place for several hours. Apparently, she has the stamina to stay
in one place for many hours, without getting up and she stays till the last
visitor departs.
Many people bring their problems to her and
she patiently listens to them. The devotees seem satisfied by just basking
in her presence. They come to her again and again to seek her blessings and
to soak in her love. Many devotees tell stories of her anticipating their
problems and solving them without any fanfare.
Amma addresses everyone, regardless of age,
as "mon" (son) or "mol" (daughter) and this helps establish
an instant rapport. There is a real story, however, of a friend of mine misunderstanding
her intentions. He was conscious that his wife was often mistaken for his
daughter because of her youthful looks. When Amma turned to the wife and asked
her how "mol" was doing, he corrected her and said: "She is
not my daughter, she is my wife." Amma had a hearty laugh.
The second time I went to see her was at Columbia
University in New York
, where she was receiving her devotees. She totally disarmed me by saying
that she would have come to see me if only she knew I was in town. She also
regretted that we had no time to chat like in Washington.
In Thiruvananthapuram, I decided to sit at
a distance, not wanting to join the massive lines of people. One of her associates
spotted me and took me straight to Amma. When I said to her that I did not
want to trouble her, she instructed one of her disciples that he should go
round and check whether there were more people like me, who did not want to
trouble her!
Amma's official biographies tell the story
of a girl, Sudhamani, who was born in extreme poverty and worked hard as a
little girl to earn her bread. Her ardent devotion to Lord Krishna was the
only exceptional thing about her and she was often seen in a trance even in
the midst of hard work. Her parents were not patient with her and she had
to struggle all the way to her sainthood, which people grudgingly acknowledged
after they were convinced that there was something divine about her.
On occasions, she assumed the form of Krishna
or Devi, which caused consternation in the village. They resorted to force
and even black magic to bring her back to normal life. But Amma dealt with
these challenges with patience and faith in God and convinced the sceptics
of her special mission in life. Some even hired assassins to get rid of her
when her saintliness began to get established. All her enemies were thwarted
in one way or another in mysterious ways and people saw these as miracles,
which increased their faith in her.
The nucleus of an Ashram was built in 1978
by some of her devotees and what is now a great institution, Mata Amritanandamayi
Math, came into being in 1981. She made her first world tour in 1987 and won
a massive following in several countries. Today, the Math has several educational,
health and service institutions, which have been built by devotees under Amma's
tender care and supervision. Amma has given her concept of love a physical
form through these institutions.
I was at the Amrita Institute of Medical Services
in Kochi, considered one of the most advanced medical institutions in India.
Its massive buildings have the best equipment in the world and some super
specialists, who have come back from abroad to serve Amma and her mission.
Many of them have invested their lives' savings in the Institute and are working
there with dedication. Caring for the sick and poor is as much a part of the
work of the Institute as providing the best health care.
The uniqueness of Mata Amritanandamayi is
that her message is simple and she makes no claims to divinity. She gives
abundant love to those who go to her and charms them into serving humanity
itself. The wonder is not that she is capable of so much love and has done
so much for the common man, but that a hand of another fellow human being
was raised to do harm to such a soul. She could not but forgive him, as Jesus
Christ did, as the only emotion she is capable of is love.
