Amma - the Hugging Saint

You can´t help but feel the spirituality that permeates India´s every pore. And what an immense variety! From the several thousand Hindu gods and all their reincarnations, Christians, Muslims as well as being the home of Buddhism and Sikhism. Indeed it has been the diversity of everything that makes India so special.

Of course it is untrue to say that there are not religious tensions exploding from time to time, but you do get the feeling of huge tolerance to pretty much everything.

A few of the volunteers on the Village Clean-Up yesterday are making a pilgrimage down South to get the blessings of Amma – the Hugging Saint. She will be in her ashram over the Christmas and New Year period.

For 30 years Indian spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, to give her her real name, has been hugging people, leading some to give her a saintly nickname. Her motto after all is “embracing the World for peace and harmony”.

This really is as simple as it sounds.

Amma sits on a slightly elevated seat. Strangers come before her, kneeling, and she embraces each as though they were her own flesh and blood.

Time spent with Amma is free and she does not promote any particular faith, being for "all religions and none". She is said to have given some 26 million hugs, or "darshan", as the experience is known. Each is counted off with a clicker. She sits for up to 20 hours a day delivering up to 50,000 hugs in one session.

She has said that to hug someone is to symbolise giving, and that her embrace should help awaken the spirit of selflessness in people.

But there's more than just a cuddle. Her charity, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, has UN consultative status and claims to have built more than 36,000 homes and several hospitals for India's poor.

Born in 1953, in a tiny village in Kerala, it is claimed she was born with a smile on her face and could walk and talk by 6 months. Even as a three year old, she sang devotional songs to Lord Krishna and carried his image with her. Wanting to put an end to suffering, it became her mission to give love to less fortunate people.

At the age of 22, she “became one” with Krishna and it is said people started coming to her for blessings.

I´ve also heard other somewhat unbelievable stories about her childhood including possessing blue skin as a baby, endured a premature death and reincarnation, and how animal brought her food in deep forests to sustain her.

Amma´s ashram was built in her home village of Amritapuri and started as a cow-shed. It now houses a few thousand devotees who flock to this gaudy pink palace, not just from across India, but from around the World. Discipline is meant to be very severe and some of the long-term devotees are reportedly one sandwich short of a complete picnic.
Amma´s pink ashram

Sarah MacDonald recalls her experience at the Ashram in her book, “Holy Cow”. Just before she is to receive her hug, she is asked to make her wish. She panics at her own indecision before choosing to wish for larger breasts. MacDonald claims that after a few days they had indeed swelled and were causing discomfort. They continue to grow to such an extent, that she flies back to her native Australia for a thorough medical check-up.

I have spoken first-hand to a few of her international disciples. All have raved about the experience and note the power and energy that exudes from Amma.

Reportedly she has hugged and healed some 20 million people all over the world as part of her mission. On Fridays she acts as the goddess Kali, and on many occasions she has claimed to be Lord Krishna himself.

Psychologist Dr Elvidina Adamson-Macedo says being hugged can release powerful natural chemicals in the body.

"Beta-endorphins are released when you are relaxed, and are a natural opium. A hug can induce that in a person.

"Opening your arms is the act of a mother, who is ready to comfort her child. But it's not only the action; it's everything that comes with it - the emotions and affection that's translated into a non-verbal action.

"But it has to be right. It would not work if it was just a performance."

You can check out her website by clicking here.