E-Book

AMMA
THE DI VI NE MOTHER


By
Tamarapu Sampath Komaran


About the Author:
Mr T Sampath Kumaran is a freelance writer. He regularly contributes articles on
Management, Business, Ancient Temples, and Temple Architecture to many
leading Dailies and Magazines.

His articles are popular in The Young World section of THE HINDU His e-
books on nature, environment and different cultures of people around the world are
educative and of special interest to the young.
His e-books Guide to 108 Divya Desams, Guide to 275 Siva Sthalams, The Path
of Ramanuja, Madhwacharya, Guide to Kancheepuram and Hinduism in a nutshell
have been well received in the religious circle. He was associated in the renovation
and production of two Documentary films on Nava Tirupathi Temples, and
Tirukkurungudi Temple in Tamilnadu.


Acknowledgement:
I wish to express my gratitude to the authors from whose works I gathered the
details for this book. Courtesy, Google, for some of the photographs. Special
thanks to www.scribd.com for hosting my e-books.

Ammas humble beginnings started in a poor remote village in Kerala, where she
was rejected by her family, and being forced into servitude as a victim of prejudice
in her own family, while Amma discovered her divine calling into comforts of
others. She embarked on a quest to provide healing through the simple grace of
hugging people, rich, poor, healthy and sick. As the words of her healing powers
spread she is termed as the hugging saint.


Her life reveals her harrowing childhood of poverty and abuse, and her divine
calling to alleviate the sufferings of humanity.
Compiled from the information gathered from her devotees, and references and
other archival material of several authors, this e-book is presented at the humble
feet of Amma.


In Kerala, a tropical landscape on the west coast of Southern India, Parayakadavu,
a small fishing village of a narrow island of sea and brackish backwaters is the
birth place of Amma in the Idamannel family. For centuries the families of
Parayakadavu made their living fished in the clear blue waters of the Arabian Sea.
People of Idamannel families were highly devoted and had a long tradition of
charity, to give a portion of their catch as charity to the poor.
Ammas grandfather, Velayudhan was a devout Hindu and an ardent believer in
the idea of ahimsa. Rose in an atmosphere of such piety and spirituality Ammas
father Sugunanandan and mother Damayanthi were also faithful devotees of Lord
Krishna. Practicing Kathakali, a famous South Indian dance Sugunanandan would
always play the role of Krishna and on many occasions is reportedly become so
transcended into his character that he lost consciousness on stage.
One day while the young Sugunanandan was perching cashew through the
branches he saw a monk roaming around. Not wanting to be seen he sat motionless
and quite in the tree and watched the monk roam around, commenting within
himself I see many ascetics immersed deep in meditation in this place, and many
great souls lie under this. Many monks will achieve liberation here and this will
turn a holy place.
Sugunanandan and Damayanthi had a son and a daughter, and the third child did
not survive. Later Damayanthi began to have vivid dreams of Hindu Gods and
Goddesses. She dreamt Krishna and Goddess Kali, and the energy of the dream
was potent. One day she dreamed that she has given birth to a baby, Lord Krishna
whom she held tenderly in her lap. She awoke with a feeling that the dream meant
good fortune and blessings to her family. She told her husband of the dream. After
a week of this conversation, Sugunanandan had a dream of Lord Vishnu under the
hood of a golden cobra. Next morning Sugunanandan told Damayanthi of his
dream, conveying that he believes that it is not a dream and that he is awake living
the experience and consider it as an extraordinary gift given by God.
During one of her walks in the beach with her routine activities Damayanthi
suddenly realized delivering a baby. She barely had time to spread a mat and lie
down before the baby arrived. Realizing that Damayanthi has just delivered a child
a neighbor hurried to make the mother and baby comfortable. Damayanthi was
shocked to find the baby dark blue in colour with dark eyes. The childs legs were
locked in cross-legged position, like the lotus posture for meditation, with its little
thumbs and forefingers touched in yogic position.

The parents looked at the baby with grave
concern and consulted the local doctor, who pacified them not to worry. Over the
next few weeks her crossed legs straightened out by themselves and her dark blue
skin also turned to dark brown. Relived of the progress in the child the baby was
named Sudhamani.
Sudhamani was unusual to recall events from the time she was a baby. When she
was five months old, unable to control the crying girl her father losing patience
flung her to the nearby cot. Many years later Sudhamani remarked to her father of
this incident. By the time she was two, Sudhamani had started to spontaneously
pray and offer short songs in praise of Lord Krishna, though nobody taught these
prayers to her. She could be found talking very animatedly and lovingly to the
trees, flowers, and animals. While normal children would play in the fields,
Sudhamani would sit alone and meditate. Her parents were
more concerned of the child, as they feared that she has some mental illness.

At the age of five Sudhamani joined the nearby village school and exhibited
remarkable intellect and memory, and stood first in the class despite the fact that
she was often absent in order to do household chores.
Damayanthis health deteriorated due to frequent deliveries, and Sudhamani was
forced to attend the household duties and take care of the younger siblings, since
her elder brother and sister would go to school. As she worked Sudhamani would
constantly pray and chant the name of Krishna. Whatever work she was doing her
lips appeared to be moving in silent prayer. Amma says ever since she can
remember she has had a great attraction to repeating the name of God. However,
the spiritual inclinations of Amma were not always appreciated by her parents. In
particular they disliked her generous, compassionate nature and scolded her for
sharing food with the untouchable classes and giving away belongings of the
household
Sudhamanis parents would give alms to the
destitute by putting it some distance away from the house, since these people were
considered to be untouchable. Sudhamani on the other hand treated such people
like family and would take the extra food and would sit and eat with them. When
Amma was a little girl, one of her many chores was collecting food for the family
cows. Every day she would roam the local villages, gathering grass and visiting
neighbouring homes to ask for vegetable peels and other scraps. At times like
these, Amma saw many things that troubled her. She saw how some people were
starving, while others had more than enough. She saw that many people were sick
and were suffering from intense pain, unable to afford a single painkiller. And she
noticed that many of the elderly were neglected or treated harshly by their own
families. Her parents would scold her and beat her many a times.
At the age of nine she was taken away from school and given many onerous
household tasks to do, and did these jobs with cheerfulness with willingness.
One day when she noticed that her neighbours were earning money by doing
tailoring jobs, she begged and pleaded to her parents to join the tailoring class.
Next to the tailoring class was a chapel where
Sudhamani would go for prayer after the classes, and sit meditating. She would
feel that there is no difference between Jesus and Krishna. As Sudhamani turned
nineteen the spirituality and devotion she experienced in childhood had continued
to grow and deepen. She hugged trees, plants and children as a way of
acknowledgement of the presence of Krishna in them.
As her parents were contemplating to get her married, her spiritual behavior could
not get a right match. While her parents consulted an astrologer, he predicted that
she will turn a mahatma and advice them not to conduct her marriage, and refrain
from the marriage proposal.
She performed some miracles, and during one of the prayers changed water into
pudding, which convinced Damayanthi that she could see God in Sudhamani,
Hearing the news many people from the villages came to see Sudhamani. Her
family and the villagers at large now believed that she was possessed by Lord
Krishna during Krishna Bhava, and turned a normal girl later. Sudhamani made a
conscious decision to practice only love and compassion, qualities attributed to
Divine Mother. As she grew older her mystical experiences intensified. At times
she became so absorbed in spiritual practice she began to attract followers who felt
something in her profound state of consciousness. In particular she would often
identify with the Hindu avatar Sri Krishna, and during these meditations devotees
observed that she took on the form and characteristics of Sri Krishna. At this time,
many miraculous healings have been attributed to Amma which have been
documented by various sources. However it is interesting to know that Sudhamani
(Amma) has said:
I am not interested in making believers by showing miracles, I am here to help
you find the real truth, and to find liberation of the Self (Soul) through the
realization of your eternal nature.
Although uneducated, Amma teaches aspirants, the ancient traditions of yoga and
Vedanta. Through her own realisation she teaches the ideals of renouncing a false
sense of ego. She encourages seekers to concentrate on the divine, true nature of
man, to overcome obstacles and attain realisation.
During the year 1979 a group of sincere seekers wished to remain in the presence
of Amma, and devote themselves to spiritual practice. This small group formed the
nucleus of an informal ashram Amrutapuri.
Soon after Amma started to give strict instructions to her monastic disciples, to
help them attain spiritual progress, by spending a set amount of time in meditation,
kirtan and selfless service.
During the past 35 years her main focus has been to travel and offer her
unconditional love to people from all walks of life. It is estimated that Amma has
hugged over 25 million people. On some days she has hugged up to 50,000 people
in a day when people come from different religions and walks of life would meet
her. She never tries to convert anybody to a particular religion, and attribute that
her sole mission is to love and serve one and all, although religions are many,
spirituality has only one message. It is just that this message is presented in
different ways, of know yourself. Regardless of our chosen field of action, if we
want to attain results, we should first know our own sakti-our own power. We
should know both our strengths and our weaknesses. This is one level of knowing
ones self. However to understand ones self merely at the level of the mind is not
the peak of self knowledge. For this, we need to go deeper. Because in knowing
ourselves at the level of the mind, we neither come to perceive all of our strengths
and weaknesses, nor are we able to completely transcend them. On the other hand,
the message given to us by the scriptures is: You are neither weak nor incapable.
You are the source of unlimited power. This is the supreme reality. Understanding
this truth is the goal of life. This is the one message that the rishis and gurus have
been giving to humankind in various ways according to the time in which they
lived.
Through her extra- ordinary acts of love and self-sacrifice, Sri Mata
Amritanandamayi, known by many as Amma or Mother, has endeared herself to
millions of people around the world. Tenderly caressing everyone who comes to
her, holding them close to her heart in a loving embrace, Amma shares her
boundless love with all regardless of their beliefs, who they are or why they have
come to her. In this simple yet powerful way, Amma is transforming the lives of
countless people, helping their hearts to blossom, and one embrace at a time.
Her tireless spirit of dedication to uplifting others has inspired a vast network of
charitable activities through which people are discovering the sense of peace that
comes from selflessly serving others.
Ammas teachings are universal. Whenever she asked about her religion, she
replies that her religion is love. She does not ask anyone to believe in God or to
change their faith, but only to inquire into their own real nature, and to believe in
themselves.
She has inspired millions around the world to practice her teachings, open their
hearts to the experience of God as an inner presence of divine love and started
innumerable humanitarian services


Since 1987, Amma has been constructing houses every year for the benefit of the
poor in the vicinity of Amritapuri ashram. In 1996 she inaugurated the massive
Amrita Kuteeram project to build free houses for the homeless and slum-dwellers
throughout the country.

Now Amma has taken on a new goal to build 100,000 homes for the homeless.
Houses commonly have two rooms, a veranda and separate bathrooms.
This vast project is possible due to the selfless service of Ammas monastic
disciples and volunteers. They not only supervise the construction of the houses
but also partake in the construction of these houses. The housing project includes
the building of roads, the providing of electricity, the drilling of bore wells, the
installation of water tanks and a community hall.
In addition to building individual houses for qualified applicants, Amrita Kuteeram
has taken on several large-scale building efforts.
These include a major reconstruction effort in Gujarat following the devastating
earthquake in 2001, and housing colonies in Panagudi, Madras, Mysore,
Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Durgapur and Rameswaram.
In 1998, Amma launched Amrita Nidhi, a project to help destitute women
throughout India through the distribution of monthly financial-aid payments.
The Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust runs a plethora of charitable institutions
under the benign guidance of Amma. These humanitarian activities serve the most
disadvantaged sections of society by providing development assistance, economic
aid, medical aid, and educational facilities for everyone. Amma's generous spirit of
service and love permeate these activities which reach the poorest areas of India
and serve the masses whom society has rejected. Teaching by the example of her
own life, Amma blends spiritual awareness with practical social service.

Amma feels that service helps one to build compassion for those that are less
fortunate. It is toward this end that all of the work of maintaining the ashram and
attending to the thousands of people who come there is done by the residents
themselves. Amma feels that those who work hard and undergo the tribulations of
the poor will be able to serve them properly through a sympathetic understanding.
Amma practices what she preaches and she herself joins in all of the work.

Accordingly, she has launched two distinct types of volunteer institutions: 1) direct
aid organizations and 2) educational facilities designed to help the underprivileged
help themselves.

Direct aid organizations include a program to build 25,000 homes for the poor,
women's shelters, pension disbursements for widows, orphanages, hospices,
hospitals, and community aid centers, homes for the aged, eye clinics, speech
therapy centers, just to name a few. One of the major projects is the 800 bed
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) hospital, which offers state-of-the-art
medical treatment including open-heart surgery, neurosurgery, and organ
transplants-free of charge to the needy.

Concurrently, Ammachi's network of educational facilities is blossoming all over
India. So far, it includes numerous elementary, secondary, vocational, and graduate
schools, ranging from remote tribal tutelage to advanced business and technical
certification. In particular, the Amrita Institutions Campus in Coimbatore offers
advanced degrees in engineering, information technology and management.

In the west, Amma has equally encouraged devotees to serve selflessly in their
own communities. This has resulted in the successful launch of the "Mother's
Kitchen" program. Mother's Kitchen volunteers routinely prepare and serve
delicious healthy meals to the poor and needy in many US inner cities. These
"vegetarian soup-kitchens" prove to be very popular with the homeless and this
effort is being organized in new cities throughout the country. Another future
project well underway is a home for the aged in Oklahoma.

In short, these humanitarian activities are impacting India on a grassroots level. By
directly serving those people who are in dire need, Amma's numerous charitable
activities are transforming society one person at a time. Furthermore, these
activities provide hands on opportunities for individuals to become involved in
their communities.


South of Alleppey, in a tiny town in the Kerala Backwaters called Amritapuri, sits
a pink ashram run by Mata Amritanandamayi Devi with the Kali Temple.