Mata Amritanandamayi

Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devi(माता अमृतानन्‍दमयी), also known as 'Amma', 'Ammachi' or 'Mother' (born September 27, 1953), was born Sudhamani in the small village of Parayakadavu, near Kollam, Kerala. She is widely respected as a loving humanitarian and revered by some as a saint.

Rise to fame

Her devotees claim that she had many mystical experiences as a child. Since 1981, she has been teaching spiritual aspirants all over the world. She founded a worldwide organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is engaged in many spiritual and charitable activities.

Related Topics:
Mystic - 1981 - Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust - Spiritual - Charitable

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International events

• 1993, Chicago: speech at the "Parliament of the World Religions" 100th Anniversary
• 1995, New York: address at the Interfaith Celebrations at the 50th Anniversary of the UN.
• 2000, New York: keynote address at the Millennium Peace Summit, UN General Assembly
• 2002, Geneva: keynote address at the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious & Spiritual Leaders at the UN
• 2002, Geneva: "Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence" from The World Movement for Non-Violence at UN headquarters
• 2004, Barcelona

Recognition

In 1993, she was one of the three people who represented Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. Amritanandamayi was the keynote speaker at The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was held in October 2002, and was an initiative of The UN' Millennium World Peace Summit, at which she spoke in August 2000.

Related Topics:
1993 - Hinduism - Parliament of the World's Religions - Chicago - The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders - Geneva, Switzerland - October - 2002 - Millennium World Peace Summit - August - 2000

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Amritanandamayi was presented with the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence by The World Movement for Nonviolence at the UN General Assembly Hall (Palais Des Nations) in Geneva in recognition of her lifelong work in furthering the principles of non-violence. The three previous recipients of the award were Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Related Topics:
Gandhi-King Award - Non-Violence - The World Movement for Nonviolence - Kofi Annan - Nelson Mandela - Primatologist - Jane Goodall

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Inner circle

The first set of monastic disciples of Amritanandamayi came to her in the late 1970s. Today, they as well as other disciples and devotees lookafter the ashram's multifacial activities. The first disciple to be initiated as a sanyasi was Swami Amritaswarupananda. Others are Swami Turiyamritananda, Swami Ramakrishnananda, Swami Purnamritananda and Swami Amritatmananda. The Ashram is now known as Amritapuri.

Related Topics:
Disciple - 1970s - Ashram - Sanyasi - Swami Amritaswarupananda - Swami Ramakrishnananda - Swami Purnamritananda - Swami Amritatmananda - Amritapuri

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Darshans

Amritanandamayi is known to the press as 'the hugging saint'. She offers warm hugs to everyone who approaches her and in India she has been known to individually hug over 50,000 people in a day, sitting sometimes for over 20 hours. Amritanandamayi travels all around the world, and is said to have hugged at least 21 million people in the past 30 years.

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"Darshan ? The Embrace", a film on the life of Amritanandamayi has been officially selected for showcasing at the prestigious 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Jan Kounen, an award winning filmmaker who was born in Netherlands and is based in France, directed the film. Manuel De La Roche of France, is the producer.

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Jan Kounen and his crew began shooting the footage for the movie in 2003 during , Amritanandamayi's 50th Birthday celebration in Kochi. Afterwards, Kounen and his team traveled with Amritanandamayi on her Indian and International tours in order to complete the movie. About the film, Kounen says, "when I first took up the project and started filming, I thought, 'Amma is a good person, doing good things, in turn I can do something good for Her'. But as it went on, I realized, no, I am the one who is receiving the gift".

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