Amma is a humanitarian Hindu spiritual leader whose life’s mission is to preach peace, tolerance, and love to the masses. (Courtesy of Amma’s media team)(Courtesy of Amma’s media team)
Editor’s Note: The author of this article is a Curtis High School student who participates in the Advance/SILive.com High School Journalism Immersion program. The initiative is designed to help young people explore the world of community journalism.
December is a month of giving and recognition, which is why I would like to recount my experience meeting a woman who I believe embodies that.
In August, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, more commonly known as Amma, traveled to the Javits Center in New York City as a part of her North America tour. Thousands of people gathered during this three-day period in hopes of catching a glimpse of the revered “Hugging Saint.”
Amma is a humanitarian Hindu spiritual leader whose life’s mission is to preach peace, tolerance, and love to the masses, according to her official website amma.org. Her official website also notes she was born in 1953 to a fishing family in Kerala, India, and at 9 years old, Amma’s mother fell ill which forced Amma to drop out of school to help look after her family. Despite the hardships she was facing, Amma continued to be a beacon of light in her community. Even though she and her family were struggling, she always gave back to those who were less fortunate in any way she could.
Amma is known around the world as the "Hugging Saint." (Courtesy of Luis Lopez)(Courtesy of Luis Lopez)
From a young age, Amma was drawn to the ways of spirituality. This was a driving force in her later activism and humanitarian work. She later became known for her powerful hugs, which the people of her town would line up to receive. In 1987 Amma embarked on her first world tour, giving out her wisdom and cathartic embraces en masse.
This year, I saw Amma for the first time. I went with my father, who had seen her once before. I wanted to see Amma because I thought it would be an interesting experience. I would not consider myself a religious or spiritual person, however I am interested in other cultures and ways of life. When my dad told me who Amma was and encouraged me to look at her website, I became more excited to see such a remarkable woman.
When we got to the event, we were separated into two lines. One line was for people who had encountered Amma before, and the other was for people who were meeting her for the first time.
On the first-timers line, organizers gave us a yellow ribbon to put around our necks, and told us we would be the first to be able to receive a hug from Amma.
On the line, I met a lot of different people from all walks of life. I was surprised to find out how far Amma’s reach really is. There were even people from France, like Anne Laure and Virjinie, who traveled all the way to New York City just to meet Amma.
The author, Genevieve Lopez, with her father Luis at Amma's event in August. (Courtesy of Luis Lopez)(Courtesy of Luis Lopez)
Anne Laure told me that she had been to one of Amma’s two ashrams in France after being persuaded by her friends.
“Many years ago friends told me, ‘Anne Laure, you should go to Amma’s ashram… you will love it.’ And one day I felt the call so I went there and I met Amma, not physically, but spiritually,” she said.
Virjinie explained to me that she was introduced to Amma by Anne Laure, and offered to take Anne Laure to New York to meet Amma for Anne Laure’s birthday.
Another of the women I met, Ramadevinina, is a disciple of Amma who was originally born and raised in New York. Ramadevinina met Amma in 1987 during Amma’s first world tour, and fell in love with her teachings. Originally named Nina, Ramadevinina explained to me that she got her name changed by Amma. She asked for a name that would guide her in life and Amma gave her a name that means “one who gives happiness to the hearts of others.”
“Amma’s teaching is universal. All religions are petals of one flower, the fragrance is the same,” said Ramadevinina.
Ramadevinina’s final remark to me was to keep my mind and heart open throughout my experience with Amma. So, that’s exactly what I did.
It was very interesting to me that Amma’s reach spread so far. I was under the impression that the majority of the attendees would be people who had met Amma in the past, however in reality the majority of the people there were meeting Amma for the first time, just like me.
We all waited in a line outside for about an hour and a half to two hours before we were led inside. Our group would be the first group to actually receive a hug from Amma when the time came.
The author said the experience of meeting Amma gave her a stronger sense of respect for other ways of living and the message Amma and her followers aim to spread throughout her teachings. (Courtesy of Luis Lopez)(Courtesy of Luis Lopez)
Inside the venue there were several tables open selling merchandise relating to Amma, spirituality, Hindu fashion, and even herbal soap. On the far side toward the wall there were tables set up with information about the humanitarian work Amma and her team are involved in, and how attendees could sign up to be a part of it.
Before the ceremony there was an entire lunch buffet of incredible food. I was worried there wouldn’t be lunch so I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of food.
Once the ceremony was about to begin we took our seats in the front row. The stage where Amma would be leading the religious ceremony was adorned with beautiful yellow and orange flowers, rugs, musical instruments, and tapestries. On either side of the stage there were giant screens which would be used to display the prayers and songs being used during the ceremony for the audience to follow along with.
When Amma finally came out onto the stage the entire atmosphere in the room changed. The excitement and awe in the crowd was palpable as she made her way onto the stage, followed by her disciples.
I wasn’t completely sure of what exactly was happening during the ceremony, however the songs and hymns being sung were beautiful and extremely soulful. They lit a fire on the stage and played live music with some instruments that I’d never seen before. Toward the end of the ceremony Amma started to have flowers thrown at her by her closest disciples while the fire burned brightly.
When it was finally time to receive the hug from Amma, my group and I were ushered onto the stage and put into a single file line.
I’ll admit I was pretty nervous walking onto the stage as I had no idea what to expect. My dad stood right next to me as we neared the front of the line and when the time came we received a duo hug from her.
While the embrace didn’t give me any sort of spiritual enlightenment, the entire experience gave me a stronger sense of respect for other ways of living and the message Amma and her followers aim to spread throughout her teachings.
I left the event with stories from many different people all coming together with open hearts and open minds. Overall I would definitely recommend going outside of your comfort zone and opening your mind to ideas and lifestyles different from your own.
I contacted Amma’s team after the event, to ask how Amma was able to push past all the negativity of the world and keep going with her mission.
She graciously answered my question.
“You cannot change the world and its ways, but you can certainly change your own outlook,” Amma began. “For example, if we try to straighten a dog’s curly tail by putting it into a tube every day, the tail will still curl once removed from the tube. However, through this process, we will get stronger. It is our own self-improvement that is most important. Once that takes place, others will also be inspired to change. In general, we need to focus on the good in people. In this way, both of us will both be uplifted. Even a broken watch tells the correct time twice a day. As for me, I am not like a train track, only going in one direction. I am like a river. When an obstacle is put before a river, it simply flows around it.”
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