Mata Amritanandamayi, is known throughout the world as Amma, or Mother, for her selfless love and compassion toward all beings through her unique embrace – a symbol of compassion, unity and peace.Photo/COURTESY.
Mata Amritanandamayi, is known throughout the world as Amma, or Mother, for her selfless love and compassion toward all beings through her unique embrace – a symbol of compassion, unity and peace.
According to her local visit organizing committee spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Amma, the hugging saint will be in Kenya from 16th to 19th April on a mission to spread love and comfort Kenyans. She will host free public programmes at the Oshwal Community Centre in Nairobi on the 17th and 18th of April 2016.
During her fourth visit to Kenya, Amma, will also visit the Amrita Centre near Athi River- a children’s educational and orphanage facility run by her charitable trust.
“Throughout her life, Mata Amritanandamayi has embraced and comforted more than 34 million people. Amma inspires, uplifts, and transforms through her embrace, her spiritual wisdom and through her global charities, known as Embracing the World,” explained Mr. Vijay Kumar and added, “Amma, believes that, there are two types of poverty in the world, financial poverty and the poverty of love; however, the poverty of love is more important.”
Amma was first in Kenya in 2003 just immediately after His Excellency the Hon. President Mwai Kibaki assumed office and she presented him with the Gandhi King Award for Peace.
Amma is unusual among Indian gurus in that she is, to put it in Western terms, completely self-made.
Her devotees believe she is the rare being who has achieved full enlightenment on her own, a divine soul in a human body.
As evidence of this, they tell you the stories all of Amma’s followers known by heart: about how as a young girl growing up in a small Kerala fishing village she had an abnormally compassionate nature, giving her own food to more needy strangers and consoling the sick; about how her parents, conservative Hindus, didn’t know what to make of her, and as Amma came of age they hoped to arrange for her to be married; about how Amma rejected this, angering her relatives to such an extent that one tried to poison her for bringing shame upon the family; about how Amma lived, and continued to spend most of her time outside, alone, meditating in a small temple she built on the property; about how people began hearing of this mysterious young girl and made pilgrimages to see her, and when they did, she opened her arms to them and pulled them close; about how Amma once sucked the pus out of the contagious wound of a leper; about how people began calling her Amma, it was just a natural instinct.
When asked where she gets the energy to help so many people, she answers: “Where there is true love, anything is effortless.”
While Amma is widely regarded as one of India’s foremost spiritual leaders, Amma says that her religion is love. She has never asked anyone to change their religion but only to contemplate the essential principles of their own faith and to try to live accordingly.
The Mata Amritanandamayi Math established in 1982 as a charitable trust with headquarters at Parayakadavu (also known as Amritapuri), Kollam, Kerala, India.
The trust runs many charitable institutions under the guidance of Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamyi, popularly known as Ammachi or Amma or The Hugging Saint.
These humanitarian activities serve the most disadvantaged section of the society by providing development assistance, economic aid and educational facilities.
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