Mata Amritanandamayi - Ammas Pearls of Wisdom

Mata Amritanandamayi

AMMAS PEARLS
OF WISDOM

Publication compiled by
VALERIE SERVANT

Translated from Malayalam by
Embracing the World

Where love is present, there is no effort
The happiness of others is my respite

Amma

CONTENTS

My religion is love

Amma

Mata Amritanandamayi is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. More universally known as Amma mother in Malayalam, the official language spoken in Kerala she declares that her religion is love. In India, she is considered to be a Mahatma, or a Great Soul.

Amma is the incarnation of love, truth, renunciation and self-sacrifice in the very noblest sense. She does not stop at teaching; she puts her teachings into practice every second, every day of her life. Established in plenitude, she gives everything. This is why we feel the divine in her presence.

Even though she never married, nor had children, she has become the mother of all. Considered by thousands as the Mother of Compassion, she is both a great master and a universal mother.

To those who tend to hide away from others, or cut themselves off from their immediate surroundings, Amma shows the way of giving and opening the heart. She teaches the path of unity and infinite compassion.

Her famous darshan , the embrace that bestows, in her own words, an uninterrupted flow of love, is a simple yet powerful gesture. This gesture of unconditional love has become the symbol of her international reach. Since 1975, she has taken into her maternal arms, one by one, more than thirty-four million people across the globe, touching the hearts of all who come to her.

However, it doesnt end with the darshan , because Amma is compassion in action; through her organization Embracing the World, she comes to the aid of the worlds poorest and most destitute.

Ammas life is her only message: Give everything, give of yourself.

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Amma was born on 27 July 1953 into a family of humble fishermen on the Kerala coast, southern India. She was one of thirteen children. As early as five, Amma showed extraordinary mystical qualities. She was consumed with love for the divine, and she already wrote and sang devotional songs.

Amma was only nine years old when her mother fell ill. The whole responsibility for the household fell on her shoulders. She was obliged to leave school, but she offered her long hours of work to the Lord.

At the age of thirteen, she experienced her first rapture. After rigorous and austere spiritual practices, she increasingly went into samadhi (a deep meditative state), and stayed like this for hours on end, sometimes even for days, without showing any signs of consciousness.

At the same period, the girl felt a profound call to serve the poor, to whom she gave much care and attention. She stole butter and milk from her parents and gave them to those in need. She tried to comfort people both materially and physically by holding them in her arms. A spontaneous attitude which may seem natural, but which, at the time, was considered to bring shame on her family: young Indian women were not allowed to touch other people, let alone men, not to mention people belonging to a different caste.

As a teenager, her trances became more frequent. Members of her own family and villagers simply could not fathom her; she did not behave like a normal young woman. But no one could stop her from her mission.

By the age of twenty, this young womans aura was already considerable: people came from further and further away to meet her, and a community of disciples grew. Gradually, she came to be honoured for the extraordinary qualities that emanated from her. For those close to her, she is the feminine incarnation of the divine.

In 1975, at the age of twenty-two, she left the family home and was forced to live outside. The fact that the sky was her only roof, the earth her bed, the moon her lamplight, and the sea breeze her fan has become a legend. The birds and the other animals kept her company and became her faithful companions. They brought her food and served it to her.

It was at this time that Amma asserted her true mission: to relieve the worlds suffering and guide the steps of spiritual seekers. Ever since, inexhaustibly, in forty countries, on all five continents, she has continued embracing and serving. Her darshan inspires many people to volunteer and to serve those who suffer in life.

In 1981, her ashram was built at her birthplace. In 1987, at the age of thirty-four, she made her first world tour. Today, her time is divided between her main ashram in India and the tours she makes every year to the United States, Europe, Japan and other parts of India, where she meets disciples, followers and the simply curious who come to experience her darshan. Everywhere in the world, communities have been founded around her message: To give love and compassion to the poor and suffering is our duty towards God.

HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Amma is not only about darshan. She was presented with the Gandhi-King Award for peace and non-violence for her internationally renowned charitable work.

Thanks to donations gathered from across the globe, Embracing the Worlds scope of action equals that of a state. This NGO is an international network of charitable works supporting women, children, orphans, the poor, and victims of natural disasters.

A tsunami in Indonesia, India or Sri Lanka, the nuclear accident in Fukushima, an earthquake in Nepal? Ammas volunteers rally immediately to help, in love and selfless service. Embracing the World has given more than fifty-one million euros in emergency aid since 1998.

The NGO has developed multiple actions including food distribution (ten million meals served to the homeless and starving in India; every year, 75,000 people receive support in the United States in forty-one towns), free housing (45,000 houses built for the homeless in India), pensions for widows, orphanages, education, vocational training, and health care (free health care delivered to three million patients, hospitals, etc.). It has also developed five university campuses, which have already become references in the field of computing and research over just a few years.

These are just some of the actions so far accomplished. As for the future as many projects are already in the pipeline.

Anne Ducrocq

June 2015

In todays world, there are two types of poverty: the first is due to a lack of food, clothing or housing, and the second is due to a lack of love and compassion. We must first deal with the second type of poverty because if our hearts are full of love and compassion, we will give our heartfelt service to all those who have no food, no clothes and no shelter.

Amma

The word God is used for convenience. In the tradition into which Amma was born, this world is the manifestation in infinite forms of a singular energy of love and light. This is the One God, the Divinity, the Divine Mother. It points to that unfathomable mystery of supreme Consciousness, the Absolute, the All, Emptiness, unconditional Love, Peace that surpasses all understanding, abiding Joy, etc.

This energy of love and light is our true nature. The Self. The divine within.

It is the mind