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Ammachi: A Biography of Mata Amritanandamayi
Ammachi was born fully enlightened and has embraced the entire world with love and compassion of indescribable dimensions. Millions have come and experienced the wonderful healing and rejuvinating effect of the equal love that she showers on all.
317 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1991
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December 22, 2019
Amma goes by quite a few names: she's known as The Hugging Saint, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, Sudhamani Idamannel (her birth name, Sudhamani meaning "Ambrosial Jewel"), and Kunju (a nickname meaning "the little one"). I've been interested in seeing - and hugging - her for years, and finally did so this past month when I attended her North American tour stop in Los Angeles. While waiting 9+ hours for a hug (you can hear the story, with details about the book, here), I picked up a copy of this biography. It's written by one of Amma's most devoted followers, Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, who was also at the event as Amma's co-presenter and perhaps translator (she spoke only in her native language, the delightfully palindromic Malayalam). This book is hagiographic to its core, and I'm reluctant to trust its credulous claims. Despite this, there's a cast of detractors described, and their dismissal hints at alternate stories the less-devoted might share.
As the book tells it, Amma was born to a fisherman and his wife in a small fishing town in Kerala, a state near the southwest tip of India. She was born a dark shade of blue (a foreshadowing of her spiritual import), and supposedly appears blue at special times. She looked normal when I saw her. As a youth, she was obsessively devoted to Krishna, continuously chanting his holy name and often staring into space, overwhelmed by her contemplation. She excelled in her studies and household duties, yet was beaten mercilessly by her parents, especially her mother. We are told "the little one" suffered all this without complaint, and yet we are also treated to her poetic jeremiads, written to Krisha and begging him to free her from the persecutions of this world and the loneliness of not being at one with his divinity. Eventually she comes to identify herself with Krishna, and attracts a following as multiple nights per week she holds a Krishna Bhava, a public ceremony in which she takes on the countenance of Lord Krishna himself.
With her popularity growing, Sudhamani struggles with an unbelieving older brother, a father who wants her to get married, and other distractions from her sacred dictates. Continuously throughout the narrative, the fiendish skeptics come to disprove her or demand a miracle. I'd love to hear their side of the story, but of course we only get hers. She scoffs (as all would-be saints do) at the demand for miracles, but acquiesces once by turning water into milk, and that milk into a pudding that is shared with hundreds. It's an interesting echo of miracles I'm familiar with from Christianity (in which water turns to wine, and the multitudes are fed with fish and loaves), and I can only wish I was there to observe the described events. Somehow I feel magic, performance artistry and generous storytelling might play a greater role than is let on here. There are numerous other miracles described: some of altered visage, confounded plans, future predictions, and others tales of simple coincidence. None are that impressive, and all as parochial as they are impossible to verify. Despite these abrogations of physics and logic, Amma is continuously hounded by groups such as The Committee to Stop Blind Beliefs, and even people who want to kill her. These attempts are all supernaturally waylaid, but that doesn't seem to stop Amma from employing more traditional security measures at her public events.
Over time, Amma gets a taste of the divine Mother, or Devi, and pines after Her just as she had pined after Krishna before. Eventually Amma takes on this aspect as well, and performs a regular Devi Bhava in which she herself is the Divine Mother. We hear about these ceremonies, and the various people who join her ranks as devotees (including the author, who shares his discipleship story). Her hug becomes her best-known darshan (interaction with a holy person or deity), and she starts traveling the world to share it with the masses in 1987. She claims to have hugged some 38+ million people, which is probably impossible. When I visited her, it took all night for her to hug (generously) 1,200 people. Even if she held one of those events every day (she doesn't), she'd be at it for 87 years before she reached 38 million. Suffice it to say, she probably has earned a hugging world record, whatever the number is.
There are many more aspects to this very interesting person. The book describes some of Amma's behaviors that seem, how shall I say this... diagnosable? Her own family thinks calls her schizophrenic, at one point she's eating glass and human excreta (pica?), or suckling from a stranger's breast (?), and even directly from a cow's udder (??), and many of her episodes sound like seizures. As with everything else in this book, it's hard to know what to take seriously, but it looks like she has found a happy and healthy way of life, and has created organizations that look to do some very good work (from my admittedly cursory examination)... even if I might feel more sympathetic towards The Committee to Stop Blind Beliefs.
As the book tells it, Amma was born to a fisherman and his wife in a small fishing town in Kerala, a state near the southwest tip of India. She was born a dark shade of blue (a foreshadowing of her spiritual import), and supposedly appears blue at special times. She looked normal when I saw her. As a youth, she was obsessively devoted to Krishna, continuously chanting his holy name and often staring into space, overwhelmed by her contemplation. She excelled in her studies and household duties, yet was beaten mercilessly by her parents, especially her mother. We are told "the little one" suffered all this without complaint, and yet we are also treated to her poetic jeremiads, written to Krisha and begging him to free her from the persecutions of this world and the loneliness of not being at one with his divinity. Eventually she comes to identify herself with Krishna, and attracts a following as multiple nights per week she holds a Krishna Bhava, a public ceremony in which she takes on the countenance of Lord Krishna himself.
With her popularity growing, Sudhamani struggles with an unbelieving older brother, a father who wants her to get married, and other distractions from her sacred dictates. Continuously throughout the narrative, the fiendish skeptics come to disprove her or demand a miracle. I'd love to hear their side of the story, but of course we only get hers. She scoffs (as all would-be saints do) at the demand for miracles, but acquiesces once by turning water into milk, and that milk into a pudding that is shared with hundreds. It's an interesting echo of miracles I'm familiar with from Christianity (in which water turns to wine, and the multitudes are fed with fish and loaves), and I can only wish I was there to observe the described events. Somehow I feel magic, performance artistry and generous storytelling might play a greater role than is let on here. There are numerous other miracles described: some of altered visage, confounded plans, future predictions, and others tales of simple coincidence. None are that impressive, and all as parochial as they are impossible to verify. Despite these abrogations of physics and logic, Amma is continuously hounded by groups such as The Committee to Stop Blind Beliefs, and even people who want to kill her. These attempts are all supernaturally waylaid, but that doesn't seem to stop Amma from employing more traditional security measures at her public events.
Over time, Amma gets a taste of the divine Mother, or Devi, and pines after Her just as she had pined after Krishna before. Eventually Amma takes on this aspect as well, and performs a regular Devi Bhava in which she herself is the Divine Mother. We hear about these ceremonies, and the various people who join her ranks as devotees (including the author, who shares his discipleship story). Her hug becomes her best-known darshan (interaction with a holy person or deity), and she starts traveling the world to share it with the masses in 1987. She claims to have hugged some 38+ million people, which is probably impossible. When I visited her, it took all night for her to hug (generously) 1,200 people. Even if she held one of those events every day (she doesn't), she'd be at it for 87 years before she reached 38 million. Suffice it to say, she probably has earned a hugging world record, whatever the number is.
There are many more aspects to this very interesting person. The book describes some of Amma's behaviors that seem, how shall I say this... diagnosable? Her own family thinks calls her schizophrenic, at one point she's eating glass and human excreta (pica?), or suckling from a stranger's breast (?), and even directly from a cow's udder (??), and many of her episodes sound like seizures. As with everything else in this book, it's hard to know what to take seriously, but it looks like she has found a happy and healthy way of life, and has created organizations that look to do some very good work (from my admittedly cursory examination)... even if I might feel more sympathetic towards The Committee to Stop Blind Beliefs.
November 6, 2012
The most inspiring spiritual biography, depicting one of the most venerable incarnations to have been ever born on the Earth and to be born again and again to love and serve the mankind. The language originally used to write the biography is in Malayalam. The Malayalam text was then translated into English by Swami ji.
September 16, 2024
A VERY "SUPPORTIVE" BIOGRAPHY OF THE "HUGGING SAINT"
Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī (born as Sudhamani Idamannel in 1953), known simply as Amma ["Mother"] to her followers, is a Hindu spiritual leader and guru, who is revered as a saint by her followers, and widely respected for her humanitarian activities.
The Preface to this 1994 book states, "Here is a mystic accessible to anyone and everyone, with whom you can converse and in whose presence you can feel God... She is a Great Master and a Great Mother... She was born in full Awareness. Having undergone or displayed (we know not which) rigorous sadhana (spiritual discipline), She then embraced the entire world with love and compassion ... that is Her very fibre and being.
"From Her tender childhood, She sought out the Divine Mother and Father even without the guidance of a Guru. She withstood the attacks of Her kith and kin, of rationalists and miscreants all of whom tried to destroy Her... At the age of twenty-one, She outwardly manifested her state of God-Realization and at twenty-two, began to initiate seekers of Truth into spiritual life. By the age of twenty-seven, the Holy Mother had established the spiritual headquarters of Her international Mission in the house of Her birth... At the age of thirty-three... the Holy Mother made Her first world tour... Above all She has counselled, wiped the tears and removed the burdens of thousands and thousands of people ... from every corner of Earth."
The book states of her young life, "More amazing than the deplorable abuse of her family, was Sudhamani's unwavering tolerance for whatever befell her. Though at times she was saucy, she never harbored an iota of hate for her tormenters." (Pg. 53)
Later, she "had an unquenchable thirst to hear the stories of Sri Krishna... Long after the story had ended, Sudhamani would sit motionless. By now the villagers found nothing strange or surprising in her otherworldly behavior." (Pg. 71)
Later, "It is ironic that although her family considered her to be one gone mad, they never tried to discover the cause or cure. Instead, they persisted in their habit of taunting and tormenting her." (Pg. 117) But later, "A word should be said about the vast change which has come over the Holy Mother's family and the villagers. realizing Her to be divine, they now feel proud that they are related to Her or living in the same village..." (Pg. 201)
The author records attacks upon her by rationalist groups such as 'The Committee to Remove Blind Beliefs,' who "began their campaign to put an end to Sudhamani's Divine Mood. The villagers... had unwavering devotion and faith in her Divine Mood, but [her] unyielding nature aggravated the latent feelings of envy or enmity that some had... They began by inventing slogans mocking Sudhamani. Then they published notices filled with baseless and irrational criticism of her...
"Their next step was to lodge a false petition with the police against her, stating that she was cheating people in the name of devotion!... some police officers came ... to interrogate her. Wholly unperturbed, Sudhamani told the officers, 'Please arrest me if you like, and take me to jail. Here, the family and villagers do not allow me to meditate. At least in jail I shall have solitude to meditate on God...' Having spoken, she stretched out her hands. The police officers were very much impressed... The miscreants still continued their efforts to put an end to Sudhamani's Divine Mood...
"Their next plan was to ... seize Sudhamani during the Divine Mood, thus dishonoring her and at the same time making a sham of the Darshan... they intended to rough her up... However... they left Idamannel full of shame, as, for some inexplicable reason, not one among them dared to approach Sudhamani during the Divine Mood... Now desperate to finish off Sudhamani... the miscreants ... entered the temple and offered Sudhamani a glass of milk laced with deadly poison... [she] drank the whole glass of milk without hesitation... To their bitter dismay, after a few moments Sudhamani turned in their direction, vomited the poisonous milk right in front of them, and continued to receive devotees as if nothing had happened. The rationalists fled and temporarily gave up their campaign against her." (Pg. 96-100)
She is quoted, "An aspirant should not take part marriage ceremonies or funerals. At the former, everyone will be thinking of the marriage, which is a bondage. At the latter, the grief is about the loss of a mortal being. In both cases, the participants are dwelling on the non-eternal. These thought waves will be harmful to a seeker." (Pg. 196)
Very far removed from an "objective" or "critical" perspective on Amma, this book will be of most interest to those who are already devotees or admirers of her.
Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī (born as Sudhamani Idamannel in 1953), known simply as Amma ["Mother"] to her followers, is a Hindu spiritual leader and guru, who is revered as a saint by her followers, and widely respected for her humanitarian activities.
The Preface to this 1994 book states, "Here is a mystic accessible to anyone and everyone, with whom you can converse and in whose presence you can feel God... She is a Great Master and a Great Mother... She was born in full Awareness. Having undergone or displayed (we know not which) rigorous sadhana (spiritual discipline), She then embraced the entire world with love and compassion ... that is Her very fibre and being.
"From Her tender childhood, She sought out the Divine Mother and Father even without the guidance of a Guru. She withstood the attacks of Her kith and kin, of rationalists and miscreants all of whom tried to destroy Her... At the age of twenty-one, She outwardly manifested her state of God-Realization and at twenty-two, began to initiate seekers of Truth into spiritual life. By the age of twenty-seven, the Holy Mother had established the spiritual headquarters of Her international Mission in the house of Her birth... At the age of thirty-three... the Holy Mother made Her first world tour... Above all She has counselled, wiped the tears and removed the burdens of thousands and thousands of people ... from every corner of Earth."
The book states of her young life, "More amazing than the deplorable abuse of her family, was Sudhamani's unwavering tolerance for whatever befell her. Though at times she was saucy, she never harbored an iota of hate for her tormenters." (Pg. 53)
Later, she "had an unquenchable thirst to hear the stories of Sri Krishna... Long after the story had ended, Sudhamani would sit motionless. By now the villagers found nothing strange or surprising in her otherworldly behavior." (Pg. 71)
Later, "It is ironic that although her family considered her to be one gone mad, they never tried to discover the cause or cure. Instead, they persisted in their habit of taunting and tormenting her." (Pg. 117) But later, "A word should be said about the vast change which has come over the Holy Mother's family and the villagers. realizing Her to be divine, they now feel proud that they are related to Her or living in the same village..." (Pg. 201)
The author records attacks upon her by rationalist groups such as 'The Committee to Remove Blind Beliefs,' who "began their campaign to put an end to Sudhamani's Divine Mood. The villagers... had unwavering devotion and faith in her Divine Mood, but [her] unyielding nature aggravated the latent feelings of envy or enmity that some had... They began by inventing slogans mocking Sudhamani. Then they published notices filled with baseless and irrational criticism of her...
"Their next step was to lodge a false petition with the police against her, stating that she was cheating people in the name of devotion!... some police officers came ... to interrogate her. Wholly unperturbed, Sudhamani told the officers, 'Please arrest me if you like, and take me to jail. Here, the family and villagers do not allow me to meditate. At least in jail I shall have solitude to meditate on God...' Having spoken, she stretched out her hands. The police officers were very much impressed... The miscreants still continued their efforts to put an end to Sudhamani's Divine Mood...
"Their next plan was to ... seize Sudhamani during the Divine Mood, thus dishonoring her and at the same time making a sham of the Darshan... they intended to rough her up... However... they left Idamannel full of shame, as, for some inexplicable reason, not one among them dared to approach Sudhamani during the Divine Mood... Now desperate to finish off Sudhamani... the miscreants ... entered the temple and offered Sudhamani a glass of milk laced with deadly poison... [she] drank the whole glass of milk without hesitation... To their bitter dismay, after a few moments Sudhamani turned in their direction, vomited the poisonous milk right in front of them, and continued to receive devotees as if nothing had happened. The rationalists fled and temporarily gave up their campaign against her." (Pg. 96-100)
She is quoted, "An aspirant should not take part marriage ceremonies or funerals. At the former, everyone will be thinking of the marriage, which is a bondage. At the latter, the grief is about the loss of a mortal being. In both cases, the participants are dwelling on the non-eternal. These thought waves will be harmful to a seeker." (Pg. 196)
Very far removed from an "objective" or "critical" perspective on Amma, this book will be of most interest to those who are already devotees or admirers of her.
March 18, 2023
this was a very foreign read. i have not met Amma before reading this, so going in with a rather secular mind was at times a bit confusing - what am i reading? what do any of these things mean?
overall very memorable, though. i took a few lessons away from it and gathered a better understanding of Hinduism. :)
overall very memorable, though. i took a few lessons away from it and gathered a better understanding of Hinduism. :)
August 8, 2019
Filled me with amazement and joy.
August 12, 2024
Brief and neat
April 1, 2010
This book, or person I should say, called me. This book reveals one of the most compassionate, enlightened souls of our time. She does the work of God literally. It is almost a Cinderella story, her life with all the abuse and hardship she went through as a young person, but never did she resent or hate the pain inflicted on her by others. She always looked to God and saw all events as God's will. She was considered to born enlightened. She caused no pain to her mother while pregnant or in labor, was born "blue," and lied in lotus pose as an infant. Extraordinary can not describe this woman. She only gained a 4th grade education, but has more devotees than almost any other saint that has lived. She gave more money to Hurricane Katrina victims than nearly any major corporation and she also was one of the first people/organizations to be there.
For anyone unfamiliar with this woman, She is known as the hugging saint. For the simple minded she performs miracles, for the somewhat educated She is clairvoyant, for the more educated she is an enlightened being, and for the spiritually educated, She does the work of God. I recommend this to all, especially if you are curious about non-violence practitioners, yoga, dhrama, Hinduism, Buddha, Krishna, Mother as the holy one, saints, spiritually seeking, peace, compassion, charity, kindness, love, India, or biographies of authentically original human-beings.
For anyone unfamiliar with this woman, She is known as the hugging saint. For the simple minded she performs miracles, for the somewhat educated She is clairvoyant, for the more educated she is an enlightened being, and for the spiritually educated, She does the work of God. I recommend this to all, especially if you are curious about non-violence practitioners, yoga, dhrama, Hinduism, Buddha, Krishna, Mother as the holy one, saints, spiritually seeking, peace, compassion, charity, kindness, love, India, or biographies of authentically original human-beings.
July 27, 2012
Great story, but very wordy.
January 28, 2023
Loved this well written-book about Amma. It’s something more than just a biography and opens up beautifully to reader who is ready for it.
Want to read
May 6, 2017One can benefit in many ways with Amma's grace and books and darshan. At the most basic level, the IAM Yoga programme is useful.
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