A guru’s healing touch: My embrace with India’s hugging saint

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  Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, right, hugs a crying devotee during a spiritual discourse in Bangalore, India. (AAP)

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The renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian, Mata Amritanandamayi, is best known for her healing hugs, having embraced a reported 33 million people worldwide. Alison Bone recalls her quest to meet the guru and receive a holy embrace.

By

Alison Bone

17 JAN 2017 - 12:05 PM UPDATED 19 JAN 2017 - 9:24 AM

It was my first trip to India and I had been lured to Kerala by tales of a pink ashram rising from the jungle, and a female guru known as Amma, who gave loving hugs.

I had never been to an ashram before and arrived atAmritapuri Ashramexpecting silence, stillness and smiles. I found a bustling, pastel pink mini metropolis bursting out of the palm groves. Hordes of Indians piled off buses, while westerners sheathed in white swept the pathways.

A pretty and plump woman of diminutive stature with a dazzling smile, Amma, was born into a family of poor fishermen. Ridiculed as a child for her eccentricities and habit of hugging strangers, she has risen to become one of India’s most revered female gurus.

Ridiculed as a child for her eccentricities and habit of hugging strangers, she has risen to become one of India’s most revered female gurus.

Her spiritual teachings of love and peace have struck a chord worldwide, but it’s her unique darshan (giving) in the form of loving hugs, that draws the masses. Around 3,000 people live at theashramat any one time, and it receives up to 15,000 visitors a day, all drawn to the enigmatic Amma, lovingly referred to as ‘Mother’.

Making my way to the packed auditorium, I joined the queue for a hug. Through the throng I could just make out Amma on the stage, dressed in a white sari and flower garlands. Devotees, both western and Indian, seemed to form a guard around her, and as I finally got close, I overheard two of western women bickering. “It’s my turn to sit next to mother,” one of them said, “you sat next to her yesterday.”

Then it was my turn, and nothing else mattered, as this serene, beautiful woman – who smelled of flowers and seemed oblivious to the madness around her – took me in her arms and gently rocked me.