The hugging saint An Indian healer is welcomed with open arms everywhere she goes

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This is a printer-friendly version of an article from the Concord

Monitor at *http://www.concordmonitor.com*.

------

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050730/REPOSITORY/507\

300301/1013/NEWS03

 

Article published Jul 30, 2005

The hugging saint An Indian healer is welcomed with open arms everywhere

she goes

By LIBBY COPELAND

The Washington Post

------

 

O

 

f all the places for 3,000 people to receive healing energy from a woman

many regard as an Indian saint, there are probably few less auspicious

than the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in northern Virginia.

 

It's all glass and drab carpet. You have to ride an escalator down to

the bowels of the hotel, where enlightenment may be found but there

isn't any cell phone reception.

 

You take off your shoes and you receive a token. If it is early, your

number is in the low hundreds, and if it isn't, you won't get your hug

until the wee hours of the morning.

 

She is Amma, known as "the hugging saint," and she lives in India but

travels the world, offering hugs to blissed-out yoga teachers, massage

therapists, Indian families with small children. The tiny babies she

clutches to her cheek with special tenderness. People think her arms

offer a healing power. They suggest that she is so full of the loving

spirit, that you might - with her perfume filling your nostrils and her

hot breath chanting mantras in your ear - see something less like a

basement hotel ballroom and more like God. Some people weep and some

people say they feel a great peace.

 

And if not, the hug is at least free.

 

------

 

<http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?sid=15971&m=6&c=1>

 

Amma, 51, whose nickname means mother and whose full name is Mata

Amritanandamayi, grew up poor in a fishing village, a low-caste woman

destined for a humble domestic life who instead became a revered figure

all over the world.

 

She is a humanitarian who has built a hospital in India and thousands of

houses for the poor. At the moment, her assistants say, she's working on

homes for survivors of the tsunami. She spends so many of her days

sitting in a low chair, receiving hordes of supplicants on their knees,

that she discusses blueprints for charitable homes and gives an

interview through a translator while people's heads are pressed to her

shoulder.

 

Amma has been known to offer hug after hug for more than 20 hours

straight, according to her followers. Her spokesman says that once in

Southern India he watched her give hugs to 45,000 people in one stretch.

 

Asked how much she sleeps, Amma shrugs and says in Malayalam, "I never

think about it." Asked again, she says, "One hour." (A female assistant

adds softly, "Sometimes two.")

 

But if her charitable works are what her followers stress, it's the hugs

Amma is known for. This recent visit was her ninth to the Washington

area. She stopped off for three days, wrapping up Thursday, before

continuing her tour in New York. One follower at Crystal City describes

Amma's embrace as "true contentment," and another calls it "bliss . . .

absolutely pure love." They hand her apples or pears or flowers as they

fall into her arms. Some say that afterward, they feel peaceful. Some

say they wake up in the middle of the night "feeling a presence."One

woman says Amma's hug healed her leg pain. One man says Amma solved his

digestive problems by making him regular.

 

The room is hot with so many people, most sitting on the floor, all

raptly watching her. You can buy a chair massage or get a henna painting

on your hands. There are Amma books and CDs; you can even buy clothes

and jewelry Amma has worn.

 

Amma sits in a low wooden chair decorated with flowers; there are rose

petals by her feet. She is surrounded by female assistants in white, and

male swamis in orange. Many of Amma's followers are seekers who

consulted other gurus before. There's a middle-aged psychologist from

Pittsburgh who once studied to be a Methodist minister. There is a

religion professor from Denver who gave up tenure to live on Amma's

ashram in Southern India and be Amma's personal videographer.

 

Amma is nearly always smiling -the almost goofy smile of a child. She

considers herself mother to simply everyone, and when she's asked if the

hugs ever become a burden, she says the mother never tires of her child.

 

She will even hug a reporter. She clasps one's head to her shoulder.

Does it last a minute? Longer? (And where does one put one's hands? And

how does one forget the whole room is watching?) Her breath is hot in

the ear; her voice is gravelly. She says "Daugh-ter, daugh-ter,

daugh-ter," and something else, something the huggee cannot understand.

It is not like hugging a friend, but it is not like hugging a stranger,

either. Then Amma lets go and puts two prasads - blessed gifts - into

one's hand. Of all things, a Hershey's Kiss, and an apple.

 

After 2 a.m., Amma rises. Her right shoulder is stained with sweat,

tears and makeup. Her devotees crowd around the glass elevator and watch

her shoot up into the upper reaches of the Hyatt Regency.

 

A woman comes over to envy the apple Amma bestowed. She rarely sees Amma

give anyone an apple. Her name is Leela Dunn, and she is 33, a massage

therapist from Tampa.

 

She's been following Amma for three years, ever since she went to India

and saw Amma's picture. The closest she has ever come to enlightenment,

she says, was in Amma's arms. She's had a difficult year, so this night,

in Amma's arms, she sobbed and keened, making a high-pitched and injured

sound.

 

"Today I felt like I used to when I was in love with my ex-husband,

before we got divorced," Dunn says.

 

A cab driver wants to know about this woman everyone has come to see

tonight. He says, "I had a passenger who told me she was the one."

 

------ End of article

 

By LIBBY COPELAND

 

The Washington Post

 

 

--

Be Love,

Egyirba (Berijoy)

http://www.egyirba.net

 

I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side.. I've noticed those with

the most opinions often have the fewest facts. ~ Bethania McKenstry

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Devi's Daughter:

 

Libby Copeland of the Washington Post wrote:

 

"She's [Ms. Dunn] been following Amma for three years, ever since she

went to

India

and saw Amma's picture. The closest she has ever come to

enlightenment,

she says, was in Amma's arms. She's had a difficult year, so this

night,

in Amma's arms, she sobbed and keened, making a high-pitched and

injured

sound.

 

"Today I felt like I used to when I was in love with my ex-husband,

before we got divorced," Dunn says.

 

A cab driver wants to know about this woman everyone has come to see

tonight. He says, "I had a passenger who told me she was the one."

 

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA:

 

During the Marlborough Mass. Retreat most devotees I interacted with

disliked the Washington Post Front Page Pictured Piece.

 

I thought the way Ms. Copeland ended the article showed

respect for Ammachi.

 

The journalist described the after-effects of a "hug" (better word

would be DARSHAN) in quoting Ms. Dunn above. Imagine Capitol Gang!

Try to process this notion Sean Hannity. Open your mind for a second

Karl Rove and Supreme Court member to be Roberts.

 

Ready now. Here is a five foot tall fifty plus Indian woman that can

make Ms. Dunn give forth a primal scream and eradiate as much love as

Ms. Dunn had for a ex-husband when

things used to go well. In fact Ms. Dunn (a woman we assume in full

mental capacity) exclaimed that this was the closest she has come to

enlightenment!!

 

Taxi Cab Drivers can be chroniclers, D.C.!! The cab driver quoted

above heard that this could be "the one."

 

Some devotees did not like the reference to "hot breath" I felt the

reporter was conveying her reportorial experience. That is all we

can ask. Is it not? I set my bar low viz. the media.

 

Namaste,

 

GeorgeSon

 

 

 

> --

----

> http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20050730/REPOSITORY/507300301/1013/NEWS03

>

> Article published Jul 30, 2005

> The hugging saint An Indian healer is welcomed with open arms

everywhere

> she goes

> By LIBBY COPELAND

> The Washington Post

> --

----

>

> O

>

> f all the places for 3,000 people to receive healing energy from a

woman

> many regard as an Indian saint, there are probably few less

auspicious

> than the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in northern Virginia.

>

> It's all glass and drab carpet. You have to ride an escalator down

to

> the bowels of the hotel, where enlightenment may be found but there

> isn't any cell phone reception.

>

> You take off your shoes and you receive a token. If it is early,

your

> number is in the low hundreds, and if it isn't, you won't get your

hug

> until the wee hours of the morning.

>

> She is Amma, known as "the hugging saint," and she lives in India

but

> travels the world, offering hugs to blissed-out yoga teachers,

massage

> therapists, Indian families with small children. The tiny babies

she

> clutches to her cheek with special tenderness. People think her

arms

> offer a healing power. They suggest that she is so full of the

loving

> spirit, that you might - with her perfume filling your nostrils and

her

> hot breath chanting mantras in your ear - see something less like a

> basement hotel ballroom and more like God. Some people weep and

some

> people say they feel a great peace.

>

> And if not, the hug is at least free.

>

> ------

>

> <http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?sid=15971&m=6&c=1>

>

> Amma, 51, whose nickname means mother and whose full name is Mata

> Amritanandamayi, grew up poor in a fishing village, a low-caste

woman

> destined for a humble domestic life who instead became a revered

figure

> all over the world.

>

> She is a humanitarian who has built a hospital in India and

thousands of

> houses for the poor. At the moment, her assistants say, she's

working on

> homes for survivors of the tsunami. She spends so many of her days

> sitting in a low chair, receiving hordes of supplicants on their

knees,

> that she discusses blueprints for charitable homes and gives an

> interview through a translator while people's heads are pressed to

her

> shoulder.

>

> Amma has been known to offer hug after hug for more than 20 hours

> straight, according to her followers. Her spokesman says that once

in

> Southern India he watched her give hugs to 45,000 people in one

stretch.

>

> Asked how much she sleeps, Amma shrugs and says in Malayalam, "I

never

> think about it." Asked again, she says, "One hour." (A female

assistant

> adds softly, "Sometimes two.")

>

> But if her charitable works are what her followers stress, it's the

hugs

> Amma is known for. This recent visit was her ninth to the

Washington

> area. She stopped off for three days, wrapping up Thursday, before

> continuing her tour in New York. One follower at Crystal City

describes

> Amma's embrace as "true contentment," and another calls

it "bliss . . .

> absolutely pure love." They hand her apples or pears or flowers as

they

> fall into her arms. Some say that afterward, they feel peaceful.

Some

> say they wake up in the middle of the night "feeling a

presence."One

> woman says Amma's hug healed her leg pain. One man says Amma solved

his

> digestive problems by making him regular.

>

> The room is hot with so many people, most sitting on the floor, all

> raptly watching her. You can buy a chair massage or get a henna

painting

> on your hands. There are Amma books and CDs; you can even buy

clothes

> and jewelry Amma has worn.

>

> Amma sits in a low wooden chair decorated with flowers; there are

rose

> petals by her feet. She is surrounded by female assistants in

white, and

> male swamis in orange. Many of Amma's followers are seekers who

> consulted other gurus before. There's a middle-aged psychologist

from

> Pittsburgh who once studied to be a Methodist minister. There is a

> religion professor from Denver who gave up tenure to live on Amma's

> ashram in Southern India and be Amma's personal videographer.

>

> Amma is nearly always smiling -the almost goofy smile of a child.

She

> considers herself mother to simply everyone, and when she's asked

if the

> hugs ever become a burden, she says the mother never tires of her

child.

>

> She will even hug a reporter. She clasps one's head to her

shoulder.

> Does it last a minute? Longer? (And where does one put one's hands?

And

> how does one forget the whole room is watching?) Her breath is hot

in

> the ear; her voice is gravelly. She says "Daugh-ter, daugh-ter,

> daugh-ter," and something else, something the huggee cannot

understand.

> It is not like hugging a friend, but it is not like hugging a

stranger,

> either. Then Amma lets go and puts two prasads - blessed gifts -

into

> one's hand. Of all things, a Hershey's Kiss, and an apple.

>

> After 2 a.m., Amma rises. Her right shoulder is stained with sweat,

> tears and makeup. Her devotees crowd around the glass elevator and

watch

> her shoot up into the upper reaches of the Hyatt Regency.

>

> A woman comes over to envy the apple Amma bestowed. She rarely sees

Amma

> give anyone an apple. Her name is Leela Dunn, and she is 33, a

massage

> therapist from Tampa.

>

> She's been following Amma for three years, ever since she went to

India

> and saw Amma's picture. The closest she has ever come to

enlightenment,

> she says, was in Amma's arms. She's had a difficult year, so this

night,

> in Amma's arms, she sobbed and keened, making a high-pitched and

injured

> sound.

>

> "Today I felt like I used to when I was in love with my ex-husband,

> before we got divorced," Dunn says.

>

> A cab driver wants to know about this woman everyone has come to

see

> tonight. He says, "I had a passenger who told me she was the one."

>

> ------ End of article

>

> By LIBBY COPELAND

>

> The Washington Post

>

>

> --

> Be Love,

> Egyirba (Berijoy)

> http://www.egyirba.net

>

> I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side.. I've noticed those

with

> the most opinions often have the fewest facts. ~ Bethania McKenstry

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Namah Sivaya!

 

I"m with you on that one, GeorgeSon. I set my bar low, too, with regard

to the media. Those folks are in a whole other world! And don't even

try and imagine Hannity! :-)

I have my family's own personal story about the insensitivity and m.o of

the media, so I guess just getting decent coverage of Amma is a kind of

blessing!

 

Egyirba

 

leokomor wrote:

 

>OM NAMAH SHIVAYA:

>

>During the Marlborough Mass. Retreat most devotees I interacted with

>disliked the Washington Post Front Page Pictured Piece.

>

>I thought the way Ms. Copeland ended the article showed

>respect for Ammachi.

>

>The journalist described the after-effects of a "hug" (better word

>would be DARSHAN) in quoting Ms. Dunn above. Imagine Capitol Gang!

>Try to process this notion Sean Hannity. Open your mind for a second

>Karl Rove and Supreme Court member to be Roberts.

>

>Ready now. Here is a five foot tall fifty plus Indian woman that can

>make Ms. Dunn give forth a primal scream and eradiate as much love as

>Ms. Dunn had for a ex-husband when

>things used to go well. In fact Ms. Dunn (a woman we assume in full

>mental capacity) exclaimed that this was the closest she has come to

>enlightenment!!

>

>Taxi Cab Drivers can be chroniclers, D.C.!! The cab driver quoted

>above heard that this could be "the one."

>

>Some devotees did not like the reference to "hot breath" I felt the

>reporter was conveying her reportorial experience. That is all we

>can ask. Is it not? I set my bar low viz. the media.

>

>Namaste,

>

>GeorgeSon

>

>

 

--

Be Love,

Egyirba (Berijoy)

http://www.egyirba.net

 

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we

grow up --Pablo Picasso