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The 'Hugging Saint' embraces Los Angeles

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and there is a small video you can view on the site (link at the bottom)

 

SPIRITUALITY

The 'Hugging Saint' embraces Los Angeles

PAUL CHAVEZ gets a hug from Amma and reaction from others in an asap

video report

Tuesday, 26 June, 2007, 17:20 EDT, US

By PAUL CHAVEZ

LOS ANGELES

<http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/amma/>

<http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/amma/>

<http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/amma/>

VIDEO <http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/amma/>

The Hugging Saint

 

Mata Amritanandamayi greeted me with a big smile and open arms.

 

Amritanandamayi -- known by her followers as " Amma, " which means

" mother " in several Indian languages -- guided my head toward her right

shoulder and wrapped her arms around me.

 

She rubbed my back up and down with her left hand and then started

whispering in my ear, " More, more, more, more, more, more, more, more ... . "

 

Time seemed to stand still in Amma's embrace. At the end, she gave me an

apple, a Hershey's kiss and a few flower petals.

 

I walked away weak-kneed and blissed out.

 

___

 

*ABOUT AMMA*

 

Born in 1953, Amma has developed a following throughout India and in the

Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia and is known as the " hugging saint. "

 

Her hug is called a " darshan, " a Sanskrit term that typically signifies

being in the presence of a holy person. Amma's version of a " darshan " is

the embrace -- and devotees estimate she has given more than 25 million

hugs over the past 30 years.

 

In India, she has been known to give up to 40,000 hugs in one day, never

turning anyone away and not charging anything. She's currently on a

10-city summer tour of North America. Thousands of people in Los Angeles

waited patiently at a recent hugging session that lasted nearly until 5 a.m.

 

She's making her first visit to South America this summer and said she

also wants to go to Kenya.

 

Amma also is a tireless humanitarian. She has opened schools, hospitals,

clinics, orphanages and has provided free homes for the poor as well as

providing disaster relief funding for 2004 tsunami victims, Hurricane

Katrina survivors and victims of a 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Her

latest projects: helping sex workers in India and poor farmers who are

committing murder-suicides in her home state of Kerala, India.

 

The Amritanandamayi Charitable Trust has centers in 15 countries,

including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain.

 

___

 

To see the reactions of other people after receiving a hug, check out

this asap video <http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/amma/>.

 

___

 

Paul Chavez is an asap reporter based in Los Angeles.

 

___

 

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©2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not

be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about

our Privacy Policy <http://apdigitalnews.com/privacy.html>

*http://asap.ap.org/stories/1546032.s?view=print*.

 

 

 

 

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