Amma in Seattle

[Guest guest]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134918159_hugs06.html

 

Holy woman's blessing: a hug

 

By Jesse Tarbert

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

More than 1,000 people lined up yesterday morning for

a chance to be blessed by a woman who makes it her

mission to travel around the world, spreading her

message of compassion through embraces.

 

Mata Amritanandamayi, commonly called "Amma" (Sanskrit

for "mother"), came to the South Lake Union Armory

yesterday at the start of a 10-city U.S. tour in which

she'll be giving her blessing, which is called

"darshan," in the form of hugs.

 

At the end of July, she will return to India and tour

her home country. When she celebrates her 50th

birthday in September, about 200,000 are expected to

attend.

 

Amma, who has been touring internationally since the

late 1980s, received the fourth annual Gandhi-King

Award for Nonviolence in a ceremony in October in

Geneva, Switzerland. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi

Annan, Nelson Mandela and naturalist Jane Goodall are

previous winners.

 

Goodall spoke at the ceremony for Amma.

 

"She has comforted with her wonderful hugging, which I

experienced yesterday, more than 21 million people,"

Goodall said. "Think of it."

 

"I believe that she stands here in front of us,"

Goodall said, "God's love in a human body."

 

Yesterday in Seattle, Amma started giving hugs at

about 10:15 a.m. She continued into the afternoon

without once moving from her chair. Organizers said

she would continue into the evening until everyone had

been hugged.

 

Her devotees, in groups of 50, waited to be hugged.

Around the edges of the waiting area were signs

displaying "darshan guidelines."

 

 

 

"Tissue off any excess make-up and/or perspiration

from your face before your darshan," read one

guideline.

 

"Kneel close and place your hands on Amma's chair for

support (Not on Amma)," read another.

 

"Please do not hug Amma — let her hug you."

 

As Amma gives her hugs, she smiles widely. Sometimes

she laughs, sometimes her eyes fill with tears.

 

Many of those who received the hugs wept afterward.

 

After receiving her darshan, Gwendolyn Benedict, 45,

of Burien, walked over toward one side of the gym,

tears in her eyes, and sat with her two sons — Ian, 3,

and Matthew, 17 months — and talked with two friends

who also had been hugged.

 

A few minutes later, Benedict explained that she first

received darshan from Amma about eight years ago at an

event at the Scottish Rite Temple in Seattle.

 

Benedict comes to see Amma every year; the hugs

inspire her to feel compassion and to serve others,

she said.

 

"Every time I come I receive a blessing and a lesson,

and I carry it with me for the year," she said.

 

Around the outer edges of the gymnasium were tables

with Amma-related merchandise for sale: books,

audiotapes and CDs, videos, DVDs, calendars, greeting

cards, dolls, jewelry, photos, vials of essential

oils. Signs on the tables assured that profits would

be directed toward Amma's charitable organizations.

 

Information about Amma's charities was displayed on

another row of tables: an earthquake-relief project in

India, the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (a

medical school in India that Amma established) and a

project that provides housing for the poor in India.

 

Rob Sidon, a spokesman for Amma, said that when it

comes to her charities, Amma is a micromanager. "She

has a hand in everything, right down to the color of

the walls," he said.

 

Asked what motivates her, Amma replied through

translator Swami Amrit: "What is the motivation of a

river? It just flows."

 

Smiling after receiving their darshan were Bruce Fast,

41, and Jane Godfrey, 38, of Victoria, B.C., with

their toddler son, Kai, 2. Fast, a painter originally

from Ontario, and Godfrey, a computer programmer

originally from London, met at Amma's ashram in India.

Both have been following Amma for seven years.

 

Fast said he was skeptical of Amma before he first

received darshan, but after she embraced him, his

doubts began to fade.

 

"You feel an enormous sense of well-being," he said,

describing the experience of the darshan. "You feel

like everything is going to be OK."

 

Godfrey described the sensation as one of "release."

 

Fast said: "It's good that we have someone in the

world who expresses what true religion is all about,

which is true love."

 

"She is someone who is acting it out, not just

preaching it," he added. "She's not asking for

anything at all."

 

Another free event like the one yesterday is scheduled

for 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Pacific Lutheran University in

Tacoma.

 

Jesse Tarbert: jtarbert

 

2003 The Seattle Times Company

 

 

 

 

 

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