NYTimes.com Article: This Guru Hugs a Lot, and Gets Lots of Love Back (fwd)

[Guest guest]

Darling Amma Family...

 

The Queens satsang had a very nice birthday gathering yesterday for Mother

-- beautiful puja and bhajans and a meal. It was nice to see so many

people also coming from Manhattan and Brooklyn and New Jersey.

 

So imagine my surprise when I open up the webversion of the New York Times

and find Mother's beautiful face on the front page! Unfortunately, the

article below strikes much of the same skeptical tone as the last piece

someone sent. Not enough for my tastes about Mother hugging as LOVE; much

more about the materialist world trying to harness that power.

 

I hope everyone's week is off to a beautiful start! love, Prashanti

 

This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by rbmgallop.

 

This Guru Hugs a Lot, and Gets Lots of Love Back

 

September 29, 2003

By AMY WALDMAN

 

 

COCHIN, India, Sept. 27 - In a palatial room, about 100

mostly Indian-born business leaders discussed long-term

strategies for uplifting India's masses this weekend. About

two miles away, those masses spiraled around a stadium,

waiting for a short-term uplift - a hug, and a few

whispered words of reassurance - from a small and, some

say, divine woman in white.

 

They represented two faces of the Indian meritocracy, which

has proved capable of producing some of the world's most

successful technology entrepreneurs and of transforming a

woman of humble roots into a global guru worshiped by

millions.

 

This weekend they overlapped, brought together to celebrate

the 50th birthday of the guru, Mata Amritanandamayi, known

as Amma, or Mother. She was joined by India's deputy prime

minister, Hollywood stars, peace advocates and hundreds of

thousands of devotees, who lined up for her trademark

"darshan" - the hug she has bestowed on what her followers

say is 20 million people.

 

As part of the event, President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had

brought together Indian and Indian-American business

leaders to help realize his vision for making India a

developed nation by 2020. Some of the executives were Amma

followers. Others were new initiates, like Sriram

Viswanathan, a managing director at Intel, who described

his hug as "pretty dramatic." Others said they would give

interviews only if they were not asked questions about

spirituality.

 

But their distance was hard to maintain. Even if he felt

distaste for the Amma hagiography, including the regular

references to "her holiness," any corporate titan would

have to admire her advertising campaign. The chief

executives were subjected to repeated showings of videos

about her life and good works. In the stadium where the

main celebration was held, banners featured her sayings

next to the names of commercial sponsors.

 

The city was blanketed with her image, including

larger-than-life posters of her walking on water.

 

It was an apt image for some of her followers - like Sindhu

Nataraj, a 25-year-old housewife who waited in line to see

Amma for hours this morning - who say they see her as God.

When she vacated a chair, men and women knelt to stroke and

kiss it. Her presence, even the mere thought of her, made

some devotees weep.

 

This dark-skinned woman with a glowing smile has a

Clintonesque ability to focus intensely on whoever is in

front of her, even if she has been hugging for 10 hours

straight. Like many empires, hers began small. She was born

to a poor, low-caste family, the legend goes, which

mistreated her and then cast her out when she began to

speak of her visions of God. Eventually, a small, dedicated

group of devotees gathered, moved by her compassion.

 

She has founded an 800-bed hospital, a medical college and

a university. She has built thousands of houses for the

poor. She has an ashram in Kerala that is home to 1,800

people, and about two dozen ashrams abroad, including a

160-acre complex in northern California. This week she was

being transported in a white Mercedes.

 

Much of her financing comes from overseas, but Hindu

nationalists, usually wary of foreign support or religion

in India, are also among her fans.

 

Much like the executives, many of whom now live in the

United States but commute back to India, she has built a

bridge to the West. On her initial visit to the United

States, recalled Steven Fleisher, one of her early devotees

there and now general counsel of her nonprofit foundation

in America, perhaps a dozen people came to see her. But her

following grew. In 1997, her followers decided to "launch"

her.

 

Rob Sidon, a marketing consultant and devotee, reached out

to media outlets across the country. The initial pitch was

tough, he recalled: "She hugs?" But eventually the "hugging

saint" caught on, and now she draws thousands in America

and elsewhere. She spends half the year on the road,

including two American tours. The lines for hugs, which are

free, are so long that people are given tokens to keep

order.

 

Her Western following is enormous. The stadium was crowded

with American faces, including Linda Evans of <object.title

class="Movie" idsrc="nyt_ttl"

value="126620;15023;15024;273023">"Dynasty"</object.title>

fame and Yolanda King, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr.

 

But tens of thousands of Indians also lined up for their

hug. What is the appeal? Most people had trouble putting

words to it. Mr. Fleisher, who is 58, compared it to the

unconditional love a mother provides "even when you're

bad."

 

K. G. Jagadish, 74, a retired engineer and executive who

was waiting to hear her speak this morning, said he did not

see her as God, just as a compassionate woman seeking world

peace. "She's very, very pure," he said.

 

Using simple parables, her talk focused on elevating love

over negativity, peace over anger. "Serving others should

not be viewed as a tireless endeavor, but rather as an

opportunity given to us by God," she said, or rather her

translator did, since she spoke in Malayalam, her native

language.

 

The chief executives' discussion, in contrast, was

considerably more pragmatic. They agreed to support

President Kalam's plan, Providing Urban Amenities in Rural

Areas. It calls for government and business to provide jobs

and infrastructure to clusters of villages, to stanch the

flow of people to the cities.

 

The collective brainpower - and bank balances - in the room

were a reminder of how India, in the 1990's, spawned a

wealth of technology entrepreneurs. Sabeer Bhatia, the

founder of Hotmail, was among the speakers.

 

The weekend seemed to pose a question: Does India need more

Amma-like love and compassion, or does it need - as some of

the executives argue - more wireless technology? Some

combination, many suggested, including Mr. Kalam, who

combines exhortations for technological progress with

entreaties to preserve India's civilization.

 

Everyone knew the solutions, said B. V. Jagadeesh, the

president and C.E.O. of Netscaler. They needed someone like

Amma to bring them to the masses.

 

"It's about marketing," he said, "how we can use the power

of Amma to deliver."

 

That power was evident today, when the lines wrapped around

the stadium. Inside, as her Caucasian devotees turned

slowly pink in a burning sun, she sat as still as a statue,

eyes closed, while devotees bathed her feet in flower

petals.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/29/international/asia/29INDI.html?ex=1065840863&e\

i=1&en=200076566787987a

 

 

 

 

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine

reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!

Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy

now for 50% off Home Delivery!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html

 

 

 

HOW TO ADVERTISE

 

For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters

or other creative advertising opportunities with The

New York Times on the Web, please contact

onlinesales or visit our online media

kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

 

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to

help.

 

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company