Vageesh Express

Vedic Guru

September 2007 Edition

||Sri Gurubhyo Namah||

In 2006,‘Vedic Guru’ revered the lives of saints who lived in the 19th century and before.

In 2007, we humbly honor Gurus of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Sri Mātā Amritanandamayī Devi

“A true devotee or disciple will have great humility and because of this he will also possess a certain spiritual beauty. The beauty of spirituality lies in humility.” - Amma

Mātā Amritanandamayī Devi is a spiritual leader revered as a saint by her followers, who also know her as "Amma", "Ammachi" or "Mother". She is a widely respected humanitarian and called by some "the hugging saint".

Amritanandamayi was born Sudhamani in the small village of Parayakadavu (now partially known as Amritapuri), near Kollam, Kerala in 1953. Her devotees claim that she had many mystical experiences as a child. Since 1981, she has been teaching spiritual aspirants all over the world. She founded a worldwide organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is engaged in many spiritual and charitable activities. From humble beginnings she undertook a journey to attain "universal motherhood". She addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

The first set of monastic disciples of Amritanandamayi came to her in the late 1970s. Today, they as well as other disciples and devotees look after the ashram's multifaceted activities. The first disciple to be initiated as a sanyasi was Swami Amritaswarupananda. Other senior disciples are Swami Turiyamritananda, Swami Ramakrishnananda, Swami Purnamritananda and Swami Amritatmananda. The Ashram is now known as Amritapuri. Bramachari Dayamrita Chaitanya is one of Amma's senior disciples stationed at the MA Center located in San Ramon, CA. He is in charge of all activities performed by the MA center in the US and all branch groups.

Amritanandamayi is known to the world media as 'the hugging saint'. She offers hugs to everyone who approaches her and in India she has been known to individually hug over 50,000 people in a day, sitting sometimes for over 20 hours. Worldwide, Amritanandamayi is said to have hugged at least 30 million people in the past 30 years.

"We should tell children while they are very young that there is a power known as God who controls everything. If we teach a child to remember this divinity in all circumstances of life, that child will be able to keep his or her inner poise in every situation, whether it be victory or defeat." —Amma

Source - www.wikipedia.org

	Submit feedback to newsletter@mahaganapati.org with subject line as <Vedic Guru> Disclaimer: Views of readers/column writers are that of their own and not of the Temple