![\"amma\"](\"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/files\/2009\/07\/amma.jpg\" "\\"amma\\"")
MARLBORO (WBZ) \u2015\n‘Hugging Saint’ Greets Large Crowds in Marlboro<\/p>\n
MARLBORO (WBZ) \u2015
\n‘Hugging Saint’ Greets Large Crowds in Marlboro<\/p>\n
Divine Signs: Holy, Hoax, Or Just Hope? Hundreds, maybe thousands waited for hours Wednesday at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center in Marlboro to feel the embrace of the woman known as Amma.<\/p>\n
“She inspires people to volunteer on behalf of the poor,” says volunteer Rob Sidon. “She says compassion to the poor is our duty to god.”<\/p>\n
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi was born to a lower caste fishing family in India.<\/p>\n
As a teenager, Amma began hugging people.<\/p>\n
Soon, word of her spirituality spread and now she spends her days touring the world, hugging people. Her money, millions of dollars, is spent on helping the poor.<\/p>\n
She is not a fortune teller or spiritual healer, but Lauren Kinkaid gave birth to twins and credits Amma.<\/p>\n
“For a year and a half, we had many pregnancy losses and I came here last year, got to speak with Amma, prayed for more children and three weeks later I got pregnant,” says Lauren.<\/p>\n
This is no publicity stunt. Amma has been doing this around the world for 29 years without so much as one day off.<\/p>\n
“It’s love, it’s pure love,” says one follower.<\/p>\n
She has addressed the United Nations, but prefers the intimacy of an embrace..<\/p>\n
On any given day, she’ll hug 5-to-10,000 people.<\/p>\n
“It’s far more spiritual, it’s far more encompassing, it’s far more full than I ever felt in my whole life,” says another follower.<\/p>\n
Some are from the fringes of society, others from right in the middle, but all with a spiritual bond to a woman who preaches no particular religion… except love.<\/p>\n