Media on Amma

‘Hugging Saint’ embraces New York City

BY JENNY MERKIN, DAILY NEWS WRITER

New York Daily News

Wednesday, July 9th 2008, 4:00 AM

Amma, whose given name is Mata Amritanandamayi, has been hugging people for nearly 30 years.

Amma’s back – and not a moment too soon.

New Yorkers lined up by the hundreds Tuesday for the warm embrace of the spiritual leader they lovingly call the “Hugging Saint.”

And with the heat stifling, gas prices rising and the economy tanking, who doesn’t need a hug?

“Her hug is not an ordinary hug,” said Ila Campbell, 51, of South Manor, Long Island.

“My feeling is ‘Amma, please don’t let me go.'”The 54-year-old Amma, born Mata Amritanandamayi, looked radiant in a white sari, a silver star-shaped ring in her nose. She is here for two more days.

Campbell, who plans on following Amma to her next stop in Boston, sat with hundreds of devotees in the concert hall of the Manhattan Center in Midtown.

Many have waited in years past to feel the warmth of the spiritual Hindu woman, who says she supports all religions.

Heather Spillane, 38, an acupuncturist from Midtown, said Amma helps clear her mind.

“In life you’re always pushed to the edge and you get irritable, but I’m just not when I’m around her,” said Spillane.

“Everyone comes to her because they’re in some kind of pain – cancer, love, family, kids. They want something from her. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t,” explained Spillane, who hopes Amma will let her “reach a peace.”

Amma, whose name means mother in her native Malayalam language, grew up in India amid intense poverty.

At age 8 or 9, she began spontaneously hugging people as a way of showing her compassion for them, her followers said.

She has spent the past 30 years traveling the world, giving an estimated 27 million hugs.

She is expected to hug 20,000 New Yorkers this week.

Evelyn Mikicic, 53, a homemaker from Astoria, Queens, said she plans to come back for more hugs.

“The strength of the love–it’s so genuine,” said Mikicic, who was visibly choked up. “I’ll be back in the next few days.”

Clive and Faith Poneroy-Ward brought their children, Claire, 2 1/2, and Bretten, 1, from Hackettstown, New Jersey.

While Amma does not claim to be a faith healer, the Poneroy-Wards credit her with a personal miracle.

“We were married for several years and then we saw her, she hugged me, and (we) conceived,” Faith Poneroy-Ward says.

“The purest form of love can change people and that’s what I’m trying to do,” said Amma, through a translator to the Daily News. “The power of love is in everyone. It has infinite potential in us just as a seed contains a tree.”

Amma will be at the Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th Street, Wednesday and Thursday. First hugs start at 10 a.m. and go to 3 p.m. An evening shift starts at 7:30 p.m. and can go all night.

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Spiritual leader spreads message one hug at a time

Daily Herald.com

By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff Writer

Published: 7/6/2008 12:03 AM

Thousands flocked to Lombard Saturday to feel the power of a single embrace.

Humanitarian and spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi of India, also known as Amma, spent hours giving out her signature hugs to those who knelt before her.

Some went to her Saturday with specific concerns they hoped she could ease for them. Others said they simply wanted to feel the sense of peace that comes from her touch.

Shirley Bremer of Wilmette has visited Amritanandamayi for the past five years, wanting to feel the “openness and her pure love that just radiates from her” and she hopes that feeling will extend to her children as well.

Amritanandamayi, 54, is considered by some to be among the world’s most influential religious leaders, working for numerous charities worldwide to build hospitals and orphanages, provide disaster relief, feed the poor and most recently, fight the epidemic of farmer suicides in India.

On an even more personal level, she is estimated to have given more than 27 million hugs to those who visit her.

She currently is in the midst of a 10-city U.S. tour, including this weekend’s programs at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center that are expected to draw thousands.

On Saturday, she said through a translator that she is trying to instill self confidence and faith in those she meets and also calls upon them to be role models for others.

“They are not like a candle that needs to be lighted but they are self luminous like the sun,” she said. “They have infinite inner capacity, the strength and self confidence to face the greatest challenges of life.”

Sheila Clark of Urbana felt Amritanandamayi’s embrace for the first time Saturday and said it was “amazing.” She has issues both with her health and from her childhood that she is working through and hoped the spiritual leader could help.

“I’m still vibrating from it. It’s this amazing energy you feel go through your entire body,” Clark said, her eyes glistening.

Jay Chennat of Ann Arbor, Mich. has been visiting Amritanandamayi for the past 10 years and said her hugs give him a “great love and serenity and a feeling you are being cared for.” He calls her a “spiritual inspiration.”

“She is a very direct person with a lot of compassion and sincerity and she does what she preaches,” Chennat said.

Amritanandamayi will be in Lombard again today from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Westin, 70 Yorktown Center. The program is free and open to the public.

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