This is an accepted version of this page Sri Mātā Amritānandamayī Devi (born Sudhamani Idamannel; 27 September 1953), often known as Amma ("Mother"), is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, guru and humanitarian,[1][2] who is revered as 'the hugging saint' by her followers.

[5] Mātā Amritānandamayī Devi is an Indian guru from Parayakadavu (now partially known as Amritapuri), Alappad Panchayat in Karunagappally, Kollam District, in the state of Kerala.

[7] As part of her chores, Amṛtānandamayī gathered food scraps from neighbours for her family's cows and goats, through which she was confronted with the intense poverty and suffering of others.

[13] When asked, in 2002, to what extent she thought her embraces helped the ills of the world, Amṛtānandamayī replied, "I don't say I can do it 100 percent.

[23] Along these lines, she stresses the importance of meditation, performing actions as karma yoga, selfless service, and cultivating divine qualities such as compassion, patience, forgiveness, self-control, etc.

[24] In her public talks and in articles, Amritanandamayi has taken up several social issues, including the importance of selfless service,[25] the need for inter-religious harmony,[26] for environmental protection[27] and of desegregating science and spirituality.

[28] She also regularly speaks on the importance of women's empowerment and gender equality as well as that of humankind cultivating what she refers to as viśva-mātrutvam — an attitude of motherliness towards all beings in creation, specifically through expressing compassion, patience and selflessness.

[30][31] And in 2018, under the patronage of Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, she participated in a similar event aimed at protecting children from abuse and predation via the Internet.

[32] In July 2015, Amritanandamayi delivered the keynote address at a United Nations Academic Impact conference on technology and sustainable development, co-hosted by Amrita University.

Regarding devotional singing as a spiritual practice, Amṛtānandamayī says, "If the bhajan is sung with one-pointedness, it is beneficial for the singer, the listeners, and Nature as well.

[42][43][44][45] In India, the Mata Amṛtānandamayī Math provides 10 million free meals to poor people annually via its various centres.

Likewise, Embracing the World feed more than 150,000 annually in North America through 49 centres that conduct a program called Mother's Kitchen, started in 1987.

Other feed-the-hungry programs exist in Mexico, Costa Rica, France, Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Slovenia and Australia.

[50] The Mata Amritanandamayi Math manages the 1,100-bed super-speciality hospital Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, which it launched in 1998,[51] as well as several other free healthcare clinics, medicine dispensaries, hospices in India.

[56] Aside from free treatment, Amrita Institute provides care on a sliding scale, allowing people to pay what they can afford.

[57] In 1998, the Math started a program titled Amrita Nidhi that provides lifetime pensions to destitute widows and to people who are physically and mentally challenged.

[90] On 27 September 2015, Amṛtānandamayī pledged that her NGO would dedicate the value of another US$15 million to toilet construction and other sanitation efforts specifically in the Indian state of Kerala.

[91] Amritanandamayi's organization has been cleaning the Pampa River and Sabarimala Kerala Temple pilgrimage site annually since 2012.

[92][93][94][95] Sreeni Pattathanam, the Kerala-based head of the Indian Rationalist Association, wrote Matha Amritanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities, a controversial critique first published in 1985.

[96] On 9 August 2002, a Deshabhimani, a left-leaning Malayalam daily, published a similar account, demanding investigation into the same deaths Pattathanam found suspicious.

In several cases, the editors noted the relatives had contacted Deshabhimani to explain they were at the bedsides of elderly kin who had died of natural causes, with no suspicious aspects regarding the passings.

The order followed directions from the Kerala High Court to the Home Department for considering an application by T. K. Ajan, a resident of the Mata Amṛtānandamayī Math.

In June 2007, Shantanu Guha Ray wrote in Tehelka weekly that Amṛtānandamayī Math, Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, and other NGOs and religious organisations had large annual turnover of INR crores.

[101] In June 2007, novelist Paul Zacharia wrote on Tehelka that Amṛtānandamayī is free from the typical scrutiny on money that has foreign connections.

[102] In May 2008, the president of Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham, U. Kalanathan, urged the state government to conduct an enquiry into Amṛtānandamayī's assets.

[106] Both Amṛtānandamayī and representatives of her ashram denied the allegations, saying that they were untrue and were aimed at exacting revenge for unfulfilled desires.

"[114] On 1 August 2012, Satnam Singh Mann, a 23-year-old law student from Bihar, charged Amṛtānandamayī at her ashram in Kollam.

Amṛtānandamayī's disciples have transcribed her conversations with devotees and spiritual seekers to create approximately a dozen books of her teachings known as Awaken Children.