It was founded by Indian spiritual leader and humanitarian Mata Amritanandamayi in 1981,[1][2] with its headquarters in Paryakadavu, Alappad Panchayat, Kollam district, kerala and is also known as amritpuri .

[3] Along with its sister organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, MAM conducts charitable work including disaster relief, healthcare for the poor, environmental programs, fighting hunger and scholarships for impoverished students, amongst others.

In response, MAM provided a value of $46 million in relief, including the construction of 6,200 tsunami-resistant houses in India and Sri Lanka, as well as 700 new fishing boats.

[8] MAM has provided a combination of medical care, food, shelter, monetary aid and other forms of relief following the flooding of Karnataka[9] and Andhra Pradesh in 2009, Bihar in 2008, and Gujarat in 2005 and Bombay in 2005, as well as the Kashmir-Pakistan earthquake of 2005.

In connection with its sister organizations, such as the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in the United States, it also has responded to disasters outside India as well, including medical supplies, blankets and care for orphans following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a donation of $1 million U.S. to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, following Hurricane Katrina,[10] and $1 million U.S. in relief aid to victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, with a focus on children orphaned in the disaster.

Through providing vocational education, start-up capital, marketing assistance and access to microcredit loans and microsavings accounts, the Amrita SREE program equips unemployed and economically vulnerable women with the skills and means to set up small-scale, cottage-industry businesses.

In the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami, India's coastal communities found that the aquatic creatures —upon which they relied so heavily for sustenance—had been entirely disrupted.

It was then that Amma, who recognized an urgent need for an alternate livelihood for every family in the tsunami-affected areas, launched the Ashram's first community-based self-help programmes.

Often Amrita Kuteerams are built not as single homes but as entire villages, complete with town halls, roads, wells, electricity, sewage systems and clean drinking water.

These include Amrita Nidhi, a financial-aid program started in 1998 that provides monthly pensions for 50,000 widows and physically and mentally disadvantaged individuals.

For the benefit of youth, MAM runs a program called AYUDH, a movement to empower young people to integrate universal values into their daily lives.

It was originally started as part of MAM's campaign to curb India's problem of farmer suicide, by providing children of agricultural families a means to education that will expand their vocational options.

The stated goal behind the research is: "To harness the power of modern technology to provide effect, targeted aid to communities and individuals in crisis.

AIMS has an extensive pain and palliative home-care program, telemedicine facilities and conducts medical camps in remote areas.

MAM feeds more than 10 million people every year throughout India, distributing uncooked rice, milk and other staples to remote tribal areas.

Outside of India, through sister organizations such as Amma-Europe and the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in the USA, more than 1,000,000 meals to the homeless and hungry are provided annually.

In 2009, in New York, in the presence of Steven Clark Rockefeller, Amma endorsed the Earth Charter, a declaration of fundamental principles for building a sustainable and peaceful world.

MAM started the Amala Bharatam Campaign (ABC) in 2010 in order to improve public health and restore India's physical beauty.

Amritapuri Ashram, MAM's headquarters in Kollam District, Kerala, is a spiritual center and international pilgrimage site, where free classes on Vedanta, Sanskrit, meditation and yoga are held.

[17] On February 19, 2010, the President of India Pratibha Patil bestowed the Dharma Khadgam Award to MAM in recognition of its charitable activities.