Last Thursday around 2 AM, folding up batik banners with gold-printed tantric diagrams in a hallway leading to the Oak Brook Marriott’s Grand Ballroom, it occurred to me that I could steal them all and no one would know. I’d volunteered to help clean up after an appearance by the revered Indian holy woman Mata Amritanandamayi–better known as Amma, Sanskrit for mother–who tours the world granting divine blessings in the form of hugs. But it seemed like stealing from an organization whose mission is to spread love might be, I don’t know, wrong somehow.
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Even as we were packing up, Amma wasn’t finished hugging everyone–not even close. She sat on a bench on a stage in the front of the room, inside a sort of makeshift tent draped with glittery pink, purple, and gold fabrics. Upon arriving everyone who wanted to be hugged was handed a ticket with a group number on it and then took a seat in the ballroom to wait. Some people had wrapped themselves in blankets and fallen asleep. Others were meditating or reading. Hundreds of people whose number had recently been called stood in a long, snaking line that ended in Amma’s arms. Some hung flower garlands around her neck; some held out jewelry or other objects for her to bless. Sometimes whole families would go up at once, and Amma would scoop all of them in together, holding them as they wept or laughed. Sometimes someone would show her a photo and Amma would smile, kiss it, or furrow her brow with compassion. She’d rub backs, kiss foreheads, wipe tears, giggle, and no matter what, sprinkle rose petals and hand each person a gift: a piece of fruit, a flower, a Hershey’s Kiss.
Amma, who is 52 years old, was born in a fishing village on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. According to a biography by Swami Amritaswarupananda, she had darker skin than her siblings, and her family treated her like a servant. She was forced to drop out of school at the age of ten because her family decided her punishment for ecstatic, incessant dancing and chanting would be doing all the chores, cooking all the meals, and tending to the farm animals. Still, all her spare time was devoted to praising Krishna.
