Hi Jim,
Welcome back.
quote:
I didn't like the scene much. Enormous retail operation going on, like a kitsch snake oil show.
For what it's worth, Amma's devotees sell loads of stuff on the tours. It is all sold to raise money to support hundreds of charitable activities all over the world.
I got to see this in action once when the tsunami hit India in 2004. The village around Amma's ashram was wiped out completely with 150 people dead. All 10,000 people living in the village were evacuated to dry land. I was one of those evacuated. 10 schools which were unaffected by the tsunami were turned into refugee camps, with one thousand people in each school. For the next 4 months, in the ashram, we cooked for those 10,000 people, twice a day. Trucks went out, morning and evening to every school with big pots of cooked rice and vegetables in. It was unbelievable to be part of. Eventually, their homes were rebuilt, and they are now back in the village.
In all Amma donated 25 million dollars to help people affected by the tsunami, not just in her own village, but on the east side of India too which was much more badly hit. If it wasn't for all the things being sold on the tours, there wouldn't have been the money to feed those people, or to rebuild their homes.
Here is some info on where the money goes:
http://www.amritapuri.org/activityAnd in case you're wondering, Amma doesn't actually have any money. She is effectively a nun, and lives in poverty. The money is owned by a charitable trust which is managed by trustees.
quote:
And we were all led in a chant which was translated for us only after we'd finished chanting it...it turned out we were pledging our devotion and loyalty to Amma. Ick.
And again, for what it's worth, there aren't any chants where people pledge their devotion and loyalty to Amma. Amma isn't interested in that at all. You may have been confused because the word "Amma" means "Mother" and is used to refer to the "Mother of creation", or "God" in other words. There are chants in Sanskrit which are basically saying, I surrender myself before God. Amma (Amritanandamayi as she is also called)
is into that. In a big way. And she tends to prefer the Mother aspect of the divine rather than the Father when it comes to chanting.
I hope you go again, and get a hug next time!
Christi