About Amma
Through her extraordinary acts of love and self-sacrifice, Mata Amritanandamayi, or Amma (Mother) as she is known, has endeared herself to millions of people around the world.
Tenderly holding each one close to her heart in a loving embrace, Amma shares her boundless love with all-regardless of their beliefs, who they are or why they have come to her. In the past three decades, Amma has physically hugged more than 27 million people from all parts of the world. For so many, meeting with Amma has proved to be the turning point in their life, a timeless moment of self-discovery and inner transformation.
Her tireless spirit of dedication to uplifting others has inspired a vast network of charitable activities through which people are discovering the beauty and sense of peace that come from selflessly serving others. Her unprecedented humanitarian work has been acknowledged at the highest level. She has received the Gandhi-King Award for Non-violence, presented at the UN in Geneva in the year 2002. Amma also received the fourth annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Award in New York for her outstanding humanitarian and spiritual service following the Tsunami. The Mata Amritanandamayi Math, has been awarded Special Consultative status with the United Nations (ECOSOC) in recognition of the importance of its outstanding relief work and other humanitarian activities.
"I believe that [Amma] stands here before us, God’s love in a human body."
- Jane Goodall, world renowned primatologist, before presenting Amma the Gandhi-King Award at the United Nations.