Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, lovingly known as Amma, was born Sudhamani Idamannel on September 27, 1953 in a small fishing village in the southwestern state of Kerala in southern India.

She was deeply in love with God since birth. As a young child, she would stay awake late into the nights singing songs to God, and she would often be found immersed in blissful meditation.

When her mother became ill, Amma stopped going to school after the fourth grade to look after her family. She was also drawn to look after the poor and elderly in her limited spare time. She was already finding herself in service to the world when she was only a child.

Amma is another rare case Self-realization without the assistance of any external spiritual support. Although she had no teachers or access to spiritual texts, her commitment to her incessant pull to God brought her into absolute union with God. In her early teens, people began to come and receive her darshan (sight of God) to be closer to Lord Krishna.

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
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click here for Amma's U.S. website

Then one day she had a vision of the divine mother. She became obsessed with the divine mother, calling and crying out to be with her. Eventually she came to know the divine mother intimately. Since then, she has been the living incarnation of the divine mother. She sees all of humanity as her children. Although her name, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi is very fitting, meaning the divine mother of love and bliss, her "children" simply call her Amma (mother).

Anybody that spends time with her will see that her life is her miracle. Her life is in tireless service to the comforting and awakening of her children. In the west, she is known as the hugging saint, because she travels from city to city receiving millions of individuals with a hug. She regularly hugs thousands of people in one sitting. And amazingly, as people all around her begin to tire, she becomes brighter and brighter!

She is one of the greatest saints of all time and a great blessing for humanity.

If you have the opportunity, do your best to spend some time with the rare and great gift. Her tour schedule is on her U.S. web site and on her Indian site. She is The Heart. She lives Pure Love. She is such a clear manifestation of God in form. Om Amriteshwaryai Namah.

Amma's unparalleled selfless service has led many to support Amma's mission by giving generously of themselves to help create many charitable activities and organizations from medical facilities to schools and orphanages to housing and disaster relief projects to general social support and support for the earth.

Here is a selection of Amma’s books, audio, video and images: