Vox populi vox dei (the voice if the people is the voice of God) - Latin saying
A small Indian woman with an infectious laugh and words of serenity individually embraced hundreds of devotees at Moorabbin Town Hall this week. It took four to five hours each time Mata Amritanandamayi
– commonly known as Amma, or Mother – indulged in the hugging that sets her apart from other Eastern gurus.
Followers say the hug, part of a ceremony called Darshan, is a blessing and transference of energy from the woman seen by many around the worlds as a true
Mahatma (spiritual teacher).
It is a personal and affectionate practice. Followers will sometimes sit cross-legged for up to eight hours listening to her Indian band and waiting for her embrace.
Meeting with this woman are a mixture of serenity and gentle scoldings.
This week there were warnings to married couples to express love for their partners, a call to transcend the limitations of the world and become givers, rather than receivers of true love.
Amritanandamayi is described by her followers as a universal saint, but her advice to the faithful is pragmatic.
She tells those who smoke to take an oath against the habit and with the money saved feed a starving person. Those who drink are urged to give up and spend the money sending a poor child through school.
The way to God, in her philosophy, involves making sacrifices.
As an example, she has set up free hospitals and medical centers for the poor and oppressed in India. Her trust also runs orphanages, refuges for homeless women, a hospice for the terminally ill, a computer training center and, soon, a medical college.
She was born in 1953 in a southern fishing village in Kerala.
According to legend, which she does not deny, Amma beamed a smile when she entered the world after her mother’s painless childbirth.
As a child, she dedicated her life to giving solace to suffering humanity and fed the poor with food from her own family’s supply.
Her family threw her out on the streets and forbade villagers to feed her.
Instead, a dog dropped food packets near her and a cow came past to give her milk.

Amma made her first overseas tour in 1986. She ahs returned to Australia every year and has seen bigger crowds each time.
Part of her appeal is in her acceptance. Anyone Is welcome to line up for the embrace and none is asked whether they are devotees or prepared to donate money.
The main message is for men and w omen to realize what the Hindus call “your true self”.
It is, in common with many faiths, a call to become closer to God by appreciating His influence in the world and within us.
To illustrate, Amma says: “ A woman is looked upon as a sister by her brother, as a wife by her husband, and as a daughter by her father. No matter who looks at her from whatever point of view, the woman remains one. And likewise God is only one. Each person sees God in a different way according to their attitude.”
Mata Amritanandamayi can be witnessed today at a Hindu ceremony called Devi Bhava at the Lord Somers Camp on Westernport Bay from 5pm.