So what's the craze all about?

Amma on stage 

For those of you who don't know Amma. She is a spiritual leader from India who, similarly to Mother Theresa , has devoted her life to serve the poor and underprivileged. She has built up so many foundations and donates to so many causes-  it's difficult to keep track. Apparently she also has a very special aura and has helped heal some sick and depressed people. After having her about her during my teacher training in New York, I was curious to see her in person but she came to the city exactly as I was moving at the beginning of July - so back in Munich I googled her and saw that she would be in Munich in October. I immediately signed up to volunteer with the event and was very curious to see what it would be like. The location was huge, so I figured that there would have to be quite a crowd but when I entered, I was overwhelmed. There was a very pertinent smell of Indian food - in fact it smelled delicious and then there were lots and lots of stalls with all kinds of Indian clothes, books, jewelry and much more as well as different booths where you could learn more about many of Amma's foundations and the Amma House in Munich. 

It took me some time to figure it out, but there were hundreds of chairs in the middle of the room and also to the side of it and you needed to draw a number in order to get the token which would eventually allow you to go see Amma who was on the stage, hugging people. Why not, I thought to myself as I wanted to see what the fascination with this woman was all about  and I got one of these tokens-  mine said X-Z and it was about 2PM - I figured by the time I had ended my shift as a translator in one of the shops, at 6PM - my number should get called... 

It was a little bit of a challenge to find anyone who could help me with the coordination of volunteers - Seva as they call it. I found out that Amma's entire tour is organized by volunteers - some of them travel with her for weeks if not months. Anyway, they then sent me to the table where they sold Amma dolls and since the ladies who were working there didn't speak any German, I was supposed to help them translate for people who didn't speak English. But it turned out that most people had sufficient English to get by and I wasn't all that busy. So I had time to explore the event a little but even after almost four hours, it looked as if the letters had barely moved and my X seemed still hours away. While most people were really nice and I got to talking with a few American ladies who lived in Amma's ashram most of the year, I got a little upset about one of the Indian ladies because she told me that I needed to wear a shawl (I had taken my sweater off because it was very warm and was only wearing a tight shirt) and cover myself. It reminded me of an experience I had in India - and looking back now, I really understand why the lady at my friend's wedding wanted me to cover myself - it was their territory and their culture etc that I was entering, however, at this event in the middle of Munich, I felt as if her reaction was a little over the top. If everyone is to be tolerant - why not people from India who come here? I also felt that it was a shame that the people who were coming to Munich from all over the world did not even get a chance to see the city but rather stayed inside the tour for the entire time. I still admire these volunteers and the fact that all the proceeds from their work and whatever they sell goes to Amma's foundations but there was certain amount of blind activism that kind of bothered me. Officially, you are not allowed to take any pictures - especially not of Amma - I guess people tried selling them and were competing with her cause - yet, it seemed a little odd to me to see all these 'no picture signs' when the message overall was to celebrate the day and Amma's presence - it would have been nice to share this with others in a more visual way.

I tried to get a better impression of what the Amma hug was all about by getting closer to the stage and observing some people, who brought her flowers and other gifts in the process called "Darshan" - I which means the meeting of the teacher and the student in Sanskrit but I have to say, she remained a mystery to me. Impressive that a lady who just turned 61could spent the whole day from morning till late at night, hugging and blessing all these people, strangers in fact, without getting tired when just the thought of it already exhausts me. Yet, I didn't really see the point in waiting in line forever, just to get a hug - maybe I'll go again next year and things will have a better way of working itself out. And who knows in time I might understand what all the craze is about...

Amma dolls - very popular due to their healing qualities

Information about Amma's charities