An exclusive interview with Amma, India's hugging saint.

[wizdum]

A Hug Above
An exclusive interview with India’s “hugging saint”
By Rob Sidon
June 2006

On May 2, the Interfaith Center of New York bestowed the Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Award on Amma, India’s “Hugging Saint” and five other global humanitarians including Noble Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Mohammed Elbaradei; Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer; actor and Healing the Divide Director Richard Gere; Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Despite the prestige attached to the award, for Amma, the most important prize is “the happiness of people.”
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The Interfaith Award has previously been given to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton and many other eminent recipients.<snip>

Interviewer - Between global warming and terrorism, there could be an endless succession of disasters. Are you concerned about the future?

Amma - We should never fall victim to pessimism. Patience, optimistic faith and enthusiasm are essential in life, and we must always strive to cultivate these qualities and keep them alive in our hearts. In many ways, people are becoming more and more aware of the need for a spiritual way of living. Spirituality is the very essence of all religions and, in its essence, it is the path of love and compassion.

If there is a one-word solution for all the problems in today’s world, it is compassion. Only love and compassion can solve the problem of terrorism and bloodshed.

Most people today are blinded by ego. There are two types of ego. One is the ego of power and money, but the second type is more destructive. That is the ego that says, “My religion and viewpoint alone are correct. All others are wrong. I will not tolerate anything else.” This is like saying, “My mother is good; yours is a whore!” Unless we eradicate these two types of ego, it will be difficult to bring about peace in the world.
The willingness to listen to others, the ability to understand them and the broad-mindedness to accept even those who disagree with us—these are the signs of true spiritual culture. Unfortunately, these qualities are exactly what are missing from the world today.

The greatest enemy the world faces is poverty. Prostitution, terrorism and much of the other violence are, to a great extent, caused by poverty. There are two types of poverty: the lack of food, clothing and shelter, and the lack of love and compassion. If we can eliminate the later, the former will automatically be taken care of. For when people have love and compassion in their hearts, they will spontaneously and wholeheartedly reach out to help those without food, clothing and shelter.

Is there any message you would like to send to our readers?
Know your Self and practice love and compassion. I would also like to say that if all the people in the world were to work for just a half an hour more than they do now and were to dedicate that money to helping the suffering, there would be no starvation and all people would be healthy. The heart of selfless service is the state of forgetting one’s individuality and seeing the pain and suffering of others as one’s own. When we love others, seeing ourselves in them, there will be no place for hatred or fear. May God’s grace guide all.

Read ENTIRE article here

Calling all DU'ers - GO SEE Amma on tour in a city near you and get a hug.

San Ramon, CA
06.06 - 06.18

Los Angeles,CA
06.20 - 06.24

New Mexico
06.26 - 06.30

Dallas. TX
07.02 - 07.03

Chicago, IL
07.05 - 07.06

Mt. Pleasant, IO
07.08 - 07.09

Washing. D. C.
07.11 - 07.12

New York, NY
07.14 - 07.16

Boston, MA
07.18 - 07.21

Toronto, CA
07.23 - 07.26

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. My kids called my mom "Amma" (short for gramma, I am sure) She was a good

hugger too.

[wizdum]

2. I find it very interesting that they called her Amma. It's unusual...

...for children not raised Hindu - and it means "divine mother". O8)

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. well, she was sposed to be Mamgee, which is welsh for grandmother, but

it didn't stick. *g* Firstborn had some speech issues so finallystarted calling her Amma, which is either the first part of mamgee or the last part of gramma. *g* But I think it is way cool that it has more meaning than that. Will have to tell "Boppy" what Amma meant. :^)