Amma: The Original 'Free Hugs' Lady | Gimundo

Amma: The Original ‘Free Hugs’ Lady

There's a saint of animals. A saint of lost things. And now there's even a saint of computer geeks. But have you ever heard of Amma, the saint of hugs?

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on July 21 2008

There’s a saint of animals. A saint of lost things. And now there’s even a saint of computer geeks. But have you ever heard of Amma, the saint of hugs?

Okay, so she hasn’t made it into the Catholic Church’s list yet, but we firmly believe that Mata Amritanandamayi, an Indian woman known as Amma, is as canon-worthy as anyone we’ve ever heard of. For over 30 years, Amma has been traveling the globe, giving hugs to everyone she meets, asking nothing in return. Though she considers herself spiritual, she does not advocate any particular religion – her message is love, pure and simple.

Sure, this may sound a lot like that Free Hugs guy in Australia, but we have a feeling he probably swiped his idea from Amma in the first place. After all, no matter how many hugs he’s given in the last few years, he’ll have a long way to go if he wants to catch up to her – to date, Amma has given over 26 million hugs, or “darshan,” as she calls the experience.

So why does she do it? As Amma told BBC News, “Love is a very special, very uplifting vibration. That’s what I’m trying to give people. It’s like visiting a perfume factory. Consciously or unconsciously you will carry that fragrance around with you.”

Amma has built a worldwide network of followers who can’t get enough of her hugs. One fan flew all the way across the globe from Australia to London to meet with her, and waited with hundreds of others to experience the pure joy of darshan. In each city she visits, Amma doles out hugs all day long, often until as late as two or three in the morning, until everyone’s gotten a turn.

Though Amma receives no money for the experience, she is the founder of a charity called Mata Amritanandamayi Math. Many of her followers contribute money to the organization in appreciation of Amma’s hugs. With those funds, the organization has built more than 36,000 houses. Or should we call them the houses that hugs built?

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