http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/business/ammas-multifaceted-empire-built-on-hugs.html?pagewanted=1

This one is a refined and maha sophisticated Swamie. read about this HugMata in 2003 and I thought to myself..."who would hug this one" Then I came across Amrith Inst of techn and it showed up on some top 20 list...and started digging into it. Man O man...this one has an empire like that of Puttaparthi. There was some IT raid 5 or 7 yrs ago with a lot of publicity, and everything died down with a week - thanks to ministerial devotees for hugMata.

Another big money spinner...

People want quick and easy fixes without any effort. They want miracles. No wonder babas and ammas are thriving. Sages like Ramana Maharshi don't impress them much.

nenu wrote:People want quick and easy fixes without any effort. They want miracles. No wonder babas and ammas are thriving. Sages like Ramana Maharshi don't impress them much.

>>>The way I look at it is, if there is no fraud or ripping off of people or requirement for package-buy-ins, they provide solace to people. If they spin off social services and the public benefits from it, it is an overall +. I read the article and liked the comment by the Pediatric Cardiologist who didn't really have any religious epiphany, but nevertheless thought Amma was a good force. I like this socially active form of Hinduism.

OK

Whatever it takes to make a white man fall at an Indian's feet.

Rishi wrote:OK

Whatever it takes to make a white man fall at an Indian's feet.

** you're a strange bird, rish. ciao.

Kris wrote:

nenu wrote:People want quick and easy fixes without any effort. They want miracles. No wonder babas and ammas are thriving. Sages like Ramana Maharshi don't impress them much.

>>>The way I look at it is, if there is no fraud or ripping off of people or requirement for package-buy-ins, they provide solace to people. If they spin off social services and the public benefits from it, it is an overall +. I read the article and liked the comment by the Pediatric Cardiologist who didn't really have any religious epiphany, but nevertheless thought Amma was a good force. I like this socially active form of Hinduism.

Seems too much like a cult:

---------

To explain for those who don't know who I am/was. I was Amma's personal attendant for 20 years. I arrived in Jan. 1980 when she was Sudhamani living with her parents and left in Nov. 1999. I was nicknamed 'Amma's shadow' because I was constantly by her side and lived in her quarters. I can speak fluent Malayalam so language was never a barrier to understand what was going on. It would not be an exaggeration to say I know her better than anyone in the world.

A few days after I escaped, when I was still in hiding, feeling hunted I sat at
my laptop and wrote down the reasons why I chose to leave. I wrote them as a
reminder in case I ever forgot. After writing it 12 years ago I read it again
for the first time just now. I have not edited it...thought I should leave it in
it's raw state.

Hopefully, this will answer some of your questions.

Reasons why I left the Ashram

1. Loss of faith
2. Not happy for years
3. No harmony amongst seniors
4. No manners from the seniors
5. Too much politics between the seniors
6. No love between the seniors
7. I felt extremely unloved
8. And unsupported
9. And untrusted
10. Absolutely worn out on every level
11. Too much stress
12. Routine too gruelling
13. Never any concern given for physical well being nor emotions which are also
a very important part of spirituality
14. Partiality shown between the men and women, east and west, rich and poor
15. Swamis arrogance, back stabbing, cruelty, hatred, power struggles.
16. Amma's obvious favouritism towards them
17. Giving too much money and gold to her family members and at the same time
denied Suneeti private hospitalisation.
18. Too many secret things going on.
19. Too much scheming, plotting, planning and suspicion
20. No sweet spiritual feeling of love or compassion from amma behind the scenes
only anger, gossip, criticism, revenge, suspicion, business, violence or secret
meetings with the swamis.
21. Terrorism - in a subtle sense not with guns or anything.
22. Violence (mental, emotional, psychological and physical.
23. Horrible yelling and shrieking like a demon
24. Constant accusing me of being a good for nothing and always angry at me
which always would make my guts cringe and constantly putting me down.
25. Not allowed to feel happy, if you do you should be guilty
26. Guilt if you rest, laugh, take care of your body
27. Money, money, money that is the main aim and you are good if you try and
make as much as you can for the ashram even if you squeeze. Amma used to praise
people for this
28. Lying, cheating
29. Copying from other writers and books then using amma's name on them and
calling it her teachings. Also none of the speeches which were made at U.N. or
Chicago were her own, they were Swamijis from some books or possibly his head
that I don't know.
30. Having to tell untrue miracles in talks, she herself would make them up for
us.
31. Worn out from heat and crowds and the culture of India, also the jail like
lifestyle in the Indian ashram
32. Suppressed and oppress and even hit and abused constantly by the swamis.
33. Too many institutions and projects but not enough capable people to run
them, therefore endless problems which would then fall on my head.
34. Never been understood, or acknowledges for any participation which I had in
the ashram. Never been considered in any major decisions to be made even if it
was which girls should get yellow. Even that swamiji would try and decide,
until I would put my foot down.
35. Not enough protection given to girls sent to branches. Just go! Whether they
have a place to stay or not no problem, whether they are by themselves in a huge
school overnight, no problem.
36. No questions allowed. Just shut your mouth or you will be considered for
treason, betrayal and a cheat, you are unloyal to amma and the ashram.
37. Scandalous the way the flats have been built, so much money charged, no
maintenance even though the people pay the same. D block has been built right
in the face of A and B. The buildings were not even finished properly with
cracks everywhere and sloppy cement everywhere. Plumbing stinks and leaks all
over the steps. Try and maintain and keep clean the existing ones before
starting more skyscrapers.
38. The residents i.e. Indian are not fed properly. They are also overworked.
Even amma would criticize that some girls were drinking milk, she would tell to
sell all the fruit and not to give the residents. I would still give it now and
then. They all look so anemic.
39. Amma's obvious revenge and hatred towards anybody who has left the ashram.
Getting even with them, not allowing them to move on or get a job `let them
suffer for a while' her famous quote. Where is understanding and forgiveness,
compassion that she teaches so strongly about. Okay, yes she doesn't want to
encourage anybody to leave but is keeping them in the ashram by fear of the
future or the consequences healthy.
40. Only Hinduism is any good, narrow minded attitude of the swamis against
Christianity. Only your guru is any good.

I understand that my list of reasons was vague....like I said it was written years ago when I was in a state of trauma. Without going into too much detail I will try to clarify some of your questions. Many of the topics have been covered in detail in my book and will give a clear and rounded understanding with specific details and examples.

http://blogdesinfideles.blogspot.com/2012/02/lombre-damma-fait-surface-gayatri-et.html

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rishi wrote:OK

Whatever it takes to make a white man fall at an Indian's feet.

** you're a strange bird, rish. ciao.

I am happy to be a strange bird.

as i grow older i find my tolerance for this sort of thing disappearing at an alarming rate. i realize i still have to socialize, not piss people of too much and try to accommodate a bit of weirdness of this kind, but it really is very difficult for me. thankfully nobody that i have to interact with on a daily basis is into this sort of thing.

She eventually left home to live in the wild, where the biography relates that she survived by eating whatever she could find, a diet that included shards of glass and human feces.

Do you really believe this?