"Darkness over India" - Amma, the Hugging Saint, aka Mata Amritanadamayi

seek10

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
As I was trying to catchup with the nityananda's story, I started to find more abuses by others. Mostly popular guru's. The title of the thread 'Darkness over India' is the imitation from the book 'Darkness over tibet'. I felt a shock when I read this book "darkness over tibet". I felt bigger shock to this story "Amma, the Hugging Saint" aka Mata Amritanadamayi.

This story goes beyond any of my comprehensions - cult mind control, cultivating childish dependency in disciples, cooking books, organ theft , wonderful PR, mysterious deaths in and around her ashrams, UN humanitarian missions, 25 million hugs , free hugs initially but disciples come back to donate heavily , discriminatory attitude of her charitable hospitals towards poor, business over 2012 scare . Only one component in her story is missing. that is 'Sex' .

This article sums it up all.

‘Amma the Hugging Saint’: Mother-Cult Leader, U.N. Globalist
BY BRONTE BAXTER, AUG 25, 2008

What do stuffed dolls have to do with enlightenment? Lots, if you’re into the cult of Amma, known also as Ammachi, Mata Amritanandamayi, and “the hugging saint.”

Amma’s devotees talk to dolls made in her image that are sold on Amma retreats. They tell the doll their problems, seek its comfort, and listen in their minds for its advice. Amma calls the devotees her children, and clucks syllables like baby talk into their ear in her trademark ritual of lining people up, watching them kneel before her, then embracing them.

She tells them she is their mother and that she hears their prayers. She says she’d no more charge them for her darshan (i.e., being in her presence) than a mother would charge an infant for breast milk. Yet insiders have estimated Amma rakes in upwards of 3 million dollars in a 7-week tour, through donations and sales of items like her toothbrush, fragments of a garment she has sat on, Amma dolls, Amma posters, and books by devotees extolling her divinity.

Devotees believe Amma is a living incarnation of the being they consider the supreme God: Kali in Hindu religion, who is depicted in Indian art wearing a bloody necklace of human skulls but who somehow translates to devotees as a loving maternal figure. Amma events consist of childlike lectures on Hindu doctrines, Amma blessing water which devotees then drink, hymn singing, worship ceremonies, and the hugs. At some events, Amma wears a two-foot-high sparkling crown.

Amma marries people on stage, gives babies their first taste of solid food, tells couples to break up or to stay together, and ordains some of the faithful to abandon their family and live as monks in her ashram. Amma teaches that love is all we need, and it is her divine love that will save us.

In Seattle a couple of months ago, she predicted nuclear war and that no child younger than 5 will live to adulthood after the year 2012. After spreading fear and despair through such prophecies, she announced that only meditation and self-effacing acts of charity can possibly mitigate the sentence for humanity. “Meditation” means mantra/obeisance meditation to the divine mother. Self-effacing charity means donations to her organization and service to her cause.

At public sessions, devotees chant hymns to Amma that grow in volume and frenetic intensity, gesticulating in unison with their arms in the shape of an arc, from their midsection up and out towards Amma, who sits on a dais in front of them. The words of the chant are “Aum Parashaktyai Namah.” That translates to “I bow down/ pay homage to the Supreme Mother of the Universe.” The arm gesture is body language for surrendering one’s soul to Kali in the form Amma, her living embodiment.

I am one of the moderators of the Ex-Amma Forum, a place where people who’ve left the Amma cult come together to help each other heal from their ordeal. The group is open to ex-followers, questioning devotees, concerned family and friends of devotees, and people seeking more information. I became involved with the forum when I watched a close friend of mine grow farther and farther away from the person he once was, the deeper he sank into Amma’s hypnotic embrace. On the forum, I’ve read hundreds of first-person accounts of what people experience with Amma, the side of her no one wants to talk about.

I’ve seen an email from her former joint-secretary alleging she cooks the books, that the money she gathers for charity doesn’t go to the charities she claims. I’ve read accounts by her former monks of the unexplained wealth of Amma’s family, how her charity hospitals won’t take the very poor because the poor don’t have money enough for treatment. I’ve read about “suicides” and unexplained deaths of ashram devotees. So many dead bodies have appeared in the waters outside the ashram that The Indian Express, New Delhi’s daily newspaper, printed an account of local citizens demanding a police investigation into the matter.

I’ve read of organ selling and beatings. I saw a video of Amma performing a puja (worship ceremony) to a portrait of Sai Baba. I read a letter from a former Amma monk alleging he was told by an Indian holy man not to share what he knows about Amma if he values his safety.

Amma’s website sells pujas performed on behalf of the paying devotee for prices ranging from $30 to $250. We read there an explanation of what happens in Kali puja, which is performed “on Amma’s birthstar”:

“The puja is offered to a lamp representing the Goddess… The puja starts with a worship of the Guru… The central aspect of the puja is the symbolic offering of the five elements of creation to God. Our body is composed from these five elements… The puja symbolizes the surrender of the devotee to God… Each element is represented by a material symbol, such as flowers, or fire… These are offered at the foot of the lighted lamp. The desire of the devotee to offer his or her surrender is effected by these symbolic offerings. During the entire puja the temple resonates with the continuous chanting of the holy names of Kali.” (emphasis mine)

Amma’s PR is impeccable. She presents as “the hugging saint,” a portrait of sweetness and universal love, and the media promotes her unquestioningly as such. There has never been an investigation into her movement, the dead bodies, where the money goes, or what is really happening in her hospitals and orphanages in India.

In July, 2005, the United Nations awarded Amma with “Special U.N. Consultative Status,” according to her website. She is one of 25 core leaders in the United Nations Parliament of World Religions. Her website contains over a dozen pages extolling the humanitarian work of the U.N. One page compares the U.N.’s “Millenium Goals” with Amma’s goals, which are word-for-word identical. (Click here to view both documents.)

The ashram is among 30 Indian NGO’s to receive formal U.N. affiliation, according to Amma’s website. “This will provide opportunities for joint collaboration” between the U.N. and her organization, it goes on to state. Amma’s website openly extols the U.N. for its advances toward global government:

“The United Nations has been in the forefront of tackling problems as they take on an international dimension, providing the legal framework for regulating the use of the oceans, protecting the environment, regulating migrant labor, curbing drug trafficking and combating terrorism, to mention a few. This work continues today, with the United Nations providing input into the trend towards a greater centrality of international law in governing interaction across a wide spectrum of issues.” (emphasis mine)

Pulling all this together, what are we seeing here? Amma is a globalist, working intimately with the U.N. to bring about its agenda. That agenda is world regulation and control – a wolf that hides in the sheep’s clothing of humanitarian ideals. The U.N.’s aim is a global Orweillian state held in place by a world bank, a centrally controlled media, a world “peace-keeping unit” (world army), technological surveillance, and control of the world’s water, food and other essential resources.

As one of the 25 core leaders in the U.N.’s religion parliament, Amma supports and promotes these “Big Brother” goals. For anyone wondering if the global conspiracy has a spiritual component, Amma provides strong evidence.

My earlier articles in the “Blowing the Whistle on Enlightenment” series expose the real meaning of the kind of surrender that Amma and other Indian gurus promote among their followers. It is surrender of the personal self to the gods, whom Amma calls “the Lord.” Amma’s hugs, her relics, her blessed water and food, are ways of infusing her energy signature and that of the beings that possess her into the bodies and minds of those who visit her, be they devotees or unsuspecting guests.

Such an energy transfer helps devotees entrain with her vibration and meld their minds and souls with the godhead – in other words, to become assimilated, or possessed, by the same “cosmic” forces that possess and work through Amma. This is called “attaining enlightenment” or “liberation” – a state where one no longer functions as an independent individual but as a unit or tentacle of “the Lord,” the astral entities posing as gods who live off the energy of mankind.

What makes Amma both so successful and so sinister is the loving image she hides behind. The media uses it to promote her far and wide. If it seems remarkable that no investigative reporting has been done, that no one from the mainstream media has questioned Amma’s PR, the mystery evaporates when we recall who the mainstream media is run by these days.

Large corporations have bought and own our press and television, and dictate the “news” that journalists are permitted to report. Behind the corporations, as behind our governments, lurk the ruling elite, controlling world events from the sidelines by means of the puppets they’ve put into power.

But Amma is one of the worst. Powerful and successful, she ropes in new recruits by the thousands on her yearly worldwide tours. Amma’s movement claims that the “saint” has hugged over 26-million people – people who often return as devotees, singing her praises and donating to her coffers.

Amma’s brand of religion is a return to the infantile. She makes babies of grown men and women, giving them dolls to babble to and telling them she’s their mother. While speaking fine words about “the God within each of us,” her actions teach something different. Allowing people to pray to you, kneel to you, and worship you as God Incarnate is not the behavior of someone who wants people to recognize themselves as magnificent, powerful, incarnate expressions of God.

Amma’s disciples get their power from hugs, dolls, mantra obeisance, and the group euphoria of retreats, not from the core of their own being. They’re conditioned to believe that their inner self is less than the glorious entity before them. They’re told, in fact, that their inner self is flawed, selfish, proud, and must be destroyed. Every time they bow down to Amma and the gods who live in her, they close the door more tightly on the Infinite within themselves.

Bronte Baxter
© Bronte Baxter 2008
 
More political connections and possibly terrorist connections . this is from 2003 article

Indian mystic ‘meddles’ in politics

...

India has produced numerous holymen such as Baba, Sri Sri Ravishankar and the former Baghwan Rajneesh, but Amma is the only holy woman to hit the global limelight.
..

He said her organization’s close links to the Hindu radical groups such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteer Corps) was a source of worry, a view backed by columnist Bhaskar, but denied by officials of Amma’s organization.

“It is a fact that the RSS has taken over the organization lock, stock and barrel. She is proving to be, knowingly or unknowingly, dangerous political material. These political parties will use her at some point of time for their ends.

“It is only when the RSS took over the organization that the upper caste Hindus’ acceptance came,” he said.

RSS is the main group of hindutva movement which was suspected to be behind all recent terror attacks including 2008 mumbai attacks .
 
Very good find Seek10. I never believed in such cults even back home when young and then happen to come across a bollywood movie "Zor (1998)" which had a similar highly popular spiritual teacher earning millions through donations and the mastermind behind numerous bombings and terrorism acts. Movie itself was trash but more or less confirmed it for me. Since then I have been very uneasy about following any so called spiritual gurus as my family do subscribe to and often visit a local spiritual teacher. At times, I was pressured into practicing certain things such as avoiding non-veg food or practicing celebacy on Thursdays etc. But, reading the "Wave" hit the final nail on it's head as I am not confused anymore.

Also would like to add that in a place like India where approx. 30% population is below povery line, it automatically creates a breeding ground for spiritual predators. There is enough sufferring inflicted on a critical mass of people that they cannot help but belive being punished by a diety (god) for their past sins. Ironically that may be true, however suffering could be intentional/unintentional to wash away the negative karma acquired during Atlantean days/past lives. Add to that approx. 40% population is illiterate means people cannot think critically at all or some cannot even think but only follow others. I honestly belive that a certain level of education is essential for everyone to even comprehend how the current matrix of reality operates. And when much of these spiritual posers are unable or unwilling to understand the machine, what can be expected from the followers! Cannon fodder a plenty! Fields littered with souls to harvest/smash!
 
I personally know some Amma devotees - they are highly educated, very intelligent, kind and generous people - but completely brainwashed as far as their teacher goes. For this guru, I had the chance to look at some "fruits" - and what I saw scared and saddened me since I knew some of these people before they found their teacher.
Actually, these friends from the yesteryears have provided me with a first-hand look at this phenomenon of blind following. They had subtly tried to get me interested in their teacher in the past out of genuine concern for me but I had politely side-stepped the issue. It was at a time when I was going through the most intense personal crisis of my life and they had said that they could ask their teacher on my behalf regarding what the future holds in store for me. I had politely said thanks but I wanted to go through what I considered to be my lessons of life and knowing about the future would interfere with learning (this was before I started participating on this forum). I did not tell them this but even in the most emotionally stricken state of my life where I would literally have grasped at straws to stay afloat, I found it very strange that they actually believed that their teacher is able to foretell the future of someone she has never met simply by hearing about that person from her devotees!! They really looked at her as if she was God!
After that we could have intelligent discussions about everything except for the topic of their teacher or even the very topic of spirituality. It is as if a veil - or more appropriately a wall that comes up as soon as a conversation even tends to meander towards those topics. That wall is so strong that it seems that I can almost reach out and physically feel it. It is like one moment they are there and the next moment I cannot even find them. It is bizarre - I do not know whether I am making sense with these statements - I am not a person who sees energies and stuff - but with them this is the feeling that I have.
I had written in the Osho thread that it is perhaps one of the more painful lessons in 3D to learn to respect the freewill of others, specially people whom we know , even when we can see that they are being led astray by some spiritual teacher. I had these friends in mind when I wrote that.
 
[quote author=obyvatel]I had written in the Osho thread that it is perhaps one of the more painful lessons in 3D to learn to respect the freewill of others, specially people whom we know , even when we can see that they are being led astray by some spiritual teacher. I had these friends in mind when I wrote that. [/quote]

So true. Sometimes even more painful when you have to deal with family members who're in the same situation and my experience is that family members sometimes even worse to deal with, because they just resist because you said so!

Thank you seek10 for the article, very enlightening!
:)
 
Sid said:
Also would like to add that in a place like India where approx. 30% population is below povery line, it automatically creates a breeding ground for spiritual predators. There is enough sufferring inflicted on a critical mass of people that they cannot help but belive being punished by a diety (god) for their past sins. Ironically that may be true, however suffering could be intentional/unintentional to wash away the negative karma acquired during Atlantean days/past lives. Add to that approx. 40% population is illiterate means people cannot think critically at all or some cannot even think but only follow others. I honestly belive that a certain level of education is essential for everyone to even comprehend how the current matrix of reality operates. And when much of these spiritual posers are unable or unwilling to understand the machine, what can be expected from the followers! Cannon fodder a plenty! Fields littered with souls to harvest/smash!
I wondered about sai baba charisma. Here is my theory. I saw him once or twice when he came to my town to his luxurious temple on a government land ( or legally acquired from government , I don't know ). Poor are gullible , Rich ' are selfish to be exploited' or 'wants to network in high circles' or 'needs a means to wash their guilt and sins' . foreigners are rich to be ignored , so special attention was given and more naive to be trapped.

so both poor and Rich are manipulated easily, so their following didn't give much credibility intellectually, IMO . It is the Middle class who are disgruntled with main stream hindu religion like professor, lawyers, engineers etc. who swamped sai baba and gave lot of credibility. I always wondered why ?. These intellectuals who are finding holes in the main stream religion and looked for alternatives and found the new age with a twist - Hypnotism in guise of vedic truths, psychology in the name of 'clairvoyance' and both can be delivered as a Miracle.

Middle class and por Indians doesn't go vacation to beaches or casino's ( In the last decade thing have changed ) instead they go to the sacred temples. Entertainment, hypnotism, half psychology collectively attributed to God in front of them. Dump all the problems on these swami's , so that one doesn't need to discern about what one is can do it or not , what is bothering him or his family or society as such. This is a like Gaint Casino, with thousands of years of back ground.

I used to go with my father to these so called holy places. He used to keep on murmering about the high prices and corruption in these temples, but he doesn't consider the option of not spending on them. It is like addiction. Even at this time , he spends 25 to 50% of his post retirement income on these trips and spends 2 to 3 hrs per day minimum on pooja's. We try to dissuade him , but no use. We know that he can't be consoled until his deep narcissistic wounds are healed. This is my understanding of this issue
 
Hi,

I saw Amma about two years ago at Alexandra Palace when she came to London. Another Yoga teacher was enthusing about her and I thought I'd go and see what all the fuss was about.

As you can imagine it was a pretty packed venue and most of the people who were there waiting for a hug seemed nice enough, you were given a ticket with a letter and then you queued up when your letter was called with all the other people in your letter group. It took about two hours from entrance to being "hugged". there were stalls selling food and Chai and things you could buy, so the time went quite quickly.

What was interesting was as you got nearer the front what you hadn't been able to see was the large group of seated "disciples" sitting at her feet. Some rocking gently looking completely spaced out, others meditating and repeating their mantra's or prayers.

Anyway the time comes for my "hug" she just touched me and whispered something unintelligible in my ear, it must have lasted no more than 2 seconds. I'm relieved to say that I didn't get what the fuss was about. There certainly was no feeling of having been touched by a "Saint", for me at least and interestingly she seemed quite cold and disinterested. Some people just come across as really warm hearted but she didn't seem like that to me. I thought it was just me at the time who didn't get it.

There was a great deal of propaganda about her good works and projects with video footage on T.Vs showing the ashrams etc.

If you had to ask me whether I would do it again the answer is no and fwiw my kids give better hugs :)
 
I have had some first-hand experience with this group. Because some people who were/are close to me are involved, I attended some functions some years ago and had opportunity to observe close up. A family member is still a member, much to my consternation. Much like what obvayatel describes, it is impossible to talk about certain subjects in an intelligent, objective way with these folks. It really is like there is a wall around them. The ‘teachings’ are pretty vague and there is a very superstitious quality in the belief system. Like most guru-oriented groups, the followers believe their guru is all that is required to progress spiritually. Devotees consider Amma to have miraculous powers and to be quite unlike normal humans. She encourages people to think that she can hear their thoughts and know what they are doing at all times. The mindset among followers is that they are ‘special’, because they are connected to someone who is an enlightened saint. The people who really get into it wear all white clothing like Amma. The whole approach to life in groups like this one is the opposite of seeking objective knowledge of reality. It is much closer to believing Jesus is going to save you, or your fairy godmother will come take all your icky feelings away. People in groups like this one, who consider their guru to be the means of their spiritual advancement, feel that special energy emmanates from the guru, and that one can receive this energy to their benefit just by getting physically close. So the hug is very significant in that respect. Devotees would consider it a special priveledge, as such, to drink Amma’s bathwater, should they be fortunate enough to get some, because it would be specially charged with her magical energy.

Most of the dark side stuff about the Amma group comes from former devotees’ and inner circle defectors’ reports. The discussion group mentioned in Bronte Baxter’s article at the start of this thread maintains an archive of these first-hand reports, though it takes some time to dig through them. The things she mentions in her article come primarily from this source. None of the inner circles’ doings are common knowledge among the average devotees. The group raises a very substantial amount of money through donations and especially her yearly world tours. When she tours through the US each summer, she has large crowds. People wait in line to get their hug for hours and hours. All the support staff on her tours work long hours for free. They get very little sleep and eat vegetarian meals and plenty of sugar.

One of the things about this which amazes me is how readily some people accept the fantastic notion that Amma is some kind of super-human with absolutely not a shred of objective evidence. It is like a form of group hysteria, with people in a type of trance. I did not like the atmosphere around her at all (my own subjective experience).
 
thevenusian said:
I have had some first-hand experience with this group. Because some people who were/are close to me are involved, I attended some functions some years ago and had opportunity to observe close up. A family member is still a member, much to my consternation. Much like what obvayatel describes, it is impossible to talk about certain subjects in an intelligent, objective way with these folks. It really is like there is a wall around them. The ‘teachings’ are pretty vague and there is a very superstitious quality in the belief system. Like most guru-oriented groups, the followers believe their guru is all that is required to progress spiritually. Devotees consider Amma to have miraculous powers and to be quite unlike normal humans. She encourages people to think that she can hear their thoughts and know what they are doing at all times. The mindset among followers is that they are ‘special’, because they are connected to someone who is an enlightened saint. The people who really get into it wear all white clothing like Amma. The whole approach to life in groups like this one is the opposite of seeking objective knowledge of reality. It is much closer to believing Jesus is going to save you, or your fairy godmother will come take all your icky feelings away. People in groups like this one, who consider their guru to be the means of their spiritual advancement, feel that special energy emmanates from the guru, and that one can receive this energy to their benefit just by getting physically close. So the hug is very significant in that respect. Devotees would consider it a special priveledge, as such, to drink Amma’s bathwater, should they be fortunate enough to get some, because it would be specially charged with her magical energy.

Most of the dark side stuff about the Amma group comes from former devotees’ and inner circle defectors’ reports. The discussion group mentioned in Bronte Baxter’s article at the start of this thread maintains an archive of these first-hand reports, though it takes some time to dig through them. The things she mentions in her article come primarily from this source. None of the inner circles’ doings are common knowledge among the average devotees. The group raises a very substantial amount of money through donations and especially her yearly world tours. When she tours through the US each summer, she has large crowds. People wait in line to get their hug for hours and hours. All the support staff on her tours work long hours for free. They get very little sleep and eat vegetarian meals and plenty of sugar.

One of the things about this which amazes me is how readily some people accept the fantastic notion that Amma is some kind of super-human with absolutely not a shred of objective evidence. It is like a form of group hysteria, with people in a type of trance. I did not like the atmosphere around her at all (my own subjective experience).


I've had people recommend checking her out or finding out where I could be 'hugged' by her, supposedly to help me with health issues. I figure a heart felt hug by my Hubby has more loving kindness in it than one from a total stranger, and a guru to boot. ;D

She reminds me of the spiritual man in the mountains that Ilion went to after he ran away from The City....focusing on returning to an embryonic state of mind instead of growing up and facing the lessons of 3-D life. That's the problem I've always had with Buddhism, and all the other organized faiths.

One of the same people who recommended Amma to me also brought me here to the forum, which is another lesson in honoring free will, osit. ;)
 
thevenusian said:
One of the things about this which amazes me is how readily some people accept the fantastic notion that Amma is some kind of super-human with absolutely not a shred of objective evidence. It is like a form of group hysteria, with people in a type of trance. I did not like the atmosphere around her at all (my own subjective experience).

This is a good video that explains how the cult phenomenon works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJyfqeaKU8&feature=player_embedded
 
Fraud Alert - Amma Has Over $300,000,000 In Foreign Banks!

A blog with remarkable information about corruption and sex scandals regarding this cult

Source: http://amma-taavi-kassila-sex-cover-up.blogspot.com.es/

Sex Abuser Rishi Taavi Kassila Sues Victim He Infected With Herpes
A woman who was sexually abused by Amma monk Rishi Taavi Kassila naively assumed that no harm would come to her if she told the truth. She was wrong. {...}

Fraud Alert - Amma Has Over $300,000,000 In Foreign Banks!

"Hug of Death" cult leader Amma Amritanandamayi is swindling and damaging the poor through her AIMS Hospital and defrauding her gullible neglected devotees. Determined investigators are uncovering a massive fraud!


The following post was just made to another discussion group. It confirms that Amma now has over US $300 million parked in foreign bank accounts. Possibly even more than the $342 million calculated, as these are the 2012 figures!!

"The 2011-12 foreign contribution report (from 4/1/2011 through
3/31/2012) for the Mata Amritanandamayi Math is up now on the FCRA
website:

http://fcraonline.nic.in/fc3_verify.aspx?RCN=052930183R&by=2011-2012

The amount of foreign contributions during this period was 1,191,596,739
Rs. Using the average exchange rate during this period of 48 Rs to 1
US$, this is $24.8 million. Around three-quarters of this was for
"Construction/Running of hospital/dispensary/clinic". After reading up
on the subject, my understanding is that the state of Kerala pays for
care given by Amma's district medical care facilities, while the
government of India pays for the small amount of care given to the poor
at AIMS. Therefore, most of these funds were likely used to purchase
expensive medical equipment or for the construction of more commercial
hospital buildings and infrastructure.

Toward the end of the institutional donor list, bank interest is once
again the largest item. It is 205,169,556 Rs, or $4.27 million for this
year! Bank interest for 2006-7 was $2.17 million (at 45 Rs to 1$ then).
So the amount of bank interest has almost doubled during this five year
period, and the amount on deposits in banks has more than doubled, given
that interest rates have fallen.

I researched the best annual interest rates being paid on bank deposits
these days. For U.S. dollar accounts, it is 1.05%. For euros, it is 1.2%
in Germany and 1.6% in the UK. Dividing the $4.27 million of foreign
interest income by a representative 1.25% rate of interest, gives an
amount on deposit in banks of $342 million!

Can anyone tell me why Amma, who is supposed to be providing so much
humanitarian aid and help to the poor, needs to keep over $300 million
in bank accounts?"
 
It seems like former group-members often tend to present the former group leaders in the worst way possible. While I am also quite sceptical towards Amma, I also know a few intelligent people who seem to find it very helpful.

It does seem like the devotional path is a good way for some people's growth. Just because it is different than what works for some people does not mean that it is not helping others.
 
axj said:
It seems like former group-members often tend to present the former group leaders in the worst way possible.
If you look for any product review on amazon or apartment reviews, you see people write because they are pissed off. Particularly apartment reviews most of the reviews are written by pissed off people. so one have to read between the lines to figure out how bad it is else you will have to live on street. ;)

While I am also quite sceptical towards Amma, I also know a few intelligent people who seem to find it very helpful.

Depends on what "Intelligent" or 'Useful" means. well, she has proven record of deliberately deceiving with standard circuses. Singing does have benefits (through vagus nerve activation) and believing and trusting or dumping the problem on to others has advantage of peacefulness. With out certain benefit ( meaning varies based on many factors) no body gets attracted to these people. so one wants to continue to do this for the placebo effect ?. I think otherwise.

Just because it is different than what works for some people does not mean that it is not helping others.
Having relatives who got bankrupted by these type of people, this is my understanding. what every the help these people give is dependency and short term relief which is extremely counter productive to the life.
 
axj said:
It seems like former group-members often tend to present the former group leaders in the worst way possible. While I am also quite sceptical towards Amma, I also know a few intelligent people who seem to find it very helpful.
Ok.
[quote author=axj]
It does seem like the devotional path is a good way for some people's growth. Just because it is different than what works for some people does not mean that it is not helping others.
[/quote]

People have mostly shared their experiences and findings related to this particular religious leader on this thread. Do you have specific data to share in this context?
 
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