Amma’s life is her message. In other words, Amma does not teach anything that she herself does not practice. Living from moment to moment in a constant state of supreme happiness, Amma warmly embraces thousands of people day after day, wiping their tears, giving them guidance and offering solace to all who come to her. Amma recommends the path of selfless-service through the example of her own life.
Amma says, “The beauty and charm of selfless love and service should not die away from the face of the earth. The world should know that a life of dedication is possible, that a life inspired by love and service to humanity is possible.
(Meditation and studying the scriptures are like two sides of a coin. The engraving on that coin is selfless service, and that is what gives it its real value. Our compassion and acts of selflessness take us to the deeper truths. Through selfless action we can eradicate the ego that conceals the Self. Detached, selfless action leads to liberation. Such action is not just work; it is karma yoga.”
Amma always points out that the purpose of one’s life is to realize who we really are. She says, “By realizing our own Self we become full, with nothing more to gain in life. Life becomes perfect.”
To attain this goal, Amma says that no particular path or spiritual practice can be recommended for all. “Just as a doctor gives different dosages or even different medications to patients with the same ailment according to their constitution, so does a Spiritual Master prescribe different methods to different people to reach the same goal. Spirituality is the practical science of life. Apart from taking us to the ultimate goal of Self-realization it also teaches us the nature of the world, and how to understand life and live fully in the best way possible.”
However, Amma says that the path of devotion and selfless-service is the safest and most conducive path for many people.)
For nearly 20 years, Amma has been a regular keynote speaker at international forums concerned with world peace and religious harmony. In 1993, the Parliament of the World’s Religions Centennial named her President of the Hindu faith. She addressed the United Nations’ Millennium World Peace Summit, and was presented with the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Nonviolence by UN Messenger for Peace Dr. Jane Goodall and the late UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In 2006, Amma, along with 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei and actor/humanitarian Richard Gere, was presented with the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award by the Interfaith Center of New York for her role as an outstanding spiritual leader and humanitarian. While presenting the award, Reverend James Parks Morton said of Amma, “You embody everything that we stand for.” In 2010, the State University of New York at Buffalo presented Amma with an honorary doctorate in humane letters in recognition of her tireless efforts on behalf of world peace, as well as her com- mitment to education and to relieving poverty worldwide.
At each of these forums, Amma has taken the opportunity to share her vision of the way humanity can traverse the difficult road ahead — navigating from interreligious discord to harmony; from terrorism to peace; from competition between the sexes to mutual trust and co-operation; from war between nations to a collective war on poverty, and from environmental chaos to the restoration of nature’s balance. Amma’s observations invite each of us to reflect deeply and to get involved in the process of rebuilding a concerned and caring society.
Taken together, Amma’s speeches form a prescription for a humanity in crisis, addressing each of the most pressing issues of our time with clear, practical recommendations for positive change.
Read more:
Awakening Universal Motherhood – Speech at UN Geneva 2002
Understanding and Collaboration Amongst Religions: Address at Parliament of religions 2004
Compassion: the only way to peace: Accceptence speech, James Park Mortan award 2006
Cultivating Strength and Vitality: Inauguration of Vivekanda center 2010