Duel of the Divine Mothers

Mata Amritanandamayi vs. Karunamayi

Namaste. Mike Brooker (a.k.a. Keval) here. Yes the guy with the kewl home page, DX page, India page, Sanskrit page, and Guru's gallery. The following is my comparison of the experience of Mata Amritanandamayi and Karunamayi, two female gurus who are revered as avatars (incarnations) of the Divine Mother. Over the years since 1998 I have experienced both of them, and for those interested in "guru shopping" or in an experience of the Divine Mother's shakti, I present my observations.

I would like to emphasize that this is an unofficial personal page of a devotee of the Divine Mother in Her various forms. The views expressed herein are my own, and not those of the ashrams, organizations, etc. officially associated with either Mata Amritanandamayi or Karunamayi. Please visit their official Websites, by clicking on the links in the previous paragraph.

How are Mata Amritanandamayi and Karunamayi similar?

Both are from the south of India; Mata Amritanandamayi is from Kerala and Karunamayi is a native of Andhra Pradesh.
Both are the patrons of orphanages and other charitable projects in India, and with generous contributions from Western devotees have built hospitals in their home states: Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), and Sri Karunamayi Free Hospital.
Both are affectionately called "Amma", literally "mother" in Malayalam and Tamil, by their devotees. Mata Amritandamayi is also known as "Ammachi" (cf. "Mataji"; the "-chi" suffix is a term of endearment, like "-ji" in Sanskrit and Hindi).
Neither had a guru of her own. Both were born enlightened and exhibited manifestations of their divinity even as little girls.
Their teachings stress the value of raja yoga (meditation), bhakti yoga (devotion to God) and karma yoga (seva or selfless service). You aren't likely to see either of them on a mat doing hatha yoga postures. As divine avatars, they don't have to purify their bodies through yoga asanas in order to resolve past karmas or advance towards an enlightened state. Unlike you or me. Well, me anyway :-)
Both spent many years in solitude doing sadhana (spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation) and tapas (austerities or asceticism). Karunamayi spent ten years meditating in a forest "on behalf of humanity". Ammachi was rejected by her family, who couldn't understand or accept their daughter's God-intoxication, and kicked out of the house. As a young girl, Ammachi wandered through the beaches of Kerala, "the sand was her bed, the stars her blanket and the moon her only light".
They are viewed by their devotees as loving, compassionate mothers, unlike the paternalistic father figure of a traditional guru-disciple relationship.
And of course, they are both examples of the Divine Mother's unconditional love. Be in their presence and you will feel loved, perhaps even loved in a way that you never experienced from your biological mother!

Mata Amritanandamayi in her "Devi Bhava" garb. For her Devi Bhava darshans, she dons a brightly coloured sari and a crown in order to manifest the mood ("bhava") of the Divine Mother and more closely resemble the traditional form of Durga.

How do they differ?

As an incarnation of Saraswati, Karunamayi speaks fluent English and knows many languages. Although sending an incarnation of Saraswati to school is like selling snow to Eskimos, Karunamayi completed high school and one year of college. Even by Indian standards, Ammachi received very little formal education - she dropped out of school in 4th grade - and speaks only Malayalam (although she likely has some command of English, having spent so much time in the U.S.A.). Bryant College, the site of Ammachi's annual Rhode Island retreat (until 2004, when the retreat moved to suburban Boston), should have awarded her an honorary degree when they had the chance!
Shortly after the Dec. 2004 tsunami, Ammachi announced that her organization would be raising a billion rupees (some 23 million US bucks) for relief. Karunamayi's organization can't quite match this, but then her home base wasn't hit by the tsunami. Ammachi's Kerala ashram suffered some water damage, but no one in the ashram was injured or killed -- Ammachi herself personally directed the evacuation!
The main difference is in the shakti that they radiate. Ammachi hugs every devotee who approaches her. Karunamayi usually doesn't hug her devotees, but transmits her love and blessings in a more conventional fashion, such as by saying "I love you, my babies" (Karunamayi tends to call all of her devotees "babies", regardless of age!). While Karunamayi embodies the gentle, loving shakti of Saraswati, Ammachi radiates more of the raw power, strength, and high-intensity shakti of Kali or Durga. She can push some buttons in her devotees, and bring out some intense emotions, childhood traumas, and other stuff. A few days with Ammachi may turn out to be a wild ride on Durga's tiger.
To really appreciate the difference, listen to both of them chanting bhajans (devotional songs). Real Audio samples of their bhajans are available on both their websites. As might be expected from an incarnation of Saraswati, Karunamayi has a beautiful, sweet voice. She sounds a bit like the famous Bollywood singer, Lata Mangeshkar. Karunamayi's bhajans are also high on "bliss-out" value. If you're listening to her chant the Gayatri or Saraswati mantra in the car, it may be a good idea to pull over or park somewhere! Ammachi's bhajans are intense, high-octane experiences. Sometimes she doesn't even sing - one of her swamis plays the harmonium and leads the chant - but just calls out "Ma! Ma! Ma" or "Krishna! Krishna!" as if in a shakti-induced trance. Ammachi and her devotees take the prize for the sheer number of bhajans that they have recorded - at The Amma Shop you can get hundreds of tapes and CDs of Ammachi's bhajans in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, and even some in English - both original compositions by U.S. devotees and translations of Indian-language bhajans. A simple Hindi bhajan, Ishvar Tumhi Daya Karo, has been translated and sung by Ammachi in literally hundreds of languages -- no Klingon version yet, but they're working on it! :)

Karunamayi is revered as an incarnation of Saraswati, the goddess of music, speech, language and learning. Listen to her speak or chant bhajans and you will know why!

So who's "better"?

Their shakti is much different, but the Divine Mother's love is the same. They're both great!!! If possible, you should try to experience both of them. Karunamayi may be more accessible than Ammachi. Karunamayi's North American tour takes her to more places than Ammachi, including a stop in Toronto. Ammachi came to Vancouver in 1989 or '90, but for many years since then she never returned to visit Canada (Until July 2004, that is! -- click here or scroll down a bit!!). Karunamayi has fewer devotees than Ammachi, at least in North America, so her public programs and darshans are not mob scenes. Ammachi, on the other hand, has literally tens of thousands of devotees in the west, and millions more in India. Wherever she goes, the place is packed to the rafters and she keeps you waiting for hours for a 20-second hug. But it's worth the wait :-) Everyone should have the experience of being hugged by Ammachi.

2001 - a Chicago odyssey:

CTA visitor pass Once again, Toronto was not on Karunamayi's 2001 North American tour schedule. (She didn't come here in 2000 either!) But when I checked her schedule on the web and found that Karunamayi's Chicago programs would be easily accessible on the Chicago Transit Authority, I decided to go for it! I've always enjoyed visiting Chicago, but this time I didn't come to see the Blue Jays take on the Chisox. One the evening of June 25, I took in Karunamayi's love, blessings and sweetness at the Unity Church on the North Side. Quite an intimate gathering -- there couldn't have been more than 150 people. (Had it been Ammachi, the darshan line would have stretched to Kenosha, Wisconsin). The next morning, June 26, Karunamayi presided over a Homa (Vedic fire ceremony) on the Lake Michigan shore at the Northwestern University campus. There were some astrological reasons for doing this particular Homa -- to counter the bad influences of Jupiter, so I was told, though I don't put much faith in astrology. Nonetheless, the Homa was so powerful that it might even send Northwestern's football team back to the Rose Bowl. But I couldn't stay for the whole thing, as I had to catch the El to Addison Ave., for an afternoon Cubs game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs beat the Mets 4-2, thanks to Karunamayi's grace! Another blessing from Amma: the weather was perfect -- what Ernie Banks had in mind when he said "Let's play two!" After the game, I got back on the El to the Unity Church to receive Karunamayi's blessings. As I knelt in front of her, she gently stroked my head, like you would pat a kitten, and said "I love you so much...you're so sweet". OK, so it wasn't an Ammachi bear hug, but it felt just as nurturing. She gave me a small packet of vibhuti (holy ashes, from a homa ceremony in India) that (so I'm told) she charged with energy specific for my needs and a yantra (a geometric representation of the Divine Mother) that she also personally blessed. You can spend a few minutes one-on-one with Karunamayi for individual blessings or personal sharings. No way you could do this during Ammachi's U.S. tour, even if you speak Malayalam.

If you're planning to visit Chicago, I would recommend getting a CTA Visitor Pass. All the bus and El rides you can take in 3 days for only $12. However, when Ammachi came to Chicago a couple weeks later, her darshans were held in Lisle, IL -- a long way from the Loop and impossible to reach by public transit!

Less than two weeks after getting Karunamayi's blessings in Chicago, I was off to New York and Rhode Island for Ammachi's hug-fest. Her New York program, at a Columbia University auditorium named after the creator of Monday Night Football (Roone Arledge), was a media circus: interviews on CNN and NBC's Today Show, journalists from the leading print media, and camera crews from the major networks. Sometimes it was hard to separate the sincere devotees from the guru groupies, curiosity seekers, and papparazzi -- not that Ammachi would make these distinctions, of course! She would have given interviews and hugs to Howard Stern and Don Imus, had they approached her. Where once Ammachi was known only in New Age circles, or only among fans of Eastern spirituality, she has now become mainstream thanks to the recent mass media exposure. Your average Joe Six-Pack or Sally Soccermom may not have experienced Ammachi's hugs, but would probably now be aware of "the hugging saint" or "that Indian woman who hugs everyone".

2003 - from the Buckeye State to the "Bronx Zoo":

Minor league baseball is great -- only $6.50 for a box seat! The Jays creamed the Yankees 8-0 with Ammachi's blessings!

I think I can give up on seeing Karunamayi in Toronto again. Not this year, not since 1999. But I jumped on the opportunity to be in Columbus, Ohio for a Homa and meditation retreat with Karunamayi over the 4th of July weekend. A new minor league ballpark, a new state capitol and a new Big Ten campus to visit. I did get to the ball game of course, but because of the 4th of July holiday, the Ohio state legislature wasn't in session, and the Ohio State University campus was closed. The Homa on July 3 was held in the backyard of a devotee's home in the north end of Columbus. It was another powerful ceremony, like the 2001 Homa in Chicago, with plenty of good shakti wafting over the Olentangy and Scioto rivers, perhaps even helping the Buckeyes defend their 2002 college football national championship, but this time I could stay until the end - the Clippers game was at night! The Clippers (Yankees triple-A farm team) won by a football-like 14-10 score. After the game there was a humungous fireworks display "Red White and Boom!" to celebrate U.S. Independence Day, the 200th anniversary of Ohio's statehood, and (for me at least!) the divine presence of Mother Saraswati in the Buckeye State. Karunamayi's meditation retreat was a very special opportunity to meditate silently in the Divine Mother's presence, sing along with Saraswati, and learn about the Gayatri Mantra direct from the horse's mouth - if you can refer to Saraswati as a horse :-) She taught us all about the 24 bijaksharas or seed letters of the Gayatri Mantra that tap into 24 cosmic energies and stimulate all the chakras. Like all of Karunamayi's programs, this meditation retreat was a very small and intimate gathering of not more than 100 people. I wish Ammachi's programs could be this small - not for Karunamayi to have as many devotees as Ammachi!

Later in July, I was on the road again to be with the Keralan Hug-meister in NYC, Danvers, MA (greater Boston) and the traditional Bryant College retreat. Ammachi's New York hug-in was moved from Columbia, to the Manhattan Center, on 34th street in Midtown - kitty-corner from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden, and adjoining the New Yorker Hotel, where a special dirt-cheap rate ($89 for a single room - definitely "dirt-cheap" for Manhattan!) was offered to Ammachi's devotees. For the first time in my many visits to NYC, I didn't stay at the YMCA, Columbia University residence, or some other low-budget accommodation. In past years Ammachi's New York programs were scheduled during the All-Star break week, so I couldn't catch a Yankees or Mets game. But for 2003, not only would the Yankees be in town during Ammachi's program, they would be hosting the Blue Jays at the Bronx Zoo (a.k.a. Yankee Stadium)! I was expecting the Jays to lose big, but with Ammachi's blessings they shut out the Pin-stripers 8-0, though the game was called after 7½ innings because of rain. After the game, I hopped the subway and joined Amma's Devi Bhava, already in progress (and continuing until well into the morning). "Amma Nation" just keeps on growing - even if she had to share the Manhattan Center with a Goo Goo Dolls concert! More devotees, more media exposure, and more hugs to dish out. Like the Energizer Bunny, Ammachi keeps going, and going, and going!

July 26-29, 2004 - Ammachi visits Toronto!

Red Ensign

In days of yore
From Kerala’s shore,
Amma the divine mother came
And planted firm her love and hugs on Canada’s fair domain.
Here may she reign
Our boast, our pride
And joined in love together
Shaivas, Shaktas, Vaishnavs entwine
Amriteshvari forever.
Amriteshvari, our mother dear
Amriteshvari forever
Jai Shakti Ma and heaven bless
Amriteshvari forever.

And with that revised version of The Maple Leaf Forever (read original 1867 lyrics and listen to MIDI rendition here) I welcomed Ammachi to Toronto. Or to be more precise, Mississauga, ON in the (905) wasteland known as the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Getting Amma to visit the country on the other side of the 49th parallel, Rainy River, Sault Ste. Marie Canal, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Niagara River, St. Lawrence Seaway, or 1842 Webster-Ashburton treaty line had been a long-time dream of all of her Canadian devotees and the Amma Foundation of Canada, and in the summer of '04, it finally happened!

The Toronto public programs were humungous! Easily the biggest crowds of the North American tour - some 7500 hugs dished out during the Devi Bhava! You would almost have to have been living under a rock not to know that Ammachi was in town! She was front page news in the Toronto Star ("Thousands turn out for Hugging Saint"), the free trashy tabloid 24 Hours ("Hugging Saint to embrace the GTA"), and was also featured in NOW, Toronto's über-leftist rag ("When the saint comes hugging in"). She was an item on the local TV newscasts, and on the CBC national news as well. Unfortunately, no darshan with Don Cherry :0 Nonetheless Amma's Toronto visit was almost as much of a media circus as in New York. Best of all, it's now an annual event, as Amma's Toronto retreat has now become a major stop on her North American summer tour. Now that's worth raising the Red Ensign for! As of 2008, I am still waiting for Don Cherry's darshan with Amma. Our fearless leader Stephen Harper going for Amma's darshan is also in the "when pigs can fly" category. But a Liberal backbencher, Ruby Dhalla (Brampton-Springdale) has come to Amma's programs. Not a mover and shaker in Canada's House of Commons, but a member of Parliament nonetheless!

2005 - New York and Metro North

Homa with Karunamayi - White Plains, NY

Keeping up the tradition of being with Karunamayi in the odd years, in May 2005 I experienced her sweet "I love you, babies!" love and blessings in New York City, along with a Red Sox v. Yankees game at the Bronx Zoo. Next to the Skydome...ERRRRR! Rogers Centre...Yankee Stadium seems to the the ballpark I visit most often! Homas with Karunamayi are always a powerful experience, and this year was no exception. This Homa was held at a deovtee's house in White Plains, NY on the Metro North line. Thanks to Karunamayi, I can add another commuter railroad to my list of public transit rides! But if you are flying Toronto to New York, do not go via CanJet! The air fare was a lot cheaper than Air Canada or American Airlines, but you get what you pay for! My flight to LaGuardia was delayed for almost three hours with no explanation from CanJet given other than a "maintenance problem", and I missed a good part of Karunamayi's public program.

2006 - RCMP, CSIS and DHS nix Karunamayi's Toronto visit?

Karunamayi had scheduled a visit to Toronto during her 2006 tour. It would have been her first visit to these parts since 1999. But the program was canceled, with no apparent reason given. I was willing to bet that the cancellation was due to border security issues, i.e. one of her tour staff, swamis or even Karunamayi herself was denied a visa to enter Canada for some reason (could be anything from an unpaid parking ticket to a narcotics conviction) or no reason at all other than the post-9/11 whims of the Mounties, CSIS and Dept. of Homeland Security. But shortly after the Toronto visit was to have happened, a date in Vancouver was added to Karunamayi's tour schedule. So the border security or immigration issues must have been resolved, if that was indeed the case. Another possibility is that the people responsible for organizing Karunamayi's Toronto program dropped the ball big-time, failed to adequately publicize the event, or had the Unitarian church venue they secured suddenly yanked.

June 2008 - Karunamayi returns to Toronto!!

Karunamayi in Toronto

On June 14 and 15, 2008 the immigration snafu's or whatever it was that nixed her planned '06 tour stop were resolved and Karunamayi returned to the greater Toronto area, for two public programs at the Ganesh Temple in Richmond Hill. Unfortunately the homa that had been scheduled for Sunday, June 15 was cancelled. No reason given, but surely it couldn't have been for lack of a suitable fire pit or permission from the local fire department, as they were in a Hindu temple where they do homas and yagnas almost daily! And I was way too old to receive Saraswati mantra initiation, which Karunamayi only gives to kids and university students. Nonetheless, I did get to hear her usual "I love you sweet children, millions, billions and gazillions of times" spiel, sing along with her bhajans, not to mention getting good hit of shakti, certainly enough to last for another year. Hopefully Karunamayi will return here next year, and to hell with the prissy grade-school grammarians who don't like my use of the word "hopefully" in this sentence :) For me it was a double whammy! Two Amma's in less than a week. I had just returned from a totally awesome visit to the Bay Area from June 5 to 11th. Not only did I get Ammachi's darshan at her main U.S. ashram, the MA Center in San Ramon, CA, but I also hung out in Berkeley and San Francisco (which I last visited with my mom and dad as a little flower child in the summer of 1968!), visited Alcatraz (unfortunately Al Capone or the Birdman never had a chance to experience Amma's love!), and of course got to an Oakland Athletics game! A new ballpark in a new city, as I watched the A's take on the Yankees (Yankees won 3-1).

My pictures of Karunamayi's program
More pics from Toronto on Karunamayi's web page

July 2008 - Amma visits her new home in Canada!

Amma Centre of Canada

In addition to Amritapuri, Amma's main ashram in Kerala, and her U.S. home in San Ramon, the Amma organization maintains a number of centres around the world: New Mexico, Michigan, Australia, Japan. During her Toronto program in 2006 Amma gave her blessing for the Amma Foundation of Canada to purchase a property in the Toronto area. in April 2008 the AFC took possession of a former farm in Halton Hills, ON. After much seva to get the facility repainted, repaired and generally fixed up for regular use, it was formally opened over the Victoria Day long weekend. On July 19, 2008 - the evening before her Toronto public programs and retreat - Amma briefly visited her new Canadian ashram. For those Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec satsang members who had the privelege of being with Amma during her visit to the Amma Centre of Canada's ashram, this was indeed a special experience in a very intimate setting, quite unlike the humungous mobs of her public programs. It must have felt like Amma's inaugural 1987 U.S. tour, before she became a big-time guru/celebrity, back in the day when she did satsangs at devotees' homes.

My pictures of Amma's Canadian ashram (including a couple bootleg pics of Amma!)

September 11, 2001

U.S. flag Below are Mata Amritanandamayi's and Karunamayi's messages of prayer and condolences, following the 21st century's Day of Infamy.

Ammachi:

Amma's Message to Her Children Concerning the Tragedies in America
When some people act indiscriminately, countless innocent people suffer. Amma is extremely pained to hear that many of Her American children are suffering. Amma is praying for them. After Amma heard the news (8:00 p.m. Indian time/10:30 a.m. New York time), Amma waited anxiously without food or sleep until daybreak to hear the latest updates on the situation.

If only people would ponder deeply about the plight of those who were trapped in those burning buildings - the distress they suffered, their desperate cries for help, and the intense panic that even caused some of them to jump out of the windows - no one would ever commit such an atrocity again.

My children, let us all pray for the peace of the departed souls and the quick recovery of those who were injured, and for the welfare of all beings in the world.

Karunamayi:

Jai Karunamayi!
My dear children, the embodiment of Divine souls, my abundant love to all of you and sincere heartfelt condolences to those families who have lost their innocent kith and kin in the most man-made disastrous event of the country.

This event shows how a small sprout of hatred in the heart of a human being, which should be an abode of Divinity, can collapse the world into ashes in a few seconds.

My dear children! Today, we are in need of upliftment of human values, which is true religion. With unbarred humane outlook, through love and compassion, one can soften his heart and purify himself. Let your hearts be wide open with pure love and universal brotherhood. May the human hearts be with rich principles of unity, peace, integrity and equanimity. My blessings are always there to those who have suffered from the disaster and others who have escaped it. Let the latter spend at least a part of their time in practicing Dharma which alone helps them realize the Truth leading to universal peace.

With Love
Yours Amma

e-mail me: aum108@idirect.com Sorry for the inconvenience of having to manually copy or cut & paste the address. I've removed the <mailto > HTML tags to stay one step ahead of spammers' scavenger bots. Bottom-feeding scumbag spam-meisters will be larted (reported to the ISP believed reponsible for sending or relaying the spam) in the hope of having their accounts terminated under the ISP's acceptable use policy - assuming the ISP has one; interbusiness.it, tiscali.co.uk, Hanaro, Chinanet and many others simply don't give a rat's arse!