‘Where There is True Love, Anything is Effortless’: Mata Amritanandamayi: Divine Mother and Religious Entrepreneur

Abstract

This chapter traces the story of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (also known as Amma), one of the few female gurus to have fully emerged on the global spiritual scene. Amma (b. 1953) founded her movement in 1981, and still leads Embrace the World (ETW) , a spiritual movement and humanitarian NGO that advocates selfless love and compassion toward all beings . Through her darshan embraces and Devi bhavas, the guru transcends boundaries of purity and pollution, and traditional inter-gendered relations, and makes visible the ‘divine feminine .’ However, Amma embodies a femininity that is strongly desexualized , and oriented toward metaphorical motherhood. After a brief look at her history and hagiography , the chapter presents Amma ’s charisma as integral to the founding, upkeep, and legitimization of her movement, and bhakti as the primary avenue of religious expression and community building in her group (both on- and offline). As the powerful leader-founder of a global organization, Amma has become sort of a ‘feminist icon.’ She has cultivated a leadership style that seems deliberately soft, caring, and traditionally feminine . At the same time, her persona and movement are sometimes controversial, and her success as a religious entrepreneur seems to rely on a shrewd understanding of human psychology, and a keen business sense. Embrace the World functions much like any multinational company, with accomplished branding—and PR efforts, and a strong online presence.