Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Library

Reflections of Amma :

by Lucia, Amanda J., Published by : University of California Press, (Berkeley :) Physical details: xv, 304 p. ISBN:9780520281141 (paperback); 0520281144 (paperback); 0520281136 (hardback); 9780520281134 (hardback). Year: 2014
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Library
Available OCHS15030125

Originally presented as the author's dissertation (Ph. D.--University of Chicago, 2010).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-293) and index.

Machine generated contents note: List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Language -- INTRODUCTION -- Situating Amma as Female Guru in the Context of American Multiculturalism -- ONE -- A Darshan Embrace: Experiencing Authenticity and Feeling Recognition -- TWO -- Devi Bhava: Revelation and Performance of the Guru as Goddess -- THREE -- The Avatar-Guru and Ordinary Women: the Boundaries of Mimetic Behavioral Models -- FOUR -- Culturally-Situated Testimonies: Differing Interpretations of the Role of the Goddess -- FIVE -- Congregational Dynamics: Growing Pains En Route from the Particular to the Universal -- CONCLUSION -- Multiculturalism, Universalism, and Communal Identity: the Guru in the American Diaspora -- APPENDIX I: -- Current Literature Engaging the Field of Contemporary Gurus -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX.

"Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) is the face of religion in the a new global age. Born in 1953 to a low-caste family in a southern Indian fishing village, she has catapulted to international prominence in recent decades through her travels, humanitarian programs, and the ever-increasing explosion of new centers in and outside of India, including the US, Canada, Europe, East Asia, Africa, and South America. Today 8-10 million people around the world identify as Amma devotees. Known throughout the world as the "hugging saint," she is famous for her elaborate darshan ceremonies, where as many as 50,000 people are embraced by the guru one at a time -- an event that can take up to three days and nights nonstop. This book is an in-depth examination of the Amma phenomenon and her American devotees. Amanda J. Huffer suggests that standard dichotomies within American religious studies are being broken down as notions of self and other, Asia and the West, goddess and human, become unsettled by way of Amma's highly performative darshan events. Huffer argues that an unprecedented egalitarian impulse is taking shape within the community, one that challenges long-held interpretations of Hindu religiosity and goddess worship. Through an in-depth ethnographic encounter with Amma devotees, she skillfully examines the new face of this fast-growing global religious movement"--

"Globally known as Amma, meaning Mother, Mata Amritanandamayi has developed a massive transnational humanitarian organization based in hugs. She is familiar to millions as the "hugging saint," a moniker that derives from her elaborate darshan programs wherein nearly every day 10,000 people are embraced by the guru one at a time, events that routinely last 10-20 hours without any rest for her. Although she was born in 1953 as a low caste girl in a southern Indian fishing village, today millions revere her as guru and goddess, a living embodiment of the divine on earth. Reflections of Amma focuses on communities of Amma's devotees in the United States, showing how they endeavor to mirror their guru's behaviors and transform themselves to emulate the ethos of the movement. This study argues that "inheritors" and "adopters" of Hindu traditions differently interpret Hindu goddesses, Amma, and her relation to feminism and women's empowerment because of their inherited religious, cultural, and political dispositions. In this insightful ethnographic analysis, Lucia discovers how the politics of American multiculturalism reifies these cultural differences in "de facto congregations," despite the fact that Amma's embrace attempts to erase communal boundaries in favor of global unity"--