When a Wise Woman Leads: Mata Amritanandamayi –
Non-Hierarchal, Non-Authoritarian Matriarchal Religious Leadership
- by Aikya Param
Amma, who is known as “the hugging saint,” leads a worldwide spiritual organization. She was awarded the Gandhi King Award at the UN conference of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders in October 2002 and recently pledged $23 million for tsunami relief, the largest donation by a single individual in the world. What can we see about the leadership style of this extraordinary woman? Is her leadership non-hierarchal, non-authoritarian and matriarchal?
First, let’s consider whether her leadership is matriarchal. In referring to Amma’s leadership as matriarchal, I rely on a definition suggested by Peggy Reeves Sanday in a paper presented at the 16th conference of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, in Melaka, Malaysia, in July 1998. entitled “Matriarchy as a Sociocultural Form.” In her view of the term matriarchy, matri- refers to mother and –arche refers to “beginning, origin, first principle” In Sanday’s view, “matriarchy is relevant in societies where the cosmological and the social are linked by a primordial founding ancestress, mother goddess, or archetypal queen.” Is there a primordial founding ancestress, mother goddess or archetypal queen in the culture surrounding Amma?
Amma comes from the state of Kerala in India where God has been thought of as Mother for thousands of years. God is in fact called “Amma,” meaning “Mother.” or Bhagavati, a generic word for goddess. Until the mid 20th century also, Kerala was legally a matriliny. Property was owned by women and could only be inherited by one’s daughters. Thus Amma’s home state seems to fit Sanday’s first requirement for matriarchy. Outsde Kerala the matter becomes considerably more murky. Within Amma’s group the idea of a female ancestress or goddess figure could be more familiar to a greater percentage of group members than in the outside community or culture but, even in Amma’s main center in San Ramon, I can’t say that the majority of people come from the tradition in Hinduism where God is viewed as female. My guess is that most Indian members of the group were raised in families of Krishna devotees and the Westerners were raised Christian. So here in the United States, Amma herself would be the founding figure of the family, not quite what Sanday intended.
For the second quality of a matriarchy, Sanday says
To qualify as "matriarchal" such mythical or real figures must embody and articulate first principles which are socially channeled in principles of practical conduct. Thus, …the archetypal qualities of feminine symbols do not exist solely in the symbolic realm but are manifested in social practices that influence the lives of both sexes, not just women. These practices involve women (usually in their roles as mothers) in activities that authenticate and regenerate or, to use a term which is closer to the ethnographic details, that nurture the social order. By this definition, the ethnographic context of matriarchy does not reflect female power over subjectsor female power to subjugate, but female power (in their roles as mothers and senior women) to conjugate-to knit and regenerate social ties in the here-and-now and in the hereafter.
Amma herself personifies the power to conjugate, “to knit and regenerate ties in the here and now” and she is internationally well known for this ability. Most recently, the Sri Lankan government invited Amma to visit their country because of her reputation for bringing unity. Sri Lanka was not only badly affected by the December 26, 2005 tsunami but it has also been torn by fighting between Sinhalese Buddhist and Tamil Hindus and within the Tamil people themselves for more than 25 years. In meeting with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge, Amma pledged to build 300 tsunami-proof homes for the Sinhalese and the Tamils and to start a widow’s pension program like the one she has in Kerala, India. She then held one of her famous hugging sessions in which she hugged 5000 people including 15 members of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam) and 20 members of the Tamil Special Task Force, two groups which have fought bloody battles with each other since 1983. Maheshwari Velayudham, political secretary to Minister Douglas Devananda said, “Amma is the unifying force. Amma is the catalyst. Only Amma can bring all these people together.” Thus Velayudham acknowledges Amma “knitting and regenerating social ties,” one of Reeves Sanday’s stated characteristics of the matriarchy.
Besides her demonstration of unconditional love by hugging people, Amma requires that those who love her serve the community. Within the resulting schools and hospitals, all people are bound by her requirement to serve. People serve those in need regardless of caste. They thus transform longstanding traditional social divisions, personal attitudes and society itself to nurture general welfare. Said Jane Goodall when presenting Amma with the Gandhi-King Award in 2002.
She has comforted with her wonderful hugging, which I experienced yesterday, more than 21 million people—think of it—21 million people. But more than that, she has established a vast network of charitable organizations, ranging from schools and hospitals, and orphanages and building homes for the poor. Too many to mention here….I believe that she stands here in front of us God’s love in a human body
Nor does Amma remain separate from those in need herself. Amma is a “hands-on” leader, literally, as an example to us. In her visit in February to Nagapattinam in the state of Tamil Nadu which was badly affected by the tsunami on December 26, Amma visited individual homes to comfort and console those who had lost so much and also to give help such as tsunami-proof housing, financial support, job training, surgery to reverse female sterilization so that those who had lost children could again give birth, and free medical care, all provided by people in Amma’s organization on a volunteer basis. Linda from Silver City, New Mexico, commented
In addition to Amma's vision, … the other aspect of Her leadership style that has touched my heart very deeply is that She not only leads by example… but She gets in there and gets her hands (and her saree) dirty.
I am reminded of several stories that I know of. One is when she had asked a devotee to feed a cow at the ashram. The devotee didn't think it was that important, put it off, forgot, etc. Finally, Amma went out and began feeding the cow Herself. The devotee was devastated. Mother was doing what he had been asked to do, but what a powerful lesson.
Another example is from an old issue of "Immortal Bliss." There was a picture of Amma standing in the line, all muddy, helping to pass the fresh muddy bricks to build the ashram up the line to the people who were setting them in place.
Amma’s call for her followers to “knit and regenerate ties in the here and now,” to nurture and transform the social order are found in the words of the Omkara Divya Porule, songs whose lyrics are Amma’s words spoken in the previous year. She says Children, give up fighting and strive for harmony among you. Mold the future, chanting the mantra of unity. Unite, children, and dedicate yourselves for the welfare of the world.
Again on the theme of matriarchy, Amma views all people as her children. When hugging, she whispers in the ear “my daughter my daughter” or “my son, my son.” All people call her Amma or Mother, which mean the same thing. The person who loves Amma is left with the suggestion to view all people as his or her siblings. Thus, in their affection for Amma, they join in knitting together all humanity as a family and regenerating themselves as loving people who, wherever they are, give practical help to those who need it.
Due to the absence of a community or society which views God as Mother always surrounding Amma, her leadership cannot fit perfectly with Peggy Reeves Sanday’s definition of matriarchy. In looking at Amma’s leadership style, I was searching for a role model for myself and other women to use today. Successful female leadership in religion or spirituality is seen so infrequently that it has a myth-like, imaginary quality, somewhat like matriarchy, which we also do not know in our western world today. It may be the metaphorical relationship between the two rarities: female spiritual/religious leadership and matriarchy, that drew me to apply matriarchy to Amma’s leadership style more than the exact fit with Sanday’s definition.
Is Amma an authoritarian leader? She is undisputably the leader, but is she the authority figure in the authoritarian sense? Brahmachari Dayamrita, the President of the MA Center, says, “The authority comes because of love and we give her the authority. “
I asked members of the Ammachi Yahoo Group for their thoughts about Amma’ s leadership style. There are about 300 members of the group. They live around the world, although there may be more from the United States. They are not academics or people who ever think about leadership style in relation to Amma. First responses described the person’s close relationship with Amma. This is very much related to Dayamrita’s saying that Amma’ authority comes from love. Each person in Amma’s organization has a very personal, sweet, loving relationship with Amma and, for them, that relationship is the only thing going on. Even as Amma heads up hospitals, schools, home building programs, job training, widow’s pension, and pledges $23 million to tsunami relief, to each person in her organization, there is only the continuing hug of their sweet, innocent childlike relationship with Amma, their spiritual mother. That is the unshakeable source of her authority.
Snehalata from Sissonville, WestVirginia, wrote
First, let me say that I am not sure I had ever considered Amma and leadership in the same thought! …Leadership implies (to me) a give/take situation in which the leader is in it for his/her own benefit as well as for the betterment of those being led. Amma seems to 'lead,' if that can be applied, only in the same sense that the sun 'leads' every living organism. I allow myself to be led in political and intellectual situations, but I turn my face to Amma much as a green thing turns its face to the sun.
Amarnath from Ewing, New Jersey, explains
Basically when Amma hugs someone, She fills them with God's Love. Amma does not expect anything in return. Amma just keeps hugging and hugging and hugging. Depending on the person's receptivity and functionality in the world, it make take anywhere from 1 to 100 hugs or more, but sooner or later that Love begins to overflow in selfless service ~ charitable hospitals, schools of all levels, orphanages, 26,000 homes already built and over 100,000 planned for the homeless, adopting earthquake and tsunami villages, huge tsunami relief, bringing warring factions together in Sri Lanka, etc, etc. Amma teaches by example ~ , serving food to her children, cleaning latrines, carrying heavy stones for construction in early days, consoling earthquake and tsunami victims, etc, etc. Amma's life is Her Message. Love is Her Religion and Silence is the Powerful Language in which it is transmitted ~ therefore ~ it is free of all dogmas which depend on words.
Snehalata again says:
Christianity, as I experienced it, made God's presence on earth something phenomenal and rare. Moses was granted a vision of God on earth, as were a few select others, but I did not have the feeling that God was among us and available to each of us in the 'here and now.' It seems that being a devotee of Mother's, I have come to understand that the Divine is inseparable from our own breath and closer than our own heart beats - and the issue of Hell is off the table. I've also found a home for my heart in Amma's love for every being. She doesn't turn anyone away because they look, think, or believe differently; …Divine love doesn't strike fear or show partiality; living grace given without strings in the silence and sanctity of an embrace says it all.
Sarama from Seltjarnarnes, Iceland tells one incident that shows Amma’s unconditional love for all people, regardless of appearance:
I have seen Amma take and hug a smelly, disheveled homeless alcoholic from just off the street, that no one else wanted to be near. Amma accepts anyone who comes to Her…
Yet Amma does not demand recognition as the authority. The authority is something that others recognize in Amma rather than what she demands for herself. As Br. Dayamrita says. “It’s not that she is emphasizing that “’See, I am the CEO here.’ …If there is a person who doesn’t believe in Her, She doesn’t say anything. It doesn’t make a difference.” Also, Amma constantly works with people who do not believe in her. Recently, she was working with the democratically elected Marxist government of the state of Kerala to urge faster action by them so that her group could more quickly build permanent homes for people who lost their homes in the tsunami.
Regarding Amma’s wielding of authority, Br. Dayamritta says,
Most (other) situations that we are in are like work. If we make a mistake, we are either fired, or we are given a punishment, and our job is changed. They put you in a different place or something like that, but Amma does nothing like that. She knows that we make mistakes and, even if we make mistakes, she corrects us lovingly and says, “Don’t repeat it again.” There were many times I experienced that.
Sometimes we do things without asking Amma. Unless it’s a big, big major mistake, she doesn’t even care about it. But a (lead) person in an ordinary (authoritarian) situation would have been so upset if we do something without asking them. They are supposed o be the authoritative figure. They get so distressed at a small thing that we must have done without asking them. Here, Amma doesn’t care. I’ve done so many things, many times without asking Amma and she doesn’t get upset.
Is Amma’s leadership style non-hierarchical? It looks like there is a hierarchy. For instance, Brahmachari Dayamrita is President of the M.A. Center, Amma’s main center in the U.S. Br. Dayamrita commented that there was no one to enforce a hierarchy and also that every person has direct access to Amma.
Again, Sarama from Seltjarnarnes, Iceland confirms this when she says
Amma, as Chairman and President and CEO, has an open door policy, so to say. Anyone with patience can get in line and have darshan with Her, and say anything they want to Her.....whether that is a complaint about someone in Her organization, or the way things are running, or give a suggestion, or talk about a personal matter. Of course, one never knows how She will reply/ One does not need to call a secretary and make an appointment to see Amma. I know of no other large organization that runs like this.
Br. Dayamrita agreed that there was less top down leadership and much more participatory leadership happening in Amma’s organization than is usual in spiritual or religious groups.
Could Amma be considered a laissez-faire leader? Shyam from Austin, Texas addressed this issue, saying:
My experience is that Amma actually micromanages; she is not so laissez-faire. e.g. she often approves all the web pages individually, the menus for the meals, what company we go to for bids for something ... My company was trying to sell computers to AIMS [Amma’s free or low cost hospital in Cochin], and the person there couldn't make a decision without asking Amma, who was in the US at the time.
It can seem to the visitor coming for the first time to see Amma that there are no rules especially since she accepts and hugs everyone. Indeed, people with many differing lifestyles are welcomed into local community gatherings, called satsangs. It can seem as though people have nothing in common other than attraction to Amma. Part of this perception is the common Christian background of most of Amma’s U.S. followers and their memory of the Ten Commandments, a simple rendering of the moral code. In the Hindu tradition, however, morals and ethics are often presented in story form and engage the listener in reflection about what is the right course of conduct in a particular situation. While the classics of Ramayana, Mahabharata and stories of the great gurus and saints are still available to any who would look, Amma’s organization has produced many volumes of stories about Amma and people’s adventures with her as their spiritual guide. These offer real life stories that show Amma’s idea of what is good and her spiritual wisdom. The nine volume Awaken, Children set is exemplar and very popular.
Amma is a transformational leader, par excellence. In 1978 James McGregor Burns coined the term to describe leaders whose interaction with others raises everyone involved to higher levels of motivation and morality. The key element in transformational leadership is the relation between the leader and followers. As shown above, Amma’s authority rests on the personal love each person receives from her and feels toward her. This fits Bernard Bass (1985) component of charisma. where the transformational leader arouses emotions in followers such that they feel a strong identification with her. A transformational leader inspires by communicating high ideals.
Sarama gives these examples both of high ideas and of Amma’s inspiring by modeling what she wants from her followers:
Amma strictly adheres to a moral code of behavior following not harming others, truth, honesty, purity, non- wastefulness of resources, etc .....basically following Yama and Niyama . She expects Her followers wearing the yellow or orange cloth to follow this code to the best of their ability.
Yama and Niyama here refers to the basic ethical code of yoga, the “do’s” and “don’t’s.” Amma’s followers wearing the yellow and orange are the monastics.
Amma gives people responsibility and lets them thrive fulfilling it, thus promoting in her followers personal responsibility, growth and the ability to be creative problem solvers. For instance, Amma placed a young monk who had only a high school education, then known as Brahmachari Divyamrita, in charge of constructing her state-of- the-art hospital in Ernakulum, a task he accomplished with great success. Power over others is not required because power distributed among many is stronger and more vital.
In her speech accepting the Gandhi King Award, Amma called for the reawakening of Universal Motherhood, which is an apt way to view her leadership style. She herself tells us
The essence of motherhood is not restricted to women who have given birth; it is a principle inherent in both women and men. It is an attitude of the mind. It is love—and that love is the very breath of life. No one would say, “I will breathe only when I am with my family and friends; I won’t breathe in front of my enemies.” Similarly, for those in whom motherhood has awakened, love and compassion for everyone are as much part of their being as breathing.
Amma feels that the upcoming age should be dedicated to re-awakening the healing power of motherhood. This is the only way to realize our dream of peace and harmony for all.
Endnotes
Peggy Reeves Sanday, “Matriarchy as a Sociocultural form: An Old Debate in a New Light.” Presentation at the 16th congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Melaka, Malaysia. 1-7 July 1998.
< http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~psanday/matri.html>
Kannadi, ‘Amma Gives Aid to Sri Lanka,” Amma.org, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 18 February 2005 <http://www.amma.org/humanitarian-activities/gt-involved/tsunami-update-feb18>
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. The Awakening of Universal Motherhood.
(Amritapuri, Kollam Dtt, Kerala, India, Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, 2003) 20
Linda Talbott in an email to the author, 2 March 2005.
“Omkara Divya Porule X,” Bhajanamrita;: Devotional Songs of Mata Amritanandamayi. Vol. 3. (San Ramon, California: Mata Amritanandamayi Center, 1997) 141-151
Brahmachari Dayamrita Chaitanya. Personal Interview. 26 February 2005
Amarnath, email to the author, 28 February 2005.
Snehalata, email to the author, 1 March 2005.
Sarama, email to the author, 3 March 2005.
Dayamrita 26 February 2005.
Dayamrita 26 February 2005.
Shyam, email to the author, 2 March 2005.
Sarama, email to the author, 3 March 2005.
Swami Purnamitananda Puri, “The Miracle of AIMS and the Immortal Idea of Service.” Mantruvani April 1999: 27-31 referring to Brahmachari Divyamrita, says “We may marvel at how a certain accomplishment became possible. Mother entrusted the entire responsibility for the construction of the AIMS hospital building to a Brahmachari who had only a high school education and whom She had saved from heart disease. “
That was Br. Divyamrita who was in charge of construction is shown by his photograph and caption illustrating an article by Dr. Prem Nair. The photograph and caption appear in Immortal Bliss 3rd Quarter 1998: 27.
Mata Amritananda Devi, 2003. 60-61.