North America tour
Embracing the World — 2026 darshan tour
Twenty-two cities, free public programs every evening. Register your city so volunteers can plan the queue and the prasad.
Cities confirmed15 of 22
The hugging saint — compassion in action
Amma
Mata Amritanandamayi
Mata Amritanandamayi has embraced more than 40 million people. Around that embrace grew hospitals, disaster relief, housing and a global volunteer movement spanning 40 countries.
- Darshan tour 2026
- Amrita hospitals
- Relief kitchens
- Bhajan archive
- Amritapuri live
— Amma
- Followers
- 38.4M
- Mentions 24h
- 12,480
- Sentiment
- 88%
Impact so far
Numbers that move as you scroll.
Embraces given
0M+
Since 1975, one person at a time
Homes built
0
For families after floods & tsunami
Meals served
0/day
Relief kitchens across South India
Volunteer countries
0
Embracing the World network
Campaigns
Seva drive
One million meals monsoon appeal
Relief kitchens in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are serving 12,000 meals a day. ₹250 feeds a family for a week.
Meals funded742k of 1M
Health
Amrita Hospitals — free care fund
Every rupee covers surgery for a patient who could never pay. 6,200 free procedures completed this year.
Annual fund₹4.1cr of ₹10cr
Education
Vidyamritam — scholarships for 50,000 children
A monthly scholarship keeps a child from a below-poverty-line family in school, with books, uniform and a mentor from the ashram.
Children sponsored28,500 of 50,000
Teachings & material
12 pieces · videos, essays, practices and chants
1.2M1h 12m · Satsang · Malayalam · subtitles
Sunday satsang: compassion as a discipline
A full-length talk on why love must become work before it becomes peace.
#Satsang#Compassion
84k6 min read · Teaching
Seva is not charity
Service purifies the giver first. An essay on the difference between pity and participation.
#Seva#Essay
310k1 min · Daily
The one-minute embrace
A micro-practice you can do anywhere — hand on heart, one breath offered outward.
#Daily#Beginner
520k48m · Bhajan · Sanskrit / Hindi
Bhajan night at Amritapuri
Nine devotional songs recorded live at the ashram, with transliterated lyrics.
#Bhajan#Live
260k14m · Documentary
Inside a relief kitchen at 4am
Volunteers, rice sacks and a two-hour window. A short film on how seva actually runs.
#Seva#Film
97k8 min read · Q&A
Letters to Amma: five answers on grief
Selected replies to followers who wrote after losing someone.
#Grief#Q&A
1.6M20 min · Guided
IAM technique — 20 minute sit
Integrated Amrita Meditation, guided from first breath to closing prayer.
#Meditation#Free
740k22m · Chant
Lokah Samastah — 108 repetitions
The prayer for the wellbeing of all beings, chanted slowly for practice.
#Chant#Sanskrit
890k58m · Event
Amritavarsham birthday address
The annual address on unity, plus the announcement of the year's seva pledges.
#Event#Address
150k5 min read · History
Why Amma hugs
A short history of darshan and what the embrace is meant to do.
#Darshan#History
88k3 min · Daily
Evening gratitude ledger
Three lines before sleep — one thanks, one regret, one intention.
#Daily#Journaling
420k35m · Archana
Ashram morning archana
The 1000 names chanted at sunrise, recorded in the temple hall.
#Chant#Morning
From the archive
Journey
One million meals
Monsoon appeal scales relief kitchens to 12,000 meals daily.
Reading
- Awaken, Children!ClassicNine volumes of recorded conversations at Amritapuri.
- The Timeless PathPracticeA practical manual on sadhana for householders.
- Compassion: The Only Way to PeaceAddressThe Paris UNESCO address, annotated.
Follower voices
“Six hours in the queue, four seconds in the embrace, and something in me settled for a year.”
“I came for curiosity, stayed for the kitchen. I've chopped vegetables every Sunday since.”
“My mother's surgery was free. Nobody asked what we earned.”
“The bhajan archive got me through a very dark winter.”
Today's practice · Embrace
- 1Sit comfortably and place your right hand over your heart.
- 2Breathe in for four counts; imagine the breath gathering warmth.
- 3Breathe out and silently offer that warmth to one person who is struggling.
- 4Repeat nine times, then sit still for thirty seconds.
Upcoming
Programs
AI companions
Voice, video avatar and chat — all grounded in Amma's archive.
Speak with Amma
A call in Amma's own voice, in Hindi or English
Amma speaking · Monika (female, Hindi + English)
- “Guide me through a two-minute compassion meditation”
- “What does Amma teach about grief?”
- “When is the next darshan near me?”
See Amma
Live face-to-face darshan, powered by a real-time avatar
Avatar idle · tap below to connect
Chat with Amma
Grounded in Amma's talks, blogs and Q&A
Namah Shivaya. I can share Amma's teachings, find a satsang near you, or sit with you in a short practice. What's on your heart today?
Questions followers ask
Yes. Every public programme, including darshan, is free. Donations are optional and go to the charities.