At a quarter to nine at night, the doorbell – which is literally a bell hanging from the ceiling rung by someone pulling the string out front – rang. To my surprise it was my wife – returned early from the cult ashram.
"It was fascinating! Absolutely fascinating! Everything about it was fantastic!" Emily said.
"So, why are you back? I thought you were staying the night?!"
"I'll tell you after I pee," she said as she so often does.
So it was that over dinner, Emily explained that she wouldn't stay at Amma's ashram because they demanded to keep the passports of all the guests. No copies – the actual passports and they had more than a thousand of them on shelves behind the check-in counter.
A voice inside Emily's head told her not to leave her passport with the cult management. "What if I needed to leave, to get out and they were closed? I just couldn't do it."
She told Nathan and Anita to stay and that she would take a bus home, but Nathan was wigged out by the whole place. In the end, they all shared a taxi back and cut their cult time short.
Because of rules against photography – as any reasonable cult would have – we have little photographic evidence to share and so many details that may be lost to posterity. However, Emily was able to share enough to paint a decent picture.
The Amma compound is huge – spanning at least five giant buildings situated on a hill bordering both the beach and the backwaters. Approximately 80 percent of Amma's 2,000 on-site devotees there were Westerners. Of these, the vast majority wore all white linen sarongs and shirts for the guys and saris for the ladies.
People had their children with them – as any good cult encourages. Emily struck up a conversation with a man from Switzerland who has "known Amma" for 20 years. He claimed not to be so into her, but his wife and daughter are. They are spending their winter holidays at Amma's ashram and when asked how long he had been there, the man replied that he had "lost track of time" – but about a week. He's a psychologist.
The Swiss psychologist and his family have chased Amma events around the world – in numerous cities and countries. He knew talked about Amma's ashrams in San Ramon and Santa Fe (apparently Amma likes Spanish names).
Another man was kind enough to suggest that Emily, Anita and Nathan hold-off on checking in for lodging because it was lunchtime and they wouldn't want to come after the food was gone.
The basic accommodation package includes dal/lentils and rice. For 110 rupees extra ($2.45), one can purchase a western buffet lunch of pizza, hamburgers, salads, sodas and cookies. When Emily asked how this was possible at an ashram, one woman told her, "Because Amma wants everyone to be happy!"
When lunch was through, each person went to a dishwashing station to clean his or her own dish with powdered soap, their hand and water before handing it to a little girl who was on volunteer duty who put it away. Everyone staying takes turns with different chores on volunteer duty – even children.
Signs throughout the Amma compound stated ashram rules which included not talking to the villagers, not eating in the village, no photography, no cell phones, no smoking, no alcohol and no drugs.
All around the building and grounds were life-size posters of Amma in different poses and scenes. Women carried Amma canvas bags and kids had Amma stickers.
Apparently, Nathan found it all too weird and went to the beach for the afternoon.
Emily and Anita found it fascinating. So when Amma began "darshan", her "teaching" of the day – aka her hugging session – Emily and Anita stepped right up – the sociologist in her had to see how this all went-down. They drew tokens for their place in line, getting numbers in the 300's among numbers that ran up to the 800's.
Darshan takes place in a large auditorium with a stage on which Amma sits. People sit on the stage around her – a rotating honor to those who stay for long enough at the Ashram. Being close to Amma is a big deal. The auditorium fills with people who sit, face Amma and "absorb her energy" while she administers hugs.
Amma and her hugging are shown on giant TV monitors which I like to think of as "Amma-tron". Like airline boarding people within a certain range of numbers are called at different times to get in the giant line in the auditorium to get their hugs. Emily and Anita waited 2.5 hours for theirs.
People bring offerings for Amma. One man brought giant wood carvings of her that he made. Someone else brought her a caged parrot. Those who don't bring offerings of their own can purchase offerings from the volunteers near the front of the line just before reaching the Amma stage. Offerings include flower garlands, sweets and fruit. When someone reaches Amma, they can give their offering which an Amma volunteer promptly removes and stores.
Amma has a team of volunteers around her including one behind her who just removes garlands from her neck. She also has fans blowing on her. When she calls for a potty-break, volunteers shut-down the Amma-tron until she returns.
Finally, when one reaches the front of the line, the volunteers make clear the rules – no touching Amma – Amma touches you, not the other way around. You kneel, one volunteer pushes you toward Amma, Amma administers the hug, Amma hands you a piece of candy, another volunteer pulls you off Amma and you exit the stage. One volunteer has the express job of slapping the hands of anyone who attempts to hug Amma back.
When Emily finally made it to the front of the line, she was expectedly pushed into Amma's bosom, Amma finished talking with her entourage, then embraced Emily, leaned over her' said "mudumudumudumudumudu", touched her face as if to say "you're sweet" and handed her a candy before Emily was pulled out and sent on her way.
When it's over, many people cry from what is a very powerful experience for them. Emily just wanted to call it a night and head home.
I was glad Emily didn't eat the candy.
This morning, Emily woke up very tired. She said she didn't understand why she was so tired. I told her a cult can take a lot out of you – and they probably want everyone tired so they stay. I'm glad she had her fascinating experience and I'm glad she came home in her original clothes and still responding to Emily.
Sent from my iPad
