Mata Amritanandamayi Devi is an internationally famous Indian spiritual leader and is revered as a saint by her followers and is called as "Amma", "Ammachi" or "Mother". She is a widely respected humanitarian and is also called by some "the hugging saint". She was born as Sudhamani in the small village of Parayakadavu (now partially known as Amritapuri), near Kollam, Kerala in 1953. She was born to a fishing family of the Aryan caste. Her schooling ended when she was nine, and she began to take care of her younger siblings and the family domestic work full-time. Acording to her devotees, she had many mystical experiences as a child and since 1981 has been teaching spiritual aspirants all over the world. she has also founded a worldwide organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is entirely engaged in various spiritual and charitable acivities. It is to her credit, that from humble beginnings she hs undertaken a journey to attain "universal motherhood". In the recent time she also addressed the United Nations General Assmebly.
For her philanthropic activities by means of her organization she has been recognized in different parts of the world. in 1993, she was one of the representatives of Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. Mata Amritanandamayi was the keynote speaker at the Globa; Peace Initiative of Women, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland held in October 2002. This was an initiative of the UN'Millennium World Peace Summit, , in which Amritanandamayi spoke in August 2000. In 2002 Mata Amritanandamayi was presented with the Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence by The World Movement for Nonviolence at the UN General Assembly Hall (Palais Des Nations) in Geneva in recognition of her lifelong work in furthering the principles of non-violence. The three previous recipients of the award were Kofi annan, Nelson Mandela and the leading primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.
