Mata Amritanandamayi Math
The Emblem
|
|
| Motto | tyagenaike amrtatvam anashuh — "By renunciation alone immortality is attained." |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1981 |
| Purpose | Spiritual, Humanitarian, Education |
| Headquarters | Amritapuri, Kollam district, Kerala,  India
|
|
Region served
|
Worldwide |
| Website | http://www.amritapuri.org |
The Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM) (Sanskrit: माता अमृतानन्दमयी मठ्, Malayalam: മാതാ അമൃതാനന്ദമയീ മഠ്) is an international charitable organization aimed at the spiritual and material upliftment of humankind. It was founded by spiritual leader and humanitarian Mata Amritanandamayi in 1981, with its headquarters in Paryakadavu, Alappad Panchayat, Kollam district, Kerala. Along with its sister organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, MAM conducts charitable work including disaster relief, healthcare for the poor, environmental programs, fighting hunger and scholarships for impoverished students, amongst others. It also runs the five-campus university known as Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and conducts classes in yoga, meditation and Sanskrit.
MAM is a volunteer organization, basing its activities on the principle of karma yoga [work as an offering to the divine]. Its headquarters are home to more than 3,000 people, a mix of householders, monastics and monastic students. People make the pilgrimage to MAM every day in order to receive the blessings of Mata Amritanandamayi.
MAM, along with Amritanandamayi's other centers and organizations throughout the world function collectively under the umbrella title of Embracing the World.
On July 24, 2005, in recognition of MAM's outstanding disaster-relief work and other humanitarian activities, the United Nations conferred Special Consultative Status to MAM, with its Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), thus enabling collaboration with UN agencies. In December 2008, the UN's Department of Public Information approved MAM as an associated nongovernmental organization to help its work of disseminating information and research into humanitarian issues.
Beginning with the 2001, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math has consistently dedicated volunteers and resources in response to disasters within India. Its most extensive disaster-relief program followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In response, MAM provided a value of $46 million in relief, including the construction of 6,200 tsunami-resistant houses in India and Sri Lanka, as well as 700 new fishing boats. It also constructed a multimillion-dollar bridge providing Alappad Panchayat, a tsunami-at-risk peninsula community, an evacuation route to the mainland. MAM has provided a combination of medical care, food, shelter, monetary aid and other forms of relief following the flooding of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in 2009, Bihar in 2008, and Gujarat in 2005 and Bombay in 2005, as well as the Kashmir-Pakistan earthquake of 2005. It also reconstructed 1,200 homes following the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
...
Wikipedia