Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, fondly referred to as Amma by her disciples, has rejected the allegations leveled against her and her Ashram, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt at Amritapuri, Vallikkavu in Kerala’s Kollam district, by one of her former disciples by saying, “My Mutt is an open book.”
Addressing disciples at the Brahmasthana Mahotsavam at Puthur in Palakkad on Saturday, the Amma said that the recent controversies were being propagated by certain forces which were trying to create problems by whipping up religious sentiments. She said that the Mutt had nothing to hide and that it had been giving financial details to the authorities every year.
Amma’s statement came in the context of the controversies spreading through Kerala about the Mutt following discussions on Facebook and other social networks on Holy Hell: A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness, a book written by Australia-born Gail Tredwell aka Gayatri, who had served at the Mutt till 15 years ago as a disciple of the Mata.
Gail, who had reached the Mutt in 1981 and left it in 1999, said in the book that several bad things were happening there, that the personality of Mata Amritanandamayi had an unfamiliar side, that the Ashram had been holding huge amounts of money in Swiss bank accounts and that she had been sexually assaulted in the Mutt.
Stating that she was not asking anybody to be her disciple, Amma said on Saturday that she was serving others. “I am serving others. Many people say many things when the things do not happen the way they want them to. (I am) trying to forgive and forget all that. While doing that, one may have to go through various experiences,” she said.
Amritanandamayi’s response came close on the heels of a statement made by State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday that the allegations that had come up against the Mutt were serious and that the Kerala Government should look into them. “The issue is serious as the charges have been leveled by a person who had been with the Mutt,” he said.
