Meet Mata Amritanandamayi, spiritual guru and pusher of innovation

Mata Amritanandamayi is believed to have embraced over 36 million people

As it begins to pour at Amritapuri, Mata Amritanandamayi’s ashram in Kollam in Kerala, hundreds of people gather in an open hall. Mostly foreigners, they are dressed in white and are wearing rudraksha malas and bracelets.
 
Unfazed by the rain, Amritanandamayi makes her way across water puddles in her white sari, and the meditation begins. The only ones who aren’t sitting cross-legged with their “spines erect and eyes closed” are the armed men in uniform by the doorways, and the two men in safari suits next to where Amritanandamayi is seated.
 
It has been about two months since