Besides critical opinions and articles, here are the backpackers accounts. They wanted to visit Amma's ashram. They came to Amritapuri, expecting to find a spiritual place. They tell us why they quickly left.
"Elle… elle te prend dans les bras…": Into the arms of the hugging mother : "Beyoncé", "Punjab Babe" and "Tree Snake" decide to pay a visit to the "colossal, industrial hulk of spiritual cement". The devotees seem so strange that they don't stay for darshan.
From the beach to the asylum.....Amma the new Jesus Christ??!!...Im not so sure! : they have been told that Amma was the new Jesus Christ and that the darshan is a life changing experience but they only tasted disappointment.
Amritapuri – A Western Joke : inspired by the movie Eat, Pray, Love, Travelling Belle wants to visit an indian ashram and chooses Amritapuri. It's too big, too flashy, westerners are freaks. She sees no spirituality in there.
Staying at the Hugging Mother Ashram: The Food, The Devotees, The Craziness : Stuart Edwards finds that the ashram is like any other closed western environment, it is full of stressed angry people.
Amma Ashram : the ashram and the darshan are colourfully depicted. The remix of Amma's biography is a must read.
Ashram Bollocks!! : the brief account of a journey in a place filled with deluded people where "there is nothing you can't buy without ammas face on it!"
Amma’s Ashram : Teg and Mike decide to make a stop at the famous ashram. They find that the rules and customs are not so terrestrian.
Amma Geddin Oudda Here! the brainwashing about Amma's greatness and the competition between sevaists don't appeal to this backpacker.
Goa and Kerala this group of travelers find that Amma's followers are not friendly, particularly the westerners
Mata Amritanandamayi Math Denis Kopp think that Amritapuri doesn't look like an ashram, it rather looks like a city. He didn't like the place.
Amma – the Faltering Queen of Hugs and Cuddles after watching Mata Amritanandamayi giving Darshan in India, Kaja finds that she "is looking distinctly grumpy ... Her face is distorted into a grimace of pained acceptance"
Embracing the people is the best way to Embezzle The World