Usually the foreign tour dates are booked early for the foreign coordinators to have the time to make the preparations, to advertise the event and to finance her venue. But today the official calendar on Amritapuri's website doesn't show any date. What's wrong with the world tour in 2014? Is she too busy filing complaints against thousands of critics? Or is she afraid to face bad publicity if she tours in western countries?
She rules in India. She can silence whoever she wants by pulling the "malign-attempt-to-hurt-religious-feelings" lever but this option doesn't exist in foreign countries. She knows by experience that she cannot easily muzzle freedom of speech as soon as she crosses the Indian border.
Indeed, from 2007 to 2009 she stirred controversy on refusal to boycott the LAX Hilton hotel in California. Michael Lerner, a popular rabbi of Los Angeles, declined an award bestowed by Amritanandamayi, saying that she was lacking "commitment to social justice that might force her to take a stand on behalf of the most oppressed". He even threatened her :
"if you continue with your plans to patronize the Hilton, I will feel compelled out of solidarity with the workers to publicize my opposition to your plans and to discourage others from attending as well"She finally agreed to honor the hotel boycott after 2 years of media battle but her star shined a little less brightly in media treatment.
She knows that her religious glow is not a safe pass abroad as it is in India. On the contrary. She emphasizes compassion so much that her western devotees expect her to always act accordingly. Anyone can behave nicely in ideal conditions. But remaining equally kind in the midst of turmoil is not easy to achieve, it raises admiration. The unholy way she is dealing with Gail Tredwell's book is likely to sprinkle doubts upon her followers.
The Australian program has been canceled, will she tour in the other foreign countries? Or does she fear to not be treated as warmly as she used to be by the journalists? Who knows how far her repeated threats against Indian social media users, newspapers and TV channels have tarnished her compassionate image? Is she afraid to be publicly asked to answer embarrassing questions?
She knows that the critics won't hide nor hesitate to express themselves. How will she be greated in Swiss after threatening two newspapers? How will she be received in France after threatening a psychiatrist? How will she be welcomed in the USA after threatening a woman who wrote a book to share her painfull experience? How will she be seen by her devotees worldwide now that she has admitted that 60% of the foreign donations are saved in a bank for the rainy days? How will she be perceived by her followers who now eventually question the purity and chastity that she has promoted for three decades?