In union there is strength

We believe that Indian guru Mata Amritanandamayi known as the “Hugging Saint” is Embezzling The World. Help us to spread the truth about her.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Fanciful FCRA

Some of our posts deal with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Each year Indian NGOs must declare to the government the funds that they got from foreign countries. Being strongly connected to Western countries, the M.A. Math cannot escape the rule. The accounts given by Amritapuri are available online.
Some devotees of the "Thugging Saint" pretend that we are misunderstanding the numbers, so let's take a closer look at them.

For the M.A. Math there is no Account of Foreign Contribution before 2006. Does it mean that she was not getting a single dollar before that year? Or is the FCRA optional when the amounts are below a specific threshold? Nevermind we have used those currently available :
All you need to do is to display any of the above internet pages, to copy the tables and to paste them in your favorite spreadsheet software. That's it! You can filter, sort, sum, count...  Don't forget to divide all amounts by 60 to convert the rupees into dollars. If you need a little bit of entertainment, we kindly invite you to give it a try because the results are laughable.

The bank interest

The bank interest has been multiplied almost by 3 in 6 years. More than 3 millions of dollars last year. Nice! We cannot wait to see the gain for 2013-2014. We are eager to know how much money must actually be invested to harvest such interest.

Year Bank interest in $ Country
2006-2007 1 626 864 -,-
2007-2008 2 415 210 -,-
2008-2009 2 415 210 -,-
2009-2010 2 688 688 -,-
2010-2011 2 397 399 -,-
2011-2012 3 419 492 India
2012-2013 3 661 035 -,-

It usually originates from a bank located in a country called "-,-" except in 2011-2012. What? You don't know -,- ? The weather and sightseeing tours are amazing there, you should turn off your TV and computer to make a little bit of tourism and discover that beautiful place.

There is strange detail. Section 6 of the FCRA shows all the countries of the foreign contributors. The list always includes India. The total amount received from India is always equal to the bank interest for the year. This is so unclear. Is the FCRA meant to record the funds coming from foreign countries? So why is India in the list? Or maybe the FCRA records the income perceived in foreign currencies. So why does a bank located in India pays interest to an Indian NGO using a foreign currency instead of rupees? Spirituality according to Amma® is veiled by many layers of inscrutable mystery.

The donors

The Math receives donations from corporations every year whereas individual donations made by people have a pretty saw-tooth profile.

Year Number of individual donations
2006-2007 967
2007-2008 0
2008-2009 0
2009-2010 732
2010-2011 757
2011-2012 789
2012-2013 838

You are not dreaming. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, not a single devotee gave her at least a coin to save the world from poverty and ignorance. Dropping from 967 to 0 donors, then soaring from 0 to 732. This incredible feat should be added to the Guiness Book of Records.

Not to mention the strange names. Know that in a country called "SPIAN" there is a compagny called "CAREMAN DE LA VEGA SPAIN FOR FLAT". The "Spianish" customers must laugh out loud.

Many of her generous devotees also have strange names like "Petrillla Construction Inc", "Credit Agricole Alpes Provence", "Exact Manufacturing Jothi Flower Shop", "D K Fabrics Ltd", "Al Mulla International Exchange co K S C C", "Urgi Med Family Medical Center LLC", "Rampo Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Pc". Some parents are careless. How can they give names so difficilt to bear to their children?

Healthcare Charities Inc

One of the institutional donors is particularly interesting. It is "Healthcare Charities Inc", an American non-profit corporation created in 1995. Its main goal is to raise funds for AIMS, the super-charitable hospital built by H€r Ho£in€$$.

Year Healthcare Charities in $
2006-2007 1,278,131
2007-2008 0
2008-2009 0
2009-2010 3,763
2010-2011 2,341,527
2011-2012 2,042,926
2012-2013 48,431

God's ways are definitely unfathomable! HCI has had exactly the same idea as hundreds of individual donors, exactly at the same time. They didn't contribute at all in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

According to Charity Navigator, HCI is not as transparent as one can expect. Their motto is : "Compassion has no limits". Indeed transparency is only for ordinary humans who are bounded by worldly limits like justice or honesty. The spirituality of Amma® liberates seekers from such embarassing ties.

2007-2008 & 2008-2009

FCRA for 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, both are so weird...

Except the bank interest, all contributions have been used exclusively for one and only one purpose : "Construction / Running of hospital / dispensary / clinic".


All donations came from the whole world the same day in 2007-2008 : March 30, 2008.
All donations came from the whole world the same day in 2008-2009 : March 30, 2009.
The FCRA must report incomes and expenses covering a whole year, ending the 31st of March. Coincidence?

A lot of companies which donated are called "others" and they are settled in a country with no name. If it has no name then it doesn't exist. If it doesn't exist then it's Neverland. Amma® is so great that her fame extends far beyond the limits of our world. She gets donations from nonexistent institutions based in the land of Peter Pan.

We almost feel tempted to assume that these two FCRA have been filled hastly at the last moment, with fake data but we have no proof so that would be libel. Who knows? It can actually happen that institutions from different countries suddenly decide to donate exactly the same day. By the way, no matter the number and origin of the donations, section 6 always displays the same 31 countries every year.

"Other expenses"

The Math often uses the donations to pay the "Other expenses". What interpretation can we give to this enigmatic "Other expenses"? Does it mean : "What we do with your money is not your business"? Last year, she received 73 institutional donations and 838 individual donations. 519 of them have been poured into this "Other expenses". So if you donate to her organization, there are 56% chances that your money goes to the "Other expenses".

Last year she declared a total amount of 702298233 rupees of which 478177321 have covered the "Other expenses". That's 68%! 68% of the money has an undisclosed destination. If "Compassion has no limits" then we cannot wait to see the day when 100% of the donations will shamelessly pays for the "Other expenses".

By the way, it must cost a lot of money to travel the world like she does, to wear a different silk sari at each Devi Bhava day, to print books, manufacture soap and burn CDs for sale, to rent a machine to charge credit cards at the Amma Shop, to pay for the passports, plane tickets and fuel for the van, to carry the music instruments and sound system everywhere... What is the label of these recurring expenses in the FCRA? We see no "World Tour" in the "Purpose" column of the tables.

Temporary Conclusion

If the discrepancies are countless in her public accounts then what about her private accounts? What about her accounts in rupees that report the incomes from India? When we hear Amritapuri's spokesperson say that the accounts are "properly audited" each year, we hesitate between giggling and shivering for we don't know what kind of damages this funny joke may cause in real life. Prof. Sukumar Azhikode could be right when he says :
"Amritanandamayi was just a label. “Behind her there was a system, which stage-managed the show. We need to expose this system"
The people who don't see anything wrong with her accounts surely have the HCI state of mind : "Compassion has no limits". In other words, working for a divinity gives the right to break any rule. Beware of her faithfull devotees. The servants of Amma® have no time to waste with the quagmire of maya, so if you mess with the "Thugging Saint" they can be ready to do anything to break you down. The events which followed the statements of Prof. Sukumar Azhikode testifiy that many followers can become dangerous to whitewash her reputation.


PS : how dare you think that the word "thugging" doesn't exist? Remember that she is THE Universal Mother therefore she can give birth to any phrase she wishes. Besides, the word "thug" was originally the name of a sect of worshippers of Kali. Which goddess stands in Amritapuri's temple? Kali, naturally.


Update April 2015 : if the FCRA links display an error page then please check out the new process to access them.
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