Washing Amma's feet, putting a flower Mala around her neck, waving the burning camphor before her... These are precious opportunities to get closer to the Goddess, at least physically. The rules to be granted such honors necessarily vary according to the country. Anyway, touching a divine being must be the greatest blessing one can expect to lift one's spirit.
In 2016 Singapore had a very original idea : why not granting the ble$$ing to those who can afford it?
If you visit the internet page for the 2016 Singapore Tour today then you won't see anything unusual. The "Event Sponsor" section gives the internet user the possibility to donate thousands of dollars, there is nothing special about that. But before the tour, an additional link was available to explain all the benefits to be showered upon the generous donors. All "read more" links have now been removed.
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Fortunately we have saved the original page as a pdf so that anyone can see the rewards bestowed upon the happy wealthy few. Let's have for instance an overview of Category A donors, those who can afford to donate $15,000 :
"...receive and garland Amma when She is on stage...
...invited to participate in one of the ceremonies on stage...
...invited to distribute some of the bursaries to selected students...
...complimentary 1-page colour advertisement...
...a booth would be provided for the Programme Sponsor’s volunteers to publicise their activities/events...
...advertisements on TV monitors set up at the Programme venue (i.e. the Food serving area) acknowledging the Programme Sponsor for the entire duration of the Programme..."
It seems to us that "Blessing for sale" is not a widespread rule, at least not in Western countries. Anyway Amma monitors very closely how her programs are organized. As a result, she must have agreed with that way of doing things. In India we can often see VIPs with her on stage during her programs. Do they also have to "donate" thousands of dollars to be selected?
We keep on wondering about the spiritual teachings that she preaches : death of the ego, caring less about the material aspect of life, seeking the inner Guru, looking for God inside, stop worrying about worldly issues, giving up on selfishness, giving without expecting anything in return ... Isn't she pushing her wealthiest devotees away from the path that she promotes?