In 2014 Amma took part in a global faith leaders summit, along with Pope Francis in Vatican City. She vowed to help ending slavery and human trafficking in the world by 2020. Here we are. Four years later. It’s 2020 now. What has she done to tackle this human atrocity?
Amritapuri's official website offers nothing else but a single article about this subject. It was posted on December 2014, one day before her commitment act at the Vatican summit. What happened next?
We have found this on the internet :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.amritacreate.TraffickingAware
This is an app developped by AmritaCREATE, the Amrita University IT lab. Anyone can download this software from Google Play Store. It’s a kind of video game to raise human trafficking awareness. An Android smartphone is required. It doesn't seem to be available for IPhones. This software was probably released in 2015, one year after the Vatican summit.
Let’s remember that according to some estimations, there may be 13 million modern slaves in India. There are countless NGO’s initiatives and apps. In 2018, Vodafone, BT, Microsoft, Amazon and Nokia, launched a collaborative effort because the UN wishes to end slavery by 2030. They have found 200 apps dealing with human trafficking. Of course Amma’s one is not listed. The reason is obvious. It doesn’t offer any useful functionality. A mere game is not relevant at all. Who will download it and play in order to be ready the day when he or she might be caught in a scam?
Here we are. Year 2020. By reason of the recent wars and political conflicts, human trafficking is worse than ever. Can Mata Amritanandamayi pride herself on the job done? A smartphone game? The TraffickingAware app was uploaded to Google Play Store in 2019, one year before the deadline chosen at the Vatican summit. 50 users have downloaded the software so far.
Meanwhile, the same AmritaCREATE IT lab was at UNESCO MLW2019 event in Paris. This international gathering was dedicated to Artificial Intelligence in education. According to Dr. Nedungadi from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, online platform Amrita Learning has over 65,000 registered users. That is a lot more users than 50!
65,000 versus 50. Do these two scores a reflect the organization’s priorities? It seems like Technology, especially Information Technology, is absolutely everywhere. Indeed most “Amrita” websites are aimed at science, business and computing. Don't wonder. Don’t think. Don’t believe. See for yourself :
Amrita Technologies : it is a unit of Amrita Enterprises Private Limited (AEPL), the private company which runs Amrita TV. It sells Amma's books, Amma's ayurvedic products and provides professional softwares related to robotics, Internet Of Things, healthcare, Business Intelligence, education... Their customers are big corporations, including Amma's hospitals and universities.
V Lab : virtual labs at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Most brand new innovations to come are advertised here
V Lab India : students from the whole country can use these virtual labs
Research Centers : biotechnology, cyber-security, engineering, green-technologies, humanitarian-robotics, learning-technologies, management, medical-sciences, nanoscience, social-sciences-women-empowerment, wireless... Even the fields related to humanitarian activities are connected to science and technology
Amrita Academia : Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University includes more than 300 departments, most of them are dedicated to science and technology
Amrita CREATE : Center for REsearch in Advanced Technology for Education. This entity is often involved in humanitarian actions but technology is never too far with Amma
Cyber Amrita : cyber threat has become a major issue for big corporations. Amma's university must act accordingly
Amrita Learning : a mobile phone or a computer is all we need to get properly educated nowadays. Be ready to say goodbye to old fashioned human teatchers
A-View : we already know Skype, Zoom, Teams... This is A-View. The video conferencing tool designed for you by Amma's IT labs
Amrita OLabs : online labs funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Given the name of the public institution, we can easily guess what these labs teach
Amrita Robotics : young children from age 11 to 17 must learn how to build a robot if they want to thrive in a highly competitive world
AIBS : Amrita Internet of thing and Bigdata Solutions. Is it a private company? Maybe but the website footer advertises Amma's birthday and the contact page map shows that this enterprise is located next to Amritapuri ashram
AD2 : Amrita Dynamic Dashboard. Indeed big data needs big softwares. Maybe it's a private company then it has been created by Cyber Amrita and it is hosted by Amma's university
ABDF : Amrita Big Data Framework. Indeed business intelligence also needs big softwares. This company also belongs to Cyber Amrita and it is equally located in the compounds of Amma's university
Amritahyd : a training institute run by Amrita Technologies (thus AEPL), teaching technologies like Linux, Red Hat advanced courses, Cloud, Python, DevOps... If it's a private company, independant from Amma's organization, then why is their office located in the Mata Amritanandamayi Math of Secunderabad?
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Amrita CBT : if you want to become the best Java programmer ever then Amma offers all you need to practice online for free
Amrita HIS : the Health Information Suite tested, approved and widely used by Amma's hospital (AIMS) is available for any other healthcare institution. This softwares and services bundle are certainely not free of charge
Amrita Health : another website to advertise AIMS Hospital Information Suite, which seems to be another name for Health Information Suite, both having the same acronym (HIS)
Amrita PHR : the Personal Health Record seems to store patients medical information in a digital Cloud, so that they can be accessed anytime, anywhere, from any device. According to the contact page, Amrita Technologies is located in Amritapuri. Yet this company is supposed to belong to AEPL which is said to be private and independant from Amma's organization
Amrita Consultancy : this website seems to gather all technological products and services related to healthcare
Amrita TBI : stands for Technnology Business Incubator. You have a promising idea? You need help to fund your tech startup? They can provide you with counsel and money. According to the website footer they are inspired by Amma and located in her universities. According to Pitchfork they have incubated 26 companies so far.
ACE : entrepreneurs who need assistance can lean on Amrita Center for Entrepreneurship.
TAE : The Amrita Entrepreneurs (TAE) group doesn't have a dedicated website, only a LinkedIn profile
YES Amrita : Young Entrepreneurs Society is the place to be for future entrepreneurs. You can follow them on Facebook but Instagram is far more interesting. The pictures below for intance are so expressive. One immediately understands that YES Amrita has been inspired by compassion and molded by divine love.
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So much technology. Have we drifted far away from the initial subject? In fact this article started with human trafficking issues. Yes, we have drifted as far as the organization did. M.A Math was initially about spiritual enfoldment. No need to dig too deep to see that it has become a science and technology business empire. Technology is absolutely everywhere.
Looking for spirituality? Rely on technology! Download the Official Amma App for Mobile Phones - Android & iOS. Meditation, yoga and pujas are nice but don't forget to follow your guru on Facebook and Twitter.
A virus called Sars-Cov-2 is said to be roaming the world, taking innocent lives. Feeling moved? Looking forward to save humanity? Do something challenging. Provide technology!
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Follow you guru's footsteps. She gracefully showered us with the drone system to deliver items, low cost ventilator although it has been proven that they are useless for Covid-19 is a blood illness not a respiratory one, face shields and masks for health workers, more masks with nanofilter membrane, very weird (ridiculous?) masks because covering our nose and shutting our mouth seems to be the best solution that Amma can offer to us, a social distancing app that helps you do your shopping without taking the risk to come accross any living soul, remote bed-side monitors even if it means that patients are deprived from human loving contact...
Ironically the Covid-19 lockdown enables the organization to get a lot more digital. Indeed visitors who usually come for darshan don't need to provide anything. So Amma has been facing anonymous crowds for all these years. But the 2020 tour in western countries has been postponed. People can still connect with their guru every saturday thanks to online events. They need to register! So the Indian ashram will be able to collect thousands (millions?) of email addresses and personal data from devotees and friends worldwide.
It would be so surprising that Amma could build a GAFAM-like empire when she barely knows how to use a computer. What kind of decision is she still allowed to make regarding the organization? What does CEO Mata Amritanandamayi really know about "her" institution nowadays? All manners of "goldfishes" must be stabbing each others daily to become the "shark" ruling the "AmritaTech ocean".
Where did she get the money to build all of this? As ex-devotees we don't remember ever donating for any of that. We remind ourselves of the moving brochures showing pictures of kids eating rice, young women smiling meekly, old men looking quietly in our eyes. But we have no recollection of young businessmen in suit and tie, followed by the slogan : "Help him become a shark who rules the ocean. Please donate".
How can she tours western countries, begging for money supposedly to feed the poor, educate them and provide them with healthcare, when her country is planning to send a man to the moon after launching a module there?