ABSTRACT
For most devotees, their initial encounter with Mata Amritanandamayi occurs at her public appearances during her annual visits to the thirtyodd ashram branches of the MAM scattered all over India. My own initial encounter with the Mata was at one such public appearance in Delhi in 1996. It was in February of that year that I first learnt of Mata Amritanandamayi’s intended visit to Delhi, from advertisements announcing her arrival that had begun to appear in the Delhi editions of several of India’s mainstream newspapers. Soon there were posters on display in shops, on roadside hoardings, at bus stands and along the brick walls lining Delhi’s roads, bearing the Mata’s smiling visage and setting out the schedule of the public programmes that she would conduct in the capital city.
