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Messages from Amma: In the Language of the Heart by Janine Canan  (6)  $12.21

Darshan: The Embrace DVD ~ Mata Amritanandamayi Devi  (19)  $12.99

The Path of the Mother : With the Divine Guidance of the Holy Mother, Ammachi by Savitri L. Bess  (6)  $11.21

Ammachi: A Biography of Mata Amritanandamayi by Swami Amritaswarupananda  (8)

The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World's Sacred Feminine by Hallie Iglehart Austen  (1)

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From Publishers Weekly
Not so much a biography as a modern-day saint's life, this superficial and fulsome portrait of a contemporary Indian guru will delight followers and leave everyone else cold. Amma is an Indian teacher famous for the thousands of hugs she passes out to strangers. But she does more than hug; she has purportedly healed lepers, calmed turbulent seas and built homes for the poor. Born to a large family, Amma, like most saints, had an especially spiritual childhood. She was captivated by holy things from the earliest age and loved to spend hours in prayer and meditation. Nonetheless, Amma's parents expected her to follow a normal path (i.e., to be married). When she reached marriageable age, they introduced her to three potential husbands, but she ran the suitors off. Distraught, her parents consulted a guru who told them that Amma was destined to be a great spiritual leader and they should not force her to marry. Her parents relented, and Amma went on to build a tremendous ministry which today takes her not only throughout India, but also on annual tours of the United States. Biographer Cornell is insufficiently self-revealing; she flirts with self-disclosure, writing that it has been "a deep healing experience" to write about Amma, but she never squarely lays out her relationship with her subject. Like last year's major biography of the "hugging saint" (Savitri L. Bess's The Path of the Mother), this book offers no criticism or even analysis.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Cornell (Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing) met Ammachi, the East Indian healer with an international following, in 1987 and traveled with her in India for six weeks in 1999. Known as the Mother of Immortal Bliss or "the hugging saint," Amma draws crowds of thousands for her international appearances. Cornell crams this authorized biography with information, starting with Amma's childhood in a fisherman's family and onto her divine calling to comfort the suffering. Cornell narrates the stories of devotees and describes Amma's public appearances and tours and the rapid growth of institutions and charities that have formed around her. Cornell, who has a special interest in the "Divine Feminine" (for other books on this subject, see Linda Johnsen's Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India), draws a parallel between Amma and the Black Madonna. Although short on analysis, the book provides a satisfactory introduction to the life and work of an extraordinary spiritual personage. Only the chapter with the implied detractions of other spiritual teachers jars. This apart, the book is recommended for public libraries. Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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