Healing of hugs draws hundreds

MARLBOROUGH -- The believers waited by the hundreds inside the cavernous conference and trade center of the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, looking for one thing: a hug.

Professors. Accountants. Yoga instructors. They stood in line yesterday, anticipating the encounter with Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, an Indian mystic whose followers think of her as the hugging saint and believe that her embrace transmits healing powers.

Amritanandamayi, whose followers call her Amma, or mother in Sanskrit, is in Massachusetts on the final stop of her summer tour of the United States. In just an hour and a half yesterday at the conference center in Marlborough, she hugged more than 500 people. She was expected to dole out more than 3,000 embraces by evening.

If everything goes as planned, she will have given more than 10,000 hugs by the end of her three-day retreat here. Attendance yesterday was free, but any adult who attends the rest of the retreat will have to pay $190, not including accommodations; youths and children pay less.

Meryl Perlson of Medford sat on her knees quietly as Amritanandamayi reached out to press her head to her bosom and chant in her ear. It was over in less than 20 seconds, but powerful enough to bring the mother of two to tears.

''There really is this energy," she said, wiping her eyes. ''There's a lot going on in this room right now."

There was. Staff members and swamis in orange robes asked Amritanandamayi questions in her native Malayalam, the language of her homeland in southern India. Followers sat nearby in expectation of the chance to ask her a question or receive a mantra. Pungent odors wafted through the air.

Amritanandamayi acknowledged the activity and answered questions, but she never stopped hugging, even during an interview. Asked if she gets tired, she replied without stopping. ''Where there is love there is no tiredness," she said through an interpreter, before showering a hug recipient with flower petals, as she does from time to time, as part of her blessing.

Items for sale in the convention hall promote Amritanandamayi's status as a holy figure and provide evidence of her marketability. Some books and photos for sale in the convention center portray Amritanandamayi walking on water, in deep meditation, or with a dreamy smile on her face and with a hazy glow around her body. Clothing she has worn, $180 handmade dolls of her likeness, and basil plants she has blessed are among the items for sale.

According to Amritanandamayi's biography, she was born ''with a beaming smile on her face" in 1953 to a poor fishing family in one of India's lowest castes. When she was a child, her parents were disturbed that she liked to sing and give away food to the poor. But she continued, despite their admonitions, her website says.

She began doing charity work and founded an 800-bed hospital, a medical college, health care clinics, orphanages, and other organizations. She now oversees a network of ashrams and meeting places around the world for her followers. In the late 1980s, she began meeting with small groups of followers in the United States, and her reputation grew.

In 2003, she celebrated her 50th birthday with a four-day celebration in a stadium in Cochin, India. Linda Evans, the former star actress in the television series ''Dynasty," and Yolanda King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., attended.

Recently, Amritanandamayi committed to raising $23 million to help tsunami victims, including many people who were affected in her hometown village. Rob Sidon, her spokesman, said he did not know how close she was to the goal. Amritanandamayi also sponsors a soup kitchen in Boston that serves 30-40 vegetarian meals to the homeless every month.

Sidon said Amritanandamayi is about more than just hugs. Raised Hindu, she embraces all religions, he said.

She has ''inspired thousands, possibly millions to volunteer on behalf of the needy," he said. ''The idea is that compassion for the poor is our duty to God."

Sidon was unable to say exactly when the hugging caught on; however, Amritanandamayi's website estimates that she has wrapped her arms around about 21 million people in her lifetime (and says she has never gotten sick). To keep up with her busy schedule, Sidon said, she sleeps no more than two hours a night. In the fall, she will begin a tour of Europe.

At the Marlborough convention, organizers had set up 2,000 chairs to accommodate the expected crowd. The chairs were full, and still more people were standing in aisles and sitting on the floor. To make the number of hugs manageable, anyone seeking an embrace must get a token, a numbered slip of purple paper that holds their place in line.

Amritanandamayi sits against a 20-foot multicolored backdrop with a lotus flower center. All people in the hall must remove their shoes. To receive a hug, a person must kneel before her. She smiles and draws the person to her with outstretched arms. Her shoulder is covered with a white, gauzy cloth. After several seconds of silent embrace, she draws her breath and chants, ''Ma ma ma ma ma," directly in the ear. When it is over, she sometimes places a red apple, a flower petal or a Hershey's kiss, or sometimes all three, in the visitor's hand, before the next person is ushered to her.

To accommodate the crowd, portable toilets have been set up outside the convention center. Marlborough's mayor and the head of the chamber of commerce, shoeless, offered opening remarks and hung wreaths of carnations around Amritanandamayi's neck. In return, she showered each with flower petals.

Diane Connors of East Hampton, Conn., brought her three children to see Amritanandamayi; Connors clasped a token, which showed she would receive the 401st hug of the day.

Architect Michel Beaudry and his family drove from Montreal for the experience. He and his wife, Colette, estimate they have been hugged by Amritanandamayi 13 times since they began attending her retreats five years ago. After Beaudry, his wife, and three daughters received a group hug from Amritanandamayi yesterday, they moved to the periphery of the room, in tears. And they hugged each other.

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at 508-820-4236 or at woolhouse@globe.com