Amma

Amma

  -_P.Natarajan.

Source:- Jagat Guru Kanchi Kamakoti Sri. Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Sankarachartya Swamigal 's Arulvakku as appeared in Tamil in the Tamil Weekly Magazine 'KALKI' dated 09March 2014 - English Translation of the same with some changes)

Amma is one name that comes most often and most freely from the child’s mouth. A mother’s love towards her offspring is pure, flawless and endearing. There is no mix-up in this relationship. May be the son or daughter may not reflect the same degree of affection as amother. A saying in Tamil endorses this view viz (quote):- “ Petra manam pithu, pillai manam kallu “.  

‘ Devi Aparadh Kshamapana Stotram ‘  describes  ‘ there may be a child who is wrong but never there is a mother who is wrong’. A person who wants to confess to Goddess recites this particular stotram and seeks pardon. A line in the stotram declares that the mother always cares for her child without an iota of selfishness.

It is a common sight to see a calf calling ‘ Amma’ in an open and loud voice. The mother cow shows her affection fondly and the scene is portrayed as a ready reckoner by artists, to say the least.  It may not be an exaggeration if I say  that the generations of human beings began to say ‘Amma’ after observing the calf calling the ' mother-cow '.

‘Amma’ means the same in ‘Marathi’, ‘Kannada’,  ‘Telugu’ as in ‘Tamil’.  Malayalam language says it slightly differently as ‘ Ammai’. In Sanskrit, amma is referred as ‘Amba’ or ‘Ma’ simply. Hindi language calls the same as ‘Ma’ or ‘Mayi’. “Mammi’ or ‘Mamma’ is what English has adopted for Amma.

While we discuss about Amma’s kindness, please keep in mind that she is Amma only to the physical body she possesses. In the event the death of the child or its mother, there is no continuing relationship between the mother and child. The child is born after a new pregnancy. The child gets a new mother.

But there is another ‘MOTHER’ who stands as ‘Amma’ to all lives and not to the physical body alone as that of a human mother. Physical body is subjected to decay but not the life or atma. After death, the life leaves the body but takes a rebirth in another body - a new avatar.

The Goddess is referred always as ‘Amma’ or 'Amman' or ‘Ambal’ which profoundly describes that she is

‘ Jagatheeswari or Mother of the Universe’ or to enhance the saying as the ' Mother of all living entities '.

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