Amma, the hugging saint from India, has been my mother for many years. I was introduced to her a couple of years ago, while I lived in the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in San Francisco. Amma is a disciple of my guru, Brahmananda, who build the Yoga Society of San Francisco and New York. The New York ashram is a yoga farm compared to San Francisco which is a urban center for yogis. Back in 1987, before Amma took off in Bay Area California, her place of becoming famous, she visited Brahmananda. Brahmananda gave her his blessing. She build her first ashram in San Ramon. Brahmananda passed away in 1993. Amma has build ashrams all over the world. When I went to visit her, I was doing very heavy yogic sadhana, about 40 hours a week of practice plus living in a yoga ashram for over 2 years, over 12 years of practice all together. I felt great and took a Sivananda head cook, a mother herself with me to visit Amma. While I was driving to see Amma, I heard a voice in my head, 'your mother is sitting right next to you'. That was one of the most beautiful thought, realizing that every mother is Amma. While at the Amma ashram, I cried 4 times. Even though my practice was at a very high level. The effect of Amma took my higher self into a different dimension. A mother touch is not replaceable. We saw Amma together. She was delighted to see us. I gave her my guru Brahmananda 40 year ashram anniversary book. She recognized him right away, and the book put a smile to her face. Then somebody from her disciples said, 'they are from Sivananda ashram'. Amma got really excited, because she could relate to people living in yoga ashrams. She gave us the best darshan, a marvelous healing, 5 indriyas, eyes, nose, taste, hearing and heart. I could see her taking my pain on herself. She said, 'my son, my son, my son' three times in my ears. She gave us chocolate to eat. She smelled great. The eyes fixed upon her and a beautiful hug to the heart. Right at that moment, I felt she took the guru blessings from Brahmananda, and now she has passed the blessings to me. The second time I saw Amma, I wanted to make her my guru and take a mantra from her. I waited in line to see her. When I got on stage, I picked an avatar mantra from her, which was perhaps hard to find. Her disciples were busy searching for the mantra. I was standing and waiting. Then Amma looks at me and gives a signal, "why don't you sit down?" I sat right next to Amma, feeling like a king, looking at all the people that came to visit her. Then she gave me the mantra and 5 indriyas darshan again. I then went upstairs to meet with her disciples, for instructions on proper use of the mantra. When I walked out, my friend looked at me and she said, 'Bilal, I can see stars coming out of your aura'. The third time I went to see Amma, she recognized me right away. This time after darshan, she gave me a vishnu symbol, mark of a snake on my forehead. Vishnu concurred all the urges within and became a master of the kundalini within the body. I could relate because all of my work in yoga is related to chakras. I was validated at that moment, that she could see my practice through my aura. When I went to eat in the cafe later in her ashram, one of her disciples pointed out, 'She gave you a Vishnu symbol!' Moving forward, after living almost 3 years in yoga ashrams, 14 years altogether in yoga and chakra practice, I moved to live with the zen master. Zen master, a vegan and water specialized, a living buddha on earth. Zen master got me into strict food and water diet. I then went back to see Amma. Amma allows milk and dairy, Zen master doesn't. As soon as I walked in the big hall room where Amma was, I heard her priest say, "Drink milk. Be celibate because your relationships don't work" to the audience. This turned me off right away. I realized that most people health issues at the ashrams are related to overconsumption of dairy products. I waited for her darshan, all the way to my turn, but something told me to walk away. I didn't want a darshan from her, having those thoughts in the back of my mind. I left and on the way, I saw a person in his truck, asking me, 'hey, where do I get a Amma darshan?' I showed him the way and gave him my ticket. This was his first darshan. At that point, I validated Zen master to be highest practice human being on earth.