Paper short abstract:

This paper tries to understand role of Mata Amritanandamayi Math’s (MAM- a global Hindu FBO from Kerala, India) vision of ‘selfless service to humanity’ and the model of faith inspired development emanating therefrom, towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India.

Paper long abstract:

The emerging field of research on religion and development has opened up a new array of questions regarding the developmental potential of religion and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in the contemporary world. Religion plays an unprecedentedly significant role and has deeper roots in everyday social life in India today. Though there are a good number of studies on International Islamic and Christian FBOs involved in humanitarian activities, there is a dearth of academic works that focus on Hindu FBOs in India. Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM) is a global Hindu FBO from Kerala, India, led by a spiritual guru named Mata Amritanandamayi. In contrast to the western-secular models, MAM offers a path of development inspired by Hindu values of seva-selfless service to humanity and love. This paper tries to critically understand the role of MAM and the model of faith inspired development emanating therefrom towards realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India. It also attempts to locate MAM among the other Hindu religious and spiritual leaders and community organizations in the trajectory of the renowned development path of Kerala often termed as ‘Kerala model of Development’. Additionally, given the history of Kerala’s state supported, welfare oriented developmental experience, this paper also seeks explore how can such new modes of developmental initiatives and resource mobilizations redraw the contours of development theory and practice in Kerala.