Author: Maria Wirth
The movie Hanuman Ansch about the life of Neemkaroli Baba has taken India by storm. His life story is indeed amazing, yet not completely unique. India has brought forth many great personalities who were spiritually highly developed from childhood. Amma is another example. The following is a chapter from my book “Thank you India”: A woman in south India gave me the biography of Mata Amritanandamayi or simply Amma. She felt, I should see her. And indeed, Amma’s life story touched me deeply, maybe, because it referred to a time, when I was already on this earth. When she was…
I was recently in Mauritius and discovered a Mata Amritanandamayi ashram in Quatre Bornes, where I happened to visit. But it was closed. I just had a look through the glass door into the darshan hall and took a photo from the building. Soon after, on Facebook, I got under “people you may know” the Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram in Quatre Bornes as a suggestion. It was somehow spooky, how Facebook got to know that I was there so briefly. Yet it encouraged me to read again the chapter on Amma in my book “Thank you India” and decided to put…
I was recently in Mauritius and discovered a Mata Amritanandamayi ashram in Quatre Bornes, where I happened to visit. But it was closed. I just had a look through the glass door into the darshan hall and took a photo from the building. Soon after, on Facebook, I got under “people you may know” the Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram in Quatre Bornes as a suggestion. It was somehow spooky, how Facebook got to know that I was there so briefly. Yet it encouraged me to read again the chapter on Amma in my book “Thank you India” and I decided to…
Today is International Yoga Day. I had written an extensive article for the very first Yoga Day in 2015 and thought, I would shorten the 2600 word-long piece and post the gist of it anew. The reason: I missed in the commentaries on the Yoga Day celebrations the most important goal of yoga, to unite or at least connect and make us familiar with our divine essence (Ayam Atma Brahma), which is the same in everyone. Just when I started to shorten, I had the idea to ask Chat GPT to reduce it to around 600 words. I couldn’t believe…
I had posted my answer 7 months ago and today only I discovered by chance that Quora had removed it. The question was: How do Indian Rishis get knowledge by just meditation? Here is my reply – and I wonder why Quora didn’t like it. I keep wondering about this question since long. My feeling is, in Vedic tradition, human beings are not the ‘crown of the creation’ as in the Abrahamic religions. There are other conscious, intelligent beings apart from humans. The Saptarishis (seven sages) for example are in my view not humans as we are. My feeling is,…
I had once a talk with a college student who sat next to me on a long bus ride. She grew up in a village near Meerut, went to the local Hindi medium school and enjoyed her time in school. But when she went for higher studies, she almost gave up, as English was a big hurdle. Yet after one year struggle, she managed well. She told me that most of her college mates, who had been to English medium schools, had become atheists. Yet she loves her Hindu faith and we had a good conversation about the depth of…
My book “Why Hindu Dharma is under attack by Muslims, Christians and the Left” has now also been published in Hindi by Suruchi Prakashan. Please share this with your friends who prefer to read Hindi. I paste here the introduction, to give you an idea about the book: The world has changed significantly within the last few years. Many of these changes are very concerning, especially the casual talk by some politicians about the possibility of a nuclear war, and the dangers of artificial intelligence, which will not only render many jobless and possibly directly influence our thoughts, but may…
This morning, unexpectedly, a Sadhu whom I had met in Gangotri in 2001 came to my mind. I had written a chapter about him in my first English book “Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga”, published by Garuda Prakashan in 2018. In 2001, my life was in some turmoil, as I had left my Guru and tried to get some clarity. I stayed for three months in Gangotri. I felt, the story of this Sadhu would be inspiring for others, and maybe I should put it on my blog, since not many have…
The below article was published in the “Journal for Indian Thought and Policy Research” (March 2026). The Issue of Conversion: Challenges before Hindu Society Hindu’s Conversion to Abrahamic Religions Abstract The article examines the aggressive proselytization targeting Hindus in India, exposing the socio-political and cultural ramifications of conversions to Abrahamic religions. It highlights the lack of reliable data on conversions, despite documented cases of fraudulent tactics, including financial incentives, “miracle cures,” and exploitation of vulnerable communities. She contrasts Hinduism—an inclusive, philosophy-based tradition emphasizing dharma (righteousness) and universal spiritual truth—with the exclusive, dogmatic nature of Christianity and Islam, which claim sole…
This interview conducted by Varsha Panth from newsgram was via zoom, but my internet connectivity was bad. AI put it into writing. So it is quite long and in very colloquial language. You can scroll and see which Question interests you. Here is the interview, originally published on newsgram: Maria Wirth is a writer and author originally from Germany. She studied psychology at Hamburg University and worked with Lufthansa in her early years, which allowed her to travel across many countries, from Chile to Indonesia. In 1980, Maria came to India for what was meant to be a short stopover…