Sripuram, a magnificent, 100-acre spiritual park, was consecrated on August 24, 2007. Sripuram, translated to mean a “place of peace,” is devoted to the awakening of individual and global spiritual consciousness. Sri Sakthi Amma envisioned Sripuram as an “inspiration to man to find divinity within.” Recognizing one’s own divinity and seeing the divine in all life forms is central to Sri Sakthi Amma’s teachings. An estimated 10,000 people freely visit Sripuram daily, going as high as 70,000 – 120,000 pilgrims on weekends. By the end of its first year, approximately 6 million people from all over the world visited Sripuram and all the visitors are offered food.
Visitors may initially travel to Sripuram to see the world’s largest golden temple. However, Sri Sakthi Amma designed Sripuram so that they must first walk along a star-shaped path which surrounds the temple. As people slowly make their way to the golden temple, they are exposed to some basic spiritual truths. Sri Sakthi Amma’s teachings are posted in several languages on 300 message boards along the star path. People naturally notice and read the messages as they make their way to the temple. Trees, plants, waterways, and music combine to create receptivity to the spiritual lessons, reminding visitors of the true purpose of the human life.
Sri Sakthi Amma often uses the analogy of a mother caring for a sick child to explain the way Sripuram works. If a child is sick, the child is often unaware of the illness, let alone that there is medicine that can provide a cure. It is the mother who knows which medicine will cure her child and that by candy-coating the medicine, the child will happily take it. The child is happy because he or she has enjoyed the sweetness of the candy, and the mother is happy because her child has taken the medicine and will begin to get better. Sripuram is designed to work the same way. The candy-coating is the golden temple; the spiritual wisdom is transformative medicine for the soul.