Nirmala Srivastava

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Nirmala Srivastava (more widely known as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi) is the founder of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement.[1] She has proclaimed that she is the complete[2]incarnation of the Adi Shakti, and is worshiped as such.[3]

Contents

Early life

Nirmala Srivastava was born on March 21, 1923 in Chindawara, India to Christian parents, Prasad and Cornelia Salve. She says that she is descended from the royal Shalivahana/Satavahana dynasty.[4] The Salve surname is one of a number included in the Satavahana Maratha clan. Her parents named her Nirmala, which means "immaculate."[5] She says that she was born self-realised.[4]

Nirmala Srivastava passed her childhood years in the family house in Nagpur.[6] In her youth she stayed in the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi.[7] Like her parents, she was involved in the Indian independence movement;[7] as a young woman she was a youth leader, and participated in the Quit India Movement.[8][9] She also studied at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana and the Balakram Medical College in Lahore.[6]

Shortly before India achieved independence in 1947, Nirmala married Chandrika Prasad Srivastava.[8] They have two daughters, Kalpana Srivastava[10] and Sadhana Varma.[11] In 1961, Nirmala Srivastava launched the ‘Youth Society for Films’ to infuse national, social and moral values in young people. She was also a member of the Film Censor Board.[6]

Sahaja Yoga begins

Nirmal Srivastava is known to have been concerned with the damage being done to society by 'false Gurus' [12] and because of this visited a meditation camp in Nargol that was presided over by Acharya Rajneesh (later known as Osho). She "was shocked to see him loot people under the guise of spirituality" [13] and said that he was mesmerizing people.[14] The camp ran from the 2nd to the 5th May 1970, and Rajneesh led sessions in an early form of dynamic meditation, discoursed on Kundalini and other matters, and answered a question about 'Sahaja Yoga'.[15] Judith Coney confirms that Nirmala Srivastava can be seen in a video of the camp.[16] Sudhir Kakar wrote that Nirmala Srivastava was "closely associated" with Rajneesh in her "apprenticeship years".[17] Nirmala Srivastava said that she had also visited Muktananda and that Rajneesh was 'very much after' her.[18] Interviewed in the movie "Nirmala Devi: Freedom and Liberation", Nirmala Srivastava said that these supposed spiritual people were greedy and promiscuous rather than spiritual and that this caused her to give up hopes and begin searching within herself.[19]

Nirmala Srivastava says that while in Nargol, on May 5, 1970, she witnessed the rising of the Primiordial Kundalini. Later she described the experience as follows: "I saw my kundalini rising very fast like a telescope opening out and it was a beautiful color that you see when the iron is heated up, a red rose color, but extremely cooling and soothing."[20] She has stated that the potential for all humanity to gain spiritual self awareness was realized at this time, which she characterizes as a "historical process of en-masse self-realization and inner transformation". Soon after she founded Sahaja Yoga in Bombay.

Spreading of Sahaja Yoga

In 1972 Nirmala Srivastava sailed to the U.S. and warned against false gurus.[6] In 1974 Chandrika Prasad Srivastava was elected to serve as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency based in London, serving a record 4 successive 4-year terms as Secretary-General from 1974 to 1989. Nirmala Srivastava worked on seven London hippies who became the first Western Sahaja Yogis.[6] In 1979 Nirmala Srivastava declared herself to be the complete incarnation of the Adi (Primordial) Shakti or Holy Spirit to her devotees.[21] She has also claimed to be Maitreya and the Mahdi.[22] Nirmala Srivastava is described as "a simple Indian housewife... with a motherly and compassionate personality" in one introductory Sahaja Yoga flyer.[23]

In 1980 Nirmala Srivastava first toured Europe spreading Sahaja Yoga and in 1981 she toured Malaysia, Australia and North America – many other countries were to follow.[6] In 1989, after the lifting of the Iron Curtain, Nirmala Srivastava began visiting Eastern Europe where Sahaja Yoga spread quickly.[6] In 1995, Nirmala Srivastava was awarded an honorary doctorate in Cognitive and Parapsychological Sciences by the Ecological University of Bucharest, Romania.[24] Also in 1995, Nirmala Srivastava gave a speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.[25] Official documents do not mention Nirmala Srivastava by name, but list Sahaja Yoga International as one of the 2100 NGOs in attendance.[26]

Partial retirement

Until 2004, during her travels, Nirmala Srivastava gave numerous public lectures, pujas, and interviews to newspapers, television and radio. In 2004 the official website of Sahaja Yoga announced that Nirmala Srivastava had completed her work.[27] As of 2008, she continues to be worshipped at pujas.[28]

2007 Indian national flag controversy

On 17 August 2005 the official Sahaja Yoga website reported that, on the eve on India's independence day, "an Indian flag was offered to Her and a prayer was recited for the divine blessings and protection of India." [29] In 2007, two images showing the Indian national flag at the feet of Niramala Srivastava (with her husband seated beside) were circulated on the social network Orkut causing shock and outrage.[30] Going by amendments introduced in 2003 to India's 1971 Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, which specifically mention allowing the national flag to touch the ground or the floor, this was a punishable offence.[31] Following this upsurge of anger,[30] Rajendra Kumar, a trustee of Sahaja Yoga Trust issued an apology on behalf of Nirmala Devi stating that the Sahaja Yogis have the "highest and deepest respect" for the National Flag. The apology further stated:[32]

“ Possibly, at an Independence Day function held abroad, some foreigner Sahaja Yogi brought our Flag and without meaning any disrespect, kept it on the ground. The Flag was respectfully removed immediately on being noticed. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi asks us all to respect the National Flags of all countries. This unintended but serious mistake is greatly regretted. Not even the slightest disrespect to our National Flag will ever be tolerated. To all those whose feelings have been hurt by this wholly unintended and unfortunate error, we express the assurance that we fully share their anguish and we extend our deeply felt and sincerest regrets and unqualified apologies. ”


References

  1. ^ Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999)
  2. ^ ::Sahaja Yoga-Tamil:: Adi Sakthi By Thirumoolar
  3. ^ Invitation to Shri Adi Shakti Puja 2005
  4. ^ a b Who is Shri Mataji?
  5. ^ H.P.Salve, My memoirs (New Delhi: LET, 2000), chapter 1
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Biography at shrimataji.net
  7. ^ a b H.P.Salve, My memoirs (New Delhi: LET, 2000), chapter 1
  8. ^ a b H.P.Salve, My memoirs (New Delhi: LET, 2000), chapter 4
  9. ^ A message for one and all, The Hindu, April 7, 2003 [1]
  10. ^ Portraits of former IMO Secretaries-General unveiled
  11. ^ Ascent to the Divine: Himalaya Kailasa-Manasarovar in Scripture, Art and Thought
  12. ^ About Shri Mataji Canadian website. "Corruption and hypocrisy in the religions, and false Gurus' (mainly from India) tantric teachings also contributed to attacking the morality and innocence of society"
  13. ^ About Shri Mataji Canadian website. "She eventually consented to visit a seminar of a professor of philosophy called Rajneesh, in Nargol on May 4th, 1970."
  14. ^ Mathur, Rakesh (1990) "The Russians' Love for Yoga" Hinduism Today Vol 12(10) p7 "I was shocked because he was mesmerizing people".
  15. ^ Osho, In Search of the Miraculous Vol 1 "Sahaja yoga is the most difficult of the yogas, because there is nothing more difficult than to be sahaja -- effortless, natural and spontaneous. What is the meaning of sahaja? Sahaja means: let whatever happens happen, don't resist it. Of course, it is the best, but it is also very difficult. Because nothing is more difficult for man than to be natural..." [ch 8, 5 May pm]
  16. ^ Coney, Judith (1999) Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement, (London: Curzon Press) ISBN 0-7007-1061-2 p 220
  17. ^ Kakar, Sudhir (1984) Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and Its Healing Traditions, ISBN 0-226-42279-8 p 202 "A demonic guru such as Rajneesh (with whom Mataji in her apprenticeship years was once closely associated) can turn the chakra toward the left side"
  18. ^ Mathur, Rakesh (1990) "The Russians' Love for Yoga" Hinduism Today Vol 12(10) p7 "I went to see Swami Muktananda and all of them. I went to see this Rajneesh, who was very much after me."
  19. ^ Director/Writer: Carolin Dassel, "Nirmala Devi: Freedom and Liberation - Ein Leben für die Freiheit", A film by Carolin Dassel / produced by devifilm GbR / Carolin Dassel, Joseph Reidinger / Co-Production with University of Munich Television and Film and Bayerischer Rundfunk Claudia Gladziejewski, 2006 "Then I started going to different people supposed to be preaching about spirituality, talking about spirituality. But what I found they themselves were not spiritual. Very greedy, trying to want everything, running after women... I said what sort of things these are? If they are like this, what are they going to teach me? So I gave up hopes. Then I started searching myself, within myself. And one day in a forest I was with lots of people who were seeking and I went near the big sea and there I was sitting. And suddenly a light came into me and I saw it clearly that I am a satisfied soul. I don't need anything, I don't want anything. And that is the time when I saw a few things happening."
  20. ^ Gregoire de Kalbermatten, The Advent (daisyamerica: 2003)
  21. ^ Guru Puja. 2 December 1979. Dollis Hill Ashram, London, UK "But today it is the day I declare I am the One who have to save the humanity. I declare I am the One who is Adi Shakti [Holy Spirit] - who is the Mother of all Mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti [power] of the Desire of God - who has incarnated on this Earth to give meaning to itself, to this creation, to human beings, and I am sure that through My Love and Patience and My Powers I am going to achieve it. I was the One who was born again and again. But now I have come in My complete Form and with complete Powers."
  22. ^ Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Their Jihads, and Osama Bin Laden 2005 by Timothy R. Furnish & Michael Rubin, p165 "currently there is a woman named Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, born a Christian in Maharashtra, India, claiming to be the Mahdi, Maitreya (a Buddhist messianic figure), and Comforter (Christian terminology for the Holy Spirit), as well as a Hindu divine avatar. Needless to say, her following in the Muslim world is at best limited."
  23. ^ Sahaja Yoga Meditation
  24. ^ http://www.sahajayoga.org.br/awards.txt
  25. ^ Beijing Talk - Self Realization through Sahaja Yoga
  26. ^ Annex I ATTENDANCE
  27. ^ We Want The World To Know... "Shri Mataji has completed Her work"
  28. ^ Invitation to Adi Shakti Puja
  29. ^ India's Independence Day Celebration with Shri Mataji and highlights from a Flute concert
  30. ^ a b "Indian flag placed at feet", The Asian Age, Friday, December 28, 2007
  31. ^ "KEEP THE FLAG FLYING" The Calcutta Telegraph, 30 May 2007
  32. ^ Mata Nirmala Devi's Sahaj Yoga Trust apologizes over disrespect to tricolour

Bibliography

  • Mataji Shri Nirmala Devi, Meta Modern Era (New Delhi: Ritana Books, 1997) ISBN 81-852-500-19
  • Pullar, Philippa (1984) The Shortest Journey, ISBN 0-04-291018-8
  • Kakar, Sudhir (1984) Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and Its Healing Traditions, ISBN 0-226-42279-8
  • Coney, Judith (1999) Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement, (London: Curzon Press) ISBN 0-7007-1061-2
  • H.P.Salve [Nirmala Srivastava's brother], My memoirs (New Delhi: LET Books, 2000)
  • Gregoire de Kalbermatten, The Advent (Bombay, 1979: reprint: New York: daisyamerica, 2002) ISBN 1-932496-00-X
  • Gregoire de Kalbermatten, The Third Advent (New York: daisyamerica, 2003; Melbourne: Penguin Australia, 2004; Delhi: Penguin India, 2004) ISBN 1-932406-07-7

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