100th Birthday of Beloved Guru and Mother: Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi , Founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

Humanitarian and Mother to All

Early life Shri Mataji was born at noon on the Spring Equinox of March 21, 1923 in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, the center  of India. She was raised in a Christian family by two well-educated, loving parents, who actively advocated and fought for India’s independence. Her family and those she encountered could sense her depth and spiritual inclination, even as a young child. So much so that in 1930, at the age of seven, Shri Mataji gave a speech at  Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram in India. In the 1940’s Shri Mataji attended the Christian Medical College in Lahore, India (now Pakistan) to study medicine. In 1947, Shri Mataji married Chandrika Prasad Srivastava. Shri Mataji and Mr. Srivastava had two daughters, first, Kalpana, later followed by the birth of their second daughter, Sadhana, in 1950. Shri Mataji was a dedicated wife and mother and poured herself into her family for the next two decades.

An awakening On May 5, 1970, while meditating on the problems of humanity on the shores of Nargol, India, Shri Mataji awakened mankind’s collective energy center of the Sahastrara and developed the meditation technique of Sahaja Yoga. She believed enlightenment and spirituality was a human right, not to be made into a business, and that it was what humanity was seeking and needing. After developing this technique, she spent the rest of her life giving self-realization (the awakening of one’s own subtle system) using her own resources. She traveled throughout Europe, Australia and North America, South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.

The followers of Shri Mataji and her technique prepare to honor her, as what would have been her 100th birthday approaches. One of the practitioners of this meditation, also known as a “sahaja yogi”, shared that, “Shri Mataji did more for humanity than we could ever repay her for. Her love, guidance, and her great efforts to give humanity this gift of Sahaja Yoga, has changed hundreds of thousands of lives for the better. Shri Mataji gave each of us the opportunity to truly know thyself and have our true rebirth, or “baptism”. To celebrate her life we will share her message and will give seekers their self-realization.”

Sahaja Yoga Today Sahaja Yoga Meditation is practiced across the world in over one-hundred countries with  roots in Houston dating back to the early eighties. Shri Mataji visited the city to share her technique and help seekers establish their meditation on several occasions. The Sahaja Yoga Houston meditation center opened its doors in West Houston in 2018 where the volunteers began to host free classes and seminars for the community. Before opening their own center they held these classes in libraries and community centers across the city, in which they still do today. For a list of weekly classes you can visit their website at www.houston-meditation.org.

Once one gets their self-realization, to receive the most benefit, it is to be nurtured through meditation, also referred to as thoughtless awareness.

Shri Mataji’s words on thoughtless awareness.

“You are aware, but you are thoughtless. That is the place where you are in the present and you are peaceful. That is the state where you grow spiritually.

Thoughtless awareness is the first beautiful state you have to achieve. It will give you peace and a witness state to enjoy the drama of life, to enjoy the different varieties of people while you are growing within yourself.

You enjoy whatever is created beautifully. You do not think about it. You do not react. The reaction is that there is joy. What a beauty it is. You do not think who has made it, how much it will cost – nothing. You become thoughtless.  And thoughtless awareness is nothing but such a pouring sense of joy – joy which is neither happiness or unhappiness, but singular.

You cannot describe it in words, but you can really feel it inside yourself, that joy of being the Self. When you become thoughtless, then you can see and feel reality.”

To get your self-realization and learn how to meditate, join Sahaja Yoga practitioners at the meditation center in West Houston at, 4510 C Hwy 6 North, Houston, TX 77084.

Contact: houstonsy@outlook.com