Sahaja Yoga

Inner Awakening through Self-Realization & Meditation

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi is unique in the history of spirituality because she is the first and only one to offer the experience of self-realization en masse. She declared that it is the birthright of all human beings – regardless of religion, race, nationality or circumstance – to receive their self-realization. She also insisted that one cannot pay for the truth or for self-knowledge, thus self-realization has always been, and continues to be, offered free of charge.

Sahaja Yoga meditation is the technique she developed to sustain the awakening experienced through self-realization. The word Sahaja means both ‘spontaneous’ and ‘born with you’, describing this subtle energy (Kundalini) which exists in every human being. Contrary to popular belief, Yoga does not designate a series of exercises or postures, but in fact means ‘to join, to unite’. The individual unites with their true self, or one can say individual consciousness joins with the collective consciousness. When this union occurs, the integrating force of the kundalini brings balance and peace both within and between individuals.

Shri Mataji studied the human condition for many years, looking for a way to unlock the spiritual potential of human beings. On the 5th of May, 1970, while meditating on the seashore in Nargol, India, she experienced the awakening of her own inner primordial energy. Shri Mataji knew then that it was time to make this experience and knowledge accessible to all human beings. She also knew that this experience could not be forced on anyone, that it must be left to the freedom of each individual to decide for themselves if they wanted it or not. She began – at first locally, and eventually globally – to offer self-realization, the awakening of the subtle inner energy known as Kundalini, at her free public lectures.  Shri Mataji would spend hours after these programs with those who desired to meet her, offering advice or correcting their imbalances using the very energy she had just awakened in them.