Sahaja Yoga | |
---|---|
Founder | Nirmala Srivastava (aka Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi) |
Established | 5 May 1970 |
Practice emphases | |
kundalini, meditation, self-realization[1] |
Sahaja Yoga (सहज योग) is a religion founded in 1970 by Nirmala Srivastava (1923–2011).[2] Nirmala Srivastava is known as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (trans: Revered Immaculate Mother) or simply as "Mother" by her followers, who are called Sahaja yogis.[3][4]
Practitioners believe that during meditation they experience a state of self-realization produced by kundalini awakening, and that this is accompanied by the experience of thoughtless awareness or mental silence.[5]
Shri Mataji described Sahaja Yoga as the pure, universal religion integrating all other religions.[3] She claimed that she was a divine incarnation,[6] more precisely an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, or the Adi Shakti of the Hindu tradition, the great mother goddess who had come to save humanity.[3][7] This is also how she is regarded by most of her devotees.[8] Sahaja Yoga has sometimes been characterized as a cult.[9][10]
inform
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).kakar
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).be-advisory
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).jma
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).