Nirmala Srivastava

Shri Mataji Nirmala Srivastava (or Shrivastava) or Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (born March 21, 1923 in Chindawara, India) is the founder of Sahaja Yoga.

Background

Nirmala Srivastava was born to Christian parents, Prasad and Cornelia Salve, having descended from the royal Shalivahana dynasty. Her parents named her Nirmala, which means "immaculate."

Nirmala Srivastava says that in her youth she occasionally visited the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi. Like her parents, she was involved in the Indian independence movement; as a young woman she was a youth leader, and participated in the Quit India Movement.

Shortly before India achieved independence Nirmala married Chandrika Prasad Srivastava and had two daughters.

Nirmala Srivastava has stated that the potential for all humanity to gain spiritual self awareness was realised on May 5, 1970, which she characterizes as a "historical process of en-masse self-realization and inner transformation". She claims that prior to this day it was possible to attain self-realisation as Buddha did, but this required much penance, introspection and meditation before the understanding of the 'Self' was attained.

Since the 1970s Nirmala Srivastava has traveled across the world spreading Sahaja Yoga. She is the founder of Sahaja Yoga International or "Vishwa Nirmala Dharma", an NGO aimed at building social projects, promoting culture through music and art, and teaching Sahaja Yoga meditation.

Activities

Nirmala Srivastava has delivered lectures around the world, given television and radio interviews, and has been the subject of newspaper articles. She has also at various occasions spoken at the Royal Albert Hall in London during conferences on Sahaja Yoga.

International honors

She was declared "Personality of the Year" in 1986 by the Italian government. In 1994, the mayor of Brazil's capital city, who sponsored her programs, welcomed her at the airport and presented her with the key to the city. In 1995, the Indian government allowed her a one-hour primetime television series to be broadcast nationally. That year she was also an official guest of the Chinese government, was invited to speak at the International Women's Conference in Beijing, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in Cognitive and Parapsychological Sciences by the Romanian Ecological University. She was given a proclamation by the U.S. Congress in 1997.

She has been recognized and greeted by mayors or city officials in North America, including Cincinnati, Ohio in 1992; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993; Los Angeles, California in 1993 and 1994; British Columbia in 1994; Yonkers, New York in 1994 and 1996; Berkeley, California in 1997 and Salt Lake City, Utah in 2003.

Criticism

Critics take issue with some of Srivastava's historical claims. Other criticisms focus on Srivastava's and Sahaja Yoga's claims that Sahaja Yoga is a "unique method of meditation" for which there is never a charge.

External links

Official and favourable websites

Critical web resources

Facts & warnings from ex-members - critical website
Talk About Sahaja Yoga - discussion forum run by critics.

New religious movements | Yogis | Indian people

Mataji Nirmala Devi | Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi | Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi | Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi | Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi