Remembering an extraordinary mother

Affectionately called 'Shri Mataji', founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation, Nirmala Devi Shrivastava devoted herself to bringing spiritual awakening and inner peace to everyone she embraced during her travels around the world

As the Earth crosses the equinox, marking a unique day when day and night are in balance, practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation worldwide celebrate the birthday of the founder, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Shrivastava, affectionately known as 'Shri Mataji' (meaning 'respected mother' in India), on March 21, who, taught thousands of people across the world how to achieve balance and equanimity in their minds, attention, hearts, and bodies through her unique discovery of en-masse Self-Realisation.

Self-Realisation is a spontaneous and effortless process, which involves the awakening of inner Kundalini energy, leading individuals into a state of meditation. She named this practice Sahaja Yoga, with 'Sahaja' meaning simple in Hindi. Importantly, Shri Mataji never accepted money for teaching Sahaja Yoga meditation. She always maintained that meditation is a natural and living process originating from the divine power of love and cannot be sold.

Sahaja Yoga meditation works on our inner subtle system, which has seven energy centres (called chakra, in Sanskrit) and three channels (called naadi, in Sanskrit). The Kundalini energy is a motherly spiritual energy which governs and manages this subtle system. These centres are the root and source of all our qualities, health and wellbeing. We use these energies in our life and owing to our lifestyle and habits we may develop some weaknesses which could result in physical or mental issues such as hyper-tension, anxiety, blood pressure, diabetes, migraine, ADHD, depression, schizophrenia and in some extreme cases cancer, Parkinson's diseases, suicidal tendencies etc. The Kundalini remains in dormant state until the individual desires its awakening and he/she has a true spiritual guide to help with the awakening. The awakening happens effortlessly and spontaneously, without the need of any concentration or any such mental/physical hardships and brings the individual into the state of balance, peace and joy effortlessly by following a few simple steps of Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Kundalini is an autonomous motherly living power and works to rejuvenate stressed or weakened channels and centres. Daily habit of meditating 15 minutes morning and evening proves very effective.

Shri Mataji, born in 1923, was an active youth member in India’s freedom struggle and stayed with Mahatma Gandhi in his ashram and worked with him. Her father PK Salve, was an active freedom fighter and member of Indian National Congress. He became a member of parliament in the first parliament after India's independence in 1947. Same year, she married Sir CP Shrivastava, who, later on in life, went on to become secretary to prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964-66) and secretary-general of UN's International Maritime Organisation (1974-1989). Sir CP was also conferred with knighthood by Queen Elizabeth and third highest civilian award 'Padma Bhushan'. She had two daughters and four grandchildren and was dearly loved and respected by all. Shri Mataji began her work of teaching Sahaja Yoga Meditation from 5th May 1970 from India. She travelled to numerous cities and countries over the next 40 years, to share the experience and knowledge of her unique discovery. Today, Sahaja Yoga practitioners from over 100 countries take benefits from her technique.

She was awarded the UN Peace prize (1989) and invited four times (1990-94) at the UN to speak about the ways and means to achieve world peace. She was nominated twice for the Nobel peace prize and an official guest at the UN International Women's Conference, China (1995). For the humanitarian impact and scientific corroboration of Sahaja Yoga meditation, Shri Mataji was recognised and awarded by institutions and governments across the world, such as 'Personality of the Year' by the Italian Government and September 26 proclaimed 'Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Day' in New York. With several scientific researches conducted with Sahaja Yoga giving strong scientific evidences toward mental and physical health benefits, Shri Mataji received Honorary Doctorate in Cognitive Science by Ecological University Bucharest (Romania), Honorary Membership of the Petrovskaya Academy of Art and Science, Russia (Only twelve people have been granted this honour, Einstein being one of them). She was awarded honorary citizenship of Italy in 2006.

To treat people who are suffering from serious health issues, through Sahaja Yoga meditation, she established International SY Research and Health Centre, Mumbai and Noida, India. Hypertension, Bronchial Asthma, Diabetes, Infertility, Epilepsy, Thyroid Carcinoma, Migraine, Epilepsy, Depression and Cancer have been cured at these health centres. Shri Mataji often said that when the Kundalini rises, it cures the inner subtle system and as a byproduct the person gets mental and physical health benefits. Out of her compassion towards destitute women and children, she established a charitable organisation, in Greater Noida, India, to help them find a new way in life.

In the UAE, Shri Mataji visited and held Self Realisation public meetings several times between 1997 and 2007. Sahaja Yoga has been practised in the UAE for more than 20 years. The community of practitioners meet once a week for a collective meditation meeting, conducted voluntarily. Introductory sessions are also held, free of charge, to guide interested individuals with experience and knowledge of Self Realisation and meditation. Voluntary stress management meditation sessions have been successfully conducted in corporates, govt organisations and schools, such as Sobha Reality, KPMG, RAK Ceramics, MHAY Khoory, Indian consulate (Dubai), Al Rashidiya Hospital, Dubai Police Officers Club, Dubai Prison, Millenium School, DPS Sharjah, DPS Dubai etc.

She passed away peacefully on February 23, 2011, in Genoa, Italy, aged 87.

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