Background
Nirmala Srivastava said that she was born self-realised. She was born in a Christian family. Nirmala Srivastava descended from the royal Shalivahana/Satavahana dynasty.
Nirmala Srivastava said that she was born self-realised. She was born in a Christian family. Nirmala Srivastava descended from the royal Shalivahana/Satavahana dynasty.
On the 5th of May, 1970 she began her spiritual life-work. Aged 47 years, she had found a way and worked out a method of giving en masse self-realization. She desired to offer a genuine experience which people could use to transform and heal themselves, unlike many so-called gurus who took advantage of those seeking spiritual knowledge. She denounced such false gurus and would throughout her life warn against fraudulent and abusive spiritual practices.
With her husband as Secretary General of the UN International Maritime Organization in London, Nirmala began her spiritual work with a small group of people, and started touring the United Kingdom giving programs consisting of lectures as well as the experience of self-realization. She never charged money for these programs, insisting that the awakening of the spiritual energy dormant within all human beings was their birthright and thus could not be paid for. Soon Nirmala was addressed with the honorific title Shri Mataji, meaning "Respected Mother", as those around her came to recognize her exceptional spiritual and motherly qualities.
The method of meditation through self-realization developed by Shri Mataji was called Sahaja Yoga. Shri Mataji toured throughout Europe, Australia, and North America continuously in the 1980s, teaching this method free of charge to all who were interested. The 1990s saw her travels spreading to South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific region. After moving to London with her husband, Nirmala Srivastava worked with seven London hippies who became the first Western Sahaja Yogis.
Nirmala Srivastava gave numerous public lectures, pujas, and interviews to newspapers, television and radio. In 2004 the official website of Sahaja Yoga announced that Nirmala Srivastava had completed her work.
1. Connect to the power that created you in order to know the meaning of life.
2. You are beyond the body and mind — the greatest truth is that you are the spirit.
3. One has to know the spirit in order to know the truth.
4. Meditation is the only way to grow. The growth of awareness takes place in the silence of thoughtless awareness.
"I saw my kundalini rising very fast like a telescope opening out and it was a beautiful color that you see when the iron is heated up, a red rose color, but extremely cooling and soothing."
Her father, a scholar of fourteen languages, translated the Koran to Marathi.
She was the first woman in India to receive an honours degree in mathematics.
He was a high-ranking Indian civil servant who later served Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as Joint Secretary and was bestowed an honorary KCMG by Elizabeth II. The couple had two daughters, Kalpana Srivastava and Sadhana Varma.
