Sahaja Yoga

Sahaja Yoga
Sahaja Yoga
Founder	Nirmala Srivastava (aka Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi)
Established	5 May 1970
Practice emphases
	kundalini, meditation, self-realization

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]

^ "Experience Your Self Realization". sahajayoga.org. Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
^ Jones, Lindsey, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA [Imprint]. ISBN 978-0-02-865997-8.
^ ^a ^b ^c Coney, Judith (1999). Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Movement. Richmond: Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-1061-2.
^ "Sahaja Yoga founder Nirmala Devi is dead". The Indian Express. Express News Service. 25 February 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017.
^ Srivastava, Nirmala (1989). Sahaja Yoga Book One (2nd ed.). Australia: Nirmala Yoga.^{[non-primary source needed]}^{[page needed]}
^ Cite error: The named reference inform was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference kakar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Prophecies and Fulfillments". Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. 7 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017.
^ Cite error: The named reference be-advisory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference jma was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[sahajayoga-1] "Experience Your Self Realization". sahajayoga.org. Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.

[2] Jones, Lindsey, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA [Imprint]. ISBN 978-0-02-865997-8.

[coney1999-3] Coney, Judith (1999). Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Movement. Richmond: Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-1061-2.

[:0-4] "Sahaja Yoga founder Nirmala Devi is dead". The Indian Express. Express News Service. 25 February 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017.

[Sahaja_Yoga_Book_1-5] Srivastava, Nirmala (1989). Sahaja Yoga Book One (2nd ed.). Australia: Nirmala Yoga.^{[non-primary source needed]}^{[page needed]}

[inform-6] Cite error: The named reference inform was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[kakar-7] Cite error: The named reference kakar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:3-8] "Prophecies and Fulfillments". Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. 7 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017.

[be-advisory-9] Cite error: The named reference be-advisory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[jma-10] Cite error: The named reference jma was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]