Who is Sahaja Yoga copying from anyway?

July 30, 2007

" Contrary to what SYs may think as ignorance, i am aware of thisChopra controversy. That was when i attended the Shri Adi ShaktiPuja, June 18 - 20, 1999 at Canajoharie, New York.

i remember the collective shoe-beating session which was followed byme till it came to Chopra. The SYogini explained that Shri Mataji wastold about how Chopra was copying Sahaja Yoga and its techniques.

i found it difficult to comprehend exactly how Chopra had done sobecause i used to browse so many books at stores in my search forTruth. i never found any resemblance to Sahaja Yoga. "

Dear All,

The claim that other people copy Sahaja Yoga and its techniques is rather questionable and quite controversial. Shri Mataji has Herself admitted that Sahaja Yoga is ancient and is derived from the scriptures and puranas of centuries past. So it is more likely for one to say that the precepts of Sahaja Yoga are copied from the ancient vedas and the puranas. But this may not even be so; the precepts and terminology of certain aspects of Sahaja Yoga may be traced to even more recent sources.

Recently I have been reading up on Shri Ramana Maharshi who was a topic on this forum some time back. See /message/7190

.. From the life and teachings of Shri Ramana Maharshi one can find many concepts and ideas adopted by Sahaja Yoga and of which most of us are not aware unless we are ready to open our minds and read widely.

Let us start with the term 'Sahaja.' Shri Ramana used this term to describe what he called sahaja samadhi: " But the samadhi I speak to you about is different. It is sahaja samadhi. In this state you remain calm and composed during activity. You realise that you are moved by the deeper Real Self within and are unaffected by

what you do or say or think. You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done by something with which you are in conscious union. "

(pg. 193, Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words*)

Could the following quotation be the inspiration for the term Vishwa Nirmala Dharma?: " Then everything one does becomes spontaneous and natural (sahaja-dharma), and that is the universal religion (viswa-dharma), so inner experience and the outer life become co-ordinated in Integral Existence. That is pure Devotion (bhakti), true Yoga, and Full Knowledge (purna-jnana). "

(pg. 84, At the Feet of Bhagavan*)

The cool breeze that Sahaja Yogis endlessly perorate about? Note the following quotation: " When one gets the company of holy men, there is no need for religious austerities. When cool breeze blows, where is the need for a fan? "

(pg. 680, Letters from Sri Ramanasramam*)

In introductory talks, Shri Mataji used to talk about the gap between two thoughts where exists thoughtless awareness, nirvichara. This is really quite an ancient idea. Note this quotation from the Jnana Vasishtha: " Between two thoughts there is an interval of no thought. That interval is the Self, the Atman. It is pure Awareness only. "

(The Maharshi, Jul/Aug 1991, http://arunachala.org/newsletters/web-pages/)

Shri Ramana has also made the following quotation involving the Holy Ghost which Sahaja Yogis can readily agree with: " Egolessness, Love, the Holy Ghost and Spirit are all names of one and the same thing, the Self. " (pg. 204, Maha Yoga of Bhagavan Sri Ramana*)

Then again Shri Mataji has also said that Sahaja Yoga is Maha Yoga. The title of the above-mentioned book has already used the term Maha Yoga and it was published decades ago.

So from the above it can be seen that before we accuse others of stealing ideas from Sahaja Yoga we have to understand that Sahaja Yoga has itself also borrowed quite extensively from other sources.

Chandra

*The books mentioned can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/Allpub.html