One can imagine it (figure of Shri Mataji) astride a tiger, bearing a flaming trident

[Guest guest]

MOTHER DIVINE

By Suma Varughese

 

A spiritual guru with a mass following in India and abroad, Mata

Nirmala Devi's USP is her ability to give mass kundalini awakenings,

even granted over cyber space, through Sahaja Yoga

 

The figure on the dais is small built and plump, with a broad fair

face lit with a radiant smile. Framed by streaming locks of black

hair and an enormous red bindi on the forehead, it has an elemental

quality. One can imagine it astride a tiger, bearing a flaming

trident. The face, of course, is familiar, the subject of thousands

of posters plastered all over Mumbai, in Western India, that announce

the arrival of well-known spiritual leader, Mata Nirmala Devi.

 

She has a mass following. Her annual Shivaji Park rallies attract a

hundred thousand acolytes, celebrities jostle with each other for a

sight, and to millions more her word is law. Sahaja Yoga centers dot

86 countries. She has been a guest speaker at the 1995 Beijing World

Women's Conference. For four consecutive years she was invited by the

UN to speak of world peace and in 1989 was awarded the United Nations

Peace Prize. In Russia, research on Sahaja Yoga was granted full

government sponsorship in 1989. In 1995, the government of Bulgaria

honored her with a Peace Award and the Romanian government with an

honorary doctorate in Cognitive Science. What is the secret of her

popularity?

 

Nirmala Devi's appeal is unique. Her USP is her ability to give mass

kundalini awakenings, through a system called Sahaja Yoga or Vishwa

Nirmala Dharma. " If I've done anything worth mentioning, it is the

ability to give collective realization, " she has said on several

occasions.

 

Traditionally, kundalini and its awakening have been shrouded in

mystery and awe. Most seekers view it as the maha shakti (great

power), whose ascent symbolizes the adept's spiritual progress and

manifests in fearful mental and physical experiences. Sages warn

against willfully raising the kundalini, for its premature arousal

can wreck damage. Nirmala Devi, however, makes it appear as easy as

falling off a log, with no damage to one's system. She even grants it

across cyberspace. Visitors to her site are given instructions on how

to raise their kundalini.

 

Indeed, I am here at a meeting with Maharashtra's IAS officers where

she is scheduled to give a demonstration. We are asked to raise our

palms upward, then to place the left hand on the liver while

extending the right towards her, then finally to raise our palms

above our heads. She asks us if we feel any cool air radiating either

from our palms or the top of the heads, which according to her is the

infallible sign of a risen kundalini. The other is thoughtlessness

and peace of mind. In the air-conditioned hall, it is difficult to

gauge whether the cool feeling is from the kundalini, or from a more

temporal source. Nevertheless, I do feel some coolness from up on

top, and I put up my hand when she asks for a hand count. A majority

of the audience feels likewise, I notice. Nirmala Devi explains the

relative ease with which she raises kundalini in the kali yug, the

present Hindu era of darkness. " This is blossom time, " she says,

adding that she has " shortened the seeking " .

 

If kundalini awakening is Mataji's calling card, it is also easily

the most controversial aspect of her teaching. For traditionalists,

it is impossible to believe that one can get self-realization in the

time it takes to have a cup of tea. How valuable is such an

awakening? Do the results last?

 

Willy Doctor, a management consultant and former Head of the

department of Psychology at Sophia College, is a senior disciple of

Mataji. She concedes that the original self-realization may wane

unless followed up regularly with Sahaja Yoga meditation. Raising the

kundalini then is only the initial spark.

 

Sahaja Yoga follows the Indian system of mapping the energy flow in

the body through nadis or channels. According to this theory, prana

or vital energy enters our body through the three channels of ida,

pingala and the sushumna, which run alongside the spinal cord. Ida or

the moon channel is on the left, pingala or the sun channel is on the

right and sushumna is the central channel. According to Nirmala Devi,

when the fetus is two to three months old, a column of rays of

consciousness from the Higher Power passes through the developing

brain to enlighten it, which gets refracted, into these channels.

Entering through the fontanelle bone (the seat of the sahasrara

chakra), the energy passes into the medulla oblongata where it leaves

a thread-like line and settles at the base of the spine in three-and

a-half coils. This is the kundalini. On its way down, the rays

activate six more centers, adding up to the principle seven chakras

running along the spine, regulating the activities of adjacent

organs. The right-hand side of the body is governed by the pingala,

the activity center of the body, creating the ego (equivalent to the

left brain). The left-hand side is governed by the ida and is the

seat of the subconscious (right brain).

 

When the kundalini is awakened, which Mataji says can be done by

anyone whose own kundalini has been awakened, it heals and balances

the over activity of the right and left sides. " In Sahaja Yoga our

dormant spirituality is awakened to achieve true meditation. We are

completely alert, yet our thoughts are slowed down and the mind is

silent. Our hearts are full of joy and love but we are emotionally

detached from what is going on around us. "

 

I walk into a center at Napean Sea Road, Mumbai, India, run by Willy.

Today, she is absent, and a young Angana Shroff puts us through our

paces. The 20-odd meditators are affluent, relatively young and

predominantly women. Angana came in contact with Sahaja Yoga through

Willy three years ago. Says she: " I realize now that it is not what

happens to you but your perspective that really matters. I'm far more

aware of my actions, personality and ego. " Adds Grishma Dattani: " You

know what is appropriate and what is not. Surrendering to Mataji has

saved me from all fears. "

 

Sameer Desai, a young stockbroker, suffered from recurring high fever

when he came in contact with Sahaja Yoga. " After Willy raised my

kundalini, I had no fever for the next three days. " Now fully

recovered, he also claims to be more composed.

 

The Sahaja Yoga brochure says: " Through Sahaja Yoga meditations,

blocks of the subtle body are released, cleansing the chakras and

channels. This practice can be regarded as a sophisticated internal

biofeedback process which demystifies stress, improves health and

heals the harried nervous system. "

 

The organization has opened a hospital in Badlapur, in New Mumbai,

called the Sahaja Yoga Research and Health Center that only treats

ailments with Sahaja Yoga. Set amidst lush green lawns and singing

birds, the three-storeyed structure has a serene charm. Inside, I

meet Dr Hule, an allopath who converted to Sahaja Yoga when he found

that a patient who was also practicing yoga healed much faster than

others did. Dr Hule claims to have cured thousands of asthma and

bronchitis patients. Other diseases receptive to this healing include

diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, migraines, insomnia. Steeping the

foot in warm salted water to dissipate negative energy and the

application of ice on the heat-congested chakras are some other

treatments.

 

Hari Prakash, a software engineer from Hyderabad, has been at the

Center for the last two months. He says: " I was feeling lethargic and

so weak that I could not work. I'm much better now. My blood pressure

and sinus problem are also under control. "

 

Jenny Cook, a care assistant for the learning disabled in the UK, is

here to treat depression after an operation to remove her right

ovary. " I feel much happier now, " she says.

 

So Sahaja Yoga helps its practitioners. But how do you contend with

their assertion that it's the only way to self-realization? One may

add that they are hardly the first organization to make that claim.

Moreover, Mataji is unusually emphatic in denouncing most spiritual

leaders as frauds.

 

According to Willy: " Sahaja Yoga is the only way which gives

enlightenment first and then works its way backwards. The other way,

you may not be liberated for lifetimes; with Sahaja Yoga you are

likely to be so within one lifetime itself. "

 

Mataji asks: " Others say that they give self-realization, but what is

the proof of that? " Her own, she says, can actually be felt within

the palms of the hand and on the crown of the head as well as

experienced as peace. I wonder if vibrations could not be created by

fervent expectation and desire, just as the speaking with tongues is

a unique manifestation of the Pentecostal faith? Man, after all,

makes his own reality. And the common collective experience of a

group is no more proof that it is the only way, than the common human

experience of being bodies disproves our spiritual identity. Both are

only beliefs created by our own certainty about it.

 

To do Mataji credit, however, she reserves her ire for those gurus

who she feels take money for self-realization, or mislead their

disciples in other ways. She says categorically: " It's a living

process, you cannot pay for it. It's your own power which will be

awakened. " She also contends that once the kundalini is awakened, an

individual feels all knowledge at the tips of his fingers. " When you

encounter a bad person or a cheat, your fingertips begin to burn. "

 

The lady herself is said to have " opened sahasrara chakra of the

universe " at a beach in Nargol, near Mumbai on May 5, 1970. She

describes the experience of merging with the divine as a feeling of

cool rain falling upon her. Subsequently, she realized within her the

power of raising mass consciousness. The Sahaja Yoga people have a

portfolio of photographs, accessible on their website, which shows

blinding light or energy emerging from her or surrounding her.

Subsequently, Nirmala Devi started her ministry across the world. But

she is no sanyasi (nun). She is the wife of a top bureaucrat, Sir

C.P. Srivastava, whose illustrious career culminated as the Secretary

General of the UN Maritime Organization. Her two daughters are

married and she has just become a great grandmother.

 

Today, at 77, she spends half her time in a chateau in Italy and the

other half in India. Her Indian abode is in Pune. She is said to be

independently wealthy. Prathisthan, her house, resembles a cross

between a palace and a museum. The entry is lined with bronze statues

of Indian gods and goddesses, and the rooms within are studded with

priceless bric-a brac.

 

Her drawing room is massive, with beautiful carved furniture and

elaborate candelabra. The hall is ringed with a balcony, accessible

through a carved staircase. Nirmala Devi is reputed to have designed

the place herself. We are shown into a portico, overlooking a

beautiful lawn. Mataji is sitting on a sofa. A few chairs have been

laid for us, but the disciples accompanying me sink to the floor,

hands folded in deep reverence. I do likewise. Later, as I try to

rise, my legs feel rubbery. I wobble comically in my attempt to find

my balance. Mataji, with deep concern, holds me and says: " Let me put

my foot on yours. I am Mother Earth. "

 

A great warmth fills my foot and sensation returns. The next day, we

return to say goodbye. Nirmala Devi is having an inventory of her

kitchen vessels (hundreds of them) done, but she meets us with a

smile. When she notices me, she asks with genuine concern how I am.

Feeling my back with her hands, she says: " She is a very emotional

child. "

 

One cannot help warming to her persona, which is affectionate,

natural and motherly. Her fervent patriotism is touching. " What saved

me (as the wife of an IAS officer) from false pride was patriotism.

My husband got into the IFS but I refused to leave the country. I

also told him, 'The day you take a bribe, I will leave you'. "

 

Likewise, her concern for women is genuine. " I have started an

organization to look after destitute Muslim women. If their mothers

and sisters are weeping what will become of the children? " she

asks. " Women should help other women. "

 

One of the ways she addresses it within the organization is through

the inter-marriage of Sahaja Yogis, from across the globe. " Sahaja

Yogis fill up forms and submit them at centers. She selects by

matching their vibrations, " says Willy. " To an outsider some of the

alliances seem wildly improbable, but they work. "

 

Lyn, an Australian working with Mukund Iron and Steel, was married to

Vasudeva on a trip to Ganapatipule in Maharashtra. She says: " Has it

worked? Well, it's the only marriage I've had; we have two children

and we aren't planning to kill each other. My husband tells me that

he was always interested in Australia and knew he would marry an

Australian. As for me, my friends said I would never marry an

Australian. "

 

Other initiatives taken by the group are the Sahaja Yoga school in

Dharamshala, in Northern India, which apart from the academic

curriculum emphasizes the absorption of Indian values. Meditation is

a daily activity. With transformation of human society as her

mission, Mataji has a long way to go, but who can deny that she has

brought the end closer?

 

Suma Varughese, MOTHER DIVINE

http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/new-age-catalysts/nirmala-devi/nirmala.asp

 

 

One can imagine it astride a tiger, bearing a flaming trident

 

" I Also Rode On The Tiger. "

 

On July 13, 1998, at 11.25 a.m. Arwinder again told his father that

he had sat on Shri Mataji's tiger.

 

Arwinder: " I also rode on the tiger. I wanted to know how it was,

friendly. "

 

Question: " Did you ask Shri Mataji's permission? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah, I have to. "

 

Question: " How big was the tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Maybe long as one meter, maybe longer. "

 

Question: " How many times have you sat on this tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Once. "

 

Question: " Only once? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah. "

 

Question: " Why did you want to sit on the tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " I want to see if it is friendly and all those things. I

just wanted to try out. "

 

Question: " Were you not afraid? "

 

Arwinder: " No, because I know Shri Mataji's tiger is nice. I have

already been with Her, so it must be nice. "

 

Question: " Was Shri Mataji alone, or were there other people also? "

 

Arwinder: " Other people, Shri Shiva and all that. "

 

Question: " Did they also sit on the tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah. "

 

Question: " You are sure? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah. "

 

Question: " They sat after you, or before you? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah, before. "

 

Question: " Did Shri Mataji talk to the tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah, in different language. "

 

Question: " What do you mean by `different language'? "

 

Arwinder: " Like the language that was invented by Shri Mataji "

(i.e., Sanskrit.)

 

http://adishakti.org/new_age_children/i_also_rode_on_the_tiger_of_shri_durga.htm

 

 

Dear All,

 

At 8.25 a.m. today November 9th. 2007, prior to approving this post,

i again asked my son Arwinder about his experience of sitting on Shri

Mataji's tiger years ago.

 

Question: " Can you still remember riding on Shri Mataji's tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah. "

 

Question: " You mean you can still recollect your experiences with

Shri Mataji after all these years? "

 

Arwinder: " Yeah, kind of, if you remind me. "

 

Question: " i never asked you this before, Arwinder, but did you see

Shri Mataji sitting on the tiger? "

 

Arwinder: " Yes. " (affirmatively)

 

Question: " How many times? "

 

Arwinder: " A few times but i cannot tell you exactly how many. "

 

Apparently Arwinder is the only person who can still recollect his

experiences spanning back more than a decade. Both his siblings Kash

and Lalita cannot. In fact Kash admits it is impossible to remember

any experience with Shri Mataji in the Sahasrara after a few months,

let alone years. He has no idea how Arwinder is still able to do so.

 

i also want to wish all a Happy Diwali and hope this post and others

will deepen our faith and inspire us to dedicate our tun (body) mun

(mind) and dhun (wealth) to Her advent, cause and ultimate victory.

 

regards to all,

 

jagbir