Sahaja Yoga Meditation Australia

Shri Mataji, founder of Sahaja Yoga

Please enjoy this report on the Mind Body Spirit Festival held from 30 April  to 3 May 2009 at Darling Harbour, Sydney. A very popular Sahaja Yoga stall was  provided as part of the Festival.

Wow! What better way to celebrate Sahasrara Day than to gather 70 yogis at Darling Harbour, over a period of four days, to give Self-realisation to over 2,500 seekers.

Our [Sahaja Yoga] stand stood as a beacon of light in a sea of confusion, attracting seekers continuously throughout the festival, in a non-stop stream of humanity. The scene around our stall was reminiscent of the sort of crowd that one might encounter during Diwali in India, richly colourful and diverse, with a sense of wonderment and awe. For the Hindus Diwali is a very special time, for the Christians it’s Easter and for the yogis it’s Sahasrara Day, the day we celebrate Shri Mataji’s opening of the Sahasrara – the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Throughout the festival over four full days the seekers came, drawn to an energy that few understood, but which virtually all, with very few exceptions, felt deeply within. At times in rows three persons deep, they stood with arms outstretched and hands above their heads, as the yogis worked as instruments of the Divine, gently spreading Shri Mataji’s love over everchanging waves of humanity.

Seekers and yogis alike were all moved by the sheer beauty and the joy of the experience. Each had a story to tell, each an experience that would somehow change them forever.

When time allowed, seekers would sit on small stools and would be taken through affirmations and Self-realisation in the traditional manner.  At other times the pressures of the crowd necessitated a slightly less orthodox “group” approach. Typically this involved three or four seekers gathering around a yogi wearing Shri Mataji’s photograph. After first placing their hands towards the earth, and asking Mother Earth to take away the negativity, with hands outstretched and eyes closed the seekers would then ask from their hearts, “Almighty God, please give me Self-knowledge. Please give me the knowledge of my true nature.” The vibrations flowed, the seekers smiled, opened their eyes and their faces beamed with joy. Here are a few of the many, many wonderful experiences of some of the finest seekers you could ever meet.

A 74-year-old Scottish woman who felt vibrations immediately in both hands: “Oh, my God, I can feel it !” – as she then placed her hands above the hands and towards the body of the yogi giving her vibrations, “Oh, my Lord ! I can feel it in your hands, your arms! My God – your whole body ! God bless you, God bless you!”

A 13-year-old boy answering a yogini’s question concerning what he thought of his experience: “That was so coool! – the whole experience! I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

A 56-year-old European lady feeling pain in her left arm, receives vibrations to remove the pain: “My God ! You’re a Magic Man… what magic was that?”

A 60-year-old man who had attended Mother’s program at the Town Hall in 1991: “Shri Mataji said that if I didn’t want to have Self-realisation I could say no, so I did say no – I was afraid. But now I’ve changed. I was ready for this, and I thank you for this blessing. I feel wonderful!”

An Indian Sahaja yogini speaking about her experiences with the seekers: “This is just like giving realisation in India, it’s so easy; that’s why I keep coming back every day.”

All seekers who left the stall were provided with a small gift bag containing a list of venues for follow-up programs, an audio CD of Shri Mataji leading a guided meditation, and a brochure explaining Sahaja Yoga in a little more detail.

Christ’s message of love and forgiveness is the same even today, preached by all – all the saints, all the incarnations, all the prophets. They all have said about love and forgiveness. If it was challenged or people felt that this won’t work out, they were asked to have faith in what was said.
Shri Mataji, 1996

If you love a person, you do forgive. You don’t feel bad. Not to forgive is dificult, but to forgive is the best. At least when you forgive, there is no headache for you.

So this love, which is joy … when this love melts and flows like a river and gives nourishment to all the surrounding trees on the shores, that is the time. It is the completion of the individuality or a personality of that love. And that’s the time it feels fulfilled. It’s not just that you have a light in the corner, but it has to flow, it has to move, it has to flourish. Love is not something dead like a stone. When it melts, it encompasses everything and everything becomes very beautiful with that.

So you have to first understand that life is for giving joy to others because you are now saints and your light has to give joy.
Shri Mataji, 1991

If you are a Sahaja Yogini, then at the time of crisis, you should become thoughtless. That’s one of the signs. I have seen with Myself, if there is any crisis in the family, I just become thoughtless. That means what? That God takes you in, your problems. He puts His hand, He puts His protection and He takes you out of it and makes you absolutely thoughtless. And in that thoughtless awareness you discover what is right, what is wrong. So even in  crisis, this thoughtless awareness is all the time extremely alert. It becomes much more alert than normal. That’s the sign of a Sahaja Yogi and the sign of Sahaja Yogini … In wisdom you understand that all the Deities are just with you. And whatever happens to you, they are before you. Nobody can harm you. Nobody can touch you. You are so protected. Lotuses are not protected. You are so protected that if anybody tries to harm you, immediately there is protection. Also your own protection is there, as I said, that you jump into thoughtless awareness.

Shri Mataji, Diwali Puja, 1991

Shri Mataji

Now what you have seen here … I would say is the knowledge of the roots. In the West we have grown outside like a tree, but in the East people had time to find out the roots. As Indians had to learn a lot about science I think it’s important that all of us should know also about the science of the roots. A scientific mind has to be an open mind; it should not be a closed mind, which does not want to see the other side of it. If a hypothesis is put before a scientist he works it out and if it is proved correct he accepts it as laws. So the hypothesis is first to be listened to; then if it is proved that it is absolutely correct then we have to accept that there is a science of the roots.

 This is not a new science in India. Fourteen thousand years back somebody called Markandeya wrote about it. But it was not available to every person. We can say that it was a secret science. And was only bestowed upon very, very few people at that time. As we can see, the Tree of Life has few flowers to become fruits in those days, but today is the Blossom Time, where people are trying to find out something beyond. They sometimes see the futility of their lives and want to know what is beyond – that is of permanent nature. So there is no harm in turning to our saints and great prophets and great incarnations, who have talked about this knowledge.

It is mentioned in all the scriptures that “You have to be born again.” But that does not mean that you just put a certificate on your head saying, “I’m born again.” Nor to form a club of saying, “We are born again.” When you are born again, means if you have jumped into new awareness, into new dimension of awareness, you should be able to feel the all-pervading Power of Divine all round you. Minimum of minimum that should happen to you, because your nerves get new dimension. And when you get your Self-realization or your second birth, you become entitled to an awareness by which you can find out the roots of everything. You can find out the roots why people get sick, you can find out why there are incurable diseases, you can find out why there are psychological problems, you can find out why there are moral crisises, you can find out why there are political problems, why there are economic problems. Because the tree has grown too big and has paid no attention to its roots…

 That point is very simple – the truth is: you are the Spirit. You are not this body, not this ego, nor these conditionings, nor Austrians, nor Indians, but you are the Spirit. Above all that you are a human being, you are the Spirit.

Shri Mataji, Vienna, Austria, 12 October 1987

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

The Hoyts Cinema in Charlestown near Newcastle, Australia, opened its doors for a totally different cinema experience, and the people of nearby Lake Macquarie definitely took advantage. Over sixty seekers poured in to see ‘“Freedom and Liberation”, a film about Shri Mataji’s life.

Two musicians performed songs of serene joy before a short introductory talk. Not one person left and all but a couple stayed to receive their realisation.

The gentle voice of a Sahaja yogi took the audience through the affirmations of Self-realisation. Once again the silence was deep. At the conclusion the yogi summed up the experience beautifully with the comment, “The seed has been planted and now it is up to you to grow.”

This is the best part of Sahaja Yoga: there is no pressure ever. Although the greatest desire is to have as many people come to learn to meditate,  Sahaja yogis will never preach or try a hard sell, as  Shri Mataji’s words always ring true with people and the practical results of her meditation techniques speak loudly for themselves.

The following feedback from the Charlestown presentation proves this to be true!

Meditation great!

 I missed the film but the after-experience was beautiful. Very uplifting!

It was lovely. Thank you.

Interesting to hear about Sahaja Yoga meditation and I have enjoyed the experience for five weeks. It’s awakening and spiritually wonderful.

I appreciated that you let the film do the talking and minimised any “preaching”- a good approach for an introduction.

Very peaceful influence.

Very enlightening.

I really enjoyed the documentary. I had not heard of Nirmala Devi before and I enjoyed the whole experience. Thank you.

Thanks. The fact that it was free is a strong symbol of sincerity.

Very enlightening. Liked the meditation.