About Shri Mataji

About Shri Mataji (1923 – 2006), founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

Birth and Childhood

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was born on March 21, 1923 to a Christian family in Chindawara, India. Her parents played a key role in India’s Liberation Movement from under British rule. Her father, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and helped write free India’s first constitution. Her mother was the first woman in India to receive an Honours Degree in Mathematics.

Later on, she came to be known by the multitudes by the name of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – the revered Mother who was born with her complete Self Realisation and knew from a very young age that she had a unique gift which had to be made available to all mankind.

Sahaja Yoga is born

As she was pondering on the many faceted problems confronting human beings, on the 5th of May 1970, on a lonely beach of Nargol (about 150 km from Mumbai, India), a divine spiritual experience filled her whole being and suddenly she found an answer to her question. She discovered a historical process of en-masse Self Realisation through which thousands of people could get this connection to their Spirit and thereby their inner transformation. The Sahaja Yoga meditation technique was born.

Since then, Shri Mataji, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, worked tirelessly, travelling the world to give all people the opportunity to experience their Self Realisation.

“There can be no peace in the world until there is peace within …. ”