A Joyful Day at Woodstock Community Centre

Many thanks to Greta and Melike for their report on the joyful day at Woodstock Community Centre in Burwood, Sydney,  where Sahaja Yoga participated in Burwood Council’s 2008 International Women’s Day celebrations. 

“Everything in Sahaja Yoga is always sahaja, i.e. spontaneous, and this day wasn’t any different. Room 2, upstairs, was allotted to us.  Just as we had set up the room the way we wanted, the organiser came to tell us that we had to move to Room 1, downstairs, because the television set was too big to be brought up.  Dismantling quickly, we set up again in the new room, only to realise that it was much better and perfect for our needs!  We were located just off the main auditorium with a lot of traffic.  We had planned to screen a lecture given by Shri Mataji which was on DVD but when we got to Room 1, we found only a video machine.  So once again, a change of tack was required, and the three meditation sessions scheduled before the screening of the film turned into one long session while the right equipment was obtained. 

The organisers were very helpful and supportive of our efforts, steering people towards us throughout the day. About 40 to 50 people got their Self-realisation.  There were many interesting activities which vied for visitors’ time, thus preventing many from participating in the meditation sessions.  However, handbills for the film, Freedom and Liberation, flyers showing the nearest Sahaja Yoga public programs, and Sahaja Yoga information pamphlets were distributed, with everyone expressing a sincere desire for follow-up.

The meditation session helped to clear the atmosphere in the room, lightening it as the heart chakra opened.  Just as we finished the meditation, people flowed into the room for the screening of the film, only to find the fuse had blown! This created another glitch, with most of the people streaming out again to get refreshments.  By the time the electricity problem had been solved an almost new group of people had settled into the seats.  These people watched the screening of the film, The Vision, and enjoyed the experience of the guided Self-realisation meditation.  Everyone felt the peace and quiet of the Cool Breeze of the Spirit.  Many of the women live locally and expressed their desire to attend the free Sahaja Yoga programs at the Belmore Community Centre in Burwood.

Somewhere in the morning I found a few minutes to get a cup of tea.  One of the ladies who had come in during the meditation session came up to me and said, “I don’t know if I’m imagining it or not, but I am moving much more freely”, indicating that she felt much freer in the joints.  I looked at her smiling, calm face and told her that it wasn’t her imagination but that this is what happens when people do Sahaja Yoga, and that there is often an instantaneous relief of whatever problem they may have had previously.  It was very satisfying to know that we had made a difference. 

No-one left without feeling the Cool Breeze, and right up to the last minute people were coming to take their Self-realisation.  A few women’s organisations asked for introductory meditation sessions to be held at their own venues. We also left flyers and brochures on the community centre’s information table for any future visitors to the centre.

A special thank you to Aunty Joy whose initial research had made it possible for Sahaja Yoga to contribute towards the celebrations for International Women’s Day 2008, “Women’s Business: Celebrating 100 Years of Paid and Unpaid Work” sponsored by Burwood Council.  We would also like to thank the staff of Burwood Council for making our participation an enjoyable event. ”

Greta and Melike

1 comment March 18th, 2008

Women Working for Peace

On the weekend of 8-9 December 2007 about fifty female Sahaja Yogis from across the United Kingdom gathered at the Sahaja Yoga National Centre at Blossom Farm. The aim of the seminar was to consider the role of women in Sahaja Yoga, and their contribution towards spreading peace on Earth.

Many important events have occurred in Sahaja Yoga in the past few years, pointing to its effectiveness in reaching people throughout the world.  

• In 1995 the founder of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji, was invited to speak at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

• In May 2007, Sahaja Yoga was introduced at the United Nations conference, “Towards Sustainable Global Health” in Bonn, Germany, where several Sahaja Yoga doctors gave presentations.

• The Centre for Evolutionary Learning was invited to participate in a prestigious United Nations conference, “The 7th Global Forum on Re-inventing Government” in Vienna in June 2007.

• Over the last few years research publications have stressed culture as a key factor in the survival of humankind. (A summary by Professor Mahdi Elmandjra, Morocco, and a report by the Neuhardenberg Convention 2002, on relations between the West and the Muslim world make good reading).

The group identified the need to bring about interaction and dialogue – a dialogue of cultures to ease the psychological political situation, help reduce mutual prejudice and increase mutual understanding. Social cultural values have been underestimated in the political arena of stability and peace. Both passion and compassion are needed in forging ahead in international co-operation.

Cultural communication is the pathway for the future. We need a culture of listening, and to find shared values and standards, ensuring social justice, dignity and human rights. We need to address the hurdles of fear, suspicion and prejudice.

The objectives of the new group are to:
• Increase respect for the feminine and womanhood
• Promote inter-cultural dialogue
• Promote cultural activities
• Promote peace, education and human rights
• Promote basic values, self-respect and self-esteem to enable the empowerment of women and family in society
• Promote the betterment of all in societies throughout the world.

1 comment January 4th, 2008

Know Thyself

Sahaja Yoga was founded in1970 by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. Shri Mataji developed a method by which people en masse could get their Self-realisation, in which they feel total peace and tranquillity, absolute oneness with nature and the universe and complete psychological integration. Self-realisation has been called “individuation” by Carl Jung, and “self-actualisation” by modern psychologists and psychiatrists. Previously, people wanting to obtain their Self-realisation had to spend many years with a guru in the Himalayas going through many hardships and privations in order to cleanse their chakras to reach this height of spiritual attainment.

Shri Mataji’s method, called “Sahaja” which means “spontaneous” and “born with you” takes just ten minutes and is very joy-giving. Self-realisation takes us into a state of meditation known as “thoughtless awareness” in which we are awake and alert but are not thinking and are not affected by what is happening in our environment.

During Self-realisation the residual life force which resides in every human being in the sacrum bone at the bottom of the spine rises up through the limbic area to the fontanelle bone at the top of the head. The limbic area is the “old” brain which controls our heartbeat, our digestion, our breathing – all the work done by the autonomic nervous system. This limbic area becomes enlightened and works more effectively, calming us down and normalising and slowing down our physical processes, so that everything functions more smoothly and efficiently.

After Self-realisation, in thoughtless awareness, we become more perceptive and are able to feel subtle differences in the state of our own being and in the beings of others. Shri Mataji calls this new awareness “vibratory awareness”. We are able to feel the state of our chakras on our fingertips. Each of the seven chakras corresponds to a different finger or part of the hand. When there is a problem with a particular chakra it manifests as a tingling or heat in the corresponding position on the hand. Problems with the chakras, known as blockages, can be cleared with simple techniques using the five elements. When the chakras are cleared the heat is replaced by a feeling of coolness.

Each chakra has a different sphere of influence in our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual lives. Any imbalance or blockage in a chakra will manifest as a problem in one of those four areas. For example, the chakra at the throat, known as the Vishuddhi chakra, corresponds on a physical level to all the organs governed by the major nerve plexus in the throat, that is, the neck, sound-box, mouth, tongue, teeth, lips, inside the ears and hearing, as well as the shoulders and fingertips, as the nerves from this plexus also travel down the arms to the fingers. So, a problem with this chakra could manifest as a physical problem with any of these organs, or it may manifest as an emotional, mental or spiritual problem.

On the emotional level, this chakra is concerned with feeling connected to others, self-esteem and feeling guilty. On the mental level it is concerned with feeling respect for others and being diplomatic. On the spiritual level it is concerned with maintaining purity in our relationships with others.

In effect, with Sahaja Yoga we are able to feel imbalances in our systems and to correct them before they get to the stage of developing into major illnesses. If we already have an illness Sahaja Yoga is helpful in the treatment of the illness and in alleviating symptoms. Sahaja Yoga also helps us to see ourselves clearly, to see our faults and failings as well as our positive traits, and allows us automatically to become better people, get rid of our bad habits and addictions and resolve our problems.

All of this information is freely available at Sahaja Yoga beginners’ classes. Everyone can achieve Self-realisation and the state of thoughtless awareness, and everyone can start to feel the vibrations on their hands and learn to decode the signals. According to the wishes of the founder, Shri Mataji, Sahaja Yoga is always taught free of charge.

Kay Alford

For information about Sahaja Yoga programs, please follow the link below:

http://www.sahajayoga.com.au/level_1/Free%20Lessons.shtml

Add comment December 3rd, 2007

Chakra Clearing, Kundalini and Collective Meditation

The founder of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, worked out the method of raising people’s Kundalinis en masse, the method used in Sahaja Yoga. After a new person’s first program, described in the article, “Your First Sahaja Yoga Program”, we teach you how to clear your chakras each day and how to bring up your Kundalini each day. We also encourage you to feel the difference in the depth of your meditation when you meditate with other people compared with when you meditate alone.

Sahaja Yogis who have been meditating for years still clear their chakras daily and attend collective meditation as often as possible; preferably daily and certainly a minimum of once a week.

There is an important reason to clear your chakras daily: when your Kundalini first rises, it is like a few strands of a rope coming up. It can come up a lot more strongly if your chakras are clearer. While the Kundalini does begin to clear the chakras, when it is up, our chakras do need some help – hence the Sahaja Yoga clearing methods taught at programs, using the natural elements.

The connection between clearing your chakras and the Kundalini is this: the clearer your chakras are, the more the strands of Kundalini can rise. The more strands of Kundalini that rise, the deeper the meditation you have. The deeper your meditation is, the more peaceful and connected to the Collective Unconscious you are.

The connection between the Kundalini and collective meditation is this: your Kundalini comes up more strongly when you are in contact with other people whose Kundalinis are up. Because you are connected to the Collective Unconscious, you are also connected to everyone else who is connected to the Collective Unconscious. Hence, when you meditate together, everyone’s individual connections become stronger, i.e. their Kundalinis rise more strongly when people are together. When people are together in meditation, the peace and deep, quiet bliss that results is indeed the “peace that passeth all understanding” spoken of in the Bible.

(Photograph courtesy of copyright-free-pictures.org.uk)

Add comment September 8th, 2007