Please do anything
After the momentous few days of meeting Shri Mataji I returned to Scotland to a veritable ocean of problems, and gloom set it. Shri Mataji phoned me and I told Her that I felt I was too far gone, and that She could not save me. She told me that if I did not face myself then it would be ten thousand years before I had another chance.
‘Please do anything – anything at all, […]
Going to the game park
In the summer of 1981, in about June, Shri Mataji took Her grandchildren, and also my two, to a game park near London. We had a picnic lunch and it was a wonderful day. As we were driving around the park and looking at the animals, we were going past some giraffes, which were not too close, and as we drove past they turned their backs to us. Mother explained that the animals felt the vibrations as a cool wind, […]
Blessed with heaven
Here is the story to the Ekadesha Rudra Puja in our apartment at 215, West 92nd St, New York City, in September 1983. An Indian Sahaja Yogi did the puja recitations, Christine Kirby helped place the garland and John Partridge videoed the puja. I am pretty sure I was the only one with a camera. In this puja Shri Mataji stated that all who decorated Her Feet would be blessed with heaven, or safe in eternity. […]
Honey and ajwain
Shri Mataji told us about putting honey in the eyes for clearing the Agnya chakra and to try and keep the eyes opened during the process. At Chelsham Road during a collective ajwain sessions with Shri Mataji in person, in 1985, She also went under the collective blanket for a while but kept telling people to keep the eyes open while the smoke was coming up in order to benefit the eyes and the Agnya as well, […]
1987- 88 India Tour
Ah! The white tents on the beach at Ganapatipule, camping under the palm trees.
‘Let’s go early and help with puja preparation,’ my friend said, on the day of the puja.
We set off and ended up making modakas with the Indian ladies in front of a little grass hut. Then as we headed into the pendal to help arrange flowers on the path Shri Mataji would walk, we realised we did not have our puja saris. […]
Shri Mataji’s proposed itinerary, May to December 1990
Programmes in Eastern Europe
The first public programme conducted by Shri Mataji in Moscow took place at the Biological Faculty in Moscow State University in May 1990. Shri Mataji talked to doctors, scientists and university teachers. Right after it, there were more public programmes, in Mosiprotrance on the 12th and 13th of May 1990. The first puja in Moscow was offered to Shri Mataji by the Sahaja Yogis in May 1990. […]
Shri Mataji noticed everyone
When Shri Mataji gave a programme in Amsterdam at the Artis Hall at the beginning of July, 1992, at the end, when everybody had come to pay their respects to Shri Mataji and to be worked on, She asked one of the yogis to go and call a person who was sitting on the floor at the end of the hall. We could hardly see him but Shri Mataji had noticed him. […]
All the yogis did leave
In 1995 I was in Melbourne, Australia after the public programme and I went up to the stage. I let everyone go before me, even though Shri Mataji told me to come forward. I stood at the edge of the stage and looked at Her.
‘Best wishes from Christchurch, and they all send their greetings to You,’ I said.
‘Christchurch?’ She said, and looked at a Sahaja Yogini standing next to Her. […]
Mother plays with time
In 2000, we arrived at Cabella about a week before the Guru Puja. We heard that Shri Mataji was arriving from America and we could go to the airport at Milan to wait in the early morning for Her. There was a wonderful atmosphere at the airport, and the Italian yogis had made a beautiful chair for Shri Mataji. We got flowers and She arrived with Her husband.
For me this was the first time I could wait for Shri Mataji at the airport. […]
This is another event where I felt the protection of the Mantras. I don’t know if you can understand but you can ask anything to make the narrative better because I am writing these events like talking to someone with the help of Google ?
Shri Mataji’s badge, the Mantra to Shri Durga Jagadamba and the trip to Apartado, Uraba, Antioquia.
I was on vacation time from my work traveling by bus from Medellin to Uraba with my nephew. […]
One of the most majestic things I have ever seen
At Dollis Hill, Shri Mataji would be working on someone, and would have Her index finger up, and like Shri Krishna She would be as if throwing these – chakras – at people and Her bangles would be jangling and Her hair would be back. It was one of the most majestic things I have ever seen, and She would have Her eyes on the person. […]
My fist meeting with Shri Mataji
In 1981, Shri Mataji came to Boston for the first time. This was my first experience of Sahaja Yoga. Through the person who is now my husband, Steve, I had heard about Shri Mataji and about Sahaja Yoga and heard of the reality of who She was and became very eager to meet Her face to face. I felt if I could meet Shri Mataji, I would be able to recognise if this was reality or not. […]
Her perfume of beautiful vibrations
I met Shri Mataji in 1983 at Heathrow Airport. I took along a big bunch of flowers and was waiting to give them to Her with everyone else. She arrived, and was smaller than I imagined. She had a glorious smile on Her face. I saw one yogi standing there with his hands out towards Shri Mataji and I wondered what he was doing. It was as if he was breathing in deep breaths. […]
Are you sure that is My size?
I was in Strasbourg in October 1985 with Shri Mataji, and we were shopping. She wanted to buy a coat. We were at a department store and She wanted a white alpaca coat. The saleslady listened to Shri Mataji, and brought what she thought was the right size for Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji put the coat on.
‘Are you sure that is My size?’ She asked.
‘Yes, that is right for you,’ replied the experienced saleslady. […]
Easter Puja, Shudy Camps, April 1988
Shri Mataji’s car entered the courtyard in the same cloudy English atmosphere that had prevailed all day long. When the car’s door finally opened in the middle of the crowd who were waiting, the cloud cover opened and gently allowed a little space, right by the sun, to salute the meeting of the smiling Mother with Her devotees. It was the first time I saw Shri Mataji. As She slowly made Her way through the crowd, […]
Your love has brought Me here
Shri Mataji met my father, who then was a Thai diplomat posted in Madrid, at a public programme in Madrid in 1990. At Madrid Airport, seeing Shri Mataji off, my father approached Mother and introduced himself as the Ambassador of Thailand to Spain. Shri Mataji was pleased about it and told him that She had always wanted to visit Thailand but that She needed one person to be there to assist in preparing for Her coming and public programme. […]
A name from Shri Mataji
I am Russian and was in Cabella in 1992 for Krishna Puja, as a volunteer in Palazzo Doria, because there was a lot of reconstruction work going on. I desired to get a spiritual name from Shri Mataji. I was very new in Sahaja Yoga and had met many yogis from Europe to whom She had given a name. I understood that it was not so important, but couldn`t help thinking of it. […]
A birthday gift
At my first Birthday Puja in New Delhi, we stayed in a camp in the centre of Delhi. My daughter was asked to dance in front of Shri Mataji. I was asked to present the gift to Mother on behalf of the Thailand collective. It was a necklace, which Mother had touched on Her earlier trip in Bangkok, so Khun Janine thought it was the best gift for Her. When I presented the gift, […]
Shri Mataji is always with us when our attention is on Her
We were having a simple puja to celebrate the fifth birthday of International Sahaja Yoga Research and Health Centre near Vashi, India and we were all sitting in the meditation room saying the hundred and eight names of Shri Mataji. The phone rang and the gateman came in and spoke to Dr. Rai. It turned out that Shri Mataji had told someone to ring up from Pratishthan and give this message. […]
The middle path
Shri Mataji told us that seekers and more evolved people tend to be born in the middle level of society – not too rich and not too poor. She said She took Her birth in a family in this middle range, but as She was Shri Mahalakshmi, Her family could not help rising up and becoming blessed and successful in every way.
Anonymous
Stories from Shri Mataji’s childhood
Shri Mataji told us that when She was a little girl She would get Her friends to play at acting out stories from the Ramayana, […]
A prayer answered
In 1980 Shri Mataji was visiting New Delhi. She went shopping at Cottage Industries in Connaught Place and bought some big silver thalis for puja for over 20,000 rupees each, which in those days was a large amount of money. After finishing shopping, a Sahaja Yogi insisted on taking Her for ice cream. Shri Mataji agreed and everyone got into the car. However there was no place for me, so I told erH Her I would walk, […]
Halloween is a very bad idea
In 1981, some of us London Sahaja Yogis were with Shri Mataji at Warwick Road ashram, another of the Sahaja Housing Coop properties in the Earls Court area, and it was the evening of Halloween, the 31st October. Celebrating Halloween is a very bad idea. Traditionally, it is the evening before the day of All Saints, the 1st of November, and is the evening, or ‘e’en’ all the ‘hallows’ or ghosts traditionally fly, […]
A nativity play
We did a nativity play to Mother in Delhi, in the old temple at Safdarjung Enclave, in December 1983. The Nepali ladies had come from Dharmshala and did the aarti to Mother as She came in. The Indian Sahaja Yogis had mostly never seen a nativity play and quite enjoyed it. Mother was, as always, gracious and wonderful towards the children. She gave all of us involved in the production handmade ceramic tile, […]
And suddenly there was Shri Mataji
I was in the fifth month of pregnancy but I had a very strong desire to go to the India tour. I was in Austria at the time. The tour had already started but it was so cool to go so I flew to Delhi and then was to catch a flight to Pune where Shri Mataji was to have a public programme. My parents-in-law came to see me and I changed my ticket to stay overnight in Delhi to be with them a little while. […]
The dog knew the protocol of the Devi
Shri Mataji came to Munich in 1988 for the Hamsa Chakra Puja. At that time we had a dog called Remo in our ashram there. He was the first puppy of Shri Mataji’s dog from Rome. When Shri Mataji arrived for the puja and was coming into the tent, Remo walked slowly in front of Her to the stage as if to make a way for Her and lead Her to the place of the puja. […]
Shri Krishna Puja weekend, England, August 1990
After our Divine Mother decided that the Shri Krishna Puja should take place in England so that as many Sahaja Yogis as possible could attend and have the maximum vibrational impact on the Vishuddhi Chakra of the world, the English Sahaja Yogis were looking around for a site for this puja. They found a school but the vibrations were not very nice, so a few yogis gathered for a puja which they dedicated to preparing it prior to proposing it to Shri Mataji. […]
You are My children
We were with Shri Mataji in Barcelona in September 1992. Some ladies were helping Her to prepare Her luggage and they were trying to close one of Her suitcase with some difficulties. Somehow they could not manage with the key. I entered room and try to give a hand. It seemed easy just put the key in the hole and turn it, but I couldn’t make it work and Shri Mataji came over to me to see what going on. […]
4th Brazilian Tour: end of August 1995. Shri Mataji only went to Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro.
Duilio Cartocci
Shri Mataji giving realisation, Brasilia 1995
Ramana Maharshi was a realised soul
On the 25th of August, 1995, during Shri Mataji’s fourth visit to Brazil, I was at Rio and then Brasilia, and this time we had public programmes in both cities. When Shri Mataji was not resting, we were with Her talking about everything. In Brasilia, […]
She is so caring
I am from Dubai. I would like to share a story from April 2002, where Shri Mataji was so caring and She notices and observed each and every one of us. She had millions of children, but She noticed each one of us. We were travelling from Dubai to Turkey with Shri Mataji. When we reached Turkey, there were so many people to receive Her, Sahaja Yogis as well as people from the press. […]
Shri Mataji called the seekers
We lived in Mumbai when I was a child, and my grandmother was very religious, reading scriptures and doing pujas. She regularly went to temples. One time my grandmother went to a bhajans session in a temple and after it was finished she came out.
A lady, who was in fact Shri Mataji, drew up in a car and introduced Herself, and said they had met in past lives, and She was going to start something, […]
Let us go back to 1980
It was the first time Shri Mataji went to do programmes in France, in April 1980.
After getting off the Calais ferry from Dover, England, we went into a French supermarket. Mother went around and bought cheese and all the things. Then we went out of the supermarket, found a corner of a field and we laid out a cloth. Shri Mataji and others were making sandwiches in the corner of this field. […]
She loved me very much that day
Mother was going to come to Mumbai by plane and it was the Sankranti Day, 14th January 1982, and we went to see Her at the airport. Hundreds of people were there and it was the first time I saw Her. When Mother arrived, Niranjan, my husband, introduced me as his wife and Mother took both my hands in Her hands and praised me like anything.
‘Oh, she has got realisation. […]
Thousands of photos of Shri Mataji
On the India tours, I made sure when I went to India every year that I was always early, up the front and ready, and I have taken thousands of photos of Shri Mataji. In later years we did not have the access like that. The vast majority of photos I took were in India on the tours around Maharashtra, when we would follow Shri Mataji closely around the country. […]
Go and sing
One day in 1985, at Dharmshala I was doing my music practice when I felt the urge to write a song. I had been humming the first two stanzas of a traditional Devi song. I got up and started writing. It kept flowing and the song was made.
That year at Ganapatipule Shri Mataji asked the North Indian ladies to come on stage. I too went and stood with the sari.
‘You have done many pujas, […]
I didn’t want to come until you were all here
The first puja that I attended was in Andorra, between Spain and France, in 1988. My wife had asked me to go with her. I wasn’t sure, but eventually agreed, particularly if we could combine it with a family holiday. So rather than going with the UK group we went by train, with our younger daughter. By the time we arrived at the frontier station between France and Andorra in the evening, […]
Divine cooking
I had my self realisation in June 1990, my life started to take shape and in October 1990 went to my first puja to meet Shri Mataji in person. That day She came in Her form of Shri Durga Devi.
At Saturday lunch, before the evening programme, I was queuing for the meal but I felt a bit sick when I looked the food that was there, offered kindly by the Swiss yogis. There were some sausages and hard Swiss fermented cheese. […]
Diwali Puja 1992
The first Diwali Puja in the Eastern Block in the presence of Shri Mataji took place in 1992, in Timisoara, close to the Hungarian border.
Mihaela Balasescu
The deep consciousness of divine vibrations
Shri Mataji was in Romania at Timisoara at the time of Diwali Puja in October 1992. I had the great chance and blessing to travel with other Sahaja Yogis in the same plane going to Romania.
For about twenty minutes during the flight I had the possibility to sit just on the left hand side of Shri Mataji. […]
The only speaker who thanked the Chinese government
One of the highlights of Shri Mataji’s visits to China was when She came in 1995 for the convention – the United Nations World Conference on Women. We preceded Her trip by going to Beijing about a week earlier, we set up a booth and must have given realisation to over two hundred people. Because it was raining a lot of people left, so we were able to take over a large stand to give realisation in. […]
India Tour 2002/3 email report
I went to Ganapatipule but just for the puja. That was the only night of the whole week Shri Mataji came. She was ill and also a lot of other people – upset stomachs. Of course the puja was great and Mother talked about generosity and how we must all be generous. I felt She was talking about world economics as well as individuals although She spoke as if to individuals. […]
Jump in the ocean
One day, early in 1972, when I entered Her flat in Napean Sea Rd, Bombay, I saw two lights appear at Shri Mataji’s Hamsa. All my delusions and illusions were absorbed into those lights, until all that remained was just myself, naked in my own being, seeing Her Holiness as if for the first time. It was an experience of unbounded, indescribable joy. Thereafter She placed Her hand on my head.
‘What are you feeling?’ She asked. […]
Those golden days
We who were Sahaja Yogis in London lived in a different reality in the early eighties. Things used to work out spontaneously in no time at all. There seemed to be divine timing and divine dimensions in many seemingly every day events. On waking up we went to see Shri Mataji and on going to sleep we remembered the whole day spent in Her company and were looking forward to the dreams we would have about Her, […]
Our inner secret garden
Shri Mataji was planning Her tour in Europe. It was in February 1982 and we were gathered around Her one evening in the London ashram in Chelsham Road. Several yogis from Switzerland were there, too. Apart from weekly lectures in London, Shri Mataji was only lecturing in Paris and Geneva once a year in those years. Austria had just started, as well as Italy.
In October 1981, She had given Her first programme in Rome. […]
She fulfills your desire
In 1984, in Delhi, we had a nose ring, which was a birthday present for Shri Mataji.
‘Take this ring to Shri Mataji. Give it to Her,’ my father said, so I went on the stage and gave it to Her.
‘Why are you giving Me all these costly presents?’ Shri Mataji said.
‘Mother, just give me the very pure desire to give You something,’ I replied and She immediately took the ring. […]
I have brought your fiancée
I came into Sahaja Yoga when I was nineteen and went to university to study drama. I led a quiet life trying to follow Sahaja dharma, and at the end of my third year I began to pray for a wife, even though I was a bit young. Just before my finals I went to the Sahasrara Puja in 1986, at Madesimo, in north Italy. There is a wonderful golden Madonna statue on the hills there, […]
Pratishthan during construction
Derek Ferguson diary entries, mostly Pratishthan
Saturday: Spoke to Shri Mataji about plastering at Pratishthan and about getting a plasterer to work with me. Maybe most of the walls will have to be done again. I gave the plasterer some lessons in technique and he is coming on well.
There is a special ceremony of Shri Krishna that is done every year in Maharashtra, where you form a pyramid to reach a clay pot filled with milk. […]
Lotuses and a full moon day
Shri Mataji arrived to visit to Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on 1st November 1990, a full moon day, from Bombay, to begin Her tour to Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong. This was Her first visit to Malaysia after a lapse of six years. She was greeted at the airport by a large turnout of Malaysia’s Sahaja Yogis. Arriving back at the centre shortly after mid-day, She was impressed by the lotus flowers that decorated the meditation room. […]
I am sending you to Colombia
In the Indian tradition, after your marriage, we offer oti to the Goddess, in the same way as in the puja we offer, for example, a sari, flowers, perfumes, kumkum, fruits, dry fruits and sweets. When I got married, I got the chance to visit Shri Mataji at Pratishthan in 1993 to offer this oti. I was one of the first Indian yoginis to be married to a Colombian.
‘Colombia is a very beautiful country, […]
The one who enjoys and gives joy
Before Shri Mataji gave me the name Rama I was called Reena. When I had just started Sahaja Yoga, my mother and I went to greet Her at Milan airport, and I had the good fortune to be able to give Her flowers, like a lot of the Sahaja Yogis. My heart started to cry like a flower of joy, because it had been a difficult period of my life. […]
A letter
I was at Pratishthan. In August 2003, my daughter had gone to the USA for higher studies and probably, in my heart, there was a concern about that, and suddenly, Shri Mataji mentioned that She had been to the beautiful city of Shiraz in Iran. Again, without thinking, I said that my daughter’s name was Shiraz and that recently she had gone to the USA. Also, that at first she resented my coming to Sahaja but was now happy about it. […]
Songs in praise of Shri Mataji
A lot of devotional songs were written at that time for Shri Mataji. She would allow anyone who was poetic, either at the beginning of the programme or afterwards, to do namaskar and sing whatever they had composed. This was before Mother went to England.
‘This one is beautiful,’ or, ‘This one should be set to the harmonium,’ Shri Mataji would say, but I don’t know if they were ever recorded. […]