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. […]

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. […]

Look at your flower!
It was April 1993 and we were waiting for Shri Mataji to arrive at Rome Airport. It was very, very hot and there were no fans or air conditioning. Shri Mataji’s plane was four hours late and it was so hot! Katey Headlam was in a very smart skirt and jacket, and she had put a yellow daisy, in the lapel of her jacket, but it had completely wilted.
Shri Mataji finally came through, […]

A major solar eclipse
In October 1995 Mother’s flight was coming to Delhi from abroad, and was arriving at about midnight. There were a lot of Sahaja Yogis there but the flight got delayed, then we were told that She was coming on a later flight. However, nobody went back home, and we all sat down on the road outside the arrivals hall, and started singing, and sang all through the night. Mother’s flight arrived at about nine in the morning, […]

The purpose of that talk in Kiev
There were Russian/Ukrainian tours from 1989 to 1996, during which Shri Mataji visited the cities of Moscow, Leningrad – now renamed Saint Petersburg, Kiev and sometimes Togliatti. The sequence of the visited cities each year was different. Usually there were one or two public programmes in the cities visited. Later on there was a puja too during the tour. Shri Mataji visited Moscow and Leningrad a few times more after 1996 without coming to Kiev. […]

Somehow it protected me
I went to Sydney in March 1996 for the Shri Shivaratri Puja and Shri Mataji was there. At the evening music programme I decided to sit way down the back, because I knew it would be a long evening. Then my name was called – Nigel. For some reason I thought it was Nigel from England.
‘Nigel from New Zealand,’ Shri Mataji then said.
‘That’s definitely you,’ a friend from Christchurch, New Zealand said to me, […]

A gift of eleven years of life
This story is to do with my personal mother coming to Sahaja Yoga, in 1992, shortly after I came. Just before this time she had been quite sick and all the doctors who were treating her were convinced it was a heart defect. She had been suffering from a serious heart problem since she was fifteen years old. We were very worried about her.
A year later Shri Mataji blessed us with a visit. […]

The Yogis are obligated
During a conversation at Cabella in 1996, Shri Mataji smiled and fondly started talking about various English Sahaja Yogis and how it had all begun in England in the early days. She recounted various incidents of how She had guided, helped and advised so many in various ways. She said that all the stories should be gathered together into a book for people to read. I agreed that this was a great idea, […]

You are the only one who talks today
In October 1993, I was asked to present Shri Mataji at the United Nations, New York, where I was working as a Senior Regional Officer. As there were numerous situations to solve at work that day, I did not have enough time to prepare the presentation, and an hour before the public programme, I began to organize my thoughts for this special occasion. When Shri Mataji entered the main UN auditorium, […]

A painting, a flower or a kiss
The first time I saw Shri Mataji, in 1996, I wasn’t a Sahaja Yogini, but I had had self realisation A Sahaja brother invited me to the Magliano ashram because Shri Mataji was there. In Rome it was raining very hard and it was difficult to see the way – my mother was with me and told me it was too dangerous to go. I didn’t understand the address very well either and there was lightning and a lot of rain falling heavily. […]

Shri Mahalakshmi Puja
During the first years of Sahaja Yoga in Russia, Shri Mataji came to Moscow several times a year. It was not an easy time for Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Republics faced a severe economic crisis. On November 12th 1993, Shri Mahalakshmi Puja was offered to Shri Mataji in Moscow.
Moscow, November 12th, 1993 Shri Mahalakshmi Puja
Bigger halls needed
Sahaja Yoga was spreading in Moscow with the speed of a fire. […]

Shri Gambhira
It was in 1996 at Navaratri Puja in Cabella. Russia was one of the organising countries, and we were doing some work. At the evening programme we had been invited to accept presents from Shri Mataji. When I came to the stage there were six or seven yogis already sitting before Shri Mataji and I sat behind. The leader was sitting next to me and asked me who else had worked with me. I gave him a couple of names but he said, […]

Where were you until now?
I had my realisation in 1991. I had a desire to meet Shri Mataji and after three years, in 1994 had the opportunity. There was some work at Pratishthan, and we got the chance to meet Her there. We waited outside and after half an hour Shri Mataji called us in. As soon as we reached Her room, I remember to this day Her wonderful smile and laughter.
‘Where were you until now?’ She said. […]

These souls are always working
About ten days after our second son was born, in 1997, we took him to Shri Mataji. She held him in Her arms and She gave us the peda. Traditionally the parents give the peda to everyone else, but She gave the peda to us. She said that he was Her child, and how like Her he looked. She said he had come from the moon on Shri Shiva’s forehead and he was a pundit. […]

We need his power
Something nice happened during the first visit of Shri Mataji to Japan in 1994, when we had a public programme. My son Viditama was three years old. Shri Mataji was smiling and laughing at him, because he went on stage and was playing there.
‘We need his power,’ She then said, or something like that. ‘Come here, Viditama, and sit here.’
He just sat and became very quiet. He had been playing around, […]

The great find Shri Mataji had made
In a New York hotel room, I remember conversations that led to the discovery of Canajoharie listed in the newspaper for a small sum of just over $100,000. Shri Mataji was so delighted when She found the land, proclaiming that this is how the divine works. The land was already there waiting to be bought by Shri Mataji because the Ganesha principle is extremely efficient and active in Her presence. […]

I felt so clear, and knew what I had to do
It was 1994. I was pretty new in Sahaja Yoga. I had been living in London, but was made redundant and needed a change in my work and wanted to start Sahaja meetings but lacked the confidence. An Indian yogi asked if I would give him a lift to Heathrow Airport for the early morning flight that Shri Mataji was taking and I was there when Her car pulled up. […]

A fortunate mistake!
From 1993 until 1997 I was the interpreter of Her Holiness Shri Mataji on Her Russian and Ukrainian tours. I was the eyewitness of many different situations concerning these tours, but most vividly I remember one case. It was a Scientific Conference in Saint Petersburg in 1994. I was sitting at the table between Shri Mataji and another Sahaja Yogi. For several hours I had interpreted Shri Mataji into Russian and my throat was very dry because the organizers forgot to put the bottle of water before me. […]

So, you will be here
Shri Mataji was preparing to have Her first programme in Chicago in the summer of 1994, which was about two and a half hours away from where my wife Barbara and I were living. The Chicago collective was very new and with a yogi from Massachusetts who came to Chicago over the entire period, we helped out with the preparations for Shri Mataji’s visit. We had very exciting times trying to coordinate things from a distance, […]

Keep to your traditions
Shri Mataji was in Tunisia in November 1994, just after the Diwali Puja in Istanbul. She arrived at the airport and was welcomed by the VIP people. There was a girl who welcomed Her with a bunch of flowers and there was a man from the government — just three VIP people. Shri Mataji was received in a small room at the airport and then She went to the hotel.
The first evening — the whole seminar happened in the hotel and everybody had to book to be there. […]

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. […]

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, […]

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, […]