Shree Mataji's Life Work
Birth And Childhood
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was born on March 21, 1923 to a Salve family in Chindawara, India. Her parents were Prasad and Cornelia Salve, direct descendants of the royal Shalivahana dynasty. Seeing the beauty of this child who was born with a spotless brilliance, they called her Nirmala, which means ‘Immaculate’.
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 Realization and knew from a very young age that she had a unique gift which had to be made available to all mankind.
Fighting for India’s Freedom
As a child, Shri Mataji lived with her parents in the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi saw the wisdom of this child and used to appreciate her immensely, affectionately calling her Nepali due to the Nepali features of her face. Even at a young age, her deep understanding was evident to Gandhi, who frequently sought her advice on spiritual matters.
Shri Mataji’s involvement in the freedom struggle is extremely remarkable. She was very courageous and played a daring role as a youth leader of this campaign. In the 1942 Quit India Movement announced by Gandhi, she was even arrested and put in jail along with other freedom fighters for actively participating in this movement.
Sahaja Yoga is born
Shortly before India achieved independence she married Sir. C.P. Srivastava, one of India’s most dedicated civil servant officers, who was knighted by the Queen of England. In India it is believed that the wife brings luck to her husband – this is most certainly the case for Sir. C.P. Srivastava. He rose in government ranks very quickly though he was an absolutely honest person. He held the post of the Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister’s office of the late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri in the years 1964-66. Shastri himself was an ideal model for a Prime Minister in India’s political history. Afterwards he was elected for 16 consecutive years to be the Secretary General of the United Nations International Maritime Organization. As Sir C.P. Srivastava moved in fame from the Indian history to the worldly scene, Shri Mataji, after fulfilling her familial duty of bringing up her two daughters, embarked on her spiritual mission.
Spreading of Sahaja Yoga around the world
Mrs. Srivastava made this experiment of awakening the spiritual power of every human being (which the Hindus name the Kundalini, the Muslims as the Ruh and in the bible it is described as the Holy Ghost) and was amazed at the results. She tried it first on people near to her and noticed they were transformed physically, mentally and spiritually. Slowly she found out that only this process had the potential solution for all human problems and therefore she decided to spread it on an en-masse level. She invested her own time and money to talk to people and give them the key to their own spiritual power.
Those few people who started feeling this spiritual power, which flowed like a cool breeze over their whole body, especially over the palms of their hands and on top of their head (around the fontanel bone area) were quite astonished that it worked. Though they argued and disputed over it they could not disbelieve their own experience. Under the instructions of Shri Mataji they tried giving this power to others, which really gave them the faith that this was the true spiritual experience that was being prophesized in every religion.
International achievements and recognition
An official guest in the former Soviet Union, she enabled over 100,000 people to experience their Self-Realization. She regularly speaks to audiences of 10,000 to 20,000 in the former Eastern bloc nations and has filled year after year the Royal Albert Hall in London for her conference on Sahaja Yoga.
Mrs. Srivastava has delivered thousands of lectures, given many television and radio interviews, and been the subject of hundreds of newspaper articles around the world. An articulate speaker, Shri Mataji is the founder and sole director of Sahaja Yoga or “Vishwa Nirmala Dharma”, which is an established non-profit organization in many countries worldwide.
NGOs created by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
In her tremendous compassion and concern to alleviate human sufferings, Mrs. Srivastava has been able to create a number of NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) to solve the most immediate problems of the world in the last 25 years. To mention a few:
An international hospital in Mumbai to help patients all over the world to get a chance to cure themselves through Sahaja Yoga methods. This hospital has been producing quite successful results in curing a number of incurable diseases like cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis etc
An international cancer research centre in Mumbai in order to study the effects of Sahaja Yoga methods on curing various illnesses, including psychosomatic diseases An international music school in Nagpur, now shifted to Vaitarna near Mumbai, to promote classical music.
A charity house for the poor people in Delhi, to provide shelter to destitute and homeless people. Also to help them through the process of Sahaja Yoga to become better individuals.
Conclusion
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has dedicated her life to triggering the spiritual ascent of mankind through Self Realization, reclaiming the role of women in the spiritual evolution, and guiding humanity to correct today’s moral dilemmas. It seems that the light of Gandhi’s vision is being brought to fulfillment by this great lady who is revered as the compassionate Divine Mother by her followers, as the “Messenger of peace” by Ayatollah Rouhani, an Avatar of the modern era by Claes Nobel, grandnephew of Albert Nobel (the creator of the Nobel foundation) and Chairman of United Earth.