Sahaja Yoga: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{short description|Religious movement, founded in 1970 by Nirmala Srivastava}}

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== Etymology ==

The word '[[Sahaja]]' in Sanskrit has two components: 'Saha' is 'with' and 'ja' is 'born'.<ref name="inform">{{cite web |url=http://www.inform.ac/node/8 |title=Meditation and Mindfulness |last=INFORM staff |website=INFORM – the information network on religious movements |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704025132/http://www.inform.ac/node/8 |archive-date=4 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''A Dictionary of Buddhism'' gives the literal translation of Sahaja as "innate" and defines it as "denoting the natural presence of enlightenment (bodhi) or purity.",<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2004 |title=Sahaja |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Buddhism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198605607.001.0001/acref-9780198605607-e-1532 |isbn=978-0-19-172653-8 |access-date=27 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528010242/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198605607.001.0001/acref-9780198605607-e-1532 |archive-date=28 May 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Yoga]] means ''union'' ''with the divine'' and refers to a spiritual path or a state of spiritual absorption. According to a book published by Sahaja Yogis, Sahaja Yoga means ''spontaneous'' and ''born with you'' meaning that the kundalini is born within us and can be awakened spontaneously, without effort.<ref name="Sahaja Yoga Book 1" />

The term 'Sahaja Yoga' goes back at least to the 15th Century Indian mystic [[Kabir]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ray |first=Nihar Ranjan |date=October 2000 |title=The concept of 'Sahaj' in Guru Nanak's theology |url=http://www.sikhreview.org/october2000/theology.htm |journal=The Sikh Review |volume=48 |number=562 |access-date=26 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927011616/http://www.sikhreview.org/october2000/theology.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref> and has also been used to refer to [[Surat Shabd Yoga]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Sar Bachan: An Abstract of the Teachings of Soami Ji Maharaj, the Founder of the Radha Soami System of Philosophy and Spiritual Science: The Yoga of the Sound Current |publisher=Radha Soami Satsang Beas |others=Translated by Sardar Sewa Singh and Julian P. Johnson |year=1934 |location=Beas, India |author=Soami Ji Maharaj |author-link=Shiv Dayal Singh}}{{Page needed|date=April 2014}}</ref> [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/hi/dictionary/hindi-english/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%9C Sahaja] can also mean 'comfortable', 'natural', or 'uncomplicated' in Hindi.

== History ==

Before starting Sahaja Yoga, ShrivastavaSrivastava had a reputation as a spiritual healer.<ref name=kakar/>{{rp|211–212}} In 1970, with a small group of devotees around her, she began spreading her message of Sahaja Yoga in India. As she moved with her husband to London, UK, she continued her religious activities there, and the movement grew and spread throughout Europe, by the mid-80's reaching North America. In 1989, Shri Mataji made her first trip to Russia and Eastern Europe.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of American religions |last=Melton |first=J. Gordon |publisher=Gale |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7876-6384-1 |edition=8th |location=Detroit |pages=1005}}</ref> She did not charge for her classes, insisting that her lesson was a birthright which should be freely available to all.<ref name="funding">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Posner |url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20110311.OBDEVIATL/BDAStory/BDA/deaths |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]] | title=Spiritual leader founded Sahaja yoga movement |date=11 March 2011 |access-date=19 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717002037/http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20110311.OBDEVIATL/BDAStory/BDA/deaths |archive-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2021, Sahaja Yoga has centers in at least 69 countries.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sahaja Yoga Worldwide Contacts – Locate Sahaja Yoga Near You|url=https://www.sahajayoga.org/worldwidecontacts/phonelist.asp|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226154220/https://www.sahajayoga.org/worldwidecontacts/phonelist.asp|archive-date=26 February 2021|access-date=21 April 2021|website=sahajayoga.org}}</ref>

== Beliefs and practices==

The movement claims Sahaja Yoga is different from other yoga/meditations because it begins with self realization through kundalini awakening rather than as a result of performing [[kriya]] techniques or [[asanas]]. This self realization is said to be made possible by the presence of Srivastava often through a photographyphotograph of her.<ref name="Sahaja Yoga Book 1"/> The teachings, practices and beliefs of Sahaja Yoga are mainly [[Hinduism|Hindu]]-based, with a predominance of elements from mystical traditions, as well as local customs of India.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/> There are however elements of [[Christianity|Christian]] origin, such as the eternal battle between good and evil.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/> References to a variety of other religious, spiritual, mystical as well as modern scientific frameworks are also interwoven in Srivastava's teachings, although to a lesser degree.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/>

Religious sociologist Judith Coney<ref>{{cite book |page=289 |chapter=Contributors |title=The South Asian Religious Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States (SUNY Series in Religious Studies |veditors=Coward HG |year=2000 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=0791445100}}</ref> has reported facing a challenge in getting behind what she called "the public facade" of Sahaja Yoga.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|214}} She described Sahaja yogis as adopting a low profile with uncommitted individuals to avoid unnecessary conflict.<ref name=cnr>{{cite book |first=Judith |last=Coney |title=Children in New Religions |editor1-first=Susan J. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor2-first=Charlotte |editor2-last=Hardman |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] | year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8135-2620-1 }}</ref>

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=== Family ===

Human rights lawyer Sylvie Langlaude has described the configuration of families within Sahaja Yoga as having "unusuala distinctive image and model of childhood", noting that from birth children become familiarised with the movement's beliefs and Nirmala Srivastava's status by being closely involved in its day-to-day rituals including meditation, foot-soaking, and devotional singing. This is in line with the other religions Langlaude examined, who concluded that "almost all traditions include informal nurturing within the family and slightly more formal nurturing within a religious community", and that children "are also initiated by their parents to a number of initiation rituals and to ceremonies and festivals."<ref name="law">{{cite book |author=Sylvie Langlaude |title=The Right of the Child to Religious Freedom in International Law |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |page=33-4 |chapter=Chapter 1: Religious Children |page=33}}</ref>

=== The subtle system – chakras and nadis ===

[[File:DiagrammaChakraKundalini.jpg|thumb|upright|Chakra Kundalini Diagram]]

Sahaja Yoga believes that in addition to our physical body there is a [[subtle body]] composed of [[nadis]] (channels) and [[chakras]] (energy centres). Nirmala Srivastava however equates the Sushumna [[Nadi (yoga)|nadi]] with the [[parasympathetic nervous system]], the Ida nadi with the left and the Pingala nadi with the right sides of the sympathetic nervous system. Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar writes that Nirmala Srivastava's additions to this widespread traditional '[[tantra|tantric]]' model include giving it a scientific, neurological veneer, an elaboration of the health aspects and an introduction of notions of traditional Christian morality.<ref>Sudhir Kakar wrote in his book ''Shamans, Mystics and Doctors'', "Essentially, Nirmala Srivastava's model of the human psyche is {{sic|comprised |hide=y|of}} the traditional tantric and hatha yoga notions of the subtle body, with its 'nerves' and 'centers,' and fuelled by a pervasive 'subtle energy' that courses through both the human and the divine, through the body and the cosmos. Nirmala Srivastava's contributions to this ancient model are not strikingly original: as a former medical student she has sought to give it a scientific, neurological veneer; as a former faith healer, she has elaborated upon those aspects of the model that are concerned with sickness and health; as someone born into an Indian Christian family she has tried to introduce notions of traditional Christian morality into an otherwise amoral Hindu view of the psyche." See Kakar (1991), p. 196</ref>

Chakras do not physically exist. They are energy centres which are within our subtle energy system. <ref name="Shermer 2002">{{cite book |title=[[The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience]] | publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA538 538] |editor-last=Shermer |editor-first=Michael |editor-link=Michael Shermer |volume=1 |year=2002}}</ref> but in a variety of ancient meditation practices they are believed to be part of the subtle body.<ref name="Sharma2006p193">{{cite book|first=Arvind |last=Sharma |title=A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiO8lKUs9-YC |year=2006 |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |isbn=978-1-4020-5014-5 |pages=193–196}}</ref>

=== Apostasy ===

In common with similar movements, most people who have left the Sahaja Yoga movement do not describe their experience as being unremittingly negative, often finding something positive they can say.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|184}} Nevertheless, in interviews with ex-members Judith Coney heard various complaints from ex-members, including that they had experienced unwanted [[arranged marriage]], had been dismayed by the difference between the reality of the movement and what they had expected, and had found their time in the movement frightening.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|182}}

In general,The ex-members who believed thatthey had gained some form of supernatural protection from being in the movement, were generally fearful of being exposed to retribution for having left, perhaps in the form of a [[terminal illness]] or fatal accident.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|180}}

=== Eschatology ===

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Sahaja Yoga leaders have denied this, pointing out that their group is recognised in both the US and Russia, that all members are free to come and go as they please. They admit that members are asked for voluntary contributions to events and projects, but that the money does not go to the founder herself. A current member of 25 years said: "All the organisation owns is a few properties in various countries. If we were into making money, that would be a pretty feeble return."<ref name=eveningstandard /> -->

== Cult allegationsclassification ==

Cult expert [[Jean-Marie Abgrall]] has written that Sahaja Yoga exhibits the classic characteristics of a cult in the way it conditions its members.<ref name="jma">{{cite book |author=Abgrall, Jean-Marie |title=Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults |publisher=Algora Publishing |year=2000 |author-link=Jean-Marie Abgrall |pages=139–144}}</ref> These include having a god-like leader, disrupting existing relationships, and promising security and specific benefits while demanding loyalty and financial support.<ref name="jma" /> Abgrall writes that the true activities of the cult are hidden behind the projection of a positive image and an explicit statement that "Sahaja yoga is not a cult".<ref name="jma" />

Judith Coney has written that members "disguised some of their beliefs" from the outside worldnon-members.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|214}} Coney writes people who had left the movement welcomed the chance to talk to her as an independent researcher, but that some were fearful of reprisals if they did so, and others found their experiences too painful to revisit.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|214}} Most were unwilling to talk to her "on the record".<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|214}}

An "A-Z of cults" in ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that adherents of Sahaja Yoga found a cult designation "particularly offensive" but that the movement had been plagued by accounts of children being separated from their parents and of large financial donations made to Nirmala Srivastava.<ref name=az>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |title=A-Z of cults |first=Robert |last=Cornelius |date=14 May 1995}}</ref>

In 2001, ''[[The Independent]]'' reported the allegation made by some ex-members, that Sahaja Yoga is a cult which aims to control the minds of its members.<ref name=indy-cult/> Ex-members said that the organisation insists all family ties are broken and all communication with them cease, that crying children can be seen as being possessed by demons, that negative and positive vibrations need "clearing", and that being a member of the group is very expensive.<ref name=indy-cult>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/shri-who-must-be-obeyed-9263416.html |title=Shri who must be obeyed |date=13 July 2001 |work=The Independent |access-date=17 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119200021/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/shri-who-must-be-obeyed-9263416.html |archive-date=19 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2005, ''[[The Record (Bergen County)|The Record]]'' reported that some critics who feel that the group is a cult have started their own websites.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NzMxNTk4 |title=Hundreds fill weekend with devotion, bliss |newspaper=[[The Record (Bergen County)|The Record]] | first=John |last=Chadwick |date=24 July 2005 |location=Bergen County, New Jersey |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320154926/http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NzMxNTk4 |archive-date=20 March 2007}}</ref>