Sahaja Yoga
Sahaja Yoga, first of all, is for personal improvement, is for the inner improvement as far as the personal side is concerned. This means your intelligence must improve, your temperament must improve, your heart must clear out, your feelings must be all right, then your health should be all right, then your relationship with others should be all right, your ego should go away, your superego should go away. All these things are there. But this only helps a personality, just a personality that is very limited, that is yourself. But now, this personality can become an instrument, if you can develop that depth within yourself.
But normally what happens, people are very much still worried about themselves, about their wives, about their children, about their husbands or their household … we have to be those instruments … We have to develop that depth within us. That depth is possible and you can really cure many problems of your country if you could just meditate on them …
My working style is different because I have very sharp and effective instruments. Now for you also, it is important that you also develop those deeper feelings within you, deeper sense within you.
Shri Mataji, 1987
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.
It is now widely acknowledged that our life and what happens to us on the outside, in our relationships, at work, at home, depends on the state of our being on the inside, that is, how we think and feel and how we act, whether it be with kindness, selfishness, anger or compassion. This is because all human beings have inside them a “subtle system”, which is a blueprint that incorporates all the ways we should conduct ourselves in our lives. Our lives on the outside are a reflection of the condition of this subtle system. If we live in accordance with this blueprint and are able to balance our subtle system, then our lives will be happier, healthier and more productive.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, who founded Sahaja Yoga in 1970, has given many public lectures about this subtle system and how it works. The subtle system consists of seven chakras, three channels and the residual life force, which is a dormant energy called the Kundalini which resides in the sacrum bone at the bottom of the spine.
Each of the seven chakras has certain qualities which manifest in our lives when the chakras are clear. For example, if our heart chakra is clear we will show the traits of courage and compassion in our lives. If there is a blockage in a chakra, it manifests in our lives. For example, a blockage in the Nabhi chakra may lead to us having problems with money. When the Nabhi chakra is cleared either the financial difficulties will disappear or we just won’t be worried about them any more and we will find a way to manage.
The three channels need to be in balance. When the left side and the right side are balanced we can operate in the central channel, which is the present. In order to be in the present, we need to achieve our Self-realisation, which occurs when the Kundalini rises up the central channel, through the limbic area in the brain and out of the fontanelle bone area at the top of the head to unite with the All-pervading Power of the universe.
When this happens, we become connected to the universal, Divine power that created us. We become more knowledgeable about ourselves and are able to know the state of our subtle system, our chakras and channels. As we begin to meditate and strengthen this connection after attaining our Self-realisation, we become “thoughtlessly aware” and our Kundalini flows through our chakras, clearing them. As a consequence we become better people, we automatically act in more constructive ways and all our bad habits drop out. We begin to demonstrate the positive characteristics of the chakras in our behaviour, and the positive qualities of the chakras manifest in our lives.
Recent research has shown that people are happiest when they demonstrate the “virtues” in their lives. It is already well-known that people who are happy have stronger immune systems and are healthier than those who are not. Investigation of over 200 religious and philosophical texts including the Upanishads, the Koran, ancient Greek philosophers and Christian texts has demonstrated that there are six universally accepted traits that are regarded as virtues that are revered in every society. They are wisdom, courage, compassion, judgement, self-discipline and forgiveness. The universality of these traits indicates that they are innate and are part of the blueprint of human beings. The fact that people feel happiest when they express these virtues in their behaviour also indicates that they form an innate part of the human experience.
It is time that we looked inside and looked to our roots, in order to find happiness and fulfillment that will be for our good, and for the good of our family, our town, our country and ultimately for the good of the whole world. As Shri Mataji considers it the birthright of every human being to have their Self-realisation and the knowledge of the subtle system, Sahaja Yoga is always taught free of charge.
Kay Alford
(Photograph: wikimediacommons)
The Agnya Chakra, sometimes called the Third Eye, is situated at the centre of the brain. This is the level of the mind. Our mind has two lobes: the ego, which gives us our sense of separateness; and our superego, which has our conditionings and memory. The goal in Sahaja Yoga is to bring the light of the Spirit to the brain and so achieve enlightenment, Self-realisation. The Sahaja Yoga affirmations for the Agnya Chakra are, “I forgive everyone, including myself,” “Mother, by your grace I am forgiven,” “Mother, please make me a forgiving person,” and “Mother, verily You are the forgiveness.”
When the Kundalini passes through this chakra, the thought waves elongate so that the space between the thoughts grows longer. The present moment begins to fill the attention and we enter the state of meditation in thoughtless awareness. Then we can see without colouring or projecting – simply, innocently, like a child.
Jesus Christ, the personification or Deity of the Agnya Chakra is said to have explained, “Unless you be as little children, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” This entry point is “the narrow gate” between the ego (ahankara) and superego (manas). This is the “now” point that remains clear and unpressured, beyond the mind’s remembrances of the past, and beyond the ego’s mental projections about the future.
The mind, like the body, gives us fairly convincing ideas of our existence. However, with an enlightened mind we find, as Shri Mataji has said, that we are not the body, the mind, ego and conditionings, but we are the Spirit. This was the essential revelation of Jesus Christ who fully manifested the Divine qualities of the Agnya Chakra – compassion and forgiveness. His testimony, of undoubted Oneness with His Father, is the Nirvikalpa experience of the Yogi, who has been cleansed and prepared by the Divine Mother, Kundalini. His assertion, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Light,” is the ultimate expression of this enlightened Agnya.
It is through deep meditation, forgiveness and humility that the process of crossing the Agnya Chakra is worked out. The left and right channels cross just below the Agnya. If either of these channels is overly active they create a burden and an imbalance in the subtle body that pressures and closes the narrow gate and has us again feeling alone and unconnected. The right channel is easily inflated with the idea, “I do.” Too much thinking, planning, projecting, over-activity, anger, competitiveness or superiority will cause blockage and also deplete the left side of the essential ability to feel and love. Becoming too “right-sided” means we can enter the hot realm of the supra-conscious, the realm of the future. The left channel can catch if we are overly emotional, too expressive, feeling victimised, wishing harm to ourselves, becoming immersed in the past, and too involved in unhealthy habits, subconscious images or dead ideas. This is the realm where everything from the past is placed, including dead spirits and the Collective Sub-conscious.
A central idea in spiritual evolution is the idea of being “born again”. This is not a process of self- or group-certification. It is the process of Self-realisation in which we break through, surrender the lesser senses of ego and conditioning, and become resurrected, identified with the eternal awareness, the Spirit. Here we go beyond the mind and often humorously witness the play of the ego and conditionings as they battle to have their way. We are still in the world, yet in a detached, joy-filled and loving way. We easily forgive, for not to forgive causes problems. We know and enjoy our own Spirit, the same Spirit in all, and witness the play of the Creation. We are humble before the ultimate majesty of the Creator and also spontaneously experience true love and compassion for the human condition.
Pavan Keatley
(Photograph: orthodox.cn)