Following are the answers given by Mataji Shri.Nirmaladevi on Sahajayoga and Religion at differnt lectures.
Is Sahaja Yoga a religion?
If religion means belief, no. If religion means connection with Reality, the Self or the Divine, whatever your language, then yes. Sahaja Yoga is not an organized religion, but it unites the essence of all religions through direct perception of the subtle, divine reality. Sahaja Yoga is moving spirituality from the realm of dogma into the realm of individual experimentation. It is a practice, a direct experience which is felt on our central nervous system and requires no act of faith to substantiate it.
Anyone who has eyes can see that the sky is blue. Anyone who has their self realization, which is achievable effortlessly through Sahaja Yoga, can feel the cool breeze of the Kundalini (in the Vedic tradition) or Holy Spirit (in the Christian tradition) above their head. Self Realization is a happening that opens a new category of perception to better handle our daily life. Its actualization is at the core of the teachings of Sahaja Yoga. In a way we are given a new sense, connected with the cognitive potential of the limbic area of the brain. We all have a powerful radar up there, waiting to start functioning and improve our navigational skills.
No belief is required before or after this happening. History is alas filled with blind faith and contradictory theories, but the evolution of awareness has taken us to a point where, now, it is possible for those who so desire to know a deeper spiritual truth through direct perception. The conclusions we arrive at through our experience and meditation are our own. No one can take them away from us just as it would be futile for anyone to convince us that the sky is actually green. As Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga emphasizes: we become our own masters.
All major religions of the world were started on the basis of the enlightening teachings of higher masters. Over time, because self realization was not yet available to everyone, their truth was buried under concepts and rituals by the people "in charge". They became rich and powerful. The truth and real essence of the religions faded and became a belief. Sahaja Yoga can for the first time integrate and prove these timeless truths, on our central nervous system, through self realization. It is all, in a sense, scientific, practical and part of a higher plan which has unfolded throughout history to reach its climax in these modern times. It is the next step in the evolution of our awareness.
We may say all this is driven by a mysterious force that we could call Divine love. This step of self improvement is within our collective reach and this is not a business or a money making proposition. We need only have the desire to receive it, and then use it for our benefit and the benefit of the human race.
| Does Sahaja Yoga accept other religions? The word RELIGION comes from a latin word ("religare") which means "to unite". The essence of all major religions of the world is the same: truth. The purpose is the same: to lead a better life, united with the power which created us. The religions were all based on the teachings of Divine incarnations who came on this earth, at different times and places, to guide humanity towards its collective emancipation.Through the process of Self Realization achieved in Sahaja Yoga, the truth of these religions becomes apparent: it is not not revealed through compliance to dogmas. It manifests through the liberation of our potential for a higher state of well being. We thus come to truly grasp and accept the essence of these great teachings, not on a mental basis, not by trying to reconcile the differences and ritualism which was added to them over the ages by the people in charge, but through our own experience.
Gregoire de Kalbermatten
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