Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was the founder of Sahaja Yoga. She was born in India and spent her life teaching this meditation and helping awaken the inner spiritual reality already present within every person. (Often called self-realization.)

Shri Mataji did not ask people to leave their religions. She spoke often about Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Spirit, and taught that true spirituality is experiential—not theoretical.

One of the most significant things for me is that Shri Mataji never charged money to give people the gift of meditation. When asked why she would often say that it is already yours, what would she charge?

When asked if she was a “guru” she would laugh and tell people she was a mother.

In Sahaja Yoga, vibrations refer to the subtle cool or warm sensations that can be felt on the hands or at the top of the head after self-realization and during meditation.

They are understood as the flow of the Holy Spirit, or divine energy.

Vibrations are not the goal of meditation, and not everyone feels them immediately. Like many things of the Spirit, they’re better understood through experience rather than explanation.

In Sahaja Yoga, meditating with Shri Mataji’s photograph is a practical aid. Her photograph is used the same way her physical presence once was: to give vibrations.

For Christians (and Muslims), this can feel unfamiliar at first.

The best advice I can give is to set up a meditation space with a photo of Shri Mataji and a candle and try it for a few weeks. See if it improves your ability to connect in meditation.

People from many religious backgrounds practice Sahaja Yoga, and many continue actively within their own traditions.

Sahaja Yoga does not ask you to adopt new beliefs, leave your faith, or convert to anything else. It offers a method of meditation meant to awaken the inner spiritual reality that already exists within each person.

In some places in the world, Sahaja Yoga is registered as a religion to make it easier to meet together and meditate.

If you do an online search for “kundalini” you will find all kinds of divergent ideas.

In Sahaja Yoga, kundalini is the name for the energy that is already inside of you. This is not an external force.

It is a loving, mothering, feminine energy (whether you are male or female) that comforts, heals, soothes, and balances.

It’s the same living energy that makes seeds sprout or flowers bloom, but it is personal to you and has been with you your whole life.

The closest Christian idea is Imago Dei, the image of God you were born with.

For me, it did not. It deepened my experience of God.

Christianity already contains a strong contemplative tradition—stillness, surrender, listening, inner transformation. Sahaja Yoga gave me a direct experience of those qualities without asking me to abandon Jesus, scripture, or prayer.

That said, each person has to discern this for themselves. This site exists to support that discernment, not to push it.

No. Meditation and prayer serve different roles.

Prayer often involves speaking to God, about our lives, needs, and gratitude. Meditation creates space for listening. In my own life, meditation has strengthened prayer by quieting the mental noise that often gets in the way of genuine communion.

No.

Most people don’t arrive at Sahaja Yoga with everything neatly sorted. Experience often comes before language. Clarity unfolds over time.

If you’re someone who feels something real happening in meditation and also feels unsettled by unanswered questions, you’re not doing it wrong. You’re paying attention.