Sources, Notes and
Relevant Links

The second photograph is also from the first (1971) edition of the Hindi book Jin Koja Tin Paiyan.

The video of Shri Mataji and the 1970 Nargol meditation camp is taken from The Rising Moon, a video made up of snippets from early films of Rajneesh that is available through www.osho.org. The section in which Shri Mataji appears is labelled as the 1968 Nargol camp. However, according to the man who organised all Rajneesh's Nargol camps, this is a mistake and Shri Mataji was only present at the 1970 camp.

The contents of Rajneesh's talks at the Nargol camps are reproduced in a series of books called In Search of the Miraculous (previously The Mystic Experience). www.osho-jp.org/shop/bookcat2.htm describes Volume 1 as follows:

In meditation camps at Bombay and Nargol, Osho gives detailed instructions for his revolutionary Dynamic Meditation. He also answers questions about his Kundalini technique and shaktipat-the transfer of energy from master to disciple. A fascinating read for every spiritual seeker.

Shree Gurudev-Vani is an annual publication of Swami Muktananda's Shree Gurudev Ashram, Ganeshpuri, India. Volume 7, July 1970, in a section entitled "About Our Ashram" on page 82, states:

On May 2, Acharya Rajnish, a well-known modern philosopher and teacher, visited us. He was given a loving welcome and courteously taken round our Ashram. He was greatly impressed by the beauty and neatness of the Ashram, so much so that he wondered if he could conduct one of his meditation camps here!

Lecture Number 6 of Rajneesh's book The Goose Is Out states:

There are so many fools in the world that any Indian can find disciples. It is not a problem at all. Just your being Indian is enough and you are a guru. I have seen such things happening before my eyes.

One of my disciples Nirmala Srivastava has now become a great spiritual leader. Now her name is long: Her Holiness Jagatjanani - "The mother of the whole world" - Mataji Nirmalaji Srivastavaji. She was once travelling with me in a car and I passed by Muktananda's ashram. The people staying in Muktananda's ashram invited me to be there for a five-minute stay just to take a cup of tea, And it was a long journey so I said "There is no harm in it" Anyway I love a cup of tea. So I stayed for five minutes.

Nirmala saw Muktananda. She could not believe that this stupid-looking man - disgusting more or less a buffoon - had become a great spiritual leader.

After the tea when we re-entered the car she said, "If this man can become a spiritual leader, then why can't I?"

I said "You can", And she became one.

There is one man here from Australia who asked me a question, because now she is in Australia doing great spiritual work. He asked me: "Once in a while you talk about a woman Rabiya el- Adawiyat. What do you think about Mataji Nirmala Deviji? Is she also of the same category as Rabiya el-Adawiya?" The Man is here.

I know her perfectly well, for ten years she was my student,. There is nothing in it, no spirituality, no meditativeness but she got the idea from Muktananda. And it is not the only case.

Shri Mataji's descriptions of her visits to Rajneesh and Muktananda are taken from an interview in Hinduism Today (Volume 12, Number 10, page 7). The relevant section is as follows:

HT: How did you develop Sahaja Yoga?

Nirmala Devi: It happened in very funny circumstances on the 5th May, 1970. I had been going to all these gurus to see what they are doing, how they work and all that, just to study them. I was a born realized soul. I could have given realization to one or two also, but my idea was to find out a way by which I could give en masse realization. I went to see Swami Muktananda and all of them. I went to see this Rajneesh, who was very much after me. I went on my own and stayed there. I was sitting on a little platform under a tree watching all that was there. I was shocked because he was mesmerizing people who were holding an ordinary glass. How horrible it was. I felt so bad because there was mud, dirt, filth, and they were all wearing that.

[In my search, I found that there] were no gurus, they were false people, most of them. So I said, "If that is the thing that those gurus are doing, better try myself." So the whole night I sat under a bilva tree near the seashore. I was just thinking, "How will I manage this en mass realization?" And that is the day when the seventh chakra opened and when I saw how the kundalini was going to rise. Of course, I cannot explain this to you because it is a different level of understanding. It is a siddhi (psychic power) which is beyond chitta (consciousness). So with the siddhi I worked it out. When that happened, this one didn't know anything about realization. Then I started this work.

Note: The Hinduism Today interview may be translated from Hindi as "I felt so bad because there was mud, dirt, filth, and they were all wearing that" may refer to the Rajneeshis all wearing 'mala' - a word that can mean beads as well as dirt. The reference to the Rajneeshis "holding an ordinary glass" may be a similar mistranslation.

The full text of the Hinduism Today interview should soon be available at:
http://www.hinduism-today.com/past_issues.html

There follows extracts from personal communications from the man who organised Rajneesh's meditation camps at Nargol:

30 August 1999:

Nirmaladevi says she developed Sahajyoga. Actually she had a 'SATORI' experience at our Nargol Camp in April 1970

27 September 1999:

We had a Meditation Camp at Nargol (Valsad Dist.,Gujarat) conducted by Acharya Rajneesh(Then OSHO was known as Acharya Rajneesh)

It was on 4th May 1970, on returning from Nargol, Acharyaji (OSHO) and Nirmala Devi were travelling in a car from Nargol to Bombay. They were travelling in the car of Shri Maheshwari (who was one of the Trustees), Shri Maheshwari is no more in his body. On the way - a little inside - was Muktanand's Ashram. Since they were inviting Rajneeshji so many times, HE asked Shri Maheshwari to pass through Muktananda's Ashram. It is this place where Nirmaladevi, after looking in the eyes of Muktananda felt that it this man can be a 'GURU' , why can't I? And ego errupted in her to be a 'GURU'. After that only once she visited Rajneesh's place and at that time she was not allowed to meet HIM and she went back.

I know Nirmaladevi very well. She may deny. It is her choice. I still feel that no 'SAHASRARA' has happened to Nirmaladevi.

12 November 1999:

Smt. Nirmala Devi attended only one meditation camp - of Nargol, Gujarat. All the three meditation camps were arranged and managed by me and hence I can say it authoritatively.

OSHO had, in his Hindi speech once mentioned that "... and I know, she got a Satori experience, but once her ego came, she could not sustain such experience ..."

Coming from Nargol and to visit the Muktanandji's Ashram was a formal outcome which has nothing to do with our inner experience. OSHO was staying at Woodland (Bombay) and Smt. Nirmala Devi used to visit him, whenever need arises. But in her last visit after Nargol Camp her meeting with OSHO was denied by Ma Yoga Laxmi, OSHO's then Secretary. On that day I was also there. But I can't say the exact date.

'Rising Moon' is not only limited to 1968 happennings. But all from 1967 to 1974 - few - few minutes only. Definitely Smt. Nirmaladevi was not at 1968 Nargol Camp.

OSHO met Shri Muktanandji only once - out of so many times requests. This time HE was invited as HE was passing through that area, OSHO spent a few minutes at that Ashram. That's all.

It should be noted that the date of the visit was given as 4 May 1970 in above extract dated 27 November 1999. We have followed the 2 May date given in Shree Gurudev-Vani because it was recorded so near the time. However, it is worth noting that if the 4 May date is correct, Shri Mataji cannot have been in Nargol on the morning of 5 May as she claims.

Shri Mataji's talk Dangers of Rajneesh (Sahaja Yoga Tape #59) was given on 18 September 1978 at a public recruitment programme at Caxton Hall, London.

The vituperative attack Shri Mataji dictated against Rajneesh from "the seekers of the West" is found in Philipa Pullar's 1983 book The Shortest Journey [read full text].

Shri Mataji's 1987 description of all followers of Rajneesh as mad was made on 1 December during a talk she gave in Pune entitled Advice Of Shri Mataji On The Treatment Of Virus Infections [read full text].

Swami Chaitanya Keerti's 1990 response to Shri Mataji's condemnation of her former guru, and Shri Mataji's failure to meet the challenges of the Indian Anti-Superstition Committee (Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti), are more fully recorded here.

The full text of the relevant chapter of Sudhir Kakar's 1982 book Shamans, Mystics and Doctors is reproduced in full here.

It is interesting that Kakar's Shamans, Mystics and Doctors also refers to Shri Mataji having "traveled a long way from her beginnings as a faith healer" (p 191) and "following the theories of Vasant Rele" (p 197). We have not yet been able to confirm Shri Mataji's former life as a faith healer, although Kakar's book is not the only one to mention it. It may be that the faith healing period was limited to the period between leaving Rajneesh in May 1970 and beginning the practice of shaktipat in January 1972. Of this period Shri Mataji once said:

And two years I worked them, two years. I used to cure them alright. (25.3.81 Darshan at Ashram Part 2 - see below for fuller extract)

The fact that Shri Mataji borrowed from Vassant Rele is obvious to anybody who reads Rele's 1927 book The Mysterious Kundalini. Like Rele, Shri Mataji relates the chakras to the plexuses of the autonomic nervous system, the ida and pingala nadis to the sympathetic nervous system, the sushumna to the parasympathetic nervous system (especially the vagus nerve), and the muladhara to the sacrum bone. An extract from Rele's The Mysterious Kundalini is reproduced here.

Mataji's debt to Rele is important because Shri Mataji's Sahaja Yoga was not simply copied from Rajneesh and Muktananda. Her emphasis on shaktipat may have been because of their influence, although she did not begin the practice for 20 months after having contact with them. Anybody who has looked through her personal collection of books will know that their contents are closely reflected in her talks - there are books on Michaelangelo and the different kinds of ananda as well as books on chakras that are closer to her exposition than that of Muktananda or Rajneesh.

Shri Mataji described her giving 'realisation' at Bordi in January 1972 as follows:

First time we went to Bordi, I had taken over 25 of them. And gave realisation, the first realisation to one of them. Of course I had given one to one lady at home. But the second one of this 25 was a fellow who got it. And all the Maharastrans were very unhappy. They don't deserve this, Mother, because they are this, that. Nobody told me this but I knew it was going on.

The lady who started murmuring is nowhere near Sahaja Yoga now. But half-baked, they joined hands and they were very unhappy. Modi was there. He was one of the first ones. And that day I really put up a show of anger. After ages and even since then I have never had, and I just lashed. I said, "You people are good for nothing, useless. I don't know my fate is bad I got such horrible people. If you are thinking of ... and Marathi and all this nonsense here better get out. I've nothing to do with you". I was really angry. I was really so angry that I don't think I've put up that show anywhere. I've tried to. But not to that extent. And for about one hour I shouted at the top of my voice. Really screamed at them. All the bhoots ran away from me, so frightened and 12 of them got realisation. So the first trick I tried 12 of them got realisation. One of them is Modi. 12 of them got realisation that day. You can imagine. First I really screamed and shouted and all the bhoots ran away and all these ideas got out. When I get angry also its against the bhoots you see.

But I really shouted. "Get out from here. I don't want to see your faces. Just go. I'll have nothing to do with you! I'm not going to give you realisation". So frightened. And a gentleman whispered, "Mother please forgive us". "NO!!!"

He didn't know what to do you see. And two years I worked them, two years. I used to cure them alright. And I was so angry with them. I said, "you wretched people, you don't deserve it." And that woman has gone out of circulation. That one, she's the one who started this talk. Someone comes and starts saying something like that you people get gathered. And then after that she really got first class. All twelve of them are here except for one she was the first who got it at home. (25.3.81 Darshan at Ashram Part 2)

The idea that Shri Mataji's 'Unique Discovery' of en masse Self Realisation proves that she is the incarnation of the Supreme Goddess crops up in an interesting story. Supposedly the moderately well-known Maharashtrian guru Gagan Giri Maharaj only recognised that Shri Mataji was the Adi Shakti after seeing that she had raised the kundalinis of so many. However, it should be noted that neither Gagan Giri Maharaj, nor any other realised Indian guru or saint (of which there are supposed to be many), have ever involved themselves in Sahaja Yoga during its 30 years of existence. Like all Sahaja Yoga's problems, it is claimed that this does not detract from Shri Mataji's divinity, but rather reflects the inferior quality of the Sahaja Yogis.

Shri Mataji's claim that Muktananda stole her teachings when she went to America probably refers to a trip to the US in 1972. Shri Mataji later represented the trip as an urgent mission to denounce false gurus and claimed that she had sold her gold jewellery to finance the trip. Although Shri Mataji did make an unsuccessful attempt to establish Sahaja Yoga in the US during this trip, the fact that the journey was made by ship and that she stayed in a backwater suggests that the trip had some other primary motive.

Information from Muktananda's followers has been taken from the following webpages:
http://www.hinduism-today.com/1995/4/
http://m1.aol.com/heaven914/Siddha1/siddha-2.htm

The Siddha Mahayoga FAQ by Kurt Keutzer (keutzer@synopsys.com) can be found at:
http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/siddha-mahayoga.html
or
http://www.hmt.com/kundalini/siddha-mahayoga.html

The descriptions of experiences by Muktananda's followers have been taken from the following webpages:
http://www.syda.org/experiences/love.html
http://www.hinduism-today.com/1995/4/

Further descriptions of experiences by Muktananda's followers can be found at:
http://www.syda.org/experiences/archives.html

Criticisms of Siddha Yoga by ex-members can be found at:
http://www.cyberpass.net/~truth/

Criticisms of Sahaja Yoga by ex-members can be found at:
http://www.sahaja-yoga.org