Sahaja Yoga was founded in 1970 by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923 – 2011). Shri Nirmala Srivastava is more widely known as Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi or as "Mother" by her followers, who are called Sahaja yogis. During meditation, seekers of truth experience a state of self-realization produced by kundalini awakening, and this is accompanied by the experience of thoughtless awareness or mental silence.
Nirmala Srivastava ( Nirmala Salve) (21 March 1923 – 23 February 2011), also known as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, was the founder of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement sometimes classified as a cult. She said "You cannot know the meaning of your life until you're connected to the power that created you". She claimed to have been born fully realised and spent her life working for peace by developing and promoting a simple technique through which people can achieve their own self-realization.
Sahaja Yoga is a unique method of meditation based on an experience known as Self Realisation which was discovered by H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi in 1970 Meditation can be an effective form of stress reduction and has the potential to improve quality of life and decrease health care costs. Meditation involves achieving a state of 'thoughtless awareness' in which the excessive stress producing activity of the mind is neutralized without reducing alertness and effectiveness.