Dear Family,
(Photo H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Shri Ganesha Puja, 25 September 1999, Cabella)
Jai Shri Mataji!
Shri Ganesha Puja in Cabella
Can all Australian Yogis, including Yuvas, who are intending to attend Shri Ganesha Puja in Cabella this year please let us know for hosting purposes – please just email Lyn at [email protected]
Sahaja Yoga Marriages in Cabella
This is a friendly reminder that the last date for applications to be considered for a Sahaja Yoga marriage in Cabella this year is Wednesday 31st July.
Please see the comments from the International Marriage Committee below.
Love,
Lyn & Andre
2019 MARRIAGE CEREMONY INFORMATION
The Marriage ceremony, for new couples, already married couples, and couples matched at previous ceremonies, will take place on Sunday the 8th September, while announcements will be done on Thursday the 5th during the evening program, so applicants planning to come to Cabella should preferably reach by that time. On the same day we will hold a session with all Applicants and other interested yogis/nis to talk about marriage in Sahaja.
Marriage Registration Fees are similar to the past and will be payable in euros. Details will be provided to all applicants.
Please urge applicants to read and understand the principles and protocols before applying. We have attached the Principles to the Form itself for this purpose plus the Marriage Forms.
With love and respect,
International Marriage Committee
Jai Shri Mataji
BACKGROUND
Sahaja Marriages were established by Shri Mataji in the early days of Sahaja Yoga and are a sacred ceremony based on Divine principles, which elicit spiritual and material blessings. In Sahaja Yoga, couples have the unique opportunity to be blessed by the attention of our Divine Mother, Adi Shakti and Guru for this process. Sahaja marriages facilitate individuals’ spiritual growth and the growth of the world Sahaja collective, and have a rippling effect through families, communities and between countries. Shri Mataji generously blessed Her children through this institution, granting them the opportunity to have a happy family life and allowing born realised souls to come on this Earth. The following document contains information about Sahaja Marriages that need to be known and understood by applicants. Please read it thoroughly before applying. It contains also information about how matches are performed, announced and marriages are performed. By signing the marriage application form you are expected to know and accept all the conditions and methods hereby explained. If there is any specific personal issue regarding such conditions and methods that requires the attention of the Marriage Committee please specify it on the form itself.
THE PRINCIPLES OF SAHAJA MARRIAGES
The principles of Sahaja marriages are based on Shri Mataji’s teachings collected in writing and provided orally to the yogis and yoginis who have worked with Mother in this most auspicious process. Some excerpts and references to Shri Mataji’s talks are included at the end of this document.
One of the main principles governing the Sahaja collective is that of pure relationships within the collective. Purity of relationships means that we should consider each and every yogi and yogini of the Sahaja collective as our brother or sister. As purity is the quality of our mooladhara which is the chakra sustaining our Kundalini in Her ascent, for the ascent of the collective, purity is one of the basis, without which any collective cannot grow.
Shri Mataji has as such always warned yogis and yoginis not to search for a life partner within the Sahaja collective, whether local or international, as this is against the principles of Sahaja Yoga. In several cases when this has happened, the couple has been asked to step back from the Sahaja collective for some period of time. The International marriage committee will not sanction a marriage before the world collective of self-engagement performed by yogis/yoginis within the Sahaja family.
In case of engagements initiated outside the Sahaja collective (e.g. engaged couples coming to Sahaja Yoga together), the process to be followed is that of re-marriage (see further down).
Yogis and yoginis who in the past chose to pursue a Sahaja marriage have been willing to surrender the process of finding a spiritual partner to Shri Mataji. With infinite motherly love, She has matched thousands of yogis and yoginis throughout the years, looking for the best match from all points of view, spiritual, emotional, and material. Yogis and yoginis who wish to have a Sahaja marriage need to be willing to surrender to Shri Mataji, Sakshat Shri Adi Shakti, the All doer. While the process is now performed by a collective group of yogis and yoginis that, as Her instruments, perform activities and take vibrations as advised by Mother, it should be clear that they themselves do this in full surrender to the Divine Will of Shri Mataji.
Shri Mataji also wished to break and discontinue practices based on conditionings which were harmful for individuals as well as society, i.e. caste system, dowry, race. The decision to move ahead with the marriage or not, should never be based on such conditionings as they are against the teaching of Shri Mataji.
She also had the noble vision of combining different cultures & countries together to overcome the global elements of hatred, quarrels, greed and to make such marriages an ideal example for society. That is why there is no consideration about the different cultures or religions followed before Sahaja Yoga, when performing Sahaja marriages. Whatever was followed before Self Realisation is the past only. Yogis and yoginis should be ready to be married with yogis/nis coming even from very different traditions and not be discriminating against different cultures as again this is against the teaching of Shri Mataji.
“…One of the things I discovered here, in the West, that though we have understood the importance of Mooladhara, which is a very important thing, that unless and until we establish our Mooladhara fully we are not going to have speediest ascent. Despite all that, there are lingering things you see around. Like, people start choosing their life-partners in Sahaja Yoga. That is not allowed. That is not allowed. You are not to spoil your Ashrams, your centres-using them for a marriage- searching society. You must respect this point, you must respect. If you have to marry, then you can find your life partners ‘outside’ Sahaja Yoga-to begin with. But if you want to marry ‘in’ Sahaja Yoga, then you should not go on searching people in Sahaja Yoga. It is very dangerous thing for Sahaja Yoga itself, and for you people. That is one thing one should never try to do with Sahaja Yoga. For all practical purposes you are brothers and sisters. And that’s why I always encouraged marriage between people who belong to another country or another centre. As we are now having a big marriage programme, I would say that most of the marriages which were done like that are very successful than the marriages that were selected and were done. It’s very wrong to do such a thing as to arrange your marriage with a Sahaja Yogi by yourself. It will be dangerous. I don’t want to say anything; but it wouldn’t turn out to be good because it is anti-God activity. Absolutely anti-God. …”
1984 Raksha Bandhan, London, UK
“…So in Sahaja Yoga the purpose of these marriages is to have you connected internationally so you all transcend all the barriers of your nationality, barriers of racialism, barriers of caste, barriers of so much of materialism…”
1993 Talk to brides, Ganapatipule, India
“…When it comes to love, how do we express our love ? By sharing all our joys, all our pains, all our problems…… But in Sahaja Yoga it is a little more, I think quite a lot more, much more. Here you have to share the community, the marriage is not for individuals in Sahaja Yoga, not at all. If anybody has a feeling a marriage in Sahaja yoga is between two people, is a wrong thing; it is two communities, it can be two nations, it can be completely two universes. So it is not to be enjoyed between yourself. If you are good husband wife to each other, it is not sufficient in Sahaja Yoga. That love should be enjoyed by every one else in the society, in the community. If you cannot do that then you have not achieved Sahaja-Yoga marriage, it is just an ordinary marriage as people have, it’s just that. There’s nothing special about it. Such marriages should be able to give chances for very great souls to come on this earth. A person who is married in Sahaja Yoga, who are Sahaja Yogis, who are sharing their love equally with the Sahaja Yogis and the society that is Sahaja Yoga, then only great people will be born…”
1980 The value of marriage, Dollis Hills, UK