Editing Sahaja Yoga (section)

== Beliefs and practices==
The movement claims Sahaja Yoga is different from other yoga/meditations because it begins with self realization through kundalini awakening rather than as a result of performing [[kriya]] techniques or [[asanas]]. This self realization is said to be made possible by the presence of Srivastava often through a photograph of her.<ref name="Sahaja Yoga Book 1"/> The teachings, practices and beliefs of Sahaja Yoga are mainly [[Hinduism|Hindu]]-based, with a predominance of elements from mystical traditions, as well as local customs of India.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/> There are however elements of [[Christianity|Christian]] origin, such as the eternal battle between good and evil.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/> References to a variety of other religious, spiritual, mystical as well as modern scientific frameworks are also interwoven in Srivastava's teachings, although to a lesser degree.<ref name=kakar/><ref name=coney1999/>

Religious sociologist Judith Coney<ref>{{cite book |page=289 |chapter=Contributors |title=The South Asian Religious Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States (SUNY Series in Religious Studies |veditors=Coward HG |year=2000 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=0791445100}}</ref> has reported facing a challenge in getting behind what she called "the public facade" of Sahaja Yoga.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|214}} She described Sahaja yogis as adopting a low profile with uncommitted individuals to avoid unnecessary conflict.<ref name=cnr>{{cite book |first=Judith |last=Coney |title=Children in New Religions |editor1-first=Susan J. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor2-first=Charlotte |editor2-last=Hardman |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] | year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8135-2620-1 }}</ref>

Coney observed that the movement tolerates a variety of world views and levels of commitment with some practitioners choosing to remain on the periphery.<ref name=coney1999/>

=== Kundalini ===
{{Further |Kundalini}}
Within the Indian mystic tradition, kundalini awakening has long been a much sought-after goal that was thought rare and hard to attain.<ref name=kakar/> Sahaja Yoga is distinctive in claiming to offer a quick and easy path to such an awakening.<ref name=kakar>{{cite book |author=Sudhir Kakar |author-link=Sudhir Kakar |title=Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and its Healing Traditions |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226422798 |year=1991 }}{{rp|191}}</ref>

=== Meditation ===
[[Meditation]] is one of the foundational rituals within Sahaja Yoga.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|71}} The technique taught emphasises the state of "thoughtless-awareness" that is said to be achieved.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2001/d2001-0467.html |title=Administrative Panel Decision 'Vishwa Nirmala Dharma a.k.a. Sahaja Yoga v. Sahaja Yoga Ex-Members Network and SD Montford' Case No. D 2001-0467 |date=16 June 2001 |publisher=[[World Intellectual Property Organization|WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center]]}}</ref>

=== Role of women ===

Judith Coney has written that in general, Srivastava's vision for the role of women within Sahaja Yoga was one of "feminine domesticity and compliance".<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|125}}

Some parents of Sahaja 'yogists', analyzing Nirmala Srivastava's remarks, noted that women play a subordinate role.<ref name="jma" /> The texts of Nirmala Srivastava say that "if you are a woman and you want to dominate, then Sahaja Yoga will have difficulty in curing you" and that women should be "docile" and "domestic".<ref name="jma"/> Judith Coney writes that women "are valued as mothers and wives but are limited to these roles and are not encouraged to be active or powerful, except within the domestic sphere and behind the scenes".<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|125}}

Coney has observed that "Gender roles for women and men within Sahaja Yoga are clearly specified and highly segregated, and positions of authority in the group are held almost exclusively by the men".<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|119}} Coney writes that the ideal of womanhood promoted within Sahaja Yoga draws both on the ideal wifely qualities of the goddess [[Lakshmi]] and on wider Hindu traditions. Coney believes these traditions are summed up in [[Manusmriti|"The Code of Manu"]] which holds that woman should be honoured and adorned but kept dependent on men in the family. Women are also described in this book as "dangerous" and needing to be guarded from temptation.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|121}}

Coney has written that Srivastava gave mixed messages about the status of women. On the one hand she said women are not inferior but described the sexes as complementary. Describing the man as the head of the family, she likened the woman's status to the heart: "The head always feels he decides, but the brain always knows that is the heart one has to cater, it is the heart which is all-pervading, it is the real source of everything".<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|122}} She regretted what she saw as the loss of respect for women in society in both the East and West. However, she viewed Western [[feminism]] suspiciously, seeing it as a "route to damnation" because it required women to deviate from what she thought was their true nature.<ref name=coney1999/>{{rp|123}}

=== Family ===
Human rights lawyer Sylvie Langlaude has described the configuration of families within Sahaja Yoga as having "a distinctive image and model of childhood", noting that from birth children become familiarised with the movement's beliefs and Nirmala Srivastava's status by being closely involved in its day-to-day rituals including meditation, foot-soaking, and devotional singing. This is in line with the other religions Langlaude examined, who concluded that "almost all traditions include informal nurturing within the family and slightly more formal nurturing within a religious community", and that children "are also initiated by their parents to a number of initiation rituals and to ceremonies and festivals."<ref name="law">{{cite book |author=Sylvie Langlaude |title=The Right of the Child to Religious Freedom in International Law |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |page=33-4 |chapter=Chapter 1: Religious Children}}</ref>

=== The subtle system – chakras and nadis ===
[[File:DiagrammaChakraKundalini.jpg|thumb|upright|Chakra Kundalini Diagram]]

Sahaja Yoga believes that in addition to our physical body there is a [[subtle body]] composed of [[nadis]] (channels) and [[chakras]] (energy centres). Nirmala Srivastava equates the Sushumna [[Nadi (yoga)|nadi]] with the [[parasympathetic nervous system]], the Ida nadi with the left and the Pingala nadi with the right sides of the sympathetic nervous system. Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar writes that Nirmala Srivastava's additions to this widespread traditional '[[tantra|tantric]]' model include giving it a scientific, neurological veneer, an elaboration of the health aspects and an introduction of notions of traditional Christian morality.<ref>Sudhir Kakar wrote in his book ''Shamans, Mystics and Doctors'', "Essentially, Nirmala Srivastava's model of the human psyche is {{sic|comprised |hide=y|of}} the traditional tantric and hatha yoga notions of the subtle body, with its 'nerves' and 'centers,' and fuelled by a pervasive 'subtle energy' that courses through both the human and the divine, through the body and the cosmos. Nirmala Srivastava's contributions to this ancient model are not strikingly original: as a former medical student she has sought to give it a scientific, neurological veneer; as a former faith healer, she has elaborated upon those aspects of the model that are concerned with sickness and health; as someone born into an Indian Christian family she has tried to introduce notions of traditional Christian morality into an otherwise amoral Hindu view of the psyche." See Kakar (1991), p. 196</ref>

Chakras do not physically exist<ref name="Shermer 2002">{{cite book |title=[[The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience]] | publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA538 538] |editor-last=Shermer |editor-first=Michael |editor-link=Michael Shermer |volume=1 |year=2002}}</ref> but in a variety of ancient meditation practices they are believed to be part of the subtle body.<ref name="Sharma2006p193">{{cite book|first=Arvind |last=Sharma |title=A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiO8lKUs9-YC |year=2006 |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |isbn=978-1-4020-5014-5 |pages=193–196}}</ref>

=== Apostasy ===
In common with similar movements, most people who have left the Sahaja Yoga movement do not describe their experience as being unremittingly negative, often finding something positive they can say.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|184}} Nevertheless, in interviews with ex-members Judith Coney heard various complaints, including that they had experienced unwanted [[arranged marriage]], had been dismayed by the difference between the reality of the movement and what they had expected, and had found their time in the movement frightening.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|182}}

The ex-members who believed they had gained some form of supernatural protection from being in the movement were generally fearful of being exposed to retribution for having left, perhaps in the form of a [[terminal illness]] or fatal accident.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|180}}

=== Eschatology ===

Within the Sahaja Yoga belief system, because the world is in its final phase ([[Kali Yuga]]) before the [[apocalypse]], the Earth is rich in [[demon]]s, who use [[satan]]ic forces to [[demonic possession|possess]] people, impersonate [[guru]]s, and spread evil.<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|40}}

Coney writes that Srivastava claimed to be [[Adi Shakti]], who had returned to earth to save it from "demonic influences."<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|93}} She states that Srivastava identified what she saw as increased decadence in society as the work of demons "intent on dragging human beings to hell".<ref name="coney1999" />{{rp|123}}