20 Years in Russia
Beginning of Sahaja Yoga in Russia:
In 1985, the first Russians got Self-Realization in Switzerland. In 1989, Shri Mataji conducted the first public programs in Russia after which the first collective meetings started in Saint-Petersburg (called Leningrad then), Moscow and Togliatti.
Shri Mataji in Russia in 1989
The number of cities where there are Centers of Sahaja Yoga: 176
The number of Sahaja Yogis in Russia: about 6 000
How Sahaja Yoga came to:
Tags: beginning of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji, SY, SY programs
The year of the Sahaja Yoga Center establishment:
February 16, 1990, in half a year after Shri Mataji had conducted the first Public Programs in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow.
Alexander Solodyankin was the founder of the group. His cousin, Tamara Sastamoinen, who lived in Saint-Petersburg at that time, called him and said, “Come. It is just what you need”. Having received Self-Realisation, Alexander Solodyankin actively started to give Self-Realization to everybody who he met and organized the first group of Sahaja Yogis.
Public Programs with Shri Mataji:
Shri Mataji visited Togliatti each year in 1992-1996.
Programme in Togliatti, 22nd September 1995
The present number of Sahaja Yogis in Togliatti: about 2 thousand people.
Tags: beginning of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji, SY, SY programs
The year of the Sahaja Yoga Center establishment:
According to the Protocol of the Intentions on cooperation in the field of Sahaja Yoga research in the USSR signed in Moscow on August 9, 1989 by the Ministry of Health of the USSR and Life Eternal Trust International, “the meeting of V.I. Ilyin, the representative of the Senior Management in the field of science and medical technologies, and Mrs. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Mr. Yogeshvar Mahajan, Mr. Brayan Wells, Mr. Bogdan Shekhovich, the representatives of Life Eternal Trust International, took place on August 4, 1989. The parties agreed on the issues which were discussed”.
This process was also supported by the fact that there already were Sahaja Yogis in Moscow at that time (the first ones of them had received Self-Realization abroad). They had not only prepared the mentioned official Agreement in the Capital of Russia but also offered Shri Krishna Puja in Tver Region (350 km from Moscow).
Sahaja Yoga was spreading in Moscow with the speed of a fire. Active Sahaja Yogis went to other cities and conducted Self-Realisation programs there. In Moscow, the hall of the House of Culture “Red October” did not fit all the seekers of Truth. Several times afterwards the halls of Sahaja Yoga meetings were changed for bigger ones.
Moscow, September 17th, 1995, Shri Devi Puja
Active work with doctors was taking place. The first group of doctors who Shri Mataji gathered consisted of not more than 30 people but soon She had to prepare a Medical Conference for the next meetings. A talk by Shri Mataji with the scientists and university teachers was organized at the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University.
Shri Lakshmi Puja, Moscow, July 16th, 1996
Public Programs with Shri Mataji:
The first Public program conducted by Shri Mataji in Moscow took place at the Biological Faculty in Moscow State University named after M. Lomonosov in May 1990. Shri Mataji talked to doctors, scientists and university teachers. Right after it, there was one more Public program in Mosiprotrance on 12 May 1990 which lasted during 2 days. The first Puja in Moscow was offered to Shri Mataji by Sahaja Yogis in May 1990.
During the first years of Sahaja Yoga in Russia, Shri Mataji came to Moscow several times a year. It was not an easy time for Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Republics faced a severe economic crisis. On November 12, 1993 Shri Mahalaxmi Puja was offered to Shri Mataji in Moscow.
Moscow, November 12th, 1993 Shri Mahalakshmi Puja
Programme in Moscow, 9th June 1998
The present number of Sahaja Yogis in Moscow: about 400
Tags: beginning of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji, SY
The year of the Sahaja Yoga Center establishment in Saint-Petersburg:
Sahaja Yoga is officially considered to start spreading in Saint-Petersburg since the summer of 1989 when Shri Mataji came to the city with a Public Program for the first time. But already in 1987 there was the first group of Sahaja Yogis which united about 10 people who held meetings in their apartments.
Public programs with Shri Mataji:
Shri Mataji came to Saint-Petersburg 5 times – first in 1989, and then in 1990, 1991, 1994-1996.
The first meeting of Shri Mataji with the people of Saint-Petersburg took place in the Palace of the Youth in 1989. The hall was overcrowded. Mother told the audience about the subtle system and its connection with the physical body. The ones who wanted could ask questions. Approximately one thousand people got their Self-Realization. Since then, the number of people practicing Sahaja Yoga has been growing quickly. Sahaja Yoga Programs were held at schools, Houses of Culture, medical institutions.
In the following years, the programs were held in Saint-Petersburg Sport and Concert Complex, Palace of Sport “Yubileiny”, House of Culture “Vyiborgsky” and House of Culture named after Lensoviet.
Shri Mataji at the House of Culture ‘Lensoviet’, Leningrad, 1990
Shri Mataji giving a public programme at the Palace of Sport, ‘Yubileiny’, Leningrad, August 1, 1993
In 1994, at the initiative of Shri Mataji, an International Scientific Conference “Medicine. Self-knowledge. Morality. East-West” took place in Saint-Petersburg. Among the discussed topics, there were the issues of inter-confessional agreement, moral and physical health of people. The second conference “Morality. Health. Peace: East-West” was held in 1995.
In 1991, there appeared a course preparing Yogis-methodologists who were given the right to work with groups of people by the organization of Sahaja Yoga (which had not been officially registered at that time yet). Already in a year the number of the Yogis/nis who had passed the course was about 80 people. 12 “grounds” worked in different districts of the city where the programs were held 2-4 times a week. Visitors from other cities also came to these programs. In their turn, having gained the unique experience of the Kundalini awakening, they started giving the received knowledge to other people in their native cities.
In 1997, it was decided to unite the district groups into one city collective meeting and one meeting for newcomers.
The present number of Sahaja Yogis in Saint-Petersburg: 700 people in Saint-Petersburg and about 1500 people in the north-western Region of Russia (which also includes such cities as Great Novgorod, Pskov, Vyiborg, Petrozavodsk and others).
Tags: beginning of Sahaja Yoga, Russia, Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji, SY