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).