I first met Shri Mataji in Mumbai, India, in January 1982. It was at the end of a public programme, and She was still sitting on a chair on the stage, meeting people. I was told to go up and introduce myself. She said something to me, and I bowed to Her, and then sat on the stage near Her and watched Her. I had been practising Sahaja Yoga meditation for less than a month, and I did not accept any of the stories or theories which I had heard about Sahaja Yoga or Shri Mataji.
I had one amazing experience: once I sat with about ninety other people in India, around Shri Mataji. We entered a state of Sahaja meditation – all of us. Inside my being was exquisite silence. I felt calm and comfortable inside myself. And then I discovered that Shri Mataji and I were one. She asked, where on my head was my attention. And at that moment, that was exactly where my attention was! She was feeling exactly what I was feeling, as if we shared the same nervous system.
A few minutes later, She said where the attention had moved to, and again, that was where my attention had moved to. In this awareness somehow I was connected to Shri Mataji, I entered a state of ecstasy, of divine bliss. I had only one thought: ‘Please don’t stop’. Only now can I more fully appreciate how that one experience taught me that the intimacy of a true spiritual connection is absolutely immaculate and pure. Shri Mataji’s first name is Nirmala, which means immaculate.
Mark Taylor