Nirmala Srivastava
Indian spiritual teacher (1923–2011)
Nirmala Srivastava (née Nirmala Salve; 21 March 1923 – 23 February 2011), also known as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, was the founder and guru of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement. She claimed to have been born fully realised and spent her life working for peace by developing and promoting a simple technique through which people can achieve their self-realization.
Early life
Born in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India to a Hindu father and a Christian mother, Prasad and Cornelia Salve, her parents named her Nirmala, which means "immaculate". She said that she was born self-realised. Her father, a scholar of fourteen languages, translated the Quran into Marathi, and her mother was the first woman in India to receive an honours degree in mathematics. Shri Mataji descended from the royal Shalivahana/Satavahana dynasty. The former union minister N. K. P. Salve was her brother and the lawyer Harish Salve is her nephew. The Salve surname is one of several in the Satavahana Maratha clan.
She passed her childhood years in the family house in Nagpur. In her youth she stayed in the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi.
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