Sai Maa
| Sai Maa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
August 2, 1953 Mauritius |
| Other names |
Her Holiness Sai Maa Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi |
| Occupation | Spiritual leader |
Sai Maa, also known as Her Holiness Sai Maa[1] and Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi, is a spiritual master, healer, humanitarian and author. She offers programs throughout North America, Europe and Asia on personal transformation through practical spirituality, self-mastery and energetic healing. In 2007 Sai Maa was honored with the title of Jagadguru ("World Spiritual Master"), the highest title in the Hindu tradition. She is the first woman to receive this title in the 2,700 years of the Vishnuswami lineage.[2]
Biography
Sai Maa was born into a Hindu family on the island of Mauritius on August 2, 1953. She has described childhood spiritual experiences.[3] At the age of 21, Sai Maa moved to France, where she would later marry a research scientist, and become a mother of two children.[4] While in France Sai Maa became certified in naturopathic, homeopathic, and osteopathic therapies. She ran a private practice which combined her energetic healing powers with her Western therapeutic training. Also active in politics, Sai Maa served for several years on the Bordeaux City Council, helping to reform health care in the European Union on behalf of the French government. Sai Maa holds a PhD in Spirituality from the Open International University of Human Development “Ukraine”.
In her late twenties, Sai Maa met and became a disciple of the revered spiritual master, Sathya Sai Baba. She traveled frequently to Puttaparthi, India, to study with Sai Baba and became an active supporter of his humanitarian work. While maintaining an active career and family life, Sai Maa focused on practicing the teachings and disciplines she received from Sai Baba.
Mission and teaching
In the early 1990s Sai Maa began to travel around the United States, offering events and seminars. In 2000, Sai Maa established the non-profit organization, Humanity in Unity, based in Boulder, Colorado, through which she offered educational programs and humanitarian service around the world for over a decade. Sai Maa later established the Temple of Consciousness Ashram in Crestone, Colorado which served for seven years as a global retreat center and the home of the monastic community initiated by Sai Maa.[3] In 2010, the ashram's activities were terminated and Sai Maa asked her monks and nuns to move to France, India, Japan, Israel and South America to establish communities to share Sai Maa’s universal teachings.
In 2007 the Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust was established as a registered Indian charity to support Sai Maa’s humanitarian work in India. Projects to date include a center for women's empowerment, distributing food, warm clothing and blankets to the poor, disaster relief work, and free medical services such as cataract surgeries and vitamin distributions to those in need. In 2009 property was purchased at the Harishchandra Ghat in Varanasi as the national headquarters for the Trust, and to house the Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham Ashram, whose construction began in November 2010.
Sai Maa travels continuously throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, offering large public events and advanced seminars, including her signature program, the Journey of Profound Healing. She has thousands of students worldwide and there are more than 200 Sai Maa Enlightened Living Groups offered in four languages, where participants gather on a regular basis to meditate and study Sai Maa’s teachings. Her teachings have been described as "typically Vedantic with a strong dose of the occult".[5]
Sai Maa has shared many stages with other spiritual luminaries including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. She has written a book titled Petals of Grace: Essential Teachings for Self-Mastery (2005),[6] and contributed to the publication in 2006 of Grandmothers Counsel the World[7] together with Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, Carol Moseley Braun, Tenzin Palmo, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Luisah Teish, Wilma Mankiller and others.[8] She created the first International Congress on Religion and Modern Civilization in Varanasi, has been a delegate at the World Parliament of Religions and participated in the Synthesis Dialogues at the Pope’s summer residence in Italy.
References
- ↑ "Chalanda Sai Ma Honored in Varanasi as Mahamandleshwa". Hinduism Today: Hindu Press International (Himalayan Academy). 11 March 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ↑ "First Woman in History to be Honored by Saint Society". PRWeb. 18 April 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- 1 2 "Love is Unconditional: Guru", The Gazette (Montreal), July 31, 2008.
- ↑ Conti, Allie (11 February 2014). "Spiritual Master Sai Maa Invites Miamians to Date Themselves on V-Day". Miami New Times.
- ↑ Philip Goldberg (2 November 2010). American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. Crown/Archetype. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-307-71961-4.
- ↑ Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi (June 2005). Petals of Grace: Essential Teachings for Self-Mastery. Hiu Press. ISBN 978-0-9766664-0-0.
- ↑ Carol Schaefer (2006). Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet. Trumpeter. ISBN 978-1-59030-293-4.
- ↑ Anders, Tisa M.. "Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet.(Book review)." International Journal on World Peace. Professors World Peace Academy. March 2008. Retrieved December 04, 2015 from HighBeam Research.