Sai Maa
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sai Maa (birth name unknown), also known as ''Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi Mishra'', is a spiritual
guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
, businesswoman, energy healer and author. She is known among her followers as the 'Embodiment of the
Divine Feminine A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of ...
' and has purported both
omnipotence Omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as one o ...
and
omniscience Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an God#General conceptions, attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In B ...
. She has offered programmes on energy healing and personal transformation throughout North America, Europe and Asia. One of the central premises of her teachings is that the Earth, and its spiritually evolved human inhabitants, are ascending to a new dimension.


Early life

Sai Maa was born into a
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
family on the island of
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
on August 2, 1953. She has reported to have had spiritually transformative experiences during her childhood. 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. While in France, Sai Maa acquired certifications in
naturopathic Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturop ...
,
homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
and
osteopathic Osteopathy () is a type of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. Practitioners of osteopathy are referred to as osteopaths. Osteopathic manipulation is the core set of techniques in ...
therapies. She ran a private practice which combined alternative healing methods with her Western therapeutic training. Also active in politics, Sai Maa served for several years on the
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
City Council, helping to reform health care in the European Union on behalf of the French government. Sai Maa holds a PhD in Spirituality. In her late twenties, Sai Maa met and became a disciple of the spiritual leader,
Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba's b ...
. She travelled frequently to
Puttaparthi Puttaparthi (IAST: ''Puṭṭaparthy'') is a municipality and district headquarters of Sri Sathya Sai district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Puttaparthi mandal of Puttaparthi revenue division. The original name of Put ...
, India, to study with Sai Baba. While maintaining an active career and family life, Sai Maa focused on practising the teachings and disciplines she learned from Sai Baba and continues to praise Sai Baba to this day. In an interview, Sai Maa asserted that "
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, St Germain and the archangel Michael showed up in her room one day and told her it was time to 'be in the world,' and she left France and began her spiritual path."


Teaching

In the early 1990s, Sai Maa began to travel around the United States, offering events and seminars. In 2000, she established the non-profit organisation Humanity in Unity, based in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
, 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 order initiated by Sai Maa."Love is Unconditional: Guru"
, The Gazette (Montreal), July 31, 2008.
In 2010, the ashram's activities were ended and Sai Maa asked her monks and nuns to move to France, India, Japan, Israel and South America to establish communities to share her teachings. Sai Maa continued to travel throughout North America, Europe and Asia, offering large public events and seminars, including a programme on the ''Journey of Profound Healing''. She now has thousands of students worldwide and there are more than 200 ''Sai Maa Awakened Living Groups'' offered in four languages, where participants gather on a regular basis to meditate and study her teachings. She also offers teachings through online courses. In addition, she founded ''Awakened Life'' as a vehicle for the teachings and for Sai Maa's teachers around the world. Sai Maa has participated in events with
the Dalai Lama , coatofarms = , coatofarms_article = , coatofarms_link = , incumbent = Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama , incumbentsince = 22 February 1940 , image = Dalailama1 20121014 4639.jpg , caption = Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama , first = Ge ...
and
Thich Nhat Hanh Thích is a name that Vietnamese monks and nuns take as their Buddhist surname to show affinity with the Buddha. Notable Vietnamese monks with the name include: *Thích Huyền Quang (1919–2008), dissident and activist *Thích Quảng Độ (192 ...
. She has written a book titled ''Petals of Grace: Essential Teachings for Self-Mastery'' (2005), and contributed to the publication in 2006 of ''Grandmothers Counsel the World'' together with Alice Walker,
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
, Carol Moseley Braun,
Tenzin Palmo Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (born 1943) is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. She is best known for being o ...
,
Helena Norberg-Hodge Helena Norberg-Hodge is founder and director of Local Futures, previously known as the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC). Local Futures is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the revitalization of cultural and biological ...
,
Luisah Teish Luisah Teish ( ; also known as Iyanifa Fajembola Fatunmise) is a teacher and an author, most notably of ''Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals.''Casey, Laura. "There's magic between plants, food and beauty". ...
, Wilma Mankiller and others.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.
She created the 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. In 2007, Sai Maa was honored with the title of
Jagadguru , literally meaning " of the universe", is a title used in . Traditionally, it has been bestowed upon or used for belonging to the school (among the six traditional schools of thought in Hinduism) who have written Sanskrit commentaries on the ...
("Guru of the world"), the first woman to receive this title in the 2,700 years of the Vishnuswami lineage.


Philanthropy

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 Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...
as the national headquarters for the Trust, and to house the Sathya Sai Maa Shaktidhaam Ashram, whose construction began in November 2010. It was opened in 2019.


References


External links

*
Sai Maa Humanitarian website

Sai Maa Japan website

Newsweek article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sai Mai Living people Mauritian women 1953 births Spiritual teachers