For me the early days of Sahaja Yoga were the spring and summer of 1977. What was special was that Shri Mataji had just a few Sahaja Yogis. She was trying to bring them up to the level where they could be strong enough, so we could then expand our collectivity.
When I arrived there were about six or seven people — I was probably the eighth. I remember how Shri Mataji worked on an Australian boy for many weeks; She took him home, She looked after him and She cured him. He was like an encyclopedia of drugs, really bad. He had so many problems and She worked on him day in and day out, every day. She never spared any effort. The most extraordinary thing is that She gave him all Her love and, after three months, he just left, and left Sahaja Yoga. When you look at it from our point of view, he wasted Mother’s efforts. But She never actually talked about it that way. She just gave love and there was no condition put on that love.
The most extraordinary thing about Shri Mataji is and was Her capacity as a Mother to nourish the Sahaja Yogis who came at that time, to nourish them with enough love so they stayed in Sahaja Yoga, so they felt, ‘She gives us what we didn’t have,’ so as Shri Sai Nath of Shirdi said, ‘We may want what She wants to give us.’
Shri Mataji worked tirelessly, taking us to Her home. She never hesitated to cook for us – just think, Shri Adi Shakti in Her home, cooking for the few of us. She would, Herself, cook food for us because obviously She wanted to put those vibrations in our Nabhis and improve our Nabhis, which were in such a state. It was so great, the way She actually received us in Her home, whether it was the house She had in Hurst Green or later in the flat in Ashley Gardens. She did everything for us and gave us so much affection.
Djamel Metouri