Vishwa Nirmala Dharma
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Vishwa Nirmala Dharma or Sahaja Yoga International is a nonprofit organization and new religious movement established in 1970 by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi to teach Sahaja Yoga, a meditation method.
NGOs
Vishwa Nirmala Dharma has produced many international projects, among them several NGOs (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/NGO) including:
- An international hospital in Bombay, India using Sahaja Yoga methods. This hospital claims to have been successful in curing incurable diseases such as high blood pressure, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. Critics note its failures have not been similarly advertised.
- The International Sahaja Public School (ISPS) in Dharamsala, India. Critics claim this school is expensive to attend, has attempted to cover up the sexual abuse of some students and the malnutrition of others, prevents free communication between parent and child and provides an overall substandard education for those who attend.
- A cancer research hosptial in Bombay studying the effects of Sahaja Yoga on cancer.
- A tuition-based music school in Nagpur, India promoting Indian classical music.
- A center for destitute and homeless people in Delhi, India, providing shelter and Sahaja Yoga instruction.
Activities
Activities of Vishwa Nirmala Dharma in approximately seventy-five countries include:
- Free weekly meditation programs.
- Organization of pujas, ceremonies during which, critics claim, Shri Mataji is worshipped.
- Inner city programs and free drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs featuring Sahaja Yoga
- Free Sahaja Yoga meditation programs in work environments and hospitals such as the National Institute of Health in Washington, DC, Twentieth Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, California, Motorola, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, Nortel Networks in Dallas, Texas, and Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center and John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.
- Film production through Immaculata Studios, owned and operated by the organization.
- Patronage of the arts, through creation of the Theater of Eternal Values in Europe, and through use of Sahaja Yoga.
Criticism
Some ex-members allege the organization engages in sexual abuse of children and adults, theft of money, smuggling, breaking up of families, concerted efforts to deceive police and courts, and ostracizing of wayward members or scapegoats for richer members. These criticisms are also more generally applied to Sahaja Yoga and Shri Mataji.