Let us begin in Greece, the seat of Western civilization, where Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was conducting an introductory programme of Sahaja Yoga. She has given programmes like this in many countries and numerous other people who have themselves had their Self Realisation regularly give them with the same results.

We were in Athens in October 2001. It was a warm evening and Shri Mataji was giving a public programme, an introduction to Sahaja Yoga, in a hotel there.

At the end of the programme, Shri Mataji gave the experience of Self Realisation or Kundalini awakening. In many traditions, one of the signs of Self Realisation, or as the Christians say, the awakening of the Holy Spirit, is a cool wind.

Nearly all the people who came for the first time said they had indeed felt a cool breeze, on their hands and above their heads, but some insisted it was the air conditioning. Someone went to find the hotel staff to ask them to please turn it off, and the staff, when found, said it was not on in the first place.

Meera Szegvary