Books on Sahaja Yoga and Related Topics


Books by authors who try to be objective about Sahaja Yoga:

  • Coney, Judith 1999
    Sahaja Yoga: Studies in New Religious Movements, 1
    Curzon Press
    ISBN 0700710612
    A comprehensive sociological analaysis of Sahaja Yoga

  • Pullar, Phillipa 1984
    The Shortest Journey. Boston: Unwin Paperbacks.
    ISBN 0-04-291018-8.
    First published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton Ltd. 1981
    Last two chapters are about Pullar's own experiences in Sahaja Yoga. Her conclusion is that Sahaja Yoga is a "tantric cult" and, while impressed with a guru's ability to trigger generally pleasant sensations on a follower's nervous system, worries about the mental health and autonomy of those attracted.

  • Kakar, Sudhir M.D. 1982
    Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry.
    He like Pullar worries about the autonomny and mental health of those who come into Sahaja Yoga but unlike Pullar denies the objective existence of the effects on the body she experienced.



Shri Mataji's own book:
  • Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi 1996
    Meta Modern Era, 2nd ed. Bombay: Computex Graphics
    ISBN 81-86650-05-9
    Given chance to tell her side of things, Shri Mataji excels in gross generalization and invites the reader to accept ideas like "possession" and even entertain what looks like possible anti-semitism.



One possible source of Shri Mataji's pseudo-scientific ideas:
  • Vasant G. Rele
    The Mysterious Kundalini
    ISBN 0787310328



Some general books on persuasion and new religious movements in English:
  • Cialdini, Robert B. 1984
    Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things.
    1st ed. New York: Morrow

  • Hassan, Steve 1988
    Combatting Cult Mind Control. Rochester,
    VT: Park Street Press
    ISBN 0-89281-243-5



Some general books on persuasion and new religious movements in German:
  • Booth, Leo
    Heilung von religiösem Mißbrauch und religiöser Abhängigkeit

  • Eiben, Jürgen
    Gutachten zum Thema neue Religiosität in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    Soziologische Anmerkungen zu den gesellschaftlichen Hintergründen zur Entfaltung von neuer Religiosität und zu den gesellschaftlichen Konflikten um neue Religiosität
    März 1996

  • Endbericht der Sektenenquetekommission
    Bonn 1998 (Bundespresseamt)

  • Singer, M. T.
    Sekten
    Wie Menschen ihre Freiheit verlieren und wiedergewinnen können
    Heidelberg 1997

  • Stamm, Hugo
    Sekten im Bann und Sucht und Macht
    Zürich 1995

  • Dr. Stoffel, Olaf
    Der Griff nach der Seele - Wege aus religiöser Abhängigkeit
    (erscheint August 1999)
    Gütersloher Verlagshaus

  • Weidenbach, Julia
    Für immer gefangen? Warum es so schwer ist, sich aus einer Sekte zu lösen
    In: Psychologie Heute
    November 1997

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