International Sahaja Public School
The International Sahaja Public School
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The International Sahaja Public School in Dharamsala, India is a school run by the Sahaja Yoga movement. The school was founded in 1990.
Overview
The school is located in the Himalayas, above Dharamsala in the Kangra district, near McLeod Ganj, at an altitude of more than 1700m. Children coming to the school must have previously been brought up in Sahaja Yoga culture and understand the importance of meditation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their education is based on the teachings of [H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi].<ref name="sukhmani"/> Students "learn the basic principles of Sahaja Yoga ... the tenets of Hinduism and worship the school’s patron".<ref name="sukhmani">"A School for tradition" Template:Webarchive, The Indian Express, 24 December 2000, by Sukhmani Singh</ref>
The medium of instruction is English. Subjects (as followed by the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education curriculum) include standard courses as well as English, German, Indian Classical Music (including instruments), and Indian Classical dance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Mixed views
Judith Coney reports that the school has accepted children from the age of four and notes that "often very young children are separated from their natural parents for prolonged periods, as they usually stay in India for nine months".<ref>Coney, Judith (1999) Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement, (London: Curzon Press) Template:ISBN p159</ref> An Indian newspaper article published in 2000 reported that students at the time were aged six and above.<ref name="sukhmani"/>
Criticism of the International Sahaja Public School
1. Disputed Historical Claims
According to firsthand testimonies and archival photographs, before its official founding in Dharamshala in April 1990, the International Sahaja Public School (ISPS) temporarily operated in Vashi, Mumbai. This early phase, reportedly beginning in 1989, included a small group of children sent from Western Sahaja Yoga families—primarily from Switzerland, Germany, France, India and the United States. Testimonies from former students describe this phase as highly regimented, with a focus on spiritual "cleansing" and behavioral correction. These accounts conflict with a 2000 Indian newspaper article that claimed the school only accepted students aged six and above after its founding.<ref name="sukhmani"/> Children were reportedly encouraged to "cleanse" themselves from Western habits and cultural influences, which were seen as incompatible with the Sahaja Yoga way of life. Some students were reportedly sent back due to having "bad vibrations," a concept central to Sahaja Yoga beliefs. One such case involves a French student referred to as "Minakshi," who was allegedly returned for this reason.<ref name="Shri Mataji">Shri Mataji talks about the funny behavior of certain children in ISPS School and the consequences of not serving Sahaj yoga</ref>
Official school communications state that admission was open to children aged six and above. However, multiple first-person testimonies suggest that children younger than six, in some cases as young as four, were accepted during the early operational phase. This raises concerns regarding age-appropriate care and developmental support.<ref name="Siddhi">Siddhi was born into the Sahaja Yoga movement, with her parents' marriage arranged by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. A former student of ISPS School. Personal recollection of early days at ISPS, 1989. Supporting photos are archived privately and are available upon request.</ref> <ref name="Coney1999">Coney, Judith. Sahaja Yoga. Routledge, 1999.</ref> <ref name="Anonym testimony">Adverse experiences from international Sahaja Yoga schools</ref>
2. Spiritual Practices and Child Development
Accounts from former students describe an environment in which Sahaja Yoga ideology dominated the educational and disciplinary framework. Terms like "vibrations," "chakra problems," and "collectivity" were used to interpret children’s behavior, health, and social integration. Critics argue that this amounted to spiritual bypassing, where psychological and emotional needs were subordinated to religious goals.<ref name="Siddhi">Siddhi was born into the Sahaja Yoga movement, with her parents' marriage arranged by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. A former student of ISPS School. Personal recollection of early days at ISPS, 1989. Supporting photos are archived privately and are available upon request.</ref> <ref name="Coney1999">Coney, Judith. Sahaja Yoga. Routledge, 1999.</ref> The school hired local teachers who reportedly lacked formal training in early childhood education or fluency in English, creating communication barriers and an emotionally unsafe environment. Report cards were said to emphasize adherence to Sahaja Yoga values and collective behavior over academic or developmental milestones.
Not only Swiss children were reported to have received preferential treatment. An Indian girl named Pragya, one of the first children at the school, was also perceived to enjoy privileges. Her father reportedly owned the land on which the school was built, and she frequently visited him at a nearby house on the school campus. This proximity and connection were seen as conferring higher status compared to other students.
3. Social Hierarchies and Exclusion
The foundation of the ISPS and Sahaja Yoga’s family structures has been criticized as fostering social exclusion and psychological strain.<ref name="Anonym testimony">Adverse experiences from international Sahaja Yoga schools</ref><ref name="Coney1999">Coney, Judith. Sahaja Yoga. Routledge, 1999.</ref> In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sahaja Yoga marriages were often arranged by the movement’s guru as spiritual tests. One former student, Siddhi, was born to such a marriage that dissolved during her early childhood. Her single-parent status reportedly led to bullying and exclusion within the school. Students whose parents had personal connections to the guru allegedly received preferential treatment, and social hierarchies emerged, with Swiss children often enjoying higher status. These dynamics contributed to identity crises among students, particularly when they returned to Western countries and felt alienated from both their culture of origin and the Sahaja Yoga community.<ref name="Siddhi">Siddhi was born into the Sahaja Yoga movement, with her parents' marriage arranged by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. A former student of ISPS School. Personal recollection of early days at ISPS, 1989. Supporting photos are archived privately and are available upon request.</ref>
4. Controversial Pedagogical Practices
Critics argue that the ISPS educational approach was heavily influenced by Sahaja Yoga's spiritual doctrines, particularly the practice of chakra cleansing. This was promoted as a necessary activity for spiritual development, especially among Western children viewed as having inherited imbalances. Former students report that identity development was constrained by an ideology framing Western traits as ego-based or spiritually flawed.<ref name="Siddhi">Siddhi was born into the Sahaja Yoga movement, with her parents' marriage arranged by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. A former student of ISPS School. Personal recollection of early days at ISPS, 1989. Supporting photos are archived privately and are available upon request.</ref>
Further criticism suggests that the school's foundation relied on a spiritual ideology that imposed the Sahaja Yoga practice of chakra cleansing on children from an early age. While yoga is often viewed positively as a meditative or physical practice, critics argue that using it as a pedagogical framework within a rigid spiritual doctrine may have adverse psychological effects on children. Testimonies from former students suggest that spiritual practices more appropriate for adult seekers were applied to a young and vulnerable population without age-appropriate psychological care. Key developmental needs—such as emotional safety, warm housing, and regular parental contact—were reportedly overlooked.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, explicitly stated in a publicly available video address that children born into the movement—referred to as "born-realized"—must serve Sahaja Yoga to avoid a future "as vagabonds wasting their lives on the streets."<ref name="Shri Mataji">Shri Mataji talks about the funny behavior of certain children in ISPS School and the consequences of not serving Sahaj yoga</ref> She emphasized that the school was intended to prepare these children to carry out the work of Sahaja Yoga, expressing concern that without such spiritual grounding, they would become "lost."
Critics argue that such framing places a burden of spiritual responsibility on children from an early age, establishing a moral and existential consequence for non-compliance. Former students describe this as contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy: those who left the movement often experienced difficulties in forming stable identities and relationships, stemming from years of ideological conditioning and emotional suppression.<ref name="Siddhi">Siddhi was born into the Sahaja Yoga movement, with her parents' marriage arranged by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. A former student of ISPS School. Personal recollection of early days at ISPS, 1989. Supporting photos are archived privately and are available upon request.</ref> <ref name="Coney1999">Coney, Judith. Sahaja Yoga. Routledge, 1999.</ref> <ref>Template:Cite book</ref> <ref name="Anonym testimony">Adverse experiences from international Sahaja Yoga schools</ref> These critiques highlight the psychological toll of raising children in an environment where their worth was tied to fulfilling a predetermined spiritual mission.
The methodology of chakra cleansing, when used as a central educational objective, has been criticized for conditioning children to believe their identities required correction. This has been characterized as a form of spiritual bypassing, where spiritual ideology was employed to avoid engaging with children’s emotional and psychological needs.<ref name="Teal Swan">Teal Swan outlines what spiritual bypassing is</ref> Critics argue that such practices fall short of the standards required for a safe and supportive educational environment.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
These concerns have raised broader questions about the appropriateness of implementing Sahaja Yoga’s spiritual framework in childhood education, particularly in isolated, residential settings like the ISPS.<ref name="Anonym testimony">Adverse experiences from international Sahaja Yoga schools</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
An official school statement said that the villagers bring presents to the students and enjoy looking after them. A 1995 report on the school by the Austrian Ministry of Justice has said that uninvited visitors 'dropping in' have been refused entry<ref>Report on the Sahaja Yoga School, May 1995, Ministry of Justice, Republic of Austria, cited in "Growing Up As Mother's Children: Socializing a Second Generation in Sahaja Yoga" by Judith Coney in Children in New Religions Susan J. Palmer, Charlotte Hardman, Rutgers University Press (July 1999) p.117 "It is clear, too, that in contrast to the British children of Sahaja Yogis living in the United Kingdom, those attending the India school have little access to outside influences. A statement made by Sahaja Yogis about the school in India says that 'many women from the village come to see the children, bring presents for them and look after them. The whole village enjoys looking after these children' (Sahaja Yoga 1992b:3). But the Austrian report on the school in 1995 stated: 'People dropping in at the door are—[in a] more or less unfriendly [manner]—refused. Because of that refusal of contact, the domestic and foreign population nearby does not know anything about the teachers, pupils and the daily routine at the school, which is-regarding the rustic surrounding-an astonishing fact.'13 The school takes no children other than those belonging to Sahaja Yoga. Access to television and radio is not allowed, and 'the children seem to lack further information of or about their home countries.'14 Contact between the children and their parents has been limited. The children have been allowed to write home once a week and receive packages from home twice a year; parents may telephone from time to time' by Judith Coney (1999) p161</ref>
A 2000 article in the Indian Express noted that "an aura of secrecy envelops the school and entry is strictly forbidden."<ref name="sukhmani"/> The article quoted a director of the school as saying "...we don’t like the vibrations to be polluted by outsiders. Sometimes we even tell parents not to come here." Students are schooled in 'vibratory awareness'<ref name="sukhmani"/> which practitioners say enables them to detect and treat subtle imbalances in themselves and others.<ref>[1] Sahaja Yoga Australia - benefits of Sahaja Yoga.</ref> This is part of the school's vision of fulfilling the students' physical, emotional, intellectual and, above all, spiritual potential.<ref>Vision and Mission Template:Webarchive, ISPS website, viewed 22 November 2007.</ref>
According to the school website, Sahaja Yoga education "envisages the development of the child in an atmosphere where the innate qualities, such as innocence and wisdom, are protected and enhanced; where the students imbibe the timeless and unchanging values which come from inner awareness, and are not subject to the vagaries of fashion, religion or national culture."<ref name=autogenerated1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Indian Express article noted that the "dormitories are austere, even monastic in appearance".<ref name="sukhmani"/>
They are realised souls, there is God who is looking after them, why are you so much worried about them? Leave them alone! Send them to the Indian school. Then the mothers are sitting there, teachers don't like it, no one likes it. They are just gone there. The mothers. No school allows such nonsense! But in Sahaja Yoga they think they have the right. What right have they got? Have they paid for the school? Have they done anything for the school? What right have they got to go and sit in the school? So the discretion should be, we have to bring up our children according to Sahaj culture. The first of the principles of Sahaja Yoga is fortitude. Sahaja Yoga is not meant for such .... dainty darlings. You have to be soldiers of Sahaja Yoga. - Nirmala Srivastava<ref>Template:Cite speech</ref>
The Austrian Ministry of Justice's 1995 Report on the Sahaja Yoga school comments that "Despite the altitude, eight months of sunshine a year and outdoor activities and sports in the open, the European children appeared pale which was unexplainable to the visitor".<ref>cited in Judith Coney (1999), Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement p243</ref> Coney reports that one child arrived home having lost a stone in weight, and so changed in appearance that his mother could not recognise him, although the school had consistently reported that he was 'doing fine'.<ref>Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999) p164 "One child arrived home from the school having lost over a stone in weight and was so changed in appearance that his mother failed to recognise him at the airport. The school, however, had consistently reported throughout the year that he was 'doing fine'."</ref>
Coney reports that, "whilst there is evidence that some children have enjoyed their time at the Sahaja Yoga school in India, a number of children have expressed unhappiness at being returned to the India school."<ref>Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999) p166</ref> The school advises parents not to enroll their children until they are ready.
Regarding discipline, Sukhmani writes that corporal punishment is taboo at the school.<ref name="sukhmani"/> Nirmala Srivastava has advised that parents are allowed to occasionally slap 'extremely difficult' children, but forbids teachers from slapping children or punishing "in such a way that the child gets hurt."<ref name="Shri Mataji Sahaja Yoga">Her Holiness Mataji Shree Nirmala Devi, Sahaja Yoga (1989) p44 "The Sahaja Yogis must respect their children. The teachers must also respect the children. If the children are extremely difficult then the parents can sometimes slap them, but not the teachers. No teacher is allowed to in any way punish the child in such a way that the child gets hurt."</ref> Coney reports that due to instances of children having been beaten, the Headmaster was temporarily dismissed.<ref>Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999) p164</ref> The Supreme Court of India banned corporal punishment in schools in 2000.<ref>"Spare rod or be punished, teachers told", The Times of India, 10 August 2007</ref>
With thorough investigation of this subject, the students' reviews have been proven to be trustworthy and this school remains one of the best places for a child's spiritual, physical and emotional growth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Attitudes of grandparents
There have been instances of objections by grandparents of children at the school which have resulted in legal action being taken. In Austria, a mother's guardianship was partly substituted, after legal intervention of the grandmother, as she was not willing to take her boy out of the Sahaja Yoga boarding-school in India.<ref>Brigitte Schinkele, Rechtsprechung in Österreichisches Archiv für Kirchenrecht 45 [1998], ibid., pp. 306-317, cited in Eva M Synek, "The Limits of Religious Tolerance - a European Perspective"</ref> A French Court of Appeal allowed another mother custody of her children on condition that she did not send any of them to the school, again a result of grandparental intervention.<ref>Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999) p162-3</ref>
Coney says these instances are confined to the European continent partly because the anti cult movement there has successfully drawn attention to the differences between Sahaja Yoga and the mainstream, resulting in a media attack on the movement.<ref name="Children in New Religions p119">Susan J. Palmer, Charlotte Hardman: Growing Up As Mother's Children: Socializing a Second Generation in Sahaja Yoga by Judith Coney in Children in New Religions, page 119, Rutgers University Press, July 1999</ref> Coney says in the UK grandparents have been more likely to give parents freedom to bring up children as they wish, in a couple of instances even paying for the child's education at the school.<ref name="Children in New Religions p119"/> The enrolment form used in the admission procedure now asks for details of any resistance from family members to the child studying at the school.<ref>Enrolment FormTemplate:Dead link</ref>
References
External links
- YouTube. "1991-0222 Talk About Children And Indian School, Rome, Italy." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou_jyC-9XII&t=1s
- YouTube. "Spiritual Bypassing - Teal Swan." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ErlTinKrQw
- Reddit Testimony on Adverse Experiences at ISPS