It has taken me nearly three weeks to come back to earth after interviewing Her Holiness Sai Maa. Directly after leaving the hotel where she was staying, I got a text from a friend: did I ask her the question of questions, “What’s the meaning of life?”…I couldn’t remember. Not five minutes before I had been in Maa’s presence, a vivid, surreal adventure, but as in a dream, the details flitted away (luckily I recorded the interview). There was something distinctly Narnian about it. In C.S. Lewis’s masterpiece, the hiding-and-seeking young Pevensies discover the doorway to another world by stepping into an old wardrobe. Magic, wonder, and the shattering of perceived reality ensue. An hour with Sai Maa showed that Her Holiness appears to have stepped through many, many “wardrobes.”
As I arrived in her room in a hotel in Golden where she was staying and giving a workshop, I noticed a beautifully arranged space, with pillows, the scent of incense, and in one corner, an elaborate altar. Among pictures of her guru Sai Baba, there were pictures of Jesus, which surprised me–a fairly ignorant first notion I found out quickly as she holds Jesus in very high esteem and is not limited to any one religion. Then Maa came in. After freezing for half a second, I gave her the greeting I was told was traditional, “Om Jai Jai Sai Maa.” Her delighted reaction instantly showed me that the “serious” box I’d mentally put her was the wrong fit. She gave me a genuine hug with a big smile. I told her I was nervous. She said, “just love me and you won’t be nervous.” As we moved to sit down I said it was interesting to see Jesus on her altar. She laughed, showing her sense of humor, “What, you think Jesus is only for white people?”
I’ll preface this material with a disclaimer: in the west we are given the idea of faith, but rarely the tools to discover it properly for ourselves. Many of the things Maa says are beyond comprehension. Such as, “I am not from this planet, so I see differently. It’s not that I don’t love it. I love the planet it’s exquisite, but I am not of it.” Also, that she sleeps at most forty-five minutes a night, for the last twenty nine years…and where a great preacher may stand at the pulpit and deliver a well-researched, heartfelt sermon, citing passages from whichever holy tome he or she wishes, Sai Maa is the first person I’ve met that claims to have actually been there, directly interfacing with the divine. When asked if she has met the Hindu gods: “All of them. They are my gang, my friends, only one I’m not too friendly with is Brahman,” she says with a smile.
If you are a seeker, then Maa is the treasure at the end of the rainbow. I never did directly ask the meaning of life, but I did ask why we are here…for the sake of experience. We live our lives with our patterns, existing in our perceived three/four dimensions, but there are millions of dimensions in actuality. And as Maa says, “You are all of it, at once but you’re not aware. Imagine that there is a womb. You are in it. It’s called source, it’s called truth, it’s called God, it’s called self. For the sake of experience you know what it is to come out of It. And then what you do you move through these different dimensions, just like a russian doll, so when you are here you have left a print of yourself everywhere. You are a multi-dimensional being.”
— On what is happening right now– “Everything is happening already. Right now we are in a very unique phase, many many huge gateways are opening right now, huge amounts of energy from different planes, different dimensions. All this to prepare the purging. It’s the preparation of the golden age, the preparation of ‘oneness consciousness.’ Naturally people will go through pain. Naturally, because it’s a birth.”
— On faith — Now you have faith in doubts, big faith in fear, big faith in doubt. You don’t have faith in faith. You put all your faith in the big basket of doubt. This is directly quantifiable into physical consequences. We move away from this by first becoming aware that we have entered an era of energy. This body is not solid. It’s energy. The more you bring to your awareness, your consciousness, the greater and higher frequency, the more everything will turn into energy. Everything is energy.
— On Mother Earth — It’s a living being. It breathes. It has chakras. It has leylines like meridians just like your body. The planet was created by the Elohims (great beings of love that have never taken physical form). It was exquisite. What is it? It’s an energy. Energy pulsates. Energy’s alive. At that time [the beginning] it was prepared for beings to come here from different planes. The first golden age, so the energy was very high. And little by little it went down and came back…the cycle.
— On “aliens” — We are being observed by many, many different entities. They come as curious beings. Some are more advanced, some are not. Some are less evolved, and some are more evolved. They travel here from other places. They want to taste what’s here. The difference between beings of planet earth and other planes, there is love here. This changes everything. It originates from earth. Venus was an earth a long time ago. Sanat Kumara brought the energy of love and light constantly until it turned into a devotional planet. And its frequency rose up. It exists today as a realm of light. [I asked how we could observe this as our eyes clearly cannot see it] “If you meditate you can see everything.”
— On India and Egypt — We should all be looking to go there at some point. It will cause a change in consciousness. India is the only country where thousands of masters have attained a state of godliness. There’s a reason why India has been poor. They could not focus on the material things. They had to focus on spirituality so that they could hold it for the world. Egypt is the other country that will cause a shift in people. It’s a big portal. They are descended from Atlantis.
— On Atlantis and its lesson — When Atlantis was sinking, a spaceship came to save the blueprint of this planet. It sank because it didn’t have “the heart” anymore. They were full of technology, being only in the intellect, not the mind. They were brilliant, but forgot the love. “Today, if you do not stop for a moment to feel love, we’ll be into computers and technology in a split second, and now all the healers are using all kinds of devices. That’s a little bit my concern. If we do not make it past the fifty percent at a point. There will be not enough love and we will disappear again.”
— On her state of being, and her work — [I asked her if she experienced the full range of emotions or was just floating at all times] “Floating no, floating yes. In the body no, in the body yes. I can cry if I see someone is in pain. My blissful state doesn’t change. I can make as if I’m angry at you but my bliss is still right here. To do the work that I do I have to have the firmness with students, clear with disciple, loving […] I am so focused, like a laser. I’ve no time to have emotions. I enter here [snaps fingers], what’s next? And I move. I’m pure love, not ‘I have love.’ I am pure love itself, so I don’t care who loves me, because I am love itself. And my point is to make sure that when I work with someone, they get to love themselves, accept themselves, and realize they’ve always been accepted.”
— On Jesus and enlightenment — Jesus comes from another plane, just like Maa, coming to serve the light. It’s not easy. Because nobody has faith in love. Nobody has faith in light. Nobody wishes to be enlightened. They can say, “Oh I want enlightenment but it’s bullshit.”
— On us, and love/fear — There is ONLY YOU. There is only one ‘self.’ Involve, and then evolve. […] Some dare to ask themselves ‘who am I?’ What happens to me when I die? What is making my heart beat? This is called awareness. This is the first step. So now, become aware there are only two energies on planet earth. One is fear. One is love. Unlike in physics where there is no such thing as cold only a lack of heat…fear has it’s own energy. That’s what makes it different. “Everything is about frequency. The whole creation, it’s only frequency, lower frequency, or higher frequency. Let’s say one to a hundred. Fear base is one. Love, pure pure divine love, hundred. In between life exists. Now you have the choice with awareness where you want to be. At one, or at hundred. It’s so simple. Really simple.”
— On why we are here, and Jesus — We are here for the sake of evolution. It is our nature, in our blueprint to create, and the divine impulse has begun pushing us to move from being into becoming. “I travel in the whole of creation, there is no God [to my question if there’s a “boss”].” The reason why Jesus said “father.” Jesus has a guru in the Himalayas, whose name is Maitreya. Jesus was a great esoteric master, not a spiritual teacher only, a great esoteric master, meaning alchemy, and he heard the voice inside, the male voice. That’s why he said ‘father.’ “I fight with him every now and then about this because it confuses people. They are afraid of the father, the male figure.”
Elliot Riis is a yogi/teacher/banker/ writer who spends his time contemplating the universe and his place in it while trying to maintain a productive role in contemporary society. He can be found regularly twisting himself into deeper and deeper asanas while trying to uncover the answer to that most sacred question…why?
Gorgeous! I've been waiting for this one. Maybe I could hear the whole interview some time…
Laura I would love to share it with you. There are so many things that didn't make it into the article, like when Jesus, St. Germain, and the archangel Michael showed up in her room one day and told her it was time to "be in the world," and she left her husband, her two kids in France and began her spiritual path. Also, the things she said to just me about Ganesha, amazing, but that was personal. And her tone, so beautiful when you actually hear her voice. I was entranced.
Wow Elliot! I'd also love to hear the rest one day. Thank you for sharing this, I could feel her energy come through your words.
Wow Elliot! I'd also love to hear the rest one day. Thank you for sharing this, I could feel her energy come through your words.
Wow. wow. My heart feels so good from this. I will have to read this and read this and read this to get even an inkling of understanding out of it. "We may spend millennia frozen in ice, drop from a cloud onto a mountain and traverse through the jungle, fall into a river and crash over a waterfall…but in the end, all water eventually arrives at its destination. This world is a playground designed by great beings of love…" my heart aches from this, Elliot. I pictured the water being frozen, then thawing, moving, trickling through a river, the sounds it creates, falling over the cliff, creating the beauty that it does (was just staring at a river and waterfall this weekend and marveling at how water makes me feel something that I can't quite put into terms. Never have I been able to. Youth. Happiness. Playfulness. Movement. Fish. Submerged. Emersed. Free.). Filling my eyes with…oh my goodness, will she say it…god, maybe…you know how I feel about this, but "Perhaps some things are true whether you believe them or not." I'll take that, my dear friend.
I second that motion, Laura Standley. Perhaps in NYC, Oct 31st-ish, with Halloween costumes on (wince) and wine in our cups. Yes, please.
"They could not focus on the material things. They had to focus on spirituality so that they could hold it for the world."
Thanks for sharing, Aubs!
Kimi Marin, that was a standout to me as well. In addition to about a hundred other things…
Beautiful writing. Almost there with you Elliot. I am glad it was the first thing I read today. Fear and love. Our only possible responses.
Wow. wow. My heart feels so good from this. I will have to read this and read this and read this to get even an inkling of understanding out of it. “We may spend millennia frozen in ice, drop from a cloud onto a mountain and traverse through the jungle, fall into a river and crash over a waterfall…but in the end, all water eventually arrives at its destination. This world is a playground designed by great beings of love…” my heart aches from this, Elliot. I pictured the water being frozen, then thawing, moving, trickling through a river, the sounds it creates, falling over the cliff, creating the beauty that it does (was just staring at a river and waterfall this weekend and marveling at how water makes me feel something that I can’t quite put into terms. Never have I been able to. Youth. Happiness. Playfulness. Movement. Fish. Submerged. Emersed. Free.). Filling my eyes with…oh my goodness, will she say it…god, maybe…you know how I feel about this, but “Perhaps some things are true whether you believe them or not.” I’ll take that, my dear friend.
I second that motion, Laura Standley. Perhaps in NYC, Oct 31st-ish, with Halloween costumes on (wince) and wine in our cups. Yes, please.
Why’d my thing post twice??? Der.
Thanks. Interesting article.
this article is soooo good! a must read.
Lost for words. But very interesting. 🙂
Love
many are alive all have different paths I too.
A world problem to many religions only one god I have the solution to starvation and I am not false remember before birth have a nice time travelling through your inner ego.
so what's the solution?
The XL pipeline would be better used to pump water rather than oil for irrigation purposes and all water features such as fresh water fish farming and building communities and good irrigation projects.
If one looks at excess water in layman’s terms like a bathtub full of water and each country in higher areas where rivers form build a dam or Man made lake the second time around it would reduce the excess waters in our Oceans it could be put to good use in many ways irrigation projects fish farms in warmer areas evaporation and if capped fresh drinking water a area like the Euphrates river which runs through Syria from Turkey into Iraq then into the sea building water catchment a and dams all the way back through Iraq then through Syria waters could be used to benefit those areas in need the dead Sea could be flooded from the Mediterranean in the wet season it is after all a old desolation area due to evaporation there is much more but for now have a nice Day and think of your God
Eliott, we have read many articles about Sai Maa, but this one stands a cut above in honesty, depth, resonance and beauty!
I love Maa!
Thank you.
Love love love Maa, thank you for this article
In Greek Mythology a soldier stood with a shield and with the suns reflection set fire to a ship a enactment was done in 75 by a professor proving it correct if a similar shield with the suns reflection was pointed at captured salt water in somalia or ethiopia near to the Ocean and the wind blows inland evaporation would create drinking water or rain clouds putting water where most needed aloe vera can grow in these conditions and other plant life the flesh of this plant can be used for drinking or sun burn helping reduce starvation a form of healing and reducing water levels due to flooding and helping where most needed
I say to EVERYONE Beware ALL & stay away from this SINISTER CULT and put these ‘money sucking manipulators’ out of business !!!!!
Be very careful, everyone – there is no question that Sai Maa is running a cult, and that she is greedy, manipulative and exploitative. For whatever genuine spiritual insight she may have, her primary interest is in stroking her enormously narcissistic ego and extracting money from her followers. I know dozens of members of the Sai Maa cult (along with a few ex-members), and her approach is to break you down psychologically (talk to someone about the actual experience of the Journey of Profound Healing – she completely isolates you, limits your sleep and food for days and makes you go hysterical with psychomotor therapy) and make you become entirely dependent upon her to make large decisions and conduct self-inquiry. Her followers are discouraged from working through their own issues on their own or with anyone other than Sai Maa – to do so is an offense to her, because she convinces them that she is the only genuine way to transcend your suffering, burn your karma and find happiness. She literally tells people that she can resolve your karma for you. She also offers people the standard cult promise of essentially eliminating your shadow, giving you
total liberation from suffering and trauma. Well, I know many of her followers, and
many of them suffer from the traits of serious personality disorders one would assume follow such a denial of one’s own shadow – dissociation, depersonalitzation, lack of sense of self, extreme capriciousness and impulsiveness (usually based on something they are convinced Maa wanted them to do) and general delusional thinking. Several of her followers have told me that she is very genuinely omniscient; they literally believe that she is watching their every move at all times and knows everything. I’ve heard from them that it’s ok if she acts out of anger or greed or lust because she has no ego – literally, they say that she can exploit others and behave poorly because she has no ego. Think about that for a second – they completely excuse of absolutely anything because they are convinced she has no ego. So people with an ego can’t do the same things she does? They’ve also told me that she sat in a movie theater watching HER (with Joaquin Phoenix) and said every line before it was spoken because the film was “pure source”. They have told me that she only sleeps for 45 minutes every single night – no more – despite the fact that human beings (and, sorry guys, she IS a human being) cannot live like this. They’ve told me about her gold-plated hot tub gifted to her by her followers, and how her unpaid volunteers are instructed to call all the wealthiest people over and over again, asking for money. I’ve seen with my own two eyes her followers’ shrines to her next to their beds – adorned with photos of her face and feet. I’ve heard how literally nothing that happens in their life is due to their own work, or the Universe’s work, or chance, or fate, or anything else – literally everything is attributable to Maa’s conscious orchestration.
Get the picture? Maa works to convince her followers that she is literally God, and lets them lead their lives under this delusion, giving her endless amounts of time and money and – most importantly – their sense of autonomy and self-determination. And she is forgiven for literally everything because of this irrational catch-all which states
that she is enlightened, so therefore her action comes from “source” rather than
ego. No matter how much she blatantly and narcissistically exploits millions of dollars from thousands of lives, she is always excused for her behavior, while her followers can be criticized most harshly for even the slightest mistakes. Does Maa have some genuine insight? Yes, absolutely. She says many things that brilliant minds throughout human history have said, but you know what? So have countless ministers and monks and laypeople. Her insight isn’t extraordinarily unique, and she certainly isn’t omniscient. Her organization is a textbook cult – delve into the subject of cults and cult recruitment and actually try to do a fair amount of research on Maa’s recruiting and operating methods and try to argue otherwise. What genuine, spiritual leader with pure motives would encourage and allow her followers to think, behave and feel as I described above?
I’m so happy to see so many people talking about Sai Maa.
The community of Sai Maa are crooked destructive thieves with idiots who promote a fake Guru who reports to be the fem supremacy Guru who on the surface appears to be very benign but underneath that surface she promotes cutting off ties with family members & friends if they don’t agree with there arguments about Sai Maa. She defends the practice of cutting off ties with family and using the excuse that these students were abuse by there parents. Sai Maa sells you this vision of a perfect community. It is anything but. Her corrupt influence runs deep along with her pursuit of profit.
I watched Sai Maa very carefully for 3 years and I could see how she reacts towards anything that induces an emotional feeling she would actually view this with suspicion, she also tries to control the conversations very really letting anyone finish what they were feeling and if she did you could see she felt awkward & uncomfortable . The practices at Sai Maa are really inappropriate and not to mention morally reprehensible. I was introduced to Sai Maa by one of her students or devotees, at the time I was having a really rough time with work and the time spend with my family. I attend the Journey of Profound Healing course and found it really strange, she teaches people to go “back to the womb to darkness” and to eradicate any life dreams, identity, authenticity and ego; essentially, to erase themselves. At times she would tell me I should leave my family and be happy, to escape from my troubles and simply walk away as she did with her family years ago. She would say “Give it a try what could you loose the world is full of options, take the one you want”. She would make you question your own intuition. Needless to say I did not heed her advise at all. I also felt all the work that was really being done was more from the people in the class then from Sai Maa.
Soon after taking the Journey the student friend told me I had to do more with Sai Maa which included Sava which is donating your time and working for free for Sai Maa and doing what ever Sai Maa wanted. Some of her student would travel to Canada and Japan around the globe just for her. That day the student so proudly admitted to me about doing Sava for Sai Maa a while back, it took place in a hotel and Sai Maa was talking a shower. She was folding Sai Maa’s clothing and was called on by Sai Maa while in the shower and there was steam everywhere in the shower, Sai Maa asked her to extend arm and give her her hand, when she did Sai Maa grabbed her hand and placed it on her breast and asked her “What do you feel, is this the Breast of a 20 year old or a 57 year old” She responded “a 20 year”. She told me at first she was shocked but then realized what an amazing moment that she shared this intimate moment with Sai Maa and that en-fact she was amazed that her breast felt like that of a 20 year old. She told me this with a face I will never forget with eyes wide open of total adoration and joy! At that point I knew this organization stank of something really funky. The brainwashing technique, is very destructive at Sai Maa camp (especially on young impressionable minds) these students actually believes Sai Maa has mystical powers and that she somehow is ageless, well considering all the obvious plastic surgery she has gotten from all the money she has ripped off and extorted from thousands of people I’d say she that might be possible but not for long. After spending some time with her students and Sava I could see how she uses her students to make herself money, and destroy other people’s relationships and lives.
There are also stories of mediation taking place with her students and some of the elder members where a lot of touching was involved right in the presence of Sai Maa who openly allowed this and claimed it was a way of opening the soul and being totally free from all the baggage in the world. Sai Maa is also a huge fan of Sai Baba the rapist and sexual predator, who has criminal sexual assaults charges who raped young boys and girls. Before you decide to join Sai Maa Google Sai Baa and take note of all the photos surrounding her wherever she goes and even the photos in the homes of her devotee students.
Many of the ex-followers of Sai Maa know this is a Cult Organization and that she is a guru predator that brainwashes and exploits people without worry of any legal repercussions. The hard evidence is there but they need to talk about there experiences, speak up, expose and prevent more future victims of Sai Maa’s massive self-serving manipulative and abusive behavior. It’s a cult, it really is.
This photos say it all…with Sai Baba right next to her.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87914616@N06/32682550860/
I have to say, I did at some take a few courses with Sai Maa for some time and frankly they are without a doubt a Cult ! I have a friend who’s life was in great chaos and crisis but after she continued for a few years with Sai Maa I noticed she began to lose family and friends to the destructive brainwashes of Sai Maa and her disciples they literally tore her apart and ruined her live.
They turn people into Sai Maa fans and you see it on some of the faces of the people who work for Sai Maa. These people are called Sai Maa Robots, they are wide eyed entranced almost psycho looking people. The link below are photos that show the insane fans of Sai Maa and the people that get high from being Fans of hers. They even assign there robots to coach people, to turn them into Sai Maa fans. To only trust Sai Maa. They tell you what to say how to respond to Sai Maa how to stand, how to bow. What to eliminate from your life including loved ones. Encourage dependency and conformity. They encourage you set up a shrine with her face on it next to your be. They tell you she can solve all of your problems. It’s a Mental torture crafted to change your mind to basically copy each other, there is no personality, they just copy each other. I watched all this for awhile while attending courses at Sai Maa and at some point had to leave because it was just too crazy.
This organization makes even the most intelligent people turn stupid and subject them to what they want you to do. Sai Maa will not set you free even after you complete a course. You will be forced upon by the stupidity to proceed further. Sai Maa members insanely force other people to join not caring about the kind of impending mental impact. They send out tons of emails and you get phone calls as well.
I feel pity for the young people, that are manipulated and talked out of their ambitions and goals. All their dreams and conceptions of life so far would crash to nothing. She is not a wonderful human being. Sai Maa is not just a scam. A scam just takes away your money. But this one is dangerous and will destroy your relationship with loved ones and your family !!
I am someone who has also spent $2,500’s + Hotel to attend JOPH event myself and attended a few free events of Sai Maa.
I have felt like a complete idiot for taking JOPH.
JOPH is intensive group brainwashing.
JOPH seminar creates psychological damage which wrecks lives and relationships within Families! They take decent, kind people, who have no training or knowledge of these areas whatsoever, and they ruthlessly subject them to harsh psychological techniques. Some of them have a breakdown, some of them leave there families mothers and fathers divorce or leave there relationships to follow and become devotees of Sai Maa. The devotees of Sai Maa know this, it happens quite frequently.
And its the kindest people, who are “too nice” and “too trusting” who pay the price, financially, emotionally, psychologically and physically.
Many people that attend JOPH just take it at face value, they don’t really know what it is. If as them have never heard of that term, and what it means. They don’t know how it works, or anything about it.
I heard of serious warning signs about this woman going back a few years but for some reason I didn’t pay attention to the warnings. She and her devotee have been cashing in for years now, and Sai Maa comes from money, she has a lot of money and a lot of property, her circle of friends are wealthy old white millionaires. Sai Maa does not care about families and if she destroys a relationship within a family. Its just collateral damage for her business. Even worse, she even literally gets-off on the power she has over people. Its completely wrong when people say she has remorse for what she does. She certainly does not ! Sai Maa knows EXACTLY what she is doing with her techniques, and the serious risks. Those are all well-known JOPH seminar “brainwashing” techniques, used to gain powerful influence over people. Those techniques are extremely dangerous, and some people “go over the edge”, or jump over the edge. Narcissistic Sociopaths don’t feel bad if others get hurt. She is a greedy scam artist that needs to be shut down. Others need to be warmed!
JOPH is Total BULLSHIT!! I wish there was a video so everyone can see what actually is going on at JOPH or paperwork. Do NOT believe anyone that works for Sai Maa that tells you how great this is or how fast it will change your life. IT’S BULLSHIT!!!
IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR LIFE!!!! I have nothing kind to say about this organization and the crazy devotees students that are in it. Look Sai Maa goes to other countries to re constitute her group!!! New Devotees, it’s SCAM that is traveling around the world to scam as many people they can get there greedy little hands on!
And the whole cult of worshiping this plastic surgery faced Guru really is quite grosses!!! As well as the disciple of pedophile Sathya Sai Baba!!! Wow!!!
Sai Maa is an exploitative leader!!!!
Her devotees when called on through emails and Facebook go to these Sai Maa events without question to show support like the most recent one in here Canada, you can see all the madness for yourself here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87914616@N06/34956131182/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87914616@N06/34956127662/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87914616@N06/34734246010/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87914616@N06/34905955620/