As the fifth child, and the only daughter for the first seven years of her life, Urmilaben Purshottamdas Shah lived what she believed to be a typically Indian lifestyle of the 1940s. Her days were spent helping her mother care for the family of 10, while her merchant father sold grains and spices on the first floor of their home in Halol in Gujarat state.

She balanced a tagaru of water on her head from the well to the house, scrubbed clothes in the stream and cooked meals on a square-foot mud stove set into the floor.

Little did this simple child of rural India realize what lay before her, a life far beyond the imagination of anyone in her humble village. She would later marry the boy chosen by her parents when she was barely five years old, thinking they would continue the tradition of family and religious devotion as generations before her. With no expectations, she accepted her new husband’s early encouragement: “Finish high school, learn English…we are going to travel the world, including by airplane.” No one in her village had ever flown in an airplane, much less traveled to America. How could this young schoolteacher who made only 116 rupees have such dreams? That prophecy and much more came to pass during their 50+ years of marriage.

From a tender age, Urmila was a deeply spiritual and sensitive being. Her first exposure to the great saint of our lineage, Bapuji, began at the age of eight, when he gave lectures adjacent to her own backyard. Young Urmila instantly recognized a difference in this striking dark-eyed swami with a radiant smile and gift for oratory. She says, “When I met Bapuji, I knew I could learn everything I would ever need from him.”

When her younger sister Sharmista’s husband died suddenly, leaving her with children just one- and two-years-old, Urmila saw first-hand how difficult the life of a widow could be. Fortunately, there was enough money for her father to pay for Sharmista’s training to become a teacher. During that time, Urmila’s sister had to leave her babies in the care of her mother instead of raising them herself. This early tragedy gave her a lifelong sensitivity for the plight of widows in India.

This is often the case for young widows where there is no money or family help. These families live with considerable suffering and sorrow.

Life in America has been abundant for Urmila, known as Mataji since the early 1970s. “If it had not been for the generosity of my husband’s uncle and one friend, he never could have immigrated to the U.S. to attend college,” she says. “One year later in 1961, Amrit had saved enough money to send for me and our 1-year old son.”

Mataji has never forgotten either the continuing plight of her sister or the enduring kindness of those two men who made an impossible dream become reality for herself and her husband, who of course went on to become one of the pioneers of yoga in the West and a world-renowned guru. Over the years, the Desai family has sponsored 130 of their relatives, who have been able to build a better life in this country. Mataji’s legacy is:

“When you help another person, you don’t even know how that act of giving or how many other people could be affected by generosity. This is why my heart is compelled to serve others in this way.”

Established in January 2006, founding donor Lynn Daksha Shad,
far left, has
been a moving force in bringing Mataji's Living Legacy into existence. In
the first month, books and CDs were purchased for the grammar school at the
Shri Kripalu Samadhi Mandir in Malav.

Learn how YOU can become part of the Mataji Trust.