Shri Ganesha Puja. Cabella (Italy), 13 September 2003

Now we are facing little children. They are the ones who are incarnations. They are the ones who are going to lead humanity into some great advancement. The humanity has to be looked after. They are tomorrow’s humanity. And we are today’s. And what are we giving to them, for them to follow? What is their aim in life? It is very, very difficult to say. But with Sahaja Yoga, they will all go in the proper way. They’ll behave in a proper way. And the whole thing will be a different mass of Sahaja Yogis coming up.

But it is the duty of bigger Sahaja Yogis to look after them, to have better moral standards, to have better lives, so that they follow your life and become genuinely good Sahaja Yogis. It’s a very big responsibility – perhaps we don’t recognize it, we don’t understand – but all these are little creatures which are after the image of great souls, and they should be brought up in that way, respected in that manner, and loved with great care. This is to be understood. 

The problem with our elderly people is this: that we do not consider them [the children] to be considered, to be bothered about, to be understood about. We think we are too intelligent, too good, and we need not waste our energy with them. This is the trouble of the elderly people.

But today when we are sitting here to worship Shri Ganesha, we should know they are all incarnations of Shri Ganesha, and they should be given proper attention, proper understanding about themselves. 

I find a certain amount of children who are very well-behaved, who are very sensible. And there are some who have no idea as to what they are doing. So, it is the duty of the elders to put ideas into their heads, to [give them] a proper understanding about themselves and the self-respect. 

I would say the same thing for the elder Sahaja Yogis, who have to look after their younger brothers and sisters. In this family of ours, which we call as Sahaja Yogis, there are all kinds of people, all types, all behaviours. Of course, they should not be regimented. There should not be uniformity, but in that variety there should be beauty. There should be a beautiful trend of being one with each other.

For that, what should we do is the problem. What should the elders do to achieve that? What is our solid contribution to their lives? The first will be to tell them who is Shri Ganesha, and that what are the qualities of Ganesha, what does He represent. What does He represent, what qualities He has. And once they start understanding, that though being a little boy, He’s so generous, He’s so kind, He’s so forgiving, they’ll be amazed because they are also small and they’ll also take to that kind of life.

I find some children very sensible, very good here. Some are naughty and some don’t understand what we are doing here. Whatever it is, they are, after all, children. And what you have to do is to look after them, respect them, and give them the full idea about Shri Ganesha.

I think everybody must have a statue of Shri Ganesha in your house, so the children will see it and ask: “Who is He? What is He doing here?” And you’ll be amazed how they will understand Him, how they will understand His qualities, and how they will work it out.

It is important for all of you to have at least one Shri Ganesha in your house so that you can tell your children that, “You all have to become like Him.”

Now, what are the qualities of Shri Ganesh? They won’t understand chastity, they’re too small. They won’t understand all those qualities. But one quality they will understand is to be honest. Is to be honest.

Gradually, you’ll find all difficult ones will go down. It will work out that way. Because, you see, they don’t understand My lecture. They don’t understand what I am saying. But one thing is there: if there are some oppositions within, they will show—show very well. Because they are so innocent and so simple, their innocence will help them to expose them to reality.

I hope you all look after your children, guide them properly, and take them to a level of understanding that they understand what is their position, what qualities they should have, why they will be respected. You’ll be amazed that their behaviour will change the behaviour of all the other children.

What I have to say is that nobody should think that you are very grown up because you can keep quiet, sit quietly, and all that. You are grown up only if you can imbibe the qualities of Shri Ganesha. I have seen people who are very grown up still do not have simple qualities of chastity, of honesty. They don’t have, and they can’t have, because they don’t think it is important.

So, I leave it to you to find out Shri Ganesha within yourself.

I enjoy their company because they’re so innocent and so simple-hearted, and I like them very, very much. So, you should not get afraid or frightened of their mischief. On the contrary, you should know they deserve much more love, much more understanding, and much more scope to grow. 

I hope by the time they will be of your age, they’ll be great Sahaja Yogis. They’ll understand what we are doing here.

I had to face mountains of nonsense with the older people, but these [children] won’t have that. They’ll be very simple, very sweet, and they’ll understand love.

So I would say we can allow these children to go out and play, and somebody can look after them so that you’ll be at peace. 

Who can take them out? 

You can give Me flowers. If you have got flowers, I’ll take them.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

What is it?

Boy: Chocolate.

Sahaja Yogi: Chocolate.

Boy: Yes, chocolate.

Sahaja Yogi: Chocolate. 

Shri Mataji: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.