Advice at Bordi Shibir (English part)

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Advice at Bordi Shibir (English part). Bordi, Maharashtra, India. 22 March 1979.

You develop a hypertension, you become very agitated, you start dancing and doing all kinds of things. These things can happen – that you may start dancing, jumping, shouting, doing all kinds of things, getting into licentiousness, permissiveness. Because that’s how you are let loose. The control on your being of the wisdom is lost, and then you just get into it. And you don’t feel the pinch of your conscience. The pinch of the conscience is no more. You just go arbitrary and you just shoot off. It can happen to people even without feeling this. Even without feeling this some people can get into that kind of a mood. That’s how they become alcoholic and they become all these things where they have no control.

(Break in recording.)

…eventually he was absolutely on [his] deathbed because he got cirrhosis of the liver and he was going to die. He had left Sahaj Yoga, he wanted to do it on his own and all that, and he just lost it, poor thing! Within three months he started showing results. And he was so badly off and I brought him home. My husband had gone abroad and when he came back, he said, “What’s this? You have got a dead person in the house! They are going to prosecute us; we are all going to be in jail. He’s going to die next moment the way he is. I just can’t look at him!” He was very angry. I said, “Now where can I send him? After all, he’s so sick, it would be very inhuman to send him anywhere out.” He said, “All right, tomorrow you arrange something and send him away.”

But next day you see when my husband got up from his bed, he saw this gentleman walking about. He was so surprised and aghast! He came in and he said, “The fellow is out, out of his bed! I just can’t believe my eyes.” And then within seven days he was completely cured. But then Gus told me that, “Mother, some of us are so egotistical that we have to go to that limit to know you and to come to you. It’s not possible for some people to give up their ego and to behave in this manner, so you better allow them to go to that position and then to come back.” I said, “For a Mother it is difficult. She will try to tell them again and again that, no, no, you try to get all right.” So, that’s what he told me.

But this is very true. You see, what I have found with the Western people is that they are really egotistical in the sense that they, they don’t mind killing themselves. The ego is so self-destroying that they know that they are unkind to themselves but to just satisfy their ego, they’ll go on destroying themselves. And they reach such a funny point that you just can’t understand how they have been so foolish about it.

Then he started respecting himself and then he went to his mother. He said, “I feel tremendous love for my mother!” Whom he had left for years. He never bothered about her. Then he went down [to Australia]. Now he’s in Australia looking after his mother and he’ll be coming back to London. I am sure he’s much better off. He writes very sweet letters.

So, this is what is the thing of Mr. Gus, who was the leader of all the hippies of London and who was a very clever boy, and he was a physics professor. And so you can imagine what can happen to an egotistical person, how he can lose his complete wisdom.

In Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan there were about 300 people out of which at least 275 people were Indians. And they were all suffering from some disease or other. I got such a fright and I was so angry with all of them. I said, “None of you are healthy to come to me.” Some were suffering from paralysis, some were suffering from gout and all kinds of troubles they had.

And, in that lot I found “Cooly” sitting in front of me and he was absolutely cool, very, very cool: so much that he was like a frozen dough. And I felt him and I said, “Now this is too much!” But because of his heart catching you see. When your heart is caught up you can feel that kind of coolness because it depresses your heart more and you get that cool there.

So, I called him Cooly. And [Dr. Denton] Cooley is one doctor whom you might have heard about him, who is in Houston, where they are operating small children, and I had taken my grandchild there. So I met him. He looked very much like our Cooly, but he’s a very tall fellow; a very kindly person. And when I saw him I combined these two things together because he’s was so cool and also his face so much like Dr. Cooley that I called him Cooly; and that’s how [he got the name]. And then whenever he talked to me he said, “You remember Mother, I’m Cooly speaking.” So his name became Cooly forever (laughter).

Now, come along. His name is Anthony Panayiotou. He is from Cyprus, very near Greece from where Alexander the Great came to us. And now comes “Cooly the Great”.

But I must also give the other side of the picture. The other side of the picture is that though you people have one problem which I call as the sin against the Mother, also Indians have sin against the Father, which they do not know.

In London you cannot imagine someone running away with your chappals (Indian sandals) from Caxton Hall. Nobody can even think of such nonsense! But here, how many of you have lost your chappals in the programme? And not only you but even yesterday, poor Mr. Pradhan lost his new shoe because where he wore it for a function like that!

This kind of an absurdity is only possible in this wretched India, where you get all this kind of nonsense! That’s the point where I really cannot understand that people are so much worried and upset about their belongings, about their things and they want to grab anything that comes in their way. If they can do it without paying anything for it, they’ll be very happy.

So, in this way we are really committing sins against the Father, who has said that He is going to look after the kshema (well-being) also. He looks after the kshema. And while we do not believe into it that He looks after it. We get upset for a little money spent here, we get upset for little things done there. I mean we are really, that way, very, very funny people.

Though Indians are very generous no doubt but they do not mind taking away things without the knowledge of the person who is around. It’s something so funny! Of course, everybody does not do it but quite a lot of [them do]. But especially the people who are at the helm of affairs are absolute cheats sometimes and are so funny that one can’t understand why do they want to cheat. I mean, they have everything, and they have got a lot of money. But they won’t mind taking away some money away from you, taking away some money away from the other person. For no rhyme and reason, they will expect you to give them money and bribes and things like that.

So, this is something so surprising that in London we have taken a flat, and now you know we have taken a house. We have taken a flat from one Indian and then we took a house in London. I didn’t have to pay any black money or anything like that for taking this house and it worked out very well. But here it is not possible unless and until you give them some black money and you do all kinds of nonsensical things. It’s very, very difficult! Even in England Indians try this trick with others. If you remember our first flat fellow wanted us to give him some money and wanted this and that, and I had a big argument with him.

So, this kind of a nonsense which I call as the sin against the Father is all the time [here]. Even if they get a broken chappal somewhere, they would carry it out. I mean, all this kind of a thing is not possible in London: people are very, very honest and they don’t take somebody’s money like that nor do they take away things. Here if you have the kind of newspaper distribution you have there, people will take away the newspaper! They will take away even the container of the money and also the cash box and also the lamppost! And they can use it for any purpose.

Even I have seen people putting their bottles out. And everything, the way we have in London, the postal system, they send anything to you from thousands of rupees to any amount; nobody takes it. It is kept outside your house. It is lying there. Nobody takes it! Especially in Oxted, a place of, so forlorn and absolutely a desolate place and there also I have seen [that] if something arrived by parcel, it would be lying there for two days, three days, if you were out and nobody would touch it. That is not possible here at all. People would even take away locks you have, they’ll take away the panels you have (Mother laughs). I mean, they can take away anything they feel like.

Can you imagine in India people can even take away a small, little tap that is hanging out! From the bathrooms they’ll take away the taps. You allow them to go wash in your washbasin, they may take away the washbasins! Dustbins: they’ll take away your dustbins. They can take away anything! Like they are possessed by some people who are thieves and thugs or I don’t know what!

Our gurus are just the same: they don’t mind living on opium that is other people’s money. They indulge in other people’s money all the time. They have no shame about it. And when I say anything about it people say, “Mother, you are very hard on them!”

What should I say? Should I garland them and make an aarti out of them that: what thugs you are, very nicely living on the people’s money? I just can’t understand what one should say. I feel so ashamed of them, and responsible also, the way they have really lynched all the Western seekers. And these are sadhus and they have no business to do that! And with that they have put all the bhoots into them and have taken away all that they had.

Even there are some people, one boy came to me, he didn’t have a proper shoe on him, and he’s the son of a Lord! And he said, “Now my father has no place for me because I stole some antiques from his house and sold them to give it to this fellow who’s now having an airstrip for himself.” Is this the way? To lynch people and take money from them and befool them? I mean, this is really shameful, absolutely shameful. And I am really ashamed of it.
So, though we are, in a way, naïve, because we are not yet exposed to that kind of a sex-orientated society: but it will take no time if we do not stop it now with a complete force. It will take no time for us to get into that horrible, perverted thing, you see.

And the other day somebody asked me, “What do you say to permissiveness and to licentiousness?” So, I said, “In our Indian language, we call it badmashi and badchalni.” This is the word we have got. I mean we have no other sensible words for these things. They are called badchalni and badmashi. This is the word we have got. What am I to do? I mean, can you suggest some new words for permissiveness and licentiousness? These are all horrid things! And I mean, this is regarded as something very bad.

So, this one can be twisted also, and people can say that Mataji calls all the Westerners badmash. But if you are licentious, according to Indian language, any language, in Marathi language, we call it gundgiri. So, this is the word we use. Now we haven’t got any word for a man like that, to call him: you see, we do not call and enshrine people who are licentious here, never! We never enshrine people who are permissive.

But here, I don’t know how do you accept it, that, “It’s a permissive society, so what?” “If it is a satanic society, so what?” But ‘satanic’ means you are Satans! You have to say you are Satans. Even if you don’t like my language, what other words can I use? You tell me. Is there any other word that can really describe them? It is simply a very, very dilapidated state of affairs and one has to accept it. It’s horrible! It’s rotting the whole society there. And we have to warn our people with very strong words. Even if people think that these words are very, very strong, you should not mind telling them that, “This is a very wrong thing that you are doing in that country and one should never do it, and one should never accept.” Because this may come here also and it’s so shocking!

Today she was telling me something, Felicity, and Zareen was there and she just couldn’t understand anything. She was so shocked she was perspiring. Zareen, Zareen was there, and she was perspiring. And she couldn’t understand how could she stand all this nonsense? No girl in India would stand this kind-of-a nonsense. [If] any man tries to touch her she will just slap him nicely and put him right! She knows what it means. But you are so naïve also about these things that you go on compromising on these fundamental things and on certain things, like putting on weight, you get so upset. You should be upset about losing your chastity much more than about losing your weight and things like that – it’s nothing important!

The priorities are so funny that sometimes I just can’t understand. The main thing is, your chastity is the most important thing that must be saved and should not be allowed to be challenged by anyone whatsoever!

Women have given up [their] lives, they have burnt themselves in this country, for saving their chastity. That’s the most important thing that they want to save. While there it’s so sex-orientated that you have got ideas, also, about your figures and things so that the body should be so attractive. It’s more like prostitution, I feel, myself, the way you are all the time paying attention to your body that you should be attractive to others. I mean this is something absurd and there is no beauty in such things. It is nothing but perversion of life, absolute perversion. You should try to remain in such a manner that you are dignified.

Even the ideas are so much changed now. I think it’s much more satanic than anything else, because if you see Mona Lisa, who is regarded as still the best painting, she was a plump lady and nobody has any objection. They pay such a lot of money just to see her face!

While suddenly the ideas have changed! I think a satanic force worked out to weaken the women in this manner. Because a woman who practices these things becomes very weak, physically, and then people can dominate them and can overtake them. And that’s why these funny ideas about [weight] reducing women and men and make them absolutely slaves of these horrible satanic gurus and things, have started, I think. This is how they do it. Perhaps it’s a very, very subtle way the satanic [force] acts through putting these ideas.

The other day only, a friend of mine had come and she was telling me about her sister-in-law who went into a drastic [weight] reduction process, suddenly. And I had met her about ten years back when she started it and I told her, “What are you doing? You are looking so much older than your age. You are looking at least ten years older already.” Now this lady told me, “Now she looks like your mother!” I said, “Really? She’s so much younger to me in age.” She said, “She looks so much like your mother.”

Because thin people look so much older. I have seen women of my age in England look at least double my age. I mean, they look like my mother’s there. Because of this kind of thing the whole body shrivels up and also a little resistance that is needed, or reserve that is needed, is not there, and a balance in the body is not there. And it’s a very wrong thing to treat your body so shabbily just to satisfy certain foolish ideas that are all around.

Be kind to your body. Don’t try to be very, very hard on this. It works on your heart. You might get a heart attack. You might get any kind of problems and it’s a very wrong thing. Don’t develop yourself in the lines which are suggested in the West. I have seen women who are so fidgety and so irritatingly boring with their figures. I don’t know how people marry with them! That’s why you are having divorces also. You are having divorces. The women who always go to dieting are a very irritating type. Actually, it’s a common thing. You know that Brutus has been described by Shakespeare, as a thin man who was so irritatingly funny that people never liked him. He was always a complaining type.

So, one must understand, you must have a little balance within yourself and don’t go all out for something that is so nonsensical. And always after Sahaj Yoga you will find our will have a body which will have a weight because water is accumulated and you will have a personality with that.

Otherwise, I have seen some ladies who reduced themselves too much, and when they went to England, one of them was the wife of a Cabinet Secretary and she was taken as a secretary! And, she was made to sit somewhere in the corner. And the gentleman came in and said, “Where’s my wife?” They said, “Your wife never came.” He said, “But my wife was here.” So, he said, “No, no, she’s never come.” He said, “But she was to arrive here earlier.” Then they said, “No, there’s only one Indian lady who has come. She’s sitting in the corner there.” And they said, “We thought she was your secretary.” You see, a certain amount of dignity is needed.

And also, in India, also all of our Gods and Goddesses have been like that, because it gives you dignity, a contour and a personality which is required. Of course, it should not be a hindrance to you in anyway and should not be too much. But the amount of fighting and quarrelling [that] is going on among thin people is so saddening that one wants to run away. On the contrary, a person who laughs and is relaxed always puts on weight. And what’s the use of making a mess out of yourself that nobody can even stand you? You’ll become like a thorn!

So, I would warn you that don’t go in for these drastic things of [weight] reductions and all that. That’s not sahaj. Of course, you should not put on weight much, then it’s different. But don’t go in for drastic things. That is asahaj. And don’t become like bamboos, because these bamboos have no impression on people and people must see you flowering like beautiful lotuses and they should be blooming with health. Because you know the Goddess is described as Pushti is well-nourished. A person should look well nourished.

In London, when you walk, sometimes I feel that half of these women who have no weight might be lifted away by the breeze that is coming and may be planted into something horrible! It might be happening to some women. And they are a very irritated type. Extremely irritable temperaments they have. And they are all the time complaining, complaining, complaining.

We have some neighbours and I happened to go to one of their meetings. And I got so bored with them [that] I came away. And they didn’t know how to talk to each other so they asked for drinks and started drinking, because there was no other way out from this kind of an irritated nature, the way they were complaining to each other. They got so tired of each other that they said, “Let’s have some drinks.” That’s the only way they can exist then.

So, try to be very, very humorous and jolly and happy people. Enjoy yourself. That’s the thing God has given you. And not try to become like Bombil machis! You see, that is one thing I must tell you [which] is very important. Because that is something that will be very wrong and will be asahaj. Of course, you should not be extremely fat that you can’t move out. You need not be. You will never be with Sahaj Yoga, because if you get more fat, it will be dissolved and things will be this thing.

Now, what is the criteria? What are we to know? What sort of a weight is needed? There’re no criteria. We have to have different weights. We have to have different heights. We have to have different clothes. We have to be very, very different. And variety brings the beauty. If you have all of them, put together in the same way, the same forms, with the same dresses going round, you get so bored looking at them! As if a machine has created all these people, human beings. There’s no sweetness about it.

So, don’t try to play havoc with the nature. Never try that. Try to be attuned to the nature, attuned to it. Because all such things create problems and the first problem that is created is the liver. So, be careful and don’t go into such haphazard treatments.

I would again request you, all of you, never to go in for such drastic things, neither in medicines nor in exercising yourself. Because you know, with exercises, what happens to your heart, we have seen it now. And it’s very difficult to rectify it, so be careful about it. And automatically you come down, you are normalised.

And God knows how much weight you should have and all that.

Now, those people who eat more may not put on weight. Those who eat less may put on weight. It’s possible. This happens. So, it depends on your temperament, whatever are the requirements. And of course, you must keep a watch.

But still, I would say that one should not try to do something of that kind. On the contrary if somebody eats too much, that means something is wrong. If he eats too little also there’s something wrong. So, you should eat a normal type of food and lead a normal life. And one type of food also one should not eat – too much of one type of food. We should eat all kinds of food and try to understand your own nature, what sort of a nature you have.

And tomorrow I am going to give you a little bit of Ayurveda, by which you will know what is your nature and what sort of food you have to have and how you have to be a normal person.

May God Bless you, now.

So, let’s have food.

Nirmala Vidya Amruta

The Divine teachings of Shri Mataji

Advice at Bordi Shibir (English part)

Bordi (India)