The Meaning Of Nirmala, 18-01-1980

It is good that all Sahaja Yogis have come together. When we meet like this, we can discuss many things of mutual interest and tell even small details about them to each other how to clean yourself as your Mother’s name itself is Nirmala and it contains many powers.

The first word is NIH which means not. Something that actually does not exist but appears to exist, is called Mahamaya (illusion). In fact it is not there but we feel it exists and this is called Mahamaya and the whole world is like that. It is seen but it is not true: if we are trapped into it we feel that it is the only thing we have to live for. Then we feel that economic conditions are unsatisfactory, social and domestic (family) conditions are bad, everything around us is bad and we cannot see anything good. 

Water on the sea surface is very dirty and turbid. Many objects are seen floating on it. But if we go deep into the sea there is so much beauty, wealth and power that we forget that on the surface the water is so bad.
The point is that everything that you see around is illusion. You must remember first of all it is all nothing. If you have to establish ‘NIH’ you have to tell yourself, whenever a thought comes, say “not this (ya neti neti vachane nigamor avochus) another thought comes, say it is not there. You have to say this again and again. Then you will understand the meaning of word ‘NIH’. The illusion that you see is not just the illusion, but there is something beyond that.

However, we have wasted so many years of lives in these illusions that we give importance to all that actually does not exist and in doing that we have made heaps of sins. We have tried to derive the pleasure from many things. We have received nothing from whatever we have tried to enjoy. Essentially, it is all nothing – tasteless.
So, the outlook should be, it is all that nothing, it is all false. Only Brahma is real the rest all is false. You have to adopt this view point everywhere in life. Then you will understand the true meaning of Sahaja Yoga. What happens with most of the Sahaja Yogis after realisation, is that they think, “now that we are realised we have Mataji’s blessings. Then why are we not prosperous?”. That means they think God is in the prosperity. Inspite of having our realization why our family conditions do not improve?   

Instead, you should think that, inspite of the realization why my temperament (swabhav) has not changed. Then you’ll realise that my swabhav has not changed. See, how beautiful is this word ‘Swabhav’ – ‘Swa’ is Atman i.e. the spirit and bhav is the nature. Have you become the nature of your Self ? If you become your self there is so much beauty within, that all that goes on outside would appear like drama. So long as this witness state is not fully awakened within you, you have not followed the word ‘NIH’ and also you have not practised it. Suppose you are aware that you have not established ‘NIH’ within you and even now you become s emotional or egoistical, coercive or submissive and feel sad about it, then the state of being on ‘NIH’ is at the centre of these extremes. You are neither in this state nor in that. This state has to be established and it can be best achieved in meditation. Just by following the idea of ‘NIH’ in your life you will become (Nirvichar) thoughtless.

First of all, you should become thoughtless. Once you start jumping on a thought however good or bad it may be, you go into some sort of inertia and in that state you jump from one thought to another. So some people have said that a bad thought should be opposed by a good thought. In other words if a vehicle or train coming from one direction, is pushed back by another one, both will stop somewhere at the centre. It is good but occasionally it can become harmful. A bad thought when put down by a good thought remains suppressed but it can suddenly come up and it happens with many people. They press down their normal thoughts and always tell themselves that they must be good to others and must be well behaved etc. These people can sometimes be in trouble. Suddenly they get exasperated and others cannot understand, why these well behaved people are annoyed. Also they lose their inner peace.

All the beauty within them is destroyed. So we should be always thoughtless.

Ban all thoughts from your mind and then you would automatically remain at the centre in the Vilamba.
You must make all efforts. Now you would ask “Mother how can we do anything without thinking?” But what are thoughts? They are hollow. In thoughtless state you are one with the God’s power that is, the drop, which is you, comes in the ocean which is God. Hence His power also comes to you. Does this finger think? Is it not still moving? Give your thoughts to God and ask Him to think about you. But it is rather difficult, because you are not thoughtless.

Many people say “we have surrendered everything”, but it does not happen because they do it only in talking. Surrendering is not just talking. When you attain thoughtlessness then surrendering is automatic . That is you have stopped thinking. When you stop thinking you come to the centre. When at the centre, immediately you go into thoughtless awareness, i.e. become one with God’s power and when you are one with the God’s power, He looks after you. He takes care of your small things also. You will be amazed. Sometimes try doing things on your own. Then you’ll experience “Sankalpa vikalpa karoti” (Man proposes and God disposes). If you want to go through a particular way, try doing it. All the countries have tried it and failed. It is worth trying and after that you will realise that what you were doing earlier was wrong. So once you are in thoughtlessness you will get all inspirations, all powers and everything.

The idea that you get in thoughtlessness is an inspiration. You will be surprised. Everything will come to you as if on a plate. You are standing to give a speech. Just be thoughtless and start. Although you have never given a speech earlier or do not even know how to do it or have no special knowledge of any subject, you will speak so well that others will be astonished how you know so much. But once you are deep in the thoughtless state, all comes from there and not from your brain. I tell you about Me. You pray ‘Mother kindly see that such and such happens to me’ and I do not think about that. It is amazing. I put all that in the thoughtlessness. All machinery is working there. Just put it to that machinery and it is all ready. Allow that machinery, you can call it silent machinery, to work. You should put all your problems to it. But it is very difficult for intellectuals because their habit is to go on thinking about everything.

You should be able to go into thoughtlessness while trying to understand a subject. All becomes clear automatically. Research that you are doing should also be in thoughtless state. Let your hands work while you are thoughtless.

You can do your research extremely well in this way. I tell you many things.

I have never read science in my life and know nothing about it. Still I tell you all that. Where does all the knowledge come from? From the thoughtlessness; I only speak and see all that is going on. It was all kept ready in that computer which is speaking. If you are not in the thoughtless state you do not use your computer and put your brain on top of it. It is such on old computer and lot of accurate work has been done on it. You are bound to make mistakes if you use your own brain and do not consult the computer. It has no meaning. 

Thus the solution for all this is the prefix “PRA”. We say PRASHIKSHAN (Enlightened Education) in which we use the suffix PRA. [Ndlr – Whenever prefix “PRA” is used (in Sanskrit, Hindi or Marathi) it means enlightened]. All that happens in the thoughtless state is enlightened and thus is PRA. It is so PRACHANDA (Enormous) – here again it is PRA. Some other words are PRAKASHIT (brought to light), PRADNYA (wise), where we use the prefix PRA meaning enlightened. Light never talks. If you switch on the light in the room, the light won’t speak or give you any ideas. It would just make everything visible. Same is about the light of thoughtlessness. That ‘NIH’ is common in all such words like ‘Nirvichar’ (thoughtless), Nirvajya (Selfless), Nirahankar (egoless), Nirakar (formless). Thus lots of words come from the prefix NIH. You establish it and then you come into Nirvikalpa (doubtless state). First become thoughtless and then doubtless (Nirvikalpa). Then all your doubts go and you know that there is some power that works. It works very fast and is all subtle. You will be amazed how it happens. This is also about time. I never see watch. Sometimes it stops and shows, when the time is 3.00 o’clock. Just to show others I wind my watch. But my real watch is in the thoughtlessness. It is permanently stopped. If anything is to be done, it takes place at the right time. Then there are no regrets whether it is late or not. Whatever it may be I am where I am.

Yesterday, my car failed but I was relaxing because I wanted to see the stars. That beauty is not visible in London and I wanted to see it.  Thus I was enjoying the starlit night. Others were worried and they started giving vibrations (bandhans). I told them, why are you wasting your vibrations? See the stars which you do not watch often. I had to see the beauty in the sky. Its splendour was spread all over the sky. The sky thought Mataji should see it also because (it thinks) She always Her attention only on Sahaja yogis. I wanted to get down and watch it but I was worried that the Sahaja yogis might think that I am in trouble. So I was just watching the sky from where I was and enjoying it. In short, you should not be a slave of anything.
If you are thoughtless God takes you everywhere as if on his hands. He makes all arrangements. He knows everything and there is no need to tell him about anything. But you must see whether you are in the PRAVAHA (main stream) or not. You should see if you are in God’s Pravaha. If you are not in it then you are stuck up somewhere on the bank; then current comes and takes you in, twice or thrice but again you are on the bank. Then you say ‘Mataji, nothing goes smoothly for me’. It won’t. Because you are entangled.

Shri Ganesha’s praise that you sing is excellent. It says, PADTA PRAVAHI “flowing in the main stream (Pravaha)” which means enlightened main stream. We should swim in the pravaha. You should not bring your own separate, current in it. Pravaha also means enlightened vehicle. The Arti of Shri Ganesha also says ‘Nirvani Rakshave’, i.e. protect me when I am dying. You also pray ‘Raksha Raksha Parameshwara’ O God protect me, but you want to protect yourself. Why should, then, God protect you? He says, “let him protect himself.” Then you have all the sufferings of the world upon you like big mountains. I feel like laughing. These are all like balloons. They have no meaning. 

What I want to emphasise is that you must learn to go deep within yourself and realise all this in the thoughtlessness then you can become Nirvikalpa (doubtless). You should attain Nirasaktata – Asaktata means attachments. You must have no attachment (Nirasakta). We have here, (India) ‘my son, my daughter’. In England, it is just the opposite. There, they are not attached to son or daughter. They are worried only about themselves. Son is left to the dogs. They even kill their children. Some might not believe it but they kill.  Each week a mother kills two children. They are so cruel. Here you have this attachment; my son, my daughter, my husband, my house etc., everything is mine and at the end your “self” is left out! You should say “Nothing is mine and everything is yours.” Kabir says “so long as a goat is alive it is bleating ‘main, main’ (I, I) but when it is slaughtered there is no life left, she realizes that I spent my whole life in saying “main, main”. Those whom I called mine have turned out to be useless – everybody in the family, in the house – all those whom I considered to be mine have turned out to be useless. They themselves killed me and ate. Then it realizes it’s mistake. Then someone creates taut strings of its guts and fixes them on an musical instrument. When these strings are pulled they make a sound “Toohie, Toohie” (you alone are.) You must become like that.
Once you are established in the idea I am nought, I have no existence, then only you will understand the word ‘NIH’.

Let us consider the word ‘LA’. It is Lalita’s word. My second name is Lalita. It is the blessing of Devi. It is Her weapon. When LA i.e. goddess becomes Lalit or when the Shakti becomes Lalit which means active that is when the vibrations rise within Her. The waves of vibrations which you are feeling on your palms that shakti when is activated is Lalita Shakti. It is full of beauty and love. Most important is that it is love. When the power of love becomes active, it becomes LA Shakti. She envelops you from all sides. When she is active, what is the worry? What is your power? Can you make even one fruit from tree? Show me if you can convert one fruit on a tree. Leave, fruit, you cannot make even a leaf or a root! Only ‘LA’ shakti does all the work. The realisation that you have got is also from this power. From this Shakti have emerged ‘MA’ Shakti and ‘NIH’ Shakti. ‘NIH’ Shakti is Shri Brahmadeva’s Power Shri Saraswati Shakti.

And in Saraswati Shakti you must attain the qualities of ‘NIH’. Attaining ‘NIH’ is you must attain a state of ANASAKTATA ( complete detachment). You must become completely detached. ‘LA’ shakti has love in it. She relates us to others. Word LA comes in words like LALAM, LAVANYA. All these words have got prefix LA. When we want a child to stop crying we say LA, LA, LA…..Word LA has a sweetness of its own and you should impress others with it. You should use this Shakti while speaking to others. What should you do when this Shakti the power of love, is spread everywhere in the nature. You should leave all thoughts to the first power because thoughts come from the first power. What should you do in the last power, i.e. LA Shakti? You should enjoy the bliss of love. How? By becoming TANMAYA (forgetting yourself). Has anyone measured how much one loves others? We should measure it. How you enjoy it? Does it occur to you, how much you love others? I always enjoy loving others; feel, how the love is flowing everywhere. I do not know whether you feel or not. I cannot understand much about human beings. But I feel how the love is flowing all over. It is so joy giving. Like a musician who forgets himself in his own melodies and feels how his music is flowing everywhere. Similarly love must flow without any interruption. That is, the same as Lalam Shakti, which is the power of waves of vibrations, i.e. Lalita Shakti. Therefore, you should first achieve Lalita Shakti.

You must first find out how is your attitude towards others. Some people of low category look at others with an idea to steal something or to get some benefit. Like when a thief comes he’ll try to see if there are new shoes lying around. He will steal them. Then they come in and try to find out if there are rich people around. Where are their pockets and see if they can find their purse. Then if they see a person in power then they shower praises on them, try to be friendly with them and try to obtain some gains from them. This is the view point of very low category of people who try to obtain benefit from everyone. There are some, who are interested in finding other people’s faults. I do not know what pleasure they get, but they keep looking for other’s shortcomings. What are they going to gain from such an attitude? This way they become aloof and then suffer. Only man can teach how to invite troubles. It is not possible for Me. How glad am I to meet all. You should use Lalam Shakti in such a way that you should go into thoughtlessness while looking at other person. That person also will then become thoughtless.

Hence I ask you to do ‘Bandhan’. It is helpful to do ‘Bandhan’ to ‘NIH’ Shakti and ‘LA’ Shakti which is transferring ‘LA’ Shakti into ‘NIH’ Shakti.

I have to tell many people to raise their left side and put to the right. I tell those people to raise their left sides, who are very proud or think they are working very hard or are very busy. It is filling our own love into own five elements.

Love in our hearts or the power of that love from our hearts should be filled into the power of action as if you are painting with colours on a canvas. When the power of love is filled in the power of action in a person, he becomes extremely loving and that love gradually shines through his behaviours and in his personality and flows to others. In  Marathi it is called SNEHALTE. It makes his every action enjoyable to others. Such person becomes so alluring that you feel relaxed and happy in his company for hours. So, your love should become enjoyable and winning other people’s hearts. This becomes useful in such a way that we get friends and the affection for each other grows. Everyone feels that there is a place where one can get all love and affection. Hence we must cultivate the God’s power of Love.

If we get any thought we must tell ourselves that we are throwing dirt in the Ganges of God’s power. With this attitude of mind our ‘LA’ Shakti the power of love will remain absolutely clean and we will enjoy that cleanliness.

You should never be critical of others. If you ask me about some person, I can only tell you regarding his kundalini and on which chakra he is caught at present or gets frequently caught. I cannot understand anything beyond that; but if someone asks me how he is or how his nature is etc. I cannot understand the question.  If one comes to me criticizing someone, I say ‘what is nature ?’ It is so changing! River is flowing here. Who can tell where it will be in future? You have to see where you stand. If you are on this side in the dirt, you are bound to feel it unusual that the river is flowing here. I see from the side of the ocean so I know where this river will join the sea. Transformation is a continuous process in Sahaja yoga. So never brand anybody as useless. Every person changes and he must change. The work of Sahaja Yoga is to bring about the change. Those who believe in Sahaja Yoga should never say that such and such person has become useless. Everybody must be given the chance. You should try to see where you were, where you reached and where the river will go further. If you think this way you will not only respect yourself but will also respect others. One who has no respect for himself never respects others.

We must develop ‘Lalam’ Shakti. I cannot adequately describe the joy of it even by writing a book, because it cannot be expressed through words they are very much inadequate. In other words if you have to describe smile you can only tell how the muscles move but you cannot tell the effects of the smiles. You should allow this power to be effective and develop it with this LALAM Shakti.

Man gets a kind of beauty, an elegance and good nature from ‘Lalam’ Shakti.

You must see that this power grows through your speech, behaviour and other activities. Some person’s annoyance is also pleasant. He gets annoyed in one minute and laughs in second minute. That sweet and pleasant power is called Lalita Shakti. 

People have completely distorted its idea. They say that it is the power of destruction. But it is not at all correct. This power is extremely beautiful, creative and artistic. Suppose you sow a seed, then some of its parts get destroyed this is also ‘Lalita’ Shakti. But the destruction is very gentle and easy. The seed then grows into a tree that has leaves. Those leaves also fall, which is again very spontaneous. Then come the flowers. When the flowers become fruits some of its components fall and then come the fruits. Those fruits are also cut for eating. The taste that you get after eating is also this power. In this way these two powers work. You should understand that you cannot make any statue without cutting and chopping. If you understand that this chip-chopping is of the same kind, you should not feel bad, if you have to do it sometimes. That is also necessary. But an artist does it artistically whereas an artless person does it bluntly. So this power depends on how much art is in you.

Some times you look at a picture and you want to keep looking. If someone asks you what is so nice in that picture, you cannot express it in words.

You only look at the picture. Some pictures are such that you become thoughtless just by looking at them. In that thoughtless state you are enjoying the whole pleasure of it, and this state is the very best. Instead of comparing it with something or describing it with similes you should enjoy the bliss of this state, to your hearts’ content. It is called RASASWAD. There are no words or no expression to describe it. You have to experience it from within. All should have this experience.

The letter MA is very interesting. ‘MA’ is the word of Mahalakshmi. ‘MA’ is the power of Dharma (Righteousness) and also the power of our evolution. In ‘MA’ Shakti you have to put in effort, assimilate and achieve Mastery. For example, an artist conceives the idea of his creation with his ‘LA’ Shakti, he puts it practice with ‘NIH’ Shakti and then uses ‘MA’ Shakti to bring it in conformity with his idea. At every stage he checks whether it agrees with his idea and tries to improve, if it does not.

He does that again and again. This is ‘MA’ Shakti. That is, if something is not good do it again, once, twice and so on.

This job of improving involves efforts. We have to improve ourselves also.
But for this, the evolution would have been impossible. God has to make enormous efforts. We have to accomplish ‘MA’ Shakti and preserve it. If it is not done, other two powers fall off, because this power is the centre of gravity. So you should be at the centre of gravity, and the centre of gravity is ‘MA’ Shakti of our evolution. Other two powers will become active in you only when you grow along the power of evolution. But you must fully understand and develop ‘MA’ Shakti. You should not only depend on God.

So long as you are not realized, it is alright to say that if God loves you He should come to you, but thereafter you cannot say so. For with ‘MA’ Shakti you have to balance other two powers. In melody you balance the tunes; while painting a picture you bring about the balance of different colours. Similarly you have to achieve the balance of ‘NIH’ Shakti and ‘LA’ Shakti. You have to work for attaining this balance. On many occasions you lose it. A Sahaja Yogi who can maintain it, rises to a very high level.

Very emotional Sahaja Yogi is not good. Similarly very busy Sahaja Yogi is also not very good. One should activate one’s power of love and continuously monitor it’s progress. Suppose I follow certain method but even in that every time I do something different. You must have seen that every time, I come out with something new, some new method. If this does not work, try some other thing. If that also does not work, do something else. If something cannot enter (the body) through the head, try to enter it through the tail. Sometimes I tell it with a smile or with a cry or try to explain it lovingly, “It should be like this”. Nobody should fix his method. You rise in the morning apply vermilion, pay obeisance to Mataji; this is all mechanical. It is not a living process. In a living process, you should find out different new methods. I always give the example of the root of a tree. It penetrates deeper and deeper into the soil circumventing the obstacles. It does not fight with them. [The roots] would not have been able to hold the tree without the obstacles. Hence the problems are necessary because you cannot progress without the problems. The power that teaches you how to overcome these problems is ‘MA Shakti’. Therefore it is ‘MA Shakti’ i.e. Mother’s power. For that first thing required is wisdom. If someone says that I’ve been doing this in the past so I’ll continue doing it. For example a person is very mild natured and says, “Mother I am very soft what can I do?” I tell him to change himself and become a lion. If some other person is a lion I tell him to become a goat. Otherwise it won’t work. You have to change your methods. Person who cannot change his methods cannot spread Sahaja Yoga because he sticks to only one way, with which people get bored. You should find new ways. This is how ‘MA Shakti’ works.

Ladies are expert in it. They make different recipes every day and the husbands are eager to know the menu. Thus they do not go to the restaurants but come straight home.

This is the shakti with which you accomplish your balance and concentration. When you take it to the highest state, you get the vibrations flow from your balance and wisdom. They will not flow if you do not have wisdom. Person from whom the maximum vibrations are flowing is a wise person; in fact it is his wisdom that is flowing. On this basis, it can be assessed how great Sahaja Yogi you are. Even if you pretend to be a great Sahaja yogi, it’ll be shown when you come on my Feet and see that catch on your chakras. You should know when you are caught that you have lost your balance. The imbalance shows that MA Shakti is weak in you. The first letter from any real name Mataji is MA that is mother and this work has been done only by ‘MA’ shakti within me.

This was not possible if only ‘LA shakti’ or ‘NIH shakti’ were there. I have come with all the three powers but MA shakti is on top. You have seen that MA shakti is Mother’s power. It must be proved that She is our Mother.

Will you accept if someone comes and says “I am your Mother.” You won’t.
Mother must be proved.
What is Mother?
We have a place in Her heart. We have every right on Her and She has on us, because She loves us very much. Her love is absolutely NIRVAJYA (disinterested). She always wishes well of us and has nothing in Her heart except love for us.

You will have faith in the Mother only if you understand that all that decorates you i.e. your spirit, is in Her.  If your mother is dangerous who will believe in Her? You should prove all these to others. Sahaja Yogi should be able to do that. Other people should realise that he is a wise person. For that you need the balance; the balance between the powers of love and action and it should be so beautiful that people are influenced by such person without their knowledge. Sahaja Yogi should accomplish it.

You think at home how to activate these three powers and use them. ‘NIH’ Shakti should give all beauty and creativity to your homes. You should device new ways and means of contacting the people. These powers should be used to propagate Sahaja Yoga. For their proper use your ‘NIH’ Shakti i.e. the power of action should be very strong. Albeit, you must have main ‘LA’ Shakti that is the power of love. But LA Shakti is to be activated with ‘NIH’ Shakti.

But if one way does not work, find some other way, try first red and yellow if it does not suit, take yellow and green and if that also does not help do something else. It would be wise not to be adamant. An adamant man cannot do anything in Sahaja Yoga. All that you want to do is to spread Sahaja Yoga for the wellbeing of human beings. Then try different ways. I always fall a prey to your insistence because if I do not do as per your wishes then you’ll be more obstinate. So I go along with your wishes. But sometimes I insist on having my way if I want to go somewhere or do something. Only occasionally I try to have my way but most of the times I do as per your wishes because I know that human beings are not like me. You can never tell what an obstinate person will do, you should not allow him to go to an extremity like removing his own eyes or nose. Thus one should not challenge obstinacy of a person. I know all this from ‘MA’ Shakti. But you should not insist on particular things.

Mataji does not insist. Whatever is there, you should accept. Whatever you do you should have in mind that you are doing an important work. I have no desire. There is no ‘LA’ Shakti or ‘NIH’ Shakti or ‘MA’ Shakti within me. There is nothing. I even do not know that I am these powers. I only witness all the play.

When the life is changed like this there will be ‘Siddha’ Sahaja Yogis (i.e. those who have complete mastery over Sahaja Yoga) among human beings. So far they have not become siddhas. You have to achieve the mastery. Siddha Sahaja Yogi is the one who becomes completely one with God and wins Him over. He has to do everything for that. I am now going away for a year. After that, it is to be seen how and where you use your mastery.

Sometimes I tell you not to do certain things. You should not feel bad about that. You should not feel sorry in ‘MA’ Shakti because I must tell you not to do certain things. But some people feel bad about it. There was a yogi in Mumbai, who used to take others on his feet. I did not know anything about it. Once one of his disciples came to me. I was unaware that he had disciples of his own. So I asked him why do you take others on your feet? He felt very bad about it. I said that the vibrations of both of you have gone down. So I said, you should take a promise that you’ll not take anyone on your feet. That’s why your mastery has decreased. It is absolutely forbidden to take anyone on your feet. That is the only solution. You must remember that you have to become master (Siddha). All others must accept that you are Siddha. It should be clear to them the very moment they see you that you are Siddha. You must ensure this. If it happens everything will be fine.
One day I told you that you should invite your friends and relations for lunch or dinner or for some function or tell them that you are arranging a big puja. Also call some Sahaja Yogis on that day and give realization to all your guests. If you do this for one year it will be very beneficial.

This is a very beautiful talk, it can be translated into English and distributed.

May God Bless You!