Radio Interview 3DB, Melbourne (Australia), 10 March 1983.
Q: … Right now. Actually to be more specific, She’s in the studio with me right now … Shri Mataji and we’re going to talk to her. Good morning.
Shri Mataji: Good morning.
Q: How do I address you, do I call you.
Shri Mataji: Mother, you can call it, it is better to call Me Mother.
Q: All right thank you, Mother. Mother, now you are India’s living saint, do I stand or do I sit, or …
Shri Mataji: Yes that’s what they say
Q: India’s greatest living saint, and founder of the worldwide Sahaja Yoga. Mostly when we think of spiritual leaders, we think of men, but, quite obviously you’re a woman.
Shri Mataji: Yes I am. I think this work can only be done by the Motherly love and compassion and patience, and men can’t have that much patience. I think a Mother was more needed at this time.
Q: Men don’t have patience, Shri Mataji?
Shri Mataji: I think so, women have more patience, specially Indian women are known for their patience. I don’t know about the women here. If they are copying men then they may not be also having equal patience.
Q: What makes Indian women so special where patience is concerned?
Shri Mataji: They are brought up that way. They are told that you have to be the bearing power, you have to be like the Mother Earth, so they develop that from their very childhood.
Q: To be referred to as India’s greatest living saint, that’s certainly an honour. How did that come about?
Shri Mataji: You see there are so many living saints in India, and they have told Sahaja Yogis about it, that She’s the highest of all. But I’ve nothing to claim, nothing to ask for because it makes no difference to Me.
Q: You’re travelling the world and You’re here in Australia at the moment to bring your message to people in our country. What is the message that You want to pass on to us?
Shri Mataji: I have to say that within us lies the power by which we can become ourselves, that is we become the Spirit. That’s what we have to achieve in our evolutionary process. And this is the epitome of our evolution. Unless and until we become that, we are not going to be people who are satisfied, people who are secure, people who are emancipated. We cannot solve any problem on this world without becoming the spirit. Because human beings are still in an awareness which is, is transitory. It has to be somehow or other transcended. Once you transcend it, then you will find that you are all one and belong to the same great primordial being. That’s the thing that should happen to all of us; to feel that we are part and parcel of the whole.
Q: Well it sounds all very simple. How do we do that?
Shri Mataji: It’s very simple again, as the living process is, every living process is simple. That everything is built within you and once you just get your awakening through any enlightened soul you can understand this very well. Some enlightened soul has to give you enlightenment. Like a light which is enlightened can enlighten any light and that enlightened light can enlighten other lights.
Q: Yes and I understand that, but isn’t that what all other religions have as their message too?
Shri Mataji: Yes, I am here for every religion. They are all one, there’s no difference at all in them. They were just flowers on one tree of life which were plucked by different people, and they’re saying, “This is mine, this is mine” and that is how they have made them ugly and dead. They all belong to the same truth. I am here to prove them. Each one of them.
Q: You have been doing your work and spreading the message for a long while haven’t you?
Shri Mataji: Yes please.
Q: In fact, since you were a child when you were recognised as a special person by Ghandi in fact.
Shri Mataji: Yes, I think he did.
Q: How did he come to recognize?
Shri Mataji: You see my father had taken all of us to see him, and he suddenly picked me up and he said, “I would like to keep the child with me”. That’s how I stayed with him when I was a child and then I grew up and whenever I had time, a chance, I used to go and see him. Even before his death, one day before that I went to see him and I had a daughter of mine, a little girl and he was very happy to see that.
Q: How old were you when you first met Gandhi?
Shri Mataji: Seven years of age
Q: Seven years?
Shri Mataji: Yes
Q: So you were recognised as a great child at that time?
Shri Mataji: Yes.
Q: You, ah, have you, have you seen the movie “Ghandi” by the way?
Shri Mataji: Yes, I have seen it. Yes.
Q: Did you enjoy seeing the movie?
Shri Mataji: Very much. Very much. I mean it brings Me back all the memories.
Q: So it must be a fairly accurate recreation.
Shri Mataji: Yes, quite, quite.
Q: Of Ghandi? It is said that over the years, Shri Mataji, you have in fact caused some miracles to happen.
Shri Mataji: Yes, for human beings it is a miracle but not to Me. Yes it is, it is. It looks like miracles also.
Q: Well, what are some of the things that we would think were miracles that have happened?
Shri Mataji: Like I have cured many people of their diseases and all that in a very short time. Or else, once it happened in London, it has happened many a times in India, but once in London a boy fell down from a bridge and he saw Me coming down and curing him and then he told the newspaper people about it and they couldn’t believe it, but they published it in the newspaper and next day he saw My photograph and he said, “This is the lady who came and cured me”. And at that time when all this accident took place I was Myself addressing a meeting of about five hundred people in the town hall.
Q: What actually did you cure him of, if he fell off a bridge?
Shri Mataji: You see, he fell down; he had all fractures and things; he was unconscious.
Q: And how did you cure him? Did you touch him or…
Shri Mataji: Just, I touched him because in the unconscious you see if it is a universal truth, in the unconscious you can move about. Unconscious is like the ether you have.
Q: You talk about Sahaja Yoga. Can you explain that to us?
Shri Mataji: Sahaja, “Saha” means with, “Ja” means born. It is born with you. Yoga means union with the Divine. It doesn’t mean those acrobatic things we do. It really means union with the Divine; and also Yoga has another meaning, that, the deftness, the technique. So, first you have to get your Yoga, to be one with the Divine, to feel the all-pervading power of God’s love and then to learn the technique. How to work it out for others and for yourself.
Q: There are meetings that, um, your organisation, and the people that have brought you to Australia, have organised and, oh here that are. You will be at the Exhibition Buildings tonight in Melbourne at seven p.m?
Shri Mataji: Yes please.
Q: And you invite people to come along and see you and listen to what you have to say?
Shri Mataji: Yes please.
Q: What do you do at these meetings?
Shri Mataji: I first bring them to logical conclusions, as to what to expect for Self-realization, then I explain to them the knowledge of the roots, the knowledge of this force that is within us. And then I also ask them to put their hands towards Me and by that they can feel cool breeze in their hands. Yesterday there were three hundred to four hundred people, most of them felt cool breeze around them through their fingers and it was a great experience.
Q: And that will happen again tonight, at the Exhibition Buildings?
Shri Mataji: Yes, please.
Q: And also on Sunday at ten o’clock at the centre, Warren what is the centre’s name?
Warren: It’s the Sahaja Yoga centre.
Q: The Sahaja Yoga centre at 1267 Burke Road in Kew. And that’s on Sunday morning at 7 o’clock. But tonight the big public meeting which everyone is invited to go along to is
at the Exhibition Buildings at seven pm. Shri Mataji. thank you for being with us this morning.
Shri Mataji: Thank you very much.
Q: And for explaining to us why you’re here in Australia, and I hope your time in Australia is very enjoyable for you and certainly worthwhile.
Shri Mataji: Thank you very much, very kind of you.