1990-08-18 Speeches in Honor of Sir C.P.

Transcript of Speeches in Honor of Sir C.P. 1990-08-18
Hallowtree Scout Campsite, Ipswich (England)
 
Shri Mataji: I said, “How?” They said, “See now, it’s a natural thing. Handmade”. 

[Sahaja Yogis laughing].

“And the grass? Is God made or man-made?” 

He said, “See we put the grass and do some [UNCLEAR]”. 

[Laughter]

I mean, I thought some birds would come and pick it up and make it into a nest for themselves. Or you might find in the night, if you put the hat to one side, there is a little bird right there – little, little birdies saying something.

[Laughter].

See, this is – I mean, it sounds so idiotic to you but is done as a craze you see. And a craze is a good word to suggest. “This is a craze, you see”. It is madness. But they do it. And so our attention is ruined all the time, all the time. So we go to a higher level you see. We start an anti-culture business. “No, this is not good. This is not good”. 

So, the other day, walking in America I was surprised. Most of them had their pants all torn, especially in this part. [UNCLEAR]. They were all torn. Such big, big openings. I was wondering what was the matter. And they were made, specially made – it’s called stonewash – and cut, cut like that. Imagine. Worse than beggars. I mean people do not have respect for themselves. Do not wear proper dress means you have no respect. And where is your attention? It is making yourself ridiculous. 

Then we went to a shop to buy something for the children. And they were all trendy clothes. Nothing classical. Nothing beautiful. All trendy, horrible dresses. Then I was wondering, where they must have discovered these dresses. And I was meditative. And I found out that these dresses were worn by some people a long, long time back in very primitive stages. And that must be coming to them through their subconscious area. Very primitive when their clothes were not properly done – then they used to wear such kind of primitive, nonsensical dresses. And that’s what is coming to them and that’s what they are producing. 

And then I just thought of Jung. Jung, who said that they worship some sort of funny people in Switzerland. Some sort of funny images in Switzerland. And he said that these images come from the subconscious. And that’s what they are worshipping as something like Gods. Because they have not seen Gods. So this is another kind of level where people come in; they start wasting their energy on the subconscious level. And try to become more subconscious and try to work it out.

So there comes now another type of evolution where people think of now this yuppie business. So they have no jobs, nothing. They just wear striped clothes and that’s nothing, see they are just ordinary people. Have a small little briefcase with them, they walk like [UNCLEAR]. So you ask them, “What is it?” They talk as if they are the general manager of such and such company and [UNCLEAR]. And you find out they have no money. And once I remember, one fellow like that met Me and said, “Can you lend me some money?” 

I thought, “What’s the matter with this fellow? Why is he asking for money?” I said, “Why are you asking for money?” He said, “You see, I have no change and I have to buy some tickets”. So I said, “All right”. I gave him. But we went on the train and we were on the same. He travelled by first-class, can you imagine? I said, “Where are you going?” He said, “I am unemployed”. Then why do you want to wear this dress? I could not understand. 

So this is another kind of pretension people want to put up these days. Some of them are workaholics and some of them are without jobs. This is all a drama they are playing all the time. Deceiving themselves, deceiving the whole society. And living with this kind of deception. 

So now our canvas goes to the higher level of people, who are so-called higher. Where I move quite a lot. And in these elite societies. I mean, you find the same people coming up. There isn’t much difference in their wisdom. They don’t know what they are talking. Scandal mongering all the time. The ladies you see, the “Lady this”, and “Lady that”, and “Lady that”. And do you know what they are talking about? “Do you know this man? He flirts with his maidservant”. I said, “How do you know?” “We all know. You are an out-of-date person. You don’t know all these things? Very important”. “Really I don’t know. I am sorry. I don’t know the man at all”. “No, you must know, he’s the one. He winks at this one, he does that”. 

I mean, such low-level things they talk. You just don’t understand how they are ladies. Then they will start talking about somebody’s dress. “Oh, you know that’s a borrowed thing. That’s not hers”. “How do you know?” “I know, I had borrowed the same one the other day”. 

[Laughter]. 
What a level. I mean there’s no depth, there’s no spirituality. There’s nothing noble about it. So ignoble. So ignoble, all these things are. It is repulsive, I tell you. If they are at that level – supposing at the helm of affairs they are there; you hear of anybody – “What do you think of this man?” “Oh, he’s all right. But you know, he had an affair with his secretary and then something happened. The Prime Minister said, ‘You can’t carry on with your secretary’, so now he’s all right”. 

Then somebody, “What do you know about this person?” “He’s all right. But you know, he’s very sneaky”. You ask about anyone, you know, you will never hear a good word about that person. So. And even if you hear anything good, it will have some sort of a stigma about it. So people and people and people have lost the beautiful attention by which you adore, you admire. Because they say there is nothing to admire these days, nothing to adore. There is nothing to be seen in people that we can say, something great.

Now we have to do that. We have to give images. Ideals. We live in ideals and we enjoy our ideals, we enjoy our virtues. We enjoy our wisdom. And this is what we have to see to ourselves – have we got that wisdom or not? Are we above all these things; we can see the joke? I was amazed to hear the other day that our new bishop of Canterbury – Archbishop of Canterbury is appointing homosexuals as the priests. God save the young boys, I must say. Can you imagine such a thing happening? These are modern times. Such garbage. Horrible. 

Out of this garbage, we have to create people who are like lotuses. But for us, we have to be a lotus. We should be fragrant. We should be beautiful. We should be generous. We should know what we have got from the Divine as the gift. Then it becomes love. You have that power of Shri Krishna. It becomes love. Not at the stage of Shri Rama. He had forgotten He was an incarnation. When you have these powers within yourself, then you enjoy – your virtues; you emit virtues to others. When people see, “Oh that’s it. They are the ones. Something great. Something to learn from them. Something to know from them”. And that’s it. Each one of them is quite capable. 

So, when we see all these things around, when we see all this madness around us and see. We are very wise. We have the wisdom of our Spirit. And we are enlightened people. We are Buddhas. And what do we have to do? So, even now I find sometimes very petty things coming up. And very petty things happening in Sahaja Yoga. It’s surprising. You know everything is a leela – when we become part and parcel of the whole thing. Then it’s a leela; not before that. 

So I hope I prepared you for Krishna puja. We have to work it out on America now – it is the silliest place you can think of. I mean the silliest place. The most idiotic people live there, I tell you. And the way they are producing anything and the way we are accepting. The best part of it these days is the idiots can dominate any country. Like the way we had Idi Amin, we had that Botswana fellow – all these people are dominating. So, especially for American Sahaja Yogis, it is important to rise very much above the rest of the people. 

Why not like Martin Luther King? Why not do it? Why not create people of that kind? To speak of something great. Bring the attention of people to something higher. To raise their neck upwards. To see, to see with their head higher than the others are seeing. See something great in us. Something so idealistic, something so impossible for them to understand. We have to have such unique people. And that’s what we have to work out in our ascent. Individual and in collective ascent.

So I am happy you all are here and we have spent such a nice time together. And so many people have come all the way. It’s so nice. And also I would like to meet you sometime tomorrow. And if you have any personal problem, you can come and see Me. But tomorrow we want to have havan, say, started about say – earlier the better. Whatever time you are ready after breakfast, we should have the havan done. 

But this time do it with full devotion. Havan has a double thing, is that we are evoking the Vishnu tattva. Tomorrow we will be having Vishnu’s name. And also that is evoked in you. Evoked in the whole world. So we have to be very solemn about it. And to get to that state where the whole thing becomes a leela. Because you are so powerful as Shri Krishna. Then the whole thing becomes a leela. 

May God Bless You.

[A short music performance takes place].

Sir C.P.: I have some problem, some fever; but much better now. And I would not have missed this occasion for anything. I must profess my profound and abiding gratitude to all of you today who have spoken in such very, very kind terms. I have lived in this country now for nearly seventeen years. And the United Kingdom has become for me, my home country. Because I have not lived that long even in my hometown where I was born. Seventeen years is a long time. And I must tell you very honestly that I have enjoyed my stay, every moment of it. 

I am a great admirer of the people of the world. I have been all around the world with your Shri Mataji to many countries. And I have come to believe that we are one single human family. We may come from the North or the South or the East or the West but we are a part of one human family. And, living in this country, I felt the people in this country are impelled by the highest values of civilised existence. I am not saying this today; I have always maintained that ever since I came. 

And when the British government, Her Majesty the Queen decided to bestow upon me one of their highest honours, I felt happy, humble and a bit proud. In this gathering, there are many from Britain and I want to convey to you, as citizens of this country, my immense gratitude for the honour which has been bestowed upon me. This honour I assure you, in all humility is not a measure of my or my work. I have done my duty. But it is a measure of greatness – of the people of this country, the government of this country.

And I say this because ordinarily, honours are given to nationals of the country. The British receive honours from the British which is right. But for them to go so much out of the way, to choose someone from the world – of course, I belong to the world; I am an Indian national. For them to go out of their way and for them to make a decision at the highest level – to bestow an honorary knighthood – is a very unique decision. And I very humbly and very respectfully pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen. And I want to express my deep gratitude to the people and government of this country, this great maritime nation, for what they have bestowed upon me.

And particularly for what Doctor Spiro said, that I have dedicated my life to the world of shipping through the United Nations system or through India. And as you know, for centuries Britain has been the premier maritime nation of the world. And from that nation to get recognition for services in shipping is a tremendous recognition. I am profoundly, deeply grateful for that. I beg of you to accept these feelings of gratitude.

Mr Graham referred to the global aspect. And here I do want to mention again that many countries of the world have been kind similarly. Of course, the knighthood is the acme, the crown, the crowning glory. But thirty-one countries have given similar awards. And I tell you I was overwhelmed by the words used by the Right Honorable Cecil Parkinson at the dinner when insignia was presented to me. He himself said he had not heard of anyone who had received these thirty-one awards. But how kind he was, how gracious.

When the British decide to do something, they do it marvellously, beautifully. The dinner in Lancaster House. They invited my wife. It was in Her honour as much as in mine. But they invited my two daughters as well from India. They made it a big family occasion. How very gracious. How very kind. How can one forget that? So once again, my deep and profound gratitude. 

But these honours, they have come my way and things have happened which even I can’t believe. Why have they happened? And there is a reason behind that. And the reason is sitting here. 

[Laughter and long applause].

I am not the only one serving the United Nations system. I am not the only one working hard, honestly. I am not the only one in tune with the vision of one world. There are so many others. Why is it that the Almighty should have chosen this humble being for an award with the highest honour of knighthood from the United Kingdom? I ask why? You know the answer. I know the answer. And I want to thank You. 

[Laughter and long applause].

All of you have referred to the sacrifice, which in your judgement I have made by not having the constant company of my wife as one would like to have. I think it would be right to say. And I will be honest, I would very much love to have Her company every moment. And I am sure all of you will love to do the same, is it not?

[Laughter and long applause].
But having said that, I know that She is present everywhere. She is with you. She is not with you physically every moment – but don’t you feel She is with you? 
[Applause].

So She is with me. She will blush if I say She is always in my heart, so I won’t say that. But She is literally with me. I assure you, whether She is in Australia or She is in America or She is on the Continent – I receive a telephone call in the morning. And I am told what medicine I have to take if I have not done. And She speaks to my cook and tells him what to cook for my lunch. How can you say that She is not with me? 

[Applause].
Sahaja Yoga, I said some time as Gregoire said, Graham said, Doctor Spiro also – Sahaja Yoga as I have seen it grow and develop – is the only light of the future. I have mentioned and in the past also I have told you that I have lived by serving the United Nations system. It is mundane work. A world of tension, of conflict, of groups. And I have seen this new world growing and developing. A new world in which tensions have no place; in which love and harmony, decency and goodness – they take hold of everyone. 

And I should have thanked and I will now thank all of you for this beautiful gift. Very beautiful itself, but it has another meaning behind it. And I hope you know that. I have one bad habit and that is tea drinking. And my wife has permitted me to continue with that. 

[Laughter and applause].
So you are pampering me by giving me this tea set. I assure you, I will have one more cup at least today through this set. Thank you. 

[Applause].

Shri Mataji: I must say mister Srivastava’s speech was so embarrassing that I got frozen into the chair.

[Laughter]

I don’t know what is the program now is, but I would like to know how many are going back this evening to the airport?

Hardly very few. Of course, you see, what I was thinking, that you all could have your lunch and then we could come for the puja. The puja is going to last for about three hours, at least two and a half hours, so you’ll be free at about five o’clock if you don’t mind.
[Applause]

So I have not consulted doctor Spiro but I’d better ask him.
[Laughter]

It’s one-thirty already, you see, thanks to the Sahaj method of the nature, the rains at the wrong time. Alright, doesn’t matter, now it has stopped and everything is fine but still, I would say, let them have their lunch and then we can have the puja later on. There are hardly three, four people who are going this evening. So, it’s nice we can spend more time together.
[Cheers of Shri Mataji Ki Jai and applause. ].

There’s a – one thing is that we are beyond time, “kalatit”: we are beyond time and we adjust everything according to our own rhythm, we are not bothered about this Swiss watch. I hope it’s Swiss. Mine always is out of order, so it’s alright.

So let us be in a very relaxed mood and we’ll be – because what Krishna has said, we have to prove it in our lives also we have to be relaxed and I am sure it will work out better if we are absolutely in a relaxed way. And so I think you all have your food now and then we can come back at- so what time do we start puja? Three o’clock?

We can start at three. And there are certain things which are missing also. Some artists are busy creating something new for you so let them have a full time.

So a puja can last for three days or can last for one hour is alright, just the same.

[End of recording].