Preschool Talk. Sydney (Australia), 17 April 1991.

03:55
Left anyone? All of them? Nice flowers, eh? Mummy got for you?

04:33
Ah, these are also? They’re from primary. Oh, that’s My hand! Thank you.

06:00
The whole place is a school, is it? Whole place is a school? School ashram. How many there are?

08:00
[Teacher: Shri Mataji, the children have made these paintings for You.]

Ah! They have great feeling. . She didn’t have any drawing before?

08:34
Not that one! These are future artists, I think, aren’t they? This one, Radhika? Free-hand? Showing all vibrations. This one is, who has done this one? Looks like Christ. It’s tremendous. It’s Kundalini-shaped art.

09:35
Really? Have to look at their inside. They’re seeing the Sahasrara, I think. All the seven colours, it’s Sahasrara. With section, I think. This must be the left side, and this must be the right.

10:00
Oh, that’s beautiful. Who is that? It’s beautiful.

[Yogi: That’s like the brain, isn’t it?]

10:22
Brain, and also a little Kundalini, because green, yellow Swadishthana, see and then the blue. They are really the smartest. Very sweet. The body is missing! That’s what they are. Beautiful. All are the Kundalini.

11:00
So how many children are studying here, about? Fourteen? Thirteen.

All right, you all sit down. I would like to talk to you. All right? Let them also sit. Let them come in. They can sit. All right. So what are we learning in the school?

[Child: We dance.]

I’m sure you can write, you can write your names? Do you know how to write your names? All right. It’s a Montessori style you are doing or

[Teacher: No, Shri Mother. Sahaja Yoga style.]

That’s better. Sahaja Yoga style, yes! And, you come what time to the school? Nine-thirty. And then they have their lunch here, or they go ?

[Teacher: They have their lunch, and they have a little ]

Rest.

[Teacher: They have afternoon activities as well. Yes. The little ones have a rest, and then they finish at three o’clock, so they go all day for four days.]

I see. (Sit down. Sit down.) We’ll have to have a proper big building now, isn’t it, because you’ll be increasing in number, I think. And what’s happened to the children who are doing primary school here? Ray?

[A yogi explains that the primary children go to a local primary school nearby.]

Good school?

[The yogi explains that it is a small public school, and that the thirteen Sahaja children form one-tenth of the whole school. Also that Sahaja Yoga is taught there in the scripture class.]

That’s a good solution, because children who are doing primary school also should go to a proper school, where they are guided properly and have a proper education. Because yours is a secular state, and whatever the parents want will be taught to the children, you see, so they cannot force you onto anything. Also the children have to, some children could come to India also once we have the Vashi school we’ll see. Vashi we are trying to make it up very well and work it out in a proper way. First of all, I mean it’s easy to get teachers in India, no problem. Very well-qualified teachers you can get, if the place is not so far away as Dharamshala. But to get proper art teachers is a problem: they are expensive as well as a little fussy type, you see. So we are trying to get a flat or a house next door where these artists could be kept, so They could teach from very childhood; certain things we can start so the children develop the deftness, you see. The problem is they don’t have the deftness to do artistic things.

Also we’re thinking of starting a class with the mechanical things also, so the children learn how to play with the mechanics also. Because if you see in Japan, they make the children I think by the eighth class they know how to make a watch. Yah. And the children have to clean the trees even. So bigger children climb up or they go on a ladder, but the smaller children clean the lower part of the tree. It’s very sweet, you see. So that’s how they train them up in a practical way, like Gandhji’s style was that you should make the children know about everything from childhood, whichever is good for his livelihood and also for his life.

For example, if you have say, cotton. Then you tell them about cotton: what is cotton is, how it is come, what are the seeds are, how it is sowed; from there up to how the, you make threads out of them in the churka. And then how you weave them, how you put patterns. Like that every class, you can be taught one by one things like that. Ultimately we’ll be having a school of twenty-one arts and crafts of India in Ganapatipule, for adults. So these children can go finally to that place if they want to take to any art or craft and polish their, their deftness and their craft. This is the idea we have. We have so many crafts in India, lots of them; and here I think this starting very late in life, that’s why they find it difficult, but if you start it very young it’s very easy to put it into them.

[Yogi: I think most parents here would like to send their children to the Vashi school. It’s best for the children.]

Yes, but they think it’s too much price for them. Now we have found out a very cheap price for you to travel to India. They said the school is not expensive, but the travel is. But for travel we have found out for children it is How much percent is less? Or go the Shri Lanka one also. So I mean, we can find out cheaper ways to send children there. But the schooling is not expensive because it is all found: everything, clothes, everything, and so many arts and crafts and all that; it means a lot of money. And it would be very versatile education to them, so they do not have these conditionings of religion and conditioning of one country, because they’ll be coming from all over the world. They have certain basic problems of Mooladhara also, and also about ego, and these two centers are really catching. But I think gradually, living in India, they’ll come round. It could be managed. It’s not so difficult.

[A yogi reads out a letter from the NSW Minister for Education in support of the Sahaja Yoga scripture classes at the local primary school, also praising how the Sahaja parents have become very well-respected and involved in the school’s activities. And commenting how also the Victorian government have recognized Sahaja Yoga in Victoria (another state).]

22:18
This should be, I think, used against the ABC!

[Teacher: The children did some drawings for You this morning, Shri Mataji.]

Really? So I’ll have to put them in Vashi School now, all these. But you must write your names. Also “Australia.”

[Teacher: Shri Mataji, we have fourteen. You were correct when You said “fourteen” because we have the little girl from Cairns. That’s fourteen, that’s what You said. Thirteen now are fourteen, that is the number.]

Because actually they are seven into two: we have fourteen centres, you see, to create a seven, you know. Ah, good is a good number. Fourteen is very auspicious, very auspicious.

24:04
So now what is this for? All right, come along, one by one. All of you get up, one by one. Start from the very beginning. All right, now Thank you oh, look at that! May God bless you. One better than the other. All done so spontaneously. The Kundalini. All right. Now who else? Ah. Tanya is she French? No; is she, is she Russian? . Fred’s daughter? Fred, how do you name her Tanya? She’s a, it’s a Russian name. We have one Tanya in Russia, very good Sahaja yogini, very good, very intelligent.

May God bless you. These are people flying in the air, or what? All their Kundalini coming out The other way round; that’s what I was wondering. Oh, I see. Ah, that’s a rainbow? May God bless. May God bless. So you are Daisy, eh? Ah, may God bless you.

[Teacher explains that Daisy’s mother is at the school in Dharamshala.]

Oh, I see, she’s gone there? Yeah, I’ve heard about Oh! Really Thank you. Seven loops seven chakras! Many of them have started to see a flower enjoyed by Kundalini. Thank you. Have great sense of colour, I must say Done so well. Very well done. Beautiful. Now, who else? Yours? All right. Not yet finished? All right. Thank you. They are too sweet for words!

So now then, if the somebody was telling Me that you find it difficult because of the airfare. But now the airfare is so sensible, there should be no problem. But we are thinking that we’ll send the children to Dharamshala during the summertime, about three months or so, not for study but for holidays; and then the parents can go and stay with them. But it’s not proper to, you see, interfere with the school all the time. It’s not proper. They get quite disturbed about it. So best thing would be that you take your children with you, go to Dharamshala, spend some time there it’s very nice, is beautiful. You can go round, see Himalayas there or wherever you want to go. And children will be there, they’ll get their food and also you can pay for your food, that’s all it’s not very expensive. So you can spend some time with them in the summertime, because summertime is here very, very cold, I’m told.

June, July, August. You see it’s actually, June, July, August could be May, June, July. August is not such a bad month, I think. But actually in India the schools start in July, eighth of July. So July it starts and they close it in April, May, June, like that. Or maybe the fifteenth of April and the fifteenth of July or something. You see, we have to put them in a regular proper way. And I think they’ll get adjusted: it’s not very cold there, and it’s not very hot. Should be quite all right. It’s a very nice school, open school. It’s planned well for children, and it’s so planned that nobody can get out because it has got a great, big, huge compound in the centre only, what you can call like a courtyard. So they don’t have to get out of the school. Very important it is. Though in India they don’t have all these problems that you have here for children, but still, to be on the safe side. When it will work, it will work very well, I know that, but it has to start.

So, I think we should say thank you to all the children. I should have at least brought some sweets for them, I’m feeling rather guilty! Because it’s just he told Me in the morning. Oh, that’s fine! I’ll give it to them.

[Teacher: Shri Mataji, before You go, may the children sing a song to You?]

Yes please, please. All right.

Thank you. Beautiful. Also, next time when you come, I’ll give a small harmonium for them and a small tabla, and let them start. If they start playing on it, they’ll get the knack of it. Easy to get a small one, and one tabla. So or a drum. So once they get the knack, they’ll manage. We are going to do that in our school there. So now give them the sweet. I’ve already started! They love this.

Where is the house of Nirmala? .

[Teacher: The children are making this mat, and we thought we might send it to the school in India.]

Let Me see, let Me see Ah! Very good idea. They’ll be very happy to get this. These small children have done this? This is remarkable. You can make a cap also, with this. We don’t get this in India. No, these we don’t get. We get cotton ones, cotton what do you call, it’s used for the cord in the, this thing, and we can get them colored. And then they can do it.

[Teacher: We do a lot of sewing. We do a lot of sewing here with the children.]

They stitch their clothes?

[Teacher: Not quite. No, not yet. That’ll be the next thing. Is there anything You would like us to do with the children here at school, that You could tell us about?]

Only thing, you see, I was saying that you have some very sweet prints. The other day I saw that print David has, about the children playing the cricket. So some of them if you can get hold of somewhere some prints where the children are. Children playing, or children move with the theme. You can send them with these people when they come. I have bought lots of them, but that kind of a print we don’t have in the mass done by one fellow called who? I saw it in Melbourne no, Brisbane. It’s a very good one. Something like that if you find anywhere, with the theme of children. Not the faces only, but if they are playing or they’re studying or doing something. I’ve tried to collect a lot of things: dolls, I’ve collected lots of dolls and lots of also toys, by which you can make things like houses, a ship also not that difficult part, but easier. In Poland we got all that for children. So .

I’m thinking of maturing them by making them work out themselves things for themselves, so they mature very well. You see, the other day, you see, that child was crying so much and I just asked her that “you take the sweets and distribute to everyone.” She didn’t eat at all, she just took it over and was distributing. Even in the puja if you make the children sit down and do puja things and all that, they’re very good. So you have to involve them into something and then they mature into some sort of a work. Children are to be given problems like that. “Now solve this problem. How will you do it? Solve this problem.” So they develop mentally also, and they mature. Now you should not solve problems for them. So tell them, “Now, how can you do this one? How can you do this one? Like that. And there should be a competition in sharing. See that how much they can share with each other. Now say you have given sweets now, so who can give one sweet?” like that. Teach them how to share. Giving to others, you see. This is very important at this juncture: doing for others, not asking for yourself.

Say, I was saying in India that no child would ask for anything, never. Even My own grandchildren if I have to take, do for shopping, they’re very difficult, and one thing they will take at the most; but if you say take second one, “no” I tell you. It’s impossible. And all this perhaps comes from childhood, you see. They see that the mother gives things to others, she doesn’t take anything. The father gives things to others, he doesn’t take anything, he doesn’t take anything. And they’re, if they when you give something to someone, you see, everybody praises them a lot. So then the children start developing those virtues. But if you start only clapping for their ego, then children get spoilt.

This has to be understood that you should not pump their ego in childhood, then it’s difficult to control when they grow up. Like a balloon which has been, you see, already bloated, it’s very easy to bloat; but which is not yet bloated takes time, you see. So see to it that ego doesn’t build up in children. That’s one of the big problems in the West. Specially, before Sahaja Yoga I have known that parents wouldn’t look after their children, but after Sahaja Yoga they just stick like glue, you see. They just think that their children are the last word, they must do this, and just spoil them, much more than normal children do. I did say they are realized soul, you have to look after them, you have to treat them with respect; but not if they are glued to you, how can you do that? Keep them a little distant, and see for yourself how they are growing. That is important, because it is you people who’ll make the child or mar the child.

[The teacher says the children are learning some Hindi.]

They should, yah. Hindi. . Yes, please let them sing.

43:52
They’ll pick up Hindi in no time. Look at them. These children are writing to Me in Hindi language. I don’t know how many, they had not been there even one month, they started writing wonderful!

All right, I can never leave this place, you’d better ask Me to go now!

Who’s done this?

[Yogini: The primary school children]

Really? . It’s very nice. . Such small children can do this? . This you’ll have to bring . Beautiful, this is beautiful. .

45:10
So, who’s coughing? . Just come here. You should always wear a shameez. Come, come, one minute. One minute, just come. . They get frightened.

[Teacher: We have this little room here and another little room out here, and a backyard here.]

Well, you’ll have to get a better school. You’ll get many children now, I think. I hope they wear some under a shameez or something. It should not be just one covering. That’s how also they catch cold, and start coughing.

46:09
All right. So, I hope you’ll send these things. I’ll show them and then they can make caps out of it! It’s very interesting.

Are you all right now? Are you all right? You know she, she sings very well. And she dances so well. And she said she knows everything about Me, isn’t it? She’s the one who answered that “I know all about You, Mataji.”

So may God bless you.

(Some problem with the seat. I’ll come out.) So you people all have very children, but be very strict about.

47:42
Do you think we should have, from primary school we should have some uniforms for the children? . But there only you can wear something cotton, that’s all like kurta pajama or something. That would be nice. All right.

So may God bless you all.

48:31
If you send in the ashram, I would like it, to have a look at it. Thank you.

48:37
Hello! Ah, now, she’s wearing something inside or not, and that’s what nothing! That’s why you are coughing. Now, you must wear something inside, all right? Some sort of a shameez. Hallo, you are all right now? What was the matter? . How will you treat it? .

50:16
[Yogi: the shoes .]

Now you must buy some boxes ! [Child: Bye-bye!] Bye-bye, bye-bye! . He’s all right. How are you? has passed through very difficult times; he had such problems. Very bad problems from South Africa. But now it’s working out very well in South Africa? . Yes, working very well. They have been calling Me let’s see. Their government doesn’t permit. Let’s see what happens.

Ends at 52:37