Shakti Puja. Kalwa (India), 31 December 1997.

[Translation from Hindi to English]

Today we have gathered to do Puja of the Shakti. Shakti means all the Shaktis and not any one special Shakti. All these Shaktis are situated on all our chakras and without these Shaktis no work of the Devtas can be carried out. Like you know that the Shakti of Krishna is Radha and Ram’s Shakti is Sita, Vishnu’s is Laxmi. So in the same way the abode of the Shaktis is with the devtas. The Devtas cannot do anything without the shakti. That sole shakti is situated in the center heart as Jagdamba. This Jagdamba shakti is very powerful. You know that She lives as a mother or a wife with the Devtas. Worship of the Shakti means that there will be a Puja of all the Shaktis of the Devtas.

By these shaktis being spoiled our chakras get damaged and because of that all our physical, mental and emotional problems come about. That is why it is important to always keep these shaktis pleased. It is said that the Devi should be pleased. By the awakening of the Kundalini this shakti got another Shakti. There is a speciality in these shaktis, that they become one with that Omnipresent Shakti which is the Param Chaitanya,  the shakti of the Adi Shakti. Because of that oneness the shakti comes within.  All these little shaktis get integrated with the Shakti. For example if your heart shakti is weak, and when it gets connected with the param chaitanya, then this weak shakti becomes powerful and its message reaches all the shaktis that now there is nothing to worry about as this shakti is now powerful. Shakti is in the form of the female nature, and the devtas are Male nature. So to respect a woman, to treat a housewife (gruhlaxmi) as a gruhlaxmi, is very important which the men have to learn. This does not mean that women should always give lectures or get angry. Women should like a gruhlaxmi look after their husbands, children and their homes. She has just one work. The husband has a thousand things to do. So they must marry properly and look after her is very important. The work of the husband is to treat the wife like a devi, like a shakti of the home. And the relation with his wife should be calm and pure.

Man thinks that because he is a man he can do what he likes. This is a very wrong thinking. By doing this troubles come to him.  If you trouble women then the devtas do not live there. A woman of the house should not be obstinate. She must keep her husband happy, should keep her house properly. The woman of the house ( gruhlaxmi) is the shakti of the house. So in a way there should be a very deep oneness with her. When this gets disrupted then a woman leaves her wisdom and gets upset, and sometimes she can be like a bomb, will quarrel; by this a bad influence comes on the children and the society starts breaking. When society breaks then the children will break. All wrong things will come into them and they will go astray. And the discipline of the home gets spoiled. In the house where there is no discipline the children get ruined, the society gets ruined.

Today what is happening abroad? There the woman does not think that it is her responsibility to maintain the society, to live wisely. They are fighting all the time. By fighting, peace cannot come in the house. What should one do to bring peace? One must talk and discuss with the husband,” What is the matter? Why can we not live lovingly with each other by which our children become alright?” In the West they do not want to learn anything because their society has become absolutely shaken up. One woman will marry eight times and become rich. She is only greedy for money. She does not consider herself responsible for the condition of her society. She does not think that our society is my responsibility. Even today our society is still alright and the reason for this is that the mothers are alright. But the mothers should not force themselves upon the children. They should make the children understand, make friends, think of them as your equal and keep them on the right path. If our society becomes alright then the problems we are in, that we hear that there is bloodshed, bomb blasts, this or that is happening will cease. The reason for this type of fearful life that we have got into, is the mothers of such people. If the mothers had kept their children properly then today they would not have gone out of control, or did such dirty things. They should get such a life which is extremely pure and they always believe in their purity and keep it pure. Your shakti will only work if there is purity otherwise this shakti will finish off. So one should think that the basis of Shakti is Purity. Because when it will have no Purity then the shakti will just sit down right there and you will be powerless. In a country like America I see that the children are just without power. It is said that 65 % people in America will either get sick or go mad. The reason for that is that at home they did not get the Mother’s love and affection. A mother’s love and affection should not be of the kind that the children get spoiled. In that love and affection we should think that our child should become a very good citizen, a good human being and a very good Sahaja Yogi. If you give your children training with this intention then our society can become absolutely alright. For that there is no need to do much. If the children can meditate for a short time, that’s all. But if you give your children freedom, as times today are very bad, then children can go astray. So the women who think we are laxmi, or this or that must know that first of all you are the support of the society. The sight towards society is not of males. It should be of the women. That is why I always say that the women are weak in Sahaja Yoga and not men.

It is very important that women should know all about meditation and Sahaja Yoga. It is very important, because it is only through women that we can make this society alright. Men are busy with governing, and economics. You have no concern with that. You make your children alright. For that you too must meditate daily. You too respect and grow deeper. How many women are there who are so deep. When they meet me they go on crying about their problems. That is why I am saying today that if you are Shaktis then you become in the form of the shakti and try to do good for the society. By this your countries and many countries can benefit. This will become a very beautiful bright example. People will say , “ What a great thing”. Our country has not yet become like this. In our country so many defects have come into women. One is that one gets very quickly enamored by foreign things. Being too much enamored by cinema, and trying to be like the heroines of cinemas. I had thought of marrying a girl, but heard that she sits in front of the mirror for three hours. So when will she look after her children, when will she look after her family? Is she really that much worthy to sit in front of a mirror? What is the need to do all this? And see what a face is coming out by doing all this. I cannot sit more than five minutes in front of a mirror! That is also too much! And then like this it grows and then girls go astray. The others are the girls who have got spoiled. They are convent educated, and can speak English, such girls will humiliate them. Then because they are being humiliated, these girls also ape the convent educated girls. You should think that what the level of such girls is. They are completely stuck in slavishness. Today this came in fashion so they wear it and tomorrow another fashion comes they wear that, and make a pile of clothes in their house. By changing into new clothes daily or doing fashions does not enhance a woman’s grace. You must understand the bhakti of your shakti. By that the special blessing you will get, you will be able to cure all problems without any hassles, because your oneness has been established with this all pervading power/shakti. So by fighting nothing can be achieved. Meditate with peace and understanding and bring your children on to the right path.

Now the husband is very right sided. Thinks that he must do this or that, but a woman must integrate or contain in her house and family. Like the ocean, if you press it on one side it contains in on the other side. In the same way a woman’s heart should be. If she is in trouble on one side she contains or integrates into the other side. What does contain/samanaa mean? It means oneness. She must bring in oneness. If she cant do this then she is not the Shakti. If she quarrels and argues with everyone then she is not a shakti. Shakti means that you can integrate with everything. The highest. Whatever happens you are above it all. Then you are the Shakti, but if you got suppressed then you are not the shakti. Many things have been said about the women of this country. Even our country Bharat Mata we call as Mother. In this country the mother is considered a very great thing because she saves her children from going on the wrong path. She guides them properly. She gives them such invaluable qualities that will help him throughout his life. You must think that do we live in peace, harmony and joy in our homes? Your husband comes home and you start fighting with him. But if you say leave it and establish a warm atmosphere of love in the house then your children will grow properly.

So in the same way, for men also it is very necessary that always making fun of your wife is not nice. This is a lot in North India. There is no cleverness or intelligence in that. This is all useless. Look at your wife’s qualities. It is not necessary to relate it, but try to understand her and get to know her good qualities and respect her. I am saying this today because a lot of women have come into Sahaja Yoga but still there are a lot of ceremonies in them. On this Friday do this etc. In Maharastra it is too much. You have become your own Guru why do you need to do ceremonies? So women who are stuck in this type of incidents they must be saved and made to understand. You have to make them understand that the shakti is within you and you can become active with this shakti. Today when I look at Mumbai city I see that the western culture has come in too much. But you can see that the westerners who have come from abroad, wear saris and are sitting with decorum. They are well educated and from high families and are sitting with so much decency and decorum. Over here I see that day and night the interests of girls are insatiated. Going out to eat in hotels, fond of roaming around and all the interests of the world. If one interest comes in, that I am the shakti that gives everyone joy, then see how the society changes. And men should also accept this. In this way by respecting a woman our society will become alright because society is dependent on the woman and not men.

Now the second thing we have seen that the men have governance and economics in their hands. They should put their attention there. There is economics whether good or bad, but men must sacrifice for their country. I am surprised that I used to live in two worlds. When I was young my parents were in jail, and there was nobody elder in the house. We had big houses and we were living in huts but we were very happy. My mother gave all her money and jewelry to Gandhiji. Our nature was so full of sacrifice. My father was so self sacrificing. He had very expensive suits and when he came in to the Congress he burnt them all at the cross roads. Those people were something else. One cannot see such people nowadays who talk of sacrifice. Now they mostly think how to earn money or cut someone’s pocket. They also lived with Governments. They were also Members of Parliament and constituent assembly. But they had a mind of sacrifice. I have seen people who would sell off their carpets, and other household goods by which they could get some money. What are we going to do with all this? Such self sacrificing people I have seen and now I am seeing these beggars who are busy stealing money. It gives me great pain to see that how come such a difference has come only in fifty years. Where has our country gone? So much greed, so much want for money. They have crores of money but still they still want to collect and collect and are running after power. Men should try to understand that what have all we done? What all have we for our families? What all have we done for our country? What all have we done for this world? What have we given or we just came and looted, took and left. Our ruling people do like this. They don’t know what a great sin this is. This life is only so little but the life one has to spend after this life, those ones will know who have looted the country and filled their pockets. And then our country is poor. If such thieves will be your ruling leaders then what will happen? Do not give votes in the coming elections to any thief. Sahaja Yogis should decide to not give votes to thieves and if propaganda is done then say,’ Do not vote for Thieves’. They have taken all our money and emptied the treasuries. There is no money. They have eaten crores of rupees and gone. People do not have their attention on such matters. Do not vote for such people who have been stealing and humiliating their country. I am saying from the heart that you should support only those who are honest, because your Mother is very honest. If you were dishonest you would not have got Sahaja Yoga. So it is very necessary that you know your worth. Doesn’t matter if you buy fewer clothes,  or a few pieces of jewelry. What will happen? But a mind of sacrifice is very powerful. It helps us a lot and with that our country can get alright. Where have all those self sacrificing people gone? Perhaps in jail.  They are no more here. Very few are seen. That is why it is important that we move on Truth. And we will never give bribe or encourage greed. Never. If you all decide this then all such people will run away from Bombay. I bless and I order you that you go and take out slogans that “Do not Vote for thieves and corrupt people”. Make big banners and write on them, “The thieves/corrupt have eaten the country. Do not vote for the Corrupt” Do this everywhere and in every village.

[English Transcript]

I was telling them about the shakti, is the woman. Man cannot do without the woman. She’s the power behind him. But how you treat your shakti is very important. How you look after your wife is very important.

I was telling them in the West marriages are broken, families are broken, the children are on the road and there is no discipline at all, no discipline of any kind. You can’t say what sort of children they’ll be tomorrow. They could be devils. They could be anything because parents have no interest in their children and parents have no interest in themselves.

So first of all, the family has to be all right. You must know that you have married. So many people got married now in Sahaja Yoga. So I have to tell them: at the very outset you must decide that you’ll see the good points of your partner. And you must promise and take a challenge that we are going to make a very happy married life. Very easy to find faults with others, because your eyes are outward. If you could somehow turn them inside, you’ll be surprised that you have many more defects then they have.

And it’s the responsibility of the women to look after the society. If something has gone wrong with your society it is because of the women, who don’t understand what is their job, what is their duty. And their attention has gone so low that they try to compare themselves with the cheap women, with the cheap actresses and also women without any ideals in their life. You being Sahaja yogis, you have to understand that you’re not like these horrible women. You are a special type. And you must not take to all the stupid thing that these women are doing for money. It amounts to prostitution, I think, the way things people are doing for money.

So be satisfied. And if you are satisfied, you’ll really enjoy yourself. You’ll enjoy your family life. The woman who is not satisfied always finds faults with others, always is demanding something, can never make a good wife and can never make a good society. And this society which she will make will destroy the next society.

Of course the men must respect women and respect the great qualities in them – their satisfaction, their patience, their understanding, everything must be respected. And they should not make fun of their wives all the time. I have seen, if that is done then women stoop down to the same level. That’s no friendship. In friendship, you must have respect. It’s all right, you can do this with your friends but not with your wife. And this is what I can’t understand, that how men use their intelligence in such a stupid manner. Because she is the mother of your children. If you make fun of her, children will also make fun of her. Of course she has to respect you because she receives her authority from you, but also you must maintain her authority. You must keep her in proper shape.

For small things, husbands give up their wives and misbehave. It’s more shocking that some of the senior people in Sahaja Yoga have done all kinds of nonsense about their married life. I am amazed at them. How could they do it? And this really shocks Me. I was told that this year, on coming here, will be Sahaja yogis who will go astray, they’ll do dirty things, bad things and, I should say, things which are not pure and they will destroy Sahaja Yoga. If they are predicted like that, you can imagine at this age of Mine, I’ll have to fight it. But you all can fight it by understanding that it’s not your life, this is not a Sahaja life and you have to live in a Sahaja manner, must bring a good name to Sahaja Yoga. Not artificially but really, people should say that if they have met any saints they are in Sahaja Yoga.

The other day also, I said that miserliness is not the quality of a Sahaja yogi. Because he knows he’ll get whatever he wants. Should go on distributing as much as you can. All this is going to work out in the favor. More than men, women are miserly. They’ll look after their children but not others’ children, not other people. So if the women become more socialistic, it would be a better idea. And it will help them a lot to do justice to their own shakti because she wants, your shakti within wants you to be generous, to be kind, to be loving. If you are not loving then it’s not going to work out.

[Translation from Marathi to English]

I spoke to everyone in Hindi language, Now have Marathi people learnt Hindi yet, or still involved in Marathi language, which in itself is a beautiful language, but till the time you all learn Hindi, you cannot excel in Marathi. So now who just know Marathi, or who are just think they are Marathi , it will not work now, even God knows English language now, then at least you people should learn Hindi language minimum, if you know English that’s good, but you should know and speak Hindi language. Marathi people are the one who are headstrong, and have attitude. too much of ego, thinking I am Marathi and I am Shivaji Maharaj, all are Shivaji Maharaj and Jijabai. one cannot understand these people. So with complete Humbleness, one should follow Sahajyoga. There is no word called Humbleness here, and no one uses it. Even if they use word Humbleness, they don’t mean it. They will do namaskar to me, as many times as they see Me. but what about other things. Marathi peoples’ attitude and headstrongness, I have seen from here to there. they have many Gurus, rituals and conditionings attached to them, which will not leave them. When will they benefit? For name sake they are Sahaj yogis, just by keeping badge one cannot become sahaja yogi. From heart one should become sahajayogi. or that one should have humbleness, sweetness, and you should compassion towards others. How is your Mother? try to become like that. You should have humbleness in behaviour. 

Just as females fight on road I have seen Sahajyoginis fighting. I am surprised. You are sahajyoginis. you are considered as yogi’s now, from where you get this feeling of aggression. Humbleness means what? I don’t think anyone really understands. so my request to you all is that Marathi females should be more humble and even Men too. Men here if they are brave then get very headstrong, in Maharashtra. That’s not how it works in North India, surprisingly even if one is Commissioner, then he will be modest. Even a small job makes their behaviour wierd, such are Maharashtrians. they have become rebellious minded people. now I don’t understand how to make them understand, to go deeper. what is to be achieved should be learnt. So many saints have taken birth here, they got fed up with people here here, and they bowed down and bid farewell and attained Samadhi. because did not want to live in Maharashtra. People here don’t spare anyone they were after everyone even Me. Speak with love with everyone, and respect everyone Other person is human and so am I. My humanity should be visible to the other person. No point in making fun of others. There is no meaning in showing off your self- importance. 

According to my own experience, I used to think North Indians are awful but, now I see that Maharashtrian worse, I went to rural places in Maharashtra, but no where I could see humbleness in them. Elders have wierd strictness in them, which is nonsense. How will the kids be alright? I feel, men are so strict here, as if they are from military. There should be loving nature and sweetness in speech. you should consider all kids as yours But if you torture your kids, then how will you love other kids. So, Maharashtrians should have humility in them. I need not tell you the humbleness of Shri Ganesha. You should have same humility. The same sweetness should be reflected wchich is not visible. One should talk to each other with respect, since you all are yogis. We must respect each other because you all are yogis. 

Once, I was told, “close your eyes”, By some people who came and said “These are lower cast people”. Tukaram has written many couplets saying that “good I am born as Mahar”. Many examples are there about such saints, but people have troubled them and sent them away, Nothing went in the brains of people, nor they understood anything. There is no principle of love in you. I asked youth congress leader once what is your policy, Policy? Thre is no policy. whatever senior leaders say we follow that, so if your senior leader do corruption you also do same Leader replied innocently ” yes, we also do the same”. So, here there is no need of fools, there is no need of idiots. we need different people. Now we have to improve the situation in Maharashtra. Here, you should respect the younger generations and nurture them. I really did not like youngsters being sent for a battle, and were not allowed to sit for puja, I clearly told that this will not be accepted anymore. Love is the most important thing. We don’t measure the love which we feel for others. The love just flows. You should have unconditional love. With all love and respect we should treat each other, and create a new society of Sahaja Yogis for all of us. We have created, but still it has to shine. We should make it shine by your behaviour, and sweetness of your words, So that it reflects clearly. Our society will be extremely beautiful, extremely beautiful. So, avoid the negativity in behaviour, and accept the positivity, and follow these things for peaceful living. 

My infinite blessings to all.