DEDICATION

This book is dedicated with deepest love and respect to H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, who is the source of all the knowledge which it contains.

Shri Mataji has inspired many men and women with Her own life. She has led an extraordinary life which is the expression of our most beautiful dreams.

Shri Mataji has been a role model as a child, as a young woman, a woman, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and as a Spiritual Mother.

Shri Mataji and her husband Sir C.P.Srivastava have shown us countless aspects of the roles of a woman and of a man in different phases of life: in the family, in the communities and collectivities, in society and on a spiritual level.

JAI SHRI MATAJI

Introduction

Her  Holiness  Shri Mataji  Nirmala Devi has  on many occasions described and given advice about the many roles men and women fulfill in their lives.

This book attempts to make this knowledge available. It contains excerpts from talks of H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi relevant to the role and relationships of men and women in Sahaja Yoga. Many themes are reoccuring-these have been classified according to the subject they touch upon.

This compilation can of course in no way replace the talks of Shri Mataji in their entirety. Nonetheless, it gives us a window to understand Shri Mataji’s approach on marriage and the relationships between men and women. We advise everybody to consult the original talks and to use this as a source of reference.

This is the first part of the MEN AND WOMEN compilation. It is best to read both parts to get the most out of this subject. It is advisable that men also read the chapters concerning women and visa versa. Not as a means to find faults in others, but rather with the understanding that all of Her qualities can be imbibed within each of us – whether we are a man or a woman.

We hope that through this work, Shri Mataji’s teachings will resonate in us and help us to lead a life filled with love, respect, dignity and harmony.

JAI SHRI MATAJI

Acknowledgements

After having published the book called “Raising Children in Sahaja Yoga”, the idea spontaneously came to compile a similar book on the role of men and women in Sahaja Yoga.

As we began listening to Shri Mataji’s speeches, we realized the breadth of the subject – one book soon became two. The first book is about the roles and qualities of men and women, as well as the brother- sister relationship. The second book concerns different aspects of married life.

This book is a collective effort. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to make this book possible. We hope you will enjoy it.

NOTES

This compilation includes many themes which are repeated in the lectures of Shri Mataji. These have been classified
according to the subject they touch upon.

At the beginning of the sections, a few comments written in italics are given to introduce the subject. These are researchers notes and not from Shri Mataji.

All content between ” … ” are quotes from Shri Mataji’s talks. The titles in the beginning are in bold to give you a quick overview of the subject. At the end if the book there is an appendix containing a list of all Shri Mataji’s speeches used in this compilation.

BALANCE IN THE UNIVERSE

Before creation, when nothing existed, God was   One and undifferentiated. In the beginning there was Brahma, whom Shri Mataji has described as a formless energy. This energy dwells in itself : desiring, organizing, loving. Slowly, the desire to create arose within this energy. When this desire grew, a nucleus was formed. This nucleus is called Sadashiva – God Almighty. It has an aura around itself which is the Power of God – the Adi Shakti. Shri Mataji said that this desire to create was then transferred to the Adi Shakti, thus beginning the play of creation.

In this play, Sadashiva is the “Sakshi” – the witness – the spectator in the play of creation carried out by the Adi Shakti. Thus we see that creation takes shape when the primordial, formless energy starts differentiating itself into distinct male and female aspects : Shiva and Shakti.

Those who have studied Shri Mataji’s lectures have noticed that She has spoken about the different roles of men and women. It is by assuming these roles that balance in the micro and macrocosm, in our families and within the society, is maintained.

KEEPING THE BALANCE

This balance has been created long time back ” … So a very long time back. Say, even when Radha Krishna existed, Radha was the power and Krishna was the one who was expressing. This is the potential and the kinetic. And people only know about Krishna, but Radha was the power. When He had to kill Kamsa, He had to ask Radha to do it. It was She who did everything, She had to dance and He pressed Her feet. He said, “Now You must be tired of it.” Why did She dance? Because without Her dancing, things would not have worked out.

So it is so interdependent. It is so interdependent. As you cannot have a wick and you cannot have the light – you cannot have these two things separate. If you can understand that, then this balance is completely harmonious. It is between God and His power. Absolutely one. You can’t imagine how it is one with God and His power. His power, His desire, is the same as God. There’s no difference at all … But in human beings you are disintegrated people. Your desire is different, your thinking is different, your asking is different, everything is so disintegrated. That’s why you cannot understand. That’s why marriages are also disintegrated … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

You put imbalance to the whole universe by that ” … But you don’t do everything that the men want to do. Or you don’t do everything women want to do. For men will be cooking and women will be driving, it’s a wrong thing. Men should know all manly things and women should know womanly things. They must learn. They must put their heart into it. I mean women can be equally intelligent. Men can be equally intelligent. Women can go on to the right hand. And men can go on the left hand. No doubt about it. But, you put imbalance to the whole universe by that, that’s the point. It’s not that by doing that you are in any way less or more. This idea should go out of your minds absolutely. That men think that, “Oh, I’m the man who wears the pants.”

“All right, you wear the pants, but we wear the beautiful skirts.” All right. That’s the way it should be looked after … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

To compete with each other is wrong “…And in that case the women also then take up with the men, they compete – what’s wrong, they start copying men, and in doing so, when they compete with each other, then what happens that this family life gets disturbed. The woman of the household is dissatisfied, her ego is not satisfied.

In olden times the man used to go in the jungle, and get all the wood cut, bring it home, and give it to the wife and wife used to cook. There was no problem because there was barter system. He could see her working in the household.

Now the husband earns the money and the woman spends. I mean that also requires some work, isn’t it, to spend the money. But to man it looks like that “I’m the earning member and she’s the spender.”

So she said, “All right, I will also earn.” But in this there is too much of competition between the two. What happens, the family suffers, the children suffer and such a person will have problem with the wife, the wife will have problem with the husband. You can always feel that centre on this finger (left nabhi). If that finger is catching, that means there’s something wrong with your family relationship, that you have to adjust yourself, or he has to adjust. It’s an important thing… “

1981 PUBLIC PROGRAM, SYDNEY

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Women are women, and men are men

” … To have the best connection is to have pure relationships, and it should be discretionary. Mother is a mother, father is a father, sister is a sister, brother is a brother, all these are different, various types of relationships should be understood. Women must understand they are women and men must understand they are men.

Also, relationship to yourself is very important. Women should not try to be men – we cannot, and men should not try to be women. Is wrong. Because basically they are different people. They are born differently. What is the difference? A man is more meticulous, he knows more about machines, details about it. A woman will see the pattern. Woman will listen to the tune more, man will be seeing to the instruments. That’s the nature God has created you. After all, somebody has to see this and somebody has to see that. Both are beautiful. Nobody is higher or lower, but enjoy yourself as being a woman, enjoy yourself as being a man.

But men does not mean that you aggress women thinking stupidly that you are higher than woman in evolution. Or women dominating men thinking that by dominating them they can put them right. They have never put them right by that. They have gone absolutely cabbages, men have become cabbages. Wherever women dominate, men become cabbages. They have not put them right … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, UK

Understanding is needed of the differences of qualities ” …We are going the same way. But we must know that somebody is on the left, one is on the right. The left has to be on the left.

Supposing the left starts going to the right, we’ll have only one wheel left. What are we going to do about it? We are all going on the same way. There are no two ways about it. There are two wheels needed to give it a balance. But we are going on the same way. This people don’t realize. They think one wheel has to go on the right and another has to turn to the left. So, imagine what will be the condition of such a family. We are going on the same way. Only understanding is needed. That one has to live with the powers of heart, and another has to live with the powers of rationality, of understanding.

When it comes to rationality, ultimately it will turn to heart. Because it reaches a point where it does not know. Then it comes to heart once women realize this – that they have this within themselves. But, you must nurture your power of heart. But you compete with them in everything, you see, if he goes on the horse, “Why can’t I?” See, he does this, “Why can’t I?” If he can drive, “I can drive. ” You see, wisdom lies in doing things – many things – by avoiding them … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

Two wheels of one chariot, one on the left, another on the right ” …That’s why so many divorces are taking place and problems are there, the women ask for their rights, they go beyond their limits, they became dominating here, the men become dominating. That’s not the way we are going to solve it.

We have to know that we are two wheels, two wheels of one chariot, one on the left, another on the right. Now they are not similar, they’re not similar, they are two types – one left side, one right side. But they are equal. In whatever they do it’s equal. They are to be respected equally in the same manner . .. “

198I PUBLIC PROGRAM, SYDNEY

The two wheels are equal but not similar ” …So there is no domination on each other, but to realize that we are like two wheels of a chariot. And that the two wheels are equal but not similar.

For example, the right cannot be fitted to the left and left cannot be fitted to the right. They are equal, if they are not equal then there will be no movement, they’ll just go round and round, fighting. But they are also not similar, so if the left starts coming to the right it will never fit into it absolutely. Nature has made us with two legs, not with one leg. So we cannot change our legs like that …”

I986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

A woman has to act like a woman “…Now in the case of Shri Rama, He left His wife. When it came to Sita, She left Him too. But She left Him as a woman would leave, and He left Her as a man would leave. She also left Him but in a way that is suitable for a woman to do. And He did it in a way that is suitable to a king.

In the same way, a woman when she acts, she has to act like a woman. The same thing she may do as the man does, but she has to be a woman or a man has to be a man … “

I987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

One should not start demanding what the other side has got ” …Then the question of domination – is a woman dominating man, or a man dominating women. Is absolutely out of question in Sahaja Yoga. There is going to be no domination of any kind, but one has to see that the left side is on the left side and right side is on the right side. One should not start demanding what the other side has got.

Like supposing men start saying, “Why not we have children, Mother? We should have children, why should the women have children?” That cannot be. And if the women start saying, “All right, we should grow beard.” Supposing tomorrow they might say, “We must have beard and we must have moustaches.”

So if such a demand is made, that cannot be done. That’s not the way. And at human level these are absolutely two separated personalities. At a lower animal stage – see if you go in hermaphrodite for that stage – then you find that have got both the sexes in them are called as hermaphrodite in their technical language .. . “

I987 MARRIAGE, KOLHAPUR, INDIA

Woman and men must appreciate the parts they play ” …So you can imagine that when you want to become like earthworms you can have both the sexes in you. Either you can act like a male or a female. But as soon as you start growing up and then the, what you say, in your evolutionary process as you come up slowly, slowly what you find that there are two separate groups are forming up to the human level. And when you come to the human level the women are women and men are men.

And the more they are like – women like women, men like men – then they are complementary. Otherwise these half-way people, neither they cannot be good husbands, nor could be good wives. Nor can they have good married life, nor they can enjoy anything.

So this is very important to see that you should become complementary, but for Sahaja Yoga. Now there is no question of domination, as I said. Woman plays her own part, man must appreciate. And man plays his own part and woman must appreciate…”

I987 MARRIAGE, KOLHAPUR, INDIA

Sun  doesn’t  want to become  Earth & Earth doesn’t  want to become Sun ” … I am very proud that I am a woman. Because women can perform so many things which men cannot do. Woman is like a Mother Earth. So we can say the men are like the Sun. Both have to combine. But the Sun can be eliminated but Earth cannot. The Sun is not there in the night. Still we exist.

But look at the Mother Earth, how much She can bear. How much She can bear. See now She is so sensible. She creates beautiful flowers, beautiful trees, everything for us without any grudge. And moreover, that She nourishes us despite the fact we are doing so many sins against Her. But the Sun doesn’t want to become the Earth and

Earth doesn’t want to become the Sun. Because they know they are stationed for a particular purpose … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

Men are responsible for the politics and economics, but women are responsible for the society “… But these days new types of ideas have come up. Men also have been very nasty and very aggressive with women. As a result we find there’s a big opposition to men. And a kind of a big rift has been created between men and women. Also the men the way they’ve started becoming licentious, perverted, going to bad women. The good women also thought, “Why not we also become like that?” and they also started doing wrong things, which they should not have done. That’s how the whole society crumbled down.

Now, the men are responsible for the politics and the economics and also the nation as administrators, but women are responsible for the society. Whether she is in the house or she is outside, whether she’s working in the house or outside, she is responsible for the maintenance of the society. And there it looks as sometimes to a woman that she’s dominated, that her husband dominates her, that the husband’s family dominates her, but it’s the quality of a woman that brings up the level of the society, not only the level, but also in the family she is then respected.

It’s a very important role as a housewife. Perhaps we never realize it. Now we see so many lights here. Electricity is there running. But what is the source of this electricity? Is it not much more important than these lights? So men are nothing but we can say, the kinetic energy, but what is the potential is the woman of the house … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

You must know how to keep your children and husband pleased ” … Man’s job is economics, politics, money earning. They have made a mess out of it, I agree with you. Quite a big mess. But your job is to make the society. And to make the society, first you must know how to keep children pleased, how to keep your husband pleased, how to help people … “

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, CABELLA

God has made women as women and men as men “…The women have their own habits, they are women. Women will remain women, men will remain men. Men must see their watches ten times. Women might see it once or maybe their watches are lost or out of order. If they are real women they are not jumpy like men. They are different, but they are women and you are men and God has made men and women. If it was to make a unisex, He would have made a unisex. He did not. So one must accept the sex in which you are born with grace and beauty and dignity, both … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

One should not expect the other to be like you ” … Now, we are husband and wife because we love each other, we are complementary: woman is a woman, man is a man. Men should not expect women to be like you, very fast, and women should not expect men to be like you, very so noble. There are qualities of a woman and the qualities of a man . .. “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

Woman is like this Mother Earth and man is like the sun ” … You are so sensitive and so sensible and you didn’t mind whatever I have told you. I am a Mother, and I have to tell you the truth and you shouldn’t feel bad, if you think that I am your Mother. That is a Mother’s job; she has to have patience, love, affection and also wisdom. Perhaps we women don’t realize how important we are. Men can do politics, economics and all the mess of it but women are responsible for the society. They can make the society or mar the society. Whenever there are good societies where children are good, families are good, and there is peace, there the women are responsible.

The woman who has the job of rocking the child can rule the world. In no way a woman should think she is less than man. Woman is like this Mother Earth and man is like the sun. Look at the Mother Earth: how She bears us, how we torture Her, and how She looks after us. So the greatest quality of a woman is her tolerance, her love and her wisdom.

I forgot to bring the newspaper which I wanted to show you. English newspaper in which they have shown a woman looking like a man and having a few hairs coming out of her face, like a man. I would hate to be a man because a man has to please so many bosses and fight in life, while woman has to please only one, that is her husband. So the society can only be made alright by human beings who are not men, but women … “

1994 LADIES PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNIS

Responsibility of the women for the growth of the children and the protection of the husband “… The men as a whole are very different type, you must understand. They are extroverts and whatever the woman care for, they do not. It’s all right. Because women and men are complementary. Like Ali was there outside working everything out, while Fatima was in the house, home, who never went out, but he knew his source of energy from where it was coming.

Because women were never respected as Shakti, they started getting drifted into this Western modern ideas that “We have to fight men, they are problematic, they are troubling us and we should take revenge.” That’s how society cannot work out. Responsibility of the women is much greater that that of men. Men have just to go to the offices, work it out something, come back. Women have to lifelong generate the energy for the growth of the children, the protection of the husband for all the sensible things that she has to do. That’s why in India we say, “A woman is to be absolutely respected and she has to be respectable.” Moreover it is not only in India, I’ve seen it all over that women are always respected if they are housewives.

For example I go with My husband to some function. I’m respected as much as he is respected. For example, his deputy isn’t respected as I am respected. The secretary won’t be respected. No one. I, as his wife, am respected the same way because I’m his wife. Nobody looks down upon Me because I’m somebody’s wife. All over it is like this … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUlA, TURKEY

The  typical  ideology of a woman  is “How I can make others powerful?”

“… I would say a man is like the sun, but a woman is like the Mother Earth. Difference is like this. That the sun shines, gives light, gives also nourishment to the Mother Earth in a way and the Mother Earth gives everything. She bears so much of things. She bears all our sins. So a housewife is like a Mother Earth. She gives joy to everyone, to her husband, to her child. She doesn’t think about herself. She doesn’t think “How I could achieve great things through my beauty maybe, through my body, through my education, through my powers that I’ve got?”

No, she doesn’t. What she thinks, “How I can make others powerful? How I can give them power? How I can help?” This is the typical ideology of a woman. If it is not so then she is not a woman. I mean, she feels when somebody says ” I want to come to your house,” whatever, then she is very happy. “And now what should I cook? What should I do?” This is a woman’s attitude … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

To deprive someone of certain  rights because they are women or men is absolute nonsense ” … Christ has said the same thing. He has not said that women don’t have the Spirit, or men have the Spirit. And look at the way these people are talking, that they cannot have ordination. Of course, I mean, ordination itself is humbug! But still I would say, I mean, but to deprive someone of certain rights because they are women or men is something absolutely, I should say, nonsense. It has no relevance to dharma. Because dharma means balance . .. “

1992 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, PERTH

Women can also take a leading part, but it is very important that they should not forget they are women who have to manifest deep motherly concern and love ” … In My own country there is a saying in Sanskrit, “Yatra narya pujyante tatra ramante devata,” which means that “Where the women are respected and respectable, there reside the gods of our well-being.”

So it is for us, at this moment, to understand the value of this great power that is given to us by our Creator. But what do we find? Whether in the East or in the West, women have not been able to give a full manifestation of their greatness. I am not suggesting at all that the only role of women in human society is that of the mother, the procreator and preserver of children, or that of a wife, or a sister.

Women have a full right to participate as equal partners in every aspect of life – social, cultural, educational, political, economical, administrative and the rest. In order to prepare themselves for this all- pervading role, they must have the right to education in all branches of knowledge. But if they are mothers, they have a great responsibility towards their children as well as their society. Men are responsible for politics and economics of the country, but women are responsible for the society. Women can also support men and they can take a leading part, of course, in any post, but it is very important that they should not forget they are women who have to manifest deep motherly concern and love. If they become manly and aggressive, the balance of the society cannot be maintained … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

ABOUT MEN

In Shri Mataji compared the qualities of men with those of Shri Rama who is a very noble and virtuous character. He is the ideal son, brother, husband, father and king. He assumes his responsibilities in a disciplined, dignified and loving way. 

Likewise the qualities of a man are more of the right side. He is extrovert, has to work and deal with people with honesty, humility and high moral values. 

A man is the head and his role is to protect, give security and be responsible without domination. A true man respects women and values his own innocence and chastity.

QUALITIES

I. YOU ARE THE HEAD The man has to be the head 

” …Ultimately you have to become the Spirit, which is in the heart. Which the brain, you know, takes. And that’s why the man has to be the head. He has to go out, he has to work, he has to deal with people, he’s an extrovert as you call it… ”

980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

II. PROTECTION

The man has to protect,  to look after 

” …So, man has to be a man, and man is a person like Rama. You have heard about his life, how He was, you see, how He loved His wife, respected His own chastity. A man who cannot respect his own chastity is not a man. He is absolutely an earthworm.

So, this is what it is. A man has to have a character, he has to have that chivalry in him, he has to have that courage in him, he has to have that protective thing. If thieves come in the house, the man tells the wife, “Oh, you go and open the door, and I’m going to hide.” And when the thieves go away he says “I’m going to dominate.” This is not the way.

The man has to protect. The man has to look after. He’s, we can say, he’s like a thorn and women are like the flowers. Now, in the thorn and flower, you would like to be a flower, isn’t it? But, in a man and woman, you would like to be a thorn. So it’s wrong. He has to protect, he has to look after the invasions on the family-life and other things. On the contrary, they are the ones who allow infiltration by wrong people in the family. It’s the men. They bring in horrible women, they bring in horrible people, through the domination, “Oh, she’s my friend, how can you upset her?” But, what sort of friend is she? He has to say,

“Oh, I don’t like these people to come in the house, they are not right- type. They have to get out.” It is he who has to say. And the woman has to understand. But if he says just out of domination, it is nonsense…”

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

III. THE REAL POWER

Anybody who is powerful has to be humble and non-violent 

” … That is the Hanumana Shakti. And with all that power, He was such a humble person and such a dedicated person. This is the sign of a powerful Sahaja Yogi. Anybody who is powerful has to be humble and non-violent. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that, “What is the non- violence of the weak?” A weak person has to be So, So a weak person has to be non-violent because he cannot face, he cannot protest.

But non-violence of the powerful is the sign of real non-violence. Those who are powerful, if they are non-violent, that means they are quite confident of their powers. Those people who are confident of their powers, why should they aggress others? They just stand, “All right, come along, what do you want?” Even saying that, people run away.

So those who are violent, angry, hot-tempered, jump at everyone, torture everyone, trouble everyone, are the people who have a very weak character. Their character is weak. If their character was all right, then they would not have done all these things. That’s the sign of a person who is either possessed and under the influence of the possession – he’s doing that; or he’s too weak and he’s possessed by his anger because he doesn’t have that much power to bear anything.

The most powerful thing is the Mother Earth because she has a power to bear. The one who has the power to bear is the powerful… “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

To develop the gentleness of a divine person 

” … So men have to develop that dignity, that love, and that understanding, that etiquette, etiquette of a divine person, that sweetness, that gentleness of a divine person. Of course that does not mean that men should walk like women … “

1980 MARRIAGE AND COLLECTIVITY, UK

IV. CHASTITY

Chastity  is not only for the  women, it is more for the  men to observe 

” … First and foremost thing is that to respect Shri Ganesha is to understand the importance of chastity. Chastity is not only for the women, it is more for the men to observe. If you have self-respect, in the real sense of the word, you will take to chastity without any difficulties. But if you have no self-respect, then you run after something which is very low, of a very degrading quality. So it is very important that chastity must be respected, must be understood, and must be imbibed … “

1998 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Without that holiness (chastity), you cannot work out anything 

“… To begin with, people laugh at such people. They make fun of them. But holiness is the power within us. As you have heard that Rajput ladies used to sacrifice their bodies so that nobody tries to destroy their holiness, their chastity. Because they realized the power that lies behind this chastity. This sense of chastity has helped so many women in this country to lead a very dynamic and a holy life.

It is said that without holiness you cannot work out anything. Even I have heard that in India people believe that if you have to do wrestling, the wrestler has to be a holy person. If he is an unholy person, ultimately he will fail in life. Even those who play other games have to be holy like Hanumana, otherwise they cannot continue with their games and they might develop some sort of problems within themselves.

The warriors who went on the wars and fought other people had to lead a very holy life, otherwise they would suffer. As you have seen, people coming back from Vietnam have become mad people. In every walk of life holiness was the most important part, most important subject that was to be looked after.

No reaction took place to people who fought with Shivaji, but when I see the reaction of war in some other countries, I’m quite surprised. The reason is, while fighting the war, they fell into a trap of their ego and did not care for their chastity. Chastity is not only meant for women. That’s a very wrong idea; it is very much more for men. Those who lead a chaste life are the people who are glorious. Tejapunya as we call them .. . “

1987, INNOCENCE AND SHRI GANESHA, GANAPATIPULE

Innocence gives you that holiness 

” … For Sahaja Yogis the most important thing is to lead a very holy life. Everything else is mundane. Christ who came on this earth, as I told you, was the incarnation of the same holiness as Shri Ganesha. He has gone to this extent to say that “Thou Shalt Not Have Adulterous Eyes.” Even your eyes should be holy and innocent. Innocence gives you that holiness, as the children are holy people, because they are so innocent. There are so many things to be learnt from children in their simplicity, in their innocence. They do not indulge into things which are unholy … “

1987, INNOCENCE AND SHRI GANESHA, GANAPATIPULE

Men have to respect women as sisters

” … So please understand that you have to respect your chastity, and men have to respect women as sisters, and not as every woman is for them for their use. That’s how they are reducing the value of their mothers and their sisters. And in the country where the women are not respectable, no gods are going to remain … “

1980 RAKSHABANDHAN, LONDON

Women should generate that feeling of nobility, of chastity, so that the men respect them and develop that feeling within themselves

” … You have seen in India women don’t like it, if anyone tries to look at them, or tries to touch them. They don’t like it. Women have killed themselves, burnt themselves up, thousands of them, because they thought some other people may come and touch their body. It’s so related to your Atma, to your Spirit.

As if it is the body, innocence is the body of your spirit. You all can be that, because you have become yoginis now. They were not yoginis, but they knew one thing – the power of their chastity. It’s more for ladies here, that they should try to generate that feeling of nobility, of chastity, of holiness around them, so that the men themselves respect them and develop that feeling within themselves…”

1985, MOOLADHARA ADDRESS, BIRMINGHAM, UK

One has to keep the eyes very pure

” … So one has to be careful to keep the eyes very pure (like) the eyes of a Yogeshwara, who was Shri Krishna. He was a witness, He was on this Earth, He played, He played with Radha. He married five women, they were the five elements. Sixteen thousand women He married, they were His sixteen thousand powers. But He was Yogeshwara; He had no lust in His eyes, in His mind, about them at all. He was beyond them, He was Yogeshwara. That was the testing point of His, that He had no lust in His eyes about these women that He had. Such a Yogeshwara is there!

Of course, I don’t expect you to be Shri Krishna. But you have your wife. Those who do not have wife must look forward to a wife. That we’ll get wives and will be, … we’ll have a wife and think of a wife, who will be your own, so that your eyes will not fall onto every woman who comes across … with that kind of a thing. I’ve seen people, even the photographs or anything they see, it’s surprising, I mean, there’s nothing in the photograph, what is in a photograph? But even a photograph can attract their attention, I mean, I don’t know what can attract their attention like this.

But they are so vulnerable and they have no control over their eyes. No control, they become absolutely lost and they have no control. That shows that they have no powers in them and they are slaves of their responses. For the eyes are very, very important….”

1986, SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

V. THE ROLE MODEL OF SHRI RAMA

Shri Rama was the one who knew how far to go with someone

” …He Himself is called as Maryada Purushottama – means He was the one who knew how far to go with someone. Maryadas, how to talk to someone, how to approach someone. While we find people who misbehave, even with their husbands, with their wives, with their children, with everyone and also outside they are about to jump on others – that’s absolutely against Rama. It’s like Ravana. Even Ravana was not like this, he was also not of that nature because he had certain dharmas within him. He was a realized soul but he had become a rakshasa because he became arrogant.

But even his arrogance cannot be matched with many modern people and modern girls and men that I hear and see. That it is surprising, they have really surpassed Ravana. Ravana only had ten heads but sometimes I feel that the modern men might have, or the women specially, might have hundred and eight heads. The arrogance, the amount of expression of hatred, is so ridiculous and makes a person look so useless, but I see such people very common and in Sahaja Yoga also they crawl somehow. Actually, such people are absolutely despised by God Almighty … “

1987, SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Shri Rama would not make anyone do anything for Him

“… Shri Rama’s birth and all that are brought forth by the Agni – the fire – and He was born in the Dynasty of the Surya – is the sun. So with all that, born out of the blessings of the Agni – that is fire – and also was born in the dynasty of Surya, He was one of the mildest avatars you have ever had. He’s known to be a very – I mean English language – formal person, in the sense sankoch – that He would go to any extent to bear upon Himself the problems than to tell others to do something. We still had many people in India like that.

Like we had one prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and if he was sitting in the room and there are people sitting and the electricity was on somehow, say by light or something, and he wants to put it off, he would not ask anyone to put it off. Slowly he’ll get up from his seat, walk up to the switch and just put it off so that he shouldn’t ask for anything. This is one of the greatest qualities of Shri Rama, that He would not make anyone do anything for Him or order anything, or would use someone for that purpose. See, He was the blessing of fire and born in the Surya.

But what we find, those people who are born, maybe in very lowly families, in the negative families, the left-sided as you can call it, with all kinds of problems, have a terrible Agnya and a terrible Suryada … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Character is shown by the tolerance one has for other people

” … The person who is born in the Surya has to be extremely humble. He is the one who shows that nothing can affect him, nothing can make him feel that he is something great. Now, when we see His life further, He was a very humble man. You seen now people who try to despise others, “I don’t like you – I don’t like – it’s not good – it’s very difficult” is a sign that such a person is extremely low in character, has no character at all but is low in character. Anybody who has any character is shown by the tolerance he has of other people. Intolerance is a sign of a person who is extremely egoistical and is vain, there’s vanity … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Such a humble man, that in all His character you see the beauty

” … Shri Rama was so much loved by the people where He ruled in that state, and He had the most beautiful wife of the most venerated father, Janaka. But He was such an humble man, such an humble man, that in all His character you see the beauty.

Like He was going by a little boat when He went for His exile. And the one who was taking Him was an ordinary boatman. And the boatman was feeling very much upset that he’s sitting before the king of Ayodhya and he doesn’t have proper clothes. So Shri Rama, who was Himself was wearing nothing but valkalas (simple clothes which are worn by the village people). He had to wear that because His mother, the stepmother, asked for that kind of boon from the father.

And then Shri Rama just told him, “Why are you worried? I am wearing this. I am no more a king. I am sitting before you like this. You should be quite comforted . And I really don’t know how to steer the boat while you know how to steer the boat, so why should you be worried?”

Like that He kept even the people who we would call as low in society at a very high pedestal, which shows that He respected human beings … “

1987, SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Shri Rama wanted to make everyone into a diamond

“…The sweetness of Shri Rama, the way He used to make people feel comfortable, like I would sayan example of an oyster who gets a little stone into the body of the shell, takes out a kind of a shiny liquid and covers it with that shiny liquid and makes it into a pearl to be comfortable. Now, He didn’t want His own comfort. Rama is a little bit different that He wanted to make everyone into a diamond, or a pearl, so that the other person would shine and would look nice, and that’s how He felt comforted … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Shri Rama never cared for the outer side of a person

“…Now, it’s so important to have the inner side all right than the outer side. Is an example of Shri Rama, He never cared for the outer side or the outward looks of a person. Because He came before 5hri Krishna, He tried to build up the inner side of a human being … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

One who speaks  loud and laughs at wrong places cannot  be a Sahaja Yogi

“…So, when somebody is, say, not good-looking according to the western standard. According to Me the western standards are rather funny because western standards don’t look like – neither like Krishna or Shri Rama. The person like Shri Rama was a very healthy, tall person with his hands up to the knees – ajanabhav.

And He was plump, both of them were plump. They had to be plump people, because though they were born of the Agni – He was born of the Agni, but the water is the main element of Shri Vishnu. So they were all plump people, they were not thin like sticks as today’s modern ideas are, to be thin like sticks and like TB-patients.

But it doesn’t mean all plump people are good. We always logically think that plump people are, if Mother says so, then plump people are good. Is not the point. The inner side of it I am saying, the inner side of it is just the opposite. Inner side of it is absolutely beautiful and absolutely full of love, affection and warmth. A person who doesn’t have these things, is a sign of a person who is not a Sahaja Yogi, first of all. A person who is very loud, talks loudly, speaks loudly, laughs at wrong places must be half mad but cannot be a Sahaja Yogi…”

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Shri Rama was such a consistent person

“…Now the another character about Him was that He was consistent. He was never inconsistent like Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna was a diplomat and diplomacy is in being inconsistent. Shri Krishna’s style was different. But in Sahaja Yoga, you can’t carryon like Shri Rama. Sometimes you have to be like Parashurama also, otherwise things don’t work out.

Now, when it went ahead with it in His character, which was so beautiful, that you find He was such a consistent person. Whatever He said, all the life He carried that. For example, He said, “I am the one who believes in one wife – aika patni vrat.”

Now He had a very nice wife, no doubt, very beautiful wife, but She had gone to Ravana and He was left alone. When they wanted to start a kind of a yAgnya – called as Rajasurya YAgnya – which was meant to be conquering the whole world, then they asked Him, “You have to marry because you have to have your wife.”

He said, “No, I can’t marry because nobody could be like My wife and I can’t marry. I can forego this kind of a yAgnya but I can’t marry again.”

So, then they said, “All right, there’s only one thing you can do is to make a statue of Sita in gold and you have to use Her, that statue, as a wife representing.”

He said, “That I will agree.” He took away all His ornaments, everything, and made that statue and He did this yAgnya. So whatever He said He followed thoroughly. In His dharma He was perfect … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

For Shri Rama, it was important that the people should be happy

” … The benevolence of Shri Rama was shown when He started ruling the people. He was the one who cared for the needs of the people. For Him, it was important that the people whom He ruled should be happy and joyous. He looked after them with great love … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

A benevolent king, a very loving husband and a loving father ” … Now, what is the way He has helped us, let us see. Shri Rama by His character, by His balance, His peace and His mildness and His sweetness has shown us how a king should be a benevolent king and at the same time a very loving husband and a loving father and a person in dharma … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Shri Rama stands for the pranava, the cool air

” … Shri Rama stands for the pranava – is the vital air that we take in. For the vital air, and that vital air when it gets heated up, we have to know that we are not any more with Shri Ram. It has to be the cool air to blow through your nose and your mouth. I don’t know about you people, it happens with Me all the time.

When you are angry the nostrils go up, swell up, and the hot air, the hot words, and everything hot, the heated eyes, and everything goes up like that, curled up, and you become like a ferocious Ravana because you have forgotten the beauty of the nature of Shri Rama … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

What sort of a father you are, you have to decide

” … What has He done to our centre heart is the greatest thing, that He has given you a fatherhood within yourself. Because Shri Rama represents the fatherhood. Now what sort of a father you are, you have to decide … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Let us decide that there is benevolence, love, compassion, security, peace, joy, discipline among ourselves

“…That’s why I have to tell you that on this day of Dussehra, let us decide that we are going to have Ramraj in Sahaja Yoga, where there is benevolence, there is love, compassion, security, peace, joy, discipline among ourselves. The whole disciplining is within ourselves. What I say about Shri Rama is that He Himself has put Himself into the discipline of maryadas. In the same way, we ourselves should put ourselves into the discipline of maryadas . . . “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

To be born in the hearts of people who are at the helm of affairs

“…Ramrajya has to come, then Rama is to be born in the hearts of people who are at the helm of affairs. And that’s how we have to pray to Shri Ram, that “Be kind and compassionate so that you could be born into the hearts of these people … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

ADVICE TO MEN

TO APPRECIATE AND RESPECT  WOMEN

Women want to give love and men have to appreciate that

” …In Sahaja Yoga that’s how it is. We want to give love and men have to appreciate that love, and this joy whether you are a brother or a husband or a son – anyway, the woman’s love is for you. And she gives you that love that makes you absolutely not only joyous, but also religious … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

“Also men must respect women who are respectable”

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

The man has to respect the housewife, that’s very important

” …Now the man has to worship a housewife. It’s said so, Yatro Narya Pujyante, Tatro Namante Devata – Wherever the housewife is respected, there only the Gods reside … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

If he does not respect his housewife, there’s no possibility of any Gruha Lakshmi tattwa being maintained.

” …Because we are no good for economics, no good for politics, administration, hopeless. Menfolk are useless. They don’t know any household work or anything, women have kept it to themselves, but our society is first class, it is maintained by the women of the household.

So the man has to respect the housewife, that’s very important. If he does not respect his housewife, there’s no possibility of any Gruha Lakshmi tattwa being maintained. It’s like the preservation of that principle of a housewife, but some men, I mean many of them, think that it is their birthright to ill-treat their wives, to torture them, to say all kinds of things, to be angry, if she’s a good woman. But if she’s a nagger, if she’s a bhoot, then they are subdued, completely subdued. If the wife is a bhoot then the husband always sort of tries to please her. I mean, extremely kind to her, he knows she’s a bhoot. After all, better be careful. Don’t know what time the bhoot will come like a snake on you and if she knows how to nag or to argument, then also they are afraid – there’s no love. They have no love or respect for her but they have an awe or fear, and they are afraid of such a woman…”

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Men should respect a woman who loves them, who is chaste, who is good, who wants them to be collective, who wants that Sahaja Yoga should be promoted

” … Now men must respect their women who are like this, but men are another stupid stuff because they will not respect a woman who loves them, who is chaste, who is good, who wants them to be collective, who wants them to give, to be charitable, who wants that Sahaja Yoga should be promoted and the one who wants that her husband should be happy and joyous and that he should come to Sahaja Yoga as well. Instead of that they run after some funny, stupid women. What is there to be so attracted towards bhootish women? Must be some bhoots in them. I don’t know that, the way they get attracted … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

If you have your own powers, ultimately,  he’ll have to come and understand what you are

” … Also the men must realize that they have to respect women. I mean not to such an extent that she tells you to do something wrong, you just get lost with this. That’s not the way. That’s slavishness. Men have to be men. In no way means the women are dominated by men. If you have your own powers, ultimately, whatever may be the husband, he’ll have to come and understand what you are. He’ll have to know what you are. I’ve seen it many a times in My own lifetime that it is done that way … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

If your wife is a chaste woman you should respect her

” … Please understand, if your wife is a chaste woman then you have no right, in no way, to trouble. Not only that she should be respectable, but you should see that everyone respects her, nobody insults her, you should stand by her. You should be identified with her.

But if she is not a chaste woman and if she is that kind, better keep out. I do not have that much courage to say, “All right. Go ahead with her and I’ll look after.” It’s very difficult. I don’t know what complications might come … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, TURKEY

Complementary, but not similar

” … Unfortunately, men have utilized muscle power to gain a dominating position over women. They have not recognized that women are complementary and equal, but not similar partners in human endeavours. A society that does not recognize this fundamental truth and does not give to women their rightful role is not a civilized society … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

Men must respect the great qualities in women

” … 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 … “

1997 SHAKTI PUJA, KALWE, INDIA

She receives her authority from you

” … 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 … “

1997 SHAKTI PUJA, K ALWE, INDIA

You must bring a good name to Sahaja Yoga

” …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, there 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 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 … “

1997 SHAKTI PUJA, KALWE, INDIA

The dignity of a mother must be respected

” … I’m sure you all must have respected your mothers very much. But now as mothers, I don’t know if you will be respected. Once this is established, that a mother itself is the highest position a woman can reach, and she is to be respected, all the priorities will change among women also. Because what can they do? They have no place as mothers, so they just get fed up of their children, they think, “What’s the use of this motherhood? It’s a thankless job.” All this can only change, when man changes within himself, when the transformation takes place … “

1982 HEART, VISHUDDHI, AGNYA AND SAHASRARA, UK

A man cannot take interest in other women

” … But, there are some things that a man cannot do. Is, you see, like taking interest in women. Some men are so hot you know, horrible and absolutely, one cannot understand the way they take interest in women. What dresses women wear sort of thing, you know. All this rat-like behaviour. Its horrible. And this cannot be manly. That means that they are such slaves of women . . . “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

Don’t say to any woman like “You are looking very beautiful

” . . . But this kind of a thing you say about somebody, to an Indian woman if you pass such a remark, to an Indian ordinary woman, she would commit suicide. Is never said that anybody comes and says, “You are looking very beautiful.” It’s all right, you can say to your mother, “You’re looking nice,” is all right, that’s different. But you don’t say to any woman like that. You have to turn yourself out … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, UK

DOMINATION What will happen?

” …Now, if the brain starts dominating the heart too much, what will happen? Then there will be dryness. You see like many men are very meticulous, very particular; they are headaches, absolute headaches to themselves, to others and to the whole society. Such people can become extremely dry. And they can become all the time, you see, like they can never enjoy their wives, they can never enjoy their children, they can not enjoy anything whatsoever – you see. Because they are so particular … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

You might get a right heart

“…But if you encourage and run after such women who are no good, means collectively they should be good; if collectively they do not act well, collectively if they are aggressive, collectively if they are tormenting others, then such women should not be encouraged at all .. Of course there’s no need to beat, but I mean to say that, what is it, that you have to drive out all these bad has from your women. Very important. Otherwise, if you fall in this activity of keeping your wives on right lines, you might also get a right heart and asthma ultimately. Because your wife and you are part of the society. And the society has certain laws which are very important … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Not to be like cabbages

“…Here only the women talk, I have seen. Men do not talk. If you see a television, only the women are talking. Men never talk. A child has died, it is the mother who is talking. I don’t know how she can talk when her child is dead. She’s the one who will talk. And the father will be unhappy, like a mouse sitting there, keeping shut. So many times I have told Sahaja Yogis in England and elsewhere that you are like cabbages. If you behave like this, the day will come when you all will be destroyed by these horrible women … “

1988 THE ROLE OF WOMEN, UK

I feel we have to educate men more than women

“…All the fundamentalists who talk of religion expect women to be absolutely moral and the men can do whatever they like. I feel we have to educate men more than women, because the idea of war comes also only from the men … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

ALERTNESS

Alertness about the feelings of others

” … Same with the men I have seen. It’s not with the women, but men do not have that alertness that they should have. There’s no communication among themselves. They have more alertness because they are right sided, but they have no alertness about the feelings of others. Like, there’s a husband who is very rude to his wife, always insults her. Even then if he misbehaves, then tell him: “No water available for you, do what you like.” Such punishment should be given to a man who misbehaves, who has no emotional feelings towards his wife, who ill-treats. Or somebody who is very romantic, also you should make fun of that person … “

1991 SHRI HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

Alertness as to how the money is spent

“…This is the alertness of men, is very important to see. Also they should be alert as to how the money is spent. You know very well how they have made money out of Me in San Diego ashram. Nobody bothered even to find out, what’s happening to this. They’re paying their rent – finished! Where are they spending? What are they doing about it? Nobody knows about it.

I asked them, “Did you find out where they were sending money? Did they send Me the money, My rents, things?” Nothing!

“We don’t know, Mother. We didn’t see. We didn’t bother.” There should be alertness as to how much money is going where, where it is spent, how much you have got, this thing. You go to an ashram, you ask them, “Now, how much money you have got?” In short, you don’t know how much money you have got. “No, Mother, You know we went to that place, and then we bought twenty tins of fish, so all money was exhausted.”

“But why? Why did you buy twenty tins of fish?” “Because the women said ‘You’d better buy twenty fish.’” “How many there are to eat?”

Like that, they have no idea, no alertness, nothing, it’s all a mess. What time people get up, what time they sleep, what time, what they do; there is no alertness about it, because in Sahaja Yoga you are your own guru. Everybody’s guru. A great guru they are!

You are your own guru no doubt, but you must have that self- discipline. To be a guru you have to be self-disciplined and a determination, complete determination to rise higher, to ascend by whatever means possible, whatever is needed for your ascent. That is a sign of a person who will be a guru.

There’s no communication. There’s a communication gap. There’s no understanding of each other. There are problems. There’s no emotional attachment to anyone. That’s not an ashram … “

1991 SHRI HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

So that alertness should be there

” … Unless and until you realize this, the alertness about it, our ashrams are just like orphanages. People like a leader to be sweet, sweetie-pie, so that they can eat very well. Or somebody overly strict comes in. He’s another Hitler. There’s no discretion that you have to be strict, at the same time you have to be loving, caring, protecting.

Many things can be said in humour. That doesn’t give such a sting to people. But a Sahaja Yogi should think, highly honoured that Mother is saying something to him, that you have to do this or do that, that She’s so much bothered about you, about your family, about your children, about your ashram.

So that alertness should be also in the minds of the men of the ashram: how to behave, how to talk, what to say. You are the mouthpieces of God Almighty. How can you waste your time chatting? So it is to be realized how to behave, for a person who is the mouthpiece of God. You represent Him, actually. How you should dress up, how you should walk, how you should sit, how you should eat. ‘

I was surprised that people are drinking beer in the ashram. I mean, it is non-alcoholic. But it’s beer, made of molasses. But, anyway, it is beer. How can you drink that molasses business? Have you ever been near any sugar factory? The smell of the molasses! You are consuming that!

So whatever you are eating, whatever you are spending, whatever you are talking, I mean whatever is the extroversion, whatever is outside, must express your inside … “

1991 SHRI HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

BEING COMPETENT

You have to be first class, never justify your inefficiency, inadequacy or incompetence

“…So, we come to the point that we have to be active. We have to be active producing more wealth. You see, not like taking out the wealth from here, putting to something else but we should produce more wealth. Now, how do you produce more wealth? We should see that. By changing forms, by anything, we should get to it, that we should produce more wealth.

For example, if Sahaja Yogis think that “All right, I’m not going to work and I’m going to sit at home and I’m just going to be a sort of a dishwasher.” That’s not the way.

Sahaja Yogis have not only to work, but work according to their deserving. Apart from that, they should improve. Like you see somebody, “Oh I’m all right, I can paint a little bit but if it is comes to something better painting then I think I’ll have to get somebody else.”

That means at least you don’t know even painting. You have to, in activity, you must know that you must perfect that profession. All the Sahaja Yogis must have a profession which is perfected. It’s not like this that “I’m just a waster.” All right, accept the situation, “I’m a waster, sitting like a waster and doing no activity.” Only, then the problems like the ones we had come up that you start earning money out of women, or do sort of useless things like swindling and telling stories, taking out money. So wasters are not allowed in Sahaja Yoga. Anybody who tries to be a waster will be thrown out. Never justify your inefficiency, inadequacy or incompetence. You have to be first class, competent people in every respect. There should be no diffidence in you. If there is diffidence you are no good for Sahaja Yoga. So, not that you should get after the money but Raja Lakshmi. Means, there should be complete activity of your complete manifestation of all your qualities.

Try to improve, try to improve! That doesn’t mean that you run a rat race, like a mad cap, nothing of Sahaja Yoga. Not that! It doesn’t mean that. I have to warn you there. But you should not be just a waster, you see, that you don’t have to pounce here and like a beggar you are moving about. This is not proper. Try to improve your conditions, try to improve your techniques, try to improve your competence and understanding of the whole subject. Whatever you take up, take up this or that. Get into it and work it out, sort it out. You should become … you can do it with Sahaja Yoga.

This is one of the big problems we have of Sahaja Yogis, do you know this? One of the biggest problems! Because nobody is impressed by you, nobody is impressed. They think some loonies have gathered around Me. Nobody is impressed. Everybody looks like a confused personality, you see, walking like this. They th ink that Mother must have mesmerized them and they are all moving like a wave to this and that.

So, today on a Diwali day we have to say that we will become more competent, experts in whatever we are doing. We have to be! We have to be people with impressions. Now, what impresses people in this world? Only two things. Either … in the beginning, in superficiality, only two things can impress in superficiality. Because firstly they are superficial. When they will see us, they’ll see our first impression. First, they will see what are you. I mean, if you look like a drunkard, nobody is going to come. If you look like a hippie, nobody is going to come. Nobody has any faith in hippies, I must tell you very frankly, anymore … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

ABOUT  JOBS & How  To INFLUENCE AND  IMPRESS PEOPLE

We have to be respectable people and have proper jobs

” … So now we must understand we must have proper jobs. We have to be respectable people. We must have proper qualifications. If possible, better to get some qualifications. You are all very intelligent people and you can get your qualifications. You should have a respectability in the society. Otherwise they’ll think that this Mother is the Mother of all the beggars.

So steady yourself, in your jobs, in your houses. To steady yourself you must learn not to change. The change makes you unsteady. Do you see the point? So there is no question of changing. “I’m going to go through it.” Then if it is necessary, if it is not workable, then one can change. It applies to everything …”

1985 SHRI DEVI PUJA, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

You must impress others with your example

” … Now, people when they speak, either they cannot impress or they go on like mad, they put on their heads and say something. That’s not the way. You must practice it. Go to the sea, go anywhere in the open, say loudly. You can go, say for example, to this Hyde Park and say loudly what you have say. Say it loud, practice it. Say how you say. Practice it. Overcome your defects. Do not enjoy your defects, it’s not the way. Now, no more time left for that kind of a thing. Because, you see, there’s no impression of people on others. They are not impressed by you. You see with Me whatever is impressed is all right. But you have to become the gurus, you have to become the leaders. And, the impression should be on people that you are people who are smart at it, you know the job, you know how to speak, how to present sahaja Yoga and do it in a way that’s congenial, loving, affectionate and not like a volcanic stuff also. Sometimes, you see, people get very volcanic with others. That also! With complete poise and self-control, self-control.

This is only achieved through self-discipline. You must discipline yourself and do not waste yourself, must have self-esteem. This is one of the biggest lackings in Sahaja Yoga today. There’s no impression on people. And, this is what one has to do in your dressing up, how you talk to people, how you behave – that’s very important in the outside. But inside if there’s all the time you harp upon it, “Oh, I can’t do it. This is not for me. This much I can do.” Then you have not been kind to yourself and to anyone. So, come up to it . .. “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

Self-control in your behaviour 

” …So, for your Raja Lakshmi, for your Gruha Lakshmi it is important that you should have self-control in your behaviour, how you talk. When you talk, if you talk like a cheap person or like a person who is dosed with something then nobody is going to be impressed. How you behave is very important. How you sit, how you talk … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

We must know how much control we have upon ourselves

” … That is very important. For example, some people have no proper image and they try to influence others, so it’s a mockery. Nobody gets influenced by such a person who himself has no image of his own. So before working out the exterior, the interior must be worked out.

For example, a person who always comes late to the office, and is always delayed, has no time-sense, is never respected. So when you tell people that they should be on time, you should be the first to arrive at the right time. You must always keep the time, absolutely. You should be known for keeping time. So if you have to go to the office at ten o’clock, you reach the office in such a way that you are there five minutes too early, wait outside end enter the office at the time when you have to go there.

That punctuality is very important. That helps people and people get an awe for you. They think, “this gentleman is so regular and I’m the one who is absolutely late.” Also, if you tell somebody that “I have to meet at such and such a time,” and “this should be arranged at such and such a time,” then you should be absolutely punctual. It’s very important that the punctuality is to be maintained by you … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

You cannot influence people at all if you are yourself a lazy person

” … Now I’ve seen, in the West especially, that people get up very late, are very lazy. They walk in a lumpy manner and the whole thing shows that they are not interested in the world. They are just pushed into it, and somehow or other they are doing. Such a person can never influence anyone, because people also see your image, that you yourself are dragging your life somehow. So why to do the same thing, whatever he is doing. He cannot tell us anything. So that is another reason why you cannot influence people at all, if you are yourself a lazy person.

So, the person who has to influence others must be an early riser, must have proper habits of sleeping, must get up in the morning and be properly brushed, washed end everything, and should be what we call a smart man … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Your self-confidence must be shown through all your behaviour, like talking, walking, sitting and communicating

” … It is very important that, when you are talking to people, you should have a proper style of talking, walking. A proper style. This should all be trimmed down properly, that you don’t walk in a languid manner, in a manner of throwing your legs here and there, but straight, and sit down straight. And let people see that you have faith in yourself first of all. If you don’t have faith in yourself … I mean, any behaviour that shows that you have no faith in yourself – you cannot influence others.

So your self-confidence must be shown through all your behaviour, like talking, walking, sitting and communicating. There should be a feeling of confidence. But the confidence comes with a person when he realises that he is completely secure. And in Sahaja Yoga you know that if your centre heart is secure, tell yourself, “Mother is with me. Mother is helping me, and I’m with Mother. I have nothing to worry.” Then your centre heart will be alright. Of course, this you cannot tell to others. But still, if you have personality, you can imbibe that into others very simply.

But if you are diffident about yourself then you cannot do it. So confidence is to be established first of all within yourself. For Sahaja Yogis it’s very easy to say, “I am the spirit, and I am the child. I am the one who has been chosen by the Adi Shakti Herself.” So there should be a tremendous amount of confidence in you … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

All these things are watched by others. How you eat. How you talk

” . .. For example, when you are with people, how do you eat your food? Some people open their mouth all the time, eat their food with a sort of a sound. All these things are watched by others. How you eat. How you talk. Normally you should not keep your mouth open. You can never influence people. Keep your mouth – not pursed either, but in a normal way – closed so that people don’t think that you are just gaping at them if you keep your mouth open all the time.

Or they should not think that you are aggressive with them or angry. But have a normal face, a face that is neither aggressive nor it is subservient. Suppose if you keep a gaping mouth, they’ll think, “Oh, he’s an idiot.” And if you purse your lips they’ll think you are a person of an aggressive nature. So one has to understand how you are sitting before others, talking to others. And to influence others, first of all, as I said, you must respect your own personality, and then respect the personality of other people in your behaviour … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Talk to them in a very gentle manner

“…Like when somebody comes in you should talk to them in a very gentle manner – knowing that there is another God who is coming in. If there is spirit in me, there is spirit in him also. So you must see that he sits properly, that he is comfortable, and ask him if he wants any tea. Make him comfortable. Make him feel that you are not in any way disturbed, nor that you are irritated, but you are very happy to meet him and you should settle down with kindness.

Sometimes also in diffidence one might feel nervous about a person. That nervousness is a sign of insecurity. One should not be nervous if one is talking to someone. One should be in a way that another person should feel absolutely confident and should feel that this gentleman is very pleasant … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Allow others to talk

“…Another way to impress people is to allow others to talk. Listen to them properly. Not talk yourself, listen to them. And once they’ve said something, say, “That is true no doubt. I agree with you … but.” Then you can start. So you don’t just stun them by your, “No! Not at all!” – like that. But on the contrary, you see what they say. You can watch me, I do that many times. When somebody says something, “Oh, that is true, but you see, this is it…” So they don’t mind. They think that you have seen the other side of the thing also, that you have a balance, you don’t just impress your idea upon others.

In a way you are, but you do it in such a way that nobody feels the impact that you are doing something of that kind … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Don’t tell anybody to do anything

” … Now, as far as possible don’t tell anybody to do anything. That hurts people. For example, when I tell you people, “Do this. Put the lights off.” After all, you are My children. It’s alright, it is a different relationship. But when you are dealing with others, like somebody is there sitting – if you want to put on the light, slowly, while talking, you get up and put on the light. Ask him, “Do you mind if I put on the light?” Any behavioural aggression is the first impression … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Now the dress also, I’d say dress is very important in influencing others

” … Now supposing you are connected with somebody in an official way, or in any way that you want to influence him in the business and all that. The best thing is to wear business dress, not dress that is relaxed or casual. You must wear a dress that is a business dress, like a deep blue suit with a lot of stripes, a proper three-piece smart thing, and smart, clean shoes, and the hair nicely done, maybe a little bit oiled, it’s alright. Look like a smart business person.

But if you try to do the fashions of the world, you see, then it changes everyday. Today the hair will be this side, tomorrow that side. So make the hair style as an official would do, that is to properly comb it. In the olden days, if you see, even the heroes of the film used to have oil in their hair. They never had this kind of hair that is dry. I mean, it need not be oil, but should be properly groomed as they say. There are lots of things available in the market which can just groom your hair without oiling it. It should be properly groomed hair so that it shows that you have paid attention to your appearance and hairstyle. So you make an image out of yourself that is absolutely suitable for a particular type of a job.

Now, for example, if a cook appears in a swimming suit, what would you think of that? It’s horrid! A cook has to dress up like a cook. In the same way, a businessman also has to dress up like a businessman. You cannot go about in jeans in your office. Because, if you do it, everybody will do it. And all these things are creating laxity. Laxity is alright outside the office, outside your business, alright. But not when you have the business … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Dress makes a difference for proper articulation

” … Another incident I’ll give you: In C.P.’s office there was a lady who came in jeans, and C.P. called her and said, “Madame, I will not have this. You can wear trousers, or you can wear some sensible dress, but not these jeans.”

She said, “No but sir, these days it is good.”

He said, “Yes it’s alright. You can wear it in the street, you can wear it in the house, you can wear it anywhere – but not in the office.”

She said, “No Sir, it cannot be so!”

He said, “Alright, then will you please resign. I won’t have you.” And she started wearing proper dresses. Because that really makes a difference, you see. Always a dress makes a difference for proper articulation. Absolutely … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

In dealing with others there is another point, that you have to be truthful

” .. . Don’t tell lies. If you have to tell something, then you have to tell it straightforward. But everything need not be told also, that is not telling lies. Whatever you have to tell you should say this much, that is all. But you shouldn’t tell one thing today, tomorrow another thing, the day-after tomorrow another thing. That creates a very big gap in the mind of a human being. Unconsciously he thinks, “Oh, he’s a cheat, and he is trying to evade the issue.”

Supposing now I’m talking to you, and then I start looking at the watch. That is insulting. Supposing you are talking about something particular and suddenly I change the topic, then it is again insulting, because everybody is intelligent to see that you are trying to avoid the issue. But up to a point you should take it and then, if the whole thing is ridiculous, you should bring it to a point … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

While talking to others, don’t talk about yourself

“…I am this and I am that.” No one likes that. It’s stupid to talk about yourself. “I have this thing. I am this thing.” Nothing. Now you just all the time ask, “What are you doing? What is your profession? How are you?” This. That. All sorts of questions to him … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

About your organization, you should always say ‘we’

“…Then you have to talk, say, about your organization, you shouldn’t say “I”, you should always say we – “We don’t do.” We. Always refer to the organisation and never to yourself – “I would not do such a thing” –“I hate it” – “I believe in it.” That is absolutely absurd. “What we have to do; That we believe; We think this way – and what is your opinion? We have this kind of a thing.”

Or anything that you want to tell them about your own organisation or your own product or anything. You have to tell them, “Now see, this is what is available. Now it is here and we have seen that it has done a lot of good and it works this way. And we have got very good reports about it. You can see the reports. We have the reports, here, you can see what it is. And, if you please, you can try it, and see for yourself ” … “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

Serve others

” … So what I am saying is, when you are marketing people you are at the other end. You are not to be serviced, but you have to service. Once you realise that you have to service others your attitude changes. You have to service others. Only through your services they are going to work out. I’ll tell you how . . . “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

To   make  people  responsible   is a very important  part of administration

“…If you start doing every work yourself, then people may never share your work. They will never do anything. To make them responsible, the best way is by rewarding them. You must reward them if somebody has done good work, “Oh, you have done such a good work!” But not directly like that, but in a very indirect manner you must reward that person. Not only in works, but in kind words – you can do it with kind, small things . .. “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

These are the tricks, you see, which I have naturally. But you can imbibe them also

“…Such little, little things make a difference, you see. When they are sick you must look after them. Find out if their children are sick, if their wives are sick. You should be concerned and you should be identified. An organisation you must treat like a family. Absolutely like a family. What’s wrong with her? Is she all right? Do you need any help? This thing, that thing. Send sometimes the flowers when the husband is sick, or the wife is sick. Or make enquiries about the children. All these things mean a lot.

Normally people, what they do, on a Christmas Day at the most they may send a card or something. But you can have in the organisation a proper card system. You should sign them yourself, and one line somewhere in the thing; I hope your wife is alright. I hope the children are alright. If you know the wife, “Please give my regards to her.” There is no need to make them drink like fish, but it is more to make them feel that they are loved and they are liked in the organisation, that they are very important. This kind of a thing . .. “

1986 LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

WOMEN

When we contemplate Shri Mataji’s life we can see that She is leading the kind of life of which every woman dreams. She has been a respected daughter, woman and wife; beautiful, magnetic and dynamic. She has a happy marriage and is a wonderful mother, grandmother and great- grandmother – loving, patient and playful. She is independent and plays an active role in society and is respected all over the world; spreading justice and peace, helping mankind on all levels, social as well as spiritual.

She leads an exemplary and extraordinary life, manifesting with full confidence and love all the qualities She has encouraged women to develop.

SHRI MATAJI  NIRMALA DEVI AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

Because I was protecting they could not say anything

” … Now, I will give you one of the examples in My own lifetime. I was in Delhi and that time this trouble had started of what you call the partition. And many people ran helter-skelter. And once I was just sitting outside My father’s house, I was knitting. Because Kalpana was to be born and I was knitting outside. And a lady came to Me and she said, “We are refugees, we have no place to go. And will You be able to give me some place in Your house?”

I said, “All right.” It was a huge house of My father. I said, “It is such a big house. And we have a space outside which you can use and also you can have a kitchen there and a bathroom. You can stay there.”

She said, “We have a friend and my husband. Can we stay here?” I said, “That’s all right.”

So we arranged for their stay there. And it so happened that people in My family didn’t like it very much. Especially My brother, you see, My husband told him that, “I wouldn’t like this lady to be here. God knows what sort of a lady she is.”

And My brother said, “Now, if She has said it, if my sister has said it, I can’t say anything; but She is the one who has to decide about this house. So it is Her job to decide. So I can’t say anything.” So, they all kept quiet about it. And, they stayed over.

And this man, her husband’s friend, was a Muslim. And there was a big riot in Delhi. Very big riot! And so many Hindus, you see, like these Jansanghis and fundamentalists – they had formed a horrible group which was killing many Muslims also. So, from the servants and all that they must have known that there is a Muslim staying in this house, you see. So, they came to My house, about five, six of them with clubs and this and that. So these people got frightened.

So I told this Muslim, I said, “You go and hide in My room. I’ll go and face them.” I went outside.

So they said, “We’ve heard that there is a Muslim in Your house.”

I said, “No, there isn’t.” Because that’s not their right to know. So, I said, “There isn’t any Muslim in this house.”

So they said, “We’ll have to go and search.”

I said, “You cannot. If you have to go, you have to kill Me and then go.” Now, they saw My big Tika and all that. I said, “You cannot get inside the house. If you have to go, I’ll stand here. You cannot go in My house at all. You cannot enter.”

So they left. They knew there was a Muslim otherwise I would not protest so much. But because I was protecting they could not say anything, just went out and the fellow was safe. Then this lady became very big, well known actress in India. She did lots of things. I mean the whole thing then changed … “

1981 MAHALAKSHMI PRINCIPLE, LONDON ASHRAM, UK

Our right is within ourselves, within our powers

” … I’m also a woman, as you know, and I also have a family. With all the powers that I have, I never show them that I own these powers. I always listened to My husband, obeyed him and though sometimes he was very unreasonable also. And he also came from a society which was more Islamic-oriented. But it was just a joke for Me, because I thought he’s just like a child. And I had to be very patient with him. He always says that because of My powers he earned everything in life. Always, in the presence of everyone he says so. I don’t know that part, but definitely I feel very satisfied with My own married life. I never think the way other people think that we must try to dominate the husband, we must fight him, we must have a right to do this. Our right is within ourselves, within our powers…”

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

I would never say anything

” … Supposing he gets angry, I would keep quiet. Alright? After all he has to fight outside and he has to take out temper on Me. What could I do? If he does this to others, they will beat him, so is better he takes out temper on Me. And I never, never felt that way that he is dominating Me. Only thing I thought is he’s taking out his temper.

But I’ve seen that whenever I said something to him, he thought. In his lifetime I’ve taken eleven decisions. And all these decisions he still remembers one by one and knows that it was very, very important. Other things I never tell him what to do. Whatever was most important is the principle. Now, he also realized that I have a very important mission. So he gave Me money, he gave Me time, gave Me all freedom. But first I had to establish Myself as a very sensible, devoted wife … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

Like when we had to fight the British I was only about seventeen, eighteen years of age and I was very active

” … You all can play a very great part, a great role in your countries. Like when we had to fight the British I was only about seventeen, eighteen years of age and I was very active. They gave me electric shocks, they made me sleep on the ice, did all kinds of things, but that time our country had to be free. But now we have to be free from our ego and conditionings … “

1994 LADIES’ PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNIS

ROLE MODELS OF GREAT WOMEN

SHRI LAKSHMI

She doesn’t  assert pressure on people

” … Now, this Lakshmi is the Goddess who stands on the lotus. She represents all the well-being, the wealth, the glory of wealth, the decoration of wealth; whichever is auspicious. Whatever is not auspicious is not wealth. According to Sahaja Yoga, or according to any scripture, it is not wealth at all. So She’s a lady who stands on a lotus, showing that a person who has got wealth has to be a person who does not assert his pressures on people, who doesn’t push people around, who doesn’t pressurize. And then, She’s a lady, She’s a mother… “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

She exists on Her own, no pressure

” …But the best is, She is just standing on the lotus. That means no pressure on anyone. She exists on Her own, no pressure. She doesn’t put any pressure on anyone. Just on Her own She stands and all Her weight, and all balanced on Her own dignity. This is the way a Lakshmi should be…”

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

When she is there,  only thing they can feel her fragrance like a lotus

” … That Lakshmi has got four hands and She stands on a lotus. And She is a body with a – which is I mean, not a slim type of a body. But She has a substantial body. But She stands on a lotus. Means, wherever She lives, you see, She doesn’t show Her presence by staying. She is so, so beautiful that She adjusts Herself even on a lotus. She doesn’t exert Her weight like cheap women do. Anywhere they go they’ll say, “Oh, I don’t like this and I like that. And I would like to have this. And, I would like to sleep in a place like this. And I like this type of thing.”

So the first quality of a woman with the Lakshmi is adjustment. No one feels her. When she is there, nobody feels. Only thing they can feel her fragrance like a lotus. I mean, that’s the sign of a woman who adjusts herself. She is not bothered about her own life, but she’s bothered about others . .. “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

She gives and protects

” … So then the seeking moves toward the deeper seeking. So the same Lakshmi becomes Mahalakshmi. When you start expanding yourself to higher and deeper valuables then this Lakshmi doesn’t lure you much; She’s just there for your glory, but not for your satisfaction. The wealth is there for distribution. You enjoy the – there’s no word for dhan, I think? Oh generosity – but generosity is different. But what I’m saying, generous fondness – it’s a fondness you see, that you should be generous. That is a very great happiness and joy that you feel. That is the greatest, when you are generous, when you give away. That’s a fondness, that’s a kind of a human expression of one’s own being, that you want to be generous. And this generosity only can come when Mahalakshmi principle is born in you. But at Lakshmi principle also She stands like this; Her hand is like this (giving) another is like this (protecting).

So miserliness is not a sign of wealth. I mean, if you are miserly that means you are not generous. If you are really wealthy why will you be miserly? It’s a simple equation, that means if you are really wealthy, you will just give away. If you cannot give away, then you are poor, you are a beggar. You are still hankering after that. That means you are still a beggar, you are hankering.

So this left hand, She is giving all the time, and with the right hand, She protects, see. She gives protection to people. The wealth must give protection to people, in the way it must look after the well-being of others, not your own self-indulgence; like having all the best things to yourself while others are starving. That’s not a sign of a wealthy man. A wealthy man is a person who knows that unless and until he shares his things with others, he is not going to be happy … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

So the first thing that Lakshmi gives you: the value system

“…Your value system is corrected. You evaluate yourself properly. Like, you know the value of this and value of that and value of this. But the value system for a divine person is not based on the amount of money or amount of matter it has, but it depends on what vibrations. So the whole evaluation system changes when you get into divine temperament, that you start seeing things – what is precious is what has the maximum vibrations. Whatever has vibrations is the precious thing for a realized soul. And not what is not divine. What is not divine, we have nothing. But you’ll be amazed, whatever is divine is all very precious … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

She must bear, she must be patient.And she should not demand at all

” … So, the well-being is not only that you have money. So what happens with that, to the well-being part of it? That, She has in one hand – Her hand is like this. That means that with one hand it should go, just go. She must bear, she must be patient. And she should not demand at all … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

Shri Lakshmi is the symbol of the completeness of womanhood

” … So I’ll try to tell you about the Lakshmi, the symbol of Lakshmi. Shri Lakshmi is the symbol of the completeness of womanhood. She brings wealth, prosperity, auspiciousness. She brings in understanding, generosity, peace and joy. She is the giver of all the blessings. The symbol of Lakshmi is that She stands on the lotus which is pink in colour. Pink colour is the warmth of motherhood. In

India even a small girl is called as mother. So in the various aspects of Lakshmi, the symbol is that first She is a very warm person. Also in one hand She has the lotus which is pink in colour that also is suggestive of Her warmth. Even a funny type of a moth with all kinds of thorns attached to his body enters into a lotus, he finds a place where he can rest. She makes all the guests to come in her house and have the best bed and the best food. Normally the men bring in a guest and the wife receives him and looks after him. So it is suggestive that we have to look after any type of a guest who comes to our house, and should completely devote ourselves to the looking after of the guest who is from outside.

She is standing on the lotus and wearing also a pink sari. That is, you have to have balance to stand on a thing like lotus because She is surrounded by water, and there are many animals around, beast-like people who try to entice Her, so She has to have a complete balance. Also She has two hands with the lotus and with two other hands She is giving, and with another hand She is blessing. This one means that she should be generous, she should be giving always to others, not for herself. She should not spend all the money on herself and nothing for the children or for the guests or for others. So it is the Lakshmi who has to give, who has to be generous . . . “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

So with your Lakshmi  awakened, why should you worry  about money?

” … This is how it is, always. Everything comes back to you when you are kind to others, or if you are generous to others. You will find later on yourself, and so many have already found that just money flows to them. They can’t understand from where the money is coming. Just it works out that you get money, whenever you want. You should not worry about money. Just forget it and it comes to you.

People who are all meticulously counting their money all the time, every morning, are never satisfied and also they haven’t got the blessings of any kind. But if you’ll just keep the worry of money to God, everything works out. So what do we understand? That it is all in

the hands of God Almighty. After coming to Sahaja Yoga you don’t have to worry about anything. Leave it in the hands of God and everything will work out. There is no need for you to go on telling people that “Oh, I am so much worried, I have no money, I have no money!” That shows that you are not yet Sahaja Yogis. So if you have to improve those who are your neighbours or your friends or your country, first of all you have to be very mature Sahaja Yogin is. So the Lakshmi is already awakened within you. She resides in your Nabhi Chakra. So with your Lakshmi awakened, why should you worry about money? … “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

A guest should be treated just like God

” … So the last day they worship the Goddess Lakshmi because it is Her blessings that brought forth all these beautiful meetings. And that’s why they worship Her – Lakshmi – as such. But there are nine types of Lakshmis within us, which I think I have told you sometime back.

Now in that Lakshmi Puja is this that you worship the Lakshmi herself. It doesn’t mean money – not at all. To worship money is wrong. But what it means that Lakshmi is the money which is with us, or whatever prosperity with Her should be very carefully spent because She is very mobile and the money can slip out. On the contrary you should not be at all miserly. Miserly people – Lakshmi is not happy. But if you want to spend, you must spend it in the right way otherwise the money is spent in the wrong way.

Now when the Lakshmi was created – must be knowing, out of the churning of the sea She came out – She had four hands. One hand was to give. She is generous, She gives. Like this She gives. And with one hand She blesses. These are Her two hands. One is to give and to bless the person. Very important it is that when you give to somebody something, you forget about it and you bless that person. Not only you give money, but also you bless that person.

The other two hands have got two lotuses of pink colour. Pink is the colour of love and a person who has money should have a house which is full of love. Any guest who comes in the house should be respected . He should be treated just like God. In India you have noticed how they think foreigners – foreigners means God to them. Here foreigner is a bad word, but in India is very respectable. If you are a foreigner means you are God. How they have looked after you, you know that – in India. This is the reason. This is the basic culture of India. That anybody who is a guest, he may be anything, if he is a guest then he is to be treated like God. In the other countries it’s just the other way round you know. If you are a foreigner then people think it’s not even proper to talk to that person. I don’t know how the mentality is like that – but not in Sahaj Yoga. Sahaja Yogis are not like that. They treat the guests very well, I have heard. They look after each other and they are beautifully collective. So this is what is the meaning of the lotus – is a house full of love. Like a beetle, which has got even thorns, when it comes to the lotus, the lotus open out and the beetle goes inside and sleeps very nicely and comfortably – even the beetle, undisturbed… “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

She comes out of the sea, becomes a Raja Lakshmi  and a Gruha

Lakshmi

“…So She has arisen out of the sea, so She is Miriam you can call Her. She is Marie, She is Marie. That’s why Christ’s Mother’s name was Mary because She came out of the sea. People, I don’t know if they think about it – why She was called Mary of all the things. Why this name Mary? Now, this power which came out of the sea, because the whole thing, the seeking started in the sea first of all as you know. It had to be in the sea because first the animals were born in the sea only. Becomes, when She comes out of the sea, becomes a Raja Lakshmi and a Gruha Lakshmi.

Raj Lakshmi is the one where collectively, collectively you enjoy your well being, Collectively on the right hand side, you can say. Like, we have some places which are for public usage here, public well-being. And Gruha Lakshmi is the one which is for the individual, individual well-being.

So, we have the essence of Lakshmi and then we have, when we evolved we started having our homes, houses, our own family, our own private life, our this thing. So, we had Gruha Lakshmi. And then we started having collective, like we can say the Queen represents here Raja Lakshmi. The queen represents here Raja Lakshmi of England. She is a symbol of that. Our queen here is the symbol of that Raja Lakshmi. You know, the word Raj means the kingdom or you can say the royal, royal side of the regality. So, when the Lakshmi is a regal Lakshmi, She is for collectivity. So the queen doesn’t live for herself, she lives for all the collective being. In the same way, the Raj Lakshmi is the One that is for all of us . … “

198I DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

The blessings otthe Lakshmi, which is otwell-being comes to you

” … Then you have your wife as Gruha Lakshmi. So we have to have a wife as Gruha Lakshmi. These two things one should understand very, very clearly because we confuse them. Wife is the Gruha Lakshmi, is the one – she is the goddess of the household. Now she has to be the goddess also, I mean she just doesn’t become goddess just by becoming. You have to become again. You have to become the goddess. And the goddess of the Gruha Lakshmi is, you can say, that the deity of the Gruha – of the house – is a Gruha Lakshmi.

Now, this deity must become one with the housewife. Then the blessings of the Lakshmi essence which is of well-being comes to you. If she is not the goddess, you will always suffer. You will always have problems; you will always have all kinds of untold miseries. It is her blessings which brings you solace, peace and redemption, redemption of everything. So, that’s why the left Nabhi is very important as we know and that is always bad in the West . .. “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

She’s the one who looks after your food, looks after your comfort, she protects you, she nourishes you, she gives you joy

“…So today’s day is, as I told you, the thirteenth day is the Goddess, Dhanteras it is called – is the day of the Gruha Lakshmi. She came as Gruha Lakshmi. In the household, the lady is the one who is the symbol of that Lakshmi, to begin with. Because she’s the one who looks after your food, looks after your comfort, she protects you, she nourishes you, she gives you joy. And the women who cannot do that are not Gruha Lakshmis, they are not the – housewife is a very poor word for that. They are the Gruha Lakshmis means they are the goddesses of the family … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

The first day is the day when the Gruhalaksmi is worshipped

“…Now today we’ll not have any havan, that we have decided because in the Diwali there is no need to have any havan, but we’ll have just the puja. Now today is the puja; as you know there are five days they celebrate there. The first day is the thirteenth day, where it is the Gruha Lakshmi’s day, that is the day when the Gruha Lakshmi is worshipped. But a Gruha Lakshmi has to be worthy of the worship, and then some utensil is given to the Gruha Lakshmi. Some sort of a utensil is to be given to the Gruha Lakshmi as a present. That is the day Lakshmi was born, Lakshmi was born out of the Mother Earth but She came out of the Sea, after the churning, so that is the birth of the Lakshmi. She’s the giver of wealth, wealth which is material as well as spiritual … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, UK

The first day is the worship of the housewife

“…These five days are all put together. So they have different aspects, but in every aspect there’s one common point, is that the Goddess plays the main role. Now the first day is the worship of the housewife, where you have to buy some sort of a utensil for the kitchen or for the use of the wife, or could be a present for the wife … “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

The first lady is the Raj Lakshmi

” … If supposing a man is a president, is there and his wife is a very funny woman like this Kennedy’s wife was. There can never be peace. Neither in the society nor … because wherever she’ll go, she’ll create a problem, you see. She’ll go to a society, she being the first lady everybody will try to follow her. You see – here also, you know that when Queen Elizabeth (the First) had some sort of a problem on her neck, she had some sort of a patch or something. So, she started using a collar. And, everybody had that Elizabethan collar.You see, all this thing -like whatever problems say, Victoria had and she made a dress, others had to wear the same types of dress.

So, all the collective patterns and fashions and all those things come through this first lady. So, the first lady is the Raj Lakshmi. And, one has to respect that Raj Lakshmi as the woman, the queen . .. “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

Raj Lakshmi comes through the activity of the people

“… One has to have the dignity, the serenity of a Raj Lakshmi. And that Raj Lakshmi is very important for England because we are missing in Raj Lakshmi nowadays. And that Raj Lakshmi comes through the activity of the people. And if you are inactive, Raj Lakshmi will go down .. . “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

A Raja Lakshmi is the one who is the glory of the country

” … A Raja Lakshmi is a dignified queen. She is the one who is the glory of the country, she has to be a glorious woman. She has to be a woman with all the attributes of a queen. And that is the Raja Lakshmi: is the queen, or the goddess that is the queen.

And She resides in every country. Every country has a Gruha Lakshmi. And if that is insulted, then the people … they will suffer in so many ways, like they will have money problems, they’ll have financial problems. They’ll also have problems of society, all kinds of things. Because whatever the queen does, whatever the king does, it is done by others. But especially the queen. Most of the fashions – say, in England – have come because the queen started it. So whatever she does is so important, and she has to have that idea in her that she’s the goddess. She has to represent that goddess which resides in every country. So that is the Raja Lakshmi … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

Raja Lakshmi is the giver of balance and dignity

” … But this ego can be easily managed if you worship the Raja

Lakshmi. She is the giver of balance.

Firstly, She rides on the elephant. Is not easy for a lady to climb on an elephant, I have done it, it’s not easy. Without fear, She sits straight with a complete balanced attitude. And Her blessings are tremendous. The first blessing one gets is the imbibing of dignity. Dignity of a king, dignity of a queen. You are a queen so you can’t behave like street women. With Her blessing first of all you get that dignity. That dignity is full of love. Love for others. That personality emits nothing but love and benevolence for others, nothing else. Wherever She looks, in every glance She blesses people. She doesn’t expect anything. She is a queen, what can you give to the queen? She’s the highest of all in every way, what can you give to Her? … “

1994 SHRI RAJA LAKSHMI PUJA, NEW DELHI

You also develop a temperament which is humorous and understanding

” … Then the second blessing of the Goddess (Raja Lakshmi) is that you develop a kind of a temperament which is very dignified, but also very humorous and understanding what other people are like.

There’s a story of a king who was going on a horse and he met a drunkard. So you can say this, our drunkard can be compared to our politicians. So the drunkard stopped. He said, “I want to buy your horse.”

People said, “Do you know what he is?”

“Yes, I know he’s a king. Alright, so what? I want to buy his horse.”

He said, “Alright not today, tomorrow we’ll sell the horse to you.” So he went away. Next day he was called. So he came with folded hands bent down. He said, “What, you were the one who was going to buy my horse, what has happened to you? I want to sell it to you.”

He said, “Sir, the one who wanted to buy is dead. I’m an ordinary person.”

Such a personality, such solid personality I should say, that anybody would have been angry, would have said beat this man, throw him away, he talks to me like this, behaves like this. What the king said was remarkable. Because he knew he’s drunk, he knew he’s not in his senses, that’s why he’s talking. Didn’t get angry with him, he said, “All right come along tomorrow, I’ll sell you the horse.”

That’s only possible if you have this Raja Lakshmi in you otherwise you would never behave like this … “

1994 SHRI RAJA LAKSHMI PUJA, NEW DELHI

She’s not sitting there to show off

” … Now how people misuse the scriptures also one should see. That Raja Lakshmi is sitting on the elephant alright, so they should have all very big cars, you see. She is sitting on the elephant because elephant is the highest animal, is very kind, very forgiving and has such a tremendous memory. That’s why She’s sitting on an elephant. She’s not sitting there to show off, but She’s sitting there to see around, what is happening. Avalokan – She can see around what is happening, to be at a higher place. That’s why a king is made to sit on a higher pedestal. But the purpose is not to show off. But the purpose is that from that state he can see others better, he can be watchful of others … “

1994 SHRI RAJA LAKSHMI PUJA, NEW DELHI

N ames of Shri Laxmi : Mahalakshmi has eight aspects

” … First, Adya Lakshmi Adya Lakshmi means Mahalakshmi. Second, Vidya Lakshmi Vidya is the art of Sahaja Yoga, which you know. That is vidya, the rest is all avidya. How to raise the Kundalini, how to awaken all the Deities, how to cleanse yourself, how to cleanse others, all the knowledge, all the sides about that is called as Vidya, the Lakshmi one. Lakshmi is the grace, awareness that is gracious.

SobhAgnya Lakshmi SobhAgnya means good fortune. The Lakshmi that gives you fortune in everything, like she gives you good fortune in money, in your living, in your food, in any way. Any good fortune is given through God, it’s only God who gives good fortune.

Amruta Lakshmi Amruta means the thing that does not die. In this world Lakshmi exists as your wealth. Now the wealth that does not die, which is that thing? Is the Spirit. So the grace of the Spirit is the Amruta Lakshmi. … the rest of the things will die out, and whatever is done through the Spirit, to please the Spirit, is the Amruta Lakshmi. For example, loving others …. loving means giving without any expectations, just giving and enjoying. The greatest is to give vibrations. Vibrations cannot die.

Gruha Lakshmi and Raj Lakshmi You know that.

Satya Lakshmi I told you – awareness. She is the one who has given you awareness. Awareness is Lakshmi’s character. Satya, which means the truth. As you rise in your awareness you know the truth … What is the truth? What you are aware of? You are aware that you are the instrument of God and that He is working through you. You are aware of that because is flowing on your central nervous system. This is the truth for which you have to be aware. What is the other truth? Is, who are you? That you are the Spirit, and the third truth is, who am I? And so speaking, who is God, what is your destiny? If they become your awareness, then you have got Satya Lakshmi.

Bhogya Lakshmi Bhog means the one by which you enjoy …. 1 mean, is like the whole ocean of joy is around you and you are like a bird who cannot drink it. Only through the grace of Bhogya Lakshmi you can enjoy.

Yoga Lakshmi  The Lakshmi’s power which gives you yoga.

Lakshmi supports your power of yoga by giving you awareness …. so Yoga Lakshmi is the power by which you go to yoga …. and then once you have achieved your yoga you get the grace. Lakshmi is the grace. So you get the grace of a saint.

SHRI SITA

That’s the grace of a woman

“…Now this man had to give up His wife. In this contrast you can see the wave rising and falling of a personality. The society in which He lived, the state which He ruled, had an objection for a wife who had lived with Ravana, and the public started talking about it. So as a good king He just decided that His wife should be left forever. And then He sent Her on a beautiful chariot with His prime minister and His brother, Lakshmana, who took Her down and left Her, told Her, this is what has happened and that Shri Rama has asked us to take you down to the ashram of Valmiki. As a result of that She got very upset and She said – She was Adi Shakti so She doesn’t have to bother – She said, “You just leave Me here.” Very self-respecting person. She didn’t say, “No, no, no, no, I’ll come to Him” or “I’ll sue Him. I’ll go in the courts, get all His money. How dare He throw me out.” Nothing of the kind. That’s the grace of a woman.

Graciously She said, “All right, now you have listened to your brother. I’m your sister-in-law, elder too. Now you obey Me. And I tell you, as your sister-in-law, that you can now go. Leave Me here alone and I don’t want you to go any further with Me to deport Me with somebody.”

And She was pregnant. Here if it happens, of course horrible things can happen, but in India if such a thing happens, the wife will kill herself or she won’t be able to bear it. I think both things are just the same, an escape. If there’s no aggression then there is recession. But She said, “No. I have to give birth to these two children. I can look after Myself, all right. Graciously He’s done it, I have nothing and please tell Him not to worry about Me.” And She told Shri Lakshmana that, “All right, you look after Him, that’s all I want.” And She told the chief minister – the mantri, that “You must look after the kingdom” … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

So satisfied with themselves, so much in balance, so much full of confidence and strength. This is the message of Sita’s life

“…See the dignity, see the balance, see the character, the personality of Shri Rama. He was called as Maryada Purushottama. And look at His wife. She was equal to Him in every way. When She was kept by Ravana, Ravana was so frightened of Her Shakti that he would not touch Her. He used to frighten Her, say “I’ll do this to the women of India. I’ll do this to the women of the world. I’ll do that kind of a horrible thing. I’ll take another birth. I’ll misbehave.”

She said, “Do what you like. You cannot touch Me.”

He could not touch Her hand, he was so frightened. And when Hanumana brought the ring of Shri Rama and presented to Her and said that this is the ring of Shri Rama, She said, “Yes, I know. How is He?”

He said, “All right.” So He said, “Mother, I can take You on my back. I can easily take You. You come on My back and I’ll take You.”

She said, “No. I won’t go with You. It’s Shri Rama who is a brave king, He should come Himself, fight this Ravana, kill him because he’s evil, and then I will go with Him with all the glory.”

She was not frightened of anything. For Her, the important thing was that Ravana should be killed. He’s evil and he should be killed by Rama. Such a great courage for a woman. Both sides if you see you’ll be surprised that how a woman’s character is such a powerful thing. It’s not a reactionary thing, “My husband is like this, that’s why I’m like that.” Or, “My husband doesn’t do this for me, that’s why I’m like that – My husband is gone away so I’m finished – What am I to do without my husband?” Nothing of the kind. She stands on Her feet.

She said “No” to Hanumana and She stands on Her feet and She says, “When Rama will come and kill this evil and remove this evil from this earth, then only He can take Me with Him. I won’t go with You. I won’t escape. I won’t run away. Nothing. I am going to face it Myself here.” For a woman it is too much to say, to be imprisoned in a horrible person’s jail or in a place which is so dangerous for Her, to say that “I won’t go. Whatever you may try, whatever tricks you may try, whatever you may say. I won’t go.” Just imagine. And Ravana was such a horrid fellow. He did all kinds of things to Her but She kept absolutely calm and quiet, waiting for Her husband to come back. Can we think of such women in modern times? So satisfied with themselves, so much in balance, so much full of confidence and strength. This is the message of Sita’s life … “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

The woman has to be a Gruha Lakshmi with a very sweet nature

“… So it has something to do with money, in the sense, because Sitaji was Shri Lakshmi and Sitaji was the one who was the power of Shri Rama. So the Shri Lakshmi also gets annoyed with you when you are a bad father or a bad husband. That’s why the Gruha Lakshmi is very important.

But the woman has to be the Gruha Lakshmi. She should not be a shrew and then the husband is supposed to be kind to her. Then it’s spoiling. That’s very bad. The woman has to be a Gruha Lakshmi, a beautiful woman with a very sweet nature and talking to her husband in a very sankoch manner and also looking after the children, looking after the family and looking after the guests who come to their house…”

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

OTHER EXAMPLES OF GREAT WOMEN Fatima incarnated the principle of the left nabhi

” … So we have Ali and his wife, Fatima, who incarnated on the principle of the left nabhi. She stayed in Her house, in Her household, and She observed what you call a kind of a purdah or nakaab as they call it – to cover Her face – is a symbol that a woman who is a housewife has to save Her chastity by covering Her face, because She was a beautiful woman and they were born in a country which was very, very violent, and She would have been definitely attacked in case She had not lived in that kind offashion.

As you know, in the time of Christ, though Mary was Mahalakshmi’s incarnation, had to be a very, very potential personality and Christ did not want anybody to know what She was.

But though She was in the house, She was Shakti so She allowed her sons – or actually ordered them – to fight those fanatics who were trying to deny the authority of Her husband and you know they – Hassan and Hussein – they were killed there. It’s a very beautiful thing how the Mahalakshmi tattwa of Sita took a form of Vishnu maya just to establish the beautiful principle of a housewife. Now She was very powerful, no doubt, and She knew that Her children would be killed but these people are never killed, they never die, nor do they suffer – it’s a drama they have to play to show people how stupid they are … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

The Indian women are capable of tremendous things

” … The same sari what you are wearing, even the saris of the nine yards, we have had queens who fought the English. You have must heard about Jahnsi Ki Rani. She was hardly of any age. She jumped from eighty feet height with her child behind her. She was a widow. And she fought the English. Left and right. And when she was killed, the person who was here as an Englishman, he said – the governor – he said, “We have won the war but the glory goes to Jhansi ki Rani.”

Then  we had  another one,  Chand-bibi – another  lady in Ahmednagar.  She fought. We  had so many women  like that. Tremendous type of women we had, though they lived like women. We had Padmini, we had Noor Jahan, we had Ahalyabai. So many women. They were not manly at all. Very women-like. There was, the last one was Shivaji’s daughter-in-law. She was only seventeen years of age. Seventeen years. And she fought this Aurangjeb and she was the one who defeated him. Nobody could manage this Aurangjeb – so horrible people. But she defeated him. So though, you see, the Indian women look so docile and simple – but when it comes to their personality, they are capable of tremendous things …”

1990 MARRIAGE, ADVICE TO WOMEN, INDIA

Padmini

” … There is a story I must tell you, very interesting about a very beautiful woman called Padmini. She was the wife of a king. And there was a horrible Muslim king who wanted to see this woman because he heard she was very beautiful. See, this was a funny thing. And she came, and he came to that kingdom and he said that “I must look at this lady, otherwise I’ll destroy the whole kingdom.” Now, people said “This can’t do, she’s our queen. She can’t, you can’t see our queen like that.”

She just thought “All right. He need not see me, but he might see my reflection.” So she stood before a mirror and he saw her reflection.

Then he became even more mad and he said that “I must have this woman. If you don’t give her to me, then I’ll destroy all of you.” Imagine a king doing all these nonsense for a woman. Shows what a useless fellow he was. So he brought all his army, everything and settled down near the fort where these people were and sent a message that “If you don’t send this lady to me, then I’m going to attack.”

They were not prepared, they didn’t know what to do, so they said that “Let us go and fight him. We cannot allow our queen to be given to him. It’s a question of prestige.” They took a hundred palanquins. You understand palanquin? They took hundred palanquins and in those hundred palanquins there were four warriors sitting with these arms and everything. And there were two who were carrying them. And they said: “All right. The queen is coming with her hundred maids.” The Muslims that time they were – the Muslim king was, I mean, he’s drank something-very happy that the queen was to come. So these people went there and came out of their palanquins and started fighting. They had told these women that “In case we win, by five o’clock in the morning we’ll light a fire and when you’ll see the fire then you know that we have won the race. But if we do not win, then you should know for definite that we have not won the battle.”

They were only, say, four hundred people or six hundred people, and thousands were with this man and he had guns, and guns and everything. So they started fighting. In that fight that Muslim king won because he had so much of power. And most of these people died. Even the king was killed. There was no fire lit at five o’clock so these women saw there was no fire lit. So they made a huge big platform of pyre and came down to the pyre and lit the fire and they all died. Three thousand women died because they didn’t want other men to touch them. Any other men coming and touching them means their chastity is finished … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

Princess Diana

“…I was surprised the way they praised Diana (Princess Diana from UK) for this – her death, you know. Of course I felt bad also that she should have death, but she had no maryadas ….. So from Sahaj point of view the whole thing was a big drama: necessary, very necessary to show that any woman who is compassionate, who is kind, is respected so much. I hope now English women will change their attitude towards others because this should be a big lesson that this lady, because she was so compassionate and good, that she was so much respected … “

1997 EVENING BEFORE SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

QUALITIES OF WOMEN

Shri Mataji has often said that women have a special role in society and that they have special qualities and powers. It is important to understand the importance of this role and to try to develop those

qualities.

Shri Mataji has encouraged women to maintain their chastity and self-respect. Rather than adopting manly qualities to achieve respect and recognition in society, women should endeavor to live up to their special role and use the powers they have within.

A SPECIAL ROLE

God has given you special qualities

” … So you have to now create a new tradition, a new age, a new personality, that personality that will give protection, nourishment, everything to children, and companionship and affection to your husbands. Women have been given so many qualities, because their lifestyle is more difficult than that of men. So I have to make one request to you that you must try to make yourself into a proper Sahaja Yogini. I will say I will give all full credit to Indian women, because they have created a beautiful society. We had a prime minister as a woman. But we had so many great warriors as women as leaders of the armies. But this was during wartime, not all the time. Otherwise they were just housewives.

So God has given you special qualities. If you want to improve on it,if you want to manifest them then you have to know that you are a woman and you have to be dignified like a woman … “

1980 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

She has so many beautiful  qualities

” …So a woman can make a man a charitable personality because she herself is charitable. She has so many beautiful qualities, she’s an artist and she can create beauty around her, in her household, in her family, in her society, everywhere … but no, women want to fight like men. They will have associations, they will have – what do you call that? – unions, unions. They would like to have unions to fight for their rights. I agree that some of the men have been extremely cruel, some of the laws are extremely cruel, this thing, that thing and that they have to be told. But this is not the way. There is another way of improving these men who try to destroy the women, because women have one very great quality, that Ganas are with them and Shri Ganapati is with them. He will never side with men, if they are chaste and do not try to show off their body and show off their beauty and want to make sort of a capital out of it. Such women are extremely powerful, extremely powerful and they show their valour when it comes to anything…”

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

It’s very great to be a woman because women have such powers

” … To be a woman is a very big thing. Your mother is a woman. You know how great it is to be a woman. It’s very great to be a woman because women have such powers. We have really, by competing with men, we have finished ourselves completely . .. “

1980 MARRIAGE AND COLLECTIVITY, UK

She has to be gracious

” … The women are responsible for the grace of the family. She has to be gracious. It doesn’t look nice for a woman to behave like a man because man need not be that gracious, as the woman is, he is after all a man. So it’s all right, I mean, in his behaviour, he need not be atrocious but, I mean, sort of, sometimes if he swears sometimes, doesn’t matter. You see, sometimes in a way, for a man. But for a woman it does, because she is a gracious thing … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

Your goal in life is to give power to your son, your husband, to all the society. The woman gives power

” … But these days it is becoming a very funny situation. I was surprised when I went to Italy also that how women have made themselves cheap. And they want to look attractive to every man. What is the need? It’s a joyless pursuit into which men are going and women are making themselves absolutely cheap. This cheapness of women is not going to give them any strength or joy. I know one feels very unhappy, the way men treat them, but you must have your own personality. You must have your own understanding that you are a woman, you are Shakti and nobody can suppress the Shakti. But if you do not keep to your own personality or to your chastity, then you cannot achieve your goal in life. And your goal in life is to give power to your son, your husband, to all the society. The woman gives power…”

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

SHE LOVES She’s the heart

” … So the woman’s position, if she understands how important it is, she would never feel let down or dominated if she knows she’s the heart. I think this is the point people – women, especially in the West, have lost and have forgotten and have not realized. If they had realized this point, there would have been much less problem … “

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

Love and compassion

“… Women in Sahaja Yoga are very important for Me. But the first thing they should have is a bearing power. And also they should have lots and lots of love and compassion. Supposing without Me there was – supposing in My place, say there was Christ. He would have seen the condition of Sahaja Yogis, He would have crucified Himself. Finished. Or if it was Krishna He would have taken a sudarshan  (discus) in His hand and would have cut everybody’s heads. Finished. If it was Rama He would have used His arrows and finished all of you. They would not have considered anything that you have to have patience, you have to look after, you have to bear, if you have to bear fruits.

So the women can only bear fruits. You can only produce children which are realized souls. But if you go on an ego trip, you are neither man nor woman. You become something in between. Neither here nor there. You are good for nothing … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

” … The woman must establish the role that she loves.”

1980 THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE, UK

Love is the best way to control anyone

” … So for a woman it doesn’t behove that she should be egoistical. It behoves better that she is more emotional. Like she could feel sad sometimes and sometimes the tears can come into her eyes, like you see even I start weeping sometimes. When I am leaving you I feel so sad. I don’t take out My hand and say “Sit down there, you do this.” I don’t talk like that, do I. I never even raise My voice. That only men can do.

Whatever they can do let them do it. What you can do, you can do it. Absolute womanhood is the climax for you. The complete womanhood is the climax. You should be an expert to be a woman. In cooking, in gardening, in looking after people, in loving and just that’s how you control everyone. Looking after, you see. You can be controlling everyone not by all nonsensical things as the men try to control, you see.

Love is the best way to control anyone. But love means sacrifice. But after some time you won’t feel any sacrifice. Once you start enjoying giving then it is no more a sacrifice … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

Woman’s potential to love is tremendous, tremendous

“… Why do you think of your mother so much? Because she sacrificed everything, but without knowing that she was sacrificing. She did so much for you. Woman’s potential to love is tremendous, tremendous. And this is what we have to learn from Fatima. She gave Her two children to be killed. She knew because She was, after all, Vishnumaya. She was the incarnation of Vishnumaya. She knew Her children will be killed, but still She sent Her children: “All right. Doesn’t matter. Even if I know that they are going to die, it’s all right.” Such bravery, such courage, such understanding of the duty of Her children.

Today we remember them as Hassan and Hussein. Supposing She had said: “No, no, no, no, don’t go for the war. Stay at home.” And if She had forced them not to go, then they would not have gone. We could not have talked about them today. In any case they would have been dead sometime, but the death of a hero they got because of their mother. Of course they were also a kind of incarnation, but the way She gave them absolutely complete encouragement: “Go and fight for the right thing,” because these fundamentalists were trying to bring their fanaticism … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

You should have very, very large hearts

“… So again the same thing comes to, that women have to have a heart – very large heart – beautiful heart. And your Guru is a Mother, so you have to be wonderful mothers and wonderful wives and should have very, very large hearts. So that all the selfishness, even this bank will collapse if you do that. It is existing because we have small hearts. If you have large hearts this will collapse – isn’t it? I have said it, especially because I’ve had many complaints about the women who are married here, some Indian women also. That’s why I’m telling you… “

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, ITALY

You have to be very simple, simple-hearted

” … This is what it is – that whatever you do, you do it with love. If you do it with love, you will be able to make it auspicious. But if there is no love, you are just doing for some purpose, then it is useless. So this is what is there for giving. Giving to the person like Shri Ram and to such a great incarnation, She (Shri Sita) just thought of her love and She gave it to Him. In the same way, you have to be very simple, simple-hearted and then you will know what is the best to be done … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

To control men, women must know how to give love

“… If a woman starts misbehaving, that’s the worst for the society. Men also start misbehaving. Men, as it is, are extroverts. So to control them, to put them as householders, the women must know how to give love. It’s not easy to run a house, it’s not easy to run your family, it’s not easy to look after your children. Very difficult. And those who have those qualities are the best women and they really achieve it … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

INTUITION

This intuition must be developed

“… In Sahaja Yoga all these men and women I have managed through My intuition. But the intuition of women in the West is very poor I must say, because they are very argumentative. So you see, the special quality with this intuition must be developed … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

Develop your intuition and live with your intuition

“…So try to develop your intuition and always say yes to everything, but whatever you know, will happen. But we, if we decide “No this should happen like this, it must be like this, it must be like that,” if you go on like that, you see then you will make everybody miserable and you will be miserable. Now if you have kept the cup like this, then you will say “No, like this.” Then husband will come and put like that. Then you will keep it like that. Go on like that, you see. But if you are a real woman you say “All right, keep it like that only, all right, keep it.” So immediately all the Ganas will come to help you. Either he will spill the whole tea on himself or he will break the ear of the cup. That’s how the Ganas will help you.

So you are the Devis. You see they will all look after you. If you want to be men, half-way and there, why should the Ganas be bothered about such half people? I’ve tried that many-a-times like that and I’ve seen people you see try to show off too much and they just don’t know how they get lost ultimately. You see, so the main thing is that you develop your intuition and live with your intuition and whatever is your intuition will come true, because intuition is coming from the Ganas. So the left side is to be developed in a way for Ganas to be pleased. And once you develop the Ganas with you nobody can touch you . .. “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

Intuition is nothing but the help of the Ganas

“… The discretion of the Ida Nadi is intuition. If you develop that discretion within you, through your meditative powers, you develop intuition. And intuition is nothing but the help of the Ganas, which are surrounding you. If you learn to take help from the Ganas you can become very intuitive and without much intelligence of yours you can say the right thing. The whole of Sahaja Yoga, I would say fifty percent at least out of that, is based on intuition. For that you have to develop a proper sense of Shri Ganesh. Shri Ganesh in it’s right sense you have to understand. From there it starts because he’s Ganapati, he’s the one who is the master, is the chief of all the Ganas. So the Ganas give you the intuition … “

1988 HAMSA PUJA, GERMANY

CHASTITY

And this is the sense of chastity the women must have first

” .. . We cannot put the responsibility on men. The way women move about, the way they behave, the way they are all the time. Here I was surprised that men will button their coats if they see a lady, and the lady will open her clothes, will – just the other way round it should be. What is there in a man’s body to hide? But a woman has to be respectable. If she has no respectability, she has no business to complain for all these things there are going on like rapes and all sorts of filth and dirt. As Sahaja Yogis, I would request you to pay attention to this side of your society, which is very important that how women in their foolishness are becoming slaves to the caprices of men.

In their esteem and glory they should stand, and must know that chastity is their power … “

1980 RAKSHABANDHAN, LONDON

Chastity is energy giving to the whole society

” … And you’ll be amazed, when you will know about it that how much the chastity of a woman is important and graceful and energy- giving to her and to the whole society, to her own brother, to her own father, mother and everyone, to her children. Because she is the one, really, who is the Shakti. And if she starts frittering away her Shakti like this then the Shakti of the whole community, the whole country disappears … “

1980 RAKSHABANDHAN, LONDON

“… I’ll tell you, in India,  is specially with women, they are extremely particular about their chastity, extremely particular …”

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, AUSTRALIA

lt is the culture of the Divine

” … We are so particular that others must respect us, other must give us homage, otherwise we get into tempers. Did you respect yourself? Do you respect yourself? It sounds sometimes to people in the West that Mother is trying to preach about Indian culture. Many people think that way. But I say that one has to learn science from the West. All right. One has to learn other things from the West, aesthetics, of course. Paintings and art, maybe, colour schemes. But culture you better learn from Indians. There’s dearth of culture, no culture at all, I find. What is this culture where a woman is supposed to expose her body? Is a prostitute’s culture, simple as that. Face it up. Where a woman is not supposed to respect her private parts is no culture whatsoever in the aesthetics of the Divine … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, UK

Until you really establish your high character, men cannot be improved

“… In such a way that you enjoy the bliss of Shri Ganesha. Is more for the ladies, I would say, than for the men. Because men suffer much more than women do. And that’s why women must be very careful. Develop very good relationships with your brothers. Unless and until you really establish your high character, men cannot be improved.

You have seen in India women don’t like it if anyone tries to look at them, or tries to touch them. They don’t like it. Women have killed themselves, burnt themselves up, thousands of them, because they thought some other people may come and touch their body. It’s so related to your Atma, to your Spirit. As if it is the body, innocence is the body of your Spirit. You all can be that, because you have become yoginis now. They were not yoginis, but they knew one thing – the power of their chastity. It’s more for ladies here, that they should try to generate that feeling of nobility, of chastity, of holiness around them, so that the men themselves respect them and develop that feeling within themselves … “

1985 ON MOOLADHARA, BIRMINGHAM, UK

“… But the greatest power of a woman is her chastity. If her chastity is disturbed, then she is a dangerous person, very dangerous.

She  cannot  only harm  her husband,  but also her children,  her society…”

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

“… In the Indian  culture women respect their chastity more than anything in this world. They can give up anything but not their chastity …”

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

That’s the point on which all her movement rotates

“… With all these experiences one learns one thing for definite, that woman is much more inward, she has much more powers, she is much more wise than other people are, if she keeps to her chastity. That’s the point on which all her movement rotates, all her personality rotates … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

The women have to be very dharmic and chaste

“… The women have to try to learn that they have to play a particular role in life. Now of course, the women have to be very dharmic and chaste. They have to be innocent by nature, not cunning and crafty …”

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

She is obedient to her own righteousness, virtues and qualities

“…Now some women think if they become flirtish then the husbands are better controlled. But their basic principle they lose, the basic Shakti that they have they lose, and they land up in difficulties. So the basic principle of a Gruha Lakshmi is to respect her chastity, to respect her chastity outside, inside. That is the steadiness of it. Of course most of the men take advantage of it. If the wife is docile or obedient, they make it a point that they just rule the wife left and right. All right? But this woman, the housewife, has to know that she is not docile. She is obedient to her own righteousness, to her own virtues, to her own qualities. If the husband is stupid, alright, he is stupid like a child, finished … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Her morality is her Shri Ganesha which emits this purity in her

“…More women are immoral in this matter, I should say. First, it was the men who used to do immorality, but now the women who are not only innocence, but also shakti, are trying to get into some sort of a shamelessness; no care of their own innocence. Their innocence is the Shakti. If a woman is not innocent, how can she have shakti? If she is leading an immoral life, then her shakti will be finished. Only her morality is her Shri Ganesha which emits this purity in her.

Now, I feel that the way people are pumping our heads with ideas, especially from Hollywood, we accept them and we forget that we are just hurting Shri Ganesha and He’ll come back on us. It starts at a very low level when we start hating our children … “

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Until women are  kept absolutely chaste,  absolutely pure, there cannot be the Kingdom of God.

“…At the time of Mohamed Saab there were struggles and fights and wars going on between different tribes. As a result, many, many young men were killed. Only quite old people survived and also so many women. This is the reason why Mohamed said that “You can marry four wives, five wives. But you cannot allow them to remain unmarried or they will have extramarital relationships. That will be the greatest fall for Islam, for that religion.” So He understood that unless and until women are kept absolutely chaste, absolutely pure, there cannot be the Kingdom of God … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

GENEROSITY, HOSPITALITYAND SATISFACTION She thinks of her generosity, she enjoys her generosity

“…But I think of a housewife is, “Oh, now, how much should I prepare?” For example, there will be fifty persons coming.

So the husband says, “But only ten are coming, why do you want to have for fifty persons?”

“But maybe they would like to eat more.” “But then why do you have fifty plates?”

“Maybe they might bring their friends.” So she thinks of her generosity. She enjoys her generosity … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Like this Mother Earth

“…Now for whom is the household? Is not for only herself, no, not for her husband, no, not for her children but for others to welcome. Like this Mother Earth has spread all these beautiful things for you to come and sit and enjoy . . . “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

She gives you everything so much, it’s the sustenance in Her

“…But they are very strict, “Don’t spoil this, keep this nice, keep that nice!” The husband comes home like a, as if like a criminal, you know. He has to be like a bull in a china shop, he has to be. It’s a good thing in a way. It’s nice he doesn’t know how to do anything, it’s even better for you. But to make him all the time slave, “Do this, you didn’t do this for me, do that for me,” is not the job of a housewife. Her job is like the Mother Earth – does She complain? Nothing. She gives you everything, so much – it’s the sustenance in Her … so dignity, such powers She has, what does She care for anybody giving her anything?… “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

They are the Annapurnas

” … But they want to express their love through the food, they are the givers of food – Annada. They are the Annapurnas and this is one of the qualities, the generosity, if a woman doesn’t have, she is not a Sahaja Yogini by any chance, take it from Me. Husband may be a little miserly – doesn’t matter – but wife has to be very generous and sometimes she secretly gives money – not to her own children, but to others. Such beautiful women have to be there in Sahaja Yoga … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

They should be able to cook and give with love to others

” … I mean it is, they have to feed everyone, everybody has to be looked after, at the end they should eat. Everybody must get a bed, they must see everybody sleeping now, they must cover all the children, everything, then they must sleep. But no, they sit down, they become mini-Matajis or greater than Matajis. “Get me this thing, get me that, this, do that, do this.” They don’t know how to cook, most of them. Every wife of a leader has to cook or learn cooking, it’s compulsory now. They have to cook, and with heart. They should be able to cook and give with love to others. That’s the minimum of Annapurna … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Woman is there to give proper understanding of feelings of others

” … So another point is that you must always consider the feelings of others. Woman is there to give proper understanding of feelings of others. What they think or they go to an Indian house which will be smelling of their food. They’ll eat the immediately they’ll pass a remark. Very Western idea. You will not find good Indians doing that, I don’t know about the modern Indians what sort of things they are. But immediately they say things which will hurt. This is not the way a woman should talk. On the contrary, always praise – what’s the harm? By praising something you are not losing your business. By saying, “What a nice thing, what a   same food, they’ll enjoy the food, but they’ll try to show, to show that it is something lower. This is very Western, I must say. If somebody is wearing a dress, nice sari, what nice clothes” – what’s the harm? You’ll enjoy your sweetness, you know, really enjoy your sweetness. It’s not telling lies, not to be that honest also necessary. Because you don’t like something you must say, “I don’t like it.” This word has to go from Sahaja Yoga, “I like this and I don’t like that.” If I say, saying that, how many will remain in Sahaja Yoga? So it’s very important to drop this, “I like it, I don’t like it.” Who are you to like or not like? What about your Spirit? What about your heart? … “

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, CABELLA

If the women become more socialistic, it would be a better idea

” … 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 your favour. 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 … “

1997 SHAKTI PUJA, INDIA

Women should be very loving and extremely accommodating

” … So one should see that if men don’t know, doesn’t matter. But you make your houses absolutely artistic. Make it comfortable like the lotus, as I said, that should be such. But some of the ladies can be very much like a Hitler, you know, in the household – very dictating. “This should be like this, that should be like that.” Making the life of men absolutely miserable. I have known a person who used to carry a newspaper in his house. So I said, “Why do you carry it all the time?” So he said, “Whenever I sit, I put the newspaper first and then I sit.”

“Why?”

“Because, if it is spoilt a little bit my wife will shout at me.” I said, “Why?”

“Because she doesn’t like anything to be spoilt. So she is so particular, I carry a newspaper always with me. Wherever I have to sit, I put a newspaper.”

I said, “It’s too much.”

He said, “You will also have to do that, I tell You.”

So very particular about the whole house that it is impossible to live in that house – is even worse than a hospital. So some women can be very particular about that and very methodical – could be. But normally women should be very loving and extremely accommodating, and also being friendly with all the family members, with everyone.

That is what is, what we call auspiciousness – one of the great qualities of the Lakshmi is. That it should be auspicious. Whatever you give should be auspicious. Like, sometimes I have seen, little children out of mischief will bring a lizard and try to give you. It is very inauspicious to do that. But they are not told it is inauspicious so they are doing like that. They have to be told it is not auspicious; it will not please the Goddess. So that has to be understood very well that you should not try to insult the Lakshmi by giving something which is wrong. If you don’t know you should find out and do it properly … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

If you want to please someone it’s not slavishness

” … This is so important, that our Hamsa should be all right, that we should be able to create a beautiful home, a peaceful home – not only for our family, but for all the other Sahaja Yogis who come to our house.

To know about each and every person, what he likes. It’s not slavishness. If you want to please someone it’s not slavishness. The whole nature is there to please us. Is it the slavish thing to do? .. “

1991 HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

Just feel that love of giving, and you feel so happy

” … Then it comes to giving, give it with your full heart. Just feel that love of giving, and you feel so happy. Because you feel so big about yourself. Like an ocean that’s giving so much of clouds and again it is receiving these rivers into it, and again making it into clouds. It’s sort of a circle of a beautiful conversion into beauty after beauty starts, it is so beautiful. And that’s what we should try to become … “

1980 ON CHILDHOOD, UK

The greatest generosity a human being can do is to forgive

” … I mean, it’s not generosity to others but to yourself. If you forgive others you are generous to yourself. First of all be generous to yourself, that is you forgive everybody else. If you forgive everybody else, then you are not tortured by that, you spare yourself from their tortures. This is a generosity towards yourself. Towards yourself the greatest generosity is that you do not bear any malice or bitterness about anyone. But clear-cut ideas that “He’s like this and he’s like this.” Just a clear-cut idea, but no reaction out of it.

Somebody is a man, say, he’s bhootish, all right he’s a bhootish fellow, we know he’s bhootish, keep yourself in band han, but don’t have a reaction out of it, then you have really forgiven everyone. Forgiveness gives you a big kavacha – it’s a big band han, a big protection, you can say shield – from all kinds of evil that others can put on you. Just forgive them, and then you see what happens to them. You just try this trick: just forgive, and see what happens to others who try to torture you. Of course, Divine never wants to torture anyone – that is definite. It never wants to torture; It is extremely generous, It likes to forgive. It enjoys Its forgiveness, It really enjoys. Generosity is to be enjoyed in the same way forgiveness is to be enjoyed; it’s very enjoyable. When you forgive others it’s the most enjoyable thing is that you see the play, you become the witness … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

The person who has to give, how can she demand?

” … So such a woman has to be self-satisfied, satisfied within herself because she has to give. The person who has to give, how can she demand? She has to give love because she’s loved, she has to give all the services, she has to give all the possessions, she has to soothe down – what a responsibility, I tell you, what a responsibility. More than a Prime Minister, more than any king or anyone is the responsibility of a woman and she should feel proud of it, that such a responsibility has come to her. A housewife has much more responsibility than a leader of Sahaja Yoga . .. “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

If you are a satisfied person, your work is very satisfying also

“…If a lady has a good Nabhi, when she cooks her food, with very little food you feel very satisfied. Whatever she’ll do will be excellent. So for all Nabhi problems one mantra one must remember is of “satisfaction” … “

1979 ADVICE ON ALL CHAKRAS, MUMBAI

TO GIVE PROTECTION, SECURITYAND PEACE

” … You must protect the people who are your subordinates, who are dependent on you, your children . .. “

1980 ON CHILDHOOD, UK

The Lakshmi gives protection

” … Now on the other hand, She has one hand of protection. Then the Lakshmi gives protection. Always gives protection to everyone, even against the husband. Even against the husband, She protects. Say, for example I’ll say, My own sister-in-law was such a Lakshmi like that, we have My own sister-in-law was like that. And, if My brother was little – because they were much older than us, you see – if he was hard on us. So she used to come out with the protection. She said, “No, how can you say that to them?” So sweet she was, you can’t imagine. And, then they would … I mean, My own brother, you see.

She would say that, “No you can’t do this to your sister.”

Same thing with Me. My own sister-in-law was more attached to Me than to My husband for the same reason because I would always protect her against even the husband. Though he is a brother, I mean, naturally they are very close to each other, naturally. But you should protect their interest to that extent. Then protect your servants, protect those who come to your house. That is her duty. If she does it, she can do it very well … “

1981 MAHALAKSHMI PRINCIPLE, LONDON

They have to protect always from others

” … What I’m saying that a housewife has to protect. The Lakshmi has to protect. The man who has money must protect. They must have people in his ashshray – means in his protection, like servants you can have. Servant’s family. Some people treat their servants very badly and they are very, very, very … they ill-treat and that’s not the way a Gruha Lakshmi needs to be. Or anybody. Say some students are staying in the house, or some children are staying – say you have some people in the house, like lodgers you can say. Or Sahaja Yogis now staying say with people who are to be looked after, with women. They have to protect always from others. That is the job of a Lakshmi. The mother has to protect her children. Whatever may be the wrong with the children but she has to protect her children against all the rest of the people. Of course, not in wrong things. I mean, she should not tell, I mean … always, I have to tell the other side of it because you might say that “My child has gone and beaten somebody else.”

So that’s not good, that is not protection. What I’m saying if the children are under any peril or any trouble, it is the Lakshmi who has to protect. This is a job of the Gruha Lakshmi … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

The sense of justice comes from this special quality of Left Nabhi

” … So the sense of justice comes from this special quality of Left Nabhi. See in the justice, the main thing you see, that you do not harm the innocent, that’s the basic quality. That is the basis of law. It is to be seen that who are being blamed are innocent or not, that’s the point, it’s not those who are criminals, but those who are innocent must be saved. That is the law for the protection of innocence … “

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

They will provide security to the society

” … What most of the women in the East would regard as very humiliating and degrading is regarded as something very glorifying in the West. I have seen both the worlds very deeply and I feel that unless and until you bring a new culture by which women from the East and West can both rise in their own esteem and express themselves in such a way that they create high moral standards for their society, women neither in the East nor in the West will rise to their full stature of feminine speciality.

The speciality is that if women are respected for their womanhood – understanding what they are capable of and how they can empower themselves with all the education needed – all the security will be provided to them and they will provide security to the society … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING, CHINA

This peace is only possible if the housewives realize their importance

” … I think I have so far never talked to you about peace. And peace is only achieved though the Gruha Lakshmi, through your proper adjustment of your spleen I should say. Because spleen is the giver of the blood cells, all right? It creates the nutrition for the whole body. If there is no peace in that area within us, the whole system can go out, because that’s the nourishing centre within us, that’s the nourishing centre. And that centre which nourishes also peace, you see the peace. You must have heard this Ya Devi, sarva bhuteshu shanti rupena samstitha – the Goddess that is the Shanti which is present in every human being as peace.

So this peace is only possible if the housewives realize their importance, bear it upon themselves, are forgiving and are redeeming family life. They have to redeem the family life, and where this gets spoilt the whole system goes out … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

If the housewives are not all right, there will be always violence

” … See, America I went, I found all of them have got Left Nabhi, all right, and they are very violent, very violent, extremely violent. What I felt that in the beginning the society neglected the housewives. The institution of housewife which is of Goddess and now the women cannot forgive that. Because the women cannot forgive them, you see, it has become a big struggle there. The children have become violent. I mean, if the housewives are not all right, there will be always violence… “

Smooth out angularities

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

” … Now in India we have joint family. You too have relations like uncles, aunties, this, that. The housewife’s job is to smooth, smooth out all angularities of people which creates friction … “

1998 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

 THE ROLE OF THE HOUSEWIFE This profession is the best

“…We have women in India of different, different characters in a way quite in different, different ways. But they were, first and foremost, they’re housewives. All their powers were there as housewives. So do not look down upon a housewife. When I’m travelling in the plane they ask Me “Mother, what is your profession?”

“Housewife.” My profession is housewife. I’m a housewife of a very, very big family. I’m looking after My children, I’m loving them, they love Me, and this profession is the best, I think, because it is so joy-giving. It’s so beautiful. It’s love. It’s so energy-giving. At this age also I never feel My age, because I’m the Mother of so many of you. And it never comes to My head that I’m old now, and I must take rest and I must not do this work with them. Because this feeling of love for My children, I have to nourish them, I have to look after them, because all My powers are with them. I never try to show off My powers to you, in anyway. It’s only you who should imbibe all My powers. That’s the only desire I have, that you should be as powerful as Myself … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

The one who is the Goddess of the household

“…So the ladies of these places have to be good housewives, it’s very important. They have to be the Gruhalakshmis, the one who is the Goddess of the household. And a very good example of that is this lady, you can’t hear her. So, you see the ladies have to be very good housewives. And “housewife” does not mean that you keep your house very well, everything very well, or yourselves selfishly … “

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

The Gruhalakshmi’s position  in spirituality is regarded as the highest

” … And Gruhalaksmi is a very powerful institution. In India it is regarded as the highest, in a way. More than any prime minister or more than any highest position. The Gruhalakshmi’s position in the spirituality is regarded as the highest. That is, they have to be very open hearted, loving, devoted personalities.

Now, there are many stories about Gruhalakshmis in India, I can tell you thousand and one where they have shown the powers of women. Women as in, you know that we call them – are the embodiment of Shaktis. But the Gruhalaksmi is the most powerful Shakti. And She is the power of tremendous love, and compassion and forgiveness … “

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

It is not a human being’s creation

” … Now, the principle of Gruha Lakshmi has been evolved and developed by the Divine. It is not a human being’s creation and, as you know, it resides in the Left Nabhi. The Gruha Lakshmi is the one that is represented in the life of Fatima who was the daughter of Mohammed- Sahib .. . “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

The  Gruha Lakshmi   was specially created   to overcome that hatred

“… Why this principle of the Gruha Lakshmi was specially created: to overcome that hatred, to subdue that icy stuff called hatred, to remove from the minds of the people hatred – this Lakshmi, Gruha Lakshmi, principle was created. How?

In the family when you have a household the Gruha Lakshmi principle has to subdue the hatred between the children – between the husband and the children. But if she herself enjoys her hatred, then how can she subdue it? She is the source of that peace which subdues hatred … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

She is the essence of this well-being which is peace

” … First of all, we should blame our society. Our housewives are not respected. Housewife is the one who is a dedicated wife, even placed higher than Yatis. Yatis are the highest evolved you can say, Avadhutas – are the highest evolved seers. And, a dedicated wife has got more powers than even in Yati, it is said so. And even Krishna was little worried about that. Everybody had to worry.

So the dedicated wife, you see, the Gruha Lakshmi, is such an important thing because she is the essence of this well-being which is peace … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

So Gruha Lakshmi tattwa in Sahaja Yoga is very important

” … Those people who have got problems after coming to Sahaja Yoga, most of them have neglected their Gruhalaksmi principle, because Gruha Lakshmi if goes out, then centre heart catches … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

You have to keep Fatima awakened within yourself

” … Fatima lost Her two children and She was the embodiment of Gruha Lakshmi. She resides in our Left Nabhi. So for all the diseases that are connected with the spleen, all the problems that are connected with your Left Nabhi, can be only corrected by Fatima. So you have to keep Fatima awakened within yourself.

That we are here in the Islamic culture, we can say this is place of Islamic culture and in the Islamic culture a housewife was given a very, very important place … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

Creating peace, understanding and giving full idea as to what is love

” … Now the first thing we have to understand that the society is completely dependent on the Gruha Lakshmis, that means a housewife has to be a very lady of great character, respectability and dignity. Society is her responsibility. She’s responsible for creating peace, understanding, and for giving full idea as to what is love. I think her responsibility is much more difficult, subtler than that of men, and she is the shakti of the family. So she should not try to behave in a manner that is not dignified or matured … “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, TIMISOARA, ROMANIA

Actually they are respected all over

” … Because that is the day of housewife and that day is to be celebrated as the housewife’s – I should say – homage to her. As a result you know in India, even now, housewives are very much respected. Actually they are respected all over. You will be amazed that even in the protocol of the government receptions – anywhere, the wife is very important. And where she is sitting – what is her position, is very important. Even today, in the most modern and advanced countries, also they have a special respect for the housewife. The housewife may not be educated, she may be a very simple woman, she may not be very modern … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

She is regarded as the highest

” … So it is expected of a housewife to be decently dressed, honourably dressed and not to dress up like a secretary or somebody who is just in the office. Because she is regarded as the highest, whether you like it or not … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

She has to be decent, she has to be very dignified

” … So for a housewife, she is the dignity of the house. Not only that, but she is responsible for the complete culture of that country, complete culture of that country. They represent the culture. Like in India nowadays, they have started in the films showing all kinds of funny, funny dresses. But I haven’t seen any housewife wearing that, haven’t seen anybody. It’s not in reality. It’s only in the film because the society is so strong and the housewife is supposed to be a decent person. She has to be decent, she has to be very dignified and she has to behave in a dignified manner … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

It’s a kind of a great collectivity of housewives that has to work out

” … So you see it’s a kind of a great collectivity of housewives that has to work out. They have common problems – they have to face their children, they have to look after the household, everything. I mean there are so many common problems with the housewives. And the housewife also knows all little, little things. You see men, at least in India, don’t know much because they live in the air, I think … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

They become extremely  good families, good societies and  good children

” … In a country where women are sensible and are matured, you will be amazed that they become extremely good families, good societies and good children. That’s why I must say India is a very good country of very good society. This is come out of the housewives – the Gruha Lakshmis of the house – who have done all the work that is important, as far as the culture is concerned. This kind of a thing is very much in India and with that what you find that the people respect, respect the housewives … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

MOTHERHOOD

This is the greatest thing. Look at Me

” … This is the greatest thing to be the mother: You see, you are a mother, and you have to treat your children with that dignity and with that love that a mother should give. It is very difficult for some people to accept the position of a mother. They think, “Why women should be the mothers?” I say this is the greatest thing. Look at Me. This is the greatest thing to be the mother, to love everyone, that they depend on you for love and guidance. Just for love. Such a great thing to tell: “Oh God, you see, how much I can give. How many cups I can fill.” It’s such a great feeling. I wish you would know what a mother is. And the motherhood you have to learn from your children and grandchildren and expand it to the whole universe … “

1980 ON CHILDHOOD, UK

Motherhood is the highest thing a woman can achieve

” … Why, why, why should we make ourselves so cheap? We are mothers and we should be proud of our motherhood. Motherhood is the highest thing a woman can achieve. I mean, I have achieved it, because I am a Mother for thousands. And I think that is the greatest thing that can happen to a woman is to be a mother.

And Mother and a Guru – you can imagine My plight. It’s much worse that you have to tell your children something to be done, and you love them so much that you don’t want to say that. Then you have to play some little sweet tricks with them to bring them round. It is such an interesting and a beautiful life to be a mother, we should be proud mothers. But I would say the men too are to be blamed, because they are not interested in mothers, they are interested in younger and younger girls – is a sign of perversion I tell you – it is a sign of a complete perversion … “

1982 HEART, VISHUDDHI, AGNYA AND SAHASRARA, AUSTRALIA

That motherhood gives her that special capacity to shine

” … You see a child, you see a girl who is innocent. What interests her is her little dolly. She’s the mother, out and out. If she’s properly brought up, from very childhood, she’s a mother. And motherhood is the epitome of womanhood.

There are so many great souls who want to be born. These are the great fruits which are going to be prospering on the tree of your family life. And if you do not want to have any children, then what are you doing here?

So the Vishnumaya’s main thing is that a woman has to be a mother. Then that motherhood gives her that special capacity to shine… “

1987 SHRI HANUMANA PUJA, NEW YORK

I’m very proud to be a woman

” … That’s Me. I’m very proud to be a woman and I would hate to be a man. Look at Shri Krishna. He had to marry 16,000 women. He had to marry them. He could not have them as disciples. They were shaktis – they were His powers. They had to be women. They would have said, already they are saying, that He was a ladies’ man. But to Me nobody can say that, because I am a woman, and a mother is not challenged. Father is always challenged. Not the mother … “

1988 ROLE OF WOMEN, UK

We are mothers and you should be proud of being a mother

” … When you are small girls you are also goddesses, that time you are innocent. Then you get married. It’s a very big thing that you are a married woman, is very auspicious. Then after marriage you have children. It’s even greater honour for you, because you are mothers. We are not actresses, we are mothers and you should be proud of being a mother, and you should be proud of your children. Then you become grandmothers. I think this is a very great achievement and you should feel very proud of your age, that you are a grandmother. If you will go on struggling for looking young, you’ll look very old. You’ll see your Mother is seventy years of age and I don’t look My age, that’s what they say. I have never bothered about My looks. I have no time, I have so many children. And I’m very proud of My age also. With age you grow, you mature, you are wiser, then you have all the assets of your personality. If you really respect your age people will come to you for advice, help, and then you can spread Sahaja Yoga. There are so many complications with these entrepreneurs the way they try to exploit women … “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

A mother to everyone

“…It’s not that my child, my husband, my house, what should I do about this house, my house, my children, my house, my children. You have got a child to expand the love that you get for your child or feel for your child, you should feel for all others. You have to be mothers of all the children, not of your own child. For both of them, especially, I have to say they have to be collective very much more than they are today. That’s the first thing; they should expand themselves. Nobody can have respect for any womanwho is not like that. You have to be just like a mother to everyone … “

1980 MARRIAGE AND COLLECTIVITY, UK

So you are the mother though you may be a man or a woman

“…So a guru has to be the mother, he must have the qualities of the mother – not the modern mothers, but in the real sense of the word: that a guru has to love her children and has to have strength and courage to correct her children. And the earnest desire should be to put the children onto proper lines to guide them and to help them to rise.

So the first nourishment comes to us even when we are in the womb of the mother, through the mother; and so you are the mother though you may be a man or a woman, but in quality you are the mother. And whatever you think or whatever you do has an effect on the child. The way you behave, the way you talk, the way you live, everything has a bearing on the development of the child. In the same way when, supposing a Sahaja Yogi who is trying to give realization is a hypocritical person. If he’s a wrong type of a person, if he does not respect his own Guru, the children behave in the same manner and they take to wrong things much faster, they see to wrong things first…”

1989 GURU PUJA, ITALY

The Mother who loves her child, enjoys everything she has to do

” … Now the difference between a mother and a mother who is very angry with the children is this: The mother who loves her child enjoys everything she has to do for her child, while the mother who doesn’t love the child feels that she’s doing too much, she can’t do it, it’s too much. If you ask her what’s the matter, she will say, “I have to wash this, I have to clean this, I have to look after this child.” This, all kinds of stories. But a mother who is enlightened, will love doing all that and enjoy it. She will have respect for her children and she will make them respectable … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

You have to realize your importance as the mothers of this country ” … So now you have to realize your importance as the mothers of this country. Whatever Mohammed Saheb has done is to respect women. He has written more about Christ’s Mother than it is written in the Bible. For Her chastity, nobody should challenge, He says. In Sahaja Yoga you will know who They were: who was Fatima, who was Hazrat Ali, who was Mohammed Saheb. All the subtle side of these great Incarnations you will know. And you will get proof. It is a tangible thing, absolutely tangible. Thus you have to believe. But for that, first you should grow in Sahaja Yoga. In India women are regarded as the shakti – the power. .. “

1994 LADIES PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNISIA

The loving training of the mother  is the first and most effective influence

” … The main work of womanhood is to create a good society that would enjoy peace better. Immorality, corruption and violence are the two horrible monsters which are eating up our society. I would blame the mothers of these corrupt and immoral persons because they failed in their duty as mothers in their childhood. The loving training of the mother is the first and most effective influence in shaping the children into beautiful citizens. Mothers who never tried to guide with great concern and love, or the wives or the daughters who are falling into the fear of the men or of the destructive culture, have not done their duty as integral members of the family to strengthen the moral fibre of the men . . . “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

DIGNITY

They  want to behave  like cheapish, childish,  young, frivolous girls. They don’t feel the dignity of their being

“…Now in the West, the problem with the women is this, that they don’t realize what is their power. An eighty-year-old women also would like to look like a bride. They do not feel their dignity and enjoy their dignity within themselves: they are the queen of the house. But they want to behave like cheapish, childish, young, frivolous girls. They don’t feel the dignity of their being. They talk too much, they behave in a manner that doesn’t behove a housewife, like they’ll take out their hands, talk like this as the fisher-women do when they sell their fish to someone and when they have to fight.

Or they shout sometimes, they shout, also I mean, this … I’ve heard they shout and sometimes they beat their husbands, that’s the limit. They start always comparing themselves with the husband, to begin with. Like, “I am such a rich man, a rich man’s daughter. I am from such and such family, my husband is from such a low family. He has no money, nothing. He is not educated.” So ill-treat him, treat him in a manner that shows no respect.

Such a woman will lose all her powers. Also in her own ways she will feel guilty, she will feel guilty because first of all nobody has the right to look down upon anyone whatsoever, in Sahaja Yoga especially. Then to look down upon your husband is something unbelievable. He may not be a Sahaja Yogi. .. all right. He may not be up to the point. But by your behaviour, by your strength, by everything, you can save him, but why are you losing yourself? .. “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

So women are serene in Sahaj dharma

” … They are not stupid, frivolous, laughing at anything. That’s not the way for a woman. Anything happens, they must laugh. I mean, there is something laughable, all right, but some things are not even laughable, they’ll laugh. That’s not the way. That can be ridiculous also, can ridicule others. But laugh of appreciation, laugh of enjoyment, is so pure and creates such beautiful atmosphere . . . “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

To preserve our potential we must have a sense of dignity

” … So the woman’s quality is like the potential of the Mother Earth, or potential of any energy, like electricity has its potential somewhere else. You see the lights here, makes no difference one light or two lights, but the potential is important. So one has to understand we have potential; and to preserve our potential we must have a sense of dignity, honour and righteousness within ourselves … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

You do not know that you are the queen, nobody can dominate you

” … In Sahaja Yoga there is no domination of any kind but all these socalled ideas of servility and domination come from the false ideas you have about your own dignity, about your own understanding. You are not aware of yourself, you do not know that you are the queen, nobody can dominate you. Who can dominate the lady who rules the household? .. “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

There is a kind of decency, a sense of decorum, a certain dignity

” … Like also ladies must be told, you see, they giggle too much. Or they go on giggling at anything, “hihihihi.” That’s not the way. They are grown-up women, you see. It’s O.K. when you have to laugh, you must laugh, I also laugh. But there is time when you should laugh, but they go on giggling at this. You see, I would say Indians basically are mature people, I think. They would not giggle at something, you see. Even elderly ladies. And this happens, even with the elderly ladies, you see. It’s quite funny. All these things should be told beforehand when we go there. All these things, you see, and they are all human beings, you see. If they can mature, why not we mature. We are Sahaja Yogis, we are realised souls. There is a kind of decency, a sense of decorum, a certain dignity .. . “

1986 TALK TO THE LEADERS, HOLLAND

ADVICE TO WOMEN

REALISE YOUR IMPORTANCE

We all could do what Mother is doing today

” … So this new movement of women’s liberation and all that, is a sign of that secret work that is going on. Because women are left- sided, they are sly. They work it out very cleverly and cunningly. But you all could be like Me. You all could achieve all My powers much more than men can achieve if you want to.

But you have to get out of your small visions and small ideas about glorifying yourself. I’m sure it will work out if you take it upon yourself that we all could do what Mother is doing today … “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

They will make this world a beautiful  one

” …But A woman without righteousness, a woman without chastity, a woman without humility is not a woman. Compassion is her decoration. I wish I could write like William Blake. I wish he had written about the women of the West and the beauty that they were. And that they have to achieve. Once the women really know their strength, they will make this world a beautiful one, I know that. But not their weaknesses where they fall at the pattern of men. That’s their weakness…”

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

You are so important, without you nothing can start

” … You’ll be amazed that when I see the women who have led a perverted sex life are much worse than men. After marriage, men get cured, women do not. They have mental problems because you must know you are the emotions, you are the desires of the whole world. You are so important. Without you nothing can start. If I had not come on this Earth, put all of them together – right from Sadashiva to Ganesha – they could not have done anything. It is a fact. It’s Me as a woman, as a mother, as a wife, as the spouse, has achieved this. And that’s what, for you it should be the easiest thing to do because I’m a woman and I’ve lived like a woman and I’ve managed so many children all over the world. Managed the whole show. Managed My family also very well. I balanced it very well. And how it is now proved that a woman can not only be a priest but she can be the highest Guru of gurus. I put all of you on the pedestal now.

So I have to tell you that you have to come up and you have to look after your Sahaja. You are very important because a bad woman and a bad wife is very much more detrimental than a bad man . .. “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

So many things you can achieve as a woman

” … For that you have to know few things. How to express your pure love to others. How to express your genuineness to others. How to help your husband in Sahaja Yoga. In the marriage of Sahaja Yoga, you have given a promise to Me, that you’ll work for Sahaja Yoga and you’ll help your husband in doing Sahaja Yoga. You’ll help your husband when he’s looking after other Sahaja Yogis. And you’ll look after other Sahaja Yogis who come to your house. You’ll make your house a Sahaja Yoga centre, receive the people in your house and will always try to enhance the collectivity. Under these promises you are married. You are the one who can show that.

It is easy for a woman to be short-sighted, conceited and mean. It takes time for man to be that. But with all these possibilities, even if you have another possibility of men to dominate, then you are neither here nor there. You have no sex, then. I mean, I don’t know what even to call them then. You better name it, a person who is neither woman nor a man. Let us be women and be proud of it. That’s how we can make a very good world for everyone … “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

Where  the women are respectable & respected, there  reside the deities

” … Also men must respect women who are respectable. In Sanskrit it is said “Where the women are respectable and respected, there reside the Deities.” Means the women should be respectable, they should not lead a life of an unrespectable character. Understanding this vision, I’m sure you will realize your great powers and your great position … “

1986 THE ROLE OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, BELGIUM

The women can build the whole world into a beautiful world

” … A kind of a negative force like a Hitler’s force is rising up through women of all the countries. Through women this horrible Hitler and all these Germans who died are taking birth. They are becoming like devils now, just like Nazis. So women have to be very careful not to give way to negative forces that are working within. They have to be humble, they have to be sweet and sacrificing because they have a power to do it. It’s only the women who can do it. Not the men. Men can’t do it. They have other sweetness about them. Men have some other sweetness about them. But the women have that intelligence which can build the whole world into a beautiful world …”

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

It is for you to save, with your wisdom and innate love

” … And I have to specially make a very important request to the women that in these modern times, they are the ones who are going to save the world. Not the men. They have done their job before. Now it is for you to save, with your understanding, with your compassion, with your sacrifices, with your wisdom and the innate love, not only your children, your husband, your family, but the whole world.

It is a very good opportunity for all of you to do your bit. It has been a tremendous experience with some of the very great Sahaja Yoginis we have. Some of them have achieved, really, as you can say, the constant state of bliss. Really. Some of them have. In the constant state of bliss. Even if they are coming, immediately I can feel they are coming. The whole atmosphere waits for them. The whole cosmos, just in complete respectful attendance, is waiting for their arrival. There are women of that quality. And we have to take them as ideals, and not the stupid, useless, vain women. We have to take them as something great….”

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

” … But when in a negative woman the ego enters, then nobody can help her …”

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

You have to be extremely dynamic

” … Now men have ego part and women have another side, is that they are very dull sometimes. Extremely dull. They don’t think they have to play a very dynamic role, while they are the shaktis. Like they will not even clap hands, they will not even have their torches to see what’s happening. Nothing. They just think they are just a, sort of parasites. They are coming here as wives or sisters, or whatever, wearing saris.

No, you have to be extremely dynamic. You must know all about Sahaja Yoga. You must know all about chakras. You should know everything …”

1990 MARRIAGE ADVICE TO WOMEN, INDIA

” … So just think of your responsibility. You can do a lot to change the fate of many women who are suffering …”

1994 LADIES’ PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNISIA

Women must therefore rank  with Mother Earth as the edifice of the entire humanity

” … It is evident that women are the creators and the preservers of the entire humankind. This is the role which the almighty God has given, assigned to them. Seeds cannot create anything by themselves. It is the Mother Earth which provides the flowers and the fruits and other bounties. Similarly, it is the woman who creates the child, who nurtures the baby and eventually brings up the citizen of tomorrow. Women must therefore rank with Mother Earth as the edifice of the entire humanity …”

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

You have to understand that you’re not like these horrible women

“…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 things 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 … “

1997 SHAKTI PUJA, KALWE, INDIA

APPEARANCE,  ATTRACTION, SEDUCTION, SENSE OF SHAME

If they are not respectable, how can they be respected

” … But is said that women must be respected, but they should be respectable. If they are not respectable, how can they be respected? .. “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

Why should you attract men?

” … But you start competing with them (men) and also enslaving them quite a lot. Like this culture in this, where we see all the women exposing their body just to attract men. All the time attract the men is what? Why should you attract men? Always trying to have exposure of your body just to please men. Why? Why should we do that? Why should we expose our body? … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

We are as if we want all this attention of men, dirty attention of men

” … You see the way women expose themselves, run after men. Then how can we complain there is rape and all that. I mean we want it as it this way. We are as if we want all this attention of men, dirty attention of men.

But Sahaja Yoginis are not like that. They are dignified. They have their own poise. And they have respect for themselves, because they are Yoginis. They have light above their head. They are special people. So we have to really de-condition ourselves a little bit. Especially the ego part, which is very, very developed in the West, should be brought down by women … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

They want everybody to look at them all the time

” … Women have no respect. They want everybody to look at them all the time. In India any man tries to look at a woman she goes and gives him two slaps . .. “

1994 LADIES’ PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNISIA

Imagine everybody to be regimented into certain patterns

” … Otherwise it will not be. Then if you come, say, to the physical side, like here it is, if a woman is very thin, she wants to have legs like this, hands like these, body like this. Why? I mean, imagine everybody to be regimented into certain patterns, so much of the waist, so much of the thing, horrible it will be. I mean you’ll be tired and fed- up with that.

Now the fashion comes in that physically we should be Mr. America or whatever you may call it. So everybody is doing jogging, everybody running like mad. But why? You have your own personality, keep it up. You need certain things for your body, the way you are. Of course if your health is not all right, then you try with your chakras, cure it. But to appearances, to think that “I should look like this, I should be like that,” makes no difference at all … “

1985 SHRI DEVI PUJA, USA

They never liked very thin girls

” … I mean in India nobody is so much bothered about the figure, at least in My age people never liked very thin girls because they thought they must be very irritable, hot-tempered, all the time thinking. They never liked very thin girls. I really tell you now, even now My husband doesn’t like. He says, “You see men have befooled women and that’s why women are doing all these things.” You see he’s a simple man, so he thinks that the men have befooled them. So it’s like that and then they make legs like this or teeth like this or nose like this and you take a plastic nose, put on. Why? . “

1985 SHRI DEVI PUJA, USA

Sahaja Yoginis have to be dignified

” …Sahaja Yoginis have to be dignified – there are so many dignified dresses in this country, I don’t know where have they vanished. I don’t know what has happened to them. Now the way women walk here, I think from the dictionary the words like prostitutes and all that will vanish completely. Though it may sound very out-of-date, but it is the most modern and ultra-modern thought. If you give a thought to it, it will create an atmosphere for you in which you’ll feel extremely secured. Now, take the modern disease that women have, is of breast cancer. You know that breast cancer is caused because of the centre heart problem, as you see that. Now centre heart is caused to a woman when she sees her husband is having those adulterous eyes as Christ has described. That starts working, she feels insecure all the time with a man like that, you see. She is walking hand in hand but inside this insecurity is building up. All women who suffer from such subconscious worries and subconscious – what you can call it – the fears, suffer from breast cancers.

So, those women who walk about like that are adding to it. Now those women who walk about like this also are losing Ganesha’s blessings completely according to Sahaja Yoga. Because you are just trying to be nothing but prostitutes, just think of it! And this is one thing I have been thinking of saying, and today is the most auspicious day that I’ve said to you in such clear words … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

This figure-madness makes you funny

” … I have always seen that the women who are thin, their husbands are jittery. Why? Because the wife is all the time making him run up and down, “Do this, do that, you didn’t bring this thing for me, I had asked you to bring the Coca-Cola, you didn’t bring, you didn’t do that.” As if he’s the sinner all the time. And the man becomes jumpy, all the time jumpy. He gets something for the jumping, and she gets something for her torturing. There’s no love, there’s no joy, there’s no happiness.

This so-called figure-madness which is now subsiding, thank God -it’s coming from America – now subsiding. This figure-madness makes you funny. Women have to be ‘settled-down’ women. They have to be gruhastis – that is, the one who settles in the household. She has to be satisfied with the household. If she is all the time running about, she doesn’t want to stay in the house, then she is not a housewife, but she is a maid-servant. .. “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

She has to be fatter, much fatter than man

” … Woman has to be left-sided. She has to be fatter, much fatter than man, she has to bear children. Even in animal kingdom if you see all the females have lots of fat. They have to have fat because they have to sustain the child, they have to work for the child.

Now, if you find a Western girl I see she is so thin, and she has children, she has to do household work and all that, and she becomes crazy. That’s why she can’t love her children because she becomes crazy. There’s no stored energy, I mean, to her. And the tensions are so great in the West. Too many tensions for nothing at all. Very artificial. And mother must have fat. If the mother doesn’t have fat the children feel the bones, you know? And the women become mechanical and dry. Dry women … “

1984 INFORMAL TALK AT GREGOIRE’S HOME, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

A Lakshmi has to have grandeur

” … Then there is another aspect of Lakshmi where She is round like an elephant. She has a propensity. She is not like a mosquito. I mean, many people think that these days to be mosquito is very good but I think if you have mosquito-like personality, nobody respects you. They all think you must be some sort of a typist or maybe some sort of a person or doing some sort of a menial work or working very hard that you have lost all your dignity. So a Lakshmi has to have a grandeur … “

1986 SHRI LAKSHMI PUJA, BELGIUM

You are representing something very dynamic within yourself

” …So these stupid ideas of romanticism and all this nonsense, have to be finished. The possession of husband: “What time you came, when did you go, where did you go.” And here (in India), the women – when Shivaji started his fight – they used to cut their finger, the thumb, and used to put the tika on the forehead of the husband who is going in the war and they said, “Don’t come showing your back.” Such great women we have had in this Maharashtra, where you find them to be so mild.

If it comes to their country, if it comes to their own personality, to their own chastity or anything, they are tremendous. Just like lionesses. So with this sari lots of things go hand in hand. This is not only the sari, or wearing, but you are representing something very dynamic within yourself … “

1990 MARRIAGE AND ADVICE TO WOMEN, INDIA

The most important chakras for our bodies

” … I’ll tell you a story of My own daughter. She went to Delhi and all the girls were having sleeveless blouses. So she asked Me, “I want to have sleeveless blouses.” She was grown up, she was going to college.

I said, “All right, have it, whatever you like.”

She said, “By the way, why don’t you wear sleeveless?” I said, “I feel shy.”

“Then why should you allow me! This is no criteria. Whatever I

ask, you say “yes” to me. I’m not that grown up.”

Even My granddaughter, she was here, she asked Me, “Nani, why do you wear always blouses with sleeves?”

I said, “Do you know these are very important chakras, the most important chakras for our body. If you keep them open, these two or these two, then you will have problems.”

“My goodness, I must wear now full sleeve.” Immediately they understood. So something deep, if you tell them in a deep manner which is respecting their innocence, they will improve … “

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

It looks so simple but it’s very important

” … So many things can be said about Vishuddhi Chakra. But specially I am concerned about two chakras on two sides. One of them as you know is the Lalita Chakra on the left side, and Shri Chakra on the right side.

I’ve always told ladies that “Please keep this covered.” It looks so simple but it’s very important. Don’t expose this because the power of this should be preserved. Shri Chakra and Lalita Chakra. Very important. They are, I should say, feminine powers of Shri Krishna which must be understood – that, whatever way you respect your body, that is the way your chakras are and that is the way you suffer. For example if you do not respect Shri Ganesha you will suffer. And if you respect Shri Ganesha but don’t behave in a manner that you should behave, you will suffer. You’ll have problems. So the whole body reacts. The body reacts to outside influences in such a manner that you start seeing there’s something wrong somewhere and that why you behave like that. .. “

2001 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, USA

Sahaj dharma is that you have shame, you have sense of shame

” … My granddaughter was wearing a sleeveless dress. I told her, “Better you shouldn’t wear a sleeveless dress.”

She says, “It’s very hot, I feel very hot.”

She’s young. I said, “But see, these are two very important chakras. If you expose them, then you’ll have problem.” She doesn’t like to wear dresses which are above the knee, but she says people wear even above the knee.

I said, “Knees, they are very important chakras, we should keep them clothed, otherwise if they are affected, we’ll have knee trouble.”

Immediately she changed, immediately. “Mother, I’ll wear blouse from inside and something from outside.” Immediately. Because she knew this is a natural primordial taboo that we should not expose our – these two chakras and these chakras. But, nowadays, the more you have long legs, I don’t know, they have shorter clothes. And I don’t understand what is in the legs, the whole beauty is in the legs or what?

So I’ve met one lady who travelled with Me. She was wearing a burqa  because she was a Muslim. And by the time we landed in London, she took out the burqa and the dress was much above the knees. I said, “What kind of Muslim woman is she? She’s worse than even Christians because they wouldn’t wear such a thing, you know, to come out of the aeroplane, you have to come down on the staircase.” No lajja – no shame – nothing. Shamelessness! So, Sahaj dharma is that you have shame, you have sense of shame . . . “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

Not only that they look very nice, but also, they look like ladies

” … Whatever dress we wear is traditional from days together, thousands of years we’ve been wearing the sari. Actually, travelling is a little awkward with sari. I can never wear jeans, whatever you may try, because this is our tradition and in our tradition, the way a woman is respectable, has to be in sari. In some cities before marriage they do wear every kind of dress, but after marriage they assume the position as a Gruhalaksmi – meaning the goddess of the household. She is the goddess and if she is the goddess, then all kinds of blessings come on that family. We have seen our experiences that if the woman is a Gruhalakshmi, in the pattern of Fatima, then all the good can come to that family. I went to your bazaar and bought some traditional dresses and all these girls from all over the world are wearing these dresses. Not only that they look very nice, but also, they look like ladies … “

1994 LADIES’ PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNISIA

Please do not play into the hands of these entrepreneurs

” .. . Yesterday I saw many ladies have cut their hair. Please do not play into the hands of these entrepreneurs, they know how to befool you. I have seen horrible things happening because these entrepreneurs try to entice by advertisement. Recently in Paris they said we should have six inches of skirts, and nowhere we could get long skirts. Imagine in all thesecold countries so many have got varicose veins. They start styles for hair, for body, for faces. They start all kinds of nonsense. But Sahaja Yoginis should understand what are they up to. You should not fall into their traps at all. .. “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

You shouldn’t allow your Sahasrara to be touched by anyone

” … So you are the goddess of the family, you have the shakti and you have to be very careful. Moreover you are Sahaja Yoginis, so you shouldn’t allow your Sahasrara to be touched by anyone. And your power comes from your chastity. Thousands of women in India committed suicide because they didn’t want any man to touch their body. Now you are in Sahaja culture, and in Sahaja culture we have to behave in a very dignified, matured manner … “

1997 DIWALI PUJA, ROMANIA

You should be shy, you should be humble and respect your body

” … For example, I’ve seen children, they feel very shy to take out their clothes – even small, small boys, I’ve seen. They won’t take out their clothes in the presence of others, they feel shy. So all these are described, like Ya Devi Sarva Butheshu, Lajja Rupena Samsthita.

So you should be shy, you should be humble and respect your body.  It’s very important in these modern times. Exposure of body is regarded as a great achievement of women. They are trying to become aboriginals, you see. That time they never had these ideas and they were not so confused, you see. So, even if their women were scantily dressed, it didn’t mean that it was some sort of a sex or some sort of an attraction for men, or men behaving in funny manners to show that they have a special attraction for women. I mean, why should you? It is absolutely absurd that men should be attracted to women and women should be attracted to men – and on the road, on the street, you go, you see just that going on! This adharma is the worst I think, for it’s a curse. Because after coming to Sahaja Yoga also people start doing this nonsense, you know. They should all go to lunatic asylum, I think, they are no good for Sahaja Yoga. But dharma gets established as soon as you have the light of the spirit… “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

So, to be a Mahalakshmi, after coming to Sahaja Yoga, you should know that you should dress up in a way that’s perfectly all right…”

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

Not to spend much time in front of the mirror

“…First of all, learn to laugh at yourself. That’s the best way to enjoy yourself, you know. And not to spend much time on the mirror, that’s another way. If you spend too much on the mirror, then something wrong with you. I think personally that it’s a kind of a possession maybe. So, what you should see inside, “Are we Sahaj dharmis?” … “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

It is more for the ladies to understand how they dress up, how they live

“…When we went there, they told us wherever we went, you know, even in a shop, when it was raining, they would give us a present. Now I said, “What is this? Why are they giving us a present like this?” So the lady who was translating, she said, “They think you are from a royal family.”

I said, “What makes them feel we are from a royal family?” “Because you don’t go to hairdresser.”

I said, “Really?”

“Yes. In Japan, royal family people never go to a hairdresser.”

I said, “I didn’t know this, that they don’t go to the hairdresser.” “That’s why they think you are from the royal family.”

Just imagine what ideas people have about hairdressing and all that. But in India, these places, a woman must be properly combed – her hair. She shouldn’t look like a hippie going around, you know. Because we have many people who still believe in a kind of a hippieism and they wear their hair dress like that. Now, woman plays a very big part in the society, as I told you. Whatever way she wears, whatever where she goes about, also the children pick up much more from the mother than from the father. Sometimes could be much more from the father also. But actually the .. all the refined things are picked up from the mother. So it is more for the ladies to understand how they dress up, how they live … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

It’s  stupid  to play  into the hands  of these people who  make fashions

” … I went to London. I asked one Indian Sahaja Yogini, “What is the fashion now?” So she said, “Jibreya.” In Marathi jibreya means if you put your hair like this (covering the forehead). See in India, if you have hair like this, the mother will say, “Now remove your jibreyas.” Because if you put like that hair, your eyes can become squinty. But that’s the fashion, to put the hair like this you see, very much sometimes on the eyes also. So that’s a jibreya fashion. And this now is quite common I find everybody, dignified ladies also, except for Mrs. Thatcher, everybody puts on this kind of a thing. I don’t know how Mrs. Thatcher has escaped it. But anybody who does anything, that should not be followed by women – it’s very slavish.

Because this is the fashion, that’s why they do it; that’s the fashion so they will do it. It’s absolutely stupid to do that way and to play into the hands of these people who make fashions because you are independent. You must stand on your own character; you must stand on your own understanding of things. Instead of ruining your faces, you should try to improve them by your dignity, by your understanding. Now it’s more on the women, I am sorry to say. Lakshmi Puja is more on the women that what they have to understand what they have to be, how they should be … “

1998 DIWALI PUJA, ITALY

NOT TO ARGUE BUT DEVELOP YOUR INTUITION You don’t have to argue

” … Men are more intelligent. No doubt. But women have intuition. But you don’t have to argue. It will happen, the way you have intuition will happen and they will learn a lesson. So, that you don’t assert yourself. It will all work out the way you like, because you have intuition, you have understood what’s going to happen. And you will be amazed how it will work out. All right, so now any questions … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

So you develop your intuition, not intelligence

” …Intelligence. Intelligence is gross. Say for example with intelligence they will say that we are getting late, we have to go. With intelligence, with the watch and all that, you see. All right. But by intuition you will know we are not going to be late. So you develop your intuition, not intelligence. You see, the trouble is, you try to compete them with intelligence. By argument you will say, “No, there are three minutes.”

They will say “Two minutes.” You will say “Three minutes.” “Two minutes.”

Yes that’s it. But actually what you should say, “All right let’s see, three minutes. All right, let’s see, let’s see.” Like that. And then he finds really what you said is true. We just have to say once. Finished. After that he says “All right, all right if you say, all right we will go this way.” He goes further, “I think we are going wrong, I think what you said was right. We have to go this way” . .. “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

THE IMPORTANCE OF ALERTNESS

So that alertness has to be there in a housewife.

“… Gruha Lakshmi is the woman who should know that she has the great responsibility of creating a very great society of Sahaja Yoga. She’s not an ordinary woman. How many women got their realization before? But in Sahaja Yoga if you find the ladies, you hardly find very few who are really alert. Most of them are in trance condition. They don’t know anything. They don’t know anything. They don’t know much of cooking, you ask them anything, they don’t know anything. You talk to them, you feel as if they have taken some sort of a drug. Nothing goes into their heads. Sometimes one feels, “It’s better I do it myself.” Impossible.

The alertness is gone, because alertness that comes through your right side is wasted on nonsensical things. Attention is wasted on nonsensical things, that’s why the housewives have lost that discretion to know that they have to be extremely alert and sensible and wise. They should know each and everything. It’s not so. They just live in the air, somewhere hanging, you know. You don’t know what to say to them, how to ask for anything. How to explain anything to them is an impossible situation. So that alertness has to be there in a housewife. It’s extremely important. .. “

1991 HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

Sahaja Yoga is meant for women who are alert, who are wise

“…But if you do not have the alertness, then you cannot be a Gruha Lakshmi, you cannot be a good mother, you cannot be a good wife. There’s no slavery in it. They don’t know even what pleases their husbands, how to create peace in the family, what to say, when to say beautiful things and when to be strict. All this discretion is not there. Either they are shrews or they are slaves.

So Sahaja Yoga is meant for women who are alert, who are wise, who know everything about life. Even they don’t know where are the chakras on the feet. Look at your Mother. She’s a woman. She knows so much. They don’t know anything as to how Kundalini passes through these centres, what it does, what She is capable of. But the Kundalini itself is the feminine power. She knows each and everything about you, about your child … “

1991 HAMSA PUJA, NEW YORK

We have to be alert, very alert. And Mother depends on us

“… So this character, when you are wearing the saris, you must also know how to tie up, backside and to fight. Otherwise you have not got the Sahaj culture in you. Either you are very dominating or you are so docile like cabbages. You must understand that we have to be alert, very alert. And Mother depends on us. On our own personalities, that the way we are going to develop ourselves, our children, our husbands, our society of Sahaja Yoga, the whole of Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. It is the women who makes the society. The whole universe is in the hands of a woman who creates children … “

1990 MARRIAGE ADVICE TO WOMEN, INDIA

LEFT-SIDEDNESS AND RIGHT-SIDEDNESS

Our  joy about  which we talk, within our heart,  has to manifest outside

“… I have noticed -of course I am also a woman -that women have certain water-powers of crying, weeping, and thinking they are very miserable and making everybody miserable. This is their power. I’ve noticed this. I mean, this song is the worst song you could sing on any day whatsoever. But it has come into somebody’s head, is very negative. And not only that, but it shows a person who can never be happy, and doesn’t want anybody to be happy.

So inside every woman there is motherhood, there’s great capacities, sacrifice, everything is there. But with that, they also should know they are left-sided. And our joy about which we talk, within our heart, has to manifest outside. People should see that we are joyous, that we are happy people, that we are not like others who start crying for small things.

Like when My father died, I was surprised that suddenly I became thoughtless, absolutely thoughtless. For about three days I was thoughtless, neither the thought of pain or thought of unhappiness or anything came up; but just thoughtless. And everybody was surprised, because I looked after him, and I mean he was very attached to Me, very fond of Me, everything was there. But I was surprised, how is it I became suddenly thoughtless?

So if you are a Sahaja Yogini, then at the time of crisis you should become thoughtless, that’s one of the signs. I have seen with Myself, if there is any crisis in the family, I just become thoughtless. That means what? That God just takes you in, your problems, He puts His hand, He puts His protection and He takes you out of it, and makes you absolutely thoughtless … “

1991 DIWALI PUJA, CABELLA

This  is another kind  of ego-expression,  I tell you, this crying business

“… So what you have to achieve in this lifetime, the highest thing, is your ascent and your position in the Kingdom of God. For, specially for ladies I have to tell you because you see reading all these tragic things all over, so many tragedies. Baapre! (Oh, my God!). This Greek tragedy. This tragedy, that tragedy. It just starts working in the nerves of the ladies. If somebody says the slightest thing it becomes like a bombshell, they just start behaving as if, “Oh my God, what has happened? He should not have said this to me.”

But what we do to ourselves we should see first of all; what harm we do to ourselves – we never cry for that. We have seen how in the West women have ruined themselves. They never cry for that, never, never. But they cry if somebody says even a little word to them …. in India also.

But there are very sensible women otherwise I’ve seen, in the East and West, who have a great sense of bearing, a majestic attitude towards life. Like an elephant is walking and the dogs are barking, so what does it matter? That majesty comes when inside you have that joy. “Nobody can make me unhappy”: this is, should be the principle. “Nothing can make me unhappy.” Otherwise you start moving towards left side. Or the lady starts crying, and the man starts going to the left, and suddenly you find ten bhoots sitting on him. How does he get it? “I have never been to a cemetery, I’ve never been to any such place, Mother, I never saw anybody dying.” “Then how did you get bhootish?” “I never went to any guru.” See the wife: wife is a crying doll. For everything she cries … “

199I DIWALI PUJA, CABELLA

I want to have a promise from you that you are not going to cry at all

” … So today I want to have a promise from all of you that you are not going to cry at all. Instead of flowers you just give Me this flower of promise. I never cry. Of course sometimes – Sandra Karuna – one tear or two tears might come out of My eye. After all, I am a Mother. But not like this, sitting crying, crying, become in hysterics. Must have your dignity, you are all Sahaja Yoginis. Don’t read any book which talks of crying.

But books which are deep also make you feel very much touched, you feel like crying, it’s all right. In the cinema they say, see, a woman torturing her husband, there they will cry. At home they will come and torture the husband, what’s the use? I’ve seen many like that. In the cinema they will be crying. When it is somebody else, they feel the pain, when it is themselves they never see what they are doing. So My one demand today is that you must not cry. Now you are in the Kingdom of God, and in the Kingdom of God you do not cry … “

1990 DIWALI PUJA, CABELLA

When you go too much towards the right, you get caught up on the left

” … Because it’s easy for bhoots to get the women than the men. Is true. When you go too much towards the right, you immediately get caught up on the left because you move like a swing, because naturally you are the left-sided thing, and then the bhoots catch you much more than they catch other people . . . “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

ABOUT DOMINATION

They   are going   to spoil because   they have become very dominating

” … Now, the deep problem I find is the women who are supposed to be My disciples will be spoiling Sahaja Yoga. Very clearly I can see it now. I can see it so clearly, absolutely clearly. They are going to spoil because they have become very dominating. Because they think they know Sahaja Yoga. Because they think they have become very great. A leader’s wife thinks she’s the leader herself. If you call somebody that “All right, come and do this job for Me.” The wife thinks she has a right on her husband more than Mother has. Is the women who are the culprit today and that’s why I want to warn you … “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, VIENNA

One of the conditionings they have: the liberation of women

” … And especially in the West you see this woman’s lib and all these nonsensical ideas have gone into the heads of even Sahaja Yogis. One of the conditionings they have, women’s lib, the liberation of women.

Now in Sahaja Yoga nobody can dominate you. Because you are the Spirit and Spirit cannot be dominated. If you think you are dominated then know that you are not the Spirit. So now we have to understand we are women in Sahaja Yoga. And we have to understand our balancing power. As I have said many a time, there is a – they are like two wheels of a chariot – one on the left, one on the right. Now the left cannot be fixed on to the right, and right cannot be fixed onto the left. We are made like that. We are made by the Divine. But one should be very proud that you are women … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

This nonsense of ‘We are higher, they are lower’ will go away

“…So, the other day we were in America. I told the girls, I said “Better just wait, and what we can do is – all right, I am the Mother, you can give Me food if you want. I don’t mind. Give the boys first, and then the girls should eat.” And one of them got very angry with Me. She said, “Mother what is this? They are dominating us.” As if somebody eats before or later, what is the domination? I mean, in any case you are going to eat before or after. I don’t understand the portion of domination.

But see, you are privileged that you can look after so many people, you see. What is so wrong in it? You see the whole atmosphere is so funny that if the men eat first, then women should feel that we are put down. It’s absurd, because it’s a privilege; you are like a Mother, you are the person who has to look after them, and you have to feed them. It’s a privilege that a Gruha Lakshmi should do that, look after everybody, give them food to eat and treat them just like their protegees; that’s it, something like that. It’s such a privilege, it’s a sign of complete maturity. Even little, little girls, you have seen – if they are brought up properly you see, otherwise they can be horrifying. But normally little girls are very generous, more generous than men are, and they are very – you see – always try to make you very happy. They have great sense, if somebody is sitting down they’ll come and give you food and look after you, and – I mean, I have seen my all three granddaughters do that. You see, even once a washerwoman came in the house, they said “You must sit on the sofa.”

She said “But no, I can’t. I can’t sit on the sofa.”

“No, you must sit on the sofa.” They opened the fan for her and they brought all the things that were in the kitchen for her to eat. And they brought something to eat and this and that.

And the elder one, I told her, “What do you want to be?” She said, “I can only be a nurse or an air hostess.” “Why? Air hostess and nurse, why?”

“These are the only two professions where one can give, isn’t it, food? otherwise there’s …. I mean it’s a privilege. Other professions you can’t do this great job, this noble job, see, of giving food. That’s why I want to be either the nurse or the air hostess.”

And they play. I have seen these girls play, “Now I’m the air hostess, now you must eat this.” they bring food in small, little things, you see. They make their own things, “Now I’m air hostess,” and they bring it. Now, there may not be any food in it, there maybe some stones they have put, or whatever. “You must eat, you must look after yourself, you’re thinning down, you better … ” Like that, you see, so sweet. And then they’ll bring some pillows, “Now you must lie down.” Like air hostesses they are working, you see.

“Are you feeling cold? Would you like to have a blanket or something?”

I said, “What game is this?” “We are air hostesses.”

It’s such a privilege, an innocent privilege. And that’s what – if we develop – this nonsense of a right that “We are higher, they are lower,” all this nonsense will go away. Who is higher and lower? See, like some hair are here and some are here. Are they higher or lower? You can’t do without this or this. It is an absurd idea, which has come into our heads, that we are higher, lower … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

To be a good Sahaja Yogini, first of all you have to be an excellent wife

” … How many of you dominate your husband? Be careful. (one yogini raises her hand) She is the only honest person, I think. I know all of you who dominate. And try to crush them also, sometimes. I’m requesting you now because you are the shakti – you are the power behind the man. You are the ones who are going to make them great. You are the ones who are going to build up Sahaja Yoga as a potential energy.

You are like this Mother Earth who has to give everything beautiful all these flowers. From where do they come? All these trees. This Mother Earth looks so simple. But what She gives us, look at that. Look at those beautiful things. So one has to understand that to be a good Sahaja Yogini, first of all you have to be an excellent wife. And not a dominating wife, pushing yourself forward all the time .. . “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

The same woman today can be ladder to the heaven or a slide downward

” … This is what I have to tell you that the potential within you is very great. Sahaja Yoga should not be limited to you or to your children. So the depth that you have, you touch. The problem of today, that the women have lost their values, they have lost their depth. This is the basic problem of today. They have become competitive, money- oriented, success-oriented, all nonsensical things. They are not ascent-oriented. So you have to be very, very careful. Basically this is the problem you should see and I would request all the Sahaja Yogis to be on the watch. The same woman today can be ladder to the heaven or could be a slide downward. Somehow they have achieved that kind of a position now that they can dictate, just like Hitler . .. “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

Your job is to neutralize his domination by simple, simple things

“… On the contrary, if you (women) try all the time to dominate, that’s not your job to dominate at all. Your job is to neutralize his domination by simple, simple things . . . “

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, CABELLA

If you nag that’s not a Gruha Lakshmi

“… It’s against human dignity. You have to decorate another human, you have to make it beautiful, you have to make it enjoyable and happy, make everyone happy, not to nag all the time. And if you nag that’s not a Gruha Lakshmi; that is not a Gruha Lakshmi. You should not nag, “Do this, do that, stand up, what are you doing, stand this side, do, go that side.” It’s all a nonsense. You leave the person to be; the human dignity is the most important thing. But respect everybody … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT SAHAJA YOGA How much do you know about Sahaja Yoga?

” … So I have to request you people, first and foremost thing, all the Sahaja Yoginis must know Sahaja Yoga as well as the men know. Not just smiling and dressing up is important. In Sahaja Yoga, you must have the same knowledge as any Sahaja Yogi has. If you have produced children it doesn’t mean that you have achieved something great. Anybody can produce children – dogs, cats, everyone. Also your husbands are responsible partly for it. So nothing you have achieved great by producing children, looking after the children, dominating your husband all the time.

How much do you know about Sahaja Yoga? I know some of them do not know what are the chakras on the feet. They don’t want to know anything about Sahaja Yoga. Only they want to use Sahaja Yoga sometimes to dominate the husbands. One has to face it up. How much do you know deeply about Sahaja Yoga? Most of you have so many problems within yourselves. As I have seen, some of you, as soon as you put hands towards someone, you feel, “Oh, here, I’m catching here.” That’s the sign of a regular bhoot in you. And I have seen people saying that they are sensitive. It’s such a misleading thing, “I am very sensitive. I am very much higher in Sahaja Yoga.” That’s not the way you are going to be higher. You have to be absolutely perfect, in perfect health and perfect knowledge about Sahaja Yoga you should have. How many of you have read Advent? . . “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

Your Guru is a woman

” … Now, what I’m trying to say, that you have to find out what is

Sahaja Yoga? Your Guru is a woman. She is the source of all the knowledge. She is the ocean of all the knowledge. And why should we lag behind? In all things we want to be absolutely equal, similar to men. Even in dressing up and everything. And what about in knowledge about Sahaja Yoga? How many have given realizations to others? Raise your hands. Only the women I am interested in. That’s good. So that is what one should be proud of. One should know how much you know Sahaja Yoga mentally, emotionally … “

1988 SHRI EKADESHA RUDRA PUJA, AUSTRIA

Sahaja Yoga is not only made for men, it’s made for you.

” … In India, in the ancient times, they used to teach them about God, religion and all that. So many great ladies we had, Gargi (ancient philosopher in time of Janaka) and Maitreyi (vedic philosopher) and all those, who were very learned women. So in no way you should be just women who do not know anything of Sahaja Yoga. Sahaja Yoga is not only made for men. It’s made for you, much more for you. Because you are shakti and I am your Mother.

So I find the women lack that. They are more worried about the saris and this and that and I mean, now from the hair-dressings they have come to saris. That’s what I feel. It’s just the same. Of course saris are very good dress. It’s nice to wear. By that we give lot of encouragement to our weavers in India. It’s very artistic, and good and that represents also a very ladylike feminine thing. But that doesn’t mean that you should become so feminine that you don’t understand Sahaja Yoga. I have seen women don’t know where the centres are of the feet. Indian women know. Men do know. Indian women know, but the Western women don’t know, so many of them. They don’t know about chakras. They don’t know how to raise the Kundalini. They don’t know what’s the problem is. So once you left that life, you are wearing a sari, doesn’t mean now that you have become a women in the gosha. Gosha is the one where they have to get chadarchadar, they call it. . . “

1990 ADVICE TO WOMEN, SANGLI, INDIA

GOSSIPING

They have to be very, very careful, that they start judging others

” … Self-Realization means to know about your Self, and last time I did say all things here in Perth and also otherwise that to talk about somebody like that, to spread stories, ladies especially should be careful because they are on the left, they have to be very, very careful, that they start judging others. They think they are perfect, they judge, they tell their husbands, then husband tells another husband, then husband tells his wife.

You have to be extremely wise and sensible women. If you are not sensible this will spread like a disease. In Sahaja Yoga this is one of the diseases I dread, is what Christ has called murmuring souls. He said, ‘Beware of the murmuring souls.’ … “

199I TALK AFTER SHRI MAHAVIRA PUJA, AUSTRALIA

You must avoid listening against anyone, talking against anyone

” … Specially in this respect (talking behind the back of others), I would request the women, specially the wives of the leaders have a great responsibility. If they start talking like that, taking interest in such talks, then they come down to the level of others, and their motherhood is challenged. Any mother who allows the children to talk like that is really spoiling the entire life of that, of children.

Anybody who talks ill of anybody in Sahaja Yoga is really extremely dangerous for both of them, but specially for the person who does it. So one should always avoid even thinking ill of others, let alone the talking of it. If anybody talks like that, you should put your hands to your ears and say, “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to hear anything against anyone.” Because when we start talking against someone, we get all the bad things that person has. Apart from that our mind is spoiled, is impurity in your mind. Then you talk to others, it increases and it becomes worse.

It is the responsibility of the women to be very much careful, because this kind ofthing is more with the women because they are a little excluded, they have exclusive friends, and they have exclusive life. They are different type than men are. Men if they have to get angry with someone or if they want to say something they’ll just go and have a fight and finish with it. But women will keep it in their mind and will say something, and it’s such a bad thing to start, it’s just like a worm it moves, and is very infectious. So all of you must remember that this is the first thing you must avoid, is to listen against anyone, talk against anyone, have small talks … “

1991 EASTER PUJA, SYDNEY

LEADER’ S WIFE

The wife of a leader is like a mother

” … I have to say one thing today, that under the circumstances we have to decide that if the leaders don’t have wives who are humble, who are kind, who are compassionate and who are Gruha Lakshmis, who are very sweet with the Collective, we’ll have to cancel the husband as well as the wife from the leadership. We cannot have leaders who have wives who are horrid. We cannot, because the wife of a leader is like a mother.

There are five types of mothers described, one of them is the one who is the wife of the guru or of the leader. And if the leader has a wife of that kind it’s better in all sense he should withdraw. Improve his wife. Do whatever is possible. Till she’s all right, he should not be the leader. Is a very important thing because I have seen such women bring down the men, not only that, but bring down the Sahaja Yoga, Sahaja Yogis and the whole organization of God.

So one has to be careful, and the women have to understand that if they are the wives of the leaders they have to be extremely good, kind, generous, sharing, looking after – absolutely motherly, and should not tolerate nonsense and should correct when people are doing wrong. They should not report anyone to their husbands, should not take over themselves the responsibility of doing things which they are not supposed to do. If they are not of that level, they are of no use to people and they have no business to be proud of being the wives of the leaders . .. “

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

You have to be up to his ability, capability and his name

” … I find some people are very nice. Some leaders are extremely nice, but wives can be very hard, can be very stiff, or could be very mischievous, could be troublesome, selfish. You cannot grow in Sahaja Yoga with these qualities. It’s such a luck and chance that your husband is the leader, is the highest man in your nation in Sahaja Yoga and where you have to be up to his ability, capability and his name, otherwise you have no authority …”

1987 SHRI RAMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

The wives of the leaders have to look after everyone, to be kind to them

” … If you are a dominating woman, find faults with everyone, then you are not a gruhalaksmi at all. Especially the leaders’ wives are like that sometimes I’ve seen. They are much more dominating and much more criticizing. Even no leader can do that way. And they live in a fool’s paradise. They are not leaders, but a fool’s paradise, thinking they are the, what you call, the whole soul of Sahaja Yoga. These stupid women must come round, and behave themselves, I’m telling you, because I’ve known such women become schizophrenic, because they live in imaginary world. Not leaders and they have no business to behave like that.

The wives of the leaders have to look after everyone, to be kind to them, and they should stand in between the leader and others, so that if the leader is, supposing angry, she should say, “Now it’s all right. Forgive, forgive,” like that. That is the duty of a leader’s wife … “

1987 CRITICISM, EGO AND RIGHT-SIDED DANGERS, FRANCE

So the wives have a greater responsibility

” … They are the source of joy and not of controlling. They are the source of motherliness and not guruness. So they have to be very different personalities. Instead of that they think, “We are guru’s wives, so we can do what we like. We can dominate people, and shout at people and can arrange everything ourselves.” No, they have to be completely on the background. And for that I can mention it so many of them are very good wives, who have shown great, great understanding of their role as Sahaja Yoginis … “

1986 GURU PUJA, AUSTRIA

EASTERN AND WESTERN CULTURES

Both cultures  relegate women to the level of an inferior  human being

“…It is important also to see how children are treated in these two cultures of East and West. What we see in the East is that the children would listen to their mothers if they are not under fundamentalist culture. This culture relegates women to the level of an inferior human being, fit to be dominated by men and children.

In the West also the same thing happens. Children don’t respect their mothers, neither do they listen to them. I feel this is because generally the Western women spend more time looking after their bodies and looks than on looking after and loving their children … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING

Indian society is maintained by the women of the household

” … In our country I must say credit must go to the housewives because we are no good for economics, no good for politics, administration, hopeless. Men folk are useless. They don’t know any household work or anything, women have kept it to themselves, but our society is first class, it is maintained by the women of the household … “

1988 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

All over the world, Muslim women are the most tortured ones

“…Worse  is the case  in Bangladesh,  worse is the case  in Bangladesh. In one week, four ladies were buried half naked into the Mother Earth and they were stoned by people because their husbands said that they were looking at other men. Ultimately these women committed suicide.

Then this you must have heard about a lady from Bangladesh, Tlisma. She’s now hiding in Sweden because she said that it’s better that we revise the Koran and this harshness on women is too much, and we have to work it out. So she had to run away to Sweden. Now they want her back in Bangladesh to prosecute her because there is fatwa on her. They may kill her the same.

You see, all over the world, Muslim women are the most tortured ones. It could not have been Mohammed Saheb who would have allowed such nonsense. He talked of rahim and rahmat (compassion and mercy). The condition of these women, even in Arabic countries, is very bad … “

1994 LADIES’ PUBLIC PROGRAM, TUNIS

In  the East,  we can say,  that most of the  women are timid, oppressed  and cannot express themselves, while in the West we find most of the women are reduced to a sex symbol

“…Women as a whole have definitely suffered over the ages, as the previous lady has told you, because we have not realized what their importance is and what their proper role is in human society. Society itself, which is her creation, tries to control or put down the womanhood. In the East, we can say, that due to fundamentalist influence women have been under great pressure and their morality is based on fear rather than freedom. In the West they have fought for their freedom, but what they have attained is spurious freedom. The women in the West have freedom to abandon all social and moral values.

Thus in the East, we can say, that most of the women are timid, oppressed and cannot express themselves, while in the West we find most of the women are reduced to a sex symbol. They are keen to expose   their bodies. Their anxiety is to appear in fashion advertisements and very cheap popularity. Most of them accepted this position because otherwise they could not have survived in that chaotic world of the West … “

1995 WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, CHINA

To compete with men they have become much too self-willed

“… At the same time I must submit that, while we ask for the rights of women, we must also stress the fundamental duties of women to the human society. The women in the West, or those who are educated in the West, also some others I have seen, have gone to the other extreme when they are taking to political, economical or administrative roles. To compete with men they have become much too self-willed, self-centred and ambitious. They have no more their soothing, pleasing qualities which can bring peace and balance. On the contrary, they become dominating, pleasure-seeking individuals. They are far more worried about their physical attractions than about having a pleasing, sweet and dignified personality. They give in to their baser self much faster than men, wittingly or unwittingly. All this leads to chaotic societies and children grow up into street urchins, preparing for wars.

What we need is a balance between the two extremes. We need women as equal but not similar partners with men, but with a subtle understanding of the nature of men and how to bring them into the centre with their inner balance. We need balanced women in order to have a balanced human race, with peace within itself. .. “

“…I’ve discovered that in Kali yuga, especially in the West, the problem will be coming from the women … “

1988 INTUITION AND WOMEN, PARIS

All such stupid things they do

“…Like a lady I knew, she was about eighty-five, she died from a horse falling down. Naturally I mean what else you expect at eighty- five, that’s what is evident, for a lady of eighty-five she should settle down at home, look after her grandchildren, maybe she might have great-grandchildren, you see. Instead of that why does she want to be twenty-five year-old lady to climb on a horse? So all such stupid things they do and then they will say, “What’s wrong?” Is nothing wrong in stupidity, “What’s wrong?” But such people are a nuisance to the society, to others … “

1982 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, UK

Immediately they will criticize on the face

” … Another thing is now, you go to an Indian house. Their colour scheme is different. If you go to south Indians theirs is different. Everybody has their own taste. As soon as they will enter – Western women – “What a colour scheme! What a thing you have bought! Oh my God, this is horrible.” Immediately they will criticize on the face…”

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, CABELLA

This is a very subtle type of materialism

” … So doesn’t matter if the house is little untidy, if there’s something fallen off. In India no woman would do that. Now, the guests are sitting and she’s with the Hoover. Like another thing is, like anything breaks, say, supposing the thermometer breaks – in India they’ll say, “Very good, now there will be no temperature, thermometer’s broken.”

But I’ve seen in the West, it’s very surprising, supposing some coffee spills, I’m a guest, immediately they’ll bring the Hoover, bring something to clean it – in the presence of the person. Now if a glass breaks, finished. It’s not important. This is a very subtle type of materialism, I think, that the person is sitting there who is a guest, and why are you trying to do all these things in her presence or in his presence? But these Western women never understand . .. “

1997 EVENING BEFORE NAVARATRI PUJA, CABELLA

INNOCENCE AND CHASTITY

The essence of pure love and the source of joy is  innocence. Chastity is our power, the fragrance of existence. Both must be respected if we want to feel the pure joy of the spirit.

In Indian tradition, girls learn from a young age the skills to prepare them for marriage. Boys prepare themselves to get a stable job and assume the responsibilities of a family. From childhood, they are both taught to feel the company of their future husband or wife. In this way innocence and chastity are preserved, and the in-built dharma is reinforced. This brings a security which renders pre-marital relationships unnecessary.

Shri Mataji would like Sahaj society to follow the same principles, Before marriage the virginity must be preserved.” This refers to both the physical as well as the emotional spheres. Even having a boyfriend/girlfriend, flirting or romantic longings damage the Mooladhara and should be avoided.

These are not common ideas in the West, but it is the way to re-establish security, purity and dharma in our society. Chastity and innocence are the basis of our maryadas and give us the freedom to have joyful, loving and pure relationships.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INNOCENCE

It is important that they must preserve their innocence

” … Now, this Ganesha when He is in a childhood, as you see, when the child is born, the children are extremely protective or fiery, you can say, about anybody touching their innocence. When they are absolutely young they are not even aware of it. But slightly, as soon as they start growing, they become very aware and they don’t like their clothes to be taken out in the presence of others, they become very shy of their innocence. I mean, not shy. Shyness is not in the sense of their nudity. They are shy of their nudity so that their innocence should not be attacked. If their innocence is not attacked and if they are pure, if they see a nude woman they close their eyes, they would not like to see a nude woman … or a nude man.

So, this is an innate understanding, an intuitive understanding that it is important that they must preserve their innocence. Now, what is the innocence within us? What does it do to us? As it is, already I’ve told you that it gives us wisdom … “

1982 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

Innocence is our nature, is the essence of this Creation

” …So the priorities have to change if Shri Ganesha is to be worshipped. What are we worshipping today is the innocence within us. We are worshipping that which is auspicious, which is innocent. Innocence, which is deep down within us – that’s our character, that’s our nature, that’s what we are born with – is the basis of this whole Creation, is the essence of this Creation … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, ENGLAND

But innocence takes to the essence, and the essence is love

” … Thus, we have to understand that the quality of Ganesha we must all imbibe within ourselves. His quality of innocence which is already there within us has to be manifested … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

If you do not respect your innocence you cannot know truth

” … Innocence is the source of love. Like small children, when you see them sweetly dancing, you feel such tremendous love for them. When you see a little baby, very sweet baby smiling at you, you feel tremendous love for that child. If you do not respect your innocence, you can never be loving person, and without love, you cannot know truth. Only thing is that, we feel rather sometimes awkward, sometimes frightened, to love the innocent people. The innocent are most harmless people … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

You become a source of joy

” … If Shri Ganesha is within, you become like a child. Childlike innocence. You don’t get angry with somebody like a dog barks. There are some Sahaja Yogis I know who are all the time barking just like dogs, or beggars in India. But you become like a child who is very sweet, who always tries to amuse you, always tries to say nice things, always tries to make you feel happy. The source of such joy. And that’s how you become a source of joy, source of happiness, source of fulfilment. All the time bubbling with laughter and happiness, bubbling with beautiful things. How the children amuse you, just see and watch. How they come round with little-little hands, how they work it out. How they know what is the right thing. A child who is a realized soul is much more sensible than a grown-up person. I’ve seen that. .. “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, ENGLAND

The light of love is joy

” … Anything else cannot give you joy. It’s only the love that you feel in your heart that gives you joy … “

1979 ADVICE ON ALL CHAKRAS, MUMBAI

Seven layers of joy

“…This mechanism acts in seven layers within us. In the periphery of the seven layers, we have got ripples of this joy arising; they come to the shores of our brain and create the bubbles of joy. But again if the brain is a very rational rock then these bubbles dissolve, giving no effect to the rock. So a loving person is thousand times better than a rational person. But most of the people feel this love only on the periphery of the outermost layer, which is the light of the Mooladhara.

As you know that Mooladhara has got excretory effect and how important, or relieved we feel when our excretions are all right. It’s a basic thing. But that relief gives you a kind of a joy and happiness. Is very gross, is very low type as they call it. But very important for us to get that joy. But to make this joy not so dominating over all other joys of deeper sensitivity is to be innocent. I know one cannot be innocent, you have to be innocent yourself. But with Sahaja Yoga you can by clearing your Mooladhara. So that is very important that our Mooladharas must be clear, our innocence must be established, so that these gross joys do not cover the entire spectrum of our life and make us slaves of these gross joy-giving reliefs. But to clean your Mooladhara does not mean by any chance in Sahaja Yoga to get after any kind of obsession and obstruction but to give a natural release like an innocent child to these ripples, which need not go back to all the other layers of joy.

You must have seen, when the ripples in the ocean touch the shores, they turn back. If the shores are made of very hard rocks, this turning can be very deep and the waves can go much deeper. If the brain is very ego-oriented – is covered with ego, then this joys have a much greater significance in life than normally it is. Innocence is the only way one can neutralize those ripples coming back on the other six very important layers . . . “

1979 ADVICE ON ALL CHAKRAS, MUMBAI

” … In Sahaja Yoga as you know, morality  is the most important thing … “

1993 DIWALI-ANNOUNCEMENT OF MARRIAGES, RUSSIA

Without the depth of your chastity, you can’t understand Him

” … Christ is innocence. If you don’t have the depth of your chastity you can’t understand Him. You cannot worship Him. That’s the best they could do, is to finish your chastity so that you never recognize Him. All that comes to you through your meditative efforts. Now the effort is just that you have to be meditative. That’s all. Keep your meditation on. Try to be meditative. See things. What is witness state is nothing but that you are meditative … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, ENGLAND

Life is innocence

” … Now you have to notice on the streets of Maharashtra – just now I was coming by train – I saw no men, there were nobody who were interested in women. No women were interested in men. Some men were hugging each other, walking around, holding innocently. I mean, the whole thing was that life is innocence … “

1985 PUJA – NASIK, INDIA

Innocence comes when you do not destroy it

” … Men and women, all of them, have to go hand in hand, because the first quality I told is wisdom, but the essence of Mooladhara is innocence, they are made of innocence. The power of Ganesha is innocence. And innocence comes when you do not destroy it. Actually a child is born innocent, but if the mother is like that immediately the child takes over, and if the father is like that the son takes over. But later on it has effect, whether it’s mother or father. The whole society is decadent, is in decadence, is going down. You can see it so clearly … “

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, AUSTRALIA

Once you get your Realization your attention becomes innocent

” … This innocence never gets destroyed because it is eternal, but it may happen that it will get covered with some clouds by our mistakes that we commit. But once you get your Realization, your innocence is re-established, manifests, and you become innocent. Your attention becomes innocent. .. “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

Mentally you must watch where this mind goes

” … Any man you touch, any woman you touch, any woman you look at – I just don’t understand. It’s worse than monkeys. Horrible. You have to soothe it down, cool it down, so that Ganesha bestows His blessings upon your Mooladhara.

There’s no grace. But it’s not so outside that I can say that “you must respect yourself.” It cannot work out with those words, I know. You have to sit down, do meditation and try to soothe it down. I’ll discuss with him (the leader) and I’ll tell him what things can be done about it, because I can’t tell you in the open like this. But still this is all physical. Mentally you must be on the watch to see where does this mind go – to dirty things. Why does it always go to this sensation? See the birds, see the flowers, see the nature, see the beautiful people, just see them … “

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS – BIRMINGHAM, UK

We must be on the full alertness about our minds

” … We talk of innocence, but to awaken innocence within ourselves we must be on the full watch, on the full alertness about our minds. What is it thinking? Where is it going? Where is this thief going? Is he trying to do some tricks? Is he up to some tricks? All right! You have to be alert, very alert. .. “

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS – BIRMINGHAM, UK

In   thoughtless   awareness you  can combat wrong   type of Mooladhara

” … It is in thoughtless awareness you can combat the thoughts that come to you from wrong type of Mooladhara. Maybe some of you have got bhoots on your Mooladhara. And we have some physical treatment for such bhoots also, which I’ll tell sometime, which you can ask. But you cannot always say that, “It is a bhoot and I’m all right.. ” . “

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS – BIRMINGHAM, UK

The only impression that should really work is the height of ascent

“…There are so many other things by which we express that we are still under the trap of a bad Mooladhara. The way you dress up, the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you talk, the way you behave, to impress other people. I am to be impressed by other people in Sahaja Yoga itself. The only impression that should really work is the height of ascent that others have achieved. You can do it, it’s not difficult.

When the Kundalini can rise with all such shattered Mooladharas, I’m sure you can cure your Mooladhara completely. But your question is first of all of strengthening the Mooladhara, for which I think you all have to go into a kind of tapasya (penance).

That’s why I say sometimes that the Western people should take to less of meat, especially the red meats and beefs, and horses, and dogs – and I don’t know what else you eat [laughs]. Take more to vegetarian food. I’m not saying vegetarianism, you understand that…”

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS – BIRMINGHAM, UK

It will come automatically

“… Only question is “Where is your attention?” Divert. Divert your attention. First you will need some exercise, some effort, and afterwards it will come automatically. You won’t have to exert, you won’t have to worry. On the contrary, it will become impossible how to be otherwise. So much conditioning is there. We have played into the hands of conditioning, we have ruined ourselves. This conditioning is the subtlest of all, and the worst of all. It’s impossible to combat in Sahaja Yoga, unless and until you individually take up the responsibility of looking after it.

Mooladhara is one of the most delicate and is the most powerful chakra. It has so many folds and it has so many dimensions. If your Mooladhara is not all right, your memory will fail. If your Mooladhara is not all right, to begin with, your wisdom will fail. You will have no sense of direction. The insanity that is now crawling up in America before they become forty years of age is because their Mooladharas are out. Most of the diseases which are incurable come because of weak Mooladharas, on the physical side. On the mental side, most of the mental problems we saw there, most, I would say ninety percent, are due to weak Mooladhara. If a person has a strong Mooladhara, powerful Mooladhara, it doesn’t get into trouble. Because you know there’s a very strong hold of the Mooladhara in the back there. [Shri Mataji places Her hand on the back of Her head].

And when your mind goes off, you blame the brain. It’s not the brain, mostly it is the Mooladhara. So for physical safety and for your emotional safety also, you have to have a sane type of attitude towards Mooladhara … “

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS – BIRMINGHAM, UK

The meaning of the word adultery

“… Ganapatipule has a special significance, because He is Mahaganesha. The Ganesha at Mooladhara becomes Mahaganesha in the Virata – that is the brain. That means it is the seat of Shri Ganesha. That means Shri Ganesha governs from that seat the principle of innocence. As you know very well it is placed at the back in the region of optic thalamus – optic lobe as they call it and it is the giver of innocence to the eyes.

When He incarnated as Christ – which is in here in the front, at Agnya – He said very clearly that “Thou shalt not have adulterous eyes.” It’s a very subtle saying, which people don’t understand what is the meaning of the word adultery. Adultery means impurity in a general word. Any impurity in the eye “Thou shalt not have” – it’s very difficult. Instead of saying that you get your realization and clear your back Agnya, He has said it in a very short form, “Thou shalt not have adulterous eyes.” And people thought, it’s an impossible situation. Because He was not allowed to live long, actually His public life is limited to three-and-a-half years only. So whatever He has said has a very great significance, that your eyes should not be adulterous. When there is innocence there is no adultery. It means there’s no impurity.

For example, with our eyes we see something and we want to possess it. We start thinking. The thought starts like a chain, one after another. And then we get into the web of horrible thoughts, and then we become slaves of those thoughts. Without even our knowledge, our eyes are turned to things which are very gross and take you downward… “

1986 SHRI MAHAGANESHA PUJA, GANAPATIPULE

Learn something very essential from the roots

” … And, as we have learned so many things from you about electricity, you also better learn from us certain things about Vishnumaya’s powers. There’s no harm in learning something for the roots. Because if the tree has gone wrong, it has to learn something very much essential from the roots. And that is it: the purity of relationship between brothers and sisters … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

Kill your lust

” … There are six enemies human beings have. But in the modern times they multiplied, I think. The first one is the lust. Kill your lust! The lust that is today finishing the West more than the greed. So first is, kill your lust. .. “

1986 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, SWITZERLAND

We’ll have no problem of any kind

” … So it is such a blessing, also, such a promise, that if we look after our Shri Ganesh principle: keep ourselves clean; keep our eyes clean; and develop pure relationships among ourselves, we’ll have no problem of any kind. You’ll have proper relations with your wife, proper relations with your children, and proper relations in the family. Proper relations in the society, proper relations in the politics, economics and all various areas in which you move … “

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Economic advantages in relation to innocence

” … Best way is to be your Self, innocent and dharmic. Ganesha is the basis of morality. Moral behaviour, when it is lost in a society, that society becomes destroyed. Whatever may be the economic advantages they have, or they have financial advantages or political advantages, but they get destroyed from within … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

An innocent person doesn’t try to show off

“… A person who is innocent is extremely humble. He doesn’t try to show off, never. He doesn’t know how to show off. For example, Shri Ganesha has a little rat as His conveyance. But if you see people who are show-offs, they try to buy cars beyond their means with big loans just to show off that they are rich. This is a disease of people who are not innocent and people take advantage of this very much in the world … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

Lust and greed just drop out from the eyes

“…In Sahaja Yoga I’ve seen people become really very innocent. Shri Ganesha, who is on the backside of your head also, who is Mahaganesha here, starts acting on the eyes. The lust and greed from the eyes just drop out, because you become innocent in your attention… “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

THE POWER OF CHASTITY

Chastity is the fragrance in the flower, the essence of our existence

” … People try to do things to look very attractive and this and that. Don’t waste your energy like this. You are saints, live like saints. Traditionally as we live, we have to live that way and evolve out of the tradition, don’t do something new, something absurd, nonsensical. We don’t have to attract anyone. Chastity is the fragrance in the flower which attracts the bees, is the honey of the flower, is the essence of our existence … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

I reside within you as chastity

” …because I reside within you as chastity. If Shri Ganesha is the auspiciousness, I reside within you as chastity. Chastity is never aggressive, is never harsh, because there’s no need, you know. No need, you are so powerful, you are so powerful, that there is no need to aggress anyone. Why should you aggress, you are not frightened of anyone … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

As My children  you enjoy the bliss of chastity  as I have, all My human life

” … So today you have come to worship Shri Ganesha – within yourself. What is Me to worship as Ganesha I don’t understand. Because I’m That. When you are worshipping Me you want to have that Shri Ganesha within you awakened. Let that be awakened within you. Let what I say become the mantra to awaken that within you, so that as My children you enjoy the bliss of chastity as I have enjoyed, all My human life and all My Divine lives. You enjoy the same quantity, that’s what I want. At least you should have the taste of it … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

“…Chastity is so generous,  it’s so beautiful. Always fresh and young, yet so sublime and so dignified…”

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

If you don’t have chastity you cannot have faith

” … Chastity is the consolidation of your faith. When you have faith in God, you are chaste. When you have faith in yourself you are chaste. You have faith in your wife, you are chaste. Why should you have faith in your wife? Because you are a chaste person, how can she be unchaste? Your faith in your child-is chastity, because you are chaste, how can your child be anything else? Crystalline form of faith is chastity. And that you can have even before Realization. Many have. Actually like the camphor, which you see is volatile and evaporates into the fragrance, in the same way we can say chastity acts into faith.

If you don’t have chastity you cannot have faith, in anything. Because either you are dealing with your emotions that you are emotionally attached to Me or may be you are mentally attached to Me. But if you have sense of chastity, faith will be apparent. Within yourself you don’t have to have faith, ‘Now Mother I will have faith within myself.’ You cannot. Faith is something which is volatile, and the volatile fragrance comes from chastity …”

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

Goodness, compassion, everything comes from a sense of chastity

” … So from today we are not going to look at the stars or the moon, but going to look at the Mother Earth. In the universe She represents the Kundalini-is nothing but chastity. She’s just chastity. Can you believe it? What a power. Motherhood, everything is chastity. Fatherhood, any relationship is chastity. Purity is again the fragrance of chastity. Goodness, compassion, everything comes from chastity, a sense of chastity, which is not mental. If you are mentally chaste, you can be horrid. Like some of the nuns are or some of those people who are austere, not that. Chastity is an innate built-in Kundalini within you, which acts because it understands Me. She understands Me. She knows Me, She’s part and parcel of Me, it’s My reflection. So make your Kundalini strong by being chaste…”

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

It is not austerity, but it is the respect of your Being

” … So this time you are all coming to India, I have to request you to respect Me by not misbehaving. Not childishly behaving in the manner you see in the pictures and the films and all that nonsense. You are above all that. Attention, achievements are to be seen from the seat of your chastity. We can’t leave our seats, whether we are acclaimed or not makes no difference. We can’t leave our seat. Like all these avadhutas they’ll say, ‘takiya sodaa sana’ – means ‘we’ll not leave our seats.’ We are in our seats. This is our seat, in the lotus. We can’t leave the lotus. We are sitting in the lotus. That’s our seat. Then all these nonsensical things that you have acquired will drop out. You’ll see, you’ll become beautiful beings. All bhoots will run away, all catches will run away. But is not austerity, again and again I’m telling you. It is respect of your Being. As you respect Me outside, you respect Me within. As simple as that …”

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

The greatest thing within us is not sex, but is chastity

” … The magnet within you is Shri Ganesha. Many people know that I have a great sense of direction. That comes through this magnet which is perfect. This magnet is the one which keeps you sticking or adjusted or all the time pointed towards Spirit. If you don’t have the sense of chastity you will dangle this way, that way. Suddenly you become a very good Sahaja Yogi, tomorrow you become a devil- because there’s nothing that keeps you binding to the great idea of the Spirit. Let us face it up. Now the time has come for all of us, all the Sahaja Yogis, that the greatest thing within us is not sex, but is chastity. And that’s what will mature you …”

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

If the father  and mother don’t  have chastity, the children  don’t feel all right, they don’t feel peaceful, they’ll become restless, and then they develop the same restlessness within themselves

” … But that sensitivity comes from the depth of your chastity You listen to the children and you’ll be amazed how they talk and what they say, how they behave, how they try to amuse you. I mean, in the West children are very much spoiled, I must say, they do not amuse you so much, they trouble you quite a lot. Because again, again the same thing.

If the father and mother don’t have chastity, the children don’t feel all right, they don’t feel peaceful, they’ll become restless, and then they develop the same restlessness within themselves. A chaste man can never get possessed, take it from Me, can never get possessed. You might be very intelligent, you might be anything, you might be a great writer, but you can get possessed. But a chaste man, an ordinary chaste person can never get possessed. Bhoots are afraid of chaste people. If one chaste person is going on the road, all the bhoots run away. They just run away … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

You are nowhere if you have no chastity

” … And the negative within us disappears with the light of Shri Ganesha. You can see it so clearly in another person. If you don’t have chastity you can never see who is unchaste or chaste, you can not. Everybody just the same, “Very good, very good, very nice person, very nice person.” I mean real possessed people are certified as very good people, in Sahaja Yoga also sometimes and I start wondering what’s happening, what is it? How is it these people are certified as that? Can’t they feel it? There’s no light. Even if you get your Realization, even if your Spirit is working out your collective consciousness, even if you are giving Self-Realization to others, you are nowhere if you have no chastity. That’s like a broken glass which is trying to reflect something, it can never give the right picture … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

Chastity is a very joy-giving thing

“…They are not belonging to any country, they are no more; they are in the country of Shri Ganesha, which is the country of love and joy. If you cannot give joy and love, then there’s something wrong with you. With this only, His quality, people become chaste, because chastity is a very joy giving thing, very joy-giving. It is not a thing that you have to tell somebody, or to force somebody or to restrict somebody, but it is to enjoy it.

To enjoy yourself and enjoy the chastity of another person is such a great blessing of Shri Ganesha, such a great blessing that you enjoy your own chastity. You are not bothered about the another person, he’s chaste or not, if he’s doing bad things, if he’s a ruined person – doesn’t matter. You don’t get spoilt with that. You have your own chastity, your own life of very chaste moments … “

2002 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

The joy of dharma, of rasa falling into your heart

“…Then the same thing will happen that the joy of dharma will only be felt, will be felt if you limit it to yourself. That cannot be shared. Virtues cannot be shared. Can I share My virtues with you? I cannot. You can support it. Somebody has the virtues, then you can support it. But the joy of that dharma, that rasa (divine nectar) falling into your heart, nobody else can enjoy. You enjoy your own chastity.

It is of course written, “Thou shall not do, thou shall not do.” These are all commandments have come, but they can come only from God, not from you. Once you start doing it to others, you are finished. You have lost the joy of your dharma … “

1979 ADVICE ON ALL CHAKRAS, MUMBAI

Shri Ganesha shows that we should have sweet temperament

“…Holiness is not only concerned with your married life, also it’s concerned with your political life, with your economic life, with your national life. Chastity is the only keynote for improving all the problematic questions or else solving them completely. There’s only one danger among chaste people also, that they might become extremely dry or could become very hot-tempered, sometimes also ego-oriented. But just the opposite is Shri Ganesha who is on the left side.

Shri Ganesha’s holiness is that of a child, eternal childhood. It’s so sweet. The whole movement of His body is so delicate and so swift, yet… so charming. He eats a modaka, which is a sweet which is very simple to make, but very tasty – to show that we should have sweet temperament, sweet nature. So the idea that people who are very chaste are very rough, hot-tempered, is absolutely wrong.

Specially for ladies, is very important, that if they have to understand Sahaja Yoga, they must know that Shri Ganesha works on the left side and not on the right side. This is a very big mistake when we start using Him on the right side to express all our wisdom, all our love … through holiness. There’s no end to what I have to say about this great quality we all should imbibe, respect and worship . .. “

1987 INNOCENCE AND SHRI GANESHA, GANAPATIPULE

Even one glance of yours can bring peace and solace and reduce tensions

” … Only thing, when you meditate, just… believe that your auspiciousness and holiness is to be imbibed on your nerves, on your central nervous system, because that is the epitome of chaitanya. The chaitanya that is flowing all around, if it is in the form of holiness, even one glance of yours can bring beautiful fruits, can bring peace and solace. So this innocence and holiness is the one which is peace giving, which reduces frictions, tensions, because you enjoy your chastity, because you enjoy your glory. Please aspire to be the epitome of holiness … “

1987 INNOCENCE AND SHRI GANESHA, GANAPATIPULE

Without marriage any relationship of any kind is adharmic

” … At the time of Mohammed Sahib there were many, many women and very few men because so many were killed, so Mohammed Sahib didn’t know what to do. So He thought “All right, so we have to have marriages” – because without marriage any relationship of any kind is adharmic, is against the valances. So He said, “We must have marriage. All right, now we have many women so let us have distribution of women according to the men we have. If you have more men then we’ll have the other way around. But we have to marry,” means we have to take a collective sanction, a collective sanction has to be there, to be blessed. So He said, “All right, marry five women.” But He, Himself, you see, was surprised at time people at that time were so sensitive, they would not marry young girls, the old men would not marry young girls.

They said, “How can we marry these young girls?” you see. So He said, “No, all right, I’ll marry one, because where will these young girls go, there are no young men left, so what to do?” But these days, if you ask an old man of eighty years, he would be very willing to marry a girl of eighteen years. Stupid old fool I call him, because he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand that this girl is not going to respect him as a husband and he cannot enjoy the life of a husband. He’s a grandfather, or call it a great grandfather, he should behave like a great grandfather; that’s an ideal relationship he should have with a young girl. .. “

1982 HEART, VISHUDDHI, AGNYA, SAHASRARA, UK

Live with dignity and complete sense of idealism in relationships

” … All these ideals are confused today, our relationships with others. Every woman has to be attractive, why? Every man has to be attractive, why? For what? What are you going to achieve out of it? What is the utility? Attractiveness is all right as long as you are not repulsive, as long as you keep the ideal relationship with others. If the relationship becomes nothing but like a dog and bitch’s one, it’s better not to have this kind of an idea. It’s absolutely wrong to run after something which is not our way. Human beings have to live with dignity and with complete sense of idealism as far as their relationship with each other is concerned. If you just say, “What’s wrong?” then it’s an argument, everything is wrong, and everything is wrong, it is not one wrong but all, everything. But if you want to have a flowering society, then you must keep to your ideals of your family life, that’s a very important thing, but it happens to you as soon as you get Realization. I don’t have to do a lecture on that, you just do it, you just become a very nice husband and a very nice wife. Beautiful families can come out of Sahaja Yoga, there are so many you see. There are so many beautiful families now in Sahaja Yoga and now the great children, the great sages who wanted to be born are being born to them . . . “

1982 HEART, VISHUDDHI, AGNYA, SAHASRARA, UK

You know how powerful you become with the innocence

” … So how they respected their chastity. It’s easy, you see, to fall to some sort of another temptation. But if this is your power, why you should submit yourself to something which is so useless? In Sahaja Yoga we have to realize, man also must know that if their wives are so chaste and so good, they must respect them.

They should also realize that they have also rakhi sisters, which is that we are very chaste. We respect the chastity of a rakhi sister and we do not want to in any way to comply with anyone who does not respect the chastity. Then the men also become chaste. When the women are chaste men also become chaste. And this chastity is your main power, is, this chastity is the one, is the power of Shri Ganesha. And when you get this Shri Ganesha’s power you know how powerful you become with the innocence that is awakened within you. Without the chastity the women cannot achieve anything in Sahaja Yoga … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

Mental and emotional powers are relative

” … Then what is your power? Is your chastity! But in the West the priorities are absolutely upside down. What is your power? Just think of it. Think within yourself. Is it mental power that’s important? I have told you mental power has nothing to do, because it is just linear, it moves in one direction, falls off, comes back to you. It has no substance in it. Is just a mind projection, plastic. What is your emotional power? Emotions that you have takes you where? See you have emotions for, even good emotions you have. Say, you love your wife very much. Where does it take you?

There was a poet called Tulsidasa who loved his wife very much and she had gone to her mother’s place. So he couldn’t bear it and went to see her and he climbed over to her balcony and she got a fright.

She said. “How did you climb?”

He said. “You had put a rope there.”

She said. “No.” And they saw it was a big snake hanging.

So she said. “The amount of love you have for me. if you have that for God. where will you be?”

So where do these emotions take you? To frustration. to unhappiness. to our destruction. The mental power gives you a horrible thing called ego. which destroys others. And the emotional power gives you nothing but crying. weeping. and always feeling unhappy. “Oh. I have done so much of emotional investment on such and such person and what did I get?” So it is not absolute. it’s relative. And mentally you are zero if you cannot destroy others. Emotionally you are zero because you cannot overpower people with your emotions.

So what is your power? Where does your power lie? It lies in the Spirit. But even before the Spirit is achieved, what is your power? Is Kundalini? She’s sleeping. Then what is your power? Is your chastity. If a man is chaste, chaste temperament he has and he stands up in his chastity. it acts, it works … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON

Our Shri Ganesha has to be all right

“…There are certain things which you may feel a little different, but you shouldn’t get a shock. Like in Sahaja Yoga we have to respect our chastity. Women have to respect and men have to respect. because our Ganesha has to be all right. Those who have come to Sahaja Yoga will be amazed, after coming to Sahaja Yoga, nobody has got AIDS … So this Ganesha has to be strong within us. Also like its not inhibition, like in the Catholic church. Sex is nothing in Sahaja Yoga. but a sane sex with your wife, with faithful relationship. Though it is neither Freud nor Catholic church . . . “

1987 CRITICISM, EGO, RIGHT-SIDED DANGERS, FRANCE

In  Sahaja  Yoga you can  re-establish everything  whatever you have lost

“…But there’s a real objection now, that people when they go abroad, husband and wife and this and that, they kiss each other and tease each other. What is the need? You kiss the person and come and tell Me against that person, I’ve seen it.

If there has to be some self-preservation, this has to be your chastity your privacy. That’s why you have no will power to do anything, no willpower. Let some stupid fellow come and tell you something, you’ll say, “All right. We accept.” What is the essence of your personality is your chastity. And in Sahaja Yoga you can re – establish everything whatever you have lost, you can. That’s why the depth is lacking. And this is the reason there is no consistency in the temperament of people, no consistency. Now you’ll get twelve hundred people for My lecture and next day not even one, all lost. Because there’s no base, you know. Like a loose connection. There’s no connection, connection point is your chastity .. . “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

If somebody now talks of chastity, people think this must be mad

“…It is nowadays such a modern style of thinking, it’s a flowing towards unchaste life and all kinds of wrong ideas about chastity. If somebody now talks of chastity, people think this must be mad – how can that be? Everything is done these days, if you see, all the fashions are there. Now once the fashion starts, it goes on spreading. Then everybody will dress up in the same manner, they have no personality of their own. Everybody will be going round in the same manner, especially the women have lost their sense of chastity. They have lost their sense of chastity, because the way they dress up sometimes shocks Me. What is the need to dress up like this? Why can’t you dress up properly? But it is just, just shows that they have no character of their own. Actually they may say, “I am this, I am that,” but they are not. They are nothing, because they take to all kinds of forces that run around … “

2002 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Ask for strength to rise above all these nonsensical ideas

” … Today being this day, I would say that you should ask for strength to rise above all these nonsensical ideas which have settled down and become those beautiful people, the special ones, the unique people who respect their chastity and that of their sisters. Let this feeling grow; create health and wealth in this country … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

If we get ruined  on our chastity level, it doesn’t  give you that blessing as you should have

” … You are born after the image of Ganesha Who ultimately becomes Christ. So what should be your attitude towards chastity is very important. The most important thing that if we get ruined on our chastity level, then Sahaja Yoga is very, very difficult and it doesn’t give you that blessing as you should have … “

1998 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Arrogance is a sign of unchaste personality

” … All unchaste people are arrogant. Otherwise, how can they forgive themselves? You talk to any prostitute, in two minutes you’ll find out she’s a prostitute because she’s extremely arrogant, “What’s wrong? I’m a prostitute, so what?” Arrogance is a sign of unchaste personality. And such a person also becomes insular because he’s ashamed, ashamed to face others. But a chaste personality is open, why should he be afraid of anyone? Talks to everyone nicely, kind to everyone in all innocence and simplicity without falling in love in every third person you come across . . . “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

Once this chastity starts leaving us, we don’t mind anything

” … In the Islam they stressed a very big importance on chastity – very much so. And this was gone to such an extent that Mohammed Sahib said that, “You can have five wives or four wives, but you don’t have women who are prostitutes.” Once this chastity starts leaving us, we don’t mind anything under the sun. We have seen results of that working out in many people who are very highly placed. And these highly placed people think that they are something great, and they can overcome the binding of Jesus Christ and they can do what they like, go on misbehaving with women who are under them. They may do it secretly, they may do it anywhere, but Ganesha watches that, and He punishes them for what they are doing. It’s a terrible thing to go into these kind of ventures, which are not the field of Sahaja Yogis … “

1998 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

You have to correct yourself, and ask Shri Ganesh to forgive you

” … The another thing with Him is that He respects people who are chaste, who have chastity as the prime thing in their life. Chastity is very much worshipped by Him. It’s not only in women, but also in men He expects chastity to be present. After getting Realization you should be absolutely chaste people. You shouldn’t have your eyes roving around everywhere, and sort of what you can call a very bad method of communicating with young women and young men, and spoiling your chastity. Even your eyes should be clean, even your thoughts should be clean. For that you should introspect and see for yourself what mistakes you are committing, and what kind of a unchaste behaviour you have. You have to correct yourself, and ask Shri Ganesh to forgive you. If you ask for forgiveness, He can forgive anything. He is so innocent and beautiful that He forgives. But that is a very important thing: our whole morality depends on our idea of chastity. We should be very chaste. So many religions have come and they have talked about chastity; but religions have become so useless now, have become without any basis, without any, any proper execution of what is written for them. They do all kinds of things and they call themselves Hindu, Muslims, Christians. All kinds of religions. Actually the religions have failed completely, and that’s why Shri Ganesha gets after them .. . “

1999 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Shri Ganesha acts through your eyes

” … But look at the children: children are not like that. They do not have all these funny ideas of impressing people with their unchaste life, none of them. On the contrary, children are very conscious and they want to become very chaste people. This has an effect on the eyes, I must say; Shri Ganesha acts through your eyes. How you look at a person is very important. I have seen people losing complete control over their eyes. They’ll go on looking at this person, looking at another person, looking at another person, just for nothing at all; but it’s a matter of no Ganesha control in you . . . “

2002 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

” … Sahaja Yogis have to first of all steady their eyes, because it is concerned with the power of Jesus Christ. . . “

1998 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

It’s meant for men and women

” … In some countries, of course, they think that chastity is only meant for women and not for men. But it’s not true. That’s what the Islamic people believe. It’s very wrong. It is meant for both of them. Like a person who is trying to force the other side, like the men trying to force the women to be chaste and themselves are not chaste, the women will not be chaste. They may look, appear, they may try to be out of fear, but if they get a chance they will take to life which is wrong. Because they see the other party, the men trying to dominate them. Then they think, “What’s wrong, if they can do it why not we do it?”

So the whole society has to take to very decent life and to a very, very decorous, dignified lifestyle. It’s not only in dress but even day- to-day life it is important. Otherwise a kind of a insecurity start working among men and women and too much complications, too much complicated life starts … “

1993 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BERLIN, GERMANY

IDEAS OF WESTERN SOCIETY

How you can rationalize sex? It is such a spontaneous thing

” … But as you will find that in the West it’s hard to find a really a wise person. You can say that people are over-educated and they are very well equipped with understanding of the material side of life and all that, but as far as the wisdom is concerned, one can get shocked the way they are behaving. I just can’t understand – what’s the wisdom behind it?

Because all their wisdom has become nothing but sex. They always think of sex and they always want to understand all the nonsense of the sex. If you start thinking about your sex, naturally your innocence will be destroyed right there. Because you cannot use your intelligence for sex. I don’t understand the wisdom how you can rationalize sex. This is such a spontaneous thing. And by thinking about it – are you going to enjoy it? How can you? It would be like saying that we can transform a flower into a fruit by thinking … “

1982 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, GENEVA

Before marriage the virginity has to be preserved

” …So, the asceticism is not what I am teaching. First, the innocence is protective and red, taking the age of at the most fifteen years. Then gradually, if the person is properly matured, not the stupid people, but who are maturing properly after fifteen, it starts becoming orange. It becomes orange. Means, when you get married this process of this redness goes away and it becomes, starts becoming orange.

Means, the protection part is over. Means, before marriage the virginity has to be preserved, till you meet the person with whom you are to be married. That redness is the protection of that virginity. Then, when you are married, the protection part of it is not needed. But it has to be only towards one person – that’s your husband or wife. Then tht proper maturity takes place and by the time you are about fifty years of age, it becomes orange, means there’s detachment. You don’t feel like having any more sex life. There is no need also. And then you develop a – what you call- a proper matured innocence which can be compared with a properly baked earthenware…”

1982 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, GENEVA

If one Freud came that doesn’t mean that you should accept him

” … People are sick now. All over the Western life one feels they are sick. Sick because they have never recognized Shri Ganesha. If one Freud came that doesn’t mean that you should accept him. But you did – as if it was such an important thing to be done, there was nothing more important than that. So today we are faced with our power of ascent and the power of conditionings we have had. When Freud talked of conditioning he didn’t know he was putting another type of horrid conditionings on you, terrible … “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, UK

Once you give up your chastity you can not understand that there can be someone who is absolutely chaste

” … So much so today that they are making a film showing Mary to be a prostitute. I mean, this is where you have ended up. In India even if you say this they’ll beat you nicely – anyone, whether Muslim, Hindu, Christian. I mean, shocking to hear that the way they talk about Christ. I mean, to an Indian it gives a shock. How can you talk because once you give up your chastity you can not understand that there can be someone who is absolutely chaste.

For a thief everybody is a thief. Because you don’t have that respect for your chastity you can not imagine what Christ could have been. You can not imagine, you can not accept. .. “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, UK

Whatever is wrong is wrong and whatever is right is right, in the Divine

“… Like I was in France, one girl came and she was crying.

She said, “I will – horrid, horrid, I will never go to these psychologists.”

So I said, “Why?”

“They were saying dirty things about my father.” Imagine.

And people accepted those ideas of this horrible Freud. Is basically wrong. Whether it is historically they are, or whatever it is, you better give it up. Whatever wrong is wrong, in the Divine. Whatever is right is right, in the Divine . . . “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON, UK

I just couldn’t understand what these women were doing here

” … Now, when we extend our righteousness, when we see – I mean, to Me, when I came first, I came a long time back as I told you. When I saw the women dressed the way they are, I was amazed. What are these women doing? They are writing Welcome and like prostitutes just attracting men. Horrible it was! I just couldn’t understand how have they lost their character. Just like pornography walking on the streets, it’s ugliness. And, I was vomiting all the time, all vomiting, I was so sick. I just couldn’t understand what are these women doing here … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON, UK

Causes of today’s malignancy

” … These horrible things are working out in such a manner that you cannot imagine what satanic forces are working it. Prostitutes who have died are coming back as spirits, they are possessing you. All sorts of sly and filthy women, who are not to enter into the thresholds of the temples of households, are entering into your household because you have accepted their way of life. And the only thing they say, “What’s wrong?” The depth of it is to understand, it is the greatest cause of today’s malignancy – not only physical, not only emotional, not only moral, but social malignancy …

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON, UK

Purity of relationships in social life

” … Because the relationship in the slyness, when it goes down too much, ends up in perverted sex life. Then you go to somebody’s house, you find a friend came to stay and he ran away with the mother, or some sort of a nonsense like that. So on the left hand side this kind of funny relationship, when you do not understand the purity of relationship in social life, that drops down, that creates problems … “

1980 THE NEW AGE, UK

If   that  attraction  is still there,   your Mooladhara cannot strengthen

” … And without a strong Mooladhara you cannot rise high, do what you like. Now for people who are Indian, who have respected their Mooladharas, there are so many methods and ways given how to raise the power of Mooladhara. But that won’t work out with the Western people, because it’s a damaged one. It’s one which is a shattered one, and which does not work on the physical side of the Mooladhara, but on the emotional side as we call the mana – the left side.

So, even you may not talk in that way, but your mind is still in that realm. And you still think on that realm. Even mentally, you are in it. Or you are seeing things, wanting to see such things, wanting to enjoy such things. That lurking attraction is still there. Your Mooladhara cannot strengthen. And we have to realize that I’m talking to Western people. I would not say the same to the people from India. So now we have to work out much harder. To be on the watch-out, to deal with yourself. And it is more a mental activity. Mental- meaning, I mean the emotional side. You have to watch your mind … “

1985 MOOLADHARA, BIRMINGHAM, UK

Ego does not mind if people are watching you

” … Another horrible thing in the West is that the women must expose their body to get men excited. Men do the same I think. They always try to excite each other and live in a stupid excitement.

You have to expose beautiful things, like flowers, beautiful ornaments. All right? But you’re not a thing. It’s your private property. You don’t put all your gold on the streets, do you? Better try that, sometimes. You will mind people plundering your gold, but you don’t mind your chastity being plundered. Everyone looking at you with dirty eyes. You don’t feel insulted. Because ego is a dirty stuff. It does not mind. It feels happy that people are watching you. They are plundering you. They are looting your chastity. But Sahaja Yogis are not like that. But still I must say you must cleanse your hearts, cleanse your minds, take yourself out of it. .. “

1985 MOOLADHARA, BIRMINGHAM, UK

This highest property of yours is to be preserved

” … The minds are very funnily placed, and that’s why the greatest complications there are in the brains of people. They are very confused, very confused people. Because there is no wisdom in this kind of life. You become just a sex-oriented personality. It is actually just the other way round. If you are money-oriented, you want to preserve money. If you are possession-oriented you want to preserve it. If you get one little antique piece you want to preserve it. And why not this property of yours which is the highest of all, to be preserved, to be adorned, to be worshipped? .. “

1985 MOOLADHARA, BIRMINGHAM, UK

If you can get realization why not this also?

” … I’m quite worried on that point, that secretly people are indulging into such things. And they’re hypocritical sometimes, they don’t mind being hypocritical about it. They are Sahaja Yogis, all right, but in this matter they think they can go about the way they like. And sometimes some of them say that “Mother has said it’s all right.” I never said so! There’s one point I cannot compromise is this.

You must have a chaste outlook towards yourself, towards your life, towards your being, towards your personality. You are saints. And if a saint doesn’t have a good character – I call it the character, the essence of character – is not a saint.

So this purity has to be maintained. There cannot be any compromise on that. You cannot hit at the roots of everything. If it works out, in a collective way, nobody cheats oneself, nobody deceives oneself and puts the mind into right track of ascent. Thinking about the ascent, how you are going to rise, thinking of the moments when you had the joys, thinking of the day where you met Me first, thinking of all the other beautiful and holy things, your mind can be cleansed. And whenever such a thought comes in, you have to say, “not this, not this, not this.” It’s more mental than physical, I tell you. I know it’s difficult, but if you can get realization, why not this also?

You all have to understand that there is no compromise on this. And a day may come, if you continue with it, you will be thrown away completely, just like any other devil is thrown out. So there is no compromise. Tell yourself, don’t deceive yourself, don’t cheat yourself. You cannot ascend if there is any lurking thing within you. You will be dragged down, because that’s your weakness, and you will become weaker and weaker and weaker … “

1985 MOOLADHARA, BIRMINGHAM, UK

Thirty years back, there were no films with evil winning over

” … I remember about, say, thirty, forty years back, or even earlier when we saw the films, they were not coloured films. American films were beautiful films with substance in it. They wouldn’t show one married man running after another married woman. None of these stories. Very pure form of beautiful family life. Everything nourishing was shown.

We don’t hear of any such thing where they showed evil winning over. Now you find they show a thief, and the thief becomes the hero. Then the people see those films, and the children especially I’ve seen have that thief as the symbol of something great. So they are going against the Void completely, against the religion that is within us, absolutely.

The thing that was to nourish the Void, the one that was to sustain you in your valency (dharma), is now disturbing the Void completely. That’s the maya part of it – the same electricity which was to give you the right path, the light in the darkness, is now sucking you in like a magnet towards your destruction . . . “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

You have to prove that innocence is to be respected

” … First of all, we have to understand we are born in very precarious, dangerous times. At the time of Christ there were very few people who followed him and they didn’t understand much about Kundalini either. They had no knowledge. They had no knowledge that Christ was the incarnation of Shri Ganesh. But in the Christian countries only you’ll find the insult of Christ, the insult of innocence openly done, sometimes legally accepted.

So when we are born under such horrible circumstances, we have to build up a great force, ourselves, of spirituality. When I came today, there was no breeze, no leaf was moving, but you were singing songs and tremendous breeze was coming from you all, and that made Me understand that this Divine force has come into being. It is there, it’s working. Not only that, but it’s very powerful. Normally, the breeze doesn’t come to Me, it goes the other way around. But it was such a tremendous breeze that I had to hold somebody’s hand, and not a leaf was moving. So with this collective force that you have, you must remember you have to fight it, not to run away, don’t escape it. You have to fight it and you have to prove that innocence is to be respected.

Adi Shakti first made Shri Ganesh. It was the first deity was created. Why? Because She wanted to fill the whole atmosphere with chaitanya, with holiness, with auspiciousness. It is still there. It’s still everywhere you can feel chaitanya is working, but it does not penetrate into the modern minds because modern mind doesn’t know what this innocence is. They have no idea at all about innocence. The way they are going on everywhere is really something never happened on this earth.

So with the innocence comes moral life. Morality is the expression of innocence. Innocence shows a person that he’s incapable of being immoral .. “

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Innocence is under  attack, there’s no respect and value for innocence

” … Today, we are going to worship Shri Ganesha. It’s a very opportune time today, I feel, where the innocence, especially in the European and American countries, is under attack. There’s no respect of the innocence, no value for the innocence. They don’t understand how important it is for human life to have innocence being respected within themselves and also without.

The human life is different from that of animal life. Animals are controlled all the time, or we can say they are under a complete imprisonment, you can say, under the will of Lord Sadashiva. That’s why He’s called as Pashupati. But human beings have been given freedom to choose their ascent, to choose the right, to choose the truth. Only through innocence they can achieve that…”

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Today, innocence is completely under challenge

” … Only the innocence is the source of joy. Without innocence you cannot enjoy anything fully. This innocence is today completely under challenge and to finish the innocence in a very subtle way there are very negative, cruel, criminal type of people who are working it out. Their minds – if you say possessed, it doesn’t look like that because otherwise they are quite intelligent. They are also, in a way creative – of horrible things. So you can’t say they are not intelligent, but from where do they get this knowledge of creating something so horrifying? In this Kali Yuga, as in Sahaja Yoga, everybody can take birth. There’s freedom. It was not before so much so that all kinds of evil people have taken birth on this earth. These evil people generate evil thoughts and people catch them and get moving with it. Even a good person can get swayed by it. Even a saint can get swayed by it. So these forces of evil, the forces which are working out today, are coming basically from these horrible people. Firstly, they might have come as false gurus teaching something nonsensical – like Rajneesh. Then from some philosophers like Freud, who is still accepted in some countries as a great philosopher, and still some psychologists worship him as God. This Freudian knowledge was accepted without even thinking why Freud did that. Freud was a jew, and he found that many Christians tortured the jews in America. This is another anti-Christ activity. And when they tortured the jews, this fellow thought that better to make them immoral. Destroy their innocence. I don’t know if he could understand to that point. And he started theories which were so shocking that normally any sensible person would never have accepted it, but so many people accepted in America to begin … “

1996 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

Designers make funny clothes to expose the body of women

” … Innocent person is not bothered about his own body, about any fashions or about any additions to his body, like people wear things just to show off. I’m just telling you because all this nonsense is coming to your country. I hope you people will understand that the greatest quality of beauty, of personality is innocence. When the innocence is lost, people play into the hands of these designers who make funny clothes. They make clothes for women which expose their body and the more it exposes, the more it is expensive. And despite all the cold, they try to wear clothes which are very scanty … “

1994 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, MOSCOW

TO HAVE A SENSE OF SHAME

So the sense of shame must be developed among men and women

” … It looks nice, it looks beautiful. It gives you an additional charm if you have the sense of shame, a little bashfulness. See, your Princess of Wales is regarded as something beautiful. She is bashful. Her bashfulness is so natural. That bashfulness is not there, like a – I don’t know what animal does that, but somebody who has no shame. I mean, I just don’t know which one is that. Everybody has a sense of shame, even animals.

So why shouldn’t we have that sense of shame? How to behave towards women, how to be … Suddenly there is no need to just … I have seen one lady going from England to India, and she just went and put a big slap on the back of Mr. Modi, “Hello Modi, how are you?” And Modi got such a shock. She did not mean – she was innocent, but that’s not the way in Sahaja Yoga we are going to behave. Like some sort of a debonair or some sort of a fantastic – what you call- a modern woman, you see. One must understand one must have a sense of shame. How do you talk, even with Me they will talk with a hand like that “Mother, You see this thing is happening.” But there’s no need to do all that, you see. Talk in a way that is gentle and beautiful… “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

Any deep personality doesn’t  show these things outside

” …Once I had gone to Selfridges, I must tell you a very interesting story. And in such a crowd there were two people, man and woman, kissing each other all the time, least bothered there are other people who are also going on the same escalator. Escalator they were kissing, in the thing they were kissing, I mean, torturing all the Indians who were there or maybe the other people, Chinese, for example, Egyptians. Such an exhibition going on. And I saw them next time. They were not kissing.

I said, “What happened?” “We are divorced.”

I said, “Why were you kissing that day so much?”

So they said, “Because we were going to be divorced, so wanted to have the last bit of it”.

What a level it is. Imagine, what a level. What love, what feeling you have for anyone, nothing of the kind. All the time quarrelling with each other, ending up in the divorce cases and showing off all this. Any deep personality doesn’t show these things outside. Of course, I’m told here that here in the public school it is said that you should never show your emotions outside. But otherwise you can show anything else, ridiculous or shameless. But not your emotions. What an absurd place it is. You have accepted all these values just like sheep, without thinking about it… “

1985 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, BRIGHTON

Now a days in modern times how we have become shameless

” … So this is today’s thing was that, I was just thinking that nowadays in modern times how we have become shameless, how we have tried to put our chastity for kind of a honour. If we have any honour you will have chastity; but you are dishonouring yourself, and you think you have been very, very smart and modern by becoming so, so sinful. All this sinful act that is going on in these modern times is absolutely wrong and it should be completely, we should abhor it. You should go nowhere near because that’s all wrong, and that’s how Shri Ganesha gets angry.

Decency is very important in understanding what is our important basis: is our chastity. In India, you know, thirty-two thousand women got themselves burnt for saving their chastity. I come from the same family, and you can imagine what courage they must be having, what faith they must be having in their chastity that “If we lose our chastity, what’s the use of our life?” So they cared for their chastity, and have done so much sacrifice to show that chastity is the most important thing we all should have. It’s not only for women but also for men. Very much more for men Shri Ganesha is a very important thing, because men can develop so many diseases if they do not respect Shri Ganesha .. . “

1999 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CABELLA

THE ORIGIN OF GUILT

The greatest guilt is when he crosses the limits of sisterhood

” … Now, these relations are disappearing, which are to live again, to prosper again and to grow again, and thus we are going to improve our left Vishuddhi. Left Vishuddhi comes out of guilt. But in the subconscious the greatest guilt in a human being is when he crosses the limits of sisterhood. This is the greatest guilt in his mind, which he is not aware. If you could clear out that guilt completely. Left Vishuddhi is only in the West, I find, I’ve told you many a times. Now, the all other guilts are built up on that particular guilt. Like feeling guilty about something happening in Vietnam – actually it is just shifting your mind from one to another. Actually, the guilt is this. In the very subtle way this is the guilt, that at every woman you have looked with lusty eyes is the guilt. And that guilt builds up and gives you another picture, because you do not want to accept the reality. So, it gives you another picture, “Oh, I am guilty about that, I feel very guilty about the poor people … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

If you become immoral,  in the subconscious the guilt is built

” …But then you find something – now left is catching. So, now you know that this is because of your guilt, whichever is built in your subconscious you are catching on the left. It could be due to anything because you didn’t have proper sense of morality. That’s the basics. Left Vishuddhi is immoral. If you have been immoral you get this. Basics. Then, sisters relationship. Then, guilt that is built in the subconscious. If you become immoral, in the subconscious the guilt is built. Any such guilt can come as any other guilt. Like you see, the real guilt is due to something else, but people express it as something else, all right?

1980 TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, CHELSHAM ROAD, UK

All kinds of confusions

“… Now the Left Vishuddhi problem starts when we get confused about sisters’ relationship or the close relationships like mother, this is Mr.Freud’s business. All kinds of confusions. Problems about relationships with other men, other women, there’s no understanding. Anyone who is married, unmarried, anything cast eyes towards other people … “

198I PUBLIC PROGRAM VISHUDDHI AND AGNYA CHAKRAS, SYDNEY

In virtue  you will never feel guilty and you can stand  up to any nonsense

” … Also the guilt that works on the left Vishuddhi can be cured if you develop your chastity. You’ll never feel guilty because that’s such a virtue you have. In that virtue you will never, never feel guilty and you can stand up to any nonsense because you are standing on the truth of chastity. Today is a special day I would say when we are worshipping this great ideal of chastity that is Fatima … “

1993 SHRI FATIMA PUJA, ISTANBUL

In the West they have lost the system to understand what is a sister and what is a brother

” … When we feel guilty, firstly we feel guilty when our sense of relationships are not all right. For example, we do not understand a sister and a brother, the relationship, which is very pure, and is above all kinds of contamination. But as you know in the West, because maybe of drinking and doing all kinds of things which are against awareness, people have lost the value system, and in that they have also lost the system to understand what is a sister and what is a brother… “

1988 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, SHUDY CAMPS, UK

THE BROTHER AND SISTER RELATIONSHIP

Relationships between men and women have lost their boundaries in modern society. The values of innocence and chastity are not respected though they are the basis of balanced societies.

Outside of marriage, men and women should have a brother and sister relationship filled with respect, innocence and protection. Shri Mataji once said ‘”if this could be managed, it would be a great day of ecstasy for Me.”

True freedom and security in society are based on a dharma in which for women, every man is a brother, and for men, all women are sisters. Such pure feelings enable us to enjoy each other’s company fully, and remove the anxiety and fear which is always present in an immoral society.

A PURE RELATIONSHIP

That purity must be maintained in the society of Sahaja Yoga

” … Now the last day (of Diwali) is very important, is a very universal day I should say, called as Bhaya Duja. They call it also in Marathi Vao Dijum. It’s the brothers and sisters day. Now the brothers’ and sisters’ relationship has to be very, very strong. And the purity of that relationship is to be maintained. It is not necessary that you should be born as brothers and sisters, not necessary. But you are born, because if you are realized souls you are born as brothers and sisters.

So that purity must be maintained in the society of Sahaja Yoga. Very important, that we should try to develop this situation that brothers and sisters are something very pure. Their relationships are very pure. And they should not be at all challenged. It is so much so that even if you call somebody your brother, he is your brother and the more you develop this relationship, the better your left Vishuddhi will be. Because left Vishuddhi is the relationship with God as a Brother or with a Goddess as a Sister  … “

1981, DIWALI PUJA, UK

The relationship between us has to be purer and purer and purer

” … In the same way, Sahaja Yogis and Sahaja Yoginis are brothers and sisters. You have to understand that you are brothers and sisters, and the relationship between us has to be purer and purer and purer. .. “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

This relationship is the nourishment of Sahaja Yoga, your growth, purity

” … And this (brother/sister relationship) must be maintained with such a beautiful way that this purity is not corrupted. You keep to pure standards. This is the nourishment of Sahaja yoga, is the nourishment of your growth, purity. Purity is the most important thing for us, purity in every way. If you are pure, you will not do anything that is fake, that is, we can say, that is not pure.

So first of all you’ll be pure yourself and you’ll accept purity, you’ll appreciate purity, you will be sustained by purity. Any impurity will not collaborate with you or try to compromise with you. That’s why purity is your Mother’s name. You know that My name is purity. And this purity is such that it purifies everything, it just purifies. The purity should be such that it should purify, otherwise that purity has no meaning .. . “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

In Sahaja Yoga you cannot deviate from the path of dharma

” … But I have to tell you that if you go out of the line of ethics, in any direction, the only saving is Sahaja Yoga to come back to normalcy, there is no other way out. And once you come to Sahaja Yoga you cannot deviate from the path of dharma. If you try to do that you go out of Sahaja Yoga. It is as simple as that.

It is not that, “Alright, doesn’t matter, Mother should forgive.” And these things I forgive, alright, I forgive, because you have got some still human weaknesses left in you, I forgive.

But in Sahaja Yoga you cannot. Sahaja Yoga has to maintain its purity. If you allow all such people to enter into Sahaja Yoga, then there will be no purity of Sahaja Yoga and then everybody will start doing this or that just to say that, ‘After all, you see, we are also Sahaja Yogis, they are also Sahaja Yogis, if they have done it, why don’t we?’…”

1998 NEW YEARS PUJA, INDIA

If they could be managed  here, this will be a great day of ecstasy for Me

” . . . But, I found that these relationships of brother and sister have been so beautifully managed in India, that if they could be managed here, this will be a great day of really ecstasy for Me, because that means you have overcome this devil of immorality. The purity, removing the lust and greed from your mind completely, and bestowing that affection for someone who is your sister. Very common in India, everybody has a sister there; all the Sahaja Yogis have a sister and they look after their sister that way … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, HAMPSTEAD, UK

Let us establish our left Vishuddhi by understanding the purity

” … So, let us settle down today and decide among ourselves that we have to establish our left Vishuddhi by understanding the purity of brothers and sisters. The purity of brothers and sisters has to be established … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

Purify your mind today on that point, that everybody else is my brother or sister

” … Today is a day we celebrate in India where the relationship between brothers and sisters has to be established. They’re very pure. Brothers and sisters relationship is without any lust or greed. It’s pure relationship where the sister prays for the protection of the brother. And brother prays for the self-sufficiency, of the kshema – well-being of the sister.

So this time you have to think of your other Sahaja Yoginis and Sahaja Yogis who are, like your brothers and sisters. You have to think like that. Purify your hearts. It’s something funny in these countries you know that, there’s no such relationship exists. Purify your mind today on that point, that everybody else is my brother or sister. If you are married it’s all right. But look at everyone, try to look at everyone as a brother, as a sister … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, UK

If your sisterly feelings towards women are good and strong, your left Vishuddhi will be very good

” … So, Shri Krishna’s sister, as you know was born to Nanda and Shri Krishna himself was born in a prison. So there was an exchange that took place. They had to replace Her in His place. And then when Kamsa, the uncle of Krishna, tried to kill that girl, She went into the sky and like a lightning She said that, “Your killer is still living in Gokul, is still there.” So this lightning that we see is representative of that power, which we call as Vishnumaya, is the sister’s. If your sisterly feelings towards women are good and strong, your left Vishuddhi will be very good … “

1981 DIWALI PUJA UK

This  feeling  of complete  purity will clear  out many of our problems

” … But if the person has been a Sahaja Yogi and a Sahaja Yogini, let this feeling grow within you of complete purity. It will clear out many of our problems and you will be amazed, our attention will settle down really beautifully within us … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

Sahaja Yoginis have to be chaste women, and men too.

” … This is a funny country where there is no relationship which is pure. It’s such a filth I tell you, if you read them you can’t believe it, such perversion. Specially innocent people like children are attacked. Think of them as virgins. Be careful. And the young girls should know that they are virgins. If they go about with boys, and they are Sahaja Yogis, they’re not. Sahaja Yoginis have to be chaste women, powerful, chastity is their power and men too. After Sahaja Yoga men should become conscious of their chastity, that is their power too … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, UK

If you call somebody a sister this brings down the ego

” … Now the whole idea of this maryadas is such that when you have called somebody as a sister or a brother then it is not only lip service, “You are my sister.” It is something innate, and very deep. You have to develop that feeling of a sister. Because that’s how your sublimity will go up, your left Vishuddhi will improve, your Vishnumaya will be satisfied. If you call somebody a sister – the sisterly and daughterly relationships, and motherly relationships, always bring down – you see – the so-called ego, which is hiding in the left Vishuddhi.

So try to be kind and gentle with the person whom you call the sister. Stand by her, look after her. If you call somebody your brother, you have to pray for his protection, then you must know that you have a right to ask him for his protection also. But you must also give something to him, and you must try to look after him, welcome him to your house, and treat him as a part and parcel of your being, because he is very much near to you because he is your brother, and he’s very much closer to you … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

These things will automatically work out

” … So both the qualities must be nourished and developed, and the relationship between man and woman should be of pure love, pure love. Once you start purifying yourself these things will automatically work out, and you’ll respect each other … “

1983 DIWALI PUJA, UK

This kind of a cheap heart-giving business is not for Sahaja Yoga

” … When a woman is in distress, you see, a man will come to help her. Even if she is married, he will elope with her. This is how he comes to help her in the distress, to create another distress for her. So this is how one should understand that this kind of a cheap heart- giving business, and taking business, is not for Sahaja Yoga. In our heart resides the Spirit. We are dignified people, and in that dignity we have to rise and live with that dignity. Not to cheaply allow the Spirit to be insulted or dominated or subjugated to anyone … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

It’s a very sweet and delicate relationship of purity, of help

” … So coming to the relationship of Vishnu maya, is that Vishnumaya is the one who is the sister, sister of Shri Krishna. She is the one who announced the coming of Shri Krishna. She is the one who sacrificed Her life to save Shri Krishna’s life. Vishnumaya is the one who surrounds Shri Krishna; and She was born as Draupadi, who you know was later on humiliated by Duryodhana and it was Shri Krishna Who came and helped Her.

So it’s a very sweet relationship of purity, of help. A very delicate relationship is to be maintained of a brother and a sister. And that is a special relationship today. Those who want to tie the rakhis to a sister should tie today before Me, it will be a good idea. It is a greater relationship than any other relationship. Because here somebody is your own sister, is all right. But if she is not your own sister you should know that you all are born of one Mother. So the brother and sister relationship should be all right … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

Brother & sister should always openly tell whatever  they think wrong

“…So today is the day of a very big relationship between brother and sister where a sister never feels guilty and brother never feels guilty. Sisters and brothers should never feel guilty about themselves and they should always openly tell whatever they think wrong or whatever they think is right. There is no harm, a sister can always go and correct the brother, and a brother can always come and correct the sister.

This is the relationship in which nobody should feel hurt and bad, because this is the purest relationship that you could think of. As mother, if she tells something, the difference of age is so much that you may not understand. Maybe if the father says something the children may not understand, the difference of age is too much and also the norms that we have created of saying that there’s a generation gap and all this nonsense that is also in the head. But supposing a brother and sister, if they between themselves understand Sahaja Yoga, they have every right to say whatever is wrong between them and work it out – not to put it as a guilt. .. “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

We have to settle ourselves on very holy relationships with each other

” … But now with Rakhi sister is even better. Now with Rakhi sister we have established a beautiful atmosphere that somebody who is a brother, you cannot have any funny relationships with that person. It kills all your flirtations, all your funny, funny relationships that one develops, all kinds of marriage breaking problems, and people going astray, once you have understood the principle that we have to first settle ourselves on very holy relationship with each other.

This is the way, in Sahaja Yoga, we establish that holy relationship. And moreover, one has to see that this holy relationship gives you joy, happiness, and pleasure. It is not just a holy relationship of some force or some sort of a thing. Even if you cannot give anything to your sister, or the brother cannot do anything for the sister, doesn’t matter. The relationship is in the heart, and is felt very much and when you feel it, that relationship, that sweetness of purity, of holiness, flows. I know of some people who have sacrificed such a lot for the brothers and so much for the sisters … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

Except for my wife the rest of them are my sisters

” … This relationship is so pure which doesn’t want anything. A wife may say that, “If you don’t give me a coat, I’ll divorce you.” In England and possibly in America they may say so. But a sister cannot divorce. She cannot divorce it. This time in the newspaper, they published the name of My brother. So I said, “What can I do? He’s My brother, so he’s My brother.” Good, bad, anything, he’s My brother, I cannot divorce him. It’s something, a relationship which you cannot break. Nature has given you this relationship.

But when you come to the collective, is very important that we must respect this relationship. If you do not respect this relationship, you cannot work out collectively. Like in a party I go and I feel something very funny happening. Somebody’s wife is entangled with somebody’s husband. All sorts of funny things happen. But in collective if you know, except for my wife the rest of them are my sisters. The purity settles in like that, you don’t have to worry. They’re my sisters. And your eyes steady out. Innocence starts pouring out of your eyes. It’s a very, very simple thing … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

The beauty and the power of sisterly/brotherly relationship

” … So in the eye, when you get your Realization, you get a glint – must have seen, there’s a shine that is Vishnumaya. That is the Vishnumaya which shines through your eyes. And She’s the one who makes you through the maya of Vishnumaya. This glint in the eye you must have seen in people who are realized souls and this glint in the eye is the one that makes you understand and feel the beauty and the power of sisterly/brotherly relationship. In the beginning of Sahaja Yoga, I found it impossible to establish this. So I said, “Let’s try the Vishnumaya.” And it worked. Actually, naturally we know this is wrong. We know that it is wrong, naturally. We don’t have to have a law for it. . . “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

This relationship is to be kept very clean

” … So one has to understand this relationship is to be kept very clean, beautiful, and absolutely open – there should be no formality in it. That a brother should go and say, “I’m sorry,” and the sister should go and say, “I’m sorry.” You have to be open and tell- you should never feel bad about your brother or sister. But it can be the other way around. I have seen people, like there was a bhootish woman, who turned out to be very bhootish, and then somebody said, “But she’s my rakhi sister.” So what? As soon as she becomes bhootish there’s no rakhi. Impurity, any impurity walking in, no Rakhi anymore. Finished. That’s broken long time back … “

1988 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, SHUDY CAMPS, UK

It should not in any way cover your discretion

” … You have to have pure relationships of pure personalities. You cannot have impure personalities, and then I must help, “I have a weakness for the rakhi” – it has created lots of problems for Me in America, this Rakhi sister business. You see, she’s the rakhi sister of that. And this rakhi sister just started creating a kind of a problem of a, we can say, intrigue. And she started telephoning to her rakhi brothers, and all rakhi brothers joined in that intrigue. It should not in any way cover your discretion. That’s why the discretion stands in between … “

1988 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, SHUDY CAMPS, UK

This rakhi  relationship has to be supporting, nourishing  Sahaja Yoga

” . .. To understand when Rakhi sister is telling you something – is it going against Sahaja Yoga or for Sahaja Yoga? That discretion is in between. Before you go to this point you have a discretion here to see for yourself that this Rakhi relationship has to be nourishing, supporting, helping Sahaja Yoga. Other than that it doesn’t exist. We are brothers and sisters in Sahaja Yoga. Anything that breaks it, there’s no relationship at all, anyway. If you understand this simple thing I think we have done a good job today … “

1988 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, SHUDY CAMPS, UK

THE ROLE OF BROTHER AND SISTER

THE ROLE OF THE SISTER

She tells him the right path, enlightens him and sometimes shocks him

” … Everywhere what the electricity does, a sister does for her brother – she cooks for him, she tells him the right path, she enlightens him and sometimes shocks him, also. They have to have certain shocks; otherwise they will not know how to work it out. And the best of all, she’s the one for whom you have to be very careful to know the technique how to handle your sister. If you do not know how to handle your sister, you can be absolutely wrong and you may get it – something that you would never expect to get … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

It cements the relationships very well

” …The sister relationship always gives a very big cementing force for the husband and wife. I know if My husband tries to trouble Me, his own sister will be after his life. And he’d better be careful about it and same with Me. If I do anything wrong, My brother will side with My husband and not with Me. So it cements the relationships very well…”

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

This sister teaches you to become righteous

” … Even the wife is very happy at such a thing (Raksha Bandhan). Because if the husband does not have a sister, how will she enjoy her married life with her husband? Because he’!! be always having bad eyes towards other women. This sister teaches you to put your attention in such a way that you automatically become righteous… “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

THE ROLE OF THE BROTHER

Shri Krishna brought all His weapons to save the chastity of HisSister

” … In the same way, when Draupadi was challenged, Shri Krishna was not in Hastinapur where it happened. He was thousand, at least more than thousand miles away from that place. He said that, “Shankha chakra gada padma, Garuda lai sidhare.” He came on His condor with all His weapons – shankha, chakra, gada, padma. All these He brought to save the chastity of His Sister.

There are many incidents in our history, I don’t know if I can cite anything in your history. But I would say when I see Abraham Lincoln, I think he was a great brother to the Statue of Liberty. The way he fought for women in such pure love and without taking any money, without charging them anything, to punish the husbands who were drunkards. That’s just like a very good, powerful brother to behave. But those feelings are now dying out I think … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

A sister is to be protected

“…The brothers who do not bother about the chastity of the husband of their sister, and also support him and ask him to do wrong things, hide his things, are also equally responsible. Like in Sahaja Yoga, you know that a sister is to be protected; and the sister’s husband, if he’s doing anything wrong, he’s to be told off by the brother.

Like once in India, one newspaper passed some remarks about Me. My brothers were up in arms. I thought, “Now, it’s going to be terrible. How am I to manage it?” It was a big problem.

They were going to go to the courts. When I told them, “I’ll not go to the courts.”

“All right, don’t go. But we’ll go.” They told My husband also.

My husband and My brothers put together was formidable! I didn’t know what to do. I wrote to one Sahaja Yogi that, “Go and see the editor of the newspaper. Tell him that these are My brothers, be careful. They are very powerful people in India and from here My husband.” It’s terrible.

But they would not apologize. So I thought of another Vishnumaya, that there was a big strike and the paper was closed for exactly six months. And they had to go in for big, very big losses. And when they started, the people who were working there came back and said that, “Why did you write against Shri Mataji? We’re not going to come back.” And they had to apologize . .. “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

What a poetic thing to say

” … In the history that I know of two very beautiful incidents I’ll tell you which come to My mind, today is one of Shivaji. When Shivaji

– twice it happened in his lifetime which is very remarkable – was once presented with a lady who was very beautiful. And people had plundered her things and all her ornaments, because she was a daughter of a Muslim courtesan, as you call the courtier. And they tried to plunder, and they brought this beautiful woman before Shivaji.

So Shivaji looked at her and said, “Please remove your veil,” because Muslims have a veil. And when she removed her veil, he said that, “If my mother was as beautiful as you are, I would have been equally beautiful.”

What a thing to say – what a poetic thing to say! That is that, “If you were my mother, I would have been as beautiful as you are,” means you are my sister. And then he got very angry with all these people and he asked them that, “You’d better take her away and never do such a thing to any woman.” And not only, but he gave lots of ornaments and lots of things to her to say that she’s a sister going to the husband with all respect and regard. And this gentleman, her husband, was a very deadly enemy of Shivaji. How he solved the problem with such purity and then this gentleman became sort of a milder person with this gesture of his … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

Only on that rakhi. Think of that, only one rakhi!

” … Second in his lifetime we hear about a fort which is now very close to My house in Pune. There was a Rajput lady called Kamal Kumari, who was entrapped by the man who was the officer of that fort, who was a Muslim. And he was telling this Kamal Kumari that “You must marry me.” And she would not accept. They had brought her from somewhere sort of by force. And she would not accept; she was a Rajput. And he said, “By tomorrow, you’ll have to marry me.” This lady didn’t know what to do, so with someone very secretly she sent a letter to Shivaji with a rakhi. But it reached the mother of Shivaji.

Mother sent a letter, sent a message, to Shivaji on a horse that, “Come here as fast as possible – if you’re eating your food, then come here to wash your hands” – to that extent. And Shivaji was so obedient to his mother, very obedient. One has to learn from his character. He rushed there, because obedience was his power.

He rushed there and asked, “Mother, what is it?” So she said, “No, I want to play chess with you.”

He said, “Why now?” “I must play chess.” He couldn’t understand. And she played chess and she won something. She could have told him, but she just wanted to sort of put a Vishnumaya on him.

He lost. “Mother, what do you want?”

She said, “Today I want you by night to capture this fort.” “Today?”

“Yes.”

Then she showed him the letter and the rakhi. Rakhi was so powerful that a mother had to ask her son, who was responsible for the deliverance of Maharashtra from the clutches of the Muslims, that he should go to this fort and capture it. Such a powerful message out of that string. So. All right. Came out. He was quite upset; how to do it? Suddenly there was one gentleman called Tanaji, had come to invite him for his son’s wedding with his uncle. And he saw him so upset he said, “Why are you so upset, sir?” He said, “My mother has asked me such and such thing.”

He said, “All right, I’m going. You don’t have to go, because we’ll have many Tanaji’s like me but we have only one Shivaji. I’m going to do it.”

He said, “But your son is going to marry.”

He said, “First let my sword marry this fort, then I will marry my son.”

Such people we had also. Such sacrifice. Only on that rakhi. Think of that, only one rakhi! All right. They didn’t know this girl, they didn’t know her father, they didn’t know anything about her, they had never seen her. Can you think of somebody who will do like this in modern times? We are supposed to be very evolved, powerful, great people. Even in the pictures we need not show it. Nobody will come to see such a film because they’ll feel so low.

And he went there and he used a kind of a big lizard which went and fixed the nails. With a rope he climbed up and they conquered and won that fort.

It was decided that if they are successful they should light a fire which Shivaji can see and come down. He saw the fire early in the morning so went there. And under a tree the dead body of this Tanaji was lying. He looked at it and he said, “We have got the fort but we have lost a lion.” That’s why it’s called as the Fort of the Lion – Sinhagad, which you can see from My house very clearly. But these are the monuments of a small thing called a rakhi. A small symbol of expression that can capture forts after forts … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

I knew the trick will work with Indian mind

” … Another one where – I’ve told this story before but I’ll repeat it today – was when Alexander the Great arrested one king called Puru. Alexander had married an Indian lady and the great Alexander was in jail. That was the day of Vishnumaya. So she sent – this lady was very clever, his wife – she sent a rakhi in a small, little thali covered nicely to the King Puru. And, as the rituals are, that day this was presented to him. So he had to accept. If it is sent, you have to accept. A sister sends it with deliberations but you have to accept. And he accepted it, and it was tied.

Then he said, “Who is my sister?”

They said, “Your sister is the wife of Alexander.”

He said, “Oh God, that means I have arrested my own brother-in- law!” Immediately becomes a brother-in-law, immediately. No marriage took place, nothing. He’s a brother-in-law.

He rushed to the jail, fell flat before the great emperor. He couldn’t understand what’s happening to Puru? Why did he do all this?

He said, “Sir, I am sorry,” in his own language, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were my brother-in-law. I’m sorry whatever I’ve done. Will you forgive me?” and all that. And he brought him, asked him to sit on his throne. He couldn’t understand, “What’s this going on?”

“Please.” Made him sit there, garlanded him, did his aarti, gave him ornaments, gave him big garlands of diamonds and rubies and things, and touched his feet, washed his feet and then, with great honour, sent him home.

He couldn’t understand. “Has he gone mad or he’s possessed by someone?” He must have thought some Greek has possessed this fellow, the way he was surrendering.

When he went home his wife was smiling. He said, “Why are you smiling?”

She said, “I knew the trick will work with Indian mind.” “What was the trick?”

She showed him one string. “This was the trick.”

He couldn’t understand, started looking at it. “What is this?”

She said, “This is the rakhi. This is the thing I sent him. This has the symbol of a sister, that’s how you’re released.”

Alexander sat back. He said, “Oh God, these people can release their enemies on a string? I can’t capture these people. They are too good. They are too subtle. These subtleties we cannot understand.” And he turned back. But he took some poets with him who sang his praise, how he was, what a generous man . . . “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

THE TRADITION OF RAKSHA BANDHAN

The sister makes some nice things for him to eat

” … Now, today is the day when in India we had a function held where people tied rakhi to someone, to someone whom they found to be a sister. And still now, it’s now ten years have passed to those things, but that day they will call the sister. The sister comes, she ties the rakhi, and the brother has to give some sweet present to her. And the sister makes some nice things for him to eat and everybody is very happy… “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

Raksha  Bandhan is the bondage of protection

” …Today in India, we celebrate a special festival. It is called as Raksha Bandhan. Rakshan means protection and Bandhan means the bondage, the bondage of protection. It’s a very nice, good, social custom to have this beautiful festival today. Today is the full moon day, and this day what we do is to tie a band of threads around the person whom you want to protect. It is done between brothers and sisters. The sisters tie this bondage to the wrist of the brothers, and when we do that, they’re putting all their love around the wrist, that it is the day for giving all their love, everything to their brother, as a protection, as a symbol of their protection th rough that thread. It’s a very, very simple thread they use. And this is has to be tied on the left- hand side. But people tie it on the right-hand side, which is a mistake, but it has to be tied on the left-hand side.

In our Sahaja Yoga the significance of left wrist is that it is the left Vishuddhi. Left Vishuddhi, which is here. And this is the left Vishuddhi expressed here, you know that very well. Now, left Vishuddhi is the place where our relationship of brothers and sisters exist. When they are disturbed within us, we start getting the problem of the left Vishuddhi. In these modern times, the talk of pure relationship seems to be quite boring for many people, but it’s very practical and logical. I would say it is the most scientific thing to do. For example, every brother has a special feeling for a sister, and her chastity is very dear to every brother, if he is a normal person. If he is abnormal, then forget it. But normally a brother is very particular about the chastity of the sister, and he doesn’t like anybody to – in any way – even pass a remark against the chastity of his sister. I mean these natural things we might have lost because of, whatever you may call it, the modern style of thinking or the machinery that is sitting on our heads, but the normal thing is to feel that way, purely, about the sister. And the sister about the brother. Brothers’ and sisters’ relations are extremely pure and are also accepted in this country very well … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

It’s a very well worshipped connection in India

” … Apart from that, supposing you call somebody as your sister or as your brother – it’s a very well worshipped connection in India, and should be with us also. If you call somebody a sister, then not only that you do for her the way you would do for your sister, but in all your relationships, in all your festivals, in all the weddings in the family, she is treated like a sister … “

1980 RAKSHA BANDHAN, LONDON

All your life you carry on that relationship with that nobility

” … So after that is the second day, is very important, which is here, is the brother and sister special day, where the sister invites the brother to her house for food. And if he is a small boy she will give him a bath; even if he is a big boy he sits with all his clothes on and she will throw water on him and puts something very fragrant things on his body and gives him a bath nicely and gives him a protection. It’s a purity of relationship between a sister and a brother. And then the brother gives her something as a present at that time. He may give anything, it’s just symbolic. It’s the love and affection of a brother and sister is expressed at that time, is very important. And then the sister, you see, actually gives him a bandhan, with actual light, which we call as the aarti they do for the brother. And that’s how they try to give a big protection to them.

So this is the day of the – they call it in Marathi Bhayadwij – that is the second day of the moon, that dark moon. That has significance because it is very important that our relationship as a brother and a sister, must be strengthened, must be purified, must be looked after.

In India, even if somebody calls you a sister or a brother, then he is a sister or a brother; it is a very difficult situation. If somebody calls you a sister, then you have to accept that situation. And if you accept that situation, all your life you have to carryon that relationship of that nobility, whether he may be your brother or not, doesn’t matter; she may your sister or not, does not matter. But once you’ve said she’s your sister, then all that purity is there, all that chastity is there to be protected, and she is to be protected … “

1982 DIWALI PUJA, LONDON

THE PRINCIPLE OF MARYADAS

We have  to understand that  how to keep our relationships  in proper respect to each other’s modesty and chastity

” … Now we have to understand the maryadas, about which I have told you before also. The relationships between men and women are only pure if a certain amount of boundaries are kept. Like, supposing you have milk in one container and you have got something else in another container. To keep the purity of one container, you have to keep it in its bounds, in the cup. If you allow them to mix up, if they fall together and they mix up, then there is no purity. It’s a simple thing like that. One should understand that we have to understand that how to keep our relationships in proper respect to each other’s modesty and chastity.

Now for example, there is a girl who is younger to you. You must keep all the distance from such a person. If she is much older than you, then it is all right. You can talk, laugh, joke – she’s much older than you. But normally with a girl who is younger to you, even much younger, you should try to keep away, after all if she is a young girl; not with the children, but still. You must learn these things, how to maintain a distance. Now, there is a man who is younger to you, then you must not have any funny ideas about such a person – is absolutely absurd … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

It cannot cross a certain  limit, there has to be a maryadas

” …The whole thing is that, that relationship (brother and sister) is so special, so close and so pure. And such a relationship one should develop with a lady, any woman or any friend you want to have. One should remember that it cannot cross a certain limit, there has to have a maryada. Otherwise they will become brothers and sisters and then they marry, it’s not possible. So we have to have the boundaries; that is very important. In Sahaja Yoga we have to have maryadas and boundaries. And one of them is this: that once you call somebody a brother or a sister, is absolutely pure relationship. Little further we’ll go with that and that the relationship with a – as I have told you before, that with your, say – husband’s younger brothers is just like that they are like your younger brothers, all of them, husband’s younger brothers or younger Sahaja Yogis than your husbands, are. The other way round is for all the ladies, we can say, all the men, their wives, elder ladies, elder to your wives, are like sisters, elder sisters.

I mean this relationship is so sweet and gives you a certain amount of understanding: how much distance is kept with whom, with whom to be free and with whom to have the distance…”

1981 DIWALI PUJA, UK

It would be killing Sahaja Yoga if you do not keep your maryadas

“…It would be killing, it would be absolutely killing Sahaja Yoga, if you do not keep your maryadas. That is one of the most essential things one has to know. I have told you again and again how you dress up, how you bear yourself up, how you talk, how you listen to others more than you talk yourself, how you become non-aggressive, is the best way to impress people and to express Sahaja Yoga … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

The enjoyment is higher than any romance, marriage or worldly thing

“…The maryadas of relationships between you is relationship of pure love, of purity. Unless and until you develop pure relationships, you are going to be ruined. See, this finger has to have pure relationship with this hand. Supposing if this finger has some dirty feelings about this hand, it may dirty it, it may spoil it. In the same way, we should have extremely pure relationships with each other. Means, we should try to give our heart to another person without any lust or greed in it, that we should try to do. Try to help each other. I find when they feel in a lusty way, or a greedy way attached to others – this is not for the Sahaja Yogis, but non Sahaja Yogis – they get so much interested in that person. It’s a very baser way of attachment.

But in Sahaja Yoga, your attachment is with your Spirit, with your Atma. And Atma is the purest form of our being. We have to keep it absolutely pure. And then the enjoyment is higher than any romance, any marriage, any worldly thing. It’s the highest and the top-most. First achieve that. First of all you should arise and achieve that. Achieve that purity. That is very important.

Now the relationship between the men and women, I have told you that you should not try to enter into any bedrooms where the ladies are. It’s not proper. Nor the women should enter into men’s thing … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

It’s not imposed on us, it is innate

“…So the first thing is that we should understand that Ganesha gives us maryadas, limits, it is innate within us. It’s not imposed on us, it is innate. A little girl if you see, she’s shy, she knows how to protect herself. Even the boys, they are shy and they try to protect themselves, but that innate innocence we try to flout, because ego is there. “What’s wrong?” You tell them anything: “What’s wrong?” And you do not know how devastating it is .. . “

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

If you really work out your Shri Ganesha – the best is to meditate

” … I mean, there are no maryadas. And that means you are denying Ganesha completely. Ganesha has created those maryadas innately within us. Even a prostitute in India, if she has to take to that profession because she’s forced into it, maybe she’s been brought from somewhere or maybe that out of her big problems she might have been a prostitute; she will see that her child is saved. She knows that it’s wrong. But here it is so bad that we do not know also that it is wrong. Can you imagine, this is the limit of things, that you see yourself getting drowned in the water and you know that you are going to be killed. Still you are enjoying, “Very nice, I am going to be killed.” This is the situation of the wisdom. This is really shocking.

So we have to now understand what are our maryadas are, how we have to live within our maryadas, and I’m sure if you really work out your Shri Ganesha – for that the best is to meditate. Put yourself on some nice turf, grass. Sit on that. Put your left hand with the light, and right hand on the Mother Earth, and say Atharva Sheersha. If you can remember it by heart, it’s a very good thing. Otherwise, you can keep the book and read it, or say Ganesha’s mantra to begin with. It’s going to help you very much. It’s going to help you, your eyes, it’s going to your whole thing, it’s going to be very nice … “

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA – CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

We should also try to watch ourselves

” … It’s very serious for Sahaja Yogis. Very, very serious. They have to revive their innocence. They have to revive their maryadas. They have to delimit themselves. It’s very important. Otherwise, as I would say, that if you have some wheat spread out everywhere, how can you reach the heights? You have to put them into some bags, some maryadas. Only by maryadas you can rise. Of course the Kundalini will help. Of course Ganesha will help also. But we should also try to watch ourselves. There should be introspection: “Are we still in the same category?”

I’ve told many people that it is better you walk with your eyes towards the grass, at only at three feet, because at three feet you can only see children, flowers and grounds, not higher than that. Nothing very beautiful is beyond that I think. Or raise much higher, so that you just see above the heads of people, nothing in between . And our whole style, lifestyle is so funny; I mean, I just don’t know how to explain it, but is accepted … “

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA,  CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

He gives you your own personality

” … But Shri Ganesha gives you a personality. He gives you your own personality, because He gives you maryadas. You see, by maryadas only, you get your personality. A person is known by his maryadas. And that’s what has to come within us, are our maryadas …”

1991 SHRI GANESHA PUJA – CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

It’s all awakened within you

“…In Sahaja Yoga we attend to our primordial taboos. They’re primordial. These taboos are primordial. And if you cross them and if you leave your maryadas, then whether you are a Muslim or a Hindu, you cannot be saved, you cannot get your realization.

So in Sahaja Yoga the built-in dharma within us is awakened and we take to primordial taboos which are meant for a human being. If a human being does not observe these taboos, then what happens … So what are the primordial taboos and all that I am going to discuss in Ganesha Puja. And once that is awakened within us I don’t tell you, “Don’t do this and don’t do that.” There’s no need, because it’s all awakened within you and you just don’t do it. So that is has to be brought in this way … “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

The brother is protected by a sister  and the sister’s chastity is looked after by the brother

“…Now (Vishnumaya) She’s the sister – this must be understood very well. Now sisterly relation is a pure relationship. Now, of course, everything is so confused, but that’s the purest relationship between the brother and the sister. The brother is protected by a sister. And the sister’s chastity is looked after by the brother.

A brother who doesn’t feel hurt if his sister’s chastity is in danger or she plays about with her chastity, he is not a brother. He is not a brother anymore. He’s responsible to see that his sister keeps her chastity. Only her chastity can protect him – it’s a mutual working. This feeling, if it does not develop that, “She is my sister and that I have to look after her chastity, for that I have to behave myself well, so that she doesn’t find faults with me.” It’s such a cleansing process this relationship has, as much as the electricity has the cleansing process for you … “

1987 SHRI VISHNUMAYA PUJA, NEW YORK

ABOUT FLIRTING AND FALLING IN LOVE

We may be surrounded by friends and other people who find it normal to have a boyfriend or girlfriend –but we know that we would like a deeper relationship based on spiritual values.

It is essential to remember that our self-respect is strengthened by being patient and waiting until we get married. Following a chaste life, in the essence of what this means, allows us to gain the most – we will be sure of success in all its aspects. We feel the power and joy of those who have chosen this path.

When we think of our future husband or wife, we would like them to be pure before marrying us. This should be an indication for what truly is important to us.

Freedom – in the security of maryadas and enjoyment of each others company – begins with pure relationships. As Shri Mataji says, “I find it among young people now, that those who come to Sahaja Yoga become really very free people. They don’t run after women. Women don’t run after men. They are together, they sit together, talk together, laugh together. But it is purity that is here.”

You have to be careful that relationships remain pure

” … But when it comes to others, you should have absolutely pure relationship of no exploitation. Even there are flirting exploitations – as the same as money exploitations. Here if you exploit somebody by money it’s called a thug. But flirting is not called anything. I think that is a much worse crime, according to Christ. So you have to be careful on this point, and understand that relationship with each other has to be pure … “

1984 RAKSHA BANDHAN, UK

So your attention has to shine through the window of Divine

” …There are many people have asked Me one question. How to steady the Agnya? Agnya is placed at the crossing point of our nerves and also optic thalamus. Now, so it is said that if you have wobbling eyes you’ll have a wobbling Agnya. You have to steady your eyes. You have to soothe them.

Now it is very, very out of date, ancient, old and all sorts of names that you call it to a thing like that. But you must steady your eyes and steady them in such a way that it is very soothing for the eyes. Which is the most soothing thing for the eyes is the green grass. If you could see the green grass with your eyes means you walk with your eyes on the ground. Your eyes will be soothed, your Agnya will be all right. That’s why Christ said that, “I tell you about the adulterous eyes.” He talked about adulterous eyes. The eyes with which you do adultery.

It is a very common thing these days. Every woman a man must see. Every man a woman must see. As if it is the most important job. If you have not seen one woman you’re finished. I mean this is being modern. But I am an old fashioned lady. And at the time of Christ he said, “You should not have adulterous eyes.” And the ones who have adulterous eyes are, no more than any other, but our Western Christians. Who all the time even in the church, even when they’re giving sermons, their eyes are moving with adultery.

These eyes have to be very, very pure, very, very deep and very loving when you want to have your Agnya all right. Because you receive through your eyes. Say if you have closed your eyes, you do not put your attention to anything because your eyes are closed. You are not adding more thoughts to yourself. But if your eyes are open you are adding much more thoughts, because everywhere the eyes go the attention goes and you see things and create thoughts and put in them.

So your attention which has to go to the Spirit, which has to go to God, which has to shine through the window of Divine. This beautiful thing is ruined by the way we use our eyes and we do not respect it. There’s nothing so pure and beautiful as the grass on the ground or the ground itself, which takes our feet, which supports us, which looks after us, enriches us. We should put our eyes on the Mother Earth instead of looking at every person … “

1978 AGNYA CHAKRA, LONDON

We are wasting such a lot of energy for what?

“…But from Sahaja Yoga point of view now many of you know what happens to your eyes when you look at somebody. Maybe a entity might enter your eyes. And it is, you’ll be amazed that it is the play of the entity what we call this so-called flirting is. I’ve talked about it before also and people didn’t like it when I told them about it. But I have seen actual entities entering from eyes to eyes. I have seen very simple people who come down to such places, say in a party. In a party people are just exchanging entities from one eye to another. Once it goes to another person he puts his entity into another person. And that third goes into another person. All the time your attention is diverted. And you feel it is attracted towards something, you do not know why it is attracted.

Now the certain symbols are also made like that. To add up to the problems, you see all the society is working at it. That you should appear in such a way that every man should look at you. Every woman should look at you. Why? What is the use? Supposing I look at you what do I get? What do I get by looking at a person? What is the advantage just looking at a person? We are wasting such a lot of energy for what? .. “

1978 AGNYA CHAKRA, LONDON

You have to divert your attention towards a sane married life

” … You yourself can feel your Mooladharas very well. You can feel it on your fingertips also. And be alert about it. If you want to be kind to yourself, know that you have to divert your attention towards a sane married life. But also that should not be too much. Because what I have learnt now, that in the West people have devised methods of transferring their attention from one person to another. Mental acrobatics of different type they have devised to destroy their pure attention. Don’t play onto these … “

1985 MOOLADHARA ADDRESS, BIRMINGHAM, UK

This is another western madness, that you fall in love

” … I mean I just don’t understand, is just a concept, again I must tell you very, very frankly. Because if you fall in love, then why do you divorce so many times? That is infatuation, that you feel for someone and next moment you are out for divorce … “

1990 TALK ON MARRIAGES, DELHI

You have to live with the vibrations of the person

” … But it should be a well-guided, wise decision. It should not be just you feel for someone. It’s very wrong. You should judge a person according to what you are, and that, on vibrations, mainly. Because you have to live with the vibrations of the person, in Sahaja Yoga. That’s very important. So, this kind of thing falling for someone and this and that is very temporary, you do not know. that’s why the marriages in the west, are fizzling out so fast … “

1990 TALK ON MARRIAGE, DELHI

They are all flirting with each other, but it’s a joyless pursuit

” … First as I told you, that morality should be the highest priority for all of us. Now just think of the life people lead. For example, I have been in the West with My husband in another atmosphere, another society. We have been to parties, we’ve been to all such things, and what I’ve found, that no man is safe, no woman is safe. They are all flirting with each other. God knows for what, it’s a joyless pursuit. And when they go back home what they find, that the wife is missing or the husband is missing. So such an insecure life they have because they have no sense of morality. To them these pleasures are something great, and because of this misunderstanding about the life, they are suffering with such tremendous insecurity … “

1991 EASTER PUJA, SYDNEY

They talk so much about sex that is shocking

” … Like, you’ll be amazed at, in the western countries, the percentage of impotent people is so high that – unbelievably – it is like that. They talk so much about sex and do this thing is shocking. It never works out. So much of impotency is settled in these western countries. The diseases, the dirty diseases, which are caused by these indiscriminate sex activities, are so much in percentage that one has to be guarded against them . .. “

1979 GURU PUJA, DOLLIS HILL, UK

So freedom is that you can manage to manoeuvre it

” … You see, freedom is different, and abandonment is different. These are two things. One must understand. Say, there is a kite in the hand, alright? Then it is in your hand. But if you allow the kite to fly it wherever it likes, it is abandonment. So the freedom is that in which you can manage to manoeuvre it, to man it, to take it the way you like, that is the freedom. Then you are free. But if you are in the hands of these … baselessly you are roaming about, then this is abandonment… for which there is always a punishment. .. “

1979 GURU PUJA – DOLLIS HILL, UK

Christians have crossed all the limits

” … For example Christianity now, you can take it very clearly that they didn’t use Ganesha’s principle there at all. But all throughout is written that you have to look after yourself in a moral way; that in the Old Testament it is written that: “Thou shall not commit adultery.” But Christ has made it even subtler, very subtle, because He’s at Agnya, controlling the eyes. So He said, “Thou shall not have adulterous eyes.” But the Christians have crossed all the limits of adultery, all the limits. I mean, I don’t know to what limit they are going to go now. I mean, it’s really – they have gone amok the way they are going into this kind of a experimentation.

And then what will happen to your children? What will happen to your society? That’s what is happening now, in complete imbalance. Completely in imbalance, all these societies where they are using adultery as a style of life. What Christ has said, just the opposite they are doing … “

1992 SHRI GANESHA PUJA, PERTH

In Sahaja Yoga it is purity that is here

” … In the Sahaj Dharma, you give up lust and greed very easily, that I know. I mean if they can’t even give up that, then they should not call themselves Sahaja Yogis. The first thing you give up is lust and greed. I find it among young people now, that those who come to Sahaja Yoga become really very free people. They don’t run after women. Women don’t run after men. They are together, they sit together, talk together, laugh together, but it is purity that is here. In the Koran it’s described that, “When Qiyama will come, beautiful women and beautiful men will be there, but they’ll have no lust and greed, they’ll be pure.” Today you can see that that lust and greed is finished in most of it, most of you. Automatically it is finished and now you can see for yourself that you’re free of this bondage … “

1997 SHRI KRISHNA PUJA, CABELLA

CREDITS & Notice Of Rights

COMPILATION AND BOOK RESEARCH : Henno and Trupta deGraaf, Lakshmi Ward, Marie Rajan, Victoria Zyblut, Phil Ward

PHOTOGRAPHY : Paul Anant, Calin Chiroiu, Matthew Cooper, Dmitry Kovalev, Michael Markl, Richard and Gautama Payment, Axinia Samoilova, Vera Subkus

DESIGN CREDITS : Dara Tittjung, Mario Barba, Manfred Tittjung

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