Talk about Innocence, Ganapatipule (India), 2 January 1987.
Today, in this blessed place of Mahaganesha, we have all assembled to go deep into our own beings, to enjoy our own glory. One has to remember that the very first thing God created on this earth was Shri Ganesha because He could emit holiness. He exists as chaitanya and this chaitanya exists in the atom and molecules as you know very well, as vibrations – symmetric and isometric. These vibrations later on start expressing themselves in the plant kingdom as life force and you see how they are kept under a bondage. A tree that is a mango tree will go up to a certain point. A coconut tree will grow up to a certain point. It’s all under control, and then it is expressed in the animals, where it binds them. That’s why they are called as pashus, means under bondage. But in the human being it is expressed as auspiciousness and ultimately as the epitome, as holiness. Holiness is to be understood in its essence as well as in its contents.
Holiness is an innate quality of a personality, where a person rejects all that is unholy, all that is inauspicious. The ego doesn’t play any part. Up to the animal stage, ego doesn’t exist. But in the human stage, you are given freedom to choose whether you want holiness or not. But in the ego of man, he might say, “What’s wrong?” and he may defy all the rules and regulations of the Divine, and take to unholy behavior. But then he goes amok.
Today we can see the results, in this short time, the results of this defiance. In the West specially, they are finding it impossible to retreat back. 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 am 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’s very much more for men. Those who lead a chaste life are the people who are glorious – tejas punya [tejas : glory ; punya : virtue] as we call it.
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 shall 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 learned from children. In their simplicity, in their innocence, they do not indulge into things which are unholy. Holiness is not only concerned with your married life, also it is 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 is 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. Is 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 and 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.
Especially 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 is no end to what I have to say about this great quality which all should imbibe, respect and worship. 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.
May God bless you all!