What is the practical advantage of getting self-realisation? 1992-07-02
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2 July 1992
What Is The Practical Advantage Of Getting Self-realisation?
Public Program
Kunstcentrum Artemis, Amsterdam (Holland)
Talk Language: English | Transcript (English) – Draft
Public Program Day 2, Second Evening, Artemis, Amsterdam, 2nd July 1992
At the very outset we have to know that truth is what it is. We cannot change it, we cannot conceptualise it and also, at this human level, we cannot feel it. That means at (the level of) human awareness, we have to humbly accept that we have not reached that stage where our awareness can feel the truth. Once we realise that something more has to be done, something more has to happen, if we are seeking the truth, then you jump into a new category of human beings; and this category of people are called the seekers of truth. And yesterday you saw how so many of you felt the truth.
So what is the truth? Firstly, the truth is that you are not this body, this mind, this ego, these conditionings; but you are the pure Spirit. And the second thing is, that there is an all-pervading power of God's love which does all the living work. So when we talk of yoga it doesn’t mean standing on your heads. But it means your connection established with that all-pervading power. Like this instrument was made beautifully, but it has to be connected to the mains - otherwise it has no meaning.
That is what people start thinking when they cannot find the truth, that “What is the meaning of their life? What is the purpose of their life?” They bang their heads here and there; try every sort of thing - feel frustrated - but they have to know that there is, already placed within us, a proper system. Just like every seed has got a primule, in the same way every human being has got this connecting power, which is the Kundalini.
Now when the questions are, "What is the practical advantage of getting Sahaja Yoga, or getting your realisation?" All the world's problems are because of human beings, and all human being’s problems are because of their chakras. If your chakras are put right, and are integrated, then there can be no physical, mental, emotional or spiritual problems. And above all, if you are connected with that divine power, you get enlightenment on your central nervous system, which means that your central nervous system itself gets a new dimension which is known as collective consciousness. That means not only that you can feel your centres, but you can feel the centres of others.
Now what happens inside is very important to know. The Spirit gets into your attention; the light spreads into your attention. The Spirit is the reflection of God Almighty in your heart. As the Kundalini rises and gives you realisation you become a beautiful reflector of God Almighty.
This Kundalini is your divine mother. She is your individual, divine mother. She knows everything about you, and with great delicacy she rises and gives you your second birth. We can say that a human being is completely closed and can be compared to an egg. He has mental capacities, emotional capacities, but he cannot go beyond that. That is why, in the Sanskrit language, a realised soul is called ‘Dvija’. A bird is also called Dvija, which means born twice. So when in your seeking you mature, this egg opens out and you become a free bird.
Now the nature of the Spirit also manifests within you. The first nature is that it enlightens your attention. Our attention is still confused. We do not know how to discriminate between good and bad, between nourishing and destructive. But once this light comes in, you can feel it on your fingertips, the truth; the absolute truth. Supposing you ask, when you are realised all of you, "Is there God?", immediately you'll find this cool breeze of the Holy Ghost starts flowing into your hands, "Yes, there is."
Now supposing you put your hands towards someone and you start getting pain in this finger; that means that the person whom you are facing feels very much guilty, and he might have spondylitis also. So all these fingers denote your physical, mental, emotional side, but they are to be enlightened so you can feel it. Also the power with which you are connected starts flowing through you. With this power you can raise the Kundalini of another person; you can give realisation to others.
Now this enlightened attention makes you innocent. The eyes which are full of lust and greed just become innocent. As we have got divinity within us, the innocence within us is never destroyed. Whatever one may try, it's there, and once you get your self realisation it manifests.
Christ has said, "Thou shalt not have adulterous eyes." But in most of the Christian nations whatever I have visited I was surprised, there’s no innocence in their eyes. But it automatically happens, for that we need not read the Bible. It spontaneously happens because your chakras get cleansed and your eyes become very powerful. Their power is such that, such a person when he looks at someone even then, he can just create peace in that personality. Even with a glance you can cure people.
Such a person, who is a realised soul, when the Spirit expresses itself, as I’ve told you that you get collective consciousness, means who is "the other"? You become part and parcel of the whole. A drop becomes the ocean. Like if this hand is in trouble, the other hand immediately feels it and tries to help it. Somebody has asked me, "Why don't we help each other?" Because of ignorance. Once you become one with the whole, automatically you help each other. You lose these boundaries of a small drop because the nature of the Spirit is that it is a universal being, and that it is the peace within.
Many people talk of peace. I've seen they have got peace awards and things like that. They have a "Foundation of Peace" and big, big things, you see, but there is no peace within. It's just an outward show. You can only achieve pure peace by self realisation, because you go into the state of peacefulness, into a new state.
It is like this, I can give you an example, like a wheel. When you see a wheel there is also the axis of the wheel which is absolutely peaceful. If your attention is on the periphery of the wheel you are moving all the time, but supposing your attention jumps onto the wheel then you are at peace and you watch the whole thing as a witness.
Otherwise another example could be that when we are watching, say, a drama we get lost in it, but when the drama is over, you know that it was a drama. So the whole thing then starts becoming like a drama, like just a play. This state is called ‘turiya’, which means the fourth dimension.
In the West we have grown like a big tree. That was good, but we must find out (about) our roots, and Sahaja Yoga is the knowledge of the roots. And once you get to your roots, you can nourish this life with spirituality.
So the first thing is that your physical being gets completely alright because of the nourishment of your centres on the physical level. So many people suffering from schizophrenia, mental depressions and other mental disorders have been cured in Sahaja Yoga. Many of them have been possessed and destroyed by false gurus. Many have been destroyed by drugs, we can say. They all not only get rid of these problems but they get cured and they can cure others. These are your powers (which are) within you as potential. It's not anything to do with your age, or nationality, or your race; it’s every human being can get it. But one has to know that we have to get it.
There is no organisation in Sahaja Yoga. There is no membership. You have to become a Sahaja Yogi, it's the becoming. Like a seed has to become the tree, you cannot just certify that you are a realised soul or a born again (person), you cannot. As a Sahaja Yogi you manifest your powers of tremendous love and compassion. You get divine discretion and tremendous creativity. The kind of wisdom that you have makes you your own master and you can tell others with great conviction what you have found.
So this is the last breakthrough of our evolution. Human beings are at the epitome of evolution and this breakthrough has to take place. You cannot pay for it. You cannot put in efforts. Like some people think that they can starve for one year or one month and they will reach God. No, they will just die that's all. Or somebody was saying that if you go to the Gobi Desert you will reach some sort of a "nirvana" and people believe it. There are so many who went to the Gobi Desert and they all died.
You cannot get your self realisation when you are dead. You have to get it when you are living as a human being. So all kinds of funny ideas people give you, but nobody so far, I know, has shown how we can achieve truth. Because they are fake, they are just making money, that's all.
Now another quality of the Spirit is that you know the absolute truth. Because we do not know the absolute truth, that's why everybody has a different idea. Now I'm sitting before you, you can see me sitting here, so all of you know that I'm sitting here. All of you know the same thing. There is no quarrel about it; there is no argument about it. By realisation all of you know the absolute truth.
Like one gentleman came to me and asked me, "Why is everybody asking me, what is my relationship with my father?" I said, "I would also ask the same question, because they are feeling the same chakra in you, so they will ask the same question." If there are ten children who are realised souls and you tie up their eyes and ask them “What is this gentleman suffering from?” they will all raise one finger like this. (Index finger) That means this gentleman has trouble with his throat. So you ask him, "Have you got a problem with your throat?" He'll say, "How do you know?" So you go beyond science; you become the master of science. Your brain becomes like a divine computer and you can predict, you can say what's wrong with another person. And all of them will say the same thing.
Now if you want to know about say somebody who is claiming to be a great master, whether he is real or not, even his photograph, even his name - you just put your hands like this and ask, "Is it a real genuine master?" Immediately your hands will start burning if he's a fake person. You may even get a little blister, but just indicatively, and then you'll know that he's a devil.
So all of you know the absolute truth about religion, the incarnations, the prophets and the seers. You realise that all religions are the same. They are like flowers on the same tree of spirituality. Thus fundamentalism is finished. No-one says that this is my religion and it is the best. As it is nobody follows religion they just have a brand. But after realisation you become righteous, you become. I don't have to tell you. I don't have to tell you the Ten Commandments, you just become.
For example, supposing you are holding a snake in your hand and it is complete darkness, you can't see anything and somebody tells you it's a snake, you will say, "No, it's a rope." But if there is a little light you will immediately throw away the snake because you will see the snake. That is how you see the evil. And you see yourself, I don't have to tell you. You yourself know what is wrong and what is right. So in your light you ascend. You get a direction and a complete understanding of your being and of the being of others.
As it is, we start seeing how we have been conditioned - we see it very clearly - and how we are enslaved. For example, we are enslaved by entrepreneurs all the time. Say the fashion starts that ladies should wear only six-inch skirts. So the entrepreneur saves money and you have to pay more! That's how he makes money. But we feel we have been very much ‘in’ - in the fashion. As a result we develop varicose veins, so the doctors get the money. Then we have problems with our feet...I mean it can go on.
So the weaknesses in human beings are exploited and one after another we start succumbing to them and we start losing all the money, all the control over ourselves. For example they started a new thing that you should have a ‘punk head’. I asked him, "Why, what is the need?" They said, "What's wrong?"
I said, "How much did you pay for this punkiness?" He said, "Only fifty pounds." "But do you know that by applying this kind of a thing you may become blind?" They said, "No it's very sexy." or something sort of a thing out of the blue.
Whatever ideas they put into you through the television, through all this advertising and all that, we just start absorbing, and (we develop) such a slavish mentality that we cannot think for ourselves. But as a realised soul you become absolutely free and if anybody tries to tell such things you say, "All right. Get lost!" You won't accept anything that is nonsensical because you develop divine wisdom. Do you think Christ could have ever accepted this punk business? No, because he was wisdom personified. (It's) as if you all become saints.
Apart from this, the special quality of the Spirit is that it is the source of joy. Joy is not happiness and unhappiness. If our ego is pampered we feel happy; if the ego is a little bit disturbed we feel unhappy. But joy is an experience which has no duality. You feel joyous about anything.
Supposing there's a beautiful carpet here, if it is beautiful and I'm not realised I will say, "Now, what a nice carpet. Can I steal it?" (Laughter) Or I may think," Where can I buy this?" If this belongs to me it's a greater headache because I'll be worried that people will spoil it, or I must insure it and all kinds of headaches with it. But if I am a realised soul, then I see this carpet without any thought, in thoughtless awareness, and I enjoy all the joy that was put (into it) by its creator. This joy becomes like an abstract thing, it just relaxes completely - it flows down like that. So this idea of possession, "mine" and this and that just drops out. With the divine discretion you know where to go, where to get good things, where to meet good friends - just you know, you are guided.
You can feel the persons who were really realised souls in the past also. Like Abraham Lincoln was a realised soul, you can feel it. Mozart was a realised soul, you can feel it. So many of these people were realised souls but they were lonely. And the saints were also lonely. That is why they were tortured.
Sahaja Yoga is not a new system. Sri Rama’s father-in-law, Sita’s father, gave realisation to one fellow, Nachiketa. The only difference is now today, in modern times, that you can get ‘en masse’ realisation....
(something missing - tape turned)
Like in Russia where we always have to hire a complete stadium because about sixteen (before here missing) to eighteen thousand people come and so many are waiting outside, and they all get their realisation. If somebody asks me how many Sahaja Yogis there are in the world I really cannot tell you. But it depends on the conditionings of the people.
There is a question somebody has asked, "Is it because of this or because of that, or because of that?” But I think the modernism is very much responsible; and this so called democracy, which has become now a "demonocracy", also has made us mad. Of course I am absolutely against communism because it's a forced conditioning. But after Sahaja Yoga you become the capitalist because you have all the powers - you also solve your financial problems I must say - but at the same time you become a communist, because you cannot help it, you want to give it to others all the time, to share it with others all the time. So these theories of communism and capitalism really take their substantial meaning in a human being.
But this is the time of the last judgement. Not after death, before death. If you want, you can go to hell. If you want, you can enter into the kingdom of God. All these false gurus and false ideas of fundamentalism; all this is there just to test you. They create evil but still you want to go there - you go that way. Nobody can be forced in Sahaja Yoga. You have to ask for your realisation. If you are arrogant I can’t give you self realisation. You have to be humble about it. Then it works. It is the meek who will inherit the earth, not the so called rich or the so called successful people. They will inherit because they are so pure and reflecting Gods love.
There will be so many miracles in your life that now people say, "Mother, in Sahaja Yoga (the word) miracle has lost its own value and its meaning too." I said, "Alright, you are writing every day that this miracle has taken place, that miracle has taken place." So I appointed somebody that “You write all the miracles that all these people are sending (letters about).” After a month he told me that the (piles of) miracle papers had gone up to his head on both the sides of the table. "What should I do? How can I choose? I mean, I cannot write volumes." So I said, "Forget it!"
Now these lights that you have seen1 are very interesting; to me these cameras seem to be something miraculous also. It is all worked through this divine power. Once we had a festival on Christmas Day and the Madonna appeared before me in her form. Of course I can see that, but other people can’t see. But the cameras did record it, so many. It's very surprising how these cameras can catch this very subtle light. So all these things that are being produced by science, are going to help us very much to give the proof of reality.
I am really surprised that there have been very few questions and that people are... One question was a little funny, "Can one find truth in Sahaja Yoga?" What else are you here for? That's what Sahaja Yoga is - that you become the Spirit and you can feel this all-pervading power. Not only that but it manifests through you and you can handle it and you can know everything about it. And that you can become your own master.
Do you think there are some more questions? Alright, please. (Sri Mataji reads a question)
It's a very good question. It’s quite personal. Now I have to tell you one thing; that everything that is born has to die. Death we have to take as a change of clothes. And once somebody is dead he is in the other world and we should not try to keep contact with the dead. Firstly, once we are in contact with them we are also in contact with the collective subconscious which is a dangerous area. All right. About these things you will know in Sahaja Yoga, completely.
Also, we have to be in the present because whatever is dead is finished and if we try to contact the dead we are also not allowing them to have their freedom. So whatever may be your feelings, one must understand that the first feeling should be - say it's your father - you have to tell your father, "You can take your birth, I'm alright. Don't worry about me." So he gets his freedom. This prayer is the best way you can really give freedom to those who are dead.
Also the future doesn't exist. But we have to be in the present. It's difficult to be in the present because we are either in the past or in the future. The thoughts are coming either from the past or from the future and we are jumping on the cusp of these thoughts. Only when the Kundalini rises these thoughts get elongated. We can see the thought rising, and falling we do not see. But when these thoughts are elongated, the space between them is called ‘vilamba’ which means pause. So now your attention is in that state of pause, so you are thoughtless but you are aware - thoughtlessly aware, in the present. And when you are in that state, only in the present, you grow spiritually. It is very easy to establish that state. One should not doubt oneself.
So today again we'll try now to establish the realisation you got yesterday, and those who have come for the first time also will feel it. But one has to remember that Kundalini is the power of pure desire. All other desires are impure. You know in economics that desires on the whole cannot be satisfied. Once you have one desire that is fulfilled, you want to have another desire, another desire - so that means it is not a pure desire.
So whether you know it or not, whether you are aware of it or not, there is this pure desire within us to become one with the Divine Power. And this pure desire is within you as Kundalini. She is the reflection of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the power - is the Primordial Mother - of God Almighty; is the pure desire of God Almighty, and this power is the Primordial Mother. In Greek they call her Athena, and in India she is called the Adi Shakti.
So this power rises and connects you to the mains as well as it connects you to the Spirit. The Spirit is the reflection of God Almighty, and the Holy Ghost is the reflection of the Primordial Mother. So the Primordial Father is God Almighty and the Primordial Mother is the Holy Ghost.
In the Bible they have tried to make it very ambiguous. There is the Father, there is the Son and the Mother is missing. She is a dove! How can a dove have a son? Perhaps, I don't know, they must have done it with a purpose, because if you tell that there is a feminine divine power, people don't like it. So they must have said it is better to say it is a dove.
I was myself born in a Protestant Christian family and I was surprised at many things. One of them was Mr Paul being there. He was not Christ’s disciple. He only killed so many Christians. He also killed a disciple of Christ, Stephen. How was he there? And Kahil Gibran also has said the same thing. I asked my father, "How is this Mr Paul there?" Because my father was a great realised soul himself. He told me he was a squatter!
You see he was a bureaucrat - and I know bureaucracy very well - and when he saw such a good platform for himself, he wanted to jump on the platform. And he wanted to use someone very weak - and he found Peter. Peter was the weakest disciple of Christ. Imagine Christ telling Peter of all people that, "You will form your Church on the rocks." I mean Christ, who was wisdom personified, how could he do such a thing? Also he said, "Satan won’t enter your gates." Somebody asked me a question that, "Mother, Christ said so, and how... Satan has already entered the Catholic Church! So was Christ wrong?” I said, "No, Christ never did that. He never appointed him. He could never have."
Because this Paul organised the religion: the Christian Religion - you cannot organise religion - and so the whole idea of ascent, of a higher life, was lost. Also Paul fought with Matthew, and Thomas ran away to India. But if you read Thomas’ treatise, you will be surprised - he has talked of Sahaj only, everything about Sahaj.
He (Paul) didn't want to talk of Immaculate Conception and Matthew insisted. You see he is God. One must understand, he is God Almighty and he can do anything. He is not a human being. He can have Immaculate Conception, he can have anything. How can we judge God with our limited intelligence? So like this, even poor John suffered a lot, and he wouldn't write anything, his treatises, he asked somebody else to write. But still, I must say, despite all efforts, though it was edited, the Bible, lots of truths are still there, lots of truths.
So you should not judge Christ by what the Christians are doing, or by what the authorities are doing, no. And don't judge Islam by the Muslims. All these religions came to establish balance within you and the righteousness and the indication of an ascent. So we should not get upset whatever has gone wrong with the people. They were all great incarnations, great prophets and great saints. We have to now become real Christians, real Hindus, real Muslims and real religious people, within ourselves. It is very easy. Sahaj also means easy. So now I think we can have our self realisation all of us.
At the very outset, as I told you, there are three conditions. The first one is that you must have full confidence in yourself that you can get your self realisation. All of you! That is the first condition. Then the second condition is that you should not feel guilty and think of the past. To feel guilty is nonsense. If you have made any mistakes alright, you are human beings after all. Only human beings can commit mistakes, not the Gods. You are not God. You can correct your mistakes but you should not feel guilty all the time to nourish that mistake all the time.
As a result of feeling guilty I told you that you develop this centre on the left hand side of your throat. It gets so badly spoilt that you might get spondylitis, you might get angina and you might get lethargic organs. That means you should be pleasantly placed towards yourself. You should not condemn yourself for anything because as I told you, you are at the epitome of evolution. You are going to enter into the Kingdom of God. How can you be guilty?
Now the third condition is very simple; is to forgive everyone. Somebody has asked me a question;
"How do we control the anger?" You don't have to control anything. As soon as you get realisation you become a peaceful personality and the anger disappears automatically. It becomes a joke. And that is how you just forgive because you know it is ignorance, it is stupidity. That’s how it works, beautifully. But you don't have to think about these people also whom you have to forgive, because that’s also a headache, as I told you yesterday.
Later on you will know how these chakras are responsible for different types of manifestations. All the knowledge you'll get free. It is not like this is the introduction, it’s free, and then when you come you are charged money. (Laughing) You cannot market it.
Alright, so here we are just with these three conditions, which you please accept. Can I ask you to take off your shoes, if you don’t mind, to take the help from this Mother Earth? Now I will teach you how we can get realisation ourselves, by ourselves. There’s no obligation on anyone. It’s your own right that you are getting your realisation.
Self Realisation
May God bless you all. So many of you have felt it. Some have not felt it, it does not matter. They might have come for the first time also. It does not matter. It will work out.
So now you have felt this cool breeze, which is the all-pervading power. Now only you have to grow. Sahaja Yoga today is a collective happening. It is not individual. So you have to come to the collective, otherwise you will never grow. I have known people who say, "Mother, we are doing all this at home." It doesn’t work out. So you have to come to the collective.
All those who did not get realisation today will also get it. All of you can get realisation. All of you can become masters. I’ll definitely come next year and I want to see all of you grown as big trees of knowledge. Luckily we have very good Sahaja Yogis here who would like to help you very much and guide you. Don’t doubt them. They say, “When you find water in one place, dig the well there.”
But Sahaja Yoga is not in the least a guru shopping. So please respect your self realisation. Have your self esteem. You are all capable of rising very much higher in life; because Sahaja Yoga is not only for your benevolence but for the emancipation of the whole world.
Now if some people want to meet me, I can meet them individually. If some people want to meet me, it is quite late, but those who want to meet me, can meet me. I think I should go down, it would be better.
(Hemlata sings while Sri Mataji works on people who come to meet her)
1 Photos with lights on them in the slide show before Sri Mataji arrived.