The Path of Self-Realization: Insights from Sahaja Yoga and Hindu Scriptures 1999-06-27
27 June 1999
The Path Of Self-realization: Insights From Sahaja Yoga And Hindu Scriptures
Public Program
Hindu Temple Burnaby, Burnaby (Canada)
Talk Language: Hindi | Translation (Hindi to English) - Draft
Talk at the Hindu Temple (Hindi). Vancouver (Canada), 27 June 1999.
Translation from Hindi:
My salutations to the seekers of Truth. We go to the temples to see the God. And we want to achieve him. Not only that, we have several desires in our heart, which we think that god will fulfil. We go to Temples, for several reasons, thinking that the environment of that place will give us peace and satisfaction. It is true that all these things can happen, and that is the reason why temples have been constructed. But there is something beyond this which we should know and get. And the principles of this has been mentioned in our Hindu scriptures. But when we read something, we sometimes don't understand the meaning hidden inside that.
Today, it is good that you have invited me in the temple of Shri Krishna, because Shri Krishna has an important place. When we talk about the awakening of kundalini, Shri Krishna has a very Prominent role in that. Nothing can be accomplished without him. Inside us, his place is situated at the back, below the neck. That is his place. Now, if it is really there or not, whatever I am saying is true or not, you should have a proof for that. You should not believe this just because I am saying so. That is why, when we come to Sahaja Yoga, what happens is that, the devine energy situated inside our triangular bone, which we call as Kundalini and which has been mentioned in all scriptures, it is not as if only I am saying so, when this energy is awakened, it passes through the 6 plexuses (chakras), the seventh chakra is situated below the Kundalini, Which is Ganesha's chakra. So it passes through the 6 chakras and pierces the fontanelle bone or brahmarandra, comes out and unites with the all pervading power of God's love, which is called as Param chaitanya in sanskrit. When this incident takes place, then we get connected to the ultimate energy (param shakti). Before that whatever we do, is to remember the god, remember our religion and to choose the right path. But after doing all these things, what next? Tomorrow, your children will ask you "why are you doing this. What is the use of doing this"?
But, you will know the benefit of this, only when your kundalini awakens, and gets United with the all-pervading of God's love. And this is known as Sahaja because this is very simple. You know the meaning of Sahaja. But there is another meaning of this when it is split. "saha" means "with us" and "Ja" means "born". This is born with you. When our spirit unites with the all pervading power of God's love, that is the true yoga. This yoga is present in each one of us, and it is very simple. Whether you are a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian, whether you are white or Black, this kundalini energy is present inside every one of you. Then how can we say that we are separate?
It is true that our Indian culture is great. There is something very unique about our culture. And because of this culture, we follow a specific norm. But, until we achieve the end of it, we will not get any happiness, we will not get any Joy. And, we will not get anything which we have been promised of.
It was never difficult to awaken the Kundalini. But it has been observed that in olden days, due to some system or tradition, the Awakening of the Kundalini was passed on to a single person. Only one person could achieve that state. I feel, it is possible that people were scared that if anyone got self-realization, they might be tortured by others. You must have heard that in India, where the culture is so strong, every Incarnation, every devotee of God and not only that, also Saints were tortured by people.
It is not known, why they were troubled, I don't understand what was the necessity to trouble them like this. But, something used to happen naturally that the saints could not survive in this world. You must have heard of Gyaneshwar ji. He was tortured so much by people that he attained his samadhi (permanent meditative state) at the age of 23. We troubled him so much that, he took his live samadhi, so young. The reason behind this was, People could never understand the subtle meaning of things, spoken by these saints. That is why, in our country also many such incidents took place, which is very disgraceful. We have tortured saints and seers very much because they were immersed in love. Their trust was unshakable, and on top of that they were always immersed in love, maybe due to this reason, they were not liked by the people. Anyways, whatever the reason was, it should be understood that, we all should achieve that precious thing.
Today, in this Society, Sahaja Yoga is happening in 72 countries, but till now no such Problem has come that you are tortured because you have become a saint. But to become a saint, It is very wrong to give up anything. For example, when the Buddhism came into practice, people started this kind of things. But then, Adi Shankaracharya came in 6th century, and said it is unnecessary to give up anything. He himself was an ascetic, (sanyasi) because he had to work for the society. But he said, to drape yourself in a particular robe, or renunciate the world, which was happening in Buddhism, was wrong. You can achieve this by sitting in your own house and following your own lifestyle. Most of his writings were on Sahaja Yoga. And he said that when you achieve this, when this incident happens inside you, then you will get cool breeze which he described as "salilam, salilam". So like this he told that when the incident of kundalini awakening happens, then the All-pervading Power of God's love or vibrations, start flowing inside us and slowly we feel the cool breeze that is "salilam, salilam".
Adi Shankaracharya, established the Hinduism, that is, he established the Hindu religion again, wrote maximum about Sahaja Yoga but no one bothers about it, or pays attention towards it. And he called vibrations as "spundh", the vibrations which flow from the hands, the same way they flow from the heart. All these things should happen inside us if we acknowledge him. If we acknowledge Hindu religion, then we should acknowledge Shri Shankaracharya also. He was great devotee of Devi, and we all are devotees of the Devi or Goddess. And I think, since no one paid attention towards it, and started talking unnecessary things like because of kundalini awakening, “This problem happens and that problem happens”, and “we face this kind of trouble and that kind of trouble”. This is a total false statement. Nothing like this happens. The God who made you, who made human, himself desired that you attain this kundalini Awakening. And this Kundalini is your own mother, your individual mother, she's your mother and she knows everything about you. You might have made some mistakes, you might be having some ambitions, you may want to become something, you might be having some dreams. To fulfil all these, this Kundalini is anxious to give you a rebirth. When she wants to give you so much, how can she trouble you? When you were born, it was the mother who took all your troubles. Were you troubled in anyway? This kind of wrong notions were spread among the people, and they were deprived and diverted from the reality.
It is true that, I was born in a Christian family and we are the descendants of “Shalivahanas”. For some reason they had become Christians, but my mother and father both were great scholars in Sanskrit. They had done a lot of thinking on this language. There was nothing like leaving the religion for them, because there is a greater religion which we call as self-religion (swa dharma), and which was told by Shivaji Maharaj as "improve your swa dharma". What is 'swa'? 'Swa' is your Spirit. He told to "enhance the religion of your Spirit". The same thing about the 'swa dharma' was mentioned by my mother and father, that improve your "swa dharma". In this, "I am this or I am that" comes to an end, and we become global personalities. We are global. No one has asked us to be in limits. This is what my parents described, in our religion, that we should become global.
They knew what was the purpose of my birth. But, they had told me that, "You don’t talk about it until you are able to give Realization in masses, in large-scale, as there is no use giving Realization to a single person. Only when you achieve this you talk about it otherwise this also will become another "Gita", or another "quran", and it will not get into the people's brain. And everyone will start doing wrong things and go hey-wire". And they had told that if this has to be proved, then first achieve this, and find out the way, by which the Kundalini awakening should happen in, not one person but several thousand people at a time. And in my 47 years, I have been doing research as to why Human cannot achieve this, where is the drawback in a human? What is the problem in every person?
My father was a patriotic person. And he had connections with many people. He was member of Parliament, and he was the member of constitutional assembly. And because I was with him I came into contact with many people, and since I was a social person I used to see many people and I used to think what is the drawback in these people? Why their kundalini cannot be awakened? After that, my husband also was in kind of a job where I came in contact with lots of social gathering. In that kind of life I tried to find out what is the defect in a human being which is prohibiting him from achieving the self-realization? Later when I discovered that, by this kind of a gathering this can be achieved, then I started my work in the year 1970. In 1970, there was only one lady, who became my disciple. She was very old and she is no more but after that there were 12 disciples and after that it started increasing and today you can see that Sahaja Yoga is happening in 72 countries.
It is not surprising that it has spread so well in India, because this is our heritage, and we have achieved it right from the beginning. In India several lakhs of people have achieved it before so I dont consider it great, but the amazing thing is in Russia, where people have not heard about God, who have never been to temples, who do not know the meaning of God, have achieved this realization in several numbers. How did this happen? I think it is because of the reason that due to the communism in Russia, people were supressed to a great extent. They were supressed to an extent that they lost their freedom completely. Because of which, they started seeking the truth within themselves.
When I read their books, for example, books written by Tolstoy, I find that it is their nature to search their minds within themselves. And in a country like that, Sahaja Yoga has spread to a great extent. It had spread so well that we did not know how to handle so many people. We did not have any Russian with us. So we trained a Russian person, and taught him about Sahaja Yoga, so that he could translate, and after that we started getting letters after letters, enquiring about how to progress in Sahaja Yoga. Now, in this country you have freedom of all sort. The meaning of freedom is to know the mechanism of “thy self”, (swa ka tantra). That is, to know the mechanism of the spirit, is the true freedom. Without that what is freedom?
( Come to the front. come. Can you move a little bit? Can you hear my voice? has everyone come? done? Now my voice will reach out? All of you can come inside. what is there?)
Sahaja yogis can go out. Let them come inside. You have heard me so many times. Please.
You should not have called sahaja yogis. These people keep listening to me all the time.
On top of that what are they going to understand in Hindi?
[Mother talking in marathi and english]
(If you call the sahaja yogis, this whole hall will be full.)
So, I was talking to you about "swa dharma". Swa means "you, your Self". But you don't know what you are? You know your exterior. But, You do not know yourself from inside. That is why your Spirit should be awakened. Your Spirit should come to your attention. You will know your Self only when that happens. When you don't know your Self then, how do you say "I do this, I do that". Who is this I? You should know first who is this "I". And when you realize who this "I" is, then it is so astonishing to find that, like a drop in the ocean, we also vanish in the ocean of love. And that ocean, that All-pervading Power of love gives us everything. All our ambitions are fulfilled, and all our questions are answered. Only these vibrations have the power to do this. We do not have the power to do this, we can only become mad trying to find a solution. Everything becomes all right by these vibrations.
For example, during the time of Shri Krishna, whatever he spoke in "Gita", to understand that also, you need to awaken your Spirit, according to me. First of all, Shri Krishna said, with devotion whatever you offer me, like flowers, fruits or water, I will accept it. And see, how he was playing with words. He knew that human beings are stupid and they can be fooled with words. He never used to speak simple words like me. He used to twist the words and talk. Then he said, by offering things what will you get? You will get the fruit, only when you offer with "ananya [unique] bhakti".
He played his trick on that word "ananya". A common man cannot understand the meaning of "ananya". Ananya is something, where there is no other. Ananya means, when your complete union with the God is established. In that unity only, you will get the fruit of your devotion. Otherwise, you are singing, and shouting, but there is no one to hear because your connection with the God is not established. So, without this union or the connection with the God, "ananya bhakti" cannot happen. Another game he played on is "karmanye vadhikaraste", meaning "you keep doing the deed, and dont expect any result". "keep doing the deed, keep doing the deed" and after a certain point you will feel that "I am going on doing deeds, and I am not able to understand what is happening"?
And then, when you will get defeated, you will start thinking. Then the thought will come that, “I have been doing the deed without expecting the result". Now, to think that, "I am not expecting the result" itself is wrong. We just deceive ourself by saying that we are not expecting the result. What ever deed we do, we are not worried about the result. This is Shri Krishna's understanding that a human being cannot understand anything which is straightforward. He has to be told everything in a roundabout meaning. Yes, you are not expecting the result, but do your deed. A human being can never do anything like this. Because, whenever he does a deed he will expect the result for that. Is there any human being who does not want the fruit for his deeds? After being in this kind of a maze, human being will understand that, "I am expecting the fruits for my deeds, then what exactly did Krishna say"? So, it means that you have to reach a stage, or achieve a state, where you will do the deed but will not expect anything in return. That stage should come.
So, very clearly Shri Krishna, in his own words, made us understand the meaning of "devotional path" (bhakti marg) and the path of deeds (karma marg). But we can understand this only when we will be able to read between the lines of what Shri Krishna is trying to say. This way, after making everyone dance to his tunes, which he always used to do, he told in the beginning itself. He told that, you have to reach the next stage from where you are now, after reaching that stage, you don't feel happiness or sorrow or anything, but he did not tell how to reach that stage. Maybe that was not the time to mention this or maybe people wouldn't have understood this at that time.
But, Gyaneshwara ji, in Gyaneshwari, in his sixth chapter, very clearly mentioned that, to reach this kind of a stage, awakening of Kundalini is a must. And only after the awakening of Kundalini, one can reach the stage, which Shri Krishna mentioned as "sthita pragnya".This “sthita pragnya" state cannot be achieved by any other means. You may experience it for a fraction of second, but otherwise it is not possible to be in that state. For saying this, he was tortured so much, that his only thought was to run away from this mad people, and he attained "samadhi"(deep meditative state). He wrote "Gyaneshwari" at the age of 23, just imagine how intelligent he must have been to do so. As if, Shri Saraswati was evidently present in him. That Gyaneshwara Ji, took permission from his guru, who was his own brother, that, "At least let me mention about the Kundalini in my book". Because in those days, it was like you could impart this knowledge of Kundalini to only one person choosing from the thousand others. So he said, "Let me at least write about it". And that has been of advantage because when I talk about kundalini today, people are not asking how did this kundalini come in Hindu religion? Now, Shri Krishna confused people regarding this, so whose support could I take?
So when I told them that "in the sixth chapter of "Gyaneshwari" it has been mentioned that only awakening of kundalini can do this job, please read that", then people were astonished that it was really mentioned. Because of that, people of Maharashtra could easily accept this.
Kabir Das ji, in his verses has mentioned mainly about kundalini. You will be surprised that he has very clearly witten that "shoonya shikhar par anahad baaje". Anahad means "pulsation". "Shoonya shikhar" means fontanel bone. Meaning our fontanel area pulsates when kundalini awakens. He wrote this very clearly. But, I think no one understands Kabir. "Ida, (moon channel), Pingala (sun channel), sukhamana nadi re (central channel). He described about the 3 Channels very beautifully. When he said this, through his poem he tried to explain something. For example, he said “saiyan nikas gaye, mai na ladi thi". So for this, our Lucknow people think that saiyan means "Lover'. In Lucknow people are philanderers. They said"mother this sentence means "my beloved has left me". I said "you could see this meaning in the poem? How can kabir Ji have this kind of knowledge about lover"?
Actually, Kabir Ji meant "my whole life went by, but I did not fight". "when my death came then, I did not fight it". He has written so much about death. Further, he writes I covered myself with a blanket and was lying down on the bed (chadhara odhke, palanga padi thi). So clearly Kabir ji has written, but people don't understand this and think he wrote about some beloved. When the first word goes wrong, then the whole meaning becomes wrong.
He twisted the meanings when he wrote his poems because he knew that people would say that nobody is going to read the poems if it is about death. These poets understood human beings very much, that is why they twirled the meaning, and no one said it straight. Because if they had been straightforward, people would have turned their back on them.
But I am a mother, and no one turns his back on a mother. And when there is a shower of love, then no one mistakes. What ever I say is for your good and well-being. This way, Shri Krishna has done a lot of favour to me. Unlike a clever businessman, who would sell his cheapest stuff first, and then go to the better stuff, Shri Krishna, as he was not a businessman, in his first chapter itself [second chapter] told that you should become "unshakable in mental judgement" [sthita pragna]. Become philosophical. But how to become that? The analysis done by him on this also is very funny.
So, I also thought it is better to tell people the simplest thing in a straightforward manner. And once you give them Self-awakening, then what else do they need? After that that is no more questions. Yesterday, there were many people there. Among them, particularly Indians were asking me plenty of questions. Maybe they were educated, and they might have known something regarding this subject, so Indian were questioning me a lot. These local people were simply listening to me, as to what mother is saying. After they asked questions, and everything was over, I told them now people have started going, so stop asking me questions, and only after that question session was over, and then the Self-realization program took place. So this is not a matter of question and answer, it is about attaining the Self-realization.
You have come to a temple, and they have decorated it so well but have you attained the unshakable mental equilibrium (sthitaprajna)? No, you have not. You have to understand that it is not the fault of the Temple, but it is your defect. Until now you have not tried to achieve this, maybe no one tried to give you this knowledge, it simply did not happen or no one talked about it. You just see what happens, after you achieve it.
Here, many Indians have come, and many of our Sahaja Yogis also are Indians. Their life has changed completely. In every way, and in every aspect they have become al-right. Same way, you all should achieve it. Each and every one of you have the right to achieve this. This is not meant for a single person, God has made this kundalini for this whole world, and everyone has a right to achieve this awakening of the Kundalini.
As you can see here, when this Kundalini, passes through 6 chakras, it nourishes each and every chakra. It nourishes and unites them in a single thread. And then all the dispute inside us comes to an end. And after that all the disputes outside also vanishes. For example, you may feel good to know that, the green coloured chakra, in the middle, is called as Nabhi chakra.
Who recides in Nabhi chakra? Lakshmi Narayan. Lakshmi Narayan resides there. If lakshmi Narayan is awakened, then Lakshmi starts reciding there. There is a lot of difference between meaning of Laksmi and money.
Money means, supposing you have money, and for example, after a lot of dispute and hard work you buy a car. The car came in the house, but contentment did not come, satisfaction did not come. Now, you want to construct the house. And supposing you constructed a house, with Lots of difficulties, that also did not give you any satisfaction. The whole economics of today is based on one principle that "humen are not satiable". He keeps running after matter. Today he wants something, tomorrow he wants another thing and so on. And after that also whatever he buys with so much difficulty, does not give him happiness or contentment. What is this? When you have struggled so much to get something, at least sit for a moment, and get satisfaction out of that. But you dont get that.
Now, there is another thing, where you can get satisfaction. That is the "lakshmi principle". When our lakshmi principle is awakened, all our worldly problems, come to an end. We get rid of them in an astonishing Manner. You won't understand how this happened. All the problem get solved. When lakshmi Ji has come to reside with you, what more do you want? And after that a person becomes completely satisfied also. And, the form of Lakshmi Ji also is so beautiful that She has two lotuses in her both hands, and she herself is standing on a lotus. She is so weightless. She doesn't have to show off her splendor to anyone. She is magnificently standing in her own grandeur.
In her both hands she has two lotuses, that too of the pink colour, which represents love. Meaning, she is filled with love, and this Lakshmi ji blesses you with the boon that, your home should be like a lotus. And now what is the importance of a Lotus? As you can see, lotus is a very beautiful flower. And, whatever type of insects, however thorny they may be, have a place inside the lotus. They can peacefully rest inside the lotus. At night, the lotus closes it's petals so that the insects reciding inside it, can sleep without disturbance . That is how your home should be. It should be beautiful, nicely decorated, and whoever comes to your house should peacefully rest. In our Hindu religion, it is a great practice that, we like to serve our guests. We consider guests as Gods. This quality comes inside us as soon as lakshmi principle is awakened within us, and automatically we are blessed.
I am telling you the absolute truth. This was about Lotus, and her third hand is raised in a way as if she is trying to bless us. This blessing means, whatever you have achieved, you should share it with others. And you take care of everyone who is dependent on you, like your servants and relatives, and bless them with your generosity.
Her fourth hand is spread in a way, that it says you should be very generous. You should definitely donate things. Now it is understood, that we should donate carefully. We should be generous and we should not spend the whole money on ourselves, which is not the blessing of lakshmi Ji. But when the blessings of lakshmi Ji starts flowing inside you, you automatically become generous. And your heart becomes satisfied just with the thought that you are donating to others. Your attention diverts from yourself to others and it is so Joy giving that you whole heart overcomes with joy and happiness.
Now this foreigners have come here, who do not know my language but for them whatever I say is like a mantra, whatever mother says is a mantra for them, and they will sit for hours together, listning to me. Like this, it is happening in 72 countries. And Indians in India also are superb. In Calcutta, it is so good that we hire a stadium for public programs.
But I don't know what happens to the Indians who come out of India, something wrong with them. But, I hope you all Will achieve self realization, and because of you others also will attain the realization. The biggest thing is to attain self realization, and to know yourself. Until and unless you have known yourself, whatever knowledge you possess is all a waste. And after knowing yourself, you will start floating in the ocean of love. The one, who has learnt the only meaning of love, does not have to learn anything else. Only, this incident has to happen with you and it will happen also.
Now, again i'm inviting you to ask questions. If anyone wants to ask anything please do so quickly because I have very less time and I have to go to the ashram, so you can ask whatever you want.
Sahaji brother-- if anyone wants to ask any particular question please do so but please don't ask silly questions. You can ask questions related to this subject. Please stand and ask question. You can either ask or write a letter in Hindi or English.
Shri Mataji-- you all wanted me to talk in Hindi so I thought let me talk in Hindi.
Audience—It is okay in Hindi. Give us self-awakening, because that is what we want.
Shri Mataji-- okay. Then you take self realization. If you are shri krishna's devotees,
Then it is very easy for you to achieve this self realization. Now spread both your hands towards me.
[END]