GURU AND
MOTHER
MOTHER AND
Mother
told us many times how difficult it was to be a Mother ánd a Guru at the same time. She hád to be a Mother, because Adi Shakti is the Mother-aspect of Shri Sadashiva, but because of the weaknesses of the human beings She also couldn’t be other than a Guru, who attributed Herself the task to take away the stunning ignorance of those who wanted to be Her disciples, whom, as a Mother, She called Her children.
“You see, there’s a Sanskrit scholar here, but the greatest Guru is the Mother, don’t you think so? The Mother is the Guru of the
gurus. But it’s very difficult, because guru is a hard stuff, you see. A mother has to be very soft, kind, gentle to manage the show, but the guru can be very hard and they are very hard people, but Mother as a guru is a
difficult task, it’s very enjoyable.”
Public Program, Hammersmith Town Hall, London, 28.11.1985
“So, I have to make now a very, very request, as a Mother, to all of you, that you have to be worthy [as] My children. Say now, I’m going to seventy-eight and still I am working very hard. Since I’ve come to Los Angeles, I’ve been sick. What is the reason? I am never sick. I felt very weak. I couldn’t walk. Why? Well, what has happened? Because you
people are weak. You are My children. You are part and parcel of My body. You are not only that, but you’re cells of My body. If you are weak, I’ll become weak.”
Los Angeles Ashram Talk, USA, 03.12.2000
1. What the term “guru”means
गगशब्दस्त्वन्धककारर स्यकातत रशब्दस्तनन्निररोधकर।
अन्धककारननिररोनधत्वकातत गगरनरत्यनभिधधीयतते॥ १६॥
The syllable gu means darkness, the syllable ru, he who dispels it, because of the power to dispel darkness, the guru is thus named.
Advayataraka Upanishad, Verse 16
to someone who primarily is one's spiritual guide, who helps one to discover the same potentialities that the gurus already realized.
The oldest references to the concept of guru are found in the earliest Vedic texts of Hinduism. The guru, and gurukul – a school run by guru, were an established tradition in India by the 1st millennium BCE, and these helped compose and transmit the various Vedas, the Upanishads, texts of various schools of Hindu philosophy, and post-Vedic Shastras ranging from spiritual knowledge to various arts. By about mid 1st millennium CE, archaeological and epigraphical evidence suggest numerous larger institutions of gurus existed in India, some near Hindu temples, where guru-shishya tradition helped preserve, create and transmit various fields of knowledge. These gurus led broad ranges of studies including Hindu scriptures, Buddhist texts, grammar, philosophy, martial arts, music and painting. (…) Guru is not just a person but it is considered as the divine guiding energy which helps humanity to realize its true nature. This energy works through an able person who is pure enough to hold it. This is the reason in Hinduism Guru is considered as God himself.” [Note: They have realized God – the Divine Principle - in themselves.]
Wikipedia
यस्यदतेवते परका भिनकतर यथका दतेवते तथका गगरर ।
तस्ययैततेकनथतका ह्यथकारर पतरककाशन्तते महकात्मनिर ॥२३ ॥
He who has highest Bhakti (love, devotion) of Deva (god), just like his Deva, so for his Guru, to him who is high-minded, these teachings will be illuminating.
Adi Shakaracharya with disciples
“The teacher is one who is endowed with the power of furnishing arguments pro and con, of understanding questions [of the student], and remembers them. The teacher possesses tranquility, self-control, compassion and a desire to help
others, who is versed in the Śruti texts (Vedas, Upanishads), and unattached to
pleasures here and hereafter, knows the subject and is established in that knowledge. He is never a transgressor of the rules of conduct, devoid of weaknesses such as ostentation, pride, deceit, cunning, jugglery, jealousy, falsehood, egotism and attachment. The teacher's sole aim is to help others and a desire to impart the knowledge.”
Adi Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri 1.6
1. Former gurus – The Guru in Sahaja Yoga
“So, the difference between the ancient
themselves, nicely sitting down somewhere in the Himalayas, away from all the madding crowd, and enjoying themselves! But you
must share this enjoyment. I think that is the sign of a good guru. The one who cannot
share, only looks after his own pleasures, or looks after his own ashram, we can call it, or looks after his own family, looks after maybe some disciples he has - attention has to be for the whole world!
In Sahaja Yoga, now, it has reached such a stage that you have to worry about the
complete humanity. It's not only you, or a few Sahaja yogis, or many more Sahaja yogis, but all over the world; whatever is the problem, you people have to solve it. But first get out of your own little, little problems.
(…)
Formerly guru meant a person who is standing with a big stick. He used to hit
everyone. Anybody did anything wrong - they used to hit and beat them. We had gurus in music also, and different, different types of gurus we had in our country. And their
oppress the disciple, control, and then teach the knowledge of music, maybe; maybe
wrestling, maybe anything. But in Sahaja Yoga it's very different. Even the spiritual gurus who were real were like that. Very harsh. They used to throw stones at such people. All kinds of things they used to do - but then they didn't mean anything bad (by it), but the method I didn’t like.”
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, 08.07.2001
“So, the main difference between the old
style of guru and the modern style of guru is this - that the old gurus used to [say]: you must suffer. "All right, you have to be
arrested ,is very good. If they give you
poison, take the poison. If they want to slap you, take slaps. Whatever they want to do, you should accept because [it] is your
suffering." Not in Sahaj Yog because your Mother is sitting here. How dare anybody
touch you. No one can harm you. You have to believe Me when I say that. No one can harm you, but you must have that faith within
- Adi Shakti, the one who has all the powers of the world. So, who can harm you? Who can torture you? Who can trouble you except for yourself? If you want to torture yourself,
nobody can harm you.”
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, 04.07.1993
“AND YOUR GURU IS
Navaratri Evening Talk, Cabella, Italy, 04.10.1A
1.
Mother and Guru – Guru and Mother
seldom - I think very seldom I really get angry with people. But you have to tell them.”
Talk at Picnic, Cove Lane River Park, Australia, 05.04.1994
The gurus of former times were almost only interested in their own spiritual ascent and didn’t care about other people, except for one or at the most a few disciples. The “world” or “humanity” was not their business; they escaped from the world to live in a quiet isolated place, for instance in a cave in the Himalayas. We could maybe call them: ego oriented spiritual seekers.
“So, if it has happened, just take it up: "All right. Doesn't matter. Mother forgives
everyone. It has happened, has happened. This is a lesson for me. It was something
because of it happened and, now, I'm back." And then you become sometimes a better Sahaja yogi than many of others.”
Mahamaya Puja, Auckland, New Zealand, 10.11.1994
“You may again say that: “We don’t
understand Mother’s style. She’s full of tricks.” – Correct. I am. But there’s a very simple way of doing it. You can surrender to My wisdom and the wisdom itself that is in you is active. It will work. This point also you should understand. Wisdom within you is active.”
Diwali Puja, Cabella, Italy, 10.11.1991
The guru must have control over the tongue
"...The guru must have control over the
tongue. He must know when to get angry and when to be gentle. He must know what to say when, how much to say. That’s why many
gurus have been more effective by not speaking. Silence is the best way you can help others, but when it comes to explaining Sahaja Yoga, you should speak. But I have seen with some people - they are very
eloquent when it comes to nonsensical things, but when it comes to Sahaja Yoga,
but in your behavior, in everything. And the karamat is the … I don’t know if you use
charismatic-word, charismatic they call it, or you say, the
one [who knows] how to do it, how to raise the Kundalini, how to put it at the Sahasrara, how to break the Sahasrara, all these things you must know, how to spend your
knowledge is viniyoga in Sanskrit."
Guru Puja, Lodge Hill, UK, 24.07.1983
“To worship your Guru in person is regarded as the highest blessing. But in My case it is a very different combination that I am your
Mother and your Guru. So, you can
understand how Shri Ganesha worshipped his Mother. You all are created in the same image of Shri Ganesha who worshipped his Mother and then he became the Adi Guru, the first Guru. He is the primordial essence of
prophets and develop that motherhood within yourself; then you can make others also prophets. Now to become a guru, what do we have to do after our realization? Guru- word means gravity. Gravity means a person who is grave, who is deep, who is magnetic. Now,you have learnt in Sahaja Yoga that
realization takes place in complete
effortlessness. So, normally a guru tries to make his disciples effortless, which is called as Prayatna Shaithilya, means ''relax your efforts...".
(…)
That is not the attitude of a guru. What a
guru does, is to purify himself and others and give those flowers to the deity. Until you all become gurus, I am your Guru. But once you become a guru, then I become your Deity.
(…)
So, in the third stage, the effort should be to follow your Guru who is a Sat Guru.
(…)
Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru
Devo-Mahéshwara, they go up to that point, but nobody says ‘Guru Devi’. You can have a
higher stage than Brahma, Vishnu, Mahésha, because the Guru stage is where you have the innocence of all these, Brahma, Mahésha and Vishnu, their power of innocence. But then ultimately it says: GURU SAKSHAT
PARABRAHMA. And Parabrahma is the power of the Mother. That is flowing through you. So, you become the instrument of that
Parabrahma. But how ? Not only by becoming yourself, but now becoming the reflector of your Deity, to develop yourself into the
reflector from Guru to that stage. At that stage you start controlling all the elements. That is why all these incarnations of Adi Guru had control over elements. Brahmadeva is absolutely manifested through them. So, out of Ganesha who is the Adi Guru, he is born, or he is manifested through these three:
Brahma, Vishnu, Mahésha. And then he
comes out as Brahmadeva with four heads, three of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahésha, and the fourth of Shri Ganesha. So Brahmadeva
the time, he becomes these four. In
expression. In manifestation. And as you become Brahmadeva at that stage, you control all the elements.
(…)
Today I bless you. I have completed the
twelve years of Guru, and you should really assume the Shiva powers within yourself. I, that is my body, my mind, my heart,
everything, has spared no efforts to
completely indulge into this cleansing, into this making, into this becoming of you all. I request you now that: please do not waste My efforts. Look at yourself, help yourself and try to rise higher and higher, become your Self. When you become your Self, then you become the guru. And once you become the guru, you become Brahmadeva, Mahesha and Vishnu. So first you are made in the pattern of Ganesha, then Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. But very much depends on your readiness to do it and most of all on your honesty and
Sadashiva will give you the joy so that you will proceed in your establishment.
May God bless you all !”
Guru Puja, Leysin, Switzerland, 14.07.1984
“Yogi: He’s asking about any dangers of Kundalini meditation.
Shri Mataji: No, no, no, no, no. Not at all. Not at all. She’s your mother. She’s your
individual mother, who gives you your second birth. She knows everything about you. She has recorded everything and She does it very gently. See, when you were born, your
mother took all the pains upon herself, isn’t it? And in the same way, this Kundalini does the job. But people are frightened because perhaps maybe they don’t want … it’s an evil force, I think, those who are frightened
against Kundalini because they don’t know how to do it, or maybe they don’t want
people to achieve their realization. I can’t understand.”
Our Guru, who is a Sat-Guru, will always protect us.
“How can you be worried when your Mother is
sakshat Mahakali. She can kill all the demons, She can finish all of them. She knows how to manage things and when you are like a child before Her, how can you worry about it! So, your worries are finished. She worries about you, you shouldn't worry about yourself.
That's the point in it. Her security is so great, She is so secure Herself that She gives you all the security that you need. You can hold on to Her feet, you can hold on to Her image or to anything, you can even pray to Her.”
Navaratri Puja, Cabella, Italy, 17.10.1999
How to become one’s own master?
“Now, put your right hand in the upper part of your abdomen. Close your eyes. Now, here on the left hand side, press it. Now, here
generosity in my behavior. Let there be
compassion, love for other Sahaja yogis. Let me not show off, but have a deep, deep
knowledge about God's love and His doings. So that when people come to me, I should be able to tell them about Sahaja Yoga and give them this great knowledge with humility and love.”
Introspection, Shudy Camps, UK, 18.06.1988
“So, the left side starts and ends with Shri Ganesha. Shri Ganesha has only basic one quality - that He is completely surrendered to His Mother. He does not know any other God. He does not even know His father. He only knows His Mother and [is] completely
surrender [ed] to Her. But this pure desire has to have action and about which I will tell you later as we will be having more Pujas and more Pujas. But today let us establish
Shankaracharya wrote “Vivek Chudamani” and so many other books and treatises, and then all these big intellectuals got after his life and they said: ‘Have this and have that and have it.’ He said:”Forget these people.” Then he wrote “Saundarya Lahari” - just the description of his Mother and his devotion to Her. And every couplet that he wrote, is a
mantra. It is not the surrender of your mind through your mind, but the surrender of your heart. It is absolutely the surrender of your heart. Western Sahaja yogis know very well how there have been attacks and attacks of negativity on them, specially when the
all of us to go down to that low level of human beings, which exist as pathological cases, I don’t know. So, it is important for you to understand all attacks that came on you and be alert and don’t be identified with anyone of them.”
Mahakali Puja, Lonawala, India, 19.12.1982
“It´s rather embarrassing for Me to tell you how you have to behave towards your Guru. I think people have told you. But naturally,
spontaneously, as soon as you get your realization and grow in it - naturally you develop a very humble attitude. Also an attitude through which you achieve lots of qualities of your Guru. Now, supposing the Guru is at a particular height, and if you try to go on to the same height, nothing will
move towards you. So, you must sit at a place which is much lower than the Guru´s. Some people take too much advantage of My good nature, I should say. And so many people
sometimes it doesn´t work out and they start talking in the same manner as if they are
talking to your friend, or to your equal. First is complete humility. You have to be a humble person, extremely humble. Now you check on that: When you talk to others, are you
humble? When you think of others, are you humble? When you look after your wife and children, are you humble? That´s a very
important thing for every person who thinks he is a guru. Humility is the first quality, or I should say, the ocean into which you must jump. Some people think that: “If you are humble, Mother, then people will take
advantage of you.” Nobody can take advantage of you because you have to remember another point, that you are protected all the time, looked after by Paramchaitanya.”
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, 20.07.1997
“It's such a pleasure for Me to be your
but nobody could achieve it, to communicate that beauty. As you know Sahaja Yoga or this "Mahayoga" is a very unique system which never existed before. It has come into
existence, of course, I should say that,
because the 'Para Brahma' decided to take a form, but you also all decided to come on this earth to receive the bliss.”
Birthday Puja, Chelsham Road, London, UK, 21.03.1982
“Now, to believe in a Mother, Adi Shakti, was impossible. Especially, you´ll be amazed that Christian religion, somehow or another
avoided the mentioning of the mother. Then the Islam, that also avoided the mentioning of the mother. This complete negation
towards the mother. But only Indian
philosophy had the mother and the Indians are actually Shakti worshippers. So, this is how it was kept up and brought to this
means: things that are created of the mother earth. For example, you know in Maharastra we have got Mahakali´s place,
Mahasaraswati, Mahalakshmi and also we have got a place for the Adi Shakti. Some people who have been to Nasik must have seen Saptashringi. How many people have been to Saptashringi out of you? It´s good. So this Saptashringi represents the Adi Shakti. Adi Shakti which is the fourth dimension of this power which gives you the ascent and ultimately through Mahalakshmi channel only you get your realization.”
Adi Shakti Puja, Cabella, Italy, 21.06.1998
“They are my children, as a Mother, not as a Guru. For a Guru they don’t have problem. And then the stirring up comes in, within Myself that: “No, even if I have to give up, doesn’t matter, I have to raise, absolutely“. And with that power it works. So the
reflection should be of Me, of something that is ideal before you; the one that gives you energy - like this song, - and not the
reflection of a miserable person. Christ
and not some miserable skeleton, which is even worse than you. So, create those images of your Mother which you should see in your emotions, and rise. This is the second type of attention you have to control.”
Assume your Position Seminar, Lodge Hill, London, UK, 23.07.1983
“Today we are here to know about guru principle. What does a guru do? Whatever you have, all the precious things within you, he discovers them for your knowledge.
Actually it is all there. Everything. All the knowledge, all the spirituality, all the joy, is there – (little laughter as a dog walks on stage) right time (more laughter). It is all contained within you. Only thing the guru does [is that he] makes you knowledgeable about your knowledge, about your own spirit. Everyone has the Spirit within himself.
That it starts, that awakening within you by which you know that you are not this outside world - this is all an illusion. And you start getting enlightened within yourself. Some people get the full light and some people get it gradually.
(…)
All this knowledge comes to you,
spontaneously it is within you, because it is all your own. Also if your guru tells you, you are guided. Guru’s job is to guide people.”
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, ??
“Your Guru is a Mother first and then a Guru; And that has given Me a greater help. We
have had before also many Guru Pujas, mostly in England, and you should wonder why Mother always somehow is doing Guru Puja in London.
The time falls in such a way that it is in Guru Puja, I'm here. During that time, I have to be in London. So many years you have been
there must be some reason why Mother is here, in England for a Guru Puja. It is stated in the Puranas that the Adi Guru Dattatréya worshipped Mother along the banks of the River Tamasa. Tamasa is the same as your Thames. And He himself came and
worshipped here. And the Druids, those who had the manifestation of the Stonehenge and all that, are originated from that time, in this great country of Shiva, or the Spirit.
So the Spirit resides here, as in the heart of human beings, and the Sahasrara is in the Himalayas, where Sadashiva exists at the Kailasha. This is the great secret of we having so many Guru Pujas here. To
culminate it today into this special type of Guru Puja, in the year of the 60th Birthday of your Mother, which has a special, very very special significance, because is the Guru Sashthi, is the sixty years of your Guru has been celebrated today; and that's how it's a very big occasion that you all have gathered under the influence of again Ritambhara
Pragnya.”
“QUESTION: Who is your guru? [???] ...I believe
that everyone has a guru, when they do start in a particular step. Did you have a guru who you admired or did you just…?
SHRI MATAJI: I was born like that.”
Press Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 27.06.1999
“But the most indiscrete thing about Nabhi is that you don't listen to your Guru. Hundred times you tell something to Sahaja yogis, but still they will not listen to Me. Still, they will do as the fashion tells them or the norms that they have. Listening to your Guru, as they say, as if is to obey the God Almighty.
Whatever is said, is to be accepted as a great blessing, as a great correction and is to be followed, not to be just left out as it is. As you know, your Mother is your Guru and She is your Mother. Also She's Mahamaya. Also She's Adi Shakti. And She's so gentle and
Guru, then only you'll mature, otherwise
there is no way out. I'm sorry to say. I do not like anybody surrendering to Me, or touching My Feet, or falling at Me. I don't understand that. I mean, I'm not conscious of it, not
aware of it, makes no difference to Me. Even when you sing My "Jai," I think you are
singing some Mataji Nirmala Devi's “Jai”, in a third person, and sometimes I'm afraid I
might say "Jai" with you. When you're singing Swagatam, I always think there's some Mataji Nirmala Devi's Swagat song they're singing, somebody else. But for your goodness, for your ascent for which you have come here - you have not come here just to waste your time, but to ascend, and for that, it is
important that whatever I am saying, you have to obey implicitly. But I never say
anything which will be uncomfortable for you. I never say: “You don't take your food or
So, the discretion is that guru is Parabrahma - any Sat Guru. But what about the
Parabrahma itself, which is your Guru? I do not say things as hearty as the gurus used to do it. I mean, if you read about them, you'll be shocked. But, whatever I say, every
word ,you must note, is for your benevolence and for the benevolence of the whole world. And, by not obeying that, you are not only spoiling your own chances, but the chances of the whole world. So, you understand how important it is if you are the disciple, if you are blessed by your Guru. All these things are written about them, but I say not only that you are My disciples, but you have got your realization. You are Sahaja yogis. You got all the powers. You know each and everything. You are so special people.
that: "What sort of a Guru You are? When my guru was teaching me tabla, he used to break the tampura on my head and even [if] one percussion I would make wrong, he would bring his hammer and :now I'm going to
break your nails." I said: "There's no need to do all this, not necessary in Sahaj Yog
because they are self-disciplined." So there has to be this self-disciplination, as you can so call it, on the Hamsa Chakra, which is the one, which knows what is right, what is
wrong, through which we work it out. Whatever is the right, that's all we do.
Otherwise, we don't do whatever is wrong.
(…)
Only painful part is that, as a Guru, I have to tell that this is not good, that is not good. That's the only painful thing. I wish I could have avoided it somehow, but it's not
possible. Because from the darkness to the sunlight you have to come out and you're holding My hand, so I have to tell you
that:”Be careful! It's a very, very small road and both the sides you can fall off into Ida and Pingala.”
“It is a common practice, specially in India, that you must worship your guru. And the guru has to fully be in control of his disciples. Guru principle is extremely strict and the
strictness made many people could not confirm to the ideas of a disciple. In those days, the guru had to be absolutely the authority and it was the guru who would
decide which disciples he'll have and one had to go into great tapasya, to great renounces to even become a disciple. And this hardship was the only way the guru used to judge.
Gurus would always live in jungles and they would select their disciples, very few, very, very few, and they had to go and beg food from the neighbouring villages and cook food for their guru with their own hands and feed them. That sort of guru business is not in Sahaja Yoga - that basically we must
was something really special that they are being selected, chosen,and that whatever they will have to go through is all welcome. With this idea, they became the disciple.
But Sahaja Yoga is a very different thing. I would say, just the opposite. First of all, your Guru is a Mother and who suffers from
Sandra Karuna. At the slightest things that happen to you, My eyes get filled with tears.
So, as a Mother, to be a Guru is a very
difficult thing. But, at the same time, for you to achieve heights is also difficult because you get lost when I love you so much and, in that love, you forget sometimes that the
progress in your being is very slow. It is
important that in Sahaja Yoga you have to be strict with yourself. That's why I said that you have to be your own guru, which people do not understand what it is. "You have to be your own guru" means you have to guide yourself. You have to treat yourself as your disciple. And you have to trim yourself. If you do not understand the responsibility as
everything, you cannot move very fast
because it is a different type of relationship between the guru and the disciples.
So, first I always said: You become your own guru. So you have to make a lot of
introspection and fix your ideas. Before you, I am sitting. You have seen Me, how I am. I can eat anything. I need not eat at all for days together. I can sleep anywhere. I may not sleep at all. I travel for miles together,
untiringly. I have this energy because I am a Guru of myself also.
(…)
Today on Guru Puja, you are worshipping your Guru. At the same time, I bow to your guru within yourself. Let your guru come out and show itself, specially the kind of a guru you have. I am not strict with you. I'm very
gentle. Because, as I told you, fundamentally is a different thing, is that it is not for an
individual, but it is for the collective.
(…)
useless and I have to prepare Myself to say things, you know. If there's problem between two people and then if there's some gap of time where I have to say to them then I start: "Aah. How to become strict?" I tell Myself. "How?" Spontaneously, if something comes in.,I say: "Why are you doing like this?" At the most, spontaneous.”
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, 28.07.1991
“Last time you had asked Me for Gurupada and you should know that the essence of
Guru is Sri Ganesha, the innocence. You must be knowing the story of a very devoted wife, faithful wife of a Sati; her name was Anasuya, and she was so religious and so dedicated that they say that the wives of all the Gods - Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesha, got very jealous of her. So they told her husband that: "You must go and test her, if she is really a woman with chastity or not." So all of them came down as sadhus, dressed up like sanyasis. And she
said she wanted to serve them, give them something. They said: "No. We want to have food." She said: "All right, come and sit
said: "No, we will not have the food unless and until you take out all your clothes. We will only have the food if you take out all your clothes." She said: "Is it so?" They said “yes”. So she made them into little, little children, three little children - and then she became nude. Because innocence doesn't understand anything about. And then she joined them together, their three innocence was joined together and they got their gurupada. That's how the Adi Guru was created.”
Ganesha Puja, Cabella, Italy, 30.08.1992
“But guru you should only have when you are seeking God. Otherwise you should not have any guru. What is the need? You are alright a human being, but if you want to become
Atma Sakshat, then you have to have some guru. Now, see, I am their Guru,
naturally I have given them realization. They have themselves become gurus now, they can give realization too. But I am their Mother; this is a very difficult situation: Mother
Guru Puja Evening Talk, Nirmala Palace – Nightingale Lane Ashram, London,
UK, 04.07.1982
them the Kingdom of Heaven, the joy, the bliss, that your Father wants to bestow upon you. These words are to be kept within the bounds of Sahaja yogis only, for the time
being. And today is the day of Guru Puja, not My Puja, but your Puja as gurus.”
Guru Puja, Dollis Hill Ashram, London, UK, 02.12.1979
“Shri Mataji: No question? Yogi: Yes, one question, Mother. Are you
a guru or do you have a guru?
Shri Mataji:No, I had no guru and I’m a Mother,
I’m not a guru. See guru is, of course in a way Mother is a Guru all the time – she’s a teacher all the time – no? But there’s a big difference between a real guru and
a Mother. “
Public Program Day 1, Camberwell Civic Centre, Melbourne, Australia,
12.05.1987
Goddess. Another confusion. How to make these two things be? “
Shudy Camps Park, London, UK, 12.07.1987
“First of all, your Guru is a Mother and who suffers from Sandrakaruna. At the slightest things that happen to you My eyes get filled with tears. So, as a Mother to be a Guru is a very difficult thing. At the same time, for you to achieve heights is also difficult. Because you get lost when I love you so much and in that love you forget sometimes, that the progress in your being is very slow. It is
important that in Sahaja Yoga you have to be strict with yourself. That’s why I said that you have to be your own guru, which people do not understand what it means. “
Guru Puja, Cabella, Italy, 28.07.1991
“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 is, a Guru has to love her children and has to have strength and courage to
should be to put the children onto proper lines to guide them and to help them to rise. “
Guru Puja, Lago di Braies, Italy, 23.07.1989
“Most of the gurus, when they do it, they actually chisel out every disciple. First they weigh what is the urge of a disciple, how much a disciple really can receive, and then they accept somebody as a disciple after verifying if the disciple is really capable of receiving even the instructions about
dharma. But not in Sahaja Yoga because your Guru is a Mother. So, She initiates you without finding out what is your urge, what is your capability and what quality of a
personality you have. It’s a very different
style of Guru that you have, which looks after your body, looks after your mind and looks after your problems and then bestows upon you the blessings of Kundalini awakening. “
Guru Puja, Finchly Ashram, London, UK, 21.07.1978
your Mother. Actually, I want you to be your own guru. But if you have a nice good guru, who has given you initiation, in the sense that he’s awakened your Kundalini, it makes My life easier. That we’ll know in one minute, even a child can say. You see, some of
these gurus can give you blisters. All, most of the cancer patients, are initiated by some sort of a thing like this, like black magic, or gurus, or ESP’s, or what you call them, mesmerism. “
Public Program, Lille, France, 02.05.1982
“But, as it is, you know that we need spiritual education. Because your Guru is a Mother, we lack discipline. There’s complete freedom for all of you. “
Guru Nanak’s Birthday Puja, Temple of all Faith, Hampstead, London, 23.11.1980
“Question: Who is Your guru? Shri Mataji: Nobody. I have no guru, I’m a Mother.
I don’t need any guru and I have been like this since ages now. I’m very ancient. Question:
[inaudable]
neither I ever had, but I have the guru, I call him as Dattatreya, if that is so, but that is also within Me. In My stomach is the Guru. You ask this question: “Mother, have You any guru?” Just ask this question in your
hand [with vibrations], and you will know it. To know Me is not so easy because I’m very elusive, extremely elusive person you can think of, you see. So just now, you just know yourself. All right? When you will have that awareness, you will know Me. “
The Three Paths of Evolution, Caxton Hall, London, UK, 30.05.1979
“Now, in Sahaja Yoga we don’t allow any
Sahaja yogi to call himself a guru. Because all of you are My children; I am your Mother. You all become your own gurus. You don’t need any guru anymore. Now this guru tattwa is also spoilt very much when you denounce God. When you also accept wrong gurus and put this forehead at the horrible feet of these horrible gurus, then you develop a terrible chakra here, called as Ekadasha Rudra. “
This is how we can become a guru
Guru Puja: Establishing the Guru Principle, Nightingale Lane Ashram, London, UK,04.07.1982
“In the most auspicious time that is called as Krita Yuga, we all have assembled here to understand the ways and methods of
have to do something – “krita: when it was done.”
So you are the channels of that doing, doing the work of God. You are the channels of God Almighty and His Power. On one side you
have to carry the dignity, the glory, and the assumption that you are a guru. On the other side you have to be completely surrendered to your God Almighty. All your dignity, your authority comes from Him. And the third thing is that the way He has created this
universe and you, in a mood of play, you have to see His play. So a kind of mood that is
cheerfulness should be really bubbling through you.
So far the idea of guru was that such a
person never laughs, never smiles, always in a temper. That was all right for gurus who did not have to have any contact with the public, but hanged themselves with a string
anything that is not looked after or
maintained, gets destroyed. If we do not pay attention, say, to these beautiful plants here, they will be destroyed. Even matter which is not attended to, gets destroyed.
So first of all, we have to know that we must be attentive and alert, that if we do not
maintain ourselves, we’ll be destroyed.
Because maintenance is not for maintenance sake, it is for stopping the destruction of your Guru Principle. When we are negligent or lazy about it, we are responsible for destroying our Guru Principle.
So the attention that we have, is to be given to the maintenance of this Guru Principle. The gurus have the capacity to maintain themselves and maintain others. In the
beginning, when the gurus tried to establish this maintenance principle, they put very,
very strong rules and regulations. If you read Bible in the Levi chapter, you will find all the sharias that are described, which they are following now in Riyadh or in the Arabic countries. To maintain that principle within yourself, it’s written in such strong
languages, like:“Such a person who does not do this, should be killed to death. Such a
person does anything wrong of this kind,
very beginning, so the people now at that stage of evolution required that kind of a fear.
This was not meant to in any way to insult or to harm, or to take away the freedom of
human beings. But it was meant for people to give a great idea of the importance of the Principle of Guru within themselves. At that stage they used the frightening methods, I should say – horribly dangerous times. At that time people obeyed also. Then another
evolutionary state took place where a stage started, people thought they must become austere, and start maintaining themselves by tremendous austerity. So it was
self-projected; it was not projected towards others, but projected towards themselves. We can say that the first wave started when the Guru, the Primordial Guru, said that if you don’t do this, then you will be killed. The
second stage was where the disciples
accepted this within themselves, and started telling themselves that: “If we do not do it, we’ll kill ourselves.” Austerity started on the basis of wisdom, and not on obstinacy. But then it became even fanaticism, so it went to one extreme. It started with the idea of
maintenance. It started with the idea of
impossible, or perhaps they thought that
they are not being able to maintain, they got confused, and to them rules and regulations became more important than maintenance itself. Thus you find they destroyed
themselves.
The wisdom or the essence of Guru Tattwa is a balance. Like when you maintain a plant, if you do not give it water, it will die. If you give it too much water, it will die. So the wisdom lies in understanding how much water should be given to the plant, so that it comes up at its best. Now, this wisdom has to be achieved through your vibratory awareness. You are placed under the most fortunate
circumstances, that you are realized souls before your Guru Tattwa is fully established. You have all the powers that any guru can aspire, without having the establishment of Guru Tattwa. Specially you are under the complete blanket of the clouds of your Mother’s love.
But in no way Mother’s love is going to allow you to destroy your Guru Principle. As I told you that Guru Principle is a very sensitive
elements, and the five elements have a
capacity all the time to get destroyed. Any one of these elements, if they are not looked after, they get destroyed. That is the built-in capacity of the elements or of the matter, as you can say. So to maintain them is
important.
Some people have an idea that once you become a guru, you need not maintain
everything, it is maintained by itself. It is not. Agreed that the Spirit definitely enhances the beauty and the health of these elements; but at the human level there is always a greater force that is trying to destroy it. So till we have completely become the Spirit, there is always a chance of this destruction working it out. One may say: Why this balance needed? And this is an important question which we should be able to answer all the people who ask us. Without the balance you cannot
ascend. If you cannot ascend, what’s the use of our becoming human beings?
For example, everything is God, but nobody is aware. At the human level you become
aware: means everything exists, everything is there, but it is not aware. Say, there is a stone, that is also God, but it is not yet
to be felt or experienced when you are in that condition. Actually one thinks that darkness is the truth, that ignorance is the truth. But when the sun comes up and the light comes in and your eyes open, you start seeing
everything. You start becoming aware. So at human level you are aware at the highest point.
Now, this awareness has to become the
awareness of the Spirit. That has happened to you – you have felt the Spirit. But the
balance is not there as yet. Your Mother has pulled you out and made you that, but still there is imbalance inside. If you go slightly to the left, you can be destroyed; you go to the right, you’ll be destroyed.
So, you have to try both the things as I have told you the methods, which I’ll explain. First of all you have to be austere with yourself. Just separate yourself from yourself.
Separate yourself as a Spirit, and look at your ego and superego. Now you start watching, you start watching the ego and superego. Do not maintain it – they are the destroying
forces.
Now when you see the play as a witness of these destroying forces, you will know how to also maintain yourself better. To separate
The worst thing that elements have done to you is that you have formed habits, all kinds of hangs-up. Some people are fond of
bathing, some people are fond of not bathing. Some people are fond of getting early in the morning, four o’clock, and singing songs and waking up everyone, and some are good at sleeping till ten o’clock. Some like very light-coloured dresses, some like very
loud-coloured dresses. If you are English, then you want to have English-style everything,
horrible insipid food! If you are French, you want to have wine, little bit. If you are Italian, you want to have carbohydrates, too much. If you are Spanish, you want to have too much fats. If you are Indians, you want to have too much of spices. So to change this habit, you have to give [up] first of all the extremes that you like. Now if you say that:“I like bland
food” – bland food – then you should say :“I must eat a lot of chillies.” If you say: “I like pale colours,” then you wear very loud ones. Go from one extreme to another extreme, to begin with. But I’ve seen people, when they go from one extreme they get stuck up on the other side also. So we have to be in the
center, not to the extremes.
that: “I like this.” He sees beauty in the lush greenery, and he sees beauty in the trees which are devoid of any leaves. Now the
trend of getting to austerity in a very funny way has started in the West. Like if you comb your hair, then you are no good; if you do not smell in the body, then you are no good; if you don’t look like a pig, you are no good. All kinds of funny sort of ideas have crawled into the mind, because they are going to the other extreme.
But we have to learn from the nature. Nature dresses up itself when it has to greet the
spring, and when it is the winter it just gets completely undressed, I should say, because the leaves have to go to the Mother Earth, and that the sun has to reach the Mother Earth. It is not attached to anything.
Surprisingly it is much more elemental than we are, while we, who are spiritual, should have no attachment. But this idea is also a mental idea, which is the worst attachment. It’s a very funny attachment which makes Me laugh, that’s the biggest joker I’ve seen, that people get attached to mental ideas. It is like believing that whatever you think mentally will just happen to you. Say, for a mental
write it down that: “I am going to take this and this and this with me.” And when he goes to the picnic he finds he’s high and dry,
because he has not taken anything with him, it’s all in the file!
Your Mother is good at speaking and She speaks to you, but it should not be your
mental attachment. Like: “Yes, Mother says so,” and everybody discusses with such great enthusiasm, this is that; but it’s not become part and parcel of your being.
But [it] is a very common attachment
nowadays, with all the people knowing about everything and having nothing. This mental attachment is to be really attacked.
Becoming is seeing, becoming is
experiencing; becoming is seeing, it is
Now how to do it? Some will say that: “We’ll just go on being austere about it.” Then that will become again another obsession. Some will say: “All right, Mother has said we should enjoy, so we’ll just enjoy.” How to strike the balance is the big problem, but [that] should not be with people who have vibratory
awareness. In that also you can be obsessed. I have seen people talking as if they are all great Sahaja yogis and there were no
vibrations, and saying they are getting vibrations. It is so deceptive.
So, one has to think that we have to grow further and see more and more, and know about it.
But if you then ask the French: “How are you?”, then under the influence of this, they’ll say like this: that means they’re
always in imbalance. You ask an Englishman, he’ll say: “Don’t know.” Or they say: “I know” – there’s nothing in between.
Now we have to understand that we are
complete otherwise, you are the part and
parcel of the whole – you are. But only thing, that you have not yet seen that. You have mentally accepted, but you have not become that. Because mental projection comes from thought; that means you are at the level of the thought. You have to become
thoughtless. But if you live on the basis of thought, then you are still below the Agnya Chakra. So, all the thought waves must be stopped to begin with, and should say
that:“All right, let us see now.”
So from the Nabhi chakra you come up to the Agnya chakra. Then above that comes the third problem of destruction, is emotional. The emotional is a very subtle one. Like some people, Sahaja yogis, will sit down with a
guitar and will start singing as if they are all lovebirds, you see!
So, the most delicate one is the emotional. This emotional one is a collectivity in a
camouflage. For example, when the Sahaja yogis will meet, they’ll hug themselves, kiss each other, and will be very, very nice to each other, you see, and sit down and sing songs like hippies. Take the guitar in the hand and swing on the tune of love.
get rid of, because it gives you a very
comfortable feeling. And people get confused with emotions, they think it is joy. Joy only can be achieved through complete
detachment, the detachment which is ego-less and superego-ego-less.
But now, the problem that human beings start facing is the assumption that they are gurus. They start speaking about Sahaja Yoga, talking about Sahaja Yoga, and they start thinking that they have become already Shri Krishna. They have even a greater ego than the person who is actually ignorant about Sahaja Yoga. They start talking with such tremendous ego that I am Myself
frightened of them. How much they know about Sahaja Yoga, I sometimes think? And they start asserting it so much that it’s
frightening. All this can be also said, that they feel that protocol is not all right and there should be proper protocol, so we are looking after protocol, we are the guards of the protocol, and all these things there. Now those who are on the emotional side see the ego of others, while those who are on the ego side see the emotions of others. So one
criticizes another, but they don’t see
I will not say I did commit(ted a mistake), but it happened to be a mistake. For the first
three years of Sahaja Yoga I never talked of a bhoot. I thought, I’ll be able to manage
without that. But a lady came in Sahaja Yoga who was possessed and who tried all kinds of tantric tricks, so I had to tell them. Now,
every Sahaja yogi is a bundle of bhoots! You ask any Sahaja yogi: “Why did you do it?” – “Must be a bhoot.” If you say that: “How is it that you have done such a thing?” then they will say that: “I do not know, it’s the bhoot who has done.” They are never there – all the bhoots are there. Now, I don’t understand how to deal, even as a Guru, because if My disciples are there I can tell them, but if they are bhoots, what am I to tell them? I can talk to Sahaja yogis but not to bhoots, they won’t listen to Me. So this is the greatest escape that Sahaja yogis have found now, which is the worst, which was never before. So
sometimes I feel it was a mistake I introduced this word “bhoot”. They excuse themselves by just saying: “Mother, it is some
negativity”.
Unless and until there is something in you that contains the negativity, how can there be negativity? If you are detached, if like
negativity, you become more a guru. Now, when I say that you should not be negative – supposing under such circumstances you
should not be a bhoot, you should be yourself – then they start feeling guilty. So all kinds of anti-guru tricks are working out. I am your Guru, and it is anti your Guru to play these tricks upon yourself. Now, you will play these tricks with Me, what’s the use?
You have to gain something, and you are playing tricks against yourself if you are playing them against Me. You have to be more aware. You are not to be destroyed.
Apart from that you have to save others. How will you do it, in case if you do not accept
that it is your privilege, that it is your
fortune, that you have been chosen to be the medium of God’s work?
Sometimes I feel all the bhoots have come to Me for realization, and I am now going to
the present. Do not escape the present, face it.
Don’t feel guilty nor blame the bhoot; both things are going to take you away from the present. Now just see the whole nature, the whole divine Power, your ardent desire of
ages – everything is on your side. The time
has come. You are just there. What have we to do? Just stand in the center, at the axis. Try to keep yourself at the axis [the central channel], and then you just see the periphery moving, you don’t mind. When you see
yourself misbehaving in any way, punish
yourself. It is better that you punish than the Divine punishes you, because that’s a severe punishment. But do not feel guilty because you have not done anything wrong, it’s the bhoot which has done!
So we come to the point that we should
realize that we are gurus and we cannot be bhoots. We have to change our outside also, to become good gurus. For example, we have to learn good manners. Then these manners become your nature.
Sometimes, people who are very fond of food, I always tell them they should fast.
your habits. Once your Guru Tattwa is
established, you’ll be accepted as a guru.
There will not be any need for you to say that you are a guru, people will know that you are. We don’t have to then write on our foreheads that we are gurus, people will know that this is a guru walking; you can see the divinity walking, you can see the dignity walking, the glory coming up.
You have to change from within, and the light of that within enlightenment will be shown outside. But it should not be a mental idea or an emotional idea, but should be the
happening, the becoming, the awareness. You have to experience, through your own experimentation upon yourself. Even I do that. When I cannot reach you from one end because you are a bhoot, I reach you from the other. If somebody says he’s a bhoot, then I see that he suffers a little and faces it, the bhoot in him. For example somebody, I tell someone that: “Please do this” and he
forgets completely about it, and he says it is a bhoot that has done. So then he loses his purse and then I say: “The bhoot must have taken away the purse!”
a very tricky time we are with. If we had gone according to the shariat of the chapter of
Levi, all the bhoots would not have been
here. Maybe no Sahaja yogis might have been left also. And this mental projection is such a common thing that it’s difficult to detach
people, but only way I can play tricks with you is by experimenting Myself on you. In the same way you must play with yourself, and try to put yourself in an experimental box. Today is the day of the Guru Puja, the day
when you have to worship your Guru. You are really fortunate to have a Guru which is a
Mother. And My Mother and Guru is this
Mother Earth, which teaches Me how to deal with human beings. And she’s the one who also in every stage of difficulties helps Me to correct My own methods of Nirmala Vidya. She has been such a kind mother and a kind guru to Me. And she’s such a soothing
personality. This, all this green, though is given to her by [the] sun as they say, is just to soothe us all. She wears the green upon herself, and the green is the Guru Principle. She’s the detached personality. She’s the magnetism, she attracts. When people are walking on her, she is looking after them. She creates out of her Swayambhus, the self –
and her concern is so great that without her we would be hanging in the air.
And she keeps Me to the brass tacks, as they say – to the reality. If I wanted I could be just the Spirit, and not bother about anybody
else. The way she bears our sins, the way she always looks after us and nourishes us,
despite our so many defects: in the same way a guru should do.
She is extremely forgiving; but she explodes as an earthquake, and sometimes hot calcium and hot potassium can come out of her. She produces sulphur for you, for your cure. If England’s soil becomes vibrated, then this soil can be used for medicine. In India people use clay for medicine, for every kind of
treatment. The understanding about Guru Tattwa one can have from the Mother Earth, so let us touch the Mother Earth and bow to her.
May God bless you. She’s subtle!
In the ‘Kundalini Shastra’, Mother Earth is the Kundalini. Mooladhara is the - is the Mother Earth. So for us Kundalini is the most
tell lies; what we have to worry [about is]that keep your Kundalini up.
So the guru has to be a person who is
absolutely practical. He must have common sense and [be] absolutely practical, he
cannot be [an] impractical person. A person who’s impractical is not a guru.
But practical, in the common way is
understood as a man who is cunning, who knows how to deviate from right path and all that – that’s the most unpractical thing to do. Something absurd, something out of the blue is not the way a guru has to move. There is all common sense which should guide a guru how to deal with a person, and common
sense is a thing which is not cunningness by any chance. The source of common sense is the Spirit.
The expression of a guru is very, very
paradoxical – paradoxical. For example, a guru will be extremely practical, supposing he has to build his own house, or a house, or ashram, or anything – be extremely practical. He will be very economical, he will create
acquiring a lamp, the guru will be very
practical, he’ll get the best and the cheapest and the most beautiful.
And he’ll be very intense about it. But when it will come to giving, he’ll be more intense
about it; that when he will give, he’ll give with that same intensity. He’ll find out all
practical methods how to donate, also to give away. So, his acquiring is actually giving. He acquires to give, that’s how he is the most practical.
You know that we cannot take anything with us. Only the guru can take with him
something, nobody else can take. Only the guru has all the disciples and disciples, and disciples and disciples for ages, who sing the praise. No other relationship is that eternal. It goes on reflecting for ages and ages and ages. It’s one wave that falls and then
disappears; in anything that you do, every wave [you] has [have?] disappears, but not the wave of knowledge from a guru. It’s even higher than the Divine Principle, because it explains. The Divine Principle cannot explain – it’s the guru who explains it. Not that it
and the word serves the meaning. But in a Guru Principle, the Divine serves the guru. Everything is at your disposal. Everything is at your disposal. When you are a guru, all your chakras are at your disposal. All the
universe is at your disposal, because you are the guru. It’s like the director of the show – the stage man, the gentleman who is in
charge of the lights, the gentleman who is in charge of the loud-speaker, everybody has to serve the director, because he is training the actors.
But the Guru Principle has to be so much
unchallenged. It should be of such a capacity that nobody can challenge that, it should be such a capable personality that nobody
should be able to challenge the guru.
Then only it will work out. So, you have to work it out in such a way that you are
absolutely unchallengeable. And you are
specially fortunate that you can see yourself and correct yourself, which nobody could do before – you are your own guru. This situation never, never happened. You are your own
guru – and let Me be your Mother. That would be the best for Me.
So today is the day when one has to
establish your Guru Principle, second point. Thirdly, you have to pledge that you will
establish Guru Principles in others. Fourthly, you have to know that there is a little snag, that your Guru is a Mother. She’s too kind to be a guru, too mild to be a guru, and
extremely tolerant. So it is better that you take up this strictness towards yourself, and look after yourself.
May God bless you.
So, you become your own guru.
On every Guru day I have a problem, and one of the problems is – you may translate,
Gregoire, still a little more, if you don’t mind – on every Guru Puja day I think I should
become a complete Guru, and at least on one day I should not be a Mother. But every time I try these tricks, it works against Me! Last
year in India I told them that: “This time I am going to be just Guru, and you have to only give Me a shawl and I will not take any sari, and nothing like a Mother.” And I was very stern with them, and I said: “At any cost I am not going to take a sari, whatever you may do.”
and Mother, You must accept. You are our Mother also.”
So I said: “I am going to be very hard like a guru, and nothing doing, today nothing is going to convince Me.” Because again you become the Mother, then the whole thing becomes again that soft business!
[Gregoire: Mother, I can’t translate that!] Shri Mataji: You’d better tell them!
So I went to open the, you see, a tap –
because in India we don’t believe in wash-basins, you see – to wash My hands. And Indian taps as they are, you see, it gave in and I got completely drenched. And I came out and I said: “Please give Me the sari to wear!”
Today I had decided to be a real guru, and a very hard one. Then Warren came to say that: “Mother, somebody has bought a sari, and this is that and that is that.” He gave lots of arguments. And Rustom and Warren were trying to, you see, put Me down in My place. But then they used the greatest argument to outwit Me. First they said: “The sari is
vibrations were there.” So all My efforts fizzled out!
This is the play of the sweetness of Divine, what is called as madhurya. “Madhurya” means the sweetness, the sweetness. And this is the one that’s such a hide-and-seek of joy in life, and that is what I have accepted. So first we’ll have the Mother’s Puja.”
