Background

"But your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Without, everything seems discordant. Only within does it coalesce into unity. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes."

Dr. Carl G. Jung. From a letter to Miss Fanny Bowditch, 1916.

Numerous philosophies and religions have declared the need to find some inner truth, before being able to understand or experience the deeper aspects of human or cosmic life. But often the issue was not regarded as having much practical value. A clear process for discovery or experiencing seemed to be elusive. Even the meaning of truth and the nature of any possible enlightenment were subject to speculation, to debate and to frequent dispute.

People often spoke or wrote about human transformation as a future condition, for which there was a strong chance but no concrete certainty. In place of certainty, you needed to adopt faith. For example, a Christian who firmly believes in the divinity of Christ might consider themself to be already saved and that a place has been reserved in heaven for them. A Sufi may hope to achieve some concrete enlightenment or spiritual grace within their one life. A Buddhist or Hindu or Sikh may have full confidence that they will go beyond ignorance or suffering in a future life, provided that they live this life in accordance with certain ideals of behaviour.

Reality has generally seemed so vague or hidden for one main reason: Human evolution is a living process, taking place over thousands of years, on a planet which has developed over billions of years. Fish had come onto the land, without publishing any business plan. Cave men did not have Bibles or Mantras or Yogas or Smartphones. They took some time, even with learning how to speak and also with learning how to count, how to write, how to create art and music and sculpture. But in the modern age, sometimes called as Aquarius, many people do expect some form of transformation or Self-awareness or enlightenment. And they hope, somehow, for it to be achievable now.

The good news is that, for most people, it is no longer difficult to increase awareness or to start a genuine process of transformation. As a result of evolution, both human and cosmic, something concrete is possible.

Beginning

A brief introduction to practical issues is given in this extract from a book about Sahaja Yoga.  Translation

Born With You

Lord Jesus Christ. From the Bible, New Testament, Luke's Gospel, Verse 21:

"The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. From Sahastrara speech, Cabella Ligure, Italy, 9th May, 2004:

"Knowledge from the books is no knowledge. Their knowledge must come from within, from within themselves and that has happened because of Sahastrara opening."

Next, two quotations from William Blake in England:

"Reynolds thinks that man learns all that he knows. I say, on the contrary, that man brings all that he has, or can have, into the world with him.  Man is born like a garden, ready planted & sown."

"Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast."

There is an excellent film from 2000, called The Legend of Bagger Vance. It includes philosophical knowledge, which was based on the Bhagavad Gita. The stars are Will Smith and Matt Damon. The theme is a golf competition in North America. Some education is given by Will Smith, to a young boy. The boy is supporting Matt Damon, having some responsibilty for looking after Matt's golf clubs:

"Yep, inside each and every one of us is one true, authentic swing. Somethin' we was born with, somethin' that's ours and ours alone. Somethin' can't be taught to you or learned. Somethin' that got to be remembered."

Speeches by Shri Mataji

The recordings of guidance from Shri Mataji are helpful on many levels, or you could say they relate to different aspects of life. First, there is information or intellectual knowledge, which may be controversial. Shri Mataji sometimes challenged facts which have been believed or accepted since long but which were not based on more than speculation and guesswork, or they may have been based on mistakes made in the preparation and editing of books. Some other teachers or commentators were also a source of misunderstandings or of deliberate misdirections. Some might simply have been ignorant but they had chosen to present their limited or false knowledge as authentic. Some were simply unwise and some were dishonest. The colour and style of their clothes gave no clue about their status as human beings or as spiritual beings.

Second is that most speeches by Shri Mataji were engineered to create or encourage practical changes in a listener's own state of being, including their physical, mental and emotional qualities. So you may describe these speeches as benevolent or theraputic.

Third is that different people will understand or absorb different things than others, from the same speech. It may not be possible to understand or to accept certain points rationally, until a person has had some related experience or an opportunity to develop the subtlety of their understanding. So most recorded speeches should be subject to study on more than one occasion. It is an educational process, both theoretical and practical. A living process is involved and having some patience with oneself, some tolerance, will be in order. Complete Self-knowledge does not develop overnight and Self-transformation can be a challenge.

Such was the case for thousands of years. But in modern times the human race has far more concrete spiritual opportunities. Humanity now has what it needs! We are certainly in a new age. Shri Mataji brought forth, for humanity, an unprecedented degree and quality of explanation, supported by straightforward practical processes.

Caxton Hall, London, 3rd December, 1979. Public Programme:

"But a simple thing is this – very simple thing – is to understand that there is something beyond, which we are seeking. The beyond is the Self within us, is the spirit, the spirit that resides in our heart. And this spirit has to come into our conscious understanding. We know there is someone who is watching us, who knows all about it. But he is not in our conscious mind, means we cannot see through him. He sees us. We look at him as something hidden behind the curtains but now how to remove that curtain and to become one with that? By becoming one with that, what happens is that you get connected to the mains and to the whole, of which you are part and parcel. The whole universe, the whole creation, is a part and parcel of one organic being. Through our ignorance, we start thinking that we are separated from it. Till we are animal stage, we are going according to the will of the nature and we do not have the freedom, so in a way we are one with that divine force but we are not aware of it.

Only in the human stage, it is said that you will become aware of it. It’s said in all the scriptures: like Koran, like Bible, like Vedas, like Gita, which is a part of Veda you can say. Also great sages all over the world, right from Moses, Abraham, Socrates, Lao Tse. In India: Janaka, Nanaka, Vasishta. Later on people like, we can say in the history, about 6th century, we had a very great saint or a great personality or an incarnation like Shankaracharya.

All these people have been talking about your second birth, that you are to be born again. Unless and until you are born again you are not a Christian, you are not a Hindu, you are not a Muslim. Keep it one name. There are ten names to one thing, for ‘twice born’. So it boils down to one simple point, that you are to be born again. You are born again and again. From amoeba to this stage, you are born again and again. There must be something continuous, otherwise how do you improve onto it? So you reach a stage which is called as human being and now here it is said that you are to be born again. Only, in this stage when you’re born again, it is in your own consciousness."

Melbourne,  Australia, 9th March, 1983. Public Programme:

"You must use your brains and understand that reality, if it lies within you and if it is a living process of your evolution, then it has to be done in a way that is not done by human beings, because no living work is done by human beings. It cannot be done. We cannot transform one flower into a fruit, leave alone a human being into a spirit. So, it has to be done by the same process which has made us human beings and the same process that is living force of God’s love, of living God’s love, should do the job. So it has to be spontaneous. You cannot achieve it through your efforts. Actually, those who tell you like that, that 'You have to achieve it through your efforts,' or 'You have got your karmas. You have got to suffer' and all that, are just giving excuses. They don’t know how to achieve it. They are just giving excuses. You must understand that if you have got that power within you, it has to manifest spontaneously.

For example, some people may not get realisation. Maybe little bit, very little bit percentage, I hope, may not get it. But that is nothing wrong with Sahaja Yoga. There must be something wrong within you, physically, mentally, emotionally. There must be something wrong. So we have to correct it and we have to see that you get your realisation in a proper way and that it is achieved through your own understanding, in your own glory, that you should know that you have got your realisation.

This is the only difference between the evolutionary process so far, from animal to this stage, that human beings will be aware of their realisation. They will know all about it because now they have become masters, that they are not doing things automatically. They will know that this power is flowing through them and they will also know how to handle it, which can be decoded through Sahaja Yoga and you have to learn the technique of operating God’s laws, which are tremendous and wonderful. "

Sydney, Australia, 2nd March, 1992. Public Programme:

"Now about meditation, you don’t have to meditate. You are 'in' meditation, where you become thoughtlessly aware. When you are in the present, spirituality starts growing."

Royal Albert Hall, London, 14th July, 2001. Public Programme:

"I bow to all the seekers of truth. Some of you have found the truth, some of you have not found it fully and some of you have not found it at all. But if you look around in today’s situation, you’ll have to admit there’s a big turmoil going on. Countries after countries are taking to all kinds of wrong things. Lot of cold war is on, people are killing each other, destroying beautiful places, cutting each other’s throat for nothing at all. They are all human beings, created by God. God Almighty has created them and has brought them to this level of human awareness. 

At this juncture, one can’t see where are we going, in a collective way. This is - where have we to reach or - is it our destiny? Is this the destiny of human beings, to be destroyed by each other, for land or for anything else? Think of the whole world as one - and think what’s happening all over. Every day you read newspaper, every day there is some sort of a horrible news about horrible things people are doing to each other, for no rhyme and reason. We have to think, what is the destiny? Where are we going? Are we going to hell or to heaven? What is our situation around? Can we help it?

What’s wrong with human beings is they are still in the complete control of ignorance. I would call it ignorance. And in that ignorance, in that darkness, they are doing these horrible things. Nobody wants to understand that what we are doing is nothing but complete destruction. Is that our destiny, that we are going to get destroyed completely? ... ...

What you have to do is not to do anything, to put just your hands towards me. Of course, if you are wearing shoes better take them out because Mother Earth is very important. Please put both the hands towards me. You don’t have to pray, you don’t have to say anything. Just put your hands towards me, just like this. Now please close your eyes."