Progress

Self Knowledge

As you evolve, it is your conscious attention which becomes more alert and which starts to feel and understand reality and spirituality. It is more than simply acquiring or understanding new information. You will have a better understanding of your own condition and should be able to feel some external conditions, as if having an enhanced nervous system. For some people this new awareness will come rapidly, while for others it will be more gradual or even a slow process.

Collectivity

In general, you will make progress more easily and more deeply if you work with others. Even right at the start, when looking for an inner awakening, or for some meditative experience, it is recommended to form a small group. To meet physically is best but you might also meet online. The inner energies function well in a group. They also spread out and so the progress of one person can benefit others. The word 'energies' is a little misleading. Their nature is better understood as subtle consciousness. They have life and intelligence.

Meditation

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Mantras

After Kundalini Awakening, a mantra can be a powerful form of prayer but it needs to be selected and used with experience, discrimination and bhakti. Saying a mantra is not ritual to be followed mechanically or obsessively.

They might be said in order to reduce a particular problem which exists somewhere, either within or outside ourselves. They might be said in order to increase the manifestation of a positive quality somewhere. Often a choice is made because it relates to the wellbeing of a particular energy centre or energy channel or location within us.

In general, our mantras are spoken out loud. We do not repeat mantras as a sort of meditation technique and we strongly warn others against doing that. Remember that meditation is a state and not an activity. False or ignorant teachers are likely to tell you the opposite.

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Techniques

[ ...text to follow - listening to or watching recordings of Shri Mataji - quote from back of Nirmal Fragrance book - London 1998 ]

Speeches by Shri Mataji

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Melbourne, Australia, 17th March, 1985. Birthday Celebrations:

"The amount of education you have had nobody had before, no saint had it. So now take full advantage. Whatever your age may be, education qualification may be, what - doesn’t matter but you should all know what is Sahaja Yoga, what it means, how it works out."

Vancouver, Canada, 13th September, 1992. Hamsa, the minor chakra at the level of the eyebrows:

"There is joy but you cannot feel the joy because the power, that subtle power of divine discretion, is not there. Once that comes in, you start enjoying everything. It’s just the same. Life is just the same. Nothing has changed. Same house, same family, same city, same environment. But you start enjoying because the sensitivity of your Hamsa Chakra is now only for divine discretion and you immediately know and then you don’t want to do anything with the thorns, only want to gather flowers and you know how to gather flowers and you are in joy. So the light of the spirit, which shines through your Hamsa Chakra, gives you wisdom. Wisdom doesn’t mean that you know how to argue things or you fight with people. No, it doesn’t mean that! Wisdom means how you take to the good side of everything, to enjoy it. This is wisdom and that you avoid all destructive things and take to something constructive."

New Jersey, USA, 2nd October, 1994. Shri Krishna:

"Unless and until you are thoughtlessly aware, you cannot grow. That is first thing. And secondly, unless and until you are thoughtlessly aware, you do not know the absolute truth. Through your brain only, you will know. You don’t have to put your hands. You don’t have to ask questions but it’s like a computer that works. It just gives you an answer. In that state, you are completely one with the divine and it just gives you an answer and you do that and you are amazed how it has worked out. Everything, every moment, is computerised with Shri Krishna."

Sahaja Yogis should study the whole of this encyclopaedic 1994 speech.

Cabella Ligure, Italy, 5th May,1996. Sahastrara, the chakra at the top of the head:

"Today we are celebrating the opening of the Sahastrara, on this day. I must say it was a great happening that took place for all the humanity. It was such an achievement, which I never realised before. Now I can see that without Self-realisation, it would have been impossible to talk to people. When this happened I thought that, how will I talk to people about it, because no one would understand me. And it would be a big mistake on my part to say something about Sahastrara because, even about Sahastrara, nowhere in the scriptures some things were described. It was absolutely an ambiguous description, I would say, where people could not have even thought that there is a realm beyond Sahastrara. And one has to enter into that realm, where is the reality. That time, what I saw around me, I felt is all darkness. And unless and until there are many lights, people will never realise that how important it is to have lights.

It is a human error, also, all the time, that if somebody achieves something, then they put that person onto a shelf. For example, 'Christ – all right, He was Christ – we are not Christ. Mohammed Sahib, He was Mohammed Sahib – we are not Mohammed Sahib. Rama was Rama, Krishna was Krishna. We are not that. How can you expect human beings to behave like them?' So, absolutely they are separated, the divine personalities away, very much away from human personality. It was just an adoration, I can say, faith. But when they said, 'We tried to follow them,' they could not. They could not follow them because I think human movement is on parallel lines with the divine and these lines do not meet, unless and until you give them Self-realisation. Human level is moving on another plane and it has to come up to a higher plane, to understand that what they know is not reality.

I wouldn’t say what is needed for that because in my own experience, all kinds of people came to Sahaj Yoga. There are people described to be very bad, cruel and other ones who were very licentious, this, that, then another ones who were cheats and they said, 'Mother, they are horrible people!' But I have seen that every human being is as if made of the same character, as far as the spirit is concerned. Outside they may be different to look at, their way of talking may be different, their styles may be different, their fondness for things may be different but inside they are all very beautiful. And this I found out, one after another. You don’t know how much it was giving me joy; not only joy, but also encouragement, support and patience. And then, now, you see, how Sahaj Yoga has grown. The greatest thing has now happened is - which I realise, I am very happy about it - that Sahaj Yogis feel very responsible about Sahaj Yoga. And they feel that they have to spread this enlightenment everywhere. It’s their innate desire now to spread Sahaj Yoga.

Firstly it was that they should become spirits. Before that, also there were some people who didn’t actually seek the spirit but they also became Sahaj Yogis. And I am surprised, with some of you, that I never expected that they would go so far and suddenly you hear that, 'Such and such a person has gone there, has done this, has done this.' So, when you came into the realm of reality, I don’t know which principle you accepted first - that’s your understanding - but one thing you realised is that you are definitely connected with the divine. Some people had tremendous experiences, some had a mild experience. But most of them, I saw, started believing in themselves, understanding themselves and having confidence about themselves.

Because there are so many myths about God, religion, gurus that, when they saw the light of the spirit, which gave them the sense of reality, they as if they steadied their minds, they steadied themselves. All this happened, I must say, in a very short time. I didn’t say that it took me long, or I had to go through lots of various experiences because to me all these experiences are nothing. If a ship is seaworthy, it can face all kinds of high tides and all kinds of sharks and everything without any difficulty because it is seaworthy. So I didn’t feel that way. But only I felt that, from human level, to this spiritual level, to this divine level, when you are coming, then some of that still lingers on, some of that is still there. It has to be cleansed. It has to be brightened, we should say, or absolutely enlightened.

But what was the great thing about Sahaj Yoga was that you yourself did all that. It’s nice to say, 'Mother, you did this, you did that,' - maybe enlightenment part of it. But say now there are lights here and these lights, unless and until they are attended to, looked after, and given oil of love, how can they go on burning? This is something, what I must say, that you people somehow or other realised how important it was to become good Sahaj Yogis. Maybe introspection - I don’t say. Maybe somebody else talked about it. Maybe it’s your own understanding. Whatever it was, all of you tried to be good Sahaj Yogis."

New Delhi, India, 20th March, 1998. Birthday:

"At this stage, at the human awareness, our attention is outside, outside in various things. Now where should our attention go? To evolve, for what? To achieve what? The firstly, our attention has to go towards our spirit, towards spiritual understanding. This is one thing that has to happen to human beings, to begin with. Otherwise our attention is outside. We are worried about money, worried about power, worried about this, worried about that, in competition and all kinds of things going on. But if your attention is turned, somehow, towards your spirit, then what happens to you is that you become a power of the spirit. And the power of the spirit is the highest power that you could think of. First of all, spirit is the one that loves, loves without asking for anything, without expecting anything, just loves. It’s an unconditional type of a personality, which just emits love. Anybody in trouble, anybody having a problem, just it flows."

Cabella Ligure, Italy, 10th May, 1998. Sahastrara:

"Now to say you must meditate, people think it is a kind of a ritual or maybe a kind of a style of Sahaja Yoga. No! Meditation is for you to go deep down into yourself, to achieve all that your Sahastrara wants to give you. To achieve that height of detachment, of understanding, it's only through meditation. So what happens in meditation is that your awareness crosses over Agnya, goes above and is now stationed in the Sahastrara, in thoughtless awareness. Then the reality of Sahastrara, the beauty of Sahastrara, starts pouring in your own character, in your own temperament. Unless and until you meditate - not meditate just to get well or just to feel that I was meditating. But meditation is very important, for all of you, that you develop your Sahastrara, in such a manner that you imbibe the beauty of your Sahastrara. If you don't use your Sahastrara in this way, after some time you will find Sahastrara will close down. You will have no vibrations and you will have no understanding of yourself. ... ...

But you will know that you are meditating when you can get into thoughtless awareness, then you will know. Your reaction will be zero. Look at something, you will just look at it. You won’t react, because you are thoughtless. You won’t react. When that reaction is not there, then everything, you will be surprised, is divine, because reaction is your Agnya’s problem. Once you are absolutely thoughtlessly aware, you are one with the divine. So much so that divine takes over every activity, every moment of your life and looks after you and you feel completely secured, one with the divine and enjoy the blessings of the divine. May God bless you!"

Sahaja Yogis should study the whole of this 1998 speech.

Cabella Ligure, Italy, 23rd July, 2000. Guru:

"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. It’s all contained within you. Only thing the Guru does is makes you knowledgeable about your knowledge, about your own spirit. Everyone has the spirit within himself. Everyone has the spirituality within himself. There is nothing that you get from outside. But before getting this knowledge, you are dealing, or you are living in ignorance. In that ignorance, you do not know what treasure you have got within yourself. So, the Guru’s job is to make you know what you are. That is the first step. 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 a full light and some people get it gradually. Essence of all the religions is that you should know yourself."

Cabella Ligure, Italy, 20th August, 2000. Shri Krishna:

"So then you come to Sahaj Yoga and you get your Self-realisation. But what is the purpose of Self-realisation? Is to know God or the Goddess. That is the purpose of Self-realisation. But after getting Self-realisation, what should happen to you? Many of you have lost interest in nonsensical things like drugs and all those things. You have lost interest also in reading useless books. You have lost interest in other habits, like drinking and all that. But that’s not enough. That’s not enough. That would happen in any way. What has to happen, by knowing God, is that why does God want you to know him? Because he wants to see his reflection in you. He wants to see his reflection. That’s why he has created you and he wants to see his reflection in you. Same with the Goddess. She has given you Self-realisation because she wants to see her reflection in you. So, you have to prepare yourself for that reflection, which is so much purer, beautiful, loving, compassionate and, above all, full of wisdom."

Sahaja Yogis should study this encyclopaedic speech. Many important topics. Another extract is here:  Shri Krishna Puja 2000.

Cabella Ligure, Italy, 8th July 2001. Guru:

"So this is the beginning of your Self-realisation, when you realise how important is your Self. You don’t have wrong ideas about yourself. You don’t justify all the wrong things you do because you understand that it’s a blemish on your Self. Face yourself in the most honest manner and you will be amazed to see how nice it is, just to see the pure Self shining within you.

When that Self starts shining, you start seeing many other things, which you have not seen, so far. And one of them you see is that love is not only for yourself but for everyone. It’s a pure love for everyone else. It’s not only for yourself. It’s very surprising. When you really love yourself, then your love is for your Self and you start spreading that love in such a manner that you beautifully love others. You don’t love for money, you don’t love for some advantage, for some power, or for some gain but you love for love because pure love is so joy-giving. It’s so joy-giving that, if there is any such thing that, 'I love somebody because I want to possess that person, because I am something great and if I love somebody then that person should feel absolutely obliged.' All these ideas are absolutely of no avail.

Really, if you love, then you just love. You love everyone. You may say, 'Mother, how can you love a crook?' Need not go his way. Need not be with him. Need not have anything to do with it. But if you have pure love, then he can change, she can change. If they do not, then you don’t bother. Those who come into the ocean of love, those who are really pure, loving people, they are your friends. They are the ones who are needed on this earth. Not the people who are crooks, who cheat you, who try to dominate you. They are not the ones needed. What we need are the people who are completely drenched into the purity of love.

So, from love we go to another point which is purity and the purity is a subject which has been talked about by many people, that you should be pure, you should be absolutely open and people should know everything about you. I don’t think that is purity. Purity is that which purifies others! If you are a pure person, then others will be purified. They have to be purified."

Kalwa, Mumbai, India, 31st December, 2001. New Year:

"So today you all have to take the decision that: What are we doing for Sahaja Yoga? What are we giving Sahaja Yoga? What is our achievement? Are we sharing it with others?

It’s the greatest truth you have got. Nobody got it. People worked so hard, did so much. Nobody could give realisation. It’s only you can give realisation! it’s very surprising. Kabir could not give realisation to anybody. Gyanadeva could not give realisation to anybody. All of them have been great, great Saints of great value systems and with great understanding. Whatever poetry they have given - people are singing, that’s all.

But, they cannot give Self-realisation, which you can do! With all that power, if you are not giving realisation, what’s the use of giving power to someone like that? So today’s New Year’s message is that next year you must give Self-realisation to many people."

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Maturity

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Some important speeches by Shri Mataji. Requiring knowledge and experience. Awareness of any path is not sufficient. In order to be appreciated, it must be walked.  Short Extracts from these speeches:

London, England, 2nd December, 1979. Guru.
London, England, 27th July, 1980. Guru.
London, England, 28th July, 1980. Public Programme.
San Diego, USA, 7th September 1986. Shri Ganesha.
Ischia, Italy, 5th May, 1991. Sahastrara.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 6th June, 1993. Adi Shakti.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 24th July, 1993. Guru.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 24th July, 1994. Guru.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 28th August, 1994. Shri Krishna.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 12th July, 1998. Guru.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 7th May, 2000. Sahastrara.
Canajoharie, USA, 2nd July, 2000. Adi Shakti.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 20th August, 2000. Shri Krishna.
Los Angeles, USA, 29th October, 2000. Diwali.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 3rd June, 2001.  Adi Shakti.
Los Angeles, USA, 3rd November, 2002. Diwali.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 9th May, 2004. Sahastrara.
Cabella Ligure, Italy, 20th July, 2008. Guru.