Adi Shakti Puja. Nirmal Nagari, Canajoharie, NY (USA), 2 July 2000. Today we have come here to do the Adi Shakti Puja.I have already told you about the Adi Shakti, how She had to work out so many things in this world —first to create and then to create human beings through evolutionary process. After that, to comfort. Then to counsel.So many people here came on this Earth just to do the counselling. They told what was wrong, what was right, what should we do, what we should not do, what is self-respect and what is the duty of a human being as a superior-most creature. So many of Them came on this Earth. One after another, in every country, They came and Their counselling formed religions. Of course, you see the mess of the religions and that’s how Their life was wasted, that They formed religions after religions, by which only human beings were divided, divided to such an extent they hate each other. Hateful, somebody’s born in an X religion, he hates the person who follows the Y religion. While Those who came as counsellors talked about complete unity, complete oneness of human race, despite that, human brain, in its freedom, did all kinds of wrong things and created a country or, you can say the whole world, full of lots of problems arising out of religion. How can it be that religion makes you hate somebody? Religion is there to understand love, imbibe love and compassion.So the third thing one had to do is the Adi Shakti’s job, that is the one Kundalini within us. And, by the awakening, we got pure knowledge, absolute knowledge, pure knowledge that it cannot be challenged. Absolute it is! Whatever you know after Realization is absolute. If you know that, then what you have to understand, that everything has to be united. You cannot have fights and you cannot hate anyone. If that thing starts happening, all the problems of the world will be finished. So the first thing, redemption, that is the quality of the Adi Shakti, was to redeem people of their all wrong ideas about others. Firstly, as we know, there are six enemies we have got. And unless and until we can conquer those six enemies, we cannot be a religious person. That is what is said, but actually the all religions are based only on prospering those six enemies that we have within ourselves.When you see this clearly, you start seeking, you start seeking, seeking earnest truth, the Truth. And the revelation of truth, absolute truth, can only come through your evolution, through your reformation that you become person who knows the Truth. For that, Adi Shakti’s ascent is important within you, which is your Kundalini. And when this thing takes place, automatically you drop all those six enemies that you have. You become a beautiful human being. Like lotus, when it is in the very germinating state, it looks like all other small animals, or small, you can say, very, very, small dirty things that are in the pond. And then, once it starts coming out, coming out of that horrible water, it becomes such a beautiful flower, rises up and opens out. In the same way, a Sahaja Yogi, though he lives along with all these horrible things that are going on, but flowers like a lotus. It doesn’t have all these insects, all this dirt and filth of that water in which it lives. It sucks only the pure water and the remnant, the others remain there as it is. So what is left within you is nothing but purity, beauty and fragrance, just like a lotus. Then there is no more the problem of getting attacked by all of these small, small creatures in the water or all the dirty things that are in the water. And this state that you have achieved now, I’m very happy to see so many people in America have achieved it. You see, it’s a very great blessing, because America is the leading country in so many ways. One can say that it has made lots of money. That is not the criteria of becoming a very good Sahaja Yogi. What you get is the satisfaction, satisfaction that you enjoy whatever you have and whatever others have. And the second thing that happens to you, you become absolutely collective. This has to happen. But I find still people have not understood the meaning of collectivity. For example, family is very, very weak here. Family that has been created by natural relationships is not so much respected as it should have. It’s all because, based on money, so people start quarrelling, fighting and even killing each other.Now the basis of family is love and compassion. Those who do not have this cannot have good families. I’ve seen even among Sahaja Yogis sometimes, some people who are working for money, who are educated, sometimes look down upon people who are not so well off. Or maybe the housewives who are working in the house, looking after the children, building up the families are not treated with respect as some secretary in some organization. I don’t know why this kind of a manliness comes into women. Why should they think they are something higher than the women who are working hard in the household, cooking, looking after children, bearing all the brunt of the society. This is something, I feel, is a part which is lacking very much in America and also Western countries.When money becomes important, if when money is important, then the Lakshmi principle is not respected. Very surprising. Money is the part which is the blessing of the Lakshmi, but the Gruha Lakshmi is the one who is a householder, is not respected. And with this, I tell you, there’s a... very, very wrong things can happen. You can work, you can be educated, but you should be able to look after your family and look after their comfort and look after their unity. Instead of that, educated women, I call them manly women, educated women think that they are something higher, they are sadly mistaken. In no way, a man is higher than a woman. So this kind of a disparity that exists and one starts thinking that: “We are earning. We are educated” are really manly women, I must say. But the women who work very hard in a household with love, look after the children, look after the family, are in no way less than these people who are working in the office. So, such women must be respected by their husbands, by the men, members of the family — not only that, but all the Sahaja Yogis must respect such women, who are doing such a difficult task. I’ve been a housewife and I know what it is to run the house, to look after the children, to look after the complete organization and looking after the expenditure of the money, if that is limited. This ego has to go. The other day, one lady, she came in interview and asked Me that: “How is it, in this world of men, you are so much respected?” World of men —I was really laughing. “You may think this is the world of men, I can’t understand. Can they exist without women?” But I was amazed at her question because she said that: “Even in the jail, criminals are so much respectful, how is it possible? How can they have so much respect for a women?” I said: “I can’t understand one thing, that criminals have got mothers or not?” They are all males, don’t they have a mother? They all have a mother and they respect the mother.That’s the point one should know, that woman is a much more important thing than the man is, as far as the children are concerned. But I’ve seen even some ladies, who think they are very capable, try to control everything and create problems. And mother’s job is not to control. Her job is to love, to give compassion and this is the quality of women is lost in these Western, so-called advanced,It is a very dangerous thing. I personally think that, if such a thing happens, families will be destroyed. Nobody will have respect for the lady who looks after the family. And she is more than a prime minister, I would say, in a family and she’s to be respected and to be understood. Today, I think it is important to say that all of you should understand the value of women who are housewives. It’s a tremendous job to be a housewife. I have gone through it and I know what it is. If the respect for the housewife is not given... She will also look after the children. Children are tomorrow’s citizens. Who will groom them? Who will bring them up? All those manly women don’t also have children sometimes, so they don’t know what is the problem of children. At least those who are solving the problem of their children, you must understand their responsibility. You see, the very, very crucial point on which all the Western societies are collapsing, because in their culture there is no place for the mother. So, the women should not feel in any way less if they are mothers and looking after the household. They should not feel inferior to anybody who thinks that they are something great. Basically, the families have to be good. This collectivity must work first in the family. The children are to be groomed properly. They are to be brought up in a proper way.As it is, in these days, you know what is happening to the children. When I read about it, I’m really shocked that children are just treated as if they’re some unwanted stuff. They are not given any attention. Ultimately, the children become drug addicts, they become vagabonds or anything. They can become anything, because there’s so much, so much neglect and so much of hatred for children.So one has to first remember that, for collectivity, you must look after your children. Not only that, with love and compassion, not as somebody who is trying to become a despot out of it, but a person who is a source, who is a source of joy and compassion. In one of My lectures, I talked to you about the emotional intelligence. That is what we should try to imbibe. Emotional intelligence, that means the intelligence that is based on emotions. Unless and until we become emotionally intelligent, our society cannot work. In an emotional intelligence, you care and you enjoy caring. You do everything for others with a great emotional understanding. Not for one child, not for one son, but for everyone you have to be emotionally intelligent. Some children are born like this, but some are to be made like that, that they should be emotionally intelligent. Because, if the mother and father are money-oriented, very selfish, they wouldn’t allow their child to give anything to others. So such a child will grow into a very funny type of a person and will never do anything for anybody, not even for his own country. Why should he? Everything for selfishness. Then such people indulge into corruption, indulge into all kinds of things, which are only selfish in attitude.Now we are talking of collectivity. In collectivity, we do for others. We enjoy doing for others. We love giving things to others, not for yourself, because your children will also become the same kind and they will only bother about themselves.This emotional intelligence has to be brought in our life. In our pattern that we have, are we emotionally intelligent or we are just intelligent or emotional? Both things are wrong.If you are just intelligent, you can become very dry person. You may just have few friends maybe, you may not have and you will always try to preserve yourself away from the collectivity.And if you are emotional, you’ll be attached to only one person, attached to one child, attached to one person, to someone, even in the society. For no rhyme or reason. Why? Why are you attached to one person? Why you bothered about one person only? All such people fall into such terrible play. In the politics you have seen now, people try to help their own sons and own daughters and this and that. And we Indians have suffered a lot with this kind of an emotional attachment. So, according to ethics, emotional intelligence is the highest quality, by which you give to others, you care for others, for everyone and you become very, very collective.Now exclusiveness is another fashion that’s very miserable, it’s exclusive. because you don’t want to be one of the multitudes. You want to be exclusive. You should be exclusive in emotional intelligence, not on other things. That is the best thing that you can have.As I agree, I am just a woman and just a mother, but what I have is really the emotional intelligence, ocean of it, and from that I know about everyone, I understand about everyone. And all this work has been done because of that quality in My head. I’m not attached to one person or to one style. Whatever you say, I can understand, because I am at a level where I can understand everything that you are doing.To achieve that, you try to develop emotional intelligence. Here the children won’t even give a toy to somebody to play with. Even the mother is like that, the father is like that, extremely selfish and: “We must have our own, you see, everything should be our own.” This has to go. This has to go, from Americans especially, because they are the leading nation in this kind of selfishness. What selfishness they have done, I need not count, but you know that. You go and ask the people of Canada, Mexico, Peru, all this, they will tell you. Being selfish, they are not ashamed. They are exploiters, they are not ashamed. Nobody can even tell them, because they think they are very rich people. But all these riches will not give them the joy of life.Joy of life is only in the emotional intelligence. If you don’t have that, it becomes very dry. Life becomes very odd, unbearable, horrible and even the family gets broken, if there is no emotional intelligence in the family.I have known so many women who have had three marriages, five marriages. I don’t know how they can do it. But they’ve done because of this lack of emotional intelligence. It is something that is a sense of giving. It is not that you are sacrificing anything, no! That’s also another idea, that we are to bear this —nothing of the kind. Look at the life of Christ, He gave His life. Why? What was the need for Him to do that? Behind Him was the Truth.When you have the Truth with you, the light of the Truth, the source of the Truth, the strength of the Truth, you become emotionally intelligent. You understand that, if you really love something, then you have to undergo every kind of trouble. You have to tolerate lot of nonsense.I know it’s too much to say, but I thought that, for this special Puja, I should say something about the family life. In our ashrams or in our programs or wherever we are, we should remember this point, that: “Are we having that emotional intelligence when we are trying to talk among Sahaja Yoga?” Why do I need to be every place to tell them? What is the need? You can tell them. If you have that emotional intelligence, everybody will listen to you. Why not? Not necessary I should go everywhere and talk to them. How many countries can I do? And the reaction to it is so beautiful and so nice. It’s very surprising. Like in a country like Benin country, all Muslims there, all black people, they all have become Sahaja Yogis. Nine thousand. How could I capture that? Just think of that. Nine thousand people come to you! Then also other countries I have seen. Just this is the power of emotional intelligence that captures the heart of the people. You may have any amount of property, money, everything, people will abhor you. Alright. So you may say: “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with this?” That you are harming the greatest thing, is the human being. And the politicians they are horrible, as they say. Why? Because they have no emotional intelligence. Also as administrators, they are very much difficult, because they have no emotional intelligence. All these people are devoid of that great quality of emotional intelligence. If your country is very progressive, I must say, you must progress in emotional intelligence.That way, they have philanthropists, I know. Americans are known to be philanthropists. But behind that is they want to have power. They want to rule people with that money. It’s not emotional intelligence, it’s they just want to rule. If they start some sort of a charity, that is just to have a big name on the television, or to have a very great advertisement about, “Oh, him!” and then he moves like a tycoon all over. Wee part of their own money, wee part of their property, work it out and make such a fuss about it, because they want to cash everything...You are Sahaja Yogis. You have to send waves of emotional intelligence. You have to send love to all over the world. You have to show how you can, with love, win over. It is also possible, if you are not so attached. If you are not attached, say to your country only— now this is a bigger issue — then you will try to exploit other countries, take advantage of them, try to run them down. But if you are emotionally attached to your country, then you’ll bring good name to your country by doing real good work.I don’t know why people do not know how to discriminate. Why are they so selfish, trying to bring them up, trying to do all the good things for themselves? There is a very great chance for all of you to get this within your reach, because you are all Sahaja Yogis. You have become like lotuses. And the lotus has the fragrance which spreads all over and, days together it stays in the water, in that dirty water, and it spreads the fragrance. With that fragrance also, you can do lots of things, that the bees come there, they sleep in that beautiful house of the lotus and in the night it closes down very carefully. All kinds of things that come from the flower to take the beauty of that flower, you can say, because you can extract also the essence of that, which has fragrance. You can also get some honey out of that. Whatever is possible, everybody comes to that flower. That doesn’t mean that flower in any way is weak, but that’s its quality, that’s its strength, that’s its understanding. That’s what you are.You are all made into lotuses. You are not made into some sort of creeps or some sort of stupid donkeys, no! You are the people who are to give fragrance of your love, fragrance of your compassion to others. And you should feel happy about it. That doesn’t mean that you give up this, give up that. Nothing of the kind. But it means that, whatever you have, whatever is your possibility, capability, you must try to do for others, give it to them. And the more you do in this collectivity... That’s what is very important, at least for America, because everybody is trying to follow America, money-making business, this business, that thing. But you are all Sahaja Yogis, so what you have to do is take advantage of your achievement and give this to others, give Realisation to others. Many people who get Realisation don’t even bother about it. They just don’t go and spread Sahaja Yoga. They are not bothered about it. Which is sometimes very shocking to Me, because what was the need for Me to go around the whole world with all the mad people living, and talking to them about Sahaja Yoga?In the same way, you should also feel now that: “We have to do this work, we have to change the world. We have to get them into Sahaja Yoga.” Why can’t we? We are so many people. Christ had only twelve disciples, and how much they spread Christianity! What about you people? You are so well equipped, you have so much of knowledge, absolute knowledge and experience. So if you have the experience and the knowledge, you can capture the people. But there is some sort of a lurking ambition, which goes against, against the culture of Sahaja Yoga. You want to be leader, or you want to put down somebody, or you think no end of yourself. That’s no good. And also they do Sahaja Yoga or spread Sahaja Yoga because they want to enhance themselves. This is not the way. The way is a complete surrendering, complete surrender to the work of Sahaja Yoga. It’s possible, it’s not difficult at all, as I’m telling you. It’s very, very simple. Only thing, you should understand that you have a special place in the whole universe today. You are not to rot. You are not to waste your life.We have started marriages, and in America also they said. I said: “Alright, we’ll have marriages.” But these marriages, what is the outcome? If they are like all other ordinary marriages, what’s the use? What are they doing for others? What sort of children they are producing? You have to see to it that you become married couples in Sahaja Yoga. Your family should be a different type, your love for your family should be of a different type. The whole family of Sahaja Yoga also is your family. So, for everyone, you must have compassion and love. I know some people grow very fast, but some don’t, because they lack this balance between emotion and intelligence. This balance has to be completely established. And I know, one day, this America will lead so many people, so many people, thousands, in Sahaja Yoga.So far, whatever was wrong was adopted: drug addiction starts, then another thing starts. All kinds of nonsensical things started in this country. Why?Now, the new lotuses that are there, they have to change the atmosphere of this lake, where all kinds of dirty things are coming up, immoral things are coming up, ruining the whole world. So, in our general attitude also, we should try to see: “Are we really following? Are we really doing what is to be done? What are we doing for morality?” That’s a very important point in Sahaja Yoga, how you dress, how you walk, how you talk, everything’s very important, and all other things that you have, you should try. How to create, and all these things of different, different Chakras, you should try to concentrate on them and see for yourself what are you doing? What are you making out of your life? You are Sahaja Yogis. You are special people. You are not ordinary. I want to tell you that you should have self-esteem. Try to understand what is your quality, what are you. Thank you very much. May God bless you!