Makar Sankranti Puja. English part and Marathi part, Rahuri (India), 14 January 1987.

Today is the day where we celebrate the change of the axis of the Sun and that He moves towards the tropic of cancer. Tropic of cancer is the one which represents the motherhood, the motherhood of the earth. This tropic of Cancer has passed through quite a big area of land while the tropic of Capricorn has not. And the area through which it has passed, it has created different beautiful manifestation of the motherhood qualities on this earth. We celebrate this change because the Sun has now moved into the new dimension so that all over the world there will be the warmth of the Sun.
Warmth of the Sun represents the warmth of God’s love. This is the reason why we celebrate this festival by giving you some sort of a sweet made out of sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds are given because they are also heat giving and now as we are coming from the cold, we come to the hot season in a way, hotter season, so to prepare you with that warmth of the Sun these special things are made out of the seed of sesame to represent the oncoming warmth and the warm of the sun.

Though in India the heat is too much, still people are waiting for this time to come in and they celebrate it with such a warm heart. At this time it is said that they give you this sesame seed and the sugar to eat, but now you must speak in a sweet manner, “god god bola” [Marathi] means you must speak in the sweet manner.

Speaking in the sweet manner is very important. Some people think it is smart to speak in a rude manner or is very intelligent to be sharp on people, but no one likes this kind of a personality. You may be intelligent, you may be very sharp or smart, maybe on a television people may like to see you, but not as companions, as friends.

To speak in a very sweet manner is a sign of good breeding, good culture and fear of God. Those who fear God will never speak rudely to another person, because in another person also the same Spirit is shining and why should we be sharp or angry with another person who is created by God Almighty as we are created.

So, this loving, beautiful relationship that we have with each other, after Sahaja Yoga especially, let us express in talking to each other sweetly. There are so many ways by which we could be sweet. There are little, little things if you do, you can create lot of sweetness, but you need not a sharp tongue, but a sharp memory. I try these things many a times.

Once, one of the Sahaja Yogi, who is a very good Sahaja Yogi and an active Sahaja Yogi, was going in the car with Me and his knife was stolen by the driver or somebody and he got very angry with the driver. I said, “Forget it, you see, he is an poor man, so he has taken it away, doesn’t matter, just forget it.” He says, “No, it was because it’s a present to me from somebody who was in Switzerland and it’s a Swiss knife, which I was keeping with me. So I feel sorry that I have lost it.” When I went to Switzerland I bought that kind of a same knife for him. When I came and I gave him, he didn’t have words to say, anything. He said, “Mother, how did You remember? After such a long time, how did you manage to get this knife?” I said, “I have a very good memory. That’s the trouble with Me.” [Shri Mataji laughs]
The memory is so good that sometimes, I just don’t know, I may embarrass some people with My memory. It is that good, I don’t forget anything whatsoever. I, of course, forget all the bad things, because no use remembering bad things. [Laughs] No use thinking of that. Because of forgiveness you can always forget the bad things. And if you remember the good things, your joy becomes multiplied. If you try to remember something bad, then your joy goes down. Every time you see a person try to remember what good that person has done to you. What good that person has. If you have memory for good things you will have a very nice time.

Now today is the day when you are all leaving India. Some of you will be leaving day after tomorrow. Whatever it is, I have to tell you one thing, that, whatever was possible has been done here for you people, to give you joy and happiness. Now when you are going back, try to remember all that was said to you, all that was nice, how people praised you, how they loved you, how they were kind to you, how you met some nice people, what nice experiences you had.
But don’t brood over things which are worthless. All right, somebody must have said something harsh to you or you might have said something harsh to someone, just forget it. Try to understand that you are spoiling your chances of enjoying life, nobody is hurt by that. So try to be extremely happy that you have met so many people, that you have had weddings, that you have seen so many weddings, we have had a nice time and every bit of it was full of joyous vibrations.
Of course, today some of you would be a little unhappy – I can understand that – because your spouses are leaving, somebody’s husbands are going away or somebody’s wives are going away. So I can see some of them are looking rather miserable about it. [Big laughs]
But that’s a good thing, because it is out of love and out of attraction for each other, for enjoying the company of each other. It’s suggestive of something very good to Me. But still I would say that, after all, you are going to meet each other and remember all the good things that you have said to each other, you have enjoyed with each other and try to keep happy. Because these days will pass very fast.
In Sahaja Yoga you just forget time, everything, the time passes so fast and all these things will pass over and you will be again united with your husbands or wives, whatever may be the case. So there is nothing to feel very sad about all these things, and to keep smiling and laughing, so when they are departing also, they should not feel, see your last face full of tears but- [Laughs] but remember the face of assurance and courage, that the hope is there, we are going to meet very soon and there is nothing to feel very sad about it.
Today is the day to make joy and to enjoy everything and to feel the blessings of God all around us. The Sun has come back in His own glory and we have to wish Him all success in the coming year, because in this part of Maharashtra as you know, there has been no rain, there have been problems with them and we have to wish Him success so that He can bring forth the rain and all that is needed out of this solar energy that we have in this country.

And you have to be beaming like the Sun when you go back to your countries. That your countries are not so hot as ours are, neither you have that much of warmth there, and you can find that why people are so warm and so much loving: because we have the Sun with us. Now you carry the Sun with you and you give them love and affection and warmth, and let them feel that the Sun has been brought from India by you.
Whenever I have travelled anywhere, in any country, the Sun used to be there very bright, so they said that, there is a saying that, when the Indians travel they carry the Sun with them. Of course you can’t carry the Sun in your pockets but we must be carrying it in our hearts, the Sun. That must be the reason that’s why the Sun was shining so well and everybody came out with their good dresses and everything, were enjoying. So this is what it is, that you have to carry the Sun with you, speaking sweetly today and forever to each other to be friendly, to be helpful, to be kind because you are Yogis, you are not ordinary people.
You are Yogis you represent that category of people who are known for their righteousness, for their goodness and for their compassion and love. So I wish you all best of luck. Enjoy your journeys, enjoy everything and pass this joy that you have achieved here, to other people, to other Sahaj Yogis and to other people who are not even Sahaja Yogis.
May God bless you with that.

[Shri Mataji speaks now in Marathi]

Today is an auspicious day and on this day we give sesame seeds to others and ask them to talk sweetly. We tell others but it would be better if we tell it to ourselves also because it is easier to tell others to talk sweetly but: “I’ll talk harshly.”

With this habit of ours ... (inaudible) ... we have created wrong ideas about ourselves. We do not have any idea of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. God has given such a lot of blessings to us in this country.

But in this country people do not care much for cleanliness. In this country there are different types of germs and parasites. I feel that we have all the parasites of the whole world in this country. We even have parasites which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. If these parasites go to the other countries they will die. Because of the cold they cannot survive. Due to the sun, there are so many parasites in this country.

Once a scientist asked Me, “How is it possible to remain alive with so many parasites present in your country?”

I replied that “In this country, the people are not only alive but live with joy and happiness, with a lot of bliss and happiness.” The reason for this is the sun. The sun has taught us to keep our homes open and also open our hearts.

In England, if you have to go out somewhere then you have to spend at least fifteen minutes just to put on the right clothes. It’s as if you are wearing a shield before going out, otherwise, you might catch a cold and affect your head. This is the situation there. Today you are sitting here in the open but we cannot sit like this in England or in any other Western country. Because of the weather, these countries have become very cold.

Even in our country there are areas (city), for example, if you go to cities like Bhowali or the other side of Nainital and Dehradun and very close to the Himalayas, then you can find the cold weather as in the other countries. There, it is also cold like in England and America. But in these cold countries not even birds or insects can survive. There are a lot of forests with beautiful flowers in them. They call it a valley of flowers. There are so many beautiful flowers – as if it is a paradise on earth – but this feeling is only for a moment. It is so cold there that we cannot even open our eyes to see that beautiful place. We have to wear spectacles otherwise our eyes are hurt, because of the cold.

But in spite of the cold, those countries have progressed so much. They have fought against the nature and the cold climate and strengthened their countries. In spite of having a lot of sun, we have not been able to exploit its advantages. We can also produce solar energy. If we use the solar energy we will never have a dearth of (electrical) energy. Even the cars can run on solar energy. But the attention of the politicians here in India is elsewhere and due to this fact, we cannot exploit the advantages from the sun but suffer from it. If we do not go to the extremes then we can do a lot of work.

The main thing which we can learn from the sun is its capacity of giving. It always gives. It does not take anything but always gives. Due to this tremendous giving power of the sun we can have rain, we can have crops and living beings. If we did not have the sun then we would not have anything. It is due to the giving power of love of the sun only, that we have been able to reach this state. Thus what we have to learn from the sun is that we should also develop the power of giving. If we look around us we will find people who will always think, “How I can save money and keep it for myself?”

Even if I give money for some programs, some people still think how they can save money from that also. Even if I have given them some money to spend they always have a tendency to save money from everything.

Why? Because there is a tendency to hold on to something. If someone goes to the market and they find that prices have risen, and if we ask, “Why?”they reply that “Because the others have increased the prices, that’s why I also increase the price.” If the (cost) prices of the commodities are not rising then why do they raise the (selling) price? They have always a tendency to suck the energy of others.

Even if I want to make a small ceremony for a festive occasion, then others tell Me, “Shri Mataji you will not be able to succeed.” When I ask, “Why?” the reply is that people are corrupt and they will eat (grab) money. As I eat the food they eat money, so maybe we will not get along together.

It is such an absurd thing. Those who are responsible for the country’s welfare, those who are the administrators and those on whom the power has been bestowed by God, even they do not understand that we have to give. This quality of giving one has to learn from the sun: that we have come (on this earth) to give and not to take. This complete change from within has to be reached with an understanding that we have to give and not to take. We have to have the passion of giving. It’s as if when a mother knows that “Today my son is coming,” then with passion she thinks, “What can I do for him, what food can I cook for him?” This is the passion which a mother has. Even if she doesn’t have the ingredients, she might borrow them from the neighbors and prepare some sweets for you. She always feel that she has not done enough.

Unless and until we have this kind of collective passion from inside and have this kind of feeling about others, no country can progress, neither our own nor other countries. But we always have the urge to take things from others, to plunder from others, to borrow from others or to deceive others.

Because of this urge our children will suffer, we will suffer and we will not be able to achieve anything in this country. In My in-law’s village (inaudible)...to build a lake. The government gave them money in thousands for the purpose. But the lake was never built. They said that they had dug a hole to make a lake but then they covered it again since they did not find any water.

But in fact the hole was never dug. So where did the money go? They sent it to Switzerland (bank). So the banks will again borrow from Switzerland and send the money again to Switzerland. If the sun acts in this way then we cannot survive even for one day. If he alone eats (consumes) everything, what can we eat?

Today we are celebrating the SANKRANTI. Sankranti means a sort of Kranti (revolution) by which we acquire the habit of giving. Everybody says that we should have the habit of giving but most of the people believe in donating something to the priest. Also, many people preach the art of giving just to fill their own pockets. This doesn’t have any meaning. There is always a question of whom to give and why to give. In fact, in all liberty and freedom, we should see for ourselves what we are giving for our country, for our brothers and sisters and our neighbors. We should not be selfish, but give with all our heart so that we get all the joy of giving. When we give with all our heart, the joy that we get cannot be compared with any other joy.

If we want to feel this kind of joy only, then we should celebrate the SANKRANTI today. Our nature should become like the sun. Whatever he is doing, he doesn’t have the feeling that he is doing something. He is doing everything in AKARMA (without the feeling of doing anything) and constantly burning himself and giving you joy, light, the essence of living, and he nourishes you.

We see the sun every day and many people do Namaskar also, but we only do Namaskar without imbibing his qualities of giving.

I told you a very small thing: that every Sahaja yogi should plant a banyan tree in his garden. Why do we have to take money from the government for this purpose? Just to plant a tree and put a fence around that tree doesn’t need much money. Even to smoke bidi (tobacco) costs more.

Try to do this small thing so that others should see that you are at least doing something. In spite of this we always think how we can get money from others, how we can plunder others and how we can save money at others cost.

Because of these tendencies within us, our country can never progress.

We did not have these tendencies before in people, in the earlier days. I can tell you that when I was young I saw people who believed only in giving and never in taking. I saw them giving only, they did not like taking. Even the parents did not like it if the children took something from others and would tell them to return it. I still remember in My father’s house they had made some chairs and also an umbrella, out of silver. Everybody asked, “Why did you make these out of silver?”

So the reply was, “When we have marriage ceremonies, instead of borrowing or hiring them, it would be better that we have them with us once and for all, because if we had to hire then sometimes we did not get them in time because the earlier person who had borrowed had not returned them. And sometimes these umbrellas were lost because someone had never returned them and so they got lost.”

So what I wanted to say is that if we have money, we should invest it into something collective. If you want to construct a badminton court, then in that court everybody should be able to come and play and we should not say that only my children should play in that court.

If somebody buys a car, we should be able to take all the children to school.

Thus we should buy a big car so that all the children can be taken to school.

This habit of being collective and being useful to everybody, one should learn from the sun. And today is a special day when we can learn this thing from the sun. And we should take a vow that “I’ll do something which is collective.”

I do not understand how people can eat without caring for the common public. You do not even worry about your neighbors and do not do anything for the common people. I told you a very small thing is to plant a tree. We have got so many yogis in Maharashtra, even if each one plants one tree and looks after it, this will be certainly helpful to everybody.

Thus I request all of you to do something collective and it will be useful to everybody. But one should never think how much will I earn from it and make money out of it. It should not happen like the way we give money to the priest. One should open his heart and lovingly do something for the collective and feel the joy out of it. One should make it a habit.

I do not want to say that others should have everything for free. I never said that you do something for free for the people who have come from abroad. If you look at them you will see that they have brought so many things for you from abroad to give you as presents. Of course, I have contributed a lot. But they have also brought a lot of things of their own. When I saw the presents here, I thought that they were the presents which I had bought in Rome for you but then they told Me that these were the presents which they bought themselves and they had not brought My presents. They felt such a lot of joy to bring so many things for you. They do not even know in Italy to whom these presents were to be given but they do not bother. They leave it to Me to give them to the Sahaja yogis here in India.

But in India, we have a tendency to think only about our children and about our mother. Then the mother comes walking, limping on one leg. Then you start saying that “My mother did not get a high quality sari.” Since I do not have one I give her a simple sari. This is the tendency here. But with the people from abroad, it is just the opposite. When they came here they came with so many presents it seems they brought two tons of presents from abroad. Even My hands starting paining while giving these two tons of presents.

What I want to say is that they do not expect anything from you. But your behavior should be such as to show an example for them. And you should show them that you are in no way inferior to them, “We are here really to serve you, to welcome you, whatever is possible from our side we do not hesitate to do.” It doesn’t cost any money nor any hard work. The only thing is that we should change our outlook.

If even after coming in Sahaja Yoga we are not able to change our nature in this manner then I do not feel that we can change the entire humanity with Sahaja Yoga. The biggest quality in us is to give to others. And this quality we should imbibe within us.

In Sahaja yoga your Kundalini is awakened and you realize your spirit but the essence of spirit is like that of the sun and this essence is of giving. If you have seen one photograph of Mine, there is the sun shining on My heart; in fact there is a sun in My heart and because of this I never feel that I should take something from them or to plunder anybody. I do not understand from which part of your head this idea of plundering them comes from. This is a very strange behavior. Sahaja yogis should not think in this way but on the contrary every day we must think what we can give or do for others.

In Rahuri itself I have started an organization whose name is “SAHAJ STREE SUDHAR” or “SAMAJSUDHAR” (association for the welfare of women). Through Life Eternal Trust we cannot use the money for the welfare of the women thus we had to create this organization. This organization has been registered and people from Canada and elsewhere are ready to donate to it but here I do not find anybody to work for this organization.

If the local women take it upon themselves to work for this organization only then it will succeed. We have acquired land and all the facilities but we do not find time to devote for this organization. So how can we go to this place?

But one should remember that people are coming from abroad with the money to donate for your organization. They have brought fourteen machines for the women here. You can see women loitering about without doing anything. You can ask them to work so that they can earn something out of it. And they can prosper. At least these things we should try to think about. Instead of that we always think about ourselves. So the persons who are in Sahaja Yoga should know that this selfish attitude is not accepted in Sahaja Yoga. We should think in terms of global advantage. The lives (Vibhouti) of saint are for the salvation of the world. And also for the salvation of saint lives, this world exists. Thus the saints will be blessed by this attitude... (VIBHOUTI means Ashes with which Shiva is decorated).

Now you have become saints you should behave like saints and the first quality of a saint is giving. You have never heard of a saint plundering anybody. If a saint thinks of cheating he does not remain a saint. Thus from our side we should always think how much we can give and what we can give, how much love we can give. And how many people we can help. All our attention should be for this purpose.

Nowadays there are welfare associations just for election purposes. We should not create any such type of welfare association. But we should create associations in which we can work selflessly and our love should be NIRVAJYA (selfless) and we should not expect anything in return.

And there are no limits for our love, it is an endless love. When we have this kind of love automatically we will know what is to be done. The improvements should be done gradually and every Sahaja yogi should contribute to this collective welfare.

We should try to devote our time for this purpose and work hard to achieve our goals. It should not happen that “Shri Mataji has come, She gives a talk, and when She goes everything is finished.” These people (from abroad) have done a lot. They have started schools and social welfare. We should also start something in this manner.

Sahaja Yoga should not become an association of people who have realized the spirit and are swimming in the joy but are lazy lumps. It should not happen this way. We should try to see how we can help others. We should open our eyes to look around us with love and try to see how we can help others.

Still I have not been able to move to India. Once I come back to India you will see that I will make everyone work. Thus it is advisable to start working before I come.

Sahaja Yoga is not meant only for sitting and meditating. For meditating why do you need Sahaja Yoga? You can go the Himalayas. If you want to stay here and be in Sahaja Yoga then the common people should be helped by Sahaja Yoga. But Sahaja Yoga should not become like these modern welfare organizations. We should try to achieve our goals with full sincerity and only then we can say that we have established Sahaja Yoga.

Now I heard a lot of praise for Me. I heard the songs and they gave Me a lot of Joy and satisfaction that people have recognized Me. But you should remember one thing – you should work in order to know yourself because you cannot see yourself in the mirror.

You should be able to see what you have achieved, like in the earlier days you used to look after your household, your children. In the same manner, if you are not able to work for the collective, then in My opinion, you have not achieved anything through Sahaja Yoga. You have remained where you were, you have not progressed at all.

Next year when I come, you should be able to tell Me how many banyan trees you have planted. Secondly, you should be able to tell Me what collective or social work you have done. If you try to look around you will definitely be able to see some collective work which you can do and you should do. I’m sure you will be able to do it very well.

It doesn’t need any money – only you have to decide within your heart. When I started Sahaja Yoga, at that time I’d given realization to one lady only and I started without any money. I did not have support from anybody but even then I started Sahaja Yoga. But because of honesty of the work and the consistency, it has spread so much. Now each one of you, man or woman, you have the responsibility that when you will introduce Sahaja Yoga to the general public, you will be able to give them some proof of the general well-being. You need not break any law for this. You need not do anything wrong nor need you do anything unlawful. In a very simple way if you just open your eyes you will be able to see what you can do for the general welfare of the people, how you can help the wellbeing of the people. And I’m here to give you all the strength and energy to do this work. We do not need any vote nor any money or anything else. You should give you Me a promise that without expecting anything in return you will start working for the welfare of the people.

Sometimes, it might so happen that when people start some welfare work they go round asking for funds. This is wrong. We should not ask for money in the beginning. First you should start some work which does not need money. Everyone feels that without money we cannot do anything. You have got the powers so why do you need money? If somebody is sick or not well in your neighbourhood then you can go and visit him and try to soothe that person.

Instead of that, what I see is that you bring the sick person to Me. The other day, someone brought an injured person to Me. He had a broken arm. A Sahaja yogi could have treated him in two minutes and made him well but instead of that, they brought him to Me and that too right in the middle of a public program and asked Me to treat his arm. You are so many and all the powers are flowing through your hands but still you do not use them. If you are not able to treat even these small ailments what is the use of you being a Sahaja yogi?

Someone says, "My mother is sick, my father has broken his leg.” Instead of bringing them to Me you can easily treat them. You do have the powers, try to use them.

Thus you should be able to help the people without expecting anything in return and with full Joy. You will be able to feel a lot of joy when you have the feeling that you do not do anything but you are just an instrument of God and you are living in this world, in this country and you are giving something special to them. It is such a big thing, such a big understanding.

With such a feeling, if all of you decide to work, then, you will be able to do something for others and other people will see what Sahaja Yoga is. Now people think what is Sahaja Yoga – just everybody meditating together and that’s all. Even if there is some problem in the country Sahaja yogis are just sitting in meditation. One man came and told Me, “My wife doesn’t cook.” I asked, “Why?” He said, “She just meditates.” So I said, “Is it so? But who told her that?”

First she should cook, for meditation even five minutes are sufficient. I have given you the power and the energy to cook well.

Thus, one should have the confidence that you are capable of work. I am giving you the powers, you can assimilate them. If you just meditate every day it is not sufficient. You have to see what wellbeing you are giving to the others. But instead of that, you always think about your own wellbeing and come and ask Me to treat your son, your father, your mother, or ask that you should get a good job. And you want that I should also come to your house to eat, do this, do that. This way, you try to impose your will upon Me but about you, what can you do? You should always remember that you have to do something. “I will show Shri Mataji what I’m capable of, to do something special.” We should decide this once and for all.

I have an image in front of My eyes as Shri Gyaneshwara has said "Bolte piyushanche sagar." [Words or sayings are like the oceans of nectar] Where is it? I want to see it.

Thus, on this auspicious day, I give you all My sweet blessings that you will help everyone and look after their wellbeing and you will treat everyone with love and you will talk sweetly, full of love.
[Applause]

M. Dhumal: Everybody should put hands like this to give a promise to Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji, we will keep ourselves bound by the promise to your today’s blessings (sayings also) and your love. Keep the hands one minute and give the promise to Shri Mataji.
Shri Mataji [in English]: He is saying you should put your hands like this to say that we are bound by Mother’s words. And we’ll try to do good to others and we’ll be very kind to each other.
M. Dhumal: On this auspicious Sankranti day, everyone should by heart give promise to Shri Mataji.
Shri Mataji [in English]: I’ve been telling them that we have to be collective not among only Sahaja Yogis but with others also. We should see what’s around us, what’s wrong where, how we can help.
We have many social obligations which we have to fulfil. Now you have reached the stage where you can do that without forming any social organization which collects money and have sales and things, that kind of a nonsense. But you can see around yourself who are the needy, who you can help. And that is how you can really give a very positive form to Sahaja Yoga.

James, can you come here? And Guido.

One but one all the leaders can come and pour water on My feet. We can all come (?) here. There’s no room here, but one by one they can come.

I'll be giving this water to all of you, all the leaders and also Charanamrut you can take it. This water is very good for all diseases of the Mooladhara chakra.