Birthday Puja. New Delhi (India), 20 March 1995. Translation from Hindi What can one say on one’s own Birthday. That which I have never dreamed possible, has happened here today. So many of you have come into Sahaja Yoga and are sitting here today in front of Me. What better Birthday can there be for a Mother. You have received your self realisation. So this is also your Birthday. You have prepared yourselves for a great happening, and such a great event has never happened before. You are the functionaries, who will manage this great job. What greater cause for joy can I have. I never imagined that in My lifetime I will see before Me, such a large number of realised souls, and that I will experience the greatest joy and happiness. The speciality of the present, prevailing conditions, is that the world is that human beings are spinning in an atmosphere of illusion and confusion. When we turn our attention to the other countries outside, we see that they have completely lost their moorings. There is no meaning in morality, ethical character or standards. It is considered brave and courageous to aggress others. And their destination is directly to hell. And it seems impossible to stop their progress towards their destruction. But even among them, there were gems who realised what a meaningless existence they were living. On the other hand we can see that fanatics created very difficult conditions for human beings. They were forced to bind themselves to some beliefs, and if they resisted there was religious intolerance, excessive pressure, and torture. So, you should thank your good fortune that you were born in this (punya bhoomi) auspicious land of Bharat (India), which has a balanced culture. We have not been told much about dharma, because basically Indians live within dharmas. They do not stoop to adharmic life. Most of them. It is a different case when he suddenly gets a lot of wealth he goes off his head, and enters politics; or enters into ignoble money making activities, and might go astray. But even in that condition he does not have the courage to misbehave openly. Because the society is so strict that they will take him to task. That is why, what I am going to say to you today is this, that the culture of this country is of a very high level, and it is still recognised as such. And most of the people understand moral ethics, and that is how they have achieved all this. This achievement has been accomplished by the women of India. This is the shakti (power) of women. And with the help of this shakti they have been able to stabilise their families, their children, and the whole society. Unfortunately the western culture is slowly seeping into this country, and it is possible that we can get influenced by it, but hopefully they will not go to excess. Because we are deeply anchored in the traditions of our country. Our country is so auspicious and fortunate that mahatmas (great souls) one greater than the other have been created. So many saints, and so many divine incarnations. Not only in the hindu dharma, but among Muslims, and as you know among the Sikhs. Big, big Mahatmas have been produced. The speciality of this country is that in the soil of this country there exists (adhyatma) spiritual knowledge. No wonder people turn towards adhyatmic life. In the system of Sahaja Yoga we are standing in complete balance. Like, if there is any impurity in the Indian culture, it has to be rooted out. After coming into Sahaja Yoga a lot of people get rid of most of their bad habits and behaviour. But I see sometimes that some Sahaja Yogis are still attached to their old ways. Because they find it difficult to give up the old bad habits which have been practised in the past. Especially in North India, where we are sitting at the moment. I have noticed that, whether from the influence of muslim rulers, or something else, the plight of women is very bad. They are always the targets for harassment and torture. Woman, who is the image of the Shakti, is not honoured and respected. There is a saying that “where women are respected and honoured, in that place the Gods reside”. Where the woman is treated with kindness and honour, the Gods happily roam, or stroll. This does not mean that I am recommending woman’s rule, or that they should dictate terms. In the first place a woman should be worthy of honour and respect. She should have all the venerable qualities within her. If she disrespects her husband, causes fights and disruption of peace in the household, troubles everyone, does not take care of the children; and all other wrong behaviour, then such a women cannot be respected. Only such a woman is worthy of honour and respect, whose heart is full of love and kindness. The woman who has an ocean of love within her, such a woman is loved and respected by society. If she is not, then people talk and gossip about her bad character. In our society we recognise the woman as the Shakti. Now all these lighting arrangements that have been made, are not the (shakti) energy. The energy is coming from somewhere else. It is only manifesting the light over here. In the same way a woman is the embodiment of Shakti; but the manifestation of the shakti is in the form of man; can be seen in her children, her relations, in her husband, in her father-in-law, her father, etc.. All these people become drenched in her shakti, and there is a rare and beautiful relationship where the mother of the house, the wife of the house, becomes the firm foundation. But instead, if the woman is filled with anger, hatred, and dissatisfaction, then in such a household there can never be love and joy. This is the biggest responsibility of the woman. They should not feel that it is a burden, or they are being suppressed. On the contrary they should be proud that this is their responsibility and they are performing it with love. This understanding has to enter the minds of the people. The woman has been suppressed and been neglected to such an extent, that a new trend of thought has arisen within women, that we will not allow this suppression and demeaning of women. We will put men in their place, and we will prove our equality in every way (Women’s Lib!) We will make them appear useless and incompetent All this has been done and tried. In all the countries where this woman power is working out, just take a look at the state of their children. And look at the condition of everything. Now what is the solution. Everyone must recognise the futility of this reaction. This understanding must come, not only to the women, but also to the men. The men should recognise the fact that our women are the embodiment of sakshat Lakshmi (verily). And we should respect that in her. Of course the woman has to respect the man, the husband. And the husband should respect the wife. I now see that slowly our society is improving in this regard. Now, when we conduct Sahaja Yoga marriages we have seen that Indian girls who are married into foreign countries, their husbands treat them with such respect and love, that their brains go out of balance. Not everyone’s. Not everyone’s. And on the other hand, where foreign girls are married into Indian families, they cry “God save us from mothers-in-law” and all other problems. So there is no balance, either here or there. Sahaja Yogis have to learn how to maintain this balance. This does not mean that you make your husband sit on your head. What is required is an evaluation. In this evaluation you can see how far we have been able to bring ourselves into balance. Don’t judge others. Look at yourselves. Wherever you have to say something you must say it And, whatever you have to listen to, you have to listen. I have seen to it that we started Sahaja Yoga first with the family. From the (Kutumbh avastha) family foundation we have slowly built it up. And once the “kutumbh” was established, then we went further, one step at a time. I am sure you are aware that this Sahasrar Day will be the 25th Sahasrar Day. 25 years have passed since Sahasrara was opened. From that time people have been receiving self realisation, and by that they were drenched and nourished, and have reached this present state. Now, what is our next responsibility. We started with the “kutumbh” (family), so we have to establish peace within the family. But first and foremost thing is peace. Where there is no peace, nothing can grow. Now imaging if these flower pots that are here, are constantly agitated and moving about, will the plants be able to grow? They will wilt. So first of all we have to establish peace. In this we have to respect the man, and the woman, and also have understanding. So in a household if there is peace first of all, then only our children will feel secure and safe. And with this security the children will greatly understand their inner being. That our parents are Sahaja Yogis, and we are also Sahaja Yogis, and that we have to bring honour and glory to the name of our parents. Now I see that slowly, slowly Sahaja Yoga has spread and grown in the society. It has also spread in cities and states. Like a lot of people from various states have come – some from Madras, some from Mumbai, or Maharashtra. And then we see that it has spread from country to country also. But in this also a kind of differentiation has come in. Like the Delhi people came and said, Shri Mataji, Your Birthday should be celebrated in Delhi only. Now we will have to agree. Who can refuse Delhi people that we cannot have the Birthday here! O My! So I peacefully agreed. It will be best to have it in Delhi only; and here the arrangements are done well, and everyone is looked after. So taking everything into consideration I said Yes. But in that, to start thinking that we are Dilli or Billi (Delhi rhyming with Cat) people, they can start a fight on this issue. Now this is a very limited, ungenerous attitude which is emerging. This means we have made a mistake in understanding the “collective” aspect of Sahaja Yoga. If we do not understand the delicacy of collectivity, then the whole balance will become shaky. Supposing this time I say, OK, this time let us have it in Mumbai; or anywhere else; what does it matter. It will just be one more birthday, and I am going to get older. Every birthday increases My age. So, celebrating it anywhere, what does it matter. But then people start wondering, why did Shri Mataji make this decision. Have we committed some mistake. Or they will come and ask, Shri Mataji, why did You decide like this. Last time You did not have it in Delhi, so why not have it in Delhi this time. So there appears to be a misunderstanding of “Tadatma” universality of the atma or Spirit. And a misidentification that we are residents of this place, or that place. In the past there was differentiation even between people of one street and another. Now at least this is finished. Then there were differences between different areas within a state, and they even used to sit in groups according to their addresses. And I used to watch in dismay, that this is still prevalent. Gradually they got out of that. But now I see that the divisions are by language spoken. Like we speak this language, they speak another language, and so on. So I feel that at least we should all know the language of our country, the National language. We should all learn it, whether we are hindus, muslims, or Maharashtrians or Christians. So we should all know the Hindi language. How can I alone speak in the 14 Indian languages? So we should all see what language our Mother speaks. I know Hindi, although I did not study it formally. I know Hindi very well. So I would suggest that all of you should learn the Hindi language. It will be a great favour to Sahaja Yoga. And you will also benefit. A lot of people outside India have learned Hindi, just to be able to listen to My Hindi lectures. They have started speaking and understanding Hindi. But in this country there are still people who say – Shri Mataji, please do not give your talk in Hindi. If possible please speak in Tamil or Telugu. I am sorry, but I do not know either Tamil or Telugu. Now what should I do. That is why we should totally get rid of all these various differences. The caste difference is already born with us since long. One gentleman in Hongkong told me that in India there is a lot of caste system. Even among Sahaja Yogis there is caste consciousness. He is himself a brahmin. So I asked him, Tell Me, will you be prepared to marry a Harijan girl (one of the lowest in the so called caste system). He got flustered. “With a Harijan” he asked. So I said Hari-jans are People of Hari (Vishniu). He flatly refused. “I cant marry a Harijan girl”. So if we surrender all our conditionings slowly, slowly, we can get rid of everything. But in foreign countries this is not an issue. So many of our sweet Harijan girls have been married to Yogis outside India. And so also Harijan boys. They are not aware that such a thing as caste exists. In this way we have so many petty differences within us, that, we are different, they are different. Now it is important to be different. God has created every one different. If he had every one look alike, we would never be able to recognise one from the other. Like everyone with uniform figure and feature, in an army. Even leaves have been created different. No two leaves are the same. If you take one leaf and try to find a same similar leaf in the whole world, you will not find one. Just imagine. This is His consummate skill. Now if you feel that it is unique to be different, you are on the same level as a leaf. If you rise above all this and look at yourself as a Yogi, who has no differences in caste, colour or creed, then you will become liike a sanyasi of the scriptures, who does not have any false identification. Once you drop all this, you become a sanyasi from within. How can you maintain caste and breed once you are a saint. In fact we should oppose such conditionings. We should protest against these beliefs, and only look for qualities within human beings. We should imbibe and understand qualities. When we adopt these maryadas, (codes of conduct), then we can form connections with other countries. What can I tell you about the people I have met in foreign countries. They recognise technology and science. But when they entered Sahaja Yoga it was as if they had dissolved into the ocean of love. Do you know that 500 people have come from other countries. They have so much love for Me. They say – Shri Mataji, when we feel love for you, we get enveloped and encompassed with an endless ocean of love. Even during the Quwalli program, they do not understand the language but they were filled with bliss and joy. We have to learn a lesson from them to be Nirvach (love without any expectation). Their only desire is to feel divine love. We do not seem to know or understand the value of this love. We are only involved with our relations. Like my father is sick; or my father’s father-in-law is sick, or some far off relation is sick; someone does not have a job; I have become bankrupt; my brother is being sent to jail. This is the only kind of messages I get. For some there is a feeling that they have a right on Me and My time, maybe because I am also born in India, or that they are also born in India. But this is a very petty thing. If you are a Sahaja Yogi you don’t even have to ask for anything. These things can work out spontaneously. This faith, the foreigners have. Now let me tell you a very surprising thing. There was a lady working in the UN, Sahaja Yogini, she was sent to Mexico by the UN. She had a son who had such an illness that kept getting worse and worse. It galloped, and within one month the child nearly died. He was not a Sahaja Yogi. She sent me three letters in which she mentioned the name of the illness. A very strong and unusual illness, and she sent three letters. I felt a great compassion for her. What can I say in human language -- a kind of a pull. A pull from her. Imagine, a fourth letter came that “Shri Mataji, it is amazing and astounding. I took my son to the hospital, and they said all the tests are negative. He is completely free of the disease. But it is not so with Indians. They will “want to meet Shri Mataji. Only if Shri Mataji sees my son he will be cured”. They feel that without putting the problem on My Head, nothing will happen. Such a glaring difference. She was in Mexico, sitting with the knowledge that there was no treatment or cure for her son, and she was just praying and sending these letters to Me. That’s all. Now this is a matter of Shraddha (enlightened faith). When love becomes enlightened faith, (I am not talking about blind faith). You know My Views on blind faith. But if the love becomes enlightened faith, then how things work out is a matter for giving thought. If there is no faith, but just a statement that I believe a lot in Shri Mataji it will not work. Such kind of devotees are there who worship Christ, who worship Mohammed Sahib. But what about you. What is special inside you. What have you achieved, is what you have to consider. So what I have seen that whatever these people believed so easily, they have dissolved themselves into the Divine Love. They have never experienced such love before. And when they get the Divine Love, they become fully drawn and dissolved into it. And then after getting this Love, they don’t want anything else from the world. Nothing. Now those who come to Ganapatiphule – the Indians, have a lot of complaints. The food was not good. The man from Madras will say I could not eat the food as it was not good. Lucknow people will say – what kind of food did they serve up. All their fuss about the taste of food has been encouraged by their wives, who cater to every whim of the husband. Now tell Me which single type of food can we make which will please every Indian palate. Man from this State does not like that food; man from that State does not like this food. But these people from outside, will never complain about the food, even though in the early days the food was not up to standard. Nowadays it has improved. But they never ever said that Shri Mataji the food was not good. Now regarding toilets a strange thing is going on. The Indians said Shri Mataji we do not like this Indian style bathrooms. We want western style bathrooms. But the western Yogis said they prefer the Indian toilets because they are cleaner. Now I cant understand what to do. We made these toilets for the Indians, and those toilets for the western Yogis. So I thought of a solution. Shift the Indians to the foreigners side, and move the western Yogis to the Indian side. End of problem! But we are very demanding people. All the time finding fault – this is not nice, that is not nice. Put this right, put that right. How many people have attached baths in their houses, tell Me. We are beginning to feel that by making such demands we are some superior class. And when We speak with western Yogis they say – Shri Mataji the comforts of the body are useless. We have had enough of it. Now we want comfort of the Spirit. We don’t want comfort of the body. What we never had before Sahaja Yoga we want now as comfort of the Spirit. By telling you this I do not want you to react by sleeping on the bare floor. That is not My motive. My reason for telling is this, that we must start realising that we have to do the work of the Spirit. And we should find comfort in everything and everywhere. If we only consider the needs of the body, our Spirit feels hurt. The light of the Spirit will keep reducing. The more we start putting attention on others; on their spiritual growth; on the environment, that much more the light of the Spirit will begin to shine. And you will be surprised that you will find yourself slowly becoming a citizen of the world. The whole world will get contained within you. Now many people ask Me, Shri Mataji, how do You remember so many things. It is like this – that when I see something, I see it. That’s all. My Chitta (attention) has noted it. So must you also be. Because I am not inside. I am all pervading. I don’t even think about Myself. I have no thoughts. The strength to do this is within Me. I don’t have to keep sitting and thinking about Myself. I never think, what this one did to Me, or that one did to Me. Never. What has happened, has happened. Finished. But whatever is outside, if you can see your own light shining in it, then you have become the whole universe. If you look at a mountain, you can see the light of your Spirit in it. In each and everything. When you see the light of the Spirit in it, then you never forget it. Nor do you forget the joy you got out of it. Then you don’t worry about anything – whose carpet is this, where can I get one like it. Nothing. Only the looking at it and enjoying it, is to be done. And when this starts happening, it also starts expanding, and encircles the whole world. And this is the state you have to achieve. Of course we must have differences. Every person should be different from the other. But, in what way. Each one should be different in the way they feel the joy. Like when people are dancing, every one is feeling the joy, but each one danced differently. No two people were dancing in the same way. So if we have these different feelings inside us, we can give the different experiences of joy to others. Joy is not for yourself. It should always be our endeavour to see how much comfort, love and enjoyment we can give to others with our light. Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, Indian Sahaja Yogis write and request Me that Shri Mataji, please help me to evolve into a higher state, where I can rise above all these things. Mostly people write useless letters that this one is sick, that one is sick, like this, like that. But some write very sweet letters. And with that I get completely dissolved. And I see that this person has found the way, and knows exactly where he or she is going. He has identified his destination. I do not want anything more than this. I just want to be able to see this, again and again, and unite with that person’s Atma. I don’t expect you to keep writing about your desires to ascend. But just watch how the Divine works. Everything is happening, and you have to move with the flow. And may your lives become filled with joy, and may you be the channels for giving this unique, divine joy (Allahad) to the world. This is what I desire. If any strange and useless thoughts come to you, like you must join politics, there is no need for that. In Sahaja Yoga you are not required to amass wealth; to attain any great position; nothing. The only thing you are required to do is to establish your supporting strength and pure desire that we onluy want to be people who understand the world; who want to improve the world; who want to remove all the impurities, ills and sorrows of the world; and who can give pure knowledge of the Spirit, to all. Only then great and illustrious sons of the earth will be created. And it is My eternal blessing that all of you should take this great spiritual movement forward, and keep introspecting that – Am I doing the job for which I was born. English part I am sorry I had to speak in Hindi language because the majority of the people know, understand Hindi. In the western civilization, suddenly I find people have taken to a very licentious, vulgar, despicable life. I can't believe how can they be so stupid and idiotic. It seems they have no wisdom even to see that this is stupidity. Thank God, you have achieved this Self-Realization, you got the Light, you are so transformed, you look so beautiful. And that you have given up all those funny ideas of freedom. It's so clear cut. This must be, I don't know what to say, that in those western countries, to find out people who have such wise understanding of pure love and respect for your own purity. As if suddenly you have come out of that darkness and have bathed in the light of the divine. It's not possible otherwise. See the history of the western countries is they never had very great kings, you know. One king in England, killed seven wives, you know. If you,(Shri Mataji Corrects herself) In India if one wife was killed he would have been killed, first of all, before he killed the second one. So, one sees that, despite all that kind of a history and that kind of a vulgarity that has been going on for days together and now it is the worst after war. Suddenly you people have come up like lotuses and have made those countries so fragrant and so beautiful. But now they are afraid because they believe in licentiousness, they believe in vulgarity. They think it is their freedom, so they do attack, but you are not to be bothered because you have achieved something that is real, that is for eternal life. They supposed to be Christians, Jews and also Muslims there. Among all of them I am surprised to see how they have interpreted these three great religions, in the most contradictory way. For Christ has said that if you make any sin with your eyes, commit some sins, then remove your eyes, yourself. If one hand does anything wrong, you cut that hand. I have never seen anybody without an eye or without a hand in the whole of this Christian kingdoms, nowhere. They can cut other's, but their own eyes I have never seen. It is very difficult to be a Christian, I tell you, because this is an impossible situation. For that, we can say that it, this was for angels, must be, for the fallen angels that you take out your eye and cut your hand. And then Mohammed Sahib has said, he thought that why only the men are handled by Christ. So he says no no, not that you cut it, but let others cut your hand and take out your eyes. And for women it is so- that they should be buried in the Mother Earth half way and should be stoned. Think of American women, what would have happened to them? So, very difficult to follow Islam also. Impossible. They were very great people, very pure and they thought that this is the only way people can be kept pure. No, on the contrary with all these thing - compulsion they become extremely immoral. This suppression doesn't help. And then also, this they call it one that is Islamic laws - Sharia, was actually given by Moses to Jews. You can find it out in the Bible. It was given by Moses to Jews and the Jews would not accept it because they were sensible to say, we can't accept this much, too much. So that was taken over by Mohammed Sahib, better put it for these people. But with all this doing, people become extremely immoral, extremely quarrelsome and go to the other side and such an imbalance is created. But after Self-Realisation, the Sahaja culture is born within you. With the Sahaja culture you come into balance and people are surprised at the western Sahaja Yogis, that Mother how have you made their eyes so pure? How can they get rid of these bad habits of looking at every woman or every man? What have you done to their eyes? How have they become so pure? It is the light of your own spirit, which is shinning through your eyes. It's very important. Again, I would say, that the women in the west have to understand what is Sahaja Yoga. Not dominating anyone. Here the women are dominated, not always but to great extent. And there what you find that women are dominating. Firstly they believe in divorce and they try to harass people with that. This domination, may be we can say comes from their upbringing. But Sahaja Yoga should change completely your ideas, and there should be no domination but a complete understanding about which I have told you many a times and explained to you. Still I must say I am overwhelmed by the response. And on behalf of the divine power, I would like to thank you very much. It is really a new race that has come up, really. Somewhere, somebody goes wrong or something happens. Doesn't matter. On the whole it's such a beautiful race of people. I face them before me. Even in dreams people could not have believed it. They don't yet believe. But it has happened, you must now have an enlightened faith, which we call as 'Shraddha'. With that enlightened faith I am sure you will adhere to the emancipation of human beings. It's your duty now. It is all given free. Of course, Sahaja Yoga is free. You can have it free; you don't have to pay anything, all right. But, you have to give to others. That is very important. It is free to you and you cannot keep it to yourself. If you keep it to yourself, you can never be happy, you can never be joyous. So you have to be absolutely collective and then you will see how it works out. Very surprising in all the European countries, in America, South America, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Kuala Lumpur, everywhere. I have seen people have become collective and they told me Mother, there is no greater joy than seeing people getting Self-Realization. That is the greatest joy one has. And this is what, one has to have in your mind. Of course there are some people who start criticizing Sahaja Yoga - why this, why that? All nonsense. But actually if you see, everybody who is a deep Sahaja Yogi wants that Sahaja Yoga should spread in their own countries and then to see that it is accepted all over the world. It is such a wisdom, which has come into their mind. Otherwise, one fellow told me, "Mother, I was only worried about my own house, my family, motorcar and this and that. Now forgotten all that Now I am only worried how will I be able to give this joy to others. I cannot be happy alone. And that's what it has happened." And I am very thankful to you, for all of you, who have come here all the way to celebrate my birthday. And this is just your love and affection for me, and I also love you very much. May God bless you. Today's Puja is going to be bit short. Because I don't know what, ah, in my birthday which deity's Puja you are doing. Where there are all dieties, all of them are there. So it has to be short, with all of them being worshipped together, it works out much faster, I think. As when you, all of you are together, things work out much faster.