Artificiality

Once in a while, a word or two will cross my mind.  It will flash through my mind and I will type it in the search box in Gmail to look for Shri Mataji's speech containing that word and will read about it.  Maybe it's introspection, maybe just something that is happening in my life at that point of time.

As you can see the title above, this word had appeared in my mind very often recently.  What happened was I see more people becoming very artificial.  Not only the behaviour or character but also the external, especially women.  

To be beautiful, many women resorted to artificiality.  I didn't know about this until recently got introduced into the makeup industry.  Yes, makeup can transform a person.  If you have a low nose bridge, then some colour will make it higher.  If you looked pale, some blusher will pink you up.  If you have single eye-lid, a sticker can create double eye-lids.  If you have too big lips, some lip-liner and lipstick can make it smaller.  If you have short eye-lashes, you can glue some super-flip-flaps-peacock eyelashes.  If you have small eyes, some eye-liner can enlarge it.  

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But I feel the mass media has created an image that beauty is fixed.  People become stereotypical and only a certain looks are considered beautiful.  Big eyes, long eye-lashes, double eye-lids, single chin, perfect brows, tiny lips, etc, etc.  

I was shocked when I learned that you can 'plant' eye-lashes to make them longer, 'plant' finger nails so that you don't have to wait so long to have long finger nails and I thought hair extension was the latest artificial beauty created.

For some time, I was wondering about all this.  I tried it all, the big eyes, double eye lid, make my brow perfect, more blushers, perfect eye lashes and I looked amazing.  Once in a while I will deck up in makeup.  It makes me feel like a different person.  Then I feel very guilty and wondering whether this is what I want to show to others, a different me?  Anyway, I only do it like once in a blue moon and now for my wedding I am doing it again.  

1980-07-29- Excerpts from Sahaj Advices to Yogis on Guru principle - London, England

For things now.  Things have no value unlessand until there are emotions behind it.’

For example the Sari I am wearing today, was bought for Guru Day.. Then I said if you insist I may have, but I wore it today just to say that this was bought with that devotion, that love that: ‘on Guru Day, Mother would like to wear something of a lighter shade‘; white-the pure color of silk,-complete detachment. But in white all the colors are mixed, then only it becomes white-such a balance and unity it is. It should be that you should become white and whiter than snow. DETACHMENT IS PURITY, IS INNOCENCE. INNOCENCE IS SUCH A LIGHT, LIGHT THAT REALLY BLINDS YOU TO ALL THAT IS FILTHY. You would not even know that a person has come with bad intentions. A person comes to you, comes to steal. You’ll say, ‘come along, what do you want’. You’ll offer him tea and all that, then he says,. ‘ I have come to rob you”. “Alright rob me, if you want to”, So he might not rob you at all. That is what is innocence, which one may develop, only through DETACHMENT. DETACHMENT IS OF THE ATTENTION. Do not allow your attention to get involved into something, even rituals of anything…

If some mistakes may be committed, what does it matter ? If you see on the abstract plane.

It’s LOVE. This is just a step forward, like somebody ran very fast and fell down before reaching me and says, “Mother, Sorry, I fell down before reaching you, I should have not done that. But, mother see, how I prostrated before you”. It’s a complete poetry-DETACHMENT.

So, one has to develop that DETACHMENT to be a GURU [teacher, master]… Sometimes one has to wear those dresses to announce to the world because if you have to work in a short time then you have to take to that intensive behavior like CHRIST, you can say or Adi Shankaracharya. All these people had a very very short life. In that short life they had to achieve -such a tremendous task that they had to actually take a military uniform just to avoid problems, NOT to impress others. Now-a-days people do it just to impress others that they are detached and do just the things opposite to it. So, we understand that first work is not to harm anyone-AHIMSA [Sanskrit term]. Not to kill anyone. That does not mean that you do not have to eat meat and fish and all that. That is all nonsense. Of course you should not hanker after food, no doubt about it. You do not kill anyone means, you do not kill a human being. THOU SHALL NOT KILL. So first thing is not to harm anyone.

.. Enjoy your generosity. How many times must I have told you about Generosity.

I remember once I wanted to give a Sari that I had from abroad. You see, in India, people like that kind of a Sari very much, although I do not understand why they like this nylon sort of Sari. A lady said, “I have not got a Sari from abroad and I would like to have one imported Sari”. I had only one such Sari left with me because I am quite good at giving away. So, I told one of my niece in-laws that I want to give away this Sari to her. On a holy day, we can give it to elders and so I’ll give it to her. She said, “You have only one left now, why do you want to give away even that? You have given away all you had”. I said, “Now, I feel like giving. I will give it away”. And we were discussing this in the kitchen and I said, “why do you tell me, I am not going to take advice on this point”. And at that time, the bell rang and a gentleman came, he had brought 3  Saris for me from Africa and one of them was exactly the same as one I had. Because I had given some silk  Saris to this lady when she was going to Africa, she thought she could send me some Sari, and she sent me these Saris.

You are just standing in the centre: from  one door it comes and from the other it goes.  It is nice to see all that movement. It is very interesting.

Apart, from that the way you give it, the emotional side of it is so beautiful, you cannot imagine it. I met a lady after say 30 years of her married life in London, suddenly and she said, “Oh what a coincidence”. I said, “why” ? She said, “(today)I am wearing the same pearl necklace you had given me on my wedding-day .. and I should meet you”. The whole thing, the whole drama changed with the meeting, it is how you give even a small thing it is the greatest art of giving that one has to learn in Sahaja Yoga. Give up the mundane type of things, like if you go to somebody’s birthday, you send a card, ‘thank you, very much’.

Make it a more deeper significant thing. Let us gee how you develop your symbols of love.

When you have these things of vibrations and you will give it to a Sahaja Yogi,’ he will know what it is. Never lack in generosity… Gradually, you will be amazed how through small things you win over as if the vibrations flow through those things and work out for those people.

Then, for a Sahaja Yogi it is important to use things which are more natural in their character. Give up artificiality and be more natural.

I do not mean that take out the roots and eat them or you eat the fish raw. I do not mean that. Always you must avoid going too far with the things. But try to lead a life which is more natural. Natural, in the sense that people know that there is no vanity about you. Some people can be the other way round. You see, they will dress up like a tramp, just to attract more attention. I mean there can be both ways. .. So you have to be a natural person; very natural in your behavior. It can mean anything absurd also to some people who do not use their wisdom. WISDOM IS VERY IMPORTANT IN SAHAJA YOGA, that you have to keep intact all the time. Natural means you must wear natural dresses, which are suitable to you, e.g. in this climate there is no use to wear dress like Rama [exemplary Indian king and warrior considered an Avatar] used to wear. He will not wear anything on the top, there was no need. You have to wear the dress of whatever country you belong; whatever suits the occasion. Whatever you think is dignified and good. It speaks for your..  elegance and your personality. .. No clownish things are necessary, no dandy stuff is necessary. Simple, beautiful dresses should be worn which give you dignity. Actually in the East, people believe that God has given you a beautiful body and it is to be adorned with the beauty of what human beings have created, just to respect it, just to worship your body.


For example in India women wear their Saris and Saris are expressive of their moods and expression of their worship of their bodies, because you must respect your body. Dresses should be such that they should be for utility as well as dignity. There is no need to have uniform clothes for Sahaja Yogis at all. I don’t like it.
There should be Variety as Nature is.

Everyone should look a different person.

For Puja [special ocassion/celebration] etc. all can wear something similar, it doesn’t matter. Your attention need not be on the variety. But outside, you should be normal person. You are all householders, nobody has to announce something. For you people, I don’t even advice to put the red mark [tika on the forehead] when walking on the street. You should be NORMAL PERSON, not to be pointed out. You need not be dressed absurdly or in funny way but in a normal way as others wear. To be normal is very important in Sahaja Yoga.

Then we have to know that Sahaja Yogis have to get over all kinds of discriminations and identifications according to races, color and different religions in which you are born…

But these identifications will linger on. To accept anything new, you have to be reborn and you are REBORN NOW [kundalini energy is awakened in Sahaja Yoga and this is considered the second birth]. Now, you are DHARMATIT [term in Sanskrit] means you need not follow any particular type of religion. You are open to all religions and the essence of all religions you have to take. You have not to denounce any religion or insult any religious incarnation at any time, it is a SIN. It is a great sin in Sahaja Yoga and you know who they are. There should be no racial understanding of oneself. You could be Chinese or of any group. You could be anything. As long as we are human beings, we should know that we laugh the same way, we smile the same way.  This is all conditioning in our mind of this society that some are touchable, some are untouchable. This is in our Indian community .. Horrible. Brahamanism of India has ruined India completely and you learn from for example, who was Vyasa, the one who wrote GEETA, who was he ? He was illegitimate son of a fisherwoman. That is why deliberately he was born like that. All the Brahmins who read Geeta, ask them who was Vyasa ? Brahims [what actually shound be] are those who are realized souls and for realized souls, there is nothing like such non-sensical things like where and in what caste or community you are born. With all education and everything in the West, we [still]  find this nonsense of Racialism, I just can’t understand. If somebody is fair or dark, after all God had to make variety, in color, in every way. Who told you that you are the most handsome people going round?!  May be for some markets here, or in Hollywood, it may fit but in the kingdom of God, all these so called, handsome people, will be denied entry-marrying seven husbands and all sort of things.  The beauty is of the heart and not of the face, that shows and shines. Maybe, people are a little bit aware of it…  They are quite aware but there is too much “showing-off” they are doing. Some people like black hair others like, red hair, I mean there have to be all types of hair, why do you like a particular type of hair; this I cannot understand. There is nothing ‘like’ or ‘dislike’. What God has created is all beautiful who are you to judge that I like or dislike, ‘I’, Who is this ‘I’?! is Mr. EGO, which is being tampered by this society, which teaches you how to smoke cigar and… All this training and conditioning has to be thrown away just like filth and see that God has created all of you as his own children. It is such a beautiful thing. Why you want to make it ugly with these ugly ideas?! All this ugliness of  “I like or dislike” is nonsense.

Only there should be one word “I LOVE”. Forget everything. There is no need to remember what British did to Indians or Germans did to Jews.

Forget everything.

Those people who did it are dead and finished.

We are different people, we are saints.

This is for the statutes I have told you, which you have to imbibe.”