Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi  

Saint Albans, England
July 6, 1977  

So today I want to tell you about purity. That is my name, you know that, Nir-mala. ’Ni’ means ‘no’; ’mala’ means ‘impurities’. The one who has no impurities is Nirmala, and that’s one of the names of Goddess.

Purity is a quality which is silent. It speaks in silence.

It is one of the most non-aggressive activities. It probes into you. It doesn’t express in any way. Even love may express: in words, it may express in action. But this is the one which is expressionless, the purity. And it washes off all that is impurity.

You cannot, by rationality, understand how it works out. You have to feel it and know it, that it is working out its process. It’s very delicate. Sometimes it’s flooding also. But is never shocking, never. When I say that, I find the human ideas have become lob-headed (sic). When do we become lob-headed, means upside down? When we are plunging into something. We are plunging into something where we are going to get destroyed. We are upside-down. This comes out of impurities, that you cannot see things directly in their right perspective.

So let us see what are the things which we think create impurities in us. They say it in two words, you see: lust and greed. In Sanskrit they will say kala (gold) and kama: woman and gold. But ‘woman’ doesn’t mean [woman]. ’Woman’ means ‘lust’ and ‘greed’ means ‘gold’.

Now let us see if really these are impurities or they create impurity in us, or why these two things have become the source of impurity to us? Because we do not understand the right perspective of matter and of sex. If we can understand them in right perspective then these two become the source of happiness and joy to us. For example, say, a tree, it has two sides: it has the shoot and the root. If the root becomes upward and the shoot becomes downward it will not survive. The root has to go down into the earth and the shoot has to come up. The root has the capacity to suck in the liquids that are inside the soil. Also it has capacity to digest all the essential salts necessary for the tree.

Supposing now the root starts malfunctioning and starts sucking the impurities instead of the pure things that are needed for the body of the tree, then what will happen? There will be malnutrition and the tree will collapse. But the root has the wisdom to pick up the necessary salts for its nourishment. This is where we must understand that we do not have proper feelers for our own nourishment and we blame God, or we blame nature, we blame society, we blame cultures, we blame our parents, we blame our governments, we blame this and that. Because we have no feelers we suck in that [which] is impure, which will create more problems for us than joy and happiness and nourishment.

If the tree has to grow it should avoid all that is poisonous to it, all that is impure. And there could be two methods. If your rationality is that high graded, if your intelligence is of that high calibre, you just deny all that to your body which is not good, to your spiritual body, or to your mental body, or to your emotional body, or to your physical body. You’ll just deny it, if you have that much of pure intelligence. But the intelligence has not reached that Divine strata yet, so we devise compromises easily. But whom are harming? You are harming yourself.

We go on collecting impurities, very fast. And that’s what I call the human freedom: if he wants he can collect impurities. A tree is such that it will not collect impurities, but if impurities invade it, it will die, it cannot protect [itself] either. Human beings have a freedom to choose. Also they have the power to protect from the impurities. And Sahaj Yogis, as you know, have much more powers.

So our roots have to go down, into what? Into dharma, into the sustaining power of love. If that is weak then roots are taken off and such people are uprooted.

In the traditions, in the historical mistakes and errors of our elders, we can see what mistakes they have done and learn from them, and avoid the impurities that they had and destroyed themselves. We can see how big empires fell, crashed, in no time. Why? What did they do? We are not going to do that. But so far I have not known any nation that sits down and gets a comprehensive look of the whole picture: why that nation has fallen down? Why these ones destroyed themselves? So far I have not known any political leader of that type. They’ll do patchwork, but none of them sit down to see why the whole sky collapsed [or] what happened to those people who enjoyed so much of power once upon a time, suddenly collapsed. If somebody could sit down like that they would see that they sucked in the impurities.

Now how do you suck impurities? You suck them because your feelers become blunt. When your feelers are blunt you don’t know what you are sucking. It only is possible when you are lob-headed, is the word, is like this.

In the beginning the body, the mind resists all that is impure, in most of the cases I would say — some of the devils if they are born, they may be children but they are exceptions to this — but most of the human beings are born in innocence and they resist. Gradually you start making your feelers damaged and then the impurity starts coming in.

All these things start, people say, from the desire, clearly: desire to be the king, desire to be most beautiful person, desire to be leader of the whole world, desire to eat, desire to have, possess — all desires. But here also, I would say, is an impurity of desire in you. And in all of these things is the inner point, and that is joy: we desire for joy. The desire for joy, if you keep it pure, then you go and you get it: ‛So this is not the thing that gives joy. This is not the thing that gives joy.“ We can see around. Those who are seeking money you should go and see them, do they reach joy? You will know they are not the people who have joy among us.  And when you go to people who are in joy and in tranquility, you will find they are talking of something else. When we have accepted the desire as something wrong we also negate the ultimate desire.

But the essence, you know, swa. We call the essence as swa. ‘Swa’ means self.  The essence of everything is that: if you want to have a beautiful tree in front of your house, the desire is to be joyous.

What does a tree matter to you if it does not give you joy? It’s anything in the world I will give you: that joy, that essence of everything, if it is kept pure, then it’s nourishing to you. Like the tree roots embed themselves in the Mother soil and suck the beauties of the Mother soil, the essence of Mother, that is meant for nourishing you, and enrich themselves.

But that does not mean by any chance that you lose your character or individuality — you do not. A mango tree will be a mango tree, a banana tree will be a banana. Because the outside is different, but inside is the same. And in every country the Mother Earth has its own varieties: accordingly you will have trees, you will have plants. You cannot have mango in England. But you cannot have a birch tree in India. But [it] makes no difference as long as they are truly nourished.

So your character is not lost, your individuality is not lost. On the contrary it’s made better. In its purest form, every character is beautiful. Every religion in its purest form is the seat of God, and the different facets of one diamond that is God. They have to be there. And whatever angle you go, you see them sparkling. At every angle they sparkle. A diamond sparkles at every angle. Because it has got its own character, unique variety and its different forms. So the essential unity between them is through the sap which is running. If our attention is on that purity of oneness then so many of other impurities that have cropped up within us, will also come out.

The other impurity you suffer from is loss of collectiveness. We don’t mind wearing the same dresses all over the world. If a jeans starts, all of the places you go, even in Japan, even to Australia, you go to even China, communist countries, anywhere, the jean everyone is wearing. But the essential unity within us in its purest form, nowhere.

Of course these feelers you develop after Sahaj Yog. But if you are failed in your dharmas, that’s the base, is the root, if we do not have those roots properly done, then the tree cannot stand. It is necessary.

Of course, the incarnation is just the opposite of that: His roots are in the heavens. He flowers on the body. An incarnation does not break its dharma — it is dharma. He does not need, He’s dharmateet, He’s beyond dharma. Whatever He does is the religion of the whole world! Nothing touches Him. His roots are in the Divine, only the Divine Force. There’s no question of impurity in them, no question of clearing them or bathing them, because he is in the Divine force and He’s sucking that out and giving it to you. He’s flowering on this Earth, it’s upside down flower, embedded in you.

So for an incarnation there is no dharma, It is beyond dharma. He’s gunateet, he is beyond all moods (gunas). He’s beyond everything. But human beings have to first develop their dharma, then rise, rise beyond themselves into collective consciousness. And when they turn upside down they become incarnations. It is possible. Two persons have done that so far: Buddha and Mahavira you can call them as Deities. Only these two persons have done it. And in Sahaj Yoga, if we do that, we might be incarnations. Where our roots will be in the Divinity. Here you have to choose, till the freedom of choice exists within you. For me there is no freedom at all. I cannot choose the impurity. That’s why I say I have no temptations. I have no sense of possession. So the choice doesn’t exist at all for me at all, of anything. I have no time and space. I am spaceless. I am timeless, because my roots are in my being.

But even to have the blossom within yourself and for others to enjoy, even to nourish yourself, you have to have your dharma properly established. So we come to the question of lust and greed.

Lust and greed are to be seen in this light. Are we lusty of God? Are we greedy of His wealth? If you ask such a question, then you see the purity. We waste so much time thinking about greed and lust, but very little time we have to think of this essential desire.

Now, there are two types of things, one is that of a human being and one of an incarnation. That’s why the behaviour of incarnations cannot determine the behaviour of human beings. This is a very big mistake we have been always committing. And please beware: you cannot be incarnations now, and you should not determine your behaviour according to the behaviour of an incarnation. Because an incarnation is above all these things. It’s a different thing altogether, as I told you.

A tree must take its nourishment, or is embedded in the Divine. You have to rise still to that stage. Where your seats might go into that. And maybe the trees will go and inform the Divine towards that.

So the pattern of life that is followed by an incarnation is always followed and that’s why false religions fail. For example, we’ll see [that] Christ took a hunter in his hand and started lashing at people and beating them when they were selling God. I feel the same way and I am doing it.

If you read Kabir you will find he’s slashing at all these people. If you read Mohammad saheb He has criticised them. But you are not the incarnation. You are not incarnations. In you when you have those impurities because what I see is that human beings will nurture them within themselves and they like to see the drama in that. For example say they’ll go to a picture of a drama: and they’ll see a cruel man hitting someone. And they say, ‛What a cruel man! He is horrid!“ But they don’t know that that cruelty they share within themselves. They want to call others cruel, but not the cruelty that exists within them. As far as others are concerned they become a witness, but as far as they are concerned they are not. If they could be a witness to themselves, if they could see themselves, then what would happen is that their purifying forces within them would start — specially for Sahaj Yogis, because it has opened now, the tap is open, your Spirit is emitting just now. If only you see where it is within you, with your attention in your being. You just put it within you! Do not justify it by saying, ‛My society is bad! My parents are bad! This happened,“ ‛Because of this it has happened.“ No! They are there because you are harbouring them. In others they can see clearly, but in yourself you cannot see. That is what a human mind is: is a very funny mind, which has been evolved that way. You read a book, for example if you read somebody’s book: immediately you are identified with the hero and never with the villain. We don’t know [that] the villain is much more there than hero, inside us. It’s a common theme I have seen with human beings. You see, I have now learnt through many lives on this Earth what a human being is.

Just the opposite a thing is an incarnation. Just the opposite is an incarnation. You see, supposing you have a problem within yourself, immediately I try to see within myself if it has problems or not. In my own vastness I correct it and you get it, because you are my body. You are within me, all of you absolutely are within me, which I search and find out. That’s how I do it. And unless and until I do it, I don’t feel all right, you have seen that.

My problems are very different from yours. So we have pay attention on ourselves. But attention in a way which is very pure wisdom — is a deeper attention, is not superficial. One should learn how to go deep into yourself and see for yourself, ‛Are we cruel people? Am I cruel? Which part of mine is cruel? Which part of mine is harming others?“ Now this boy who came, he wouldn’t take out his socks because he thought there was a smell of it. Are we fragrant ourselves? Are we considerate about it that we are equally fragrant?

It’s a silent process, it’s a stillness inside of you, acting.

And this has to be there. And because, as I said, in the western countries you are crashed people — you have realised you have crashed — it is much more necessary for you people to work harder, than the people who are yet to crash down. They are about to, most of them are coming behind you. And you have to announce with a horn, ‛Now don’t crash! We have crashed.“ That you have to do, that’s very important. Any man who has any consideration, any feeling for others, if he gets hurt by a stone on his way, he’ll immediately stand there and say, ‛Oh, there’s a stone here, now go. Be careful, don’t topple.“

When we are hurt by certain foolishness and stupidities, or you can say even the impurities that we have assembled within ourselves, our own egoistical pursuits, let us announce to the world that: ‛We have been foolish, we have done it, we are broken people, we have broken our hands, we have broken our heads, we have broken our chakras. Now you don’t, for heaven’s sake you don’t!“ Because they are following you. They think you are going on an ascent. They don’t know you have had enough of it. In every way possible you have to announce. But the announcement is expected by people. You see, it’s such a funny world to be a perfect person.

So they want also your ascent. This is what the world is. Today supposing you say, ‛I was crashed down, I was finished, I have nothing in me to offer you.“ They’ll say, ‛Then what are you talking about, shut up!“ But still then, you have something to offer, in life. And what do you have offer is that, ‛We are crashed because of this.“ It will help so many people, you don’t know! But people will deny you if you say only that. But if you say, ‛No I was crashed but I am complete now.“ But your being should announce that you are resurrected. On the contrary if you are greedy, if you are still the same style that you were, then who is going to believe this?

So the Sahaj Yoga has given you that path by which you ascend. And when you ascend you can go on along telling people, ‛Don’t fall! Don’t fall! If you fall it’s difficult to ascend as it has happened to us, so don’t fall! There is a short circuit. Come to the short circuit.“ Your dharmas must be established, very necessary. In the whole of these crashed societies dharmas are to be established. What are we doing about it?

In developing countries they gather up their impurities by a wrong premise that they have. They think, ‛Oh we must develop. We must have cars, we must have telephones.“ The whole attention is how effective you are as far as your material things are concerned. Which is, when they start getting rid of their poverty, they just forget why did they remove their poverty, for what? It would be like a bridegroom who has to be ready to be married, then they dress him up, he’s ready to marry. Now he is ready to be married. He is married. Now the night has passed, he has to meet his wife [but] still he is carrying on with his dress like a fool. Why did he marry? To love his wife. Like a fool he still is in his attire, proud of his outer things that he had done to him without understanding it has a meaning.

We remove poverty for what? We remove all these problems for what? We develop for what?

We develop so that our day to day life becomes easier and we have time for God, we have time for meditation.

(end of recording)