Gautama, Lord of the Ego - Part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded " Gautama, the Lord of the Ego " - Part 1 with:

 

So he tried to control the people who were with him in a way which was very

loving and affectionate. But what the 'accent' in his message was, is to be

understood! There was a boy who came to him and asked: " Sir, will you initiate

me into Buddhism? " It was no " ism " at that time: " Will you initiate me? " He

[buddha] said: " My child, only the Brahmins can be initiated (meaning the

realised souls). What is your birth? " He said: " Sir, I don't know my birth. " So

he went back to his mother and asked: " What is my birth, mother? Who was my

father? " She said: " My child, I was a very poor woman and I did not know how to

exist, so I had many lords I lived, and I don't know who is your father. " " You

don't know who my father is? " She said: " No. " So he went to Buddha and the Lord

asked him: " Now, who is your father? What is your caste? " He said: " Sir, I have

no caste, because my mother told me that she had many lords and she does not

know from where I am born, so I don't know my father. " So Buddha embraced him

and said: " You are a brahmin because you have told the truth.

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Buddha Puja

" Gautama, Lord of the Ego "

Barcelona, Spain

20 May, 1989

 

Here now, is Part 2.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

Gautama, Lord of the Ego - Part 2

 

So the essence of his life is " Truth " . Firstly, we have to be honest to

ourselves - and I find some people find it very difficult to be honest to

themselves. They know how to escape the truth. They know how to manage it. To

get out of it, they'll give some arguments, or they'll give some explanations.

To whom are you giving explanations? To yourself only! Your Spirit, which is

enlightened in your attention, is residing within you and now: " Whom are you

explaining to? To your own Spirit? " .... So the Message of Christ may be: " that

we have to resurrect ourselves " . But " what about " resurrection? For that, you

have to be very honest to yourself first. The first and foremost thing is to

know that your caste is a brahmin, that you know the Brahma - you know the

all-pervading power; you have felt it. You are the real brahmins and as the real

brahmins you have to be smart. I mean in India, say we have a 'Brahmin'. They

may not be real brahmins, but born in a Brahmin family. Their forefathers might

have been brahmins or something like that, so they call themselves " Brahmins " ,

alright? So what is their specialty? At four o'clock all the Brahmins will get

up. That is how you make out a Brahmin. I am also a 'Brahmin' that way. Then

they will have their bath, clean themselves completely and sit down for prayers

or puja or maybe meditation. That is how you make out a Brahmin, though they are

no brahmins - but in the tradition of Brahmins. While say traditionally, the

Shudra in India will get up at nine o'clock, wear dirty clothes, put his hands

in his mouth, will be a lousy fellow surrounded by rubbish who cannot even feel

the smell of the filth - because traditionally they have been doing that kind of

work. They are not [shudras only]! There are many brahmins, we have now found

out, who really are born in a Shudras family. So actually in the Shudras family

as such, it is not by their birth but by their aptitude, their 'Jati', that they

are brahmins.

 

But traditionally it is accepted in their society that their hair will be

dishevelled, you can immediately make it out; no oil in the hair, first point.

No oil in the hair; hair all dishevelled. Secondly they are not bothered about

sex life and amounting to the rakshasas. It is only the rakshasas who get

interested in women, look at women and all that. Actually according to the

Puranas I am sorry to say, it is a quality of the rakshasas because, when the

churning took place and the amruta, the ambrosia, came out of the sea - then

Shri Vishnu knew the weakness of the rakshasas. They had taken the Kumba, the

pitcher of ambrosia by force, because they were more powerful, more egoistical,

more cunning, so they managed with the Devas and took it away. And they were

about to drink it. So Shri Vishnu, knowing the weakness of the rakshasas,

dressed up like a lady 'Mohini'. He called himself " Mohini " . Mohini means " the

one which attracts you by their dress, figure " - all this kind of nonsense. And

immediately, all the rakshasas fell for her - for him, I mean. I mean

immediately, you could make out between the Devas and the rakshasas. (But say,

in Greece - they have made the Devas into rakshasas; solved the problem.) And as

soon as he [the rakshasa] discovered that one of them [i.e. 'Mohini'] had taken

something - it 'says so' in the mythology - he went and giggled. And being a

rakshasa, he liked the lady who giggled at him and tried to tickle him. The

rakshasa way: a proud and beautiful woman coming in and tickling me, Oh! As

stupid as he was, he felt so tickled that he vomited out - and mythologically,

they say that garlic was born out of that ambrosia.

 

So when I see people in Sahaja Yoga not being honest to themselves, the first

thing they must know is that ego is a very, very cunning stuff. But also, it

makes you a slave of another ego. See now, for example: a lady goes to these

beauty shops, dresses herself up, wears this, does all that; I don't know what

they do, but they come out of it after three, four hours, and look the same to

me. I don't know how much money they empty out, but it is something surprising -

that the hair this time is cut in a different way. So you ask: " why did you cut

it this way, now? " " That is the fashion! " .... That means you don't have your own

ideas, you don't have your own concepts - whatever is the fashion, you just do

it. You also don't understand whether this is good for you or not. So the ego

gets dominated. Suppose there is a very clever, cunning [person], more so than

anybody else and suppose there are many like that, of course. Now he says that

you can put a jam tin on your head and tie up your hair like 'this' and you'll

look very fine - and he makes lots of advertisements. All his jam tins can be

sold! Without thinking, they will use jam tins. It means you have no personality

of your own!

 

What is the ego? The ego should give you a personality, a character, a

temperament. But when you see them, you can't make them out because they all

wear beards and moustaches. You can't make out one lady from another - because

everybody has the same hairstyle, the same clothes, everything the same because

it is 'a fashion'. " Who has started the fashion? " Some very cunning fellow who

wants to make money out of it. In India, we got a kind of a small little basket.

It suddenly disappeared from the market. We did not know where it had gone. I

mean it was impossible! What could you do with it? It was a very simple thing.

It was all in America. Why? The women were using them for their hair. I said:

" How? " What did they do with their hair? " No, no, nowadays they don't put oil in

their head! " They have all become bald. You will become bald, no doubt, if you

don't put oil on your head. I'm telling you now, you will become bald! So: " We

are austere people; we cannot put oil, you know " . But then we become bald, and

we can automatically join any Buddhist organisation! Nicely, you don't have to

shave! So they say: " We have become bald now, so we have to have something " . So

they put those baskets, and on top of that, they put what you call 'wigs'.

Wonderful! But why? Why didn't you put the oil on the head? " No, you must have

nice, fluffy hair " . " What for? " " But that is the fashion! " So one day a lady was

talking to me, her basket fell down, and also - down came the wig. And that is

how I discovered this!

 

So what this is - is to understand that if you have your ego in the real way,

that you should really have your own personality, character, understanding,

specialty and temperament. What did Buddha do? He said to get rid of everything,

your hair, even your eyelashes, anything that can be shaved off, hands, feet,

everything shaved off. Imagine what would have happened to us if we were

following Buddhism! And he said " Alright, just wear a saffron robe. Go off with

the saffron robes, with everything shaved off. " And the ladies could only wear

two dresses; one was the blouse, the other was the sari, no petticoats, nothing!

Whether you were a queen or a sweeper, all of them should look alike, so no

fashion anymore! But Buddhists are the greatest fashionable people you could

ever think of. If you go to Japan, you will go mad if you see their fashions. It

is so artificial, I don't know where Buddhism is gone - whereas Buddha always

praised people who are natural. All Buddhism is lost like this, into a kind of

wilderness.

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Buddha Puja

" Gautama, Lord of the Ego "

Barcelona, Spain

20 May, 1989

 

[Written in the English way, with the meaning of what Shri Mataji gave, being

retained]