1. UK 83-8 Gururaj. Perhaps some of you don't know the significance of what we've done now. There are many aspects to it - the one is a blessing, the other is to impart certain spiritual force to you, Shakti, and the third is to open up the inner eye, so that may your vision see the goodness and glory of God. Good. I've also been asked this morning that instead of having one long Satsang we should have a rapid fire question and answer session so that most people could take part in it. So questions? Questioner. Guruji, I would like you to give us your description and your interpretation of the Lord's Prayer. Gururaj. Have you got it here? I'll go word by word on it. Have you got the Lord's Prayer here? Questioner.(Cont’d) Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, Gururaj. With me a prayer is something that wells up from within the heart. And many people pray just using words. Our Father, the very word ‘Our’ means that we are so close to Him. Now why father why not mother, because a father in a family is always the protector of the family, the bread winner. Which art in heaven. Where is that heaven when it is said that the Kingdom of heaven is within. So we are praying to that force which is ours and that father is ours, so we are not praying to someone sitting on a cloud somewhere, but we are praying to that Divinity that resides within ourselves. Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, for it is only through thy name, it is only through thy remembrance, thy hallowed name, it is only through that remembrance, that I could express in my daily life all that you are, that Divine force, Divine power. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Where must thy kingdom come to? Thy kingdom is within but when we say 'Thy kingdom come' it would mean that let thy kingdom be expressed outwardly in my daily actions. What goes after? Questioner.(Cont’d) Thy will be done. Gururaj. Thy will be done. Yes. I subdue my entire ego self, my will to thy will and thy Divine will let it be done in my daily life and I surrender my little will to thy will. Next. Questioner.(Cont’d) Give us this day our daily bread

2. UK 83-8 Gururaj. Give us this day our daily bread. That has very deep meaning. ‘This day our daily bread’. Lord, let me not try and accumulate the world's riches. But let me live day to day, for by accumulation I will only enlarge my ego. I will become more and more possessive. When I become more and more possessive, I will become more and more selfish. So just give me daily bread, I'm satisfied with that. I do not want to store my riches in the barns - you know the parable. I do not want to store the riches in the barns. Just give me the sustenance for today. For what good is the riches to be stored in barns, I'd rather store it with you, in Thy kingdom. What goes after that? Questioner.(Cont’d) And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. Gururaj. Forgive those that trespass against us. There again we could interpret it as love thy enemy. Let people do me wrong and after all who is being done wrong to, this little temporal body, this little insignificant self. So when we talk o f forgiveness then we would forget everything about revenge. For what is revenge going to help anyone? The forgiver is far, far stronger than the avenger. So give me the strength to forgive anyone that does me wrong. For in any case, that wrong is only my interpretation, but if a person does me wrong perhaps I need that to learn some lesson in life. So forgive them Father, they know not what they do. And I would add 'Oh Father give them strength to know in future'. For by forgiving someone you are automatically imparting a certain kind of love to that person. And love is so powerful that it could transform the so-called wrong doer. You can conquer by love. And forgiveness is an outward expression of that deep love that is within ourselves. So, then by that very action we can convey that love to others and the very force of love would have a great beneficial effect on the other person. So, two things happen, we gain in greater strength by the power of love and forgiveness and the person that is forgiven also starts realising. I'll tell you a story of myself, I don't know if I told it to you before. I had offices in the centre of Capetown and the ca r wouldn't start. So I had to take the bus and now it was quite a long way to the bus stop about a mile. It was a Saturday afternoon and the streets were quite empty. So I was accosted by three, you call them teddy boys here I suppose. I was accosted by three of them and I had about thirty Rand, that's the South African currency, I had about thirty Rand in my pocket they took that. And they took my watch I think it was and then they started running away because when they asked me I said sure take everything. They reached the corner and I shouted to them 'Hey wait a minute you've forgotten my fountain-pen take that. And I got some little change in my pocket too'. They turned back and gave me back my watch and my money. And you know they spoke Afrikaans. They said 'Hier es anner souter mann', that means he's some different kind of person. And then they went off again. You see the power of forgiving. They've taken my watch and my

3. UK 83-8 money why not this expensive fountain pen I had, a ballpoint pen, a gold one, take that too and some loose change in the pocket. You see how far the power of forgiveness goes that you could change people's hearts? Here were thugs that were used to robbing and it changed them. You see? Lead me not into temptation. What are the things that we are normally tempted with in life? Lust, avarice, greed which of course money, covetousness, wanting to get hold of things that does not belong to you and other things of various temptations. So please Lord do not lead me to those temptations. But then again we must remember who is the stronger person, the one that finds temptation lying in his path or the one who has no temptation in his path. There's a story about Buddha where he was being tested and he was put in a room to meditate with a whole lot of naked dancing girls around him. But he was so steadfast in his meditation that all those naked dancing girls around him to him seemed like his sisters and mothers. And he started admiring the glory of God, that what great beauty you have put. Now who is the stronger? Then another man would be sitting in the forest where meditation and things are very conducive, that is easy, but if you are in the middle of the world with all these things around you and yet not be tempted, there lies the inner strength. And that inner strength can only be brought about by self integration through our spiritual practices. How does the next line go? Questioner.(Cont’d) For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Gururaj. For Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever. Eternally it is only your power and your glory that has manifested itself in this world. There is nothing else but you. You are omnipresent. You dwell in every cel l of my body and really speaking not understanding that my little mind is actually betraying you. So we come to the realisation that everything is Divine, everything is God, then we can do no wrong. We can still live in the world and have your little innocent fun and what have you and yet all the time we are in total remembrance of his Divinity. For it is His power and His glory that functions all the time. Me speaking now, lifting my hand, whose power is that. I'm just a piece of wood. If that power is gone out of me, I can do nothing. I can't even lift my hand, wouldn't be able to speak, nothing. So that is to be remembered, that Thine is the power and the glory. It means it is thy omnipresence that is all pervading and all prevailing through eternity forever and ever. There's no end to that power, that glory. You see how beautiful it is? Now, this is just a simple explanation. One could really go far, far deeper into every word of it. The Vedanta Society has written a small book, I think it’s by Swami Bedananda or Nistulananda, I'm not too sure now and the entire book is devoted to the Lord’s Prayer, defining word by word. I have only given you a brief outline of it. But it all goes t o

4. UK 83-8 show one thing, the worship of the Divine, the love for the Divine and the surrender for the Divine and all the injunctions in the prayer, shows us how to love God. It shows us how to lose ourselves in Thy power and Thy glory. It shows us not to be selfish, just give us some daily bread. Do you see? So, so beautiful. Our Father which art in heaven. Father, the boss of the house. He's the boss, not we. Therefore we say Father. You know the Father is always the head of the house and that Father is the head of this little house, His house, not mine. He made it, he gave it and he will take it away. But he does give us the free will. Therefore we say 'Lead us'. There we are speaking as an individual little mind to the universal, ‘lead us not into temptation’. So therefore the prayer has to be done in total humility. That I am small, I am insignificant. And hallowed be Thy name, it’s also a praise, a supplication a praise to He, to Him. See. I could go on this for hours, I just wanted to give you a brief example. I am a great admirer of the Christian prayer. I never memorise or remember words, but the essence is inside, without words. And when that very prayer becomes an essence to you, discarding words then you really know and live the prayer. Good. Next question. Questioner. Guruji, this question is from Tina Royale from Braintree who has just had a baby. She's not here this time. Gururaj. Oh beautiful bless them both. Questioner.(Cont’d) and she says what is the difference between womanhood and motherhood? Gururaj. Womanhood and Motherhood, what about Ladyhood? Yes. Yeah. There is no difference whatsoever because every woman is a potential mother. It is not necessary to bear children if it is physiological or biologically impossible. It’s not necessary but woman is still the mother. I personally have always worshipped woman as the mother. Woman is God's finest creation. There's nothing on this earth which is far greater or a finer creation than a woman because she has been given the reproductive abilities. Now, the mechanism within a woman's body, it is so vast and so indefinable apart from what doctors say. A doctor can only analyse the outer organs. But when it comes to motherhood, conception, the seed is useless if the ground is not fertile. And you know the miracle that takes place at the time of conception. That is when a soul starts formulating itself in the woman. Now, the soul does not come with the sperm and the ovum meets. No, the soul is already there in the sperm. A man's body is so porous that as we are sitting here millions and millions of souls are pouring in and out of us all the time. In our bodies there are vast, vast spaces. Even if you study an atom, you'd find more space than solid matter. Likewise, our bodies are all composed

5. UK 83-8 of atoms in its molecular system. And all those cells are floating about. So the man is only an instrument of the soul but the woman is the one that makes the soul assume a body. So look how important that is. So, motherhood is one of the greatest gifts wherever possible, that a woman could have. It is also a fulfilment of womanhood to become a mother. It’s a fulfilment. She has done her duty to the world. And if it’s not ordained then nothing wrong with it. And so the woman has all the qualities in her, such as patience, tolerance to bring up a child. She has built in that and every mother will tell you what a problem it is to bring up a child. And all the sacrifices she goes through. Many night after night after night she'd be awake. She will go through severe labour pains which is supposed to be one of the most severest pains and yet while the child is still in the womb, the mother is still caring even before the child is born. And when the child is born how much she cares for the child. The tolerance she has, the patience she has, she'll leave her food at the table to attend to the child if it’s crying. Men don't have that. Men have other qualities. They are the breadwinners, they are the outgoing type, they are the protectors, the providers. That is how the system was but today in modern times things have changed. So through this caring, through this compassion, through this deep love, the woman evolves. A person can remain just a woman but with motherhood, the evolution is expedited. But yet those that don't have children can shower the same love, save affection, same feeling, same patience, same service to some other child. A mother is a mother of the world. A woman is a mother of the world. For the very first manifestation of the Manifestor is female, is female. That is the mother, the universal mother from whom this entire universe has come about. Mother is the Creatrix. Father can impregnate a woman and disappear. And as the old joke goes, a mother is left with the baby. So with the creator there is a creatrix and this entire universe is female, is the mother. God is the creator and his creation, that which has manifested from him, is the Creatrix. Now that is the symbolism behind this Adam and Eve story. Adam and Eve is very symbolic where Eve was created from Adam's rib. That's symbolism. What it actually means that the male counterpart from him has manifested the female and therefore they use the rib instead of anything else for creation. Do you see? So the primal manifestation is in the form of female and from which, from whose womb the entire universe came about. In Sanskrit there's a beautiful word its called 'Herunjagarba' - herunja means gold and garba means womb. So, the universe came out of this golden womb. So you see if you go back and I feel so heart sore when I see women being mistreated, women being unkind to, women being used as part of the furniture. A woman being used just to appease man's lust. I feel very hurt about it. If th ere's a genuine love and togetherness between two people married or not doesn't matter to me because a formal

6. UK 83-8 marriage is only a piece of paper. A real marriage is from the heart. But a woman as far as I'm concerned demands my greatest respect. And in ancient Scriptures, in 'Munuscrip' it has been said that where women are worshipped, the Gods are well pleased. Therefore it’s always an injunction ‘Keep your home happy and you will be happy’. Yes. A home means wife and of course the offspring. Keep them happy and you are sure to be happy. It rebounds on you. You see so the great role of a woman in womanhood or motherhood means the same really. One gives forth children, the others might not but still they remain the manifestation of the Divine. Women are so submissive, that is their nature, while the male is aggressive. One is aggressive, one is passive. Now you'd need both these things to form a wholeness. There are so many things a man that truly loves a woman could learn from the woman, the patience, the tolerance, the service. Then likewise the woman too can learn so much from the man strength and courage. Yeah. So there is no real difference between womanhood and motherhood. Because without being a woman, how can yo u be a mother? Good. It is how we look at things and how we bring up our children which is very much more the responsibility of a mother than a father. A father is away from home, but the mother is the one that washes the napkins and diapers. Many people don't appreciate their mothers. They don't know what strife and turmoil the mother has gone through. It could be a very poor family and yet the mother will feed the children first and starve herself. Look at the great sacrifice. It is good. It is good for one's spiritual unfoldment. For these are all positive qualities. And it is through these positive qualities that one progresses in life find inner peace. And fathers too, they could have had a very, very hard day at the office or the factories or whatever and come home and a little child smiles and all those problems are forgotten. Just observing someone or something innocent childlike is the greatest joy and its the greatest blessing. To me a little child is very holy. To be in the company of a little child is like being in the company of a holy man. A child would say nothing but yet the innocence that is in the child because the mind is still not functioning. It’s only when the mind starts functioning that all kinds of troubles arise. The child that does not think just is and yet it also has that consciousness, a greater purity, unclouded. So to be near a child for the father too is something very beautiful and that is a great reason why the father should love and respect the mother, more and more. You see? The tree is always appreciated for its fruit. Good. Next. Questioner. Gururaj, what's the right attitude to take towards so-called third world countries? Should we help?

7. UK 83-8 Gururaj. Yes. Why should not we help third world countries or any country? Why shouldn't we not help the meanest worm crawling on the floor? Everyone, if we are in a position to help we must help. But today in the world with its economics and its politics, they are always looking for benefits rather than helping. I know one country that had a surplus of twenty thousand tons of maize and you know what they did with this maize - I live in that country so I know, - they destroyed it. The reason being, if they had to put it on the market the price of maize would come down. It would harm the economy. So they destroyed it instead of sending it away to these poor starving countries. They should be helped. Look at the billions and billions of, millions, millions, millions, trillions spent on rockets and nuclear devices. Could it not help the starving millions in the world? What do we want these rockets for? We don't need them. They are of no help to us whatsoever. It is just to show. Its also ego trip to show just how advanced we are in technology. Okay make one, fine. But why keep on making them? You've proved your point. You've climbed the Himalayas once, you don't need to go and climb it every day. You've proved your point, finish. So use that money to help the third world countries, the poorer countries because there is a lot of poverty. I have seen it myself in my travels. I was telling a friend of mine the other day that having lived so many years in the West, I could never live in India again. The dire poverty, people having no homes, no shelter, millions sleeping on pavements, not having a piece of bread to eat. I was speaking to Mrs. Gandhi, Indira Gandhi - as a matter of fact she invited me in January to India. She had something in mind for me and I couldn't go because I would return back towards the end of February and then I had to come to England. It would have been too much for me. And I told her, - I met her in Washington, she had come to make a loan from the American Government - so I told her 'Why do you come hat in hand to borrow money? Can you forever live on borrowing? Why not do something in the country itself and develop the industries and have modern methods of agriculture and things like that and become self supporting?' Mind you in the thirty odd years that India has received independence, it has made great progress. But every time a loan here and a loan there and if not from America, then from Soviet Russia. And I said this must stop somehow. Okay the country will suffer a few years but in that few years build up, build up. Yeah. So third world countries must be helped, not with arms and ammunition as they are doing now, selling arms and ammunition to these countries on the pretext of defence. If you want to help, send them things that would take away their poverty, not machines of war. Okay. He's pointing at my watch. We've got two more minutes. Come one another question. A short one. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. Questioner. Guruji, is the Personal God always male or would it appear to a man as female?

8. UK 83-8 Gururaj. Both. It’s male and female. It’s an energy, but it can manifest itself. Normally it does really as a male becaus e the male is the fighter. He's the one that goes out and fights while the woman is not so equipped, she's so tied up with the family. But you do find great women saints all over the world. I have met many of them. As a matter of fact, Swami Hiradayananda, I love her, I worship her as my mother. Yes. So the personal God is both. In him are the qualities of both because he loves everyone equally. Good. So time up. Why must people have lunch? Enjoy your lunch. END