Shri Mataji's interview with Greek TV

Interview on a Greek TV with Vagianatos, Athens (Greece), April 27th, 1993

Interviewer: Good evening, it is very strong feeling that so many times we are in another country although we are in this country. Tonight we have the opportunity of really make a long travel. A long travel in wisdom, in distance, in space, in our hearts, in truth. This is all the elements that are concentrated in the presence of a Holy Mother that we have invited here, and we are very grateful that we have You…

Shri Mataji: Thank you…

Interviewer: … all the way from one of the oldest civilizations. You know, we are very proud that we are members of a very old civilization…

Shri Mataji: Good.

Interviewer: … And very rarely we realize how other old civilizations shine in other places on the world. So we do welcome You here along with the truth You carry for us. We would like to ask You about this truth, and the way You see in this same world, this other country which is every country which is our heart.

Shri Mataji: We have to know one thing, what is the truth is. The truth is actually we are not this body, mind, intellect, emotions, ego, but we are the Spirit. And in our evolutionary process we have reached the stage of human awareness, and beyond this there’s a little breakthrough by which we have to become the Spirit. That’s very simple and can be done very easily for people who are seeking the truth.

Interviewer: How would you describe the system of your thought, the system that you approach to our hearts and our minds?

Shri Mataji: Yes. You’ll be amazed to know that in Greece people called a bone Sacrum, which is the triangular bone, and that means they knew there was something sacred about that bone. Now this bone has got within itself a residual power which is for our connection to this all-pervading divine power.

All the scriptures have talked about all-pervading divine love and everything, but we have never felt it before. It’s a surprising thing that we take all living things for granted, for our heart beats, we don’t know how it beats. Then you see the flowers grow, we don’t know how it grows. But if you understand that there is some power which is doing all this living work then the time has come for us to know it, to feel it, to understand it, and also to use it.

Interviewer: How do You think that people have arrived in so many conclusions that they call religions, and what is the connection between this way of approaching ourselves to the truth which is one, and Your old tradition in Your country which I assume is India?

Shri Mataji: No, in all the religions and scriptures is written that you have to transform, you have to be born again. Every religion has said that. This is not only that any particular religion has said it. Every religion, even Islam has said you have to be a Wali. Even Christianity has said you are to be born again. I mean there’s no religion which has not said that, but it is not just a certificate. You cannot take just a certificate “I am born again”.

It is something that actualizes by which you develop a new state, a new state of your mind, state of your being by which you become the Spirit – and there are powers of the Spirit which you manifest. It’s not just talking and giving sermons and lectures, but it is something that’s an actualization, is a living process.

Interviewer: I think we Greeks belong to the what we call the East part of philosophy, of religions. This is a system which is mostly esoteric, this is a very Greek word which is seeking inside.

Shri Mataji: Yes.

Interviewer: I think this is quite relevant and close to the very ancient Indian tradition.

Shri Mataji: Yes, of course.

Interviewer: Now how close do You think these, these very old religious systems are, I am talking about the Pagan, our own ancestors [Shri Mataji: “Yes”] before Christianity, even the Jewish or all the other, Hindu, Buddhist and the rest You know.

Shri Mataji: Yeah. You see, specially in Greece you had the ancient system of worshipping the Goddess Athena. Now in Sanskrit Atha means the primordial, so to us She is the Primordial Mother, that we call in our language as Adi Shakti, you see, is the Primordial Mother. And She has, you must have seen a snake in Her shield and also in Her hand that is the symbol of this power within you, which lies dormant in your, in your triangular bone called as sacrum.

So the Greeks knew about it, no doubt, because otherwise they would not have called Her Athena and She must have been, in our scriptures She is described very well, not only that but Greece is called as Manipur Dwipe, means the navel of the universe.

Interviewer: Yes. And certainly it was a surprise for me to see that You come here to preach our own ancient Gods.

Shri Mataji: Yes, it’s true.

Interviewer: Now, what are You telling us about Athena, is that the serpents, serpents with Greek gods are very familiar creatures…

Shri Mataji: Yes, but you see such a snake…

Interviewer: … have to do with medicine and others. Now what is the message of Athena coming from You again nowadays?

Shri Mataji: Athena is the one that, she is the one who was trying to push Her spear into the fontanel bone of Zeus. Now that’s exactly what Sahaja Yoga is. We think – not we believe, and that we have proved also – that this power which we call as Kundalini, because it is like a serpent going into coils [Interviewer: “Yes”], because it’s an energy that moves like a serpent. You see, more symbolic it is, not the serpent actually.

So this is the power which is the reflection of Athena within us and when she rises she goes and hits here and opens out your fontanel bone. That’s actualization of the baptism, as described in Christianity; by that then you are connected with that subtle energy which is all-pervading. For the first time you start feeling that cool breeze in your hand which is described is the cool breeze of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the same as Athena, but I think Christians could not connect it with that. She is the same.

Interviewer: We see that all these sanctities along history come and repeat themselves and transfigurate themselves according to the tradition of peoples.

Shri Mataji: Of course.

Interviewer: Now You have referred to Yoga and of course in this part of the world we are more or less familiar. Now for those who are less, I would like You to found what we are talking now in this Yoga and give us some ideas about the wide spectrum of what You would call Yoga.

Shri Mataji: You see, Yoga is when you unite, is the union between your Self with the divine is Yoga, That’s the real spiritual yoga. All other yogas, like physical yoga and all that, is a wee part of what one Patanjali wrote. Is a very wee part that to cleanse your body and all that is there. But there is no need now to do all that.

First in the modern times what if I have done any work is this: that people used to get self realization, alright, but one Master had only one disciple. Gradually it started in a way that they started talking about it. From the, I think, 12th century it became more open. But it has been there for years together. Now when they started talking about it, they could