On a warm February evening in a small hall in Delhi, India , a fifty-four year old Indian lady stands up in front of an eager and attentive audience and clears her throat. Among the many pairs of eyes riveted to the figure at the front of the hall, are those of some local journalists. For the next two hours, the speaker delivers an extraordinary, matter-of-fact lecture on the creation of the universe, couched in the language of ancient Indian vedic philosophy, that touches on cosmic inflation theory, multiverses, string theory and ToE, probability and evolutionary biology.
What is noteworthy is that the speaker is a simple housewife, Mrs Nirmala Srivastava, not a quantum physicist and the year is 1977 - some of the ideas in her lecture won't be in the domain of scientific debate for at least another thirty years.
The lecture is more than a 'revelation' about the nature of the universe. By placing biological evolution in humans at the centre of the drama of the coming into being of the universe, it is both a practical guide and a warning of where, as a species, we're headed next.
How could Mrs Srivastava know so much, and in detail, on this subject, when a lot of what is said could not have been found in any known published book of that time or since?
Among her followers she is called 'Shri Mataji' ('Mother') . This is both a term of reverence and of recognition. A recognition implicit in several other of her names : 'Adi Shakti'/ 'Adi Ma' (primordial mother) /'Ma-Adi' / 'Ma-treya' (mother in 3 forms: 'mahalakshmi', 'mahakali', 'mahasaraswati').
Her life's work has been the ushering in of a spontaneous, en-masse kundalini awakening, an inner dormant spiritual energy residing in every individual in the sacrum at base of the spine, which is the trigger for the next evolutionary leap in human beings.
It has been predicted that in Human Beings 2.0 sickness and aging will disappear and everyone will have a new sixth sense of 'vibrational awareness', an ability of tapping into the truth-essence of everything. We'll all, it seems, be hardwired into the Unified Field of String Theory giving us 'collective consciousness'.
Along with every evolutionary leap however, as illustrated in Neil Shubin's 'A Universe Within' , there is catastrophic extinction. And scientist say we are in the midst of one now, which is referred to as the 'sixth mass extinction'.
If the 'cradle of humanity' lies in the great rift valley of Africa, how ironic that some of the signs of it's demise are becoming evident there. Here is part an account of a visit to the Turkana basin in Kenya with Dr. Louise Leakey, daughter of the great paleontologist, Richard Leakey, and a paleontologist in her own right (The article appears in the FT newspaper November 20 , 2015).
"We reach the Turkwel field acutely aware of the enormous technological advances our own branch of mankind has made in the past half-century, but Leakey warns against the arrogance of modern man. She reminds us that we have existed a mere 200,000 years, and that all the half-dozen other species of the genus Homo have gone extinct. Since her grandparents first started searching for man's origins 80 years ago the global population has soared from two to seven billion. She says man is rapidly destroying the environment and other species in what she calls the 'sixth Mass Extinction'. She believes Homo sapiens will itself disappear "possibly within hundreds, not thousands, of years ", adding: "The planet would be a better place without us". Even in the Turkana basin the warning signs are apparent. The wildlife has mostly been killed. Overgrazing has turned the land to desert. Overfishing has depleted the lake. Ethiopia has built a huge new dam on the Omo river which threatens to turn sublime lake Turkana into a toxic, dried-up dust bowl. "Here in the so-called 'Birthplace of Humanity'", says Leakey, "you can already see how humanity is destroying itself."
In the gloom of an uncertain future for mankind, there is a beacon of light representing survival and renewal. The key to it is the legacy of the teachings of Shri Mataji.
Here is a part transcript of her lecture:
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923 - 2011)
Delhi, India
20 February 1977
"Tonight
we have decided to talk about Creation but our management has not been
able to provide me with a chalk and with a blackboard. I don’t know,
I’ll try to explain it without drawing. It’s a very difficult subject.
And I’ll try to make it intelligent for you, but I would request you to
pay full attention for such a difficult subject like Creation. One thing
is a blessing today that…. (Hindi aside)
The greatest blessing
today is that many of you can feel the vibrations. And not only that but
you also know and realize that they can think and they can love — it’s a
very big blessing. Of course, some of you haven’t got it, but those who
have got it know that these vibrations organize, because they raise the
Kundalini, they go to the place where it is needed, out of compassion,
to that portion where there is deficiency. They understand, they
organize their universal nature and they love. They answer to your
questions, when you ask them some questions — you receive answer from
them. They are living vibrations. These vibrations are from the Divine.
This Divine is called as Brahma —
Brahma-tattwa, Principle of Divine.
We
can say that the process of Creation is an eternal process. Means the
seed becomes a tree and the tree becomes a seed, and the seed becomes a
tree. It goes on and on — it’s eternal. So, it cannot have a starting
point and it cannot have an ending point. It goes on and on and on.
That’s why it can have different states of existence, you can say, state
of being.
So, the first, just the being, is Brahma, where
nothing exists. We say ‘nothing’. When we say nothing, it is a relative
word: because we do not exist, so we say ‘nothing exists’ — it’s a
relative word. When we are not existing, for us everything is ‘not’.
There is something, but that is not ourselves. And that’s why,
relatively, we say ‘it is nothing’. It’s only the word Brahma, you can
say, you can think of an energy, if you want to, an
energy-form that exists.
But
the energy accumulates at a point and forms a nucleus. The energy that
thinks, energy that is distributed, accumulates at a point —
concentrates on a point, you can say.
And this point is the point
we call as Sadashiva. This happens because that energy desires, thinks,
organizes, loves. When it wants to create, when the desire is felt in
that energy to create — at that time a nucleus is created. This nucleus
we call as Sadashiva. This nucleus does not disappear. You can think of a
nebula. I mean, it is something which is all relative you can think,
you cannot think something in absolute form. So, with thinking you
cannot conceptualize the whole thing. But if you can think of a state,
where it’s just an energy and no creation.
But not the energy of
electricity, magnetism, — all this. It’s the combination, the synthesis
of all the things which goes into Laya which becomes that, is all
synthesized. It coagulates on a point, [unclear] coagulates at a point
which we can call as a nucleus. This point we call as Sadashiva.
This Sadashiva is the Ishwara, is the God Almighty."
" She has created many universes. It is not one universe She has created.
She has created universes after universes and I will show you how She
has created so many universes. And some of them are still lingering on,
some of them are destroyed. But today before us: this universe, this
earth, on this earth India and in India Delhi, you are sitting
attending this place. It’s like that. So, at this moment, whatever is
the thing, is not the past is not the future, but I’m telling you about
the present moment we are here."
As I told you it’s a very, very difficult subject and I’ve tried to
handle it in English, it’s even worse. So, I’ve tried my level best to
do it, but still if you have any questions, anything, you can ask me,
some time, you can write to me, we can find it out.
Tomorrow…
Now, this is the only thing is, — I wanted to tell you about this, —
that now you have got thoughtless awareness, no doubt. Most of you have
got thoughtless awareness, you have got vibrations, but you have to jump
into Nirvikalpa. Nirvikalpa. And that you have to jump through deep
meditation and through deep exposure. Otherwise, you see, it is no use
only having this little state of Nirvichara, you have to jump into
Nirvikalpa. That is a stage, little, as I’ve told you here, a little
ahead of this reflector, you have moved.
But still you are going
up and down, so many of you. This is a state known as Satori in the Zen
system of religion, they call it as Satori — where, if a person is going
up and down, is catching, doing this, that. This stage has to be
overcome. Then you go to the Nirvikalpa state. At the end of the
Nirvikalpa state you just don’t catch much. You are not bothered.
So far, I haven’t met any human being like that. You see, I have seen
very great saints and realized people and I can say that they are
definitely
self-realized, they are even controlling nature, some of them do, but still they catch on their chakras, it’s something surprising.
But
human beings are like that, they go on catching and again, perhaps,
they jump into the third state of Self-Realization completely, but they
are again in a Satori state and they come back and go back like that,
maybe. But I have seen that, so far, I have not met one human being whom
I will say he is fully
self-realized, who doesn’t catch.
Except
for me, I find, everybody is catching. It’s most surprising. But when
you don’t catch — what happens, when you don’t catch? Actually, this is a
state rather difficult to achieve.
So, gradually you rise, because you are just now newly born children,
you have still to grow, you have to grow more. You might be learning,
you might be knowing a lot, that doesn’t mean, as far as your
spirituality is concerned, you have just have come out of your Satori
state, some of you, and some of you are still in the Satori state. So,
be careful about it. I would like to meet you again, perhaps, after two
years, I don’t know when.
Tomorrow we are having a meditation
here and there I won’t speak much. Tomorrow we have a meditation.
We have a meditation centre here, where you should go and meet, when you
meet in a group then it is a samuhi… [unclear??], is a group activity,
I will be there. You’ll be surprised that my vibrations cannot be felt
anywhere so much as they can be felt in a group, about which I know that
such and such group is working here.
So, we have already three
groups which are working in Delhi. And they are made quite closer to the
places. After all, we must know that we don’t have to go to Himalayas,
as people went out, we don’t have to do all these things. Only thing we
have to go is to a place which is very much closer to us, it has been
brought to our doors. The whole thing has been brought to your doors:
the knowledge, the vibrations, the realization and everything is made so
easy. It’s made easy…. But it should not mean that we should take it
for granted. It has been made easy through a very, very great tapasya on
my part, I should say.
In many ages I’ve been living now for
thousands of years and I’ve been working it out on so many human beings
and so many things and, at long last, I’ve been able to find out most of
the permutations and combinations of most of the human beings and
that’s how it has been worked out in such a large
mass-scale. It would not have been possible if I had not worked it out in that way.
It’s already very late for all of you and every… such a difficult
subject to be brought to you in such a short time, it’s very difficult.
But if…I will be, I hope to write some book on Sahaja Yoga. I hope, I am
saying, because, so far, I’ve never written any book. Trying to write
some book but before that some other people are writing. I hope, I may
be able to write something. In any case, you try to… not to bother too
much about this thing. This is not so important as your own realization
and your own ascent. The whole knowledge will be dawned upon you.
You don’t have to bother — every word now you read, you will have a
meaning about it and you will understand.
The first thing is that
you must get your realization, second thing is you must ascend.
You must ascend much more and give more time to this. Do not take it for
granted. It is a very important thing which you should do. After all
there are other things, they are important. But this is the most
important thing which has to be done. By God’s grace, if it works out
I’ll be very happy. As it is, I’m extremely happy because in none of my
lives I’ve been able to give realizations to so many people.
So
as it is, I am over-satisfied with myself. But as far as you are
concerned, you should not be satisfied, you should ask for more and more
and more and it will be granted, because you are the people who are on
the stage. You are created for this purpose. One has to do it. God has
to do it. If He does not do it — He cannot fulfil His own desires.
And His Creation, He is not going to destroy.
May God bless you!
Listen to Full Archived Audio Recording from 1977 Here.
, wrote Einstein and ever since then, it's imprinted in popular imagination that energy occupies a prime position in the universe that we live in. But that's physics. In an extraordinary new book, The Vital Question , Nick Lane, researcher and lecturer in evolutionary biochemistry argues that, rather than information being the fundamental currency of transmission in biological processes, it's actually energy.
