The shift in human consciousness

Devotee: You spoke about earthquakes and so on. Have you also got the feeling that human beings will change? Can you tell us a little bit more about this change?

Guru: There is great awareness in human beings. We realise that we must change our whole attitude to life, and the environment in which we live. If we are not ecology-conscious, and if the food we eat and the resources we have got are not carefully measured and used wisely, we will be in real trouble.

The type of food that is being cultivated now is becoming more and more natural. All of these things are being highlighted now in Europe, [more so than ever] before.

But it is a problem. Europe is selling all its chemicals to developing countries to change that lifestyle. We don’t want to allow those developing countries to become advanced in the use of chemicals to grow more food. This is a big problem. We have to be aware of this consciousness and see how we can improve, not just in the countries that are developing awareness in Europe, but all the countries as a whole.

This is a much wider problem when we think. I appreciate what you say, and yes I would like to see more and more people becoming conscious and mindful. Then our mannerisms will also change. One of the things that bothers me a lot in Britain, is that mindlessness is very bad at the moment. We are having so many problems, which saddens me a lot. I spend a lot of time talking to people, educating them, and trying to help them understand that they are responsible.

We’ve got problems, real problems, even in the Ashram. We get so many pilgrims coming to the Ashram. The woodland in the Ashram is so sacred to us, and sometimes at the weekends, we find young men coming and pulling up plants and big trees or pushing them over and destroying them.

These trees take an awfully long time to [grow, and we must] cultivate this sense of responsibility and fair play so that we leave an inheritance for the next generation. It is going to take a lot of work. I felt sad when someone said a couple of days ago that we had a group of people in Skanda Vale who pulled up a whole load of trees down by the river. It’s just a feeling of or a sense of vandalism. What can we do but educate these people?

Devotee: Do you think the shift in consciousness will come through education?

Guru: Yes, through education.

Devotee: We have to help that change come by using our awareness so that we see things as they are, and that we see the problems.

Guru: Yes. We should enjoy the beauty [of nature], not destroy it. I think teaching in schools has to change. We should not just learn a whole book and then absorb it. We have another book that we have to take from the archives. The archives of the books of behaviour patterns.

Children are not taught about their responsibility to respect the environment we live in, to contribute something to the well-being of the world and to the society that we live in. This must become a part of the training and teaching not only in schools but in families as well. Families must take on that responsibility, this is a must.

The family is responsible for bringing up a child from birth. After fourteen or so years, if you have not spent time with your children, then you have lost the advantage with them because they will not want to know. We are training children to behave in a manner which is unacceptable in our societies and this is what we have to emphasise.

The family unit must spend time together; don’t abdicate your responsibility to the television set. If you hand your responsibility to the television set, then don’t complain later on, “My daughter, my son, does not listen to me at all, is out doing what they want, I don’t even know what they are doing.”

Please, let me explain that life is a partnership, not an imposition. Life must be a partnership where the father and mother, brothers and sisters can communicate and talk about their problems without one dominating the other. They must have confidence in the love of their relationships with their sons and daughters that they can come and say, “Mum, what do you think about this?” You must have the courage and ability to say, ‘Tell me all about it, we will have a lovely discussion.”

Don’t be shocked about it, or by life. After all, this is what life is about – raising a child. You must have the capacity to hear anything a child says to you and not be surprised by it, because that is the world outside. The child is going to school and there in that school will be several children who are going to tell your son about life in their way, presenting it in their fashion, surprising and shocking you and the child. Your child must have the ability to have an outlet to discuss it with you and you must have the courage to hear it.

If you don’t do that, your child will become isolated. He or she will go to a corner quietly and do it his or her way and you will be surprised one day when somebody will say to you, “Oh, I saw your son or daughter doing that.” You will say, “Really? I don’t believe it.” But don’t be surprised. You must have your point of contact.

Start early. I have beautiful children in Skanda Vale, and it’s so lovely to hear the conversations that go on between the parents and children, and I encourage this. I encourage it because I want them to be able to say what they feel. I always advise parents not to be surprised by what their children say. They are going to repeat what they hear at school. Now, you must have the capacity to have patience and discuss it with your children, and then you will help them.

Don’t just knock them down. Wrong again. You are my children, if you come back to me one day and say the most absurd things, I will roar with laughter after all and say, “Well I hope you haven’t hurt yourself, as long as you don’t, I am there to help you.” This is most important. If I were to say, “You cannot follow a spiritual path unless unless unless unless don’t, must, etc you will say, “This is not spirituality, you are imprisoning me.”

I want to understand your innermost thoughts and aspirations. I want to understand your feelings and at the same time I want to give you a little bit of a nudge into the right channel of consciousness, that’s my job.

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