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Memories of our Divine Mother: 22. THROUGH THE MUSIC AND OTHER THINGS 1) Linda Williams said: Through the music December [1978], I had been at a performance of "Handel's Messiah" in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Although I had felt terrible beforehand and had had a bad depression/paralytic fit before going to the performance, during the performance I felt something lift, as if, in that darkness, something was turning. After that I slowly began to see my life was a disaster and something radical had to change if I were to survive. Later, I discovered that Shri Mataji had been at that same performance and She said that when She goes to a music performance, even if it is a public one and She is incognito, She can work on all the people there through the music. Linda Williams 2) Kristine Kirby said: And I felt the rhythm with my own hands In 1983 Shri Mataji came to Boston. I am from Boston, USA. She spent quite a long time with us in 1983. The memories that I have of Her time in Boston are very precious because we had a small ashram and She stayed in the ashram with a small number of us. And we got to spend some time in the living room sitting with Her. The most extraordinary event that I can remember from that sitting was listening to music in the living room with Shri Mataji. There were about fifteen of us and She was sitting and said, "Okay, let us have some nice music." So what immediately jumped into our minds was having Shri Mataji listen to this [jazz] artist that we were very fond of, whose name was Keith Jarrett, and we thought he might be a realized soul. So we said okay, She must listen, let's have Her listen to this and let's see. So it was me who had to put the tape into the tape machine and I pressed push and play, push and play and it just wouldn't go. I couldn't figure out what was wrong because the tape machine had been working up to that point. There was nothing wrong with the tape. So I said, "Here, let me try a different tape, so we can see if it is the tape machine or the tape or what.' The other tape I picked up was some Indian flute music by Vijay Raghav and I stuck it in and immediately the tape worked and immediately Shri Mataji said, "Ah yes!" She was so pleased with that. "This is beautiful music. This is wonderful music." So, of course, we listened to that music. We sat in a semi-circle around Shri Mataji and She said," Now, whatever is happening in the atmosphere, whatever is happening in the universe is reflected in My Body. And even the rhythm of this music is happening in My Body." And She had me put my left hand under Her Foot and a very complicated rhythm was pulsing on the sole of Her Foot that was corresponding, as far as I could perceive, to the rhythm of the music, the rhythm of the tabla that was playing with the flute music. And I felt it with my own hands. And She said, "Now everybody can feel it." So She had us link hands in such a fashion so that my right hand was into the left hand of the person sitting next to me, whose hand was facing up and then they took their right hand and put it into the left hand of the person next to them. And in this way, in this semi- circle we all linked hands and the person on the other end — this is where I am not sure I am remembering correctly — but that person may also have put their right hand under Her other Foot. My left hand was under Her right Foot and everybody felt it. Everybody felt the rhythm of the music. And we sat in that way for about five minutes, experiencing something really amazing, something really miraculous. Kristine Kirby 3) Sharon Vincent said: Heavenly voices This is just a little experience I had, a miracle experience that I had several years ago, at the beginning, just after I got my Realization in 1981 or `82. I was on my way to a musical concert in a car and sitting next to me was another yogini. And I started listening to the wheels of the car going round and I must have gone into meditation. I started hearing a beautiful song, "Kundalini," and I heard one voice, then I heard children's voices, men's voices, women's voices, more and more and more and there were just hundreds of voices. And the more I listened, the harder I listened, I noticed that there was no breath between the words. Then the next thing that came to me were big letters in front of my eyes — ANGELS — big red letters. And then I waited and the next thing that came to me was that these angels were always there with us, but that we were not at that level to realize that they were there to appreciate them. And next I opened my eyes and I turned and I spoke to the girl who was sitting next to me and I said, "Oh, I've just heard some amazing music." And she said, "Well, I have also. I've just heard "Kundalini." And it was just like heavenly, heavenly voices." Sharon Vincent 4) Linda Williams said: One television program Some of us did a talk show against the TM. We had recorded it some time before and it was flighted at prime time — six on a Sunday. The program was called "Credo" and was some sort of investigative journalism. It was a good program and showed the relationship between TM and epilepsy — via the EEG waves, which were the same in both cases and how one was hypnotized and mesmerized. When the show was due to go out, Mother had those of us who appeared on it round to Her flat and we watched it with Her. I remember sitting at Her Feet. After the program we were all going to go to a concert at the South Bank Centre [in London] of some well known Indian musician. Mother was wearing a black shawl and I was wearing some sort of a dress because I was pregnant at the time. We had just left the flat when Mother gave the black shawl to me and went back and got another shawl for Herself. She said the bhoots would see the black shawl, think it was Hers, and avoid me. When we got to the concert, Mother had me sit next to Her because I was very vulnerable. She later also said that when She went to a concert like that, with lots of ordinary Londoners there, She could work on everyone at the concert through the music. She even said that when She, and millions of others, watched Princess Diana's wedding, She could work on every single person whose attention was also on the same TV program. Linda Williams 5) Chris Marlow said: It must be the highest form of devotion this music I remember going to concerts with Mother in the early days. I remember going to a couple of concerts with Amjad Ali Khan in the Commonwealth Institute in about 1983-4. He was always very respectful. He would always bow to Shri Mataji and say what a great honour it was to be playing in Her presence. I'd get up on stage and sing the odd song here and there. I would feel — well, it would be like driving Shri Mataji. I mean, driving Shri Mataji, you sort of feel you are about six feet up in the air and you are completely witnessing what is happening. It's just happening and you are not doing anything and singing to Shri Mataji is much the same. You are on the stage, you've been nervous before, but once you're there, you are just enveloped in a nice little cocoon of vibrations. It just sort of takes place. Chris Marlow 6) Ray Harris said: I had the pleasure of playing for Shri Mataji a couple of times. When I first came to Sahaja Yoga I'd sort of given up playing. I hadn't played for years. But at some point, I started to really get the desire to sing or play. I started writing songs, quite spontaneously in about 1985 and I wrote one song called "We are the Light," which everybody seemed to like and I played it a couple of times in front of Shri Mataji. That is a real experience. You feel like this spotlight of Shri Mataji, which is on everyone usually, is suddenly on you, personally, and you actually have to do something. Now you have two choices. You can either be terrified, which you start off being, or you can feel lifted ten feet off the ground and feel enveloped by this incredible love and attention — a unique state that you are propelled into. And if you just let it go and go with it, the experience of playing is something quite unique. Certainly Nishat Khan has talked about it. He plays all over the world and then he plays in front of Shri Mataji. I know what he means. He says he has never played as well as when he is in front of Shri Mataji because something just takes over. It is like the kundalini Herself does the playing. You obviously have to do the dog work and learn the technique, but once you know it, it comes through you. It's like that. It grips you. There is no feeling comparable to that bliss when you are playing and singing. I think it must be the highest form of devotion, this music. And one time there was a really lovely event, was when the Nagpur musicians headed by the late and greatly missed Baba Mama, Shri Mataji's brother, who himself was not a musician until he became a Sahaja Yogi, came to England, as they did most years in the late 80's and early 90's, and played their tremendous devotional music. And it was decided that this Ray Harris was going to get up and play, that was a fairly terrifying experience because these guys, these Nagpur musicians, were obviously playing quite simple songs, but obviously they were obviously absolutely first class, professional Indian classical musicians. Guruji is a violinist. Chaya and Baba Mama, who became professional — I don't even know if he was trained — they were all very awesome musicians. I felt quite inadequate, but they were so sweet to me and said, "Okay, you don't have to get up and do a song on your own. We'll do `We are the Light'" because they liked that song because it was dancey and stuff. "But let's do it together. We will do a version of Nagpur musicians doing this song and we will do a jam, you know." So we spent about seven minutes practising in the Commonwealth Institute in West London, just before Shri Mataji was due to arrive, and we didn't quite know when She was going to arrive, so I was terrified, shaking at that time. And Sanjay Talwar, who used to write songs — very sweet, Sanjay Talwar — and he said, "Don't worry, we'll do it. We'll work it out and arrange it." Because it was quite a complex thing. And just spontaneously, they invented another bit. The end bit was composed by Sanjay and Baba Mama and it actually made the song, it gave it that lift. And when we did it for Shri Mataji, it was absolutely unbelievable. The whole house got up and they were all dancing and it was just something really incomparable. And it worked. And I had been terrified as to how it was going to work, how I was going to play with these wonderful musicians and I just thank Shri Mataji for that because it was a unique experience. Ray Harris 7) Linda Williams said: A good thing for Her to buy Mother was at a weekend seminar in Dorset. We had a lovely weekend and various things happened, but there was one which was connected with shopping. Apparently Mother had gone to the local town. There was a clock in an antique shop, which Mother stopped and seemed interested in. She went in and bought it and the shop owner said it had been in the window for a very long time. When She had bought it, She explained to the people with Her that She could work on every person who had looked at the clock as they passed up the street and that was why it was a good thing for Her to buy. Linda Williams

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www.adishakti.org/
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www.adi-shakti.org/  — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/  — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/  — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/  — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)