Recession and Economy

Now, handmade things we may have, because they are made by hand, so they have vibrations. People would like to have handmade. It is a part, so by that we remove the disparity of the world. Developing countries can do handmade things. You cannot beat them with computers. Can you? You go ahead mad with your computers. You'll have to come back.

You must understand the whole. If you don't understand the whole, this is what is happening. Like mad, you know computers are going ahead, ahead, ahead and where? Into the ditch, into a big mountain. Now they have created a big mountains of plastic and they don't know what to do with it. So, and now with computer, what will they do? They'll create a greater mountains out of plastics. Maybe Himalaya might be created, with the computer. So the developing countries should not try to follow these mad people on one side. They should develop their hand things and all that, because they'll have to come back. Now, the handmade things in this country are so important and so expensive. You don't care whether it is pressed or not. But in India you have to take nylons, because they say nylons is a symbol of development, not of over-development, perhaps, but of development. So they must take to nylons and plastics and to stainless steel and aluminium, if possible. That's what we are doing.

When you have less things consumed like that, you use less things from your Motherland, because handmade you cannot go on mad like a machine goes, like a rakshasa eating away everything and producing more. She (it) has to live like that. It's not economical. So when you have handmade things you have more value for your things, you look after them better, you feel better, you are comfortable and you need not be that smart, you see, machine made. That idea of smartness is going down.

So, the developing countries should also learn a lesson. They are going after you. They are running fast. They try to run faster; they cannot. Thank God, they cannot. But they should stick on to that side. You see, one part of the country has to do something; another part has to do something else.

But, you people have to look after the side of machines, all right? I mean, handmade things, what can you make? Some ceramics, I think ─ apologies, some apologies for that. You better do what you know better and let them do what they can do better and share. If this balance is established there's no aggression. Unemployment can be solved. All the problems can be solved, if you take to handmade things. You should take to handmade things as far as possible. Sahaja Yogis should use handmade things. I mean, not the cars, but for their personal use. Even I would say, soaps that you use are horrid. The soaps that you get in England are not meant for your skins at all, for Sahaja Yogis' skin. I can't bear them. What you have to use is natural soaps, that you get from any country you feel like, but natural soaps, which come from natural oils.

Foods also, natural food you must eat, more natural food, than artificial. All that will give you a better living and that is called as alternative, all right. That's alternative is important, but that doesn't mean you go on a bullock cart. You can export your trains to India, or your cars to India and get khadi (cloth) from there. All right?

H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, extracts from "You Must Improve", London, UK, 7/6/82

Handicrafts