Perfection in the Head-World¹

In the Name of the Supreme I am inaugurating this divine enterprise. This is an enterprise which deserves my special blessing, my special gratitude and also my pride. The name of this divine enterprise is "Perfection in the Head-World".

You may ask, "Why perfection in the head-world and not the hair-world?" I wish to say that "Perfection in the Head-World" is the correct expression for the experience we receive from a place like this. Hair, as such, has a soul. Undoubtedly it has a soul. But it is the soul of the head, of the mind, of the brain that oversees the soul of the hair, and guides or moulds and shapes the soul of the hair-world.

It is always the mind, the clever mind, that offers its wisdom or pronounces its verdict in regard to the hair-world. When someone has no hair, immediately people say that he has tremendous wisdom. Again, there will be others who will immediately say that lack of hair does not indicate an abundance of wisdom; what it indicates is the imperfection of health. Both the parties may be right, but actually the second party that says lack of hair is due to an imperfection of health is undoubtedly right in this matter.

People lose their hair for various reasons. Something is wrong in their system, in their bodily constitution; or it is a problem inherited from their immediate family on the father's side or on the mother's side. But in your Guru's case the problem arose not from the father's side or the mother's side or from anywhere else in the family. It arose from my burning aspiration. When I was quite young — eleven or twelve years old — I meditated the way I am now painting. The members of my family used to call me a titan in everything that I did because I did it in such large quantities, or for so many hours at a stretch. Everything was always on a mass scale. They thought my body was nothing but a machine. You can't imagine it, but I know the burning fire that I used to feel when I was in my teens, the ascending flame which is called aspiration. This flame, in addition to the heat I used to feel at the base of my spine for hours and hours and hours, was the main cause, the only cause, for my loss of hair. It had nothing to do with heredity or any problem in my health.

I had a mentor who was a very close friend of our family. He happened to be a homeopath, a great doctor. He was extremely friendly with me for various reasons and so fond of me. His fondness for me can only be felt and never described. When I think of him I shed tears of gratitude. If anybody uttered a word against me, immediately he became furious. If he heard anybody speaking ill of me, even for a fleeting second, he would just create a hurricane. Everything I said or did was perfect in his eyes. I wonder if I have any disciple who would fit into this category.

When an article of mine came out in Mother India magazine, he was the first person to read it out, with utmost joy. And if his friends happened to disagree with me or did not appreciate the article well enough, he would go to the length of throwing the magazine right at them. Why did he do it? Just because he was fully convinced that I had been his Guru in his previous incarnation and that he had served his Guru for twenty-three years in the Himalayas. The unfortunate thing is that I was eight months old when his Guru died! He couldn't reconcile that fact. He always used to say, "I see it so clearly – in your face, in your eyes, in everything." When I talked to him, even when I was in my mischievous mood, cutting jokes and all that, he used to see me meditating. He said, "Perhaps by some miracle you were my Guru." I laughed and said, "Yes, I have two souls. One has to be your Guru." Nobody believed him; they laughed at him.

He was a cultured man and had an MA In this incarnation he proved to be my dearest, closest mentor. In how many ways he loved me and served me! Now he is no more, but he has not only my gratitude but also my blessing. I know what I am doing for him and what I have already done for him. Whether I was his Guru or not is a different matter. But I have something to offer to him in the soul's world.

To come back to the story, he offered me medicine — God alone knows how many times — to grow hair and to prevent grey hair. My hair became a real problem for him. All the medicine failed and then he used to suffer. On my part, there was no suffering; I had that much wisdom. God-realisation gave me enough wisdom not to cry for hair. But when others used to massage my head to try and bring back my hair, I liked it; either I was enjoying comfort or I used to get relief from tension. Now, Nadeshwar massages my head and my feet and I get a sense of relief. My whole body, but my head especially, is full of tension from the disciples' problems. Perhaps in those days I did have a real problem: God-realisation. But now I have different problems: disciples' problems and God-manifestation.

Again, I wish to say there are Masters who have a forest of hair. Do you think that they have not realised God? In their case, perhaps they did not have that kind of heat or perhaps there was some extra kind of protection from God, or there was something more perfect in their system which prevented them from losing their hair.

In Sri Ramakrishna's case, he had a nephew who used to massage his whole body and his head. Other Masters also had disciples to massage their whole body for four or five or six hours at a stretch. But I was not at that time a Master; I was just a seeker with a few friends. Some of my very good admirers used to massage me quite often and, while they were massaging my head, I used to have very high experiences, the highest experiences. I used to converse with Lord Krishna, the Buddha and other Masters while friends were massaging my head.

Once I was speaking to Lord Krishna in a different language that you won't understand. He was standing right there. It was not my hallucination; my eyes were wide open. My friends could not see that I was talking to Sri Krishna because Sri Krishna did not want to be seen. Right in my room, at around eleven o'clock in the morning, I had a conversation like that.

Other times, while I was enjoying a haircut, I was at the same time enjoying conversation. Once, when I was twenty-one years old, such a peculiar thing happened. An elderly man was our ashram barber and he was very friendly with me. In the middle of a haircut I had a very serious inner conversation. Someone — I don't want to mention his name, but it was a spiritual Master — had a very serious problem. I was only a seeker, but at around three o'clock I had to leave the barber and enter into my room and do something very serious in the inner world. The barber thought that either I was crazy or I was dissatisfied with him because he was taking such a long time. But it was not that; I had to do something for this spiritual Master. I have done many, many times this kind of thing and I have had hundreds of experiences while having my hair cut. In those days my haircut took an hour and five or ten minutes. Now it takes only five minutes. So we have made tremendous progress.

When I was in the ashram, our barber had a harmonium and he let me play it. He was kind to me and told me that I could use it whenever I wanted to. He was fond of my voice. I visited him many times. One day he asked me to sing a song while he cut my hair. He was moody, but I was also moody and I didn't feel like singing that day. And I was really annoyed because he was taking such a long time cutting my hair. So he cut my right side with scissors and on the left side he made the sound of cutting but actually he did not cut. When I went to the playground, I was the laughing stock. Then I didn't go to him any more; I went to another barber. That barber used to tell me cock-and-bull stories. He was an illiterate man, but he had heard stories from his grandparents and he used to tell them to me.

The last time I went to India, I was singing before my friends and my first barber came up to me. He is now seventy-five or seventy-six years old. He said, "Look here, once upon a time you practised your songs on my harmonium."

Once it happened that one of the very great musicians at the ashram came for a haircut. I was singing and the barber shop was near my house. This great musician deeply appreciated my songs and my voice, but the barber did not tell me this for eleven years. He thought that I would be very proud and that my ego would increase like anything, so for eleven years he kept the secret. Then, on one occasion, the same great musician happened to hear me singing while he was walking along the street. I didn't know that he was walking behind me. At times I used to sing very loudly, and on that occasion I was singing at the top of my lungs. When he came up to me, I stopped singing. He said, "Why are you ruining your voice? Didn't I tell you that you had a wonderful voice? If you sing at the top of your lungs, then you will ruin your voice." But the barber had not told me anything. This musician was well respected. He scolded the barber.

Now, an amusing note. A friend of mine used to suffer so much due to loss of hair. He tried everything — all kinds of medicine. Finally, a brilliant idea dawned on him. His story was, "We are in the process of evolution. Animals have infinitely more hair than we have; in comparison, we have very little. Again, on Sri Aurobindo's supramental plane, the souls will be totally free from the animal consciousness, so naturally they will have no hair. Here is the indication that I have started giving up animal qualities." His head was absolutely pure white. He felt that he had started getting the message of transformation, and that it was received by the head first. This kind of amusing experience I used to have with my friends.

When people suffer from something, eventually they have to justify it in some way; otherwise, they become insane. At the ashram two or three girls didn't have hair. One girl, eighteen or nineteen years old, didn't have even one hair. Any time you looked at her face you saw such sorrow. If you were a good human being and you identified with her, you felt her suffering. But there were malicious, mischievous boys and girls who used to mock at her. When she lost her hair, the way she suffered was unbearable. I think she didn't suffer that much when her mother and her father died.

I hope I don't have a disciple like that who will suffer that much due to loss of hair. Especially to the girls I wish to say that everything comes and everything goes. If your hair goes away, at that time listen to the wisdom of my friend; take shelter in his advice. On the supramental plane, naturally you will have no hair, because on that plane you give up your animal qualities. First you get a little inner heat, then you lose your hair and finally nature's transformation and the body's transformation take place. When I started losing hair because of the heat from my forehead, I was really going to be a man of wisdom, my friends said. While we were practising long-jump, my friend said my forehead indicated that I would be a man of wisdom, a literary man. I came home and told my sister Ahana that I was a man of wisdom. She said, "Wait a couple of years until you lose your hair." So my friend was right: I have wisdom. And again, my sister was right: I lost all my hair.

Now, to all of you, my dear children, I have a special request. Please use oil in your hair. The Indian system is to apply oil every day and this is my request to all of you. Only a very small quantity is necessary. Sometimes the hair becomes messy and you can't take full care of it. But a very small quantity of oil adds beauty to the hair. Not only fragrance, but also inner beauty comes from the hair when you use the amount of oil that is necessary. And especially those of you who are suffering from grey hair should use oil. You will see that in a significant measure your hair will regain its previous colour.

From the spiritual point of view, oil definitely adds to the beauty of the hair and it also brings into your head, your face and your whole system spiritual beauty, calmness, politeness, purity and many other divine qualities. Without oil, some boys and girls absolutely look like ferocious animals. Some are in the habit of not combing their hair. It is very painful to me. It is a painful experience — very, very undivine. You may say, "It is my hair; I can do anything I like," but that you can't do. It is very, very undivine. When you live in society you have to behave in a way which does not create mental suffering, mental disharmony, mental unpleasantness in others' lives. You can't do undivine things and destroy the poise of others.

If you want modesty and perfection in your outer consciousness, there are a number of things you can do. Every day you should use a small quantity of oil on your hair, Then, once a week, if possible, or even two times or more, try to put oil on the body. It helps tremendously the entire body system. If you can't do that, then always try at least to massage the feet with oil. The feet are the root of the body. And if you massage your head with oil, you will get tremendous benefit not only in your head but inside your whole subtle existence. So use oil. Oil is of tremendous benefit to the health. Some doctors say that if you use soap more than is necessary, you will lose not only the beauty of the skin but also the quality and hidden treasure of the skin. But oil you can use to your heart's content. It does not affect the skin adversely.

Now, you have to be reasonable about the length of your hair. I have told you people that boys must have short hair. In the case of the girls, I have no idea what you call short or long. But if girls have hair that is the same length as boys' hair — that is, really short hair — then it will be a very painful experience. In India I knew a few girls who wanted to act like boys and had absolutely a boy's haircut. That created problems and tremendous confusion. In our Centre, that will not be permitted. By having short hair, girls are not going to get boys' masculine capacity. That is for boys. Girls' feminine beauty is for girls. It is in no way inferior to boys' physical capacity. Short hair is normal for boys and long hair is normal for girls.

I will have a special prize today for my dearest Radha. I am pretty sure she is the possessor of the longest hair. She deserves a prize. I will give her my deepest love and pride. In India there were quite a few girls whose hair used to reach not only the knee but even farther down. Here my Radha has the longest hair. It gives me such joy to see that kind of long hair. Some girls will say that they can't comb their hair properly if it is extremely long. Then I am not advising them to grow very long hair. But if it is not a problem, then long hair is really beautiful for girls. So try to grow your hair right down to your feet if possible. Let us see all divine qualities emerging in the girls.

But only the girls can get a prize for long hair. If the boys try to grow long hair, then they are not going to get divine qualities. In India, spiritual men and sages prefer to grow long hair. In their case, there is a special reason which cannot be ignored. Most of the ascetics don't want to take the trouble of going to the barber. It is not that the height of their spirituality is increasing with the length of their hair. The length of the hair does not indicate spirituality. No, it is not because of that. They keep their hair long either because of idleness or because they pay no attention to the physical.

Cleanliness is next to godliness. Here cleanliness means purity in everything — in the physical, the vital, the mind. So I wish all the disciples to pay considerable attention to their hair, but not to draw the attention of others. Cleanliness is required so that your uncleanliness does not become offensive to my eyes and to others' eyes. You can't keep yourself untidy. You claim that just because it is your body, you can do as you please. But you do not have that right. You can't claim yourself in that way; otherwise, you destroy yourself. You don't belong to yourself. You have to do things to please others since you belong to a community. If others find it difficult to approach you, then you are hurting their eyes, which you have no right to do.

Most of the boys still don't listen to me. The girls also at times come to the Centre without taking a shower. If you don't take a shower, you are violating my real law. I beg of the boys and girls to take a shower before any spiritual activity. It adds to your spirituality. And please pay extra attention to your hair so that you really look divine and beautiful — not to attract others' attention, but to avoid creating dissatisfaction or problems for others.

I have been to barbers in this incarnation thousands of times. Without the least possible hesitation, I can say that my spiritual son Pahar has pleased me most. Here at this place, I am at perfect liberty. In other places barbers would ask me millions of questions. Juicy stories I used to tell for some time, because my hair was wavy and curly. In those days it took a long time to cut my hair. The barbers were talking so fast. I used to spend an hour and a half or two hours. Such an absurd waste of time! But here I can do anything I want. Previously I used to go to Sutphin Boulevard. That was my favourite place. At one place, I don't know how it happened, I told the barber that I go to Puerto Rico quite often. Since then, he has asked me about Puerto Rico every time. Who wants to talk to him about Puerto Rico? He knows well that the Puerto Rico story should end in ten minutes, but I have to waste forty-five minutes in his place. Here I can do anything I want to do in my own way in five minutes. God has really blessed me with someone who will please me in my own way.

To all the boys I wish to say that this is the place to have your hair cut. This is my fervent request. If other boys from Connecticut and New Jersey come to this place, then I will be very grateful. But the Jamaica-area boy disciples must honour my request and come to this place. If you want quality, calmness, anything divine, then this is the place. If you don't want to listen to me, then there are other places; but this is the only place that is meant for my disciples.

Who knows, one day a daughter disciple of mine may open a salon for girls. Then I will be very grateful and proud. When someone can raise enough funds, then I will bless that daughter of mine. Girls may say that they don't have the need of a haircut; they can become their own barbers. But this is not proper. If anybody among the girls wants to open a salon for girls, then I will be very happy. It is a good art and there will be many, many girls who will really appreciate a haircut.

With my deepest pride, pride, pride and pride, I am blessing Pahar. I never get any complaint against you from any disciple. I have been to hundreds of barber shops, but nowhere have I been satisfied. This is the only place where I am really satisfied. I do hope I shall always remain satisfied. This is my prayer to the Supreme.