Portland, Oregon, Questions and Answers, March 19, 2001
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You, who has been given this gift of life, has been given this gift of existence, should at least, at least open it, look at it, admire it for what it's worth. Would that be too much of a shame to have come in this world empty handed and
to leave this world empty-handed. That's a shame cause you don't have to do that. You can come empty-handed but at least take something with you, you and that's the destiny for every human being really is, empty-handed they came and
empty-handed they left and the Master opens up the possibility empty-handed they came but empty-handed they didn't leave. The bowl was full. That this life was recognised, that there was this admiration, that there was an understanding,
that there was a fulfilment, that there was a joy experienced and a heart was filled.
For more than 30 years, Maharaji has been travelling the world speaking to people about a subject call Knowledge. It's not a religion, a spiritual practice or a lifestyle. Knowledge is a practical way to experience a feeling that already exists within each person. In today's program Maharaji is addressing an audience who are interested in receiving the techniques of Knowledge.
(Applause) Well first of all you can't walk into Knowledge, the world of Knowledge with your eyes closed. Now a lotta people might say I don't have my eyes closed. We do. We're driving along the road, we see a sign, Drink Coca-Cola. It's like, "Oh yeah, that's a good idea!" If that isn't eyes closed, I don't know what is. Somebody says, "Oh yeah, right, it's lunchtime. Oh yeah, it's lunchtime." Am I hungry? I don't know. Do I need to eat? I don't know. But it's lunchtime.
And maybe it's just shy of being robotic because we have allowed all the other elements to come in and that one element that has something to do with the heart, who we really are, our uniqueness, being on the face of this earth as us, not as somebody else, and that the Creator has given us the ability to think and to use that to think. The Creator has given us the ability to admire and to admire things our way, not somebody else's way, not from somebody else's perspective. And to me, fundamentally, this is what it is all about.
There are other issues, what will you do with Knowledge like that story I was telling yesterday. One guy takes it. "So I don't understand this. I don't need seeds." (Clicks his tongue) Throws it away. Does it happen? Yes, it does. And maybe, you know, I should fill you in on what the procedure used to be to receive Knowledge, maybe that'll put it all into line for you. The procedure to receive Knowledge, long, long time age was very complicated. Basically if a person wanted to receive Knowledge, and when I say long time ago I mean lo-o-o-ong time ago. Not a hundred years, more than that. And it was, essentially, you dedicated your life to want to receive Knowledge. This is what you thought about, this is what you basically ate, this is what you drank, this sii what you discussed, everything was just that. And in so much so that you had to moved in to a place where that would, you, that kind of lifestyle would be supported. Not unlike a monastery and then years would go by and of course there would be a Master and he would you know make sure that you were proceeding along and then when and you had you would have had no recourse to say to the Master "I think I'm ready." There would be a Master who'd say "Well, I think you've been here long enough." And that was a very complicated procedure and Thank God that it's not like that cause I think we we wouldn't need a hall this big I think there would only be one person wanting to possibly receive Knowledge.
So it's been simplified and it's been greatly simplified where all you have to do is listen, if you if there any questions, fine, let them surface, listen some more, hopefully they'll get answered. Then of course there are opportunities like this where you can come, you can listen to me, the whole event is focussed only for aspirants. And then not a lifetime, or not five years, or six years, or seven years, somewhere around five months if yeah you still want it give or take a few months here or there you can have it and now even that process has become simpler because as people become ready in their communities simply the somebody from the community will call up and the people who are travelling around with the with the with the Knowledge Session will schedule a time, they will come and you can receive it. Not only that, there is already an English version of it, already a Hindi version of it, there is already an Italian version of it, there is already a Spanish version of it and as soon as I get some more time add some more versions to it.
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So now that it is so simple, what is you responsibility? Come with an open heart. Come with an understanding that this is something about you. This is about as personal as it's going to get. This is about your breath, not somebody else's
breath. This is about your understanding, this is about your joy, this is about your appreciation. To actually set yourself up so that you can appreciate this existence. The possibility is that every day with every breath, you can
appreciate. That's the palate, that's the, if you would say, the extreme of it. A joy unparalleled. To witness, to witness, this breath come in and have a means to be able to appreciate that. A gratitude that is 100% real because it comes
from the deepest place within you. Nothing synthetic. Not a book that you have read that said "You should look at this, this way." No, no no (sniggers). Real. As real as drinking water, as real as witnessing a sunset. As real as your own
breath. This is the possibility, this is the human possibility. I can look at a beautiful river, I can't take the river with me. I can't. But I can appreciate it. As one individual I may not be able to change the course of the river, nor
may I be able to change the shape of the trees nor may I be able to make it a clear day but I can appreciate, whatever it is I can appreciate it. This is my potential. This is something I can do. We make goals for ourselves that are well
beyond our limits and we like that. We think that when we make goals that are beyond our limits "That's a good challenge." Now we are achieving something worthwhile." But if we haven't already accepted those little challenges, those little
challenges, as little as appreciating out breath the going to the end of the world means nothing. Nothing. In Knowledge, there isn't a pretence that you are going to be able to climb Mount Everest, that you will be able to journey to the
Moon, that you'll be able to journey to Mars. No. The challenge that Knowledge presents is that you'll be able to journey to your heart. That you'll be able to journey to your fundamentals, your basics of who you are. This is who you are,
this is who you will remain regardless of what you think you have achieved and one day regardless of what you have achieved, regardless, you will become as simple as when you were born.
This is how it is. We live in this world and we think, "Well, I have accomplished this. I have accomplished this. I wish I had this. I wish I had this. I wish I could do this. I wish I could do this," And then maybe we do and we become proud, "I've got my degrees and I've got my this and I've got my that." How much credence I put into it. How much meaning, how much value I put into it. "This is what's important, this is what's important." All the while forgetting what it really is important. I have not come here to settle down, that's important. My sweet home, my home sweet home is within me. This is what I carry. It is not in a building. I will never be able to call it my home. I will be able to call some place within me, my home. Now what does it require? It requires sincerity. Why does it require sincerity? Because in this day and age we have become so convoluted, in our perspective, you know, we, it's like you're speeding, an officer pulls you over and immediately your first thought is "What are you going to tell him?" (laughter) Obviously, you're not gonna say, "Yes, I was speeding."
We get into the whole tanglement of what is truth and what is a lie. 80% of the time we're sitting there lying, lying, lying, lying and then we say "Oh yeah, I know the truth." Sure you do. The skills have been honed not to recognise but to ignore. This is what we have done with our skills. We could recognise the value of the breath but we ignore it, we become good at ignoring it. Possibly, we could recognise the value of each day this is what we have been given as tools, but we have become very, very good at ignoring that. "Forget about it, some other day." Not a good situation, specially for a being that has a limited time. Now people blame me, you know, they accuse me, "Oh you talk about death." I'm not obsessed with death, all I care about is that you who ahs been given this gift of life, has been given this gift of existence, should at least open it, look at it, admire it for what it's worth. Would that be too much of a shame to have come in this world empty handed and to leave this world empty-handed. That's a shame cause you don't have to do that. You can come empty-handed but at least take something with you, you and that's the destiny for every human being really is, empty-handed they came and empty-handed they left and the Master opens up the possibility empty-handed they came but empty-handed they didn't leave. The bowl was full. That this life was recognised, that there was this admiration, that there was an understanding, that there was a fulfilment, that there was a joy experienced and a heart was filled. And this person in their sincerity and their understanding reached out and accepted the most divine, the most beautiful, the most profound
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and for that person, that picture in that moment of that joy that snaps into this heart is a book in itself that has endless pages.
You look at so many, you look at look at Kabir, (sniggers), for instance, a very interesting case. This guy before, before he has Knowledge he's, he writes about Master, he writes about gurus and he's bitter, he's bitter. "Ahh, these gurus they're all the same, they're stupid, da da da da, da da da da. Now he meets up with a real Master and hehehehe he say's "Give me Knowledge" and the Master says, "Pffft, no way!" now people make this a religious issue "Oh because they, the Master didn't know what religion Kabir was so he wasn't gonna give him Knowledge. That's not true because if that was true he would have never received Knowledge. His master, his guru Ramanand OK. First he said "No!" Erh, erh, If I was a Master and somebody was writing that kind of stuff you think I'd give them knowledge? And then all of a sudden Kabir ends up with knowledge
I mean there are people Kabir died a very poor man, much poorer than those people who take his works and translate them. Ha ha ha, terrible translations cause they don't know what he is talking about. You know, to a lot of aspirants I want to know what these techniques are, the techniques have been described by so many people, that's not the issue, even Kabir describes all the techniques. Not the issue, the issue is to make sense out of them, what you didn't understand, to be able to make sense out of that.
It's one of those things, some people look at a nice painting and say "I could have done that." Yeah, but you didn't, cause it's not it's not a question of brush strokes, it's a question of inspiration, it's not question of definition, it's a question of cla-a-a-a-rity. When you come from that sincere place, when you come from that clear place, when you approach Knowledge, it makes sense. If you're trying to judge it, it will not make sense. Love cannot be judged, this is about love. Love cannot be judged. Love must be accepted or rejected but it cannot be judged, if you judge love you do it at your own peril. You'll be the one who will lose something to understand, to grow, to benefit from this gift. You know I don't know what they were going to do today, what videos they were going to show you, I guess I've come and messed all that up.
Q: How soon can I get Knowledge?
A: Ha, ha, ha ha. How soon? When you're ready?
I'm ready.
Knowledge does have auto-protection, it does. If you're not ready and you get it, nothing happens. You know, it's just like a hungry person, they drive by one fruit tree and they will stop and pick the fruit and eat it because they're hungry and the person who's not hungry can be driving by warehouses full of food and it doesn't matter to them, they don't even look. Hunger is like that, food is like that.
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Q: Can mind become complementary to heart? (in strong Indian accent)
Can mind become complementary to heart? That's a very good question. It's like, let me put it this way. There is a front end of a car and there is a rear end of a car.
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Q: ??? Shri Maharaji ??? read satsang about yogis and yoga and I have some questions about um the practice of actual physical asanas in yoga and how that relates or doesn't relate to knowledge?
A: Very clearly, it is described the Knowledge is Raj Yoga, the king of all the yogas because it is the unity, 'yoga' means unity, 'yog'. It actually doesn't mean physical exercise it just means unity, to become one with something and that which puts you to be in one with that essence within inside of you is the King of all yogas. All the yogas that are there, they are for physical benefit, maybe they put you in touch with different elements. This yoga is to put you in touch with the element of life itself. It is not a physical exercise in that you have to put your foot over your back. I mean look at some of the people who have knowledge, including me, it is obvious we don't do that, ha, ha ha ha. We have a hard time getting up from the chair, much less putting, you know, that's not everybody but it's very clear, it's very clear, clearly defined the two in one you do, you know, a housewife cooks or a houseman cooks, in this day and age, umm, but that feeds the stomach but Knowledge feeds something else, a thirst that is much deeper than that and so there is a very, very clear distinction between all these different things and I think to appreciate that difference, I'm not gonna put down anything, I don't need to, you know, umm, be in this world, do whatever do whatever it is that you do and whatever it is that you have to do but don't forget that element, that breath and in each breath there is that is the witnessing, that is the witnessing of that Supreme Power that makes all of this possible, the whole world, the whole universe, so, it's not a paradox, it's simply a very clear division, the two have nothing to do with each other.
Keep that trust with your heart as it should be come from a sincere place yes you're going to give, you're not coming out of curiosity but coming out of sincerity, that decision, you know long time ago you made decision Oh yes, "I think I want this" but maybe it was based upon "I wonder what it is?" to maybe something that has fundamentally changed. You're not curious about it in that sense, you want it because you can feel it, you can feel it, it's like a person who is thirsty in the middle of the desert without water.
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Like there is a saying, it is easier to get forgiveness than permission, so, you know, (applause) You land, maybe the guy yells at you, sorry, you know and don't compromise, what I'm saying is don't compromise,
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don't compromise anything. Don't look at it as a compromise and don't compromise it. You can do it. It takes a little bit of a special perspective because in this life we begin compromising at a very, very extre-e-e-mely young age and it
becomes second nature. But you nothing has to be a compromise. Knowledge is not about compromise, quite the contrary to that. Yes.
Q: I was wondering someone had to originally receive Knowledge first, how that happened and if, well if they did it by themselves how come we wouldn't be able to do it by ourselves.
A: OK well let me know. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You know my address, you know my address, right? Yeah, you can get it, just write me a note if you find out. Lot of people have asked me, you're not the first one to ask this question. My answer can be many ??? cause I've given many answers to this questions. One is very similar to what I just gave, if you can find, great. As long as there has been, there has been this Knowledge, there also has been giver of this Knowledge. Of course, it's very easy to bypass that, say well if somebody figured it out why can't I figure it out but for as long as it's been around there's always been somebody who's been giving it as well. Because it isn't just the techniques, it isn't. It is all the understanding that goes with it, you know, there's a story, a really simple story about the owls and the swan ??.
Similar to that what is, where is, how was it, how did it happen, how did it get started? You can address those things, try to address those things but you are here now and you, the little owl, needs to open your eyes and behold the beauty, that's what you should be concerned about. Not how it got started, how it began, how will it end, what has been said about it, how is it defined, how will I know it is true? Well, open your eyes and behold and that in itself will answer your questions, you know, people come to me they ask me questions, it's not that I answer them, that I give them some information, I merely remind them what they already know.
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To me, I'm very grateful that my Master showed me these techniques, without him, I wouldn't have even known about them. He's the one who voice, whose message said "I have something. Come to me I'll give you" this is one of his quotes "Recognise the value of each breath and what is it in you that leaves and you're no longer alive. To see that, to feel that, you need the real eyes, the eyes of the heart and it is only through that will you be able to witness and recognise that. Come to me, I will give you those eyes through which you will be able to see. Enough, enough said. It's clear, it's precise, it's what my heart says, yesssss! My mind says "Huh?" My heart says "Yes!" and I can tell the difference, where is the huh, where is the yes. Yes.