Maharaji: Gold Coast Rejoice 1988-06-12 or 13
It would be difficult to put this speech into context without understanding that nearly all the people at this event have been dedicated followers (premies) of 'Maharaji' for around 15 years. They have proved their absolute belief in Maharaji and his Knowledge because they have remained devoted despite living through the shocking events, 5 years prior, in which Maharaji overturned the lives they had been living, at his command. In many cases they had been living in celibacy and poverty in which all their wages/salaries/time and energy were dedicated to Maharaji.
We can learn a few things from the speech directly or by reading between the lines, understanding the subtext:
- The premies are people who felt that their lives were lacking, that there needed to be something more. In their case, they responded as people always have by searching for a religion posing as a spiritual path. Very few satisified and happy people became premies as we know by reading their own stories published by DLM
- The question is: what is it that we choose? Do we choose life or the false panaceas of fraudulent charlatans like Maharaji, a minor one among many
- The one qualification that a person who chooses to believe Maharaji is willingness to believe in his claims and to follow his instructions or as he puts it 'learn.'
- Maharaji's Knowledge only "works" if you invest your time, energy and commitment and believe in it.
- He asserts that most people did not practice the meditation. This was definitely true of most people who "received Knowledge." The drop-out numbers were far larger than the stay-ins. This remained true throughout his career. No-one can be sure whether the true believers meditated regularly or not. In fact, early in his career Rawat claimed that there would an obvious difference between his premies and others: the shining faces of bliss produced by the meditation. Later, he claimed there was no observable difference in people practising his Knowledge meditation. It will not make you a better person. There are people who admitted never meditating. I knew people who meditated religiously every day. There was no apparent difference in outcomes. Only people who worshipped Maharaji remained involved.
- To remain a premie you need to evolve and accept everything Guru Maharaj Ji/Maharaji says and does and on this day he completely changes the meditation techniques these premies have been using for 15 or so years. They were always doing the techniques incorrectly, wrongly. No wonder the results were not as promised.
Maharaji: Gold Coast Rejoice 1988-06-12 or 13
In 1988 Maharaji visited Australia twice. In June the 'Rejoice' programmes were held in Adelaide and the Gold Coast. The following extracts have been taken from Maharaji's opening address on the Gold Coast, when Maharaji spoke about the endeavour of Knowledge …
First of all, let's begin with one simple premise. And that is: what have we undertaken here? What does it mean to be involved with Knowledge?
Yes, it's an endeavour. An endeavour that we have chosen. Not everybody chooses it. Not everybody wants to follow it. Not everybody wants to endure it. But it is an endeavour nonetheless that we have chosen.
And what does it mean? It basically means that we have responded to something very simple and very beautiful in all our lives. Something that calls out. Something that says, 'There needs to be more: Something that says that, 'I want. I want everything that this life has to offer'.
We have chosen a path, we have chosen avenues, we have chosen different things at different times that have lead us down the path and that's absolutely gross. Yet, are we to say that the choices are wrong? The fact that human being has the capability, the ability to have choices, is that wrong?
No. For us to be who we are, for us to have those distinctions, between the chimpanzee and ourselves, what makes us different is that we do have choices. And we can choose. The question is: what is it that we choose? Do we choose to respond to something very basic and fundamental within inside of us, or do we choose to respond to something that we have concocted, i.e. create something then we can respond to it or respond to something that already exists fundamentally within every single human being.
And those people who have selected this endeavour, chosen this endeavour, to pursue the avenue of Knowledge are the ones that somewhere along the line have made the decision to respond to something very basic and fundamental within inside of their selves.
And so, if that is the case, that there is that choice, then what kind of a person does it take to respond, to be eligible for this path?
Well, the list is very long. Extremely long. In fact, I think you could even put it down on a piece of paper. Yet of all the qualifications that would be required by a person, there is one that sticks out above all. And that one qualification is that that person who's choosing this endeavour be willing, able and ready to learn. If that person does not have an understanding about what it means to learn, then this is the wrong avenue.
And what does it mean to learn? What exactly does it mean to learn? Well, I guess, we got all day long, but we gotta get on with, you know, the techniques as well, but what it really means to learn, to grow, is a unique business. Unique. Somebody who is willing to say that I am willing to take something that is offered to me and look at it its own way.
To me, it's very clear. Nobody needs Knowledge. You have to want it. And want and need is a very, very big conversation. But you have to say from every fibre of your being, 'Yes, I love what I am receiving'.
Need is where, 'Oh, boy, I just really need it, you know …' You need sleep.
You want sleep. You need sleep. When the need gets enough, you start wanting, but basically, it's a need. And then the want. 'I want this. I have to have it. I want it. I want it from the fibre of - every fibre of my being'. That, yes, I am willing to make a commitment towards it.
See, you have to make a commitment towards sleep. You have to commit to sleep. It comes. When it comes, you're out. The thing about sleep is you never know when it hits you. You know afterwards that it just did. But you know when it did. And to me, it's like, to make a commitment to this Knowledge. To fall in love with Knowledge. That's what it takes. And I am laying it out quite plain and simple. Because nobody is going to sit on your back and say, 'You must practise it'. No, if you haven't chosen to practise it, nobody can make you.
Now, where does this word of wisdom come from? From my personal experience. Because for years, I said, 'Look, guys, practise it. Practise it. Practise it. Practise it. Some people did, most didn't. So, it comes from my personal experience. I know that if you haven't chosen to practise it, if you care, nobody can make you. The respect, the dignity that Knowledge requires from you has to be present. Has to be there. And then it works. Then something very wonderful happens. Because you invest yourself in that avenue, in that path. That you know that anything that you see that might be a little hard to get over, that you sit down - no, there is investmentn Of time, of energy. And something inside mandates that you grow. Mandates that you expand. Mandates that you evolve. Mandates that you feel that feeling of simplicity within you. And that's what brings us to today. The long-awaiting Rejoice.