WE KNOW ONE THING

Prem Rawat (Guru Maharaj Ji) gave this satsang at the Guru Puja festival in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24, 1975, the second evening of the festival.

Dear Premies, we are very lucky, and very fortunate that we are here in this world. If we look around, we have everything. We don't really need anything in this world. But still we are always expecting something, we are always looking for something. Yet have we ever in our life stopped for a second, and really thought about what are we looking for?

In very, very ancient times, human beings were searching also; they were searching for the Truth. But they did not ever think that by going to the moon they were going to realize peace. They did not really think, or even expect, that by making automatic transmissions, or even by inventing a car, they would realize peace; or that by making airplanes they would realize peace. That is totally out of the question. Because these are merely physical things that man is making for his own luxury, for himself and that have nothing to do with the Knowledge, which is what man's aim is.

You see, it's just like an apple. The skin of the apple, tastes much different than the inside, the fruit. So if somebody comes along, picks an apple, skins it, and just eats the skin, he will never be able to realize the true taste of that apple. That apple tastes quite different when you eat the whole thing than when you only eat the skin. And man has been looking and looking and looking and looking for something, and that quest, that energy inside of him, drove him to so many different things. It was like, "I want something; I want something." So he just went wild into this world, because he didn't know what he was looking for; he just knew he wanted something. But he never knew at what point he would be able to realize; he didn't know what the thing would be like; he never knew where he would find it. He just kept on looking for it. And that very particular thing

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has driven mankind to where he is today.

Man has a never-ending thirst inside of him. First of all a man developed an airplane. The first thing he did was he told his partner to put wings on himself, flap them, and jump off the cliff. He saw birds do that, so he thought that if this person did the same thing, and jumped off the cliff, he would be able to fly. But, of course, he never made it.

Then, slowly and slowly, somebody did come up with an idea for an airplane, and got it off the ground. It took off, didn't go about five feet, and crashed. Then it went ten feet; then it went a hundred feet; and then they developed it to where it could just hover in the air.

People were very happy with that. They said, "Oh. This is beautiful. Now we can go from one place to another, and it'll be fast and nice." So, slowly and slowly, man progressed.

And man progressed up to the 707. I remember, in India, when the news first came out that there is something like a 707, everybody just flipped out. It was like, "Wow, this is incredible! This is the solution to everything. This is the answer to all the questions. We can go anywhere now. This is so fast. This is so comfortable. This is so big. This is so beautiful."

Then it was all over. People got used to flying in it all the time. It was a big thing, but then it died off.

Then I remember, all around the world, the big news came, "They have come out with a 747." It was a big thing. "Oh, it's got two stories, no, it's got three stories in it. It's big; it's huge. It can fly so fast, and go nonstop from Los Angeles to London. This is it! It's so beautiful."

But premies, one thing we have to realize is how happy this human race was when the 747 came out. Now stop for a second, really look back, and then look at

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Right now the mind is ready to flip; right now man is at the crossroad where he has to choose this way or this way, or this way, or this way."

the SST. Was that happiness ever the true happiness? Was that really the solution? Was it real happiness that man experienced for that amount of time?

No, it was not. Because if that would have been the real happiness, then there would have been no necessity to have an SST. But that was not it. It was never enough for man.

I used to give this example, that some day, there is going to be a point where they're not going to be happy with the SST either. Then what is going to happen is that science is going to reach to something very, very advanced. You are going to have a little credit card, and you go into this booth. These booths will be all over the place. They'll be like telephone booths. You'll go in, slip the card in, and if you have the correct bank balance, if you have enough money in your bank, the green light will come on and say, "Go ahead and dial where you want to go." Then all you have to do is press the button, and bzzzt, like that, you're somewhere else.

But believe me, even if they get to that point (and they really have to work, if they want to get there), I can be, you right now, this human race still is not going to be happy. Because we are looking on the wrong side, we are looking at the wrong thing.

Really, what we have to understand is that this work is for us to be in. Here we are, everything is really beautiful. But this Knowledge is what we are all looking for, because it's so perfect; it's so beautiful. Like I was saying yesterday, there could not have been a better day, a better time, a better year, a better century, a better month than what we have now for the Knowledge to come, for this Knowledge to be with us, for us to realize this Knowledge. This is perfect!

I mean, right now the mind is ready to flip;, right now man is at the crossroad where he has to choose this way or this way, or this way, or this way. You see, if the ship

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Man has been looking for something, and that quest, that energy inside of him, drove him to so many different things. He just went wild into this world.

breaks down, and you are on a small raft, you can wait quite a bit of time for help. There is no hurry. You are there, and somebody is coming to save you, to rescue you. So it's okay, because there is no hurry. You are safe, you are sound, you have got food, and everything is okay.

But premies, if there is a shark that's following you, then it becomes very, very necessary at that very time when the shark is surfacing right for you, for your legs, that somebody comes and rescues you. At that second, at that split of a second, a submarine surfaces and just pulls you out of there, and you are safe and sound in the submarine. Imagine how perfect that time was, when the shark was coming right to you, and that submarine came, surfaced, and pulled you out of there.

We are in this water, and we are floating. We have everything in this world, and there is really no necessity. We all think, at one time or another, "Yes, it sure would be nice to have peace. It'll be a nice thing to add to my collection in this life." You know? It's like, "Yeah, that'll be nice. Maybe I need it, but there is no necessity." A person doesn't really realize that it's really important.

And then, the mind, the great shark, starts coming right after you. It gets closer, and closer, and closer, and closer. Suddenly, this submarine, which is Guru Maharaj Ji, pops right out, pulls you out of there, pops you in the submarine, and you are safe and sound.

That is the perfect time, and that is the perfect Grace. We have realized it, and we have understood it. So people who have not, really try to understand, really try to realize what this Knowledge is all about. Because you see, this is something that is not a joke. This is something that has to be experienced. It is something that has to be individually experienced to really understand if this is the thing.

Something as simple as salt and sugar, we cannot

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describe the taste of. Why not? It's very simple. Everybody uses sugar every day, and everybody uses salt every day. But as simple as those things are, it is impossible for me to sit on this stage and try to describe to you what sugar tastes like, and what salt tastes like. So, premies, something as beautiful, something as high, something as great, something as gorgeous as this Knowledge, how can it ever be verbally explained what the experience of it is? Everybody has to individually understand this Knowledge and realize this Knowledge.

It's like, we come into this world, the soul is brought forth into this world, and the purpose of it has to be recognized. We have to find out why we are here, and which is the main thing that really drives us, which is the main part of us that really drives us. When we recognize that, and when we are one with that, that is when the true happiness, the true peace comes to us.

So premies, this is why Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world, so he can awaken everybody and tell them that, "This is the time. Understand; realize." Because you see, whoever we are, and whatever we think, it is not necessary that we are going to get a lifetime again. This very well might be our last lifetime.

According to some scriptures, according to some beliefs, when a person comes into this lifetime with a human body, it is supposed to be the greatest kind of body there is. If we can really look around and see, man is the crown of creation. Like, there are all these different computers. There is a bug, there is an insect, there are animals, there are all these things, but the most primo of them all is this man. That is why we are called the crown of creation.

And in some of these beliefs, they think that if you do not recognize Knowledge, if you do not become one with

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One way is to go around all your lifetime looking for that thing you want, and with a great deal of luck you just might find it. But, another wise thing to do is to consult that person who can direct us. Then when we do, sure enough, we find what we were looking for."

it, if you do not get liberated during this lifetime, you will go into 8,400,000 forms of suffering, in other types of bodies, and you will just really suffer. Because you are there, and you can think, but you really cannot act; you cannot really do it. While man, whatever he thinks, he can do it. It's possible for him.

Other beliefs think that this is the only lifetime. So there are so many contradictions about those things, and there are so many beliefs, but there is one thing we can be sure of. All these different beliefs might differ in their opinions, but we know one thing. We know that one thing for sure is going to happen to all of us. So instead of having a belief and everything, saying, "Yes, this is the last lifetime," or, "yes, this is the first lifetime," or, "yes, we are going to be liberated," or, "yes, we are not going to gel liberated," … instead of believing in everything in this world, which, of course, is impossible, believe in one thing: the Truth itself.

When you believe in the Truth itself, it's like this: Instead of going to the station and just waiting there, and watching the trains come and go, come and go, come and go (I mean you can sit there all your lifetime and watch the trains, unless they eliminate them), one thing you can also do is go to the station, buy your ticket, find out where the platform is, go and wait at the platform, and when the train comes, get on it, leave, and get to your destination, get to where you want to go.

Because, really, we can go to the airport and just sit down there and watch the planes come and go, come and go, come and go, and count 'em. Or another thing to do is to go, buy your ticket, go to the gate, then the gate opens up, it's time for departure, you board, and split!

There are these choices, these two things, we can do.

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Just believing in Truth - "Oh yes, I believe in Truth; I believe in God; I believe in the holy vibration," - is similar to going to the station and just sitting down. Because, you are at the very point, and you know that, you know you are at the place from where the airplanes leave to take you to your destination, but you never get around to it.

But once we are one with Truth and we have really understood Truth, then we become Truth. Then we are sure; then we are, like, on the airplane; then we are one with it. Then we don't even have to have a belief, because we are one with it. We don't have to sit down and watoh the planes go, because we are in the airplane. We don't have to wander around, because we are heading to our destination.

I'll give you another example. I was in Italy, and we went to this shop. I was waiting in the car with this other brother, and this guy came, passing out leaflets. He came down to me and tapped on my window, so I rolled down the window and said, "Yes?" And he handed me this leaflet. It said, "Be related to God. He is the one," and it went on. Then this guy started talking to us. Well, I listened to him, and he was going on like, "Look, we are here to be related to God. We all should have a relationship with God."

I listened to him for a little while, and then I couldn't keep quiet. Because, to me, he was speaking something absolutely wrong. So, all of a sudden, it was just so beautiful. Satsang just started flowing through me, and I said, "Look. One thing you've got to understand is, can you be related to yourself? Can I be my own uncle? Can I be my own father? Can I be my own sister, my own brother? No! When I am who I am, I am. You know? I am an individual, and I have no relationship with myself. A relationship is a filler between two gaps. It relates you; it connects you. I don't think I would like to be related to

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We come into this world, and the purpose of it has to be recognized. We have to find out why we are here. When we recognize that, that is when true happiness comes to us."

God, because my destination is to be one with God. Once I am one with God, I don't have to be related to God."

The person just looked at my face and said, "You must be Guru Maharaj Ji." I said, "Yes, I am."

You know, there are so many possibilities in this world, and so many things, but there is always one thing we can do. Like, we had to finish some stuff in Los Angeles before we could come to South America, and we were driving around in this big motor home, in downtown Los Angeles, where we had never been. We would look at the maps, look around, look at the street signs, and do all these different things to try to get to our destination. Then when we had tried everything and nothing worked, we pulled over and asked the cop. John was driving, and he said, "Could you tell us how we can get to this destination?", and he told us.

So it's like, so many different things we can do, but there is one thing that we can definitely be sure about.

Well, maybe this is not such a good example, because that cop could very well be wrong. But, what I am saying is that, one way is to go around all your lifetime looking for that thing, and with a great deal of luck you just might find it. One way to find that place in Los Angeles would be to go around, go on every street in Los Angeles, and when you have gone on every street, you will finally hit the street that it's on. But, another wise thing to do is to consult that person who can direct us. Then when we do, sure enough, we find what we are looking for; we find our destination.

So premies, there are so many things we do, there are so many different possibilities. But there is one expert we can always ask.

Just make sure. And one way to make sure is to realize this Knowledge, so you can be in the peace, in the bliss, in the harmony where we are supposed to be. Gracias.

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