BEAT THE SYSTEM

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Satsang given by Guru Maharaj Ji in Kansas City, January 22, 1978

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Dear premies, this is the last day of this program. And you just heard Marolyn's satsang, and we've been hearing a lot of satsang. And you know, it's so incredible. I mean, I know that that's the first word that comes to everybody's mouth, I guess, when you stand or you sit here, and you see all the premies. You know, the first thing that you want to say is "incredible," because it is incredible.

And there's so much involved. There's so much that's happening. There's so much that's taking place that makes it so incredible, that in no concept, in no imagination, in no dream, ever, can we portray the picture, can we portray the portrait of that infinite mercy and infinite Grace that is making everything manifest for us: Not only being in this world, not only being alive in this world, not only being sustained in this world, but having the mercy, having that Grace, having that Love, having that affection, having that opportunity to be there, to be able to experience Knowledge, to be able to experience Guru Maharaj Ji, to be able to experience that Grace.

In our lives, there are so many ups and downs. And it's like a roller coaster. And just a few days before we came out to Kansas City - actually it was a few weeks - we went to Magic Mountain in Los Angeles. And Wadi (Premlata) wanted to go and everybody, so we just went there. And it was incredible.

Because they have this roller coaster there that takes one loop. It starts off, and it goes completely around. And people are hanging upside down from this roller coaster. And then it comes really fast and … So I didn't go on the roller coaster. But there were other premies who went. And I just watched. There was a platform specially made so that you could see the roller coaster come and go by where it took the loop - really close. And it was incredible.

You know why it was incredible? Because you could see a long line where the roller coaster ride actually started from. And you could see a lot of people wanting to get on it. And then you'd see them go up there and take a big dive, and then go around. And then when they would go around on this thing - because it's so fast, they'd just come down on a slope, and then all of a sudden it would

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just go up, and it would keep on going up till it went 360 degrees around and then went out again, with all the curves and everything. And the wheel was right in front of me where they went around. And they wouldn't even scream sometimes - actually a lot of times they wouldn't even scream. They were so scared, going up, up, up like that, that you'd just see their faces, and they would be just hanging on as dearly as they could. Or the other guys would let go of their arms, you know, and feel that suspension.

And this was the thrill. This was the incredible ride that made those people so happy. And then there were other attractions - there were other disattractions. There were so many things going on. And it was like a big fair.

And to me, when I first started going in we already had the tickets and we went in, and the first thing was the roller coaster. To me, I started to see how this whole world is just like that. And that this one thing in this Magic Mountain, just that roller coaster, is just a part of life. And then we go up and down. And it's just like, we're so scared. There is so much fear in people's heart, there is so much fear of that unknown, that after a little while you start enjoying it. You start enjoying the tragedies.

It's like, if somebody was to get up on top of New York Empire State Building and was ready to jump off, and the people got there before the police, the people would be on the bottom shouting, "Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!" Because that's what they want to see! They want to see this guy actually jump off.

And people like that fear. People want that fear. People want to become accustomed to that fear. People want to live in that fear. And that fear is so nauseating, so obnoxious, that we really don't know it. It's like being sick all the time, and not knowing what it really feels like not to feel sick, what it really feels like. And then just completely accepting that part of life: "Okay, this is the way it is." This is so much fear in this world, of that unknown.

And when we come towards the path of Knowledge, that's the biggest obstacle right there. Because we're so accustomed, we're such a part of fear, that that's the first thing that pops out. And we're afraid of it. We are afraid of Knowledge.

We are afraid of Guru Maharaj Ji. We are afraid of service. We are afraid of satsang. We are afraid of meditation.

And why? Why all this fear? Why is there a fear for satsang? Why is there a fear for service? Why is there a fear for meditation? Because the place we are coming from - we're so indulged in fear, that without fear we can't even see straight!

It's just like this kid who is so obnoxious, so naughty, that unless you hit the kid, he won't do anything. And then instead of actually sitting down at that stage where it's boiling down to the point where he won't do anything until you hit him, and actually sitting down and explaining to that kid, and working with that situation, to try to explain to that kid that he really doesn't need to get hurt, that there is no reason why he can't do things without getting hurt - instead of doing that, we just keep on hitting him, and hitting him, and hitting him, till it becomes such a thing when he grows up, that without getting hit, he won't do anything in this world.

And you know, premier, this example sounds a little weird, but it's really true. Because in our lives, unless we really, really get a very, very hard kick, we never turn to Knowledge. When we go out there looking for peace, searching for peace, searching for Truth, until we come to that point, to that place where something really affects us, that thing that really gets us, until then we just don't learn.

And that is the way it is after every Perfect Master comes in this world. He says, "Come to me. Come to me before! Come to me before you go on this crazy ride. Come to me before the fear forms in you. Come to me and I'll help you."

Okay, when we talk about Jesus, and when we go into those kind of conversations, what we talk about him is

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what we have read in the Bible. And yet there is a very simple fact that remains, and that fact is that, okay, there was Jesus, and Jesus had something to reveal to the people of that time. And also there is another fact that he came and he gave people this thing. Not everybody accepted it. Not everybody got it. And the people who got it had a definite change in their lives. Okay.

So I mean, this is something that you can just see. Like Perfect Master after Perfect Master after Perfect Master, this is what has happened.

When Mohammed came, that's what happened. He came to this world, and he gave, he imparted that Knowledge. He talked about that Light. He talked about that incredible vision. And he imparted to the people who were ready to receive. And it wasn't like they just received it, but they had been searching for it. And they really had to, in one point in their lives, sort of take a dive to understand what coming up really means, what coming up really is like.

But this is what Guru Maharaj Ji is for. To stop, to prevent, that chaos, that complete catastrophe. And to reveal people, to save people, before they jump into the water. Because people are ignorant. People do not understand.

If some analyst, somebody was trying to analyze what is going on around here, in this hall, in darshan, in satsang, in service, he would be very confused, that person. And he would have to be, because he is trying to analyze what's going on.

I mean, what's going on? Like why is everybody sitting here hour after hour, hour after hour? if it's a song, if it's somebody talking, if it's just chit-chatting in between people, it's always about Knowledge! It's always about Guru Maharaj Ji! It's always about peace. It's always about satisfaction. And then to analyze what really we talk about, about this experience that we are all having and it's such a thing that we can all relate to it. So many people sitting in a hall from so many different places, from different countries, of different ages. of different groups, of different sex, of different everything, being able to relate perfectly to this one thing called Knowledge.

I'm pretty sure if he would try to analyze things, it would be like completely a mind-blowing experience. Like, how? What happens? What works? And yet, it's so simple. In ohs lives, in our …

This is the way it is. People look at this picture upside down. And that is why they don't get very positive results. Instead of saying, "What's wrong … " they see a picture of this person, and he is going, "Water! Water! Water!" And he is completely flat, and he's just scratching through the sand and going, "Water! Water!" And he's got blisters on his face, and his clothes are all torn up, and he's desperate. Instead of seeing that as being desperate and abnormal …

And the fact that there is this other person who is completely satisfied - he is not going, "Water! Water! Water!" - who doesn't have torn clothes, who doesn't have a desperate look on his face, who doesn't have unsatisfaction hanging around him, who's satisfied. They have got the picture turned around where they see the satisfaction as abnormal, and the unsatisfaction, the desperateness, as normal. And that's why when the world looks at something that's peaceful, they can't quite click. "What's wrong with this thing? What's wrong?"

When they see a smiling face come towards them, a radiance comes towards them, they back off. They can't comprehend it. Their ears turn red; their faces turn red. They think that they're being made a joke out of, or they get nervous. Because desperation is what they have become such a part of. And it's just like, okay, so far you are scratching that sand, your clothes are torn, and you're crying, "Water! Water! Water! Water!" you're quite normal. But the premies aren't crying, "Water! Water! Water! Water!" They're not crying that. They're not crying that desperation. But they're singing the glory of Guru Maharaj Ji. They're singing the glory of Knowledge. They're singing the glory of Grace.

It's just like that example I gave you in Rome. What has to make two and two four? "Well, because the teacher said so." That's what's got to make two and two four every time.

And to this world, when we sing our own experience, when we sing what we have really, really realized, for a change, you know, for a change - not just repeating something, "Polly want a cracker, Polly want a cracker" - for a change we speak from our own heart. For a change we express our own feelings in our own way. Not what somebody has told us to express. Not with somebody standing there with cue cards. Not somebody who is sitting down and memorizing a piece of paper.

And I have seen - I mean, I've seen it. A lot of times, people have little cue cards that they take in front of them. And as they're reading off, they just glance -

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and these cue cards are pretty big, and they have great, bold letters on them. And they're cards, and they just flip through them as they're talking. And sometimes they get them mixed up, and pffttt! That's it! That's the end of their speech. They start to stagger, they can't - because it's not what they're talking about; it's the cards that they're speaking.

It's almost as good as this machine that's invented where you put in your letter and it reads it out to you. It's for blind people. And you might as well stick your cue cards in there!

But for a change, when we all come together and talk about our own experience - because what I am saying right now, I've never memorized it. I didn't go like, "la-la-la-la-la-la, I got to say this and I got to say this right, and this is the way it's got to be." It's like, what is happening here is so contradictory to people. "Guru Maharaj Ji." And then they read some satsang where I have said that I have never read a scripture. And they say, "Guru Maharaj Ji! This guy is trying to teach people Truth, and he hasn't read a scripture yet?" And I mean - that's the way it is! (applause)

It's like, scripture - again, it's the same thing. Scripture is a finger that's pointing; it's saying. It's a proof. It's a description of God, that there is something. It's like saying that there is a something. Because, in one way and I've said this a lot of times in satsang in one way they're not so good, the scriptures, because people create a whirlpool around them. And when people create a whirlpool around them and you go towards that whirlpool, you get caught, you get locked. And that's it. And yet, in one way they're nice, because if they were never to be there, then I guess people would have kind of a hard time relating to Knowledge. Or maybe they wouldn't. Again, maybe they just would be flat and simple. They wouldn't be all tied up into their concepts about what is God.

Because it's such a crazy mess! And sometimes it's such a boggling crazy mess that it's freaky! People are contradicting themselves so much all the time. At one point they want - like the first day I was talking about miracles. After all, what kind of a miracle are we looking for? They've got their picture painted! And it's just like what John Hampton was talking about: miracle. "Okay, well, this guy was blind. And this guy was blind, and God came and God healed him." And then there's that part of it: "God, come!" "God, come and heal this person!" And then, supposedly the person gets healed. And that's fantastic.

Okay, so let's take that sentence and put it in this drawer right here: "God, come and heal this person." And God comes and heals this person. That's a sentence. Then you take the next thing - same people talk about it - "God is all- powerful, God is omnipotent, God is omnipresent, God is omniscient." Then you take that sentence, and you put that on top of that other sentence, the first sentence, okay? And then you try to match it, and it just doesn't match.

If God is omniscient, what does it take? Us? To tell Him to heal this person? Is that what's missing? That's what it takes? "God, come and heal him!" It's like trying to portray an image that God has got everything but ears. Or God has got everything but eyes. It's that kind of a thing. It's that kind of a feeling that you get. Two and two don't come together for that one. Those worldly two-and-two's. And yet it's such a thing that people are so involved in those miracles.

I'm not saying that it's not a nice idea that that person can walk again. It is a very good idea that that person can walk again. But walking, talking - like the saints have said, the normal things that we do in our lives, even the birds do it, ants, animals. You look at the whole thing, and sometimes it even fascinates you so much to see how advanced the system is of animal kingdom. And it has been there for such a long, long time, and it hasn't broken down. And our system doesn't last for more than five years, and it breaks down! I mean, it's completely something!

And so, you try to take a parallel out of that. You try to make a compromise, you know; comparison. And you just find that where we are leading ourselves today is just to complete catastrophe. Because we have got everything painted. We have got everything outlined. And that's the way it is going to happen.

Now, if God is omnipotent, then tell me one good reason why He's got to do it that way! Why can't He do it any way He wants? Why has He got to make the slums into palaces? Why can't He just build the palaces and leave the slums as they are, and pick you out of the slums and put you in the palace? Why is it that a particular slum has to turn into a big, white, beautiful, sparkling castle? Why can't He build another one somewhere and then transfer you over? I mean, you look at it and the questions are fascinating. They're fascinating.

There's so much controversy involved. If you have seen Three Stooges, sometimes there's movies of them where they are doing plumbing. And there's this guy who's doing plumbing, and all of a sudden he finds himself completely wrapped around 360 degrees with pipes, and he can't get out. And then he starts to take one pipe apart, and all the water starts spraying him with …

I mean, if you start thinking, if you start really looking at all this that we talk about in this world out there, that's where you're going to find yourself in about fifteen minutes! Completely surrounded by - just tangled, just like a big mess. "God - omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. Havoc? Misery? Darkness? Omnipresent? Darkness? The power of the world, the power of the universe, the most infinite thing, turned into a translation of darkness? Misery?" For people who have faith, for people who don't have faith.

When a person who believes in God gets saved, it's like, "You see? You see? It's a miracle. You got saved!" And when he doesn't get saved, then he became "dear to God," and so God "took him." Any way you slice it, it's a checkmate. Whatever you do. If he gets killed, "He's gone to heaven." If he doesn't get killed, "It's a miracle." And you just look at this whole thing, and that's where you're going to find yourself again and again and again and again. What's going to happen?

In heaven, is heaven really divided into different segments of different sects? Because, you see, you look at it. And Hindus won't eat beef, okay? They might eat pig. But Muslims won't eat pig; they will eat beef! So now, if that's their belief, and that's the reason why they do it, there has to be one section of heaven that says on it, "Okay for beef-eaters." And the other one has to say, "Okay for pig-

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eaters." And the third one has to have, "Section A, Section B. Okay for vegetarians." I mean, is that the way this world is divided? is that the way heaven is?

You knock on the door and all of a sudden there is this big blackboard. Like when you walk into doctors' offices, and you stand there and there are all these doctors and it says, "M.D." and "Dentist," or "Pediatrician." And you look there and, "Oh, okay! He's in that suite," and so you walk over there. It's like, you go to the heaven, you go, "Knock, knock," and the guy goes, "Who's there?" And you enter the pearly gates, and you tell them that you're number 42-B. And he says, "Okay, go straight ahead and make a left, and the first door to your right, that's where you go."

I mean - okay. It just sounds ridiculous. Because that's not right. Something wrong about it, right? It's just like - "That's not the way it's going to be. It's up there." And yet you can throw a very mind-boggling question: Why not? Why can't it be like that? Well, sure it can be like that! And then you can just sit there and take off again!

Wow! Maybe it's just a big office building, and the elevator doesn't go to that floor where God is. And only He has the key to go to His own floor. That's possible, isn't it? It's just like - angels already have wings; I guess they wouldn't even need elevators! Just empty shafts, and they just fly on their wings, and up they go!

But premies, this is what happens: When a dog looks in the mirror, you know what he does? He starts barking and growling and scratching, because he thinks there's another dog out there! And then he turns around and he looks again, and he starts barking again. This is what happens when we look at all the theory that this world has to give.

And I've said all these things that I just said, but I'm not confused by them. It doesn't boggle my mind. It doesn't boggle me at all! It's almost fun sometimes to just think about things like that, because it's funny having elevators for angels. Having little punch cards. You know, you come into the heaven, the pearly gate, and you get a ticket there. And you put it in the timer, it goes, "clink," and you put it in and are assigned this service. And instead of having the great concept of an old man sitting there with a great big beard and an incredible amount of ledgers, there's a computer terminal. And He just types your name in there and prrrrrrt, out comes your whole history.

And I mean, anything. Anything like that is very possible.

But yet, possible or impossible, does it exist or does it not exist, is irrelevant! And you know why it's irrelevant? Because through this Knowledge we already are in heaven (applause). And therefore, what we see, what we experience - it doesn't matter if there is a computer there or a ledger there. It doesn't matter if He has long hairs or short hairs. It doesn't matter if He has a beard or if He doesn't have a beard. It doesn't matter if it's the first door to the right or the second door to the left. It just doesn't matter. Because we have entered those pearly gates. Because those pearly gates really are within inside of us.

Because can you imagine giving satsang in South Pole and you go, "God is up there"? You'd be pointing down in relation to north, where you go, "God is up there!" So where is God? Is He up north, pointing up; or south, pointing down? Or on the equator, pointing anywhere? No!

That experience is within inside of us. And therefore, that is why this education, or this Knowledge, is called the Knowledge of all knowledges. Because it beats the system (applause). It beats those concepts. It beats those weird imaginations. And you come into one very clear field. You come into one very clear thing; that whatever there is, you experience it for yourself. And you can't beat that.

It's just like, that heaven that is within inside of us, to experience it now in this lifetime. There's no more desires, there's no more - I mean, look! It's like this. If you really want to experience hell, you can do it. Just like you can experience heaven in this life, you can experience that too. It's very easy. Just sit there and grind your teeth. And after a little while, maybe you'll hit a nerve and your whole head will go, Tzziing! Or take a blackboard and go screeching down with your fingernails. Or take a duster and rub it on your teeth. Or take an emery board and run it through your teeth. One of them will get you. All those things that we want to be in, we can do that too, but that's where we will be.

If you want to experience that degree of hell, then that can be that degree of hell. Or, if you don't want to experience that, just take off your jacket, and just leave your shirt on and your pants on, and go outside and sit there for a little while, and you'll experience something very cold, freezing, and chilling. Or if you don't like that, just go and step into some sauna. They say hell is hot; there's burning fire there.

So in those concepts, wherever we want to go, we can go; whichever step we want to take. Because there's so many movies that they have, and they have Satan there, and this guy looks like Satan according to concept. He's got a tail with an arrow on it, horns, and then a spear with three heads and there's cellophane or "planar" like this* being rattled at the back of the stage with a fan. and then a yellow light being reflected out of it. which is fire, you know. And then animation of people falling. I mean, the description of hell. You can go into it. If they can make Star Wars, that should he easy to make. You know, there's so many documentations of people's imaginations that they've depicted on pieces of paper.

So either you want to do that, and go

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* The stage front was covered with silver metallized polyester.

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into this world, and don't do anything, and yet - and still experience that unsatisfaction. To me, experiencing that unsatisfaction is the greatest hell there is. There need be no greater hell. There need be no special chambers where you suffer. There need be nothing more, except not to know Knowledge. That's it! Because that's supposed to be another quality of what we live in, that we may never find out.

And yet, premies, above all, standing aside, the most incredible, the most precious, the most fantastic experience that beats all the systems, that beats all the imagination, that beats everything: the Knowledge. The Knowledge itself. That needs no explanation. And that's an experience within an experience within an experience. That's true. That's everlasting. That's joyous. That brings us happiness. And that we experience for ourselves. Nobody tells us that experience. People talk about that experience, but nobody tells us what we are going to experience, and we experience it for ourselves.

That whole experience of service, you know - you cannot just sit down and talk about it, because it's so incredible. You have to do service to experience service. You have to sit down and be open to that - open to that satsang. It's really incredible to listen to satsang.

But at the same hand, it's really incredible to give satsang. Because you just feel such a channel. You just feel such an incredible channel of all this just coming out, of all this pouring from within inside of you. That Love - all the problems melt away. It's such a high experience where suffering and pain is just - you've just gone beyond every step, every step, every step, every step, every step. And there you are, talking about the most incredible thing, talking about the most fantastic thing. And just talking about that experience, just talking about it, makes you high, makes you incredibly blissed out, makes you incredibly - just makes that lust even grow more and more - to just like listen to satsang.

Because the day we start getting tired of listening to satsang, the day we start getting tired of giving satsang, well, it's time to start becoming tired of living, really. The day we start getting tired of service, the day we start getting tired for meditation, it's time to cease existing. Because the one thing that makes the whole thing happen, that manifests the whole evolution of our life, that Grace of Knowledge, of Guru Maharaj Ji, that just reveals us the evolution of the evolutions just in front of us, just like that - we are not compatible with it anymore. We are getting too tired to listen to satsang. We are getting too tired to understand satsang. We are getting too tired to give satsang. Then that necessary reason gets defeated. Then the purpose of this life gets defeated.

What's worse? Knowing the purpose of life and not fulfilling it is the worst thing, worst thing anybody can ever do. And yet, it's so beautiful that by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, he gives us that strength. By his Grace, he gives us that strength to carry on.

I know that when I was hungry for Knowledge, there was me, and my questions and my doubts and my imagination, versus the reality. No match. No match! It's just like a newborn baby, a baby born half an hour ago, goes to arm wrestle with Mohammed Ali. That baby doesn't have that strength that that one person has built for such a long, long, long time. It'll only just go, tsst! That's a pretty weird example, really, but you look at it and there's just really, really no match of that incredible Grace, of that incredible reality. And you are "versing" it!

I know that, just for myself, if I would have really persisted, and really stuck to my part of that reality, I would have never come through with the bargain. No way. I know that neither can you. It just won't manifest for you. It won't happen. It won't take its shape. If you keep on thinking that your thoughts are the reality, and keep on saying, "Put 'em up, put 'em up, put 'em up," keep hanging on to your mind, if you keep doing the same mistake again and again and again and again and again and again and again, you're going to miss that opportunity. You're going to miss that chance. And then when you've missed the chance, you've missed the chance!

And so, premies, in one way we're so unfortunate to have so many options in

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this lifetime. I wish there were no options, there were no ins, ands and buts, ifs - nothing. Just nothing. It was just like absolutely mandatory for everybody to listen to satsang and to do service and to do meditation every day, otherwise they would cease to exist. I mean, it would be incredible. Just a part of your life. Not even a part of your life - of course it's not the part of your life - but just like breathing, you had to listen to satsang, and you had to merge with satsang. And to do that you didn't even have to do anything.

And the same way with service. That you just had to do service, and if you didn't do service that day, it's not like you'd just feel bad about it or something, but it would be mandatory to live, to live, to just simply exist in this world.

But unfortunately, it's not like that. We have that option of letting go. We have that option to completely space out in our own concepts. Because that's what we do.

It's just like every time - and this is so crazy - because every time we get in a jam we say, "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, please help! Please help! Please help!" And even you get to that nitty-gritty of: "Please Guru Maharaj Ji, please, Guru Maharaj Ji, I will never do this again. Just please help! Just get me out of this one. I promise I won't do it again." And then you feel that surge, you feel that Grace, you feel that tow power come in and just pull you out of that jam. And then what do you do? Do the same exact thing again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Till Guru Maharaj Ji just one day comes out and says, "Look! You're not keeping your part of the bargain, so … "

If really there wasn't that mercy of Guru Maharaj Ji in this world, man, it would be freaky. It would be really, really freaky. Because in one second this whole world would just fold up into a box and it would be gone. But there is that mercy. And we do so many errors, and yet are still forgiven, and still forgiven. And still given that chance to try, and to keep on going. And then just to have that opportunity to listen to satsang. To be at a place, to be able to just listen to satsang - period.

I mean, just imagine how much gibberish we read! Just imagine how much we go through in this life. It's such an accumulative system. It accumulates, accumulates, accumulates, accumulates, accumulates, accumulates. We start off as little children, and the first thing is school. "Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn." And it accumulates.

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Just accumulates, accumulates, accumulates.

You know why? Why is all that learning happening? So that someday we will know about things. Someday we will be able to get a good job! And then, if you had a good job, maybe then there would be that possibility of getting married, and maybe then there would be that possibility of having a nice big car, and a nice big house, or some stupid thing like that.

I mean, those dreams that - I'm not saying that it's wrong to have a Cadillac. No. I'm not saying it's wrong to have this or it's right to have that. Okay, so you're married, or maybe you're not married. It's not that question.

It's just like, if that's what you're making the goal of your life, if that's what you think that is, if that is where you are ending the whole scene, then that's where you're making the mistake! That's where the problem really, really is. That you are thinking - you're simulating that the happiness is right there, in that picture that you have just painted. No! That happiness is many, many, many more steps beyond that. That happiness is completely something different that we are really looking for, that we are trying to so desperately simulate in our lives.

And here we are, and that's the way this whole world is. Just sitting in a simulator and thinking that they're flying the real airplane. And then really getting into it, really, really getting into it, really getting into that simulator. And you dive off, and you do all these stunts in it, and your whole stomach goes, tchhh! And you feel good about that, and you say, "Oh yeah, I'm a good pilot. Look at me!" Okay. So you can do all these great stunts with a simulator. Okay, that's great.

You don't even have to land it. You can just let go. Maybe the most thing that'll happen is that a bell will go on. You can disconnect that, too. Or you can just sit there and say, "See, I'm such a good pilot! I got it trimmed so nicely and everything; it's just flying all by itself. I don't have to do anything." Or fly with a little fingernail. Just put it in there, in some crack of the steering wheel, and go, "See? I'm so strong!"

That's all okay to do it in a simulator, because you know you're not going anywhere; you're in just one place. Try doing that with a real airplane!

Okay, so it sounds very scary. "Wow! Try doing that with a real airplane!" You know, that would be very dangerous. And yet, premies, that's what we do. That's exactly what we do! Our games, our feelings, our toys, our different things that we are into, different things that we go through, are not only a game, a play, but an actual reality of the life that we are living in, the life that we live. It's like taking risks at every moment, wasting the most precious thing that there is. Letting go of the right things and grabbing on to the wrong things.

It's like there are all these games, and they have "G.I. Joe," and "The Bionic Man," and this man and that man. They have this monster, and G.I. Joe's supposed to be in the jungle or something, and here comes the monster and he's supposed to have a little red flashing light here, and he's green, and supposed to have all this. And G.I. Joe just fights him off. I'm pretty sure if that G.I. Joe was there and he was alive and he saw that monster, he'd run fast. And yet we pretend. Because you've got the G.I. Joe, so you pretend you're brave. You pretend you are brave!

It's like you play so long with a rubber snake, that when you see a real one you put your hand in front of it. It bites you and you go, "What happened?" And there you are: dead. Gone. And that's the way it is.

It's like there is this kid who is really into cars, right? And so he gets up on the steering wheel, goes, V000000000! And then, he's having fun, and honking the horn and doing this and shifting the gears. And I remember that when I was very little, I used to really like to do that. And sometimes accidentally I'd shift it into neutral, and then the car would start rolling. And it was like, "Whoa! Wait a minute!" It's nice, it's fun, it's terrific, as long as the car is parked. It's fun to drive the car as long as it's parked. But when it starts moving it becomes another ball game, and you're not ready to accept that ball game. You're not ready to be able to drive that car. And it frightens you.

But premies, that is the way it is in our lives! We go out there thinking that we are so good at driving the cars that we can do it! So there we go, and V0000m! Start it up. And first thing you know, Barn! Have our first accident.

So the reality, all this really brings us down, all these examples that in our lives, whichever way we live, whichever way we think that it's going to bring us peace, it's going to bring us happiness - that has to be all left on one side, and the practical experience has to walk in. Practical experience has to gain entry. Practical experience has to manifest. Practical experience has to take its shape in our lives and become real for us. Otherwise we'll be always dreaming. And when it really, really comes time, comes time to answer the real question, we won't be prepared, we won't be ready, because all we have done all of our lifetime is dreamt and dreamt and dreamt.

It's like everybody wants - and everybody who has heard this story, I guess, has imagined - and that's the lamp of Aladdin. And a lot of times, a lot of people must - if they watch the show, I Dream of Jeannie, and there is this guy who makes this wish and it comes true. Sometimes, maybe, people just go through this experience like, "This guy is really stupid. Why doesn't he just wish for something incredible like a great big palace, and get all servants, and get the amount of money that he wants?" and so on and so forth. I mean, it's just like that dream, that dream that we have of just wiggling our nose and it manifesting. Or having the lamp of Aladdin.

When I first heard the story, yeah, I just said, "That Aladdin must have been pretty stupid, because why didn't he just tell the genie to turn the lamp into a ring, and he could always wear the ring? It could become a part of his finger!"

Or sometimes I would hear this story like, "Okay, you have three wishes. And I've granted you three wishes." And some people going off and making three wishes. Why don't they make the first wish just that, "Every wish that I make may come true. That's my first wish." Instead of just going on and saying, "Yeah, I want some cookies," or "I want this," or "I want that," to just make one simple wish that "Every wish that I make from now on till the rest of my life may come true." That way you don't have to bother about it if even he doesn't fulfill those other two wishes. And the first thing you turn around and you tell the genie is, "Go back in the bottle," and boss him around for the rest of your life.

And yet all those imaginations - and you can just see, you can just almost feel those imaginations - what if you were to be walking, and all of a sudden you approached your car, and there it was: the lamp of Aladdin? Or all of a sudden you opened up this big parcel, and you opened it up and there it was: Aladdin's lamp.

Or what if you woke up one day and bent down to get your daily newspaper, and there was this genie who said, "I grant you three wishes." Probably 98 percent of the people would just pass out, or wouldn't believe, and say, "Go mind your own business. I have a headache today." Or the first thing they would do is to take a look out of the peephole and see this guy standing out there and say, "No

January/ February, 1978    17

salesmen! I don't want to buy anything." And yet, if that were to come true, what would we do?

And you know, I'm talking about a real situation. I'm talking about a real situation. I'm not talking about you dreaming up a dream of what you would do. But for you to think: What if this was really true, that there was a lamp? At that point you just don't have time to think! It's too fast! It's too impossible! It's too unreal! But premies, you just can't live in your dreams. There it is! There is that possibility. There is that lamp that has been given to us to accomplish, to fulfill one thing. And this lamp is itself this body.

If you are cold outside and you want to get warm, just rub your hands and your hands will get warm. If your head itches, just think about scratching and your hand will automatically go there and you'll start scratching. There it is. There is this whole body that is a manifestation of this imagination.

And through this body we can fulfill something - the time, the space that has been given, this one wish that has been granted. And really, it comes down to that point: "Okay, forget about imaginations, kid. It's real." Forget about all those things that you dream about, but to come to that point of just really letting yourself go, to make that one wish come true, of surrendering to Guru Maharaj Ji, of actually realizing the Knowledge, of becoming one with that reality, of becoming immortal. Or getting liberation, or having peace, or however you put it. To make that one wish happen, to make that one wish manifest - what does it take?

So I just feel like you could just go on talking about these things. And yet we have to really see: How much are we really grabbing of what is being said? How much satsang are we really taking within our hearts? How much of this are we really going to implement? How many times is it going to take before we quit promising and start actually implementing that promise, start keeping our part of the bargain? How many times is it going to take? 'Specially when you've only got one lifetime. How many times?

Because every second is just going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going. And that every second that goes by, goes by never to return!

"Okay, world …" This is what I almost feel like saying: "Okay, world, you've got your trip together pretty good about watches …" You know, you go to Switzerland and you go to this place where they have Patek-Philippes, and they have this incredible, gigantic electric clock. And it's just going, and it's counting hours, minutes, seconds, tenths of seconds, and hundredths of seconds. So you can say, "Hurray! Incredible, world! You did it! You have broken the time down into hundredths of seconds. Now what are you going to do about it? Just let it fly by?" If you're going to just let it fly by, if you're just really going to let it go, then what's even the purpose of knowing it? What is the purpose of even knowing what time it is? But if you're not going to let it go …

It's like the difference between a Sunday morning and a Monday morning. Well, on a Sunday morning you just don't care when you wake up, so you don't even look at a clock. But on Monday morning you do care when you wake up, so you do keep looking at a clock, you do set up an alarm clock. So it's that difference.

Are we going to let it go? Are we going to just keep on sleeping all day long through, so it doesn't really make a difference? Or if we have generated this gadget, this little monster called "clock." what are we going to do with it? To just realize.

Because I have a little wristwatch that has hundredths of seconds in digital time, and it's a constant "8." It's going so fast in hundredths of a second, that all you can see is an "8." Because, you see. out of "8" you can make any numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 9, 0. And it just constantly is like lit up. "8," and the other one is going

18    January, / February, 1978

really fast: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0." And then every time that happens, a second changes over: "1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds." And you just look at that, and it's fascinating, it's incredible, that all this time is going away. And what are we really doing? Are we really making that determination, the final determination, of actually doing satsang, service, and meditation in our lives?

Before I came here there was a Divine Times, and I picked it up, and there was an article in there, and Charles Cameron wrote it. And I was just reading it. And he was talking about Pacific Coast

Highway, that that day when everybody was coming for the birthday it didn't really make a difference.

And it's so beautiful to be able to see some sunsets from that house. And it's just such an incredible thing, because in the front of the house it has big windows. And when the sun sets, it just filters through those windows. And then when you're sitting in the living room, portions of the living room just fill in with just so deep, golden shades. Or sometimes you look at the water, and there's the sun, and you can just see it going down, down, down, down, down, down, down, just dissipating right into the water like somebody was extinguishing it, somebody had thrown it in the water and it was sinking.

Okay, there's so much incredible beauty in this world. I mean, even if you look at snow. And of course it's freezing, but it's beautiful. Today - well, when I came into the hall it was clear skies, it was really bright, and it looked beautiful. And then you could see the 'black snow on the side of the roads. Because

Marolyn just made a comment coming in the car; she said, "Look at that black snow; it's really yucky." And Wadi said, "What's yucky?" And then I started to explain to her that there's three kinds of snow down here. One is the snow that's the white one on the ground, and it's not so pure, because it's been sitting there for a little while. And then there is this other snow, and it's on the side of the street, that's really, really dirty; that's why it's black, and that's really, really no good. And then there is this snow that's falling, and that's pretty pure. And then Marolyn turned around and said, "Only if the air is clean!"

But there is still so much beauty left in this world. I mean, not just "left" in this world, but there's so much beauty that actually exists in this creation. Anything. Anything you look at. You look at the water, you look at the skies …

Just think about it for a minute. Of all the shades that God created - brown, purple, yellow, red, orange, so many shades - He chose one color specifically for the sky, and that was blue. And it's immaculate! It's incredible! Because it's the most beautiful blue there is.

And it's completely like - you look at it, and that's that color. Can you imagine blue earth and earth-colored skies? Maybe even if that's the way it was, it would be immaculate. But then, not just to put an immaculate color there, but - I mean it's just like such an incredible thing. In each pose of the sun, every hour, so incredible. The waves. Huge. Like when they come to pound, it's just like there is this build up. build up, build up, build up, build up, build up, build up. And no man dares stop it. No man dares touch it. No man dares do anything except just to accept it, and to let it thump.

And there is that sun. And round. And just so radiant, and so glorious that it's just filling this whole world with a beautiful, immaculate blue color of the sky. Filling it with the radiance of that sun. And then when that is all gone, to fill that same sky into a darkness, and to bead it with stars. It's immaculate.

And then put a beautiful moon there, with its own radiance, with its own calmness, with its own coolness. The waterfalls, the trees - 1 mean, everything that is in this world is so incredible.

And you know what the world has got the credit for on its shoulders? This human race? In all this immaculate perfection, on these beautiful clear skies, with a big, beautiful, radiant sun, with perfect temperature, just gentle, cool breeze - here comes a 747 leaving four stripes of nothing but pure black smoke. I mean, that's man. That's man's creation.

There it is, a beautiful waterfall, a beautiful river flowing through. And having a barrier in it, just slowing down for a little while and widening its banks, and then flowing again. A beautiful creation of clear water. You look down in it: Pepsi-cola, Coca-cola! That's man's four stars that he puts on the Lord's creation. That's man's finishing touches.

And the thing is, man is not stopping his finishing touches. It looks like he is going to paint the whole picture with these finishing touches! He's not going to leave anything original in this world. So in just such finite things like what we just talked about, men cannot just even sustain that purity. Man cannot just make one mistake and leave it at that, but keeps on making mistakes and mistakes and mistakes. Such a puppet, such a being, such a creation, that is capable of making so many mistakes. And keeps on making them, and keeps on making them. Now how is that puppet, how is that creation going to succeed without Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, without Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge? There is no way! It's impossible.

And so, maybe people cannot realize that. Maybe to a lot of people, Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace doesn't exist. But for the people who have seen it, for people who know it, who have felt it, there is nothing more than the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji. There is nothing more than to sit and to be in those hands, to just take you through. There is nothing more pleasurable than to just let go on that boat, and sit back and relax, and just have a nice time. Or to just sail through. Just the whole boat, just the whole sails full of wind, and just very calmly just plowing through all the waves. I mean,

20    January/ February, 1978

just to sit back - that's all that's asked of you. To just sit back and relax.

And maybe first you hang on really hard to something, and your hands start hurting. And then when you go out, and further and further, and further and further, and further and further, I mean, it's such a calm motion. And you just see Guru Maharaj Ji. And you just know - that's what I was talking about: To me, my own confusion, my own doubts versus the actual reality of what Guru Maharaj Ji was actually going to give me, my concepts - it was like I was "versing" the most incredible thing! And it was so incredible to then realize how stupid I was. And yet there was not time enough to!

It's like that time when I started to let go, that time when I started to enjoy that sail, when I started to enjoy that ride, I didn't want to stop and even think about how stupid I was. But it was just like to let go more and more, to try, to put that little - of whatever it was, more or less, big or little, if it was worthy or if it was not worthy - but there. There I was. And it was such an incredible feeling.

And that's the feeling that I want you to have, of that incredible joyous ride. There's nothing involved in it. It's just that - because I love you. Because that is the reason why I'm here. So that you can enjoy that ride.

Because right now all I see is a lot of people puking off the sides of this boat. And it's just such a mess, because it's starting to stink. And when it starts to stink, other people start to get sick. And you come to the point where you say, "Wait! Stop! Get it together. Let go! Surrender! You don't have to throw up." And maybe in different ways, in different manners, in different tones of voices, that's expressed. Yet, that's the feeling. That's the feeling; that's what's there. Don't only ruin your side of the - not only feel bad yourself, but why do you make the other people feel bad? Because it's not exactly a fragrance.

But that mind, wherever it goes, is bad. It's good-for-nothing. And that's what we have to all come out from. We have to all just let go, and surrender, and enjoy that ride. And that's what Guru Maharaj Ji keeps telling us time and time and time again. And that's what we have to do.

Because in fact, the way I described it, it really is like that in this world. This boat is not small; it's an infinite boat. It's an incredible boat. And this boat is not going up and down. It's the waves that are going up and down.

There is no wave in this whole world that dares splash on this boat. And yet, because you are on the boat, you can see the waves. If you were not on the boat, you might have never seen the waves. And maybe, to you, you would have never gotten sick. And that's the way maybe you are depicting your picture. Maybe that's the way you're putting - maybe that's how you're looking at it.

But, no. There is that reality. There is that problem, and this Guru Maharaj Ji's boat is just taking it away. It's just such an incredible experience. And yet, here we are.

We're not getting sick, really, because boat is going up and down, or the boat has any motion. It's too big to have any motion. It doesn't have any motion except just the gentle feel of that pleasure, of just going with it. And you have to just let go, premies.

And it's not a "topic." It's not "discussion." It's not a "question." Nobody is going to answer it. It's your own craziness that you have to get rid of by yourself - period. It's not something that you're going to put through scrutiny and it's going to do you any good. It's not that you're going to take satsang apart in piece by piece and piece by piece, and piece by piece. It's not that you can take apart service piece by piece, and piece by piece. It's not like you can just take apart meditation piece by piece and put it through your odd scrutinies of: "But I don't understand that!"

Well, if you don't understand that, why don't you try a little harder? And start understanding it, because it is there. It's

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there! And it is there for you to enjoy. And if you are not enjoying it, then that's no good!

So premies, it's like so wonderful. Because there we have that Grace to be able to let go with. There is that Guru Maharaj Ji who can give us that inspiration. There's everything there. That really is so incredible, because it's all there. And it's laid out piece by piece, it's laid out in black and white. And just surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji, surrender to that Knowledge, and flow with it. And it's there.

And I just hope that your inspiration, that your own realization of Knowledge grows every second, every hundredth of a second that that watch flashes, that goes through, "I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … " that your inspiration gets higher, your experience of Knowledge gets higher. And I hope that you really understand what I talk about, because when you come to the next program, I don't want you sitting there like you don't know what's going on, but to even take more. And just to take more and more and more and more. Because that's the purpose of this incredible gift. More you take, the more there is. So if you want more, just take a lot more, and you will get a lot more. And it's just so incredible.

And so I think the next program is in about a month or so (applause). And I think all the premies that have worked for this program hopefully are going to be working for the next one. And hopefully they're going to be making it as nice and as comfortable. Anyway, the point is, let's not have a program where it's so freezing out.

And it doesn't make really a difference, because here I am! And I don't feel the freezing cold out there. Not only because this hall has probably got heaters and there's so many people sitting here, but when you start talking about satsang, when you start to flow in the river of satsang, it just doesn't matter if it's burning out or it's freezing out. It's just that you're there, you're present in that one formation that's just incredible.

And it's such an incredible experience, that every time a program takes place, in that community, in that place - because, well, here is a big program for Kansas City. And the premies of Kansas City, the community of Kansas City has to really start to see how incredible it is. And just to take more and more inspiration.

And then I know premies have come from Australia here, and I'll be visiting Australia very soon. And I know that there are premies from New York, and I know there are premies from Los Angeles, and I know there's premies from - hopefully, from Florida. And I know there's premies from all different places. But don't look at it - you know, imagine this is the whole world, the program is happening for everybody. And it is happening for everybody. And everybody is going to take from it. And I hope so.

And there's so many programs up on the way, just for North America, for South America, for Canada - for the whole world, there's so many programs coming. And there's so many new premies every day. It's such an incredible thing, because every time there is a darshan line, there's these people ready for Holy Breath. And it's just so incredible, because there's more and more and more and more premies who are coming into that experience.

And really, what more can you say, except thank you. So I hope I see you very soon, and thank you very much.

* * *

So premies. I hope you all enjoyed this festival (cheering). So - and Happy New Year. And really, just try to do satsang, service, and meditation. And I hope I'll see you very, very soon. In about a month. So - just surrender. And that's it. So I'll just see you very soon. Okay, bye.

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