Munich Satsang: April 1977

Dear premies, the reason why we have all come here as premies, which of course is a Hindi word that means lovers - and we love something. And, of course, I'll try to explain to you what we love. Because it's very hard to explain what it is simply in terms of putting your finger down on it. But one thing that we have all come here for is to really share, is to really enjoy that love, that Knowledge, that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji bestows on us, and to really have that entertainment that we seek externally, and never find.

You see, this world - to me it's like, I've gone to a lot of places in this world, and it's always very, very easy to find something crazy about this place. Doesn't matter if it's a little resort for vacationing, or if it's an incredible amount of facility for a satsang program. But there's always in this world - or it's an airport, or it is a hotel, or it is a residence, whatever it is, it's always easy enough to find some kind of a trouble with it, because it exists. But this is what we have to understand: Are we in this world, here, to seek the trouble? Are we in here to scan the trouble? Or are we in fact here for something that is more superior? Because that is the big question.

Today it's like, okay, there's a little baby, and this little baby is going to grow big. And it's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And right now, maybe its only support is milk. Then slowly its food is going to become solid. And it's acing to go on, till that desire that that little baby doesn't have at this point is going to become as enormous as what the desire of the people is in this world. That we think it's crazy. And we think it's completely incredible. It's ridiculous how enormous this problem has become, of people just wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting. And never knowing what they really want. Never knowing what they really are trying to pursue in their lives.

But we just go on. You know, you just get up, get in your car, drive to the office. Or you get up, go to the bus stand. You know exactly what time your bus is going to be there. You don't want to miss it. So you do - I mean, you do all these things. But do you know, do you actually understand where? And it's like, it's not the point that I ask the question and you say "Yes" or "No". The thing is you have to answer that question to yourself, because that problem is and it does exist. And that's what the whole world is facing right now. I mean, it's just everywhere.

There's these things happening where people just want more. And a little bit is not enough. And it never is; and it never is. And then you give them that much, and it never is. And it just goes on and on and on and on, and it becomes more and more and more, and it becomes much more vast. It was like, you can imagine what could Romans have possibly desired at that time when there were no automobiles? What could Romans have possibly desired when there were no airplanes? What could Romans have possibly desired when you just didn't have tape recorders, or - what can I see around me, organs, drums? Well, maybe they had drums, but they didn't have electric organs. But what, I mean, what could they possibly have desired? Because now, today, there is enough for man to desire. Well, there's this and there's that, and there's an electronic camera, and there's electronic watches, and so on and so forth.

But believe me, there was quite a bit tnat Romans desired. And what was it? Was it materialism? Was that it? No, it was not that problem. It was the root. It's not the matter of killing the insects. It's not the matter of every time …

It is funny to see premies so close to me. Sitting and just speaking. But it's beautiful.

But it's like, it's not the matter of somebody having swine flu and you curing it. It's not the matter of one person getting sick by a disease, and every individual case gets handled. It's the matter of trying to stop, trying to prevent that disease altogether, to completely wipe that disease out from this world.

So it is not materialism. Materialism is just an object. It just becomes an aim for people to pursue in their lives. That's not the problem. The problem is somewhere else. What makes that thing pursue? It's like, what is the problem: the hand grenade or that person who actually pulls the pin? Because that potentially has always been there. Metal came from earth. That was always there. The sulfur. All the things that it contains were always there on this earth, but they were never potentially dangerous. But now, today, man has put it into a certain way, a certain method he has developed, whereby he can capture that energy, whereby just pulling the pin, pulling a trigger, or pushing a button, can do three times as much harm as possibly man can imagine.

So what we have to really understand is not like looking at this whole world and going "Wow!", in a very freaky sense, getting freaked out. But what we have to understand and really realize in our lives is that wait a minute, there is something far more greater. There is something far more superior. There is something far more beautiful in this world. And that is the reason why we came here, and that is what we have to plug into. It's not the matter of me having a desire, but it's the matter of me taking that desire, and where I put it, that is the problem. You see? That is the problem of this world.

It's very natural that you want to eat. Yes, for a baby, for instance, the only way a baby figures out if something is good or not is by putting it in its mouth. And I see that with Hansy. First thing he does, anything it is, he puts it in his mouth. If he likes it, for him it's good. If he doesn't like it, it's not good. And it can be anywhere from a piece of cloth to a tape recorder to anything!

So premies, it's not the matter of a desire to eat, because that you'll always have. It's the matter of what you eat. If you eat poison, then it will be very detrimental for you. But if you eat food, then it won't be detrimental for you. So it's not the matter of desire, it's the matter of where you put it. And that is the hardest part. That is almost as hard - and it has been hard for people for a long, long time.

And I'm not saying that, yeah, you can just walk into this thing and just do it in one second. Of course, you can if you, want to. Where there is a will, there is a way. But, we have to make an effort. And that effort has been made by so many, so many people for so many, so many centuries, to try to take that energy, to try to take that will, to try to take that desire, and not refocus it on mind, but to refocus it on the destination, on the purpose that we are all here for. And that's how simple it is.

But that's how difficult it is. Because people have looked at it as making a river run upstream. This is how people have described it. This is how people have said"It's impossible." People have given up hope: "This is it! How can you make a river run upstream? How can you make a river run backwards?" But the point is, you are swimming backwards! The river is running the right way; it's just you are not in flow with it. You are not trying to be really there where it is, where it is supposed to be. You are not trying to achieve the purpose of your life. You are trying to achieve a purpose, but there is a lot of difference between just trying to achieve a purpose and trying to achieve the purpose of your life. And this is the thing that we have to understand: What are we chasing?

You know, it's almost like all of a sudden you have a fast car. You're sitting on the side of the street. From out of the blue, from out of nowhere, our hand reaches the ignition. You start the car up. You put it in first gear and you start going. And you don't know where you're going. You don't know what the purpose is. You don't know what the reason is. And you don't know where you're going to end up. But you just are going. And that sounds like ridiculous. Why would you do that? Why would you do that, especially in times where fuel is so hard to get? Especially when all the resources are going to run out? But this is what everybody is doing in this world. Obviously.

You, it's like the way I put it in Florida, and I put it in Denver. I said, "We are running out of fuel". And this is what everybody says: "We're running out of fuel." So obviously, God must have miscalculated how many dinosaurs to put on this earth, so that there would be this much amount of fuel for the twentieth century people. But is that a fact? God miscalculated? God said, "No, four or fourteen million," or how many dinosaurs ever He put into this earth? That's it? Or is the reason that we just discovered something we weren't supposed to discover, and that we pursued something that we weren't supposed to pursue? Which one? Which is the problem? Is it the mistake of the Almighty Creator? Or is the problem that we have been for such a long time pursuing a wrong thing in our life?

And so, you don't have to answer me either one of those. You can look at it, and you can look at the world situation, and by all means, it's deteriorating. And it's going down and down and down and down. And very soon, you know, it's going to be strange, it's going to be weird. People are going to say, "What is the reason for this? Why? This doesn't need to be there, This doesn't need to be happening." But it will be happening.

And premies, let's snap out of the problems of this world for a second. And we most definitely haven't come here to try to reason and try to discover the problems of this earth. Because it's like, the first day I came here it was raining, it was cold. Second day was raining. Third day was beautiful. The fourth day it started snowing. And it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed since then. And it's like, of course, this is supposed to be the time when it's supposed to be nice and sunny and warm. A lot of people have taken the Easter holidays. Supposed to be enjoying it, and of course they can't go anywhere. It's frozen everywhere - in Munich at least. But let's snap out of those problems for a second, and really concentrate on what our solutions are, really concentrate on what our odds are.

And here are our odds. Well, first of all you have to understand that everything is against you in this world. Nothing has ever been for you, with you. If a man has taken and pulled anything out of the ground, it has not been for the benefit of humanity. And obviously, now it's showing. Man just goes on.

First he goes, "Let's make a car". And, of course, this is Germany. This is where it was, this is where it happened. "Let's make a car and let's make this engine." Automobile was manufactured. Yes. From there it went on and on and on and on. And so many people got into it, and so many people got involved. And now we are into the position where, in the United States, everybody is saying like, "These engines are completely crazy. These engines are completely weird. They make so much pollution. They are making people sick. This is not good for people in Los Angeles." Like they have health warnings out in Tokyo. They have health warnings out.

And it's just like, one man did one thing, and he probably said, "Yay!" And now, years and years and years later, I don't know exactly when the car was manufactured, but years and years and years later, now people are going, "Boo!" And this story of "Yay" "Boo" has been going on for such a long time. You know? But everyting in this world is here to distract us from our purpose, from our motive. And there's one solution, there is one path we have by the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji.

And it's just like you can picture it. You can imagine it. You come to this intersection. You have travelled through these highways. You've come through these smooth roads, you've come through rough roads. You've travelled through all these highways, and then you come to an intersection. And everywhere it's foggy. Some places it's more foggy, some places it's less foggy, but everywhere it's foggy. in the distance you see this green light. And everywhere you can hardly see light, and wherever you, can see light, it's ail red. And in the distance, you can see this green light. And it looks really clear, and it looks really blue. And it really looks sunny.

And there is the man. There is man's greatest puzzle that he has ever encountered, I think. That he sits there, at this intersection, wondering which one to take. "Which is the right road? Which is the right way? Which is the right passage? Am I going to end up going into this dense fog, and then only lasting maybe five, ten minutes in this dense fog, and then I'll be in a clear road? Or in fact should I proceed on this green light which is shining? What should I do? Or should I just stay here? Or should I go back?

And of course, going back is impossible, because that's your life. That highway that you have travelled, that road you have come so far into, is your life. You go on and on and on and on into your life, until you reach a point where everything that you thought was real, everything that you thought was true, all of a sudden feels like an ash. It's like picking up a book that has been there for centuries and centuries and centuries and centuries, and has completely deteriorated. It still holds its form, it still is there, but when you go to pick it up, it's just mere ashes and nothing else.

And so, in this hurdle and hurdle and all the confusion, you see this car come about, you know? And as a matter of fact, you see a lot of cars come about. And this one car, this driver rolls down the window and says, "Follow me and I'll take you to this clearest road there is, which will lead you to your destination, which will lead you to where you want to go. And you say, "No, wait, let me think." Or you say, "No, okay. This is good. I'll follow you."

And maybe you reason, "Why is he doing this? Why is this person wanting to show me a clear way? A lot of others have tried to. You know, in my past intersections in my life, maybe a lot of people have tried to show me a lot of ways, and just goofed me up more than they tried to show me a proper way that I wanted, in my life, to see. But what is this? Why is this person offering me a situation where he is saying that if you don't like the situation, if you don't like the clearness, the visibility of this freeway, you can come back?"

And sometimes people get stuck in their reasoning. They can't reason. Because they just can't reason, they won't do it. And that's it. And some people, and I think this is what the premies who are here have done, have taken the word of this "Follow me" and said, "Okay, show us the clearest way there is. Show us the way. Show us the path."

Well, you see, of course there's a blue flashing light. And of course there is that possibility that what we have to do is whatever this person, whatever this "Follow me" tells us to do. And what he's telling us to do is, of course, something so beautiful. Because he is telling us to accompany him.

And the example that I gave in one of these satsangs was that it's just a huge yacht; it's a huge boat. And we are all on this boat. And we are travelling with Guru Maharaj Ji on this boat. And it's a rough sea, and it's a rough ocean, and this is why Guru Maharaj Ji is taking us on this boat. Let's not think of it as a boat, or let's not think of it as a particular boat, Queen Mary or anything. But just imagine yourself being in completely rough water, rough weather, you know. Hundred knot wind, sixty foot seas, white chops everywhere. All of a sudden the world disappears, and all of a sudden you're on top of it. And here is Guru Maharaj Ji, and He's saying, "Just stay in this boat and enjoy yourself. That's all you have to do. Don't jump out."

And the mind says, "Come on. Come on, this guy is gonna sink you." And this is the thing, it was like so simple. If that's what's going to happen anyway if you're going to sink, then if you're going to jump, you're going to sink anyway. You might as well stay on this boat. Because the thing is, for sure, if you stay on this boat - and this is what Guru Maharaj Ji is saying and this is what Guru Maharaj Ji has said a lot, a lot of time to a lot, a lot of devotees: "Stay on my boat! And I'll cross this ocean with you. And I'll be right there. And I'll take you across this ocean, and there will be no problems whatsoever." (applause)

And at different times, mind says, "Nah! This is not going to happen, you know, This is completely confusing. This is completely crazy. How come when I am on this boat, it is so calm, it is so peaceful; when I look outside, it's sixty foot swells." That's the thing. This boat is made to be calm. This boat is made so it will stay peaceful, so we can all have a comfortable ride and we can all have a comfortable journey.

So premies, there is our crazy mind, and it can tell us, "Jump off! Jump off! Jump off! Jump off!" You know, "Dive in!" Or we can really see that, no, this Knowledge, this Guru Maharaj Ji's boat, is not rocky, is not shaky. That our experience - and if we have received Knowledge, and have done satsang, service and meditation in our lives, then unquestionably, undoubtedly, we have experienced how smooth and how beautiful this boat, in fact, is. And the amount of distance it can take us, we experience when we fall from it, when we have to swim back. When we really hit the water, we experience, "Wow! How fast that boat is."

And it's been, it's been times and times again that we fall off that boat, and Guru Maharaj Ji picks us up and says, "Well, stick to this boat, will you please? Stay on the boat. Let's all go to that beautiful place. Let's all go to that incredible place that we all desire, that we all want, that we all are here for, that is the reason to become one with that Oneness that is everywhere." And not physically, from inside, so become one with that Almighty Lord, to become one with that Almighty Grace, to become so devoted, to become so in one, so in line, so in tune, so it can really manifest in our lives, so it can really always stay there, so it can always stay constant. Because otherwise, we can just go on in this world, and we know what the consequent( are. And they don't sound very pretty.

And there is a reason, and this is why we have understand. There is a reason for why we are here. And it's most definitely not to just go out and live it, you know, live it; whichever way you, have to live it, live. Yeah, you have to get up at four o'clock in the morning and instead of getting up and using this body for enjoying that most beautiful Knowledge, you get up and you start thinking about how to get to your job. And most definitely, we can just live it up that way.

And yes, it is not impossible, there are people who have become millionaires from nobodies. That's not impossible to do. There's nothing impossible in th world. You can accomplish anything you want. One way or the other. But, one thing that has been provided to you, one opportunity, one chance that has been provided to you now by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, is to really surrender, is to really, really understand, really dedicate yourself to that reason, to that purpose why you are here. To really experience Guru Maharaj Ji. To really experience satsang. To really experience meditation.

Because there are so many things in this world to be discovered. There are so many things in this world to just love, to just - whatever have you - feel, or whatever have you. But there is only one thing to truly enjoy and that true entertainment that we seek … You know, over here, this hall was rented out to a circus before. And in France, I don't know how to pronounce that name very good. I always say it, "Mont Piler", but it's mon-peh-ay (Montpellier). And it was like a big circus tent. And it reminded me that, wow, this really is a circus. And then here we are sitting in a circus inside of a circus, trying to go to a beautiful place, trying to go to something which is even far more beyond.

Instead of coming out of one circus and going into another circus, here we are inside of this huge great circus, sitting in this circus tent, going to the Lord's circus. Going to that infinite circus that never ends. Going to that bliss. Going to that part of it all, where it all comes from within here. Not from in the center where the elephant goes like this, and everybody goes, "Yeah, that's nice." But within inside of us, where we elevate ourselves, not everybody else. Where people don't go from one corner to the other corner, but we swing from one corner to the other corner. We do the flying trapeze in that complete bliss, in that complete mercy of Guru Maharaj Ji.

And premies, I see there's a lot of premies here: the premies from Italy, the premies from France, the premies from Germany; there are premies from England and premies from everywhere, I guess, here. And, no matter what condition, what shape this auditorium is, doesn't matter which way we are sitting, doesn't matter what we are into and what we are not doing. One thing we have to now really, really understand is that we are here to really experience the purpose of our life. We are here to really understand the purpose of our life. We are here to really enjoy the purpose of our life. And the only way to get it, and the only way to find it is by doing satsang, service and meditation, and enjoying and really experiencing that and Guru Maharaj Ji, and really letting him stay on the boat.

Because it's not the matter - he can kick you out anytime he wants. It's not the matter that it's his pleasure, your excellency, that you stay on it. No, it's an opportunity of a lifetime. There have been so many sadhus, there have been so many, so many people who have tried to get on that boat just for a second, just for a split moment, to even be able to enjoy it. Because they were doing it their own way. No, this is a path, this is a real way, where we have to surrender. This is a story of surrendering. It's not a story of staying on and saying, "Giddyup, horsie", you know? It's not the matter of trying to do it by yourself, but to just surrender and let Guru Maharaj Ji take you.

And it's like this little example that I give. When a child is walking all by itself and it falls down, then it can be considered his fault. But when a child is being held by the mother and then it falls down, then it's not its own fault. So it's the matter of how much we surrender this life. And it's not the matter of just going to Guru Maharaj Ji's front door and saying, "Guru Maharaj Ji, here I am. I surrender myself completely up to you. But could you please send Peter Lee to fetch my luggage? And could you please have a room made for me? And could you please do this and could you please do that." And your mind is completely running wild. "Guru Maharaj Ji, could you give me this power? Guru Maharaj Ji, could you do this for me? Guru Maharaj Ji, could you do that for me?"

You know, there's a lot of people who receive Knowledge, thinking, "Oh, we receive Knowledge and we'll do this in our lives, or we'll do that in our lives, or we'll accomplish something incredible in our lives." In terms of power. No, no, this is altogether a different game. This is where you run into the problem where you start thinking the stream has to flow the other way. But a11 the rocks and all the pebbles that you have placed in the river made it look like it's flowing the other way. You just have to take out those rocks. You just have to take out those obstacles, and you can then be able to really see which way is that river flowing.

So anyway, it's really beautiful to be here. And today is just the first day of the program. Tomorrow there will be darshan. There will be another program, hopefully. And you know, we are all here, and either we can really experience what's happening, or we can shut our doors to it. And then we can sit here in this hall, and it will be completely weird and crazy for us. It'll be so weird, it'll drive us mad. This will be the most negative place that you can possibly imagine. This can become the most weird place you can possibly imagine for you, if you shut your doors to it. But if you keep yourself open, and keep yourself really flowing, and really experiencing satsang, service, and meditation in your life, and really understand that everybody is here for that one purpose and that you are here for one purpose and Guru Maharaj Ji is here for one purpose …

So let's take advantage of that purpose, why Guru Maharaj Ji is here, why satsang is here, why service is here, why meditation is here, why we are here, why everybody else is here. And why are we all here? To experience something. So let's experience something. Let's take advantage of that experience. Because in our lives, we have always taken advantage of the wrong things. Here we are, given an opportunity to take advantage of the reason of the purpose of our life, either you can kick it like it was a football, or you can pick it up like it was a diamond.

And again, you know the story about the farmer who was walking by. He said, "Who placed this chunk of glass in the road?" And he threw it. And the jeweler passed by and he said, "Wow, what a beautiful piece of diamond. The biggest piece of diamond I have ever seen. And he picked it up.

So either you can throw it all away or you can let it happen. And you know, these satsangs that are happening, they're really incredible. People are realizing a lot in their lives. People are really realizing that, "Yeah, man, you can really get into your head trip about it: oh, this is happening this way or this is happening this way." And really, really get into your head about it, or just let it surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. Really, really surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. Truly surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji.

And that's a very hard thing to do, to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. And to be able to surrender, it's like a loop. It's like a loop cycle. And every link is from link to link, chained. And it's like, first satsang, service and meditation. But to be able to do satsang, service and meditation, you have to surrender. But to surrender, you have to do satsang, service and meditation. So it's just, everything goes around and around and makes the wheel turn. When it makes the wheel turn, you go, you proceed towards that destination in your lives.

So premies, this is an opportunity, and I want you to really experience it, I want you to really understand it, and I want you to really feel it. Because most definitely, what some people will be feeling out of this festival will be a lot more than what others will be. And perfectly okay, so far you don't show up at the residence knocking at the door. So far you come to enjoy yourself at a program to really experience the experience of a program. Because it's more than just a program.

And these programs are happening. They're going to keep on happening. They're not going to stop, you know. For a long time there was like a little gap. But I think that gap is being overcompensated for. So that's beautiful. (applause) And there's so many programs. There's this program in England, and that's going to be really beautiful. And you know, premies are really getting it together. A lot of premies are going to come. If you want to come, you're most welcome to. And then there's the program in Montreal. You want to come there, you can come there. Wherever you want to come, it's

I just would like to tell those others who are not going to be feeling anything, then please, really try to feel something, because there is something out here. It's not a bunch of - an empty circular hall with three thousand people sitting in it talking about God or talking about Truth. Rut we're talking about a true experience that we have experienced. And once you experience that experience, you can say, "Yeah, this is what people call God," or, "This is what people call Truth," or "This is it."

So, it's whichever way you want to go. But try to really let yourself flow, and not get into your ego about it, not get into your head about it. But really be humble and really understand that this is a lifetime opportunity.

You know, to a lot of people this is a performance "All right, where's your guest speaker? Why doesn't he get on? Why doesn't he get it over with? So everybody can go home." But that's not the way it is here.

Guru Maharaj Ji is something a lot more than just somebody who comes and sits on a chair and talks about Knowledge. Guru Maharaj Ji is a lot more. Guru Maharaj Ji is not only the captain, He's also the navigator. And He's not only the navigator, He's also the conductor. Arid He's not only the conductor, He's also the advertiser and He's not only the advertiser, He's also the ticket man. He's everything, and it just depends which way we look at Him - that's what He becomes - and what we have experienced in our lives. But He is everything and He can take care of us, not physically, but spiritually, very, very beautifully.

So, I think it's a good idea to relax, and let it all flow, and enjoy the ride. Thank you very much.