There are so many premies. There are Indian premies that arrived just yesterday. And there's a lot of other premies who are still coming, and everybody's scratching. Maybe one premie, two premies, three premies, and lot of premies -- at least I can say for the Indians -- didn't get to attend all the festivities that were going on here.

There was that darshan line. And it was ten hours long. And then today there were a few premies that didn't get to go through the line, so we did another line. That wasn't very long. It was only two minutes. And then there were other premies who had been left over, so we did another line. That was about five, six, seven minutes long. And all the things that have happened in this festival. All the things, just the way this whole festival has come together.

Because I was in Malibu. And to me, I know that just from the past experience of the festivals that we had of Holi, and Montreal, and Los Angeles, and -- I mean, look at Los Angeles festival. Every time I would see Bill Patterson, he would say, "Yeah, and more premies are coming, and more premies are coming, and more premies are coming." And I knew that all these premies show up at the residence, and either the residence will have to stay there or those premies will have to stay there. So it was like, okay, well let's try to do a program. And this program came together so fast. All the premies were just pouring in. And it was so beautiful. And it was so incredible. It was just so nice to be able to see all the premies. It was just so nice to be able to give satsang to all the premies. You look at everything and it's so much Grace.

Joan Apter got up and she talked about Grace. And Judy got up and she talked about Grace. And Bill Patterson got up and he talked about Grace. And Randy got up and he talked about Grace. And I talked about Grace. And Marolyn talked about Grace. And Claudia talked about Grace. And everybody's been talking about Grace. But how can you deny an experience?

You know, it's a different story. Sometimes you watch television or you go or you see these different shows happening. Some of the people are really trying to put on a show. And then you look at this whole satsang program. You look at this whole thing. And it's so simple in its complications, of what really happens. It's very, very uncomplicated. And yet so natural, so beautiful, so incredible. And yet so sophisticated in its own way, that you don't have any perspective of balance. And then you just, I just look at myself and I say, "Man, that's just -- this is so beautiful."

Because once a long, long time ago, I was on the Merv Griffin program. And I was really, in a way, blown out. Because you always sit on the other end of the tube, and you watch. And you see this guy singing, you see these guys talking, and it just seems like they've got everything down, right down to the timing and everything. And then I was just blown out to see all these people holding these cue cards up. You see these news people and they just talk like they have memorized the whole news. They have these cameras, and these cameras on top of them have this whole -- like a telex thing, and all the news is printed up and it's moving. And so when they switch the cameras, it automatically lights up the news that they are supposed to be broadcasting, and looking towards the camera. It's just so incredible. And then after the show, this guy got up and he sang. Okay, he was very nice; but at the very end of the hall there was this guy holding these huge cue cards of this song, and he was just reading off and singing it. And it really sort of got me.

It's just like, look at satsang. Nobody does any preparations. Nobody memorizes anything. And if you have any questions about this little gadget sitting on my seat -- because I have been playing with it since yesterday -- the gadget was a gift from the French premies, designed by the French premies, made by the French premies. And it's really well-suited to our needs, because -- every time I have to convey a message, you see, I have to call somebody on the stage. But with this little gadget -- there are seven numbers on it. And the seven numbers are in that briefcase, too. And you can assign every number for a particular thing: monitors, fan, lighting, anything that we want, and we can hit that. So if I want the monitors here louder, I can hit the monitor switch and then I can hit a positive switch, and it lights up there. And when he responds to something that I say, it lights up here. If he doesn't understand anything I say, he can say "No" or "Repeat." Plus this has a microphone built into it, and if there is a special message that's not recorded on the numbers, then I can hit the mike switch and he'll be able to hear me. And also there is one switch that says, "Come."

But I think this is the most sophisticated piece of equipment we have had on stage, so far. And yet its got nothing to do with satsang. And satsang just flows. Because satsang is your own experience. And this experience lets you go, lets you flow -- including the other people who are listening -- flow through that river of satsang.

And so premies, it's like in this world we always try to do something good and we always try to do something bad. But it's not up to us. And we have to really rely on Grace. We have to really let go in Grace. Because this is what I was telling you. We were sitting in Malibu, and we were supposed to take off. A few weeks ago we took off from Los Angeles to go to Denver for my naturalization hearing. And this airplane went up and all of a sudden, something funny happened. And I just turned around and said, "Steve, what's happening? What's going on?" Because the pilot was just supposed to be climbing, and even if the radar center told him to

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level off, you just don't level off by pulling your throttles and pitching the nose down. And all of a sudden all these oxygen masks popped up. It was a sight. It was a sight! I mean it was nothing serious. The pressurization wasn't kicking in. The pressurization wasn't happening in the airplane, and there was no pressurization.

And it was just so incredible. You looked down and it was all desert. Nothing there but desert. And the plane was turning around, and I saw a runway. And I said, "Well, we can land there. There's no problem." But it was such a freaky experience. And after the whole thing happened, the first thing, first automatic reflex was just to go back, just to completely -- every sense you have got -- to completely put it in the Holy Word. And then, it's just like it was a freaky experience. There were kids that were sleeping. There weren't enough oxygen masks. Pilots weren't really telling us what's going on. And then when we finally landed -- we came back to the residence and everything -- and the pilots in a note said, "Don't bother about it. We'll have this thing fixed, and we'll take you right to Denver." And I said, I think everybody said, very quietly, "No, thank you."

But anyway, when we came back, it was really incredible, because Bill was just driving back from the airport and I was there and they saw this helicopter coming in and everything. When they came back, for hours this is what we were talking about, this is what we were talking about: This happened, and that happened -- and, I'd say, the whole thing was less than a minute, because the plane wasn't that high. But in that minute, whatever happened was broadcasted over like four or five hours. It was just: This happened and …

And then I went upstairs. And it all of a sudden hit me. "Oh, man, this is the craziness of the world! What did that airplane give us? Depressurization, and a bunch of dud oxygen masks," -- because they were. There was not much oxygen flowing through them. "And what did Grace give us? Safety. Gave us life. That thing didn't ditch. Brought us back right to LAX airport."

And it's just so incredible for this Grace to let that happen, for this Grace to completely go through. And you can almost write a book on what happened before I came here. We were scheduled to leave for Rome. And this airplane had something wrong with it, a very simple thing. But then it was a monster. What was wrong with that airplane? It would get up and it would fly, but as soon as the auto-pilot would kick on, after a little while the whole plane would start to go like this, violently up and down.

And so, it was just great. It was just, "Okay, the plane will get fixed the next day.- And we waited the next day, the third day, the fourth day. And it was like, "Okay, well, listen. We've got to get to Rome, so forget about it." So we hopped on an airplane and got here. And the way we got here was just completely incredible. The plane first went from this one place -- and in this airplane, this commercial airline, there was supposed to be beds for us. There were no beds -- and it was the whole crazy trip all over again: These guys just looking at us with these eyes, with these -- I mean you almost felt like taking two contact lenses, putting some digital question marks on them, and going: "Here." Just watching: "What's going on? What's going on?

What's going on?"

And then, the plane stopped in Seattle and took off and it finally landed in Copenhagen. In Copenhagen there was only one flight that left, and this is completely all Grace. I mean, this is the way Grace works.

There was supposed to be a chartered airplane waiting for us in Copenhagen, so we could fly directly from Copenhagen to Rome. So we get there. We just waited in the airplane. Everybody got off. All the stewards were there. And Marino comes aboard and says, "They've got nothing. There's nothing out there, except a very nice lounge." I said, "Okay, well, let's go there."

So we went there and there was a premie from Copenhagen waiting there. I went up and I said, "How's everything?" He said, "Everything is fine." And then we

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went up and we went into this lounge. We were sitting in this lounge. And the thing was that this one flight that we could have taken stopped just about every place but Rome, and that was the last stop it made. It was like a two or three hour-long flight and it just stopped all over the place.

So premies were going to get on, and by this time, in Rome, they had arranged for a little plane to fly from Switzerland and land in Copenhagen and pick us up. And I said, This is completely absurd. I don't know when the premies are going to get there. I don't know when I'm going to get there." (And it happened to be the same kind of airplane that they had chartered that was a lemon -- went lemon on us -- not that exactly that thing was going to happen.) But, anyway, I just said, "Listen, you know, do something."

I was just relaxing and then there was this big duty-free shop, and Premlata wanted to buy some toys. Anyway, everybody was just playing and there were no concerns. And you see, there was this one airplane that we would have chartered and taken to this airport, but it didn't have any landing permit. It didn't have any landing rights, so to say. And so we were just there. Period.

Then all of a sudden everybody kept thinking, everybody kept thinking, everybody kept thinking, running around, doing this, doing that. Nothing happened. And then everybody just sort of had no option, I guess. They let go -- and then immediately on the eleventh hour they got the landing permission. All the premies hopped on, including us, to this airplane. And everybody flew to Rome. And it was as smooth as it could be.

And so this is the Grace: We were waiting on one end in Malibu, and "Ohhh -- What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? When are we going to get there?" But when we let go …

Because we have to understand: What is our effort? Where do we put it, when we don't know the place? it's just like, if you want to get a Coca-Cola from a Coke machine, and you have a quarter, you have 25 cents in your hand. The only thing you don't have in your brain is the know-how of where to put the coin in. You have everything. There is Coca-Cola in that machine. And it will dispense it. And you have the money. Everything's there, except a very little misunderstanding. And what is your misunderstanding? You don't know where to put the coin in. Because without putting the coin in, how are you going to get it out?

And so, we can try to put our effort in this; we can try to put our effort in that. All the things that man does in this lifetime. You see, there is another thing that we all have to understand. Maybe to some people this satsang sounds like these guys are absolutely nuts, and that these guys are absolutely against anything, any materialistic thing. These guys don't want nothing to happen in this world. No, this is not the case. This is really not the case.

We want people to sit there in laboratories and make some progress. Because we want a thinner microphone that can maybe sit somewhere under the tie so we don't have this black thing running out here. We want a very efficient P.A. system that can really relay the sound all over the place, really, really clean. We want them to go ahead and make a 16mm very good quality Polaroid camera, so instantly we can just distribute the pictures and all the movies to everybody. We do want them to go ahead and develop a cassette system where it takes it and right away just makes a master of it and instantly, as it's making a master, just putting out cassettes just like (clicks fingers twice). And not only that, we want to maybe go beyond that point. Maybe we want to make records, also, of satsang. And maybe we want a way, an unsophisticated way, and we want to have unsophisticated satellites, so that we can bounce off all these programs that we have to all over the world simultaneously, and everybody can see it. We want them to go ahead and start making very big video screens like these on top, except very cheap, and something you can put up at home.

Yes, all those things are here. But the problem is, all

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those advances that we want like this, does everybody? Will everybody use them for those things? Because, you see, behind us there is a practical experience involved. What is the practical experience? We -- I mean people who arc sitting in this hall -- I can very safely say have gone through just about every kind of a trip. I don't think there is anything more left. There are doctors here. There arc scientists here. There are lawyers here. There is everybody here. And yet in all of that, all those materialistic achievements, they have found Peace in Knowledge. So therefore, it is very safe to say that Knowledge is the answer, and then therefore it's a very nice thing to spread the Word of God, that Knowledge, to everybody in this world. But is that the way everybody is going to use it?

Three or four days ago I was giving that example: What is this hall used for? This hall is used for boxing. Those lights are set up for that. They use it for basketball. They use it for baseball; I don't know, whatever they use it for. But you know something? All the premies that are sitting down in that circular area would be, of course, sitting up here where this stage is, and there would be no stage. All this ring would be cleared up, and that's where the games would be happening.

I cannot possibly understand. I know that there are premies here from America, there are premies here from England, there are premies here from all different countries. And I also know there's a lot of people here who are interested in athletic sports. But to me, one thing I cannot possibly understand is how could they get more joy out of anything else in the world than what they are getting out of satsang, that Grace, that is flowing through. Because this is the joy that this brings. The experience, the satisfaction that satsang brings, is a lot higher, is a lot more incredible, is a lot more beautiful, than anything else in this world. Because this is the core, this is the center.

The problem is -- today we talk about good deeds and bad deeds. Okay, its very nice. I mean, everybody feels very comfortable in saying, "Look. You should only perform good deeds." Okay. For a moment, we accept that. So okay, we should perform good deeds. Anybody can tell you that. But the thing is, what is good? And what is bad? If we don't know what is good, then how can we perform good deeds? It's very simple.

If I tell you, "Look for a person," that's it. Period. This is what I say. And then I explain to you that yes, there is a very specific person that I am talking about. I know his

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name. I know his face, and everything. But the problem is I'm not going to tell you. And in one shot, in one try, you are to bring that person in front of me. Now how is that possible except a lot of good luck, just lot of good luck? Maybe you grabbed the right person at the right time. But theoretically that's impossible. Why? Because you don't know who that is. You don't know what he looks like. I know. And yet I'm not telling you.

It's the same way. What is a good deed? First of all, you have to know what's good. And then once you know what's good, you can perform it. It's very simple. So then its all according to all cultures. And this is what baffles me: "When something is good, its good, period … No. But, you see, this is the effect. This is the difference. What's good varies from culture to culture. It varies from one extreme thing to one extreme thing.

For instance, the Indians will not touch beef. Okay? But, you can maybe find them eating a pig. And yet, to the Muslims, they will not eat pig. They will eat a cow. But this is beyond good deeds, of course. This is beyond good deeds. This is sin! You touch a beef, you touch a cow, you kill a cow, you eat a cow; that's a sin. And yet. the other one isn't. And in Muslim religion it's completely turned around. So now, you tell me, where is the good deed? Who decides what's the good deed, if that's the way it's all going to operate? if that's the whole way it's going to work? If that's the kind of vast differences we are going to have in our good and bad deeds, then we have had it. If that's where our good and bad deeds lie, forget about it. We're never going to get anywhere.

Then there are these people -- and I mean, it's just a fraction of difference. They have a broom, and wherever they walk they put this thing which looks like a surgeon's mask on their mouths and noses. They are very, very sterile, very clean. And they have a broom, and wherever they walk they clean the street before them. Now you ask them, "What are you doing?" (Definitely they are not from the sanitation department.) It is against their religion to walk on something, to kill something. Therefore, they are cleaning it.

Now, that's one thing. Now, technically if you have a cold and it gets worse and worse, you go out and you take some antibiotics for it. And what do antibiotics do? Antibiotics kill bacteria, kill that germ that's causing that cold, that's causing the suffering. So now, according to this one person, you shouldn't do that. If you are going to die about it, then that's your tough luck; you wont kill anything. On the other hand, it's a very normal thing for people to take antibiotics. You get a cut. its very normal for people to take some tincture iodine, put it on their fingers, or something like that. Anything.

So now, where does the good and the bad exist? It's baffling. its amazing. But premies, the only reason why it's baffling is because that's not where good and bad exists. Good and bad exists somewhere else. That's their concepts. That's people's own theories. People have theorized different things. People have taken and said. "Well, this is good, and that's bad, and that's bad and this is good," and different cultures, according to different circumstances, according to different needs, according to different things. it's the same way. It's the same thing. A lot of people: "Okay, no killing, no bug killing, nothing killing," and yet, if they have to fly from India to Rome, or India to somewhere else or from America to Rome, or from Rome to anywhere else, I mean anywhere, and they take a commercial airliner, I can guarantee you one thing: There is no commercial airplane that flies without getting bugs on its nose. They just get on it. And it doesn't matter how low you fly, and doesn't matter how high you fly. Those bugs, those

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dead, squashed hugs are just unavoidable. They're just going to get there somehow. Because they exist there and the airplane's flying very fast and it hits them and they get killed. So can you imagine sitting in the back of the airplane where all the motions and commotions -- when you go up and down and the pilot trying to avoid these bugs, trying to take a 717 between all these little mosquitoes and little things that are flying around. This would be enormous. This would be outrageous. This would be incredible.

Now, well, I don't know, there are more cameras out there, but there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and then there's a whole bunch of cameras in the audience. too. The Indians used to believe -- not eastern Indians, American Indians -- used to believe that by taking somebody's picture that you take their soul away. So these cameras, the 16mm cameras, they are rolling at 24 feet per second; and in every frame that they take a picture, according to that technical thing, my soul is being taken away. And it's very simple. And that's being done with one movie camera there. There is one "35" there. There is one movie camera there. There is a movie camera there. There is one movie camera there. Somebody's got a movie camera up on the tower, too. But I don't feel it. I don't feel my soul being taken away! But these people really believed in it. These people really thought that this was true.

So, I mean, where does it all lie? Where does it all end? Where does it all finish? What do we believe? What do we expect? What do we trust? What do we know? What do we understand? It's just so hard; it's just so difficult. It's just so difficult to believe. in America, if you are so-called normal, intelligent, middle-aged person, and you see a rattler -- this is so-called; maybe this guy's completely insane -- but this is how we would qualify as normal, intelligent, middle-aged man. If he saw a rattler and he killed it, he's intelligent. He's smart. He's brave. Why? Because he killed a rattler, and rattlers just aren't good. They bite you; they kill you. While in India you have just killed a god. You've committed a crime. You've committed a sin. Because they even go to such extents -- I mean, it's just like completely outrageous, to just go to all these extents.

So premies, really what is in this whole cycle that we believe from day to day to day to day? What's really good and what's really bad? Now believe me, I'm not trying to confuse you by telling you all this is just some nothings. No. I'm not trying to say that I'm not trying to alter your belief. I'm not trying to tell you you should eat beef and you should eat pig. I don't think you should eat any of that. But what I am trying to say is something else. That, first of all, to find what's true in this world, you have to know the Truth. To do good in this world, you have to know the good in this world. And what is good in this world. what's true in this world is only one thing; that's good, that's true, and that is the source of Sat, Chit, Anand, that is the source of Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Because it says that. Truth, and Consciousness that prevails amongst all of us, that keeps us all alive, and that Bliss, the source of all blisses. That is the good. That is the Truth.

Otherwise, we can think. And it just reminds me of a story, and I know this is a very old story. Once upon a time this guy died. So he went to heaven and he knocked on the doors. And God's secretary came out and said, "Yes, can I help you?" (applause)

I see a lot of people still remember that.

And he said, "Can I help you?" And he said, "Yes. I want to enter heaven."

And so the secretary said, "Okay, well why don't you wait. I'll tell the lord, I'll tell God, this is what you want to do." So he went to God and said, "God, there is this - I don't know how to put it. Maybe he said bongo or maybe he said person, or gentleman, or whatever he said -- "is waiting outside and he wants to enter heaven."

So God said, "Well, go ahead; let me question him." So this person comes before God and pays his respects and stands right there and God asks him, "So, you want to enter heaven, huh? What have you done so far in your life? What good have you done so far Or your life?"

And I'm giving ou this example based on what we think is good. Now, maybe this is not true. I doubt it if it's true. I mean, this example. But at least it will give you a fair picture.

And the thing is: "What have you done that's so good to deserve to be able to come to heaven and stay here?"

And the guy scratched his head and said, "Wow! I gave a dime to -- I gave this ten cents to a beggar."

And God looked at him and said, "Anything else?" And then He asked him again, "Well, is there anything else that you have done good?"

And he scratched his head again, and said, "Yeah. I gave a dime and a nickel to an orphan … So God said, Have you done anything else that's good, to be able to come into heaven?" And the guy scratched his head and scratched his head and scratched his head and scratched his head and said, ''No. Actually I haven't." So the guy was quite baffled, because in fact he had done something good in his concept, in his belief. And yet it wasn't quite sufficient to let him in. So He turned around to His secretary and said, "What should I do? This is kind of a baffling question. Do you have any suggestions?"

And His secretary said, "Yeah. Give him his quarter back and tell him to go to hell."

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So what does this tell you? It's funny. I know it's funny. "Give him his quarter back and tell him to go to hell." But the point is, what I am trying to portray out of this is: That's it for your good deeds. What God can say is, "Okay, you have done good deeds. They're all five cents worth. Here's a nickel. Get out of here." And then, it's what we think is good. It's just like so simple: one man's medicine, the other man's poison. So who knows? The only people that know -- and you see this is quite clear.

And this is why it's so quite clear, because every time a Perfect Master has come into this world, he hasn't just gone to one place and said, "Look! This is Knowledge and you should all have it, and goodbye, and thank you very much." You look at this one condition. You look at Christ, for instance. And he came and was Perfect Master. According to the belief, he had enough power that after he was crucified, he came back. So, you think twice about this and you figure, if somebody has got a power -- and it was incredible as to be able to be crucified and then come back again -- you can definitely figure out that he must have the power to sort of take the whole Earth and jiggle it once in a plastic bag. Give it a little twist, all us little teensy-weensy things go falling into this plastic bag. He opens it up and says, "Listen, you thing in there. Realize the purpose of your life, aim of your life. This is it. Period."

No. He set a whole example. One by one by one by one by one. That wasn't it. He told people what to do. He gave people the instructions what to do. And everything that he did was for that time what he believed to be the best way that they could approach the Truth. I mean, if he wanted to, when they were stoning Mary, he could have just turned the hurt around, so every time she got hurt by a stone, the person who threw it got hurt. I mean, this would be just twist of the thumb and that would be done.

But that wasn't so. That wasn't it. That wasn't the way. And so premies, this is what we have to realize, that in this world, and above all things he did, he didn't just come and try to show people the good ways. He did something besides that. So merely telling people to do this, to do that, was not sufficient. There had to be something else. There had to be something more. And that was Knowledge.

Of course, a lot of people might say, "Well, how do you know it's Knowledge? You weren't there." To a lot of people, all the satsang is just a lot of smart remarks. And they say, "Well, if you can make -- if you're so smart, then how do you figure you were there talking about this is what Knowledge was?" I've talked to a lot of people. And it just comes down to one basic end. Maybe to them they don't understand what I am talking about. But to me, more and more my understanding gets more and more stamped in; my experience gets more and more stamped in. Where it's like to me it >becomes more and more clear. Because the whole Knowledge is just right there. People who have it, can see it and experience it.

So premies, to realize that heart, to realize that center, to realize anything that we want to realize in this world, we have to realize: What are we here for?

It's a good question. I elaborated on that yesterday -- our concepts. our theories; two plus two has got to be four, it better be four. And right now, yes, it's very nice. It's simple enough to say that in satsang: Why is two and two four? And its simple enough to, say, give an example of why couldn't two and two be eight, five, six, seven, eight, anything else like that, except four? But try to convince a shopkeeper that two and two is nothing, that five and five is nothing. He's not going to understand that at all. I'm not trying to say that he's tied up into his concepts. But we have to completely go one step beyond. We have to completely step -- go beyond all that and truly realize.

I'm not really saying you should get into this whole thing about two and two is four, go write a book on it, or do research on it. or go and dig up all these ancient mathematical books and stuff like that, or go study all the mathematical scriptures, so to say, there are about mathematics in every library. No, no, no, I'm not saying that. What I am saving is that you should realize the purpose of this life. And without realizing the purpose of this life, you know what man is?

Okay, this is what man is without realizing the purpose of this life. This is what man is without realizing the goal of human life. This is what man is -- or not man, human being is -- without realizing Knowledge: Its like a sky that doesn't have any blue in it.

It's like a star that doesn't have any shine in it. it's like a moon that has no glow to it.

it's like a sun that's completely cold.

Its like an ocean with no water in it.

It's like a man without realization in him.

And that's exactly the way it is. There is no substance. There is no realism in that person. This is what I feel. I know a lot of people that don't have Knowledge and I have a lot of respect for them. And yet, you can go so far in that person's rightness or wrongness or goodness, but after that you hit the hard rock. You really hit it. After that it's just solid, it's just -- not solid; rather empty. There is nothing within that person. And yet, there are some people who are doing really nice, nice things in this world who don't have Knowledge.

But premies, besides all things, it's so beautiful. I don't want to elaborate the problems of this world. I don't want to explicitly go into the grossness of this world.

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Sometimes you just get a little carried away. But that's another story. But I really don't want to get into it. What I want to get into is, for you to realize one simple thing. And one simple thing for premies who have already realized: that you have that opportunity now. That you have that Grace now. Don't go hanging over the rail to make yourself sick, including other people with you. Don't get into trips. Don't get into confusions. Don't get into mind.

Because I know that if we started making a list of rumors that premies spread, I mean, it's phenomenal to find out the kind of rumors that premies spread so fast. It's outrageous. I don't think I have any words for that. And it's a completely outrageous list it would make to try to copy down all the different trips premies get into. And yet, of course, the love and the devotion that premies have, you could never make a list. You could, probably, sit down and make a list of the rumors. But you definitely could not sit down and make a list of the love and devotion that all the premies have. And the more we get into that, we are losing time.

Really, there is an important value. You are alive. And you really don't know when you might go. This is like an old statement, but it's really true. Listen. it's really, really true. And nobody knows. And every second is just ticking by, ticking by, ticking by. And we get into this in this world and we get into that in this world.

Well, what we have to realize is there is Guru Maharaj Ji in this world. And there is a specific purpose for Guru Maharaj Ji being in this world. And this is where we have to take our energy to. This is where we have to proceed towards.

To sum it all up, it comes down to one simple thing. If I were a premie, and I had a job, the only reason why I would work, and save up some money, is to be able to go to festivals. That really sums it up. Why? Because, yes, you are going into this world. It's like you are walking into the fire with a fire suit on, to be able to come, to be able to make yourself stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger, so that when the time comes, then Guru Maharaj Ji can really give you that Grace of becoming an initiator, of becoming -- if not an initiator, of giving you any service.

And I know that so many premies are going to be receiving Knowledge in the future. Of course, 12.9 to some people is not very much. But take a calculator and push the constant key on it, and go 12 multiplied again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. It'll come out to an outrageous figure. But that's what's happening. So many premies are receiving Knowledge. And these premies who are receiving Knowledge, these aspirants who are really receiving Knowledge, are really understanding the purpose of this Knowledge, are really gathering up that experience of this Knowledge. It's not just: Here it is! No. It's just like, that true meaning of that sentence: I don't want to take these precious seeds and just spill them all over the road. Some might grow; some might not grow. That's not my attitude.

My attitude is that every seed is going to grow. That's it. Odds are different. But so far as you are concerned -- and I don't know why I'm saying you, you, you, but there's a few initiators sitting in the front. So far they are concerned, so far I am concerned, that hundred percent that seed is going to grow. You have no mind, you have no doubts in your mind whatsoever. And it's so incredible, because you look at this whole thing. What was it?

I remember. First Gurucharnanand ji came, in England. And then I remember it was just this whole trip. "Okay, I'm going to go." And then, when I first came to England -- I can go tell you a little history about it.

And it's really something. Because when I first arrived in Heathrow Airport I just had no ideas what this whole thing was. First of all, when I flew, I didn't even know there was a first class. To me. you're just sitting here and that's it. I never moved and I didn't do anything. I just sat in my chair. And they brought some food, and I couldn't eat it because my food was sitting in the first class and I was sitting in the coach. So I mean, we got into Heathrow Airport and it was just so much. It was such a turn-around.

And yet, there was one thing still happening, and that was satsang. It was exactly the same. Satsang didn't change. It was in English. of course, and my English was, and still is, terrible. But it was really terrible then. Nobody could understand it then. It was kind of hard. There was a lot of "ah's," and "pardon," and "beg your pardon," and this and that. And I couldn't understand a lot. And I still can't understand a lot, but at that time I could hardly understand anything.

And I walked through. and there were a few people there. They had this Rolls Royce limousine for me. It was just really beautiful, because the premies in England didn't have any jobs or anything. Everybody was really poor. Before I came to London, Peter Lee, Glen Whittaker, and there were all these other premies who had come in this van, in this green and white Commerce van, to Dehra Dun. And Peter Lee drove all the way from -- I mean, not him alone -- but all these guys drove all the way from London all the way to India. And every something like 20 kilometers, the thing would overheat completely. So they would stop and put some water in, cool it down and go again, cool it down and go again, cool it down and go again. That was them. Back in England. That was the only difference.

So anyway, it was like, "Oh, yeah, this is incredible," and all that stuff. We got there. After we got there, there were premies and so on and I went up in my room. I looked down, and the Rolls Royce had

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disappeared. There was only a rental job, and they wanted to get it out of there as soon as they could, because it was costing them a lot of money.

And then, we stayed at this apartment. It was a very nice apartment; I mean, very nice. Three or four days later: "Maharaj Ji, um -- found another house. You have to, uh, move there." To them it was like, "Oh, man this is really something. Because Maharaj Ji has to move out of here and this is, you know -- we have prepared this and that."

So finally, out of all these stayings from one house to another house, I said, "Listen, all I want to do is I want to just go in the ashram, where the ashram is, and I'll stay there." So that's where I stayed, in the ashram. And it was really beautiful, because the whole thing was: satsang, satsang, satsang, satsang. Satsang here, satsang there. Satsang there, satsang here. Knowledge, effort, and then slowly and slowly and … man, it was just like when you start the world's biggest wheel early in the morning when it has been sitting for overnight. It just takes forever and ever and ever to just get going and get going and then, of course, it starts to go faster and faster and faster and faster.

At that time, when I first came, we had a problem getting 12.9 people to sit and listen to satsang! And I remember when Mahatma Gurucharnanand Ji -- a lot of people have told me this -- when Mahatma Gurucharnanand Ji was here, he said, "Oh yeah, this would be really beautiful to hold the program in. This is where we should do it." Well, I know that in England it was like, "Man, someday we got to do a program in Albert Hall." But the problem is, if we ever do a program -- I know there's some English fellows sitting over there said, "Yay!" -- if we do a program in Albert Hall, we won't fit any premies in there. We won't be able to fit that many premies in there. The capacity is very small. I mean, before you know it, it's already gone. It's multiplied so fast. It's gone so fast.

And then of course, this is really nice to have the program here, but it's very crowded. So I know, no way next year Hans Jayanti is going to be in this hall. It's going to be too small. And that is even if this stage wasn't here. That's if all this hall was occupied 360 degrees around.

So premies, anyway, from there I went over to Los Angeles. And this is just completely something else. Same exact thing happened. I didn't know what first class is, still. Anyway, first class doesn't have any significance to it. But it's kind of cramped in the coach section.

And so I finally got on the airplane and finally got into Los Angeles. And it was a long flight; it was from London to Los Angeles, nonstop. And I got into Los Angeles. It was really something. They have all these things happening there, these press reporters and so on and so forth, walking all through … I still remember that corridor. I looked up and I looked down and it was just way out of -- because LAX is just a huge airport. And we walked down. And Gary had borrowed his father's Lincoln Continental, Mark IV style, a gold one. So we went to this house, and we were at this house and -- very nice house. It's on Sunset Boulevard, very nice, swimming pool, this and that -- and then we started staying there and a lot of things started happening in that house that weren't quite appropriate, that I didn't like very much.

So, anyway, we split from there and we went to the ashram. And it was really nice. And this house was really incredible. It had a useless front door. It had a front door, but it was never used. It was always opened. Had one bathroom in it; very small bathroom that everybody used. And it was just like such an incredible experience. It was so beautiful. The first time Joan Apter went out, and she bought me a waterbed, and it was really fun for me. it was like, I was jumping up and down on it and saying, "Wow, this is really neat!" So I found a pin somewhere. And I poked the waterbed with the pin, and the whole thing just started to get flooded and everything.

Well, anyway, I remember that just from there on, slowly and slowly and slowly and slowly and slowly and slowly, and it just became bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. To this extent. And where is this?

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Someday we're going to be sitting in a huge hall, probably. And hopefully, and by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, of our own. And talking about -- to these premies -- do you remember that festival we had in 1977 in Rome, in that hall? Look where we have come now! I mean, that's just the same thing it's going to be, because (applause) … At that time I remember, a few people -- the small living room would get filled, and it was like "a lot of people."

So anyway, this is by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace and this is the power of Knowledge. And this Knowledge just has to spread and this Knowledge just has to expand in this world, because people don't know.

And okay, it is their prerogative if they take it and they throw it away and whatever they want to do. It is their prerogative if they want it, or don't want it. Well, it's also our prerogative that we make sure that somehow they hear about it. And we want to make sure that they hear about it. If they want it, then they are most welcome to have it. If they don't want it, that's their own thing.

So I know that there are a lot of premies here that I just haven't seen for a long, long, long time. Welcome back! And the only thing I can say this time is: Don't think you're too smart and try to jump off the running boat because you think it's never going to make it. I mean, it's like that example I was giving about the boat.

Here is the situation. They think that the boat is going to drown. I mean, it's wild speculation. Nothing else except wild speculation. They think the boat is going to drown. The boat's running fine. No problems with it. You can see the captain just walking around and you're just having a nice, smooth journey. Wild speculation, wild mind, comes along and says, "This boat's drowning. This boat is sinking." And then all of a sudden you start to hear voices. Voices like, "Help!" Nobody is yelling help. Everybody is saying, "Wow!" But somehow, "Wow!" turns into "Help!" Captain is saying, "Welcome aboard. Stay on board. Relax. Let go. Surrender." Somehow all that gets changed to: "Abandon ship!" Ocean is calm, smooth, and there is nothing there. All of a sudden that changes into storm and rough weather and all that. And you say, "Oh boy, I'd better abandon ship!" never asking the question: "Okay, look, if this boat is really, really sinking, then why don't I just wait a little while? If it's sinking it's going to hit water, right? Water is going to be on deck. If the water is going to be on deck I'm going to find out. When that happens I'm going to grab myself a lifeboat and split." No. They have to bail ship when it's moving full speed ahead. Nice and calm and smooth.

And then, what is the ocean full of? Sharks. This mind. And as soon as you jump in there it just eats you up. So don't get into that mind, because Guru Maharaj Ji … And there is only one reason. See, Guru Maharaj Ji's

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purpose in this life, Guru Maharaj coming in this world is not only for just giving you Knowledge and that's it and goodbye and shake hands and say, "Okay, you will get my bill tomorrow." No. it's not that. It's nowhere close to that. Guru Maharaj Ji's purpose in this life is to make sure that you hear satsang, get interested in Knowledge, receive Knowledge, and after you have received Knowledge, to see you through to your destination. And that's the purpose of Guru Maharaj Ji. And no bills involved.

But the thing is, to see you through to the next destination, you have to trust in Guru Maharaj Ji. You have to have faith in Guru Maharaj ji. And Guru Maharaj Ji will take you there. But if you do not have trust in Guru Maharaj Ji -- this is the thing. Sometimes mind comes in and says, "Man, what if this is just the biggest hoax? I have put all my trust in there and I have put all my faith in there, and I do this and I do that. What if this is the biggest hoax?"

The thing is, is there a bigger hoax in this world than this world itself? I mean, a child is born. I have seen Premlata, and 1 have seen Hansi, and it's such a beautiful experience to see them come, and they're so pure. The last thing you think about is bills. The last thing you think about is complications. The last thing you think about is problems. No, it's just so beautiful. It all comes into this world and it's just that first breath that happens; all of a sudden a whole life just pours in. And all you can do -- you can't fight it. You just surrender to it and it just all happens, and the only thing is, by surrendering to it, you also get a little bit of experience out of it.

So premies, I have seen that happen. And then this baby grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows, and the interest grows. More the interest grows, frustration grows. More the frustration grows, more temperament there comes in. More temperament there comes in, more eagerness is developed. More eagerness is developed, more involvement is developed. And more involvement is developed, the guy's had it. He's just got no chance from the beginning. And it's so beautiful and it's so fortunate that Guru Maharaj Ji's here to be able to protect us, to be able to save us. That is why, in that movie that you saw, said Shri Maharaj Ji's the Savior, the Creator, the Lord. It's because I got saved. The same thing could have happened with me. And it was almost like destined to happen like that. But then it all got changed, because he saved me. He saved me from the craziness of this world. This whole thing was flowing towards it anyway. You go to school, you do this -- I'm not criticizing school. We have schools, the Unity Schools, ourselves. But the thing is, that where was I? What was I going to do?

And its just so beautiful: I know when I first gave my satsang, my very first satsang in English. And there were all the premies and there I was. There was no nervousness involved. There was nothing involved. It was very, very simple. I looked at the premies. Premies looked at me. I talked to the premies and premies listened to me and that was it. And since that day that's how it's always been. It's because satsang is an inner experience, and can flow out of you. And when it flows out of you in such a beautiful way, in the way of satsang, not only can you yourself bathe in it, but so many other people can bathe in it.

So premies, backstage I was giving one example. I said: There is a river. And in this river crocodile can swim, right? Elephant can bathe, right? And an ant can drink water. But who dares to say, or what are the possibilities, or what are the chances, that when the ant comes to drink water it won't get swept away? Who is to say that when elephant steps in that river the crocodile is not going to bite it? Or who is to say that when that elephant steps in, the crocodile might get squashed?

And yet, out of those six possibilities, what does the river think? I mean, what does the river think? Nothing. It has its own nature. It has to flow. it has its own thing. And it just keeps on doing it. It just keeps on flowing. It just keeps on happening. It just keeps on manifesting.

So it is all prerogative either to become ant, or to become an elephant, or to become a crocodile. But it is our own prerogative to enjoy the river as it is. And that's the importance of satsang. Because the river of satsang -- believe me, you don't have to put on your bathing suit for it. And yet in one way you do. Yes, you do. And in one way you don't. You don't have to literally go back to wherever your luggage is, and open it up and say, "Oh. goody, goody, goody. I got my bathing suit," and put it on and say, "I'm ready to go in, Maharaj Ji. Where is the river?"

And yet, in one way you have to get ready to listen to satsang, because you have to pay attention. For that moment, wherever you are sitting, whatever you are doing, you have to stop, you have to cease, you have to concentrate. And that's your bathing suit. And that's all that is needed. That is all that is required of you, is to just pay attention to Guru Maharaj Ji. And that's it. And he will take you through that river. He will take you through that Ganges. He will take you through that experience of satsang. And its just so beautiful for all the premies to have that opportunity to be able to do satsang, service and meditation. Because, man, there just doesn't exist a formula that's better than that: satsang, service and meditation.

Now maybe if you still by any remote possibility have a question on what is satsang, this is satsang! You've been enjoying it for five days now. That's satsang. What does it do? it's not merely somebody just standing up, taking a microphone, and just chitchatting on the

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microphone. But it's letting go of an experience of what that person is having. And tell me, don't you feel something from satsang? (applause) And yet I know one thing, that when people hear satsang they get blissed out. When people hear satsang they get very happy. And yet, I, myself, haven't been able to find one single word where I can say, "This is what satsang does." It's an experience. And, man, I'll tell you: it's so incredible. It's even greater -- and I can't say "greater" -- but it's even such a wonderful experience to give satsang. Because, as I was saying, when you give satsang, not only can you bathe in it yourself, but you can give the opportunity for other people to bathe in it. And it's just completely fantastic.

And then comes service. And I know a lot of people have questions about, "Well, what is service?" And I'll just take you back to the breakdown. Service is not a job. Service is not to accomplish something. That's not service. Service is not when you wash a car. Listen, if that's a service, to wash a car, then I'd rather take my cars to a car wash than have anybody else do it. That's not service. Service is not … I mean, I know there are so many premies that have been just really doing so much service, putting this really beautiful festival together. But the thing is, putting this festival together is not a service.

There are so many initiators that go around and give Knowledge and give satsang, and do that. That's not a service. Anybody can do that. But what is a service? (No, the people who clapped were, of course, mistaken. Not everybody can do that.) But what is a service? Service is the experience that they get when they give satsang. Service is the experience that they get when they give Knowledge. Why? Because Guru Maharaj Ji has given them a specific agya. Guru Maharaj Ji has given them a specific Grace.

And this is why I was saying those people were mistaken, because without Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, it's very simple to give Knowledge. It's very simple to do this or do that. But there is going to be no fruit of that action. That Knowledge that you're going to give to somebody is going to be more confusing to that being, than going to help them in one single cent worth. Because without Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, it doesn't work. I'm telling you, it doesn't work. Because it just is not supposed to work, and it just doesn't work.

And that is why Guru Maharaj Ji has specifically vested his agya in those people who he sees necessary. Believe me, its not like a little case where you say, "Okay, okay, Arthur, come on up here. Urn, lookit. I've known you for a little while. Now you are an initiator. Just get out there and go give satsang and give Knowledge." No. There is a lot of difference. This is not an easy service to do, believe me. I think they will agree with that, too. Because they have to really, really surrender. If one moment of their life they are not surrendered, they'll >bounce like a bad check. Really. They have to be constantly, constantly surrendered to Guru Maharaj Ji. Otherwise that Grace, otherwise that link, otherwise that -- I mean, it's like this: When a camera is shooting the movie, that actor has to constantly stay within that frame. If even for one second that actor goes out of the frame, he won't be on the frame. Nobody will be able to see him, even if for a split second he goes out. it's the same thing.

So premies, service is an experience that you get in doing a non-selfish action dedicated, not to mind, dedicated not to this or that, but dedicated to Guru Maharaj Ji. Dedicated to what is right. Dedicated to what's beautiful in this world. And that's service. Everybody who's sitting here must have done service some time or the other. And if you still don't understand the meaning of service, then you just don't know what the meaning of service is. Then you don't know what is service. And I know that so many people are doing service. So many people are doing service. And they're getting so blissed out by it. Well, that bliss-out comes from service.

And then there is meditation. There's not too many words for meditation. There's not too many explanations for meditation. Meditation is meditation. it is that experience that brings the joy, brings the bliss, brings that smile to your face, to you.

So premies, all I can say right now is that there's two or three things I know; that I'll be seeing you very soon. But I don't know when and I don't know where. But it's bound to happen.

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So the thing is, first of all, when premies do go back to their community, premies do go back to wherever they are from, you should really try to get it together. Now, I know I have said that a lot, a lot of times. But there is a specific purpose this time. it's because, I think, that it becomes very difficult, becomes very hard, when you have such a big, huge program happening. And therefore, my conclusion is, that we should have a lot of small programs in different communities (applause). Because, I know this program is exceptional. There's no ands, ifs and buts about it. But I know that there's a lot of people, and it just takes a lot to come here, and it just takes a lot of effort, and that energy can be very well directed towards your own communities, where then I can come and there can be just small satsangs, internationally.

And so when you go back to your communities, try, will you? Because the way things have been going, you won't have much of a chance to what you call "prepare." You'll probably just get a simple little phone call, and you'll probably get me with it.

So, one thing is that, above all things, never give your mind the slightest chance to erupt. Constantly do satsang, service and meditation. Never say, "I've done it enough," because that's a physical impossibility. It just cannot be accomplished. You can never do enough satsang. You can never do enough service. And you cannot do enough meditation. Its just always too little. So just try as hard as you can. The thing is: If you try, Grace will come and multiply. Grace is like the incredible thing, everybody's dream; where you give five bucks and it gives you a percentage every hour of a million bucks. I mean, that's it; that's the way that bank works.

And every minute, every second that you try, really try from within your heart, that Grace just lifts it and just puts it right where it belongs. It's boosted way up. But you have to really be trying from your heart. So premies, never give that a slack.

What can I say? It's just so beautiful. And you know, it's just like, Bill Patterson has been talking about this "goodbye night." I don't know where he got that word from, "goodbye night." And anyway it's got nothing to do with goodbyes. The thing is that we shouldn't say "bye-bye" to ourselves. We should say, "Hello. Welcome. How are you today?" Because that's the way things happen these days.

Anyway, I know that there are going to be more and more initiators that are going to be made. There's a whole bunch of lists, and those people are coming up for next program, and then there are just so many things. Everything's happening by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Everything is happening that's good. Not bad things. Everything that's happening is just really beautiful, and it's just really fantastic. Maybe there's our own ups and downs involved. But when we go down, that doesn't mean that the Grace goes down. No, the Grace always stays the same.

So premies, I think I'll just go and get changed. And I would just like to say a couple of things. That I love you very much, and thank you very, very much for coming to this program. And, so far you can afford it, my blessings are with you. And what that means is not money-wise, afford it. So far as you keep trying from your heart, the Grace and my blessings are with you.

So don't lose it. Don't think you're too smart. Because the point is, you just aren't. So don't think you are. So premies, keep trying. Let it happen. Let it manifest. And the aspirants who have been waiting for Knowledge for a long time, I am pretty sure that if you just let go a little bit, you'll have it pretty soon, too.

And the premies who are very, very anxiously waiting, and the communities, and the countries that are very, very anxiously waiting to go back and do full-fledged prachar, well get ready, because the time is coming very close. And -- what can I say? I guess I will just keep on going like this all night long!

But by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, we will see each other very soon. So my blessings to the premies. Thank you, and I love you very much.

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So premies, I hope that I will see you again very soon. And so, my blessings to you all, and I think we will just leave it at: "Welcome for the next festival." Thank you. I love you I love you.

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