Understand The Importance
Guru Maharaj Ji's Satsang in Riva del Garda, Italy, May 18, 1976
Dear premies, we have all come here to this resort, to this beautiful place, not for a reason to actually have a vacation, but to sort of give ourselves, physically, mentally, and spiritually, a vacation. You see, in this world there's a lot of craziness. There's a lot of things that are going on, things that have made the man today extremely confused, things that have brought the whole race, the whole human race, to a point where everybody can see destruction, everybody can see a point where there is no return.
And it's sort of like in a position where you're caught in a mob and the whole crowd is moving, and though you want to get out of that position, though you want to get away from it, there's so many people going towards one direction that it becomes very hard for you. You have to fight constantly, constantly, constantly, constantly to be able to get out of that crowd. And the thing is that you have to be very careful, because if you fall down nobody's going to pick you up; you're just going to be stomped over.
And this is where this whole humanity, this whole human race has come. And we can all see that and we are all afraid of it. But it's like, what do we do? We know this: We know that today everybody has become so selfish that nobody really cares for one another. Their idea of brotherhood has become a very beautiful, a very artistic, a very phenomenal name. The whole idea which should have been all through the human race, all through the construction of the things that man has been through, has sort of dissipated. And therefore there's a lot of organizations, there's a lot of people trying to make that hack again, sort of get the idea of brotherhood, sort of get the idea of love, sort of get the idea of understanding, sort of get the idea of like "maybe, maybe not," back into people. And I mean, they're trying hard and they've been trying hard for a long time, and to some extent they have some success, to some extent they don't.
Because the answer to that whole problem that is in this whole world today is Knowledge.
It's like a child: say Premlata, for instance. Sometimes she wants to just walk off the stairs all by herself, because she wants to do things. She wants to maybe go to a place that'll be extremely dangerous for her, for instance a balcony which she can go through, the railing that will not prevent her from falling. Now at that point I or Marolyn or somebody picks her up and says, "No."
Now at that moment -- and this has happened in our lives -- we have been protected from actually dying, because we could have died. But where is the credit for it and who gets the credit for it? It's like it's all sort of gone.
And today it we supposedly were walking into a street where there were a lot of criminals, maybe we could have been shot. And somebody says, "Listen, you shouldn't go through this street. This is a dangerous street."
We say, "Oh, okay." and we take a different one. Now we have been again saved from being shot, from being killed. But do we really think of it that way? Do we really credit that person that way? Do we really surrender ourselves completely to that person, because he has saved our lives? Do we actually get down on our knees and pray to him and say, "Yes, you have saved my life: I'm very thankful to you"? We don't. To us it's just a normal thing. And it's like that just keeps on going.
And then, in fact, if somebody is pointing a gun at us, right on our heads, right like this, and the Superman comes and kicks the person away and then we are saved, then in fact we are going to get down, hopefully, on our knees and say, ''You saved my life."
Now what made me decide? Because those three situations would have led me, led me to exactly one
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position: that would have been death. When I was just a little bitty child, when I was going to go through a wrong kind of street, or in fact when somebody was pointing a gun at me, and I was saved those three times, what happened at the last time, where actually I bent down on my knees and I was going to really credit that person for saving my life? What made me think that?
And that was because I could see my death very, very close to me. I could, in fact. There was no point in supposing it. There was no point in saying, "All, maybe or maybe not." It was right then and there. It was like one more moment and I could have been dead.
And today its that, in fact, Knowledge exists is the same example. And that today we have been given this Knowledge is exactly the same example. Because there are people; they receive Knowledge and maybe they were saved from one thing that could have completely messed up their lives. Now they're not meditating on it. To them its something else, something else. something else, and it's like in their lives the real importance of Knowledge has completely disappeared, and therefore they're not even doing meditation anymore. The reason for that was they couldn't see themselves. They couldn't see the situation around them to really see that, "Yes, in fact I have been saved."
And the same way, what really will make us understand the importance of Knowledge and what really does make us understand the importance of Knowledge is when we see that there is no way out. That when we see that there are no buts, ifs, and ands, then there's one thing -- that, "Yes, I need Peace. I need that protection. I need that Knowledge." And when we realize that in our lives -- and it's like, how do we really realize that? First of all we have to be coming from a place where we can really say that.
It's like again the example goes. To Premlata, the fact that somebody saved her from just falling, to her, it's like, "What's the matter with you? How come you're so crazy?" Like, "Let me walk! Let me! Let me go!" And some people are that ignorant; some people are that innocent. To them it really does not matter because they cannot see the situation in front of them. To them, Peace, consciousness, Truth, and real salvation of life are just words, just like the word "dinosaur." Well, it used to exist sometime. But now if somebody said, "There's dinosaur outside," we wouldn't go screaming out of this hall. But if it were to be millions and millions of years ago, and in fact somebody said a dinosaur is coming our way, we would all completely be out of this hall in about five minutes.
Now what is the difference? Dinosaur did exist. What is the difference? Why are we going to run out of this hall in five minutes at that time, and right now what we will do is just laugh about it, as some people just did? Because we foresee that there is no possibility. It's become too obsolete for us to even imagine that a dinosaur will be coming here.
What does that show? If we stop really understanding the importance of Knowledge in our life, if we really stop seeing what this Knowledge can do, if we really stop saying, "Listen, I have got Knowledge; I can do meditation and that's about it" -- if we get to that point, then believe me, we will be at a point completely stuck for ages after ages after ages and we will just completely go round in a circle. Because we are not understanding the importance, which is necessary. As I just gave you an example: If we understand the importance, if we in fact realize that, yes, somebody could have shot us right then and there, and somebody saved us, then it's down on my hands and knees.
And it's the same degree, because its like I was saved, I was saved, and I was saved. But at one point I could really foresee.
And so today I'm -- what is the reason? Why am I going around giving this tour? Why am I just not making a public tour? Why am I going around from country to country? You know, this is a 13-hour flight, and that's a lot of flying in Europe itself. And going from one place to another to another place and holding small programs of 100 people, 600 people, 1,000 people -- why am I doing this? Because I see that premies need to understand something, that in fact premies are lacking something, that in the whole process of their growth something is missing.
And that is First, we all personally, individually -- its not Divine Light Mission, Italy. It's not Divine Light Mission, Athens. It's not Divine Light Mission, United States of America. Its not Divine Light Mission, U.K. No. This is all of us individually as human beings. Just right down to the flat earth level, as little things that have two legs and walk around, we have to understand Knowledge individually. Because if we do not understand Knowledge individually. its like this: United States is a very rich country; United States has gone to moon; United States is progressing: but believe me, there are streets in United States of America where people have not gone to moon, and are not progressing and are not rich. Because it all boils down to just simple things. Because food is simple, it just individually concerns us. And it's the same way with Knowledge. Knowledge is individually concerned to us.
And so just as human beings, we see in this world that yes, "Wow, I am caught in a crowd." That yes, "In fact, I do not experience happiness." And it is like, nobody has to come up to our ears and say, "Mr. Joe Blow, you're not experiencing happiness." No, it's not that kind of situation. It's that we have to evaluate our own life. We have to experience ourselves. We have to see
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-- am I or am I not, you know? It's like do I really need food or don't I?
It's like the example I have been giving in Spain and in Portugal. You go to a department store, and in the department store there's a clothing store, there's house utility equipment, there's just about any kind of thing you can imagine. And it just is really something. If I tell you about this, then you're not really going to understand, and if you will understand, then you'll sort of think it's a very funny situation. If I go to a department store and I say, "Clothes! Oh, clothes!" And I go over to the counter and I say, "Yes, pack up the whole, all the clothes you have." Then I go to the kitchen utility section and I say, "Oh, kitchen utility! Oh, pack up everything you have." And then I go to different section: "Oh! pack up everything you have." And I go from store to store to store in those big department stores: "Pack up everything you have." And then I say, "Gee, I need a place to put all this stuff. Is this department store for sale?" And I buy the whole department store.
Now where does it really come to? I mean it's like, first of all, that is impossible for us to do, though we can go and say, "Yes, pack me the whole thing." (You know, buy -- ah, steal -- a nice suit, steal somebody's car and drive up there and print fake cards and go up and say, "Listen, I'm the president of the United States of America; why don't you pack up everything you have." I mean, it's just not going to make sense. But what do we do? I mean, wouldn't it be just nice to pack up the whole department store, and then anytime you want anything you can just go to it, and just pick out whatever you want? And then stay in that department store? I mean you'll have plenty of everything for days and years to come -- might even be generations.
But you don't do that. What you do is you say, "Okay, I need bread. I need a strainer. I need bed sheets. I need a pillow." All right. I make a list, or I keep those things in mind. I go to a department store, go to different sections, buy whatever I want, have them packed and bring them home. So it's like we just can't take the whole thing. We have to realize the need for it. We have to say, "Yes, in fact I want a strainer, not the department store. I want the strainer because I see need for it.- Because what will really happen in that department store is that yes, 1 will end up buying the whole department store, that yes, I'll end up buying all the things, and they're just going to rot there, there's going to be cockroaches all over the place, there's going to be white ants all over the place. And by the time I come in about 15, 16 years, there'll be nothing left. There'll be just dust.
And so it's much better for me -- I mean, can you imagine if all the rich people in the world bought up everything and there was nothing left fur anybody? It's just like everybody sees a utility for something and then you go out and buy it. And one day, when the utility comes, you say, "Yes, I need this.- Then you go do it. So what happened in the whole process is that you had to first look around and find out what exactly you need. Okay?
If I'm a man and all I can do pretty much is just support myself, support my family and support my house and that's my limits, I can go ahead and make a utility list that I want 78 cars, it will be nice to have the New York Empire State Building, it'll be nice to have three or four choppers, it'll be nice to have 17 or 18 boats, it'll be nice to have this and that. Well, sure it'll be nice to have an Apollo to be able to go to the moon, and anytime you want to just take a stroll out of the Earth, just hop in an Apollo and go over there and, well, you'll be quite different; in a quite different atmosphere and you'll be breathing quite different air. But it's like, besides that, we have to really see, really, really see in our lives: This is what I need. This is what I want. And can I back that up? Can I financially back that up? And then I would proceed to obtain that thing.
Now Knowledge is exactly the same way. Because it is a realization that we have to come to. So first of all, we have to come to a point of saying to ourselves: Do we want Knowledge? We have to ask that question to ourself, not to somebody else. Of course if somebody
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asks me that question, I'll say, "Sure, you need Knowledge." And this is what I've been saying, "Yes, everybody needs Knowledge, because without Knowledge we are really not experiencing the true happiness." But an individual has to ask himself that question too, and an individual has to ask himself: "What is the necessity of an individual asking himself 'why should I receive Knowledge?' " And there's a simple answer to that. It's because if we understand the importance of Knowledge, then we are really going to meditate on it, then we are really going to put our heart to it, then we are really going to do it. It's like this: There are two couples and one couple has a child. The father isn't into it and the mother isn't into it. So what they end up with is a child who just about has no fate. And they say, "Put him into the boarding school." The other one, the other couple, they want a child. They're into it. So when the child comes, they'll cake care of him.
And it's the same way, that first, if we understand the necessity of Knowledge in our lives, individually -- as I was saying, flat as a being, something that has two legs and walks around -- that "Yes, I need to experience Peace;" that "Yes, I am caught in a predicament that I cannot get out of;" that "Yes, in fact I need to be saved …
And I'm pretty sure that all of you came to Knowledge in that predicament. You realized this in your life. The way I've explained it wasn't exactly the way you did it, but that is pretty much basic. It's like, "Yes, I need Knowledge. I need Knowledge because I want to receive Peace." Now the thing about that is that if you were joking at that time -- just joking, just eager -- if you were completely nosey to find out why so many people walk into a hall at one time and come out of there -- and so, somebody said, "Do you want to receive Knowledge?" You say, "Sure, I want to receive Knowledge. Why not? Is it free?" "Sure it's free." "That's a pretty good thing. I get something free, can't hurt me. If it does I'll just dump it out of the window." If we were that way, then we made the greatest mistake. We really did. We didn't joke around. That was the kind of joke where somebody said, "I bet you ten dollars you can't jump off the plane," and you said, "Sure I can!" And you just opened up the door and jumped out of the plane. And you would make that a joke; it would be a dumb thing to do.
But this would be a very dumb thing to do, too: to realize Knowledge and see no practical aspect of it. Then you said the joke you shouldn't have said. That was a wrong kind of joke and nobody's going to laugh about it. And I'm not laughing about it. I am going from place to place to place to be able to cover all the premies, to explain to them: -Listen, this is no joke. Nobody is going to laugh at this joke. This is a practical thing you just said, you just did, so realize it in your life."
Really premies, if you look at it, we are very fortunate to be able to have Knowledge in this time, when anything, I mean everything's just about going wrong. It's like the world has reached the point where you put a coin in the slot machine and instead of the money coming out, three lemons come out and you see the money rolling in the rollers. I mean it has happened like that. Its like, man tries to do one thing and something bozo happens. It's like, look at all the situation of the world. It isn't getting any better. It really isn't. And I mean we can see that from Newsweek, Time, all the newspapers that are printed, that it's just really not getting better. It's just going sort of, going, going, going, going, going, going, going. Nobody really knows where it's going to end up. And I mean there are people who predict. Well, to a certain extent they're right, then to a certain extent they're wrong. And it's like, what is really going to happen? And instead of sitting down and calculating: "If I jump from a cliff that is 3,000 feet high, by the time I land on the ground it's going to be approximately two minutes, so it's going to be about G2 that I'm going to crash under and then my leg is going to fall apart five miles away, my head is going to be in 75 pieces, and there's going to be blood for one mile" -- instead of calculating this, don't do it. Just don't do it. Don't get into a predicament like that.
And it's like, we just can't do that with life. As Marolyn said, life is no joke. We can't joke around with life; life is just really no joke. Life is a fact. Life is something that were living into, and at this time, by Grace, we have been -- see, I won't say "luck," because this is no luck. This is Grace. This is pure straight Grace that we have been able to realize this Knowledge.
Now I'll give you one example. When premies are not coming from a clear point, when premies are not understanding what is happening, when premies are not seeing the importance of Knowledge in their life, but seeing the importance of everything else, then what happens? Well, I'll give you an example. The first place I was scheduled to go to on this tour was Athens, Greece. And we were all set to go to Greece and then it was like, they're not together. It's just like people are talking about all kind of different things, people are not realizing that actually there is a program happening: "Guru Maharaj Ji is coming, let's get together and do this program." But it's like, "No, I want this before the program can happen." "Well, let's do this before the program can happen." "Let's do this before the program can happen." And listen, I'm not going to come to a bozo place like that. Why not? Because I said so. I said I'm only going to go to the places where people are together, where people really understand the importance of Knowledge. And this is what's going to happen. I'm going to stick by my word. I'm just not going to go to a country and waste my time there because premies are not together. My first saying is: "Realize Knowledge in your life first. Then comes
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everything later." If you have realized Knowledge in your life, if you have had that practical experience in your life and if you are with it, and if you are one with it, then the next things will happen. And when the right time for that'll come, everything will go beautifully.
But when the person says, "I want to go into Apollo, I wanna go into an Apollo," its like, okay, maybe you will be able to go into an Apollo. But get that money first. Buy one. Then you can find a pilot to go there. Like get it together here, first. How can he just do this?
So its like, first of all we all have to realize the importance of Knowledge in our life, and if we do not understand that, then we are ocean without water, then we are this Earth without jungle, then we are the sky without sun, then we are the night without stars or moons, then we are the bulb that can never glow in our life. Then we are the camera without film, and that's just, its just: What does it mean? Then we are food without salt, and what does it mean? Then we are the drums without any skin on them. Then we are the guitars without any strings, just blah. All somebody can do to us is go dum, dum, dum, dum on the back of the guitar; all somebody can do is take a drum and use it for target practice. We have to really, really realize that importance.
And if we don't, what we are trying to manifest in our life is not going to manifest for us. Because as I said before, this is no joke. And if you think this is a joke, then you're making a mistake and all the premies -- this goes for everybody -- this is no joke. First realize the importance of Knowledge in your life.
There are three things I have said. I am the doctor. You come to me. You say, "Guru Maharaj Ji, help me." Okay, so I say, "Okay, there is Knowledge. Do satsang, service and meditation." Then you turn around and say, "Doctor, listen, I want you to cure me but I don't want you to give me any medicine, any instruction, or anything. I just come in front of you and just cure me." No. Life isn't like that. Its like, there was a thing brought up. We were talking about this thing, that initiators were going around saying, "Would we be ready to give our heads off if Maharaj Ji wanted?" Well, I'm never going to ask anybody to give their heads off, cut their heads off for me. But it's like, when we were talking, the point came that actually cutting your head off will be much easier, jumping off a cliff will be much easier, than actually what I ask premies to do. That's why I'm saying it's no joke. To cut your throat, all you need is nice, long sword and it's done. And it's not going to hurt later. It's just done and over with, and finito. And then, if you're going to jump off a cliff, all it will take is that one moment, one second, and all you have to do
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is say, "Bye," and just make a little effort and you'll be down the cliff, and then that's that. That'll be easy to do.
But to be able to constantly do satsang, service and meditation in our life and benefit from it -- not do it for namesake -- do it for the practical aspect of it, do it for that original point that we realized it for, that we wanted Peace, we wanted Knowledge, we wanted to get out of that predicament, do it for that purpose -- and if we can, then we will really realize the beauty of satsang, service and meditation.
Because where does meditation fit into our life? It's like eating food. There's Knowledge. But you have to practice, you have to use it. And when you do meditation, you're using it. And it's like for our benefit. And premies who have done meditation know it is just not -- its like, if the guitarist has a beautiful, beautiful guitar in his hand, but takes the guitar and turns it and puts it on his back, what's he going to do with it? How's he going to play it? If the drummer sets his drums over here and sits down over there, how is he going to play them? If I invite all the premies in this hall, set up a program in this hall, and sit in Japan, what good is it?
And so in the same way, we have to realize that meditation is what plugs us in. It is the way.
And then it's like, what does satsang do to us? Well, satsang puts us back in the place we need. We always need that extra dose of satsang, and to give satsang and to get satsang. And satsang is an experience of what you have experienced. Like I was saying in one of the places, if I did not have any experience, then what am
I going to say? I'm going to come on this stage, everybody's going to get up and clap and then I'm going to say, "Gee, ah, premies, ah, nice of you to come here. Nice to see you. Ah, what else can I say?" and walk off. But there is experience behind it and I can talk to you about that experience. I bare experienced something and therefore I can tell you about that experience, and this is what I talk about. It's just like that communication of that experience of that experience, constant experience, because it is the very beautiful experience. It is. But if we don't have that experience, then neither we'll be able to understand satsang, nor will we be able to give satsang to anybody. And yes, I understand that there are a lot of great fakes who can get up on a stage and try to animate, to give satsang, but they really don't hit it off right. Because it's just, there's something. Something is always missing. Something that should be there, that true experience, is missing. Because you cannot animate Truth. And that remains the difference.
And so premies. there's satsang, service and meditation. Now, where do I fit into all this? Okay. I am there for assistance. Where am I going to assist you? Where do I really come in? I can assist you only so much. Yes, you can realize Knowledge. Okay? And yes, I can give you satsang. But its your practical effort for all practical reasons; it is your effort that you have to put into meditation, into service. And I'll help you along. And that is what my reason is. To be a person to help along. If you make a mistake, it's for me to tell you. But again, it is all your effort.
But how will I be able to help you unless you listen to me when I say you're doing this thing wrong? If you listen to me, then only then will I be able to help you. But if you don't listen to me, then how can I really help you? Then I'm limited in my field and you're limited in your field, and there's no communication. And you have to listen to me, you have to understand.
And that is all going to happen -- the importance of Guru Maharaj Ji, importance of satsang, importance of Knowledge -- importance of everything is going to come when we put our effort into understanding what Knowledge is. Because everything evolves around Knowledge. No Knowledge, no meditation, that's for sure. No meditation, no satsang. No Knowledge, no meditation: no satsang. No satsang, no meditation, no Knowledge: no service. No service, no satsang, no meditation, no Knowledge: no experience. No
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experience, no satsang, no meditation, no Knowledge, no service: nothing -- zilch!
So everything is evolved around Knowledge, and this is why I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Well, it wasn't exactly top of the lungs, but this is what I was screaming for: Understand the importance of Knowledge. Without that, if you are trying to do service, you're not going to get anywhere. Because where does service come from? How do we really do service? Okay. Well, first of all we have to surrender ourselves to be servant, because unless we are servant, how can we do service? And this sounds off-the-wall -- servant and surrender and all that -- but this is not a surrender, this is not a surrender to some army. This is not a service to some person. This is, in fact, surrender to Lord that we should have done, and that we all already have done. But its like realizing us and really surrendering it from that, that point of view, and really surrendering, so that we can become servants, so that well be able to do service.
Why should we be able to do service? Because without service, it's almost like missing a wheel. And if we are missing the wheel, then it's like the car is not going to putt-putt along very nice. The car is not going to go anywhere. And if we don't do service, then there's meditation and satsang left, and that's only limited. But service has to be there, and this is why I say, -Service has to be there, service has to be there, service has to be there." Because if we don't surrender, then really satsang's not going to work for us. If we don't surrender, meditation is really not going to work for us. We are going to be sitting there saying, "Joe Blow, Joe Blow, Joe Blow, Joe Blow. I'm so and so and I'm so and so and I'm so and so.- Our ego will be constantly inside of us.
But there is an experience, and there is a way, that really we can surrender. And this is surrender to just not anybody, but this is surrender to Lord. This is surrender to somebody that we are supposed to surrender to. That is why it's all so beautiful. That is why its all so gracious. That is why I'm saying there's Grace there.
This is no luck. This is Grace. Because in this life, when everything is sort of going wrong, we have these opportunities, we have this luck. We have this golden chance. And it's for us to use. Knowledge, that field, that experience of Truth and Peace, is an open experience to everybody. But then what's stopping it? And when we really look at it, we'll find out that we are the people who are stopping it. Because remember, Knowledge is not going to come walking to your door and say, "Knock, knock." And you say, "Who is there?" Knowledge says, "Knowledge." "Knowledge who?" "Knowledge." We have to go to Knowledge. Knowledge is not going to come knocking at our door. And it's our effort that we have to make.
So premies, where does this all end? What I'm trying to say is that there is something very, very beautiful. And in the course of growth and in the course of so much happening, and in the course of not really understanding, in the course of actually getting lost, which is also part of growth -- and a lot of people do. Because when they don't take Knowledge seriously, then this is what we start becoming, this is what starts happening. Because Knowledge is not taken serious, then we automatically start getting lost. Then we see, "Oh, wait a minute. We really need Knowledge. We really need Knowledge." Then we start crying for Knowledge. It's like if a person is not thirsty, and you bring him water, he'll take one sip of it to oblige you and then he won't even drink it. But if that same glass of water was provided for the ,guy who was dying of thirst in the desert, he will not just take one sip of water to oblige you. He will drink the whole glass of water and thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you, from his heart.
And so what is the point in actually getting lost to again say to ourselves, "Now, wait a minute; I really did need Knowledge"? And then, where will we end up? Starting from scratch again. Then we'll have to go through the whole procedure to get back into Knowledge, to get back into that beautiful experience that we can just plug into now. Because we already have come so many ways. We already have come so far, and it's much easier for us to plug in now than to actually try to get lost, to be able to do something, to be able to say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see now. Yeah, I did, I did need Knowledge. Yes, I do need that experience." That'll be just too late. And also, when we have this life, when we have this time, we just can't keep throwing it around.
So premies, we're going to have Arti after satsang, and then we're going to have darshan. And of course, this is only one-day program. Just keep on going from here. And then there's like probably so many years to come. This is what be doing: giving premies satsang, making -- trying to make -- premies understand that Knowledge is important, that without Knowledge we are really the ocean without any water, and therefore we're not even worthy to be called ocean.
And I'll just move on along. And you'll be left to try to actually become independent, to actually be by yourself so that you can understand Knowledge. And a lot of premies think, "Oh, what can we do to really please Guru Maharaj Ji? Oh, what can we do to really really please Guru Maharaj Ji? What can we really do?" And it's like, there's a cook. There's chef. And he puts all his effort into making food for you. And you turn around to him and you say nothing. He can see how much you ate, and say, "Yeah, the guy liked the food.- And then, if you actually go up to the chef and say, "That was very good," and show it by actually having the dinner, then the chef will be very, very pleased. I don't
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want you to verbally come up to me, definitely not, and say, "Maharaj Ji, you're doing a great job.l'll But if you get your life together, if you actually understand the experience of Knowledge, then I will know that what I'm doing is very successful. That yes, you are understanding.
But if you don't, then it's like you don't have to come and say, "Maharaj Ji, you're doing a great job.- No, then that's sort of irrelevant to me. I want to see the result. What if you go to the chef, take the food, throw it to cats and dogs and everybody else, and go to the chef and say, "Hey man, your food was just completely beautiful"? And he'll say, "Yeah, sure, you just let the dogs finish it. It was beautiful for dogs, not for you, huh?"
And it's like, this is the time, this is the chance. Can you imagine how some person has put so much of his effort -- you know how much energy one person has put into making this whole world and keeping it up in the right shape? So you still, in the whole craziness of the world -- it's like man has changed his weapon from a wooden club to an automatic machine gun to laser. But you still get the same sweet apple from that tree that you got way before. Somebody has put so much of his effort into observing, into keeping everything together for you. For you who are constantly changing, and who want to change, somebody has sat there and preserved that apple tree to give you that sweetness of apple every time it bears a fruit. Somebody has sat there, preserved so many, so many, so many, so many things for you. And it's like really He is doing a wonderful job. And what arc we doing? We're abusing, we're literally abusing, what He is doing, what He is putting up for us, by not in real life taking those and just using this time with them in the beautiful way, in the right kind of manner.
We are probably -- human race is probably the only thing which completely throws itself out of balance. It's so beautiful. In the ocean there are all these fish and one fish eats the other fish and one fish eats the other fish. The smaller fish get eaten by the bigger fish, and then it comes all the way from small-big, small-big, small-big, small-big, small-big, to the two extremes: a shark and a dolphin, a porpoise. Well, the porpoise is intelligent. They're intelligent. They can take care of things. They're smart. They're loving. And to the other extreme -- well, I don't know; I mean there's a lot of controversy about it -- but it seems like the other extreme is shark. But it's like you come from the bottom all the way up to extremes of things and you know what happens? There's a beautiful, beautiful compromise. Shark keeps its way out of dolphin's way and the porpoise, the dolphins, keep their way out from either of them. There's a beautiful compromise in between. Its like shark knows that the dolphin can kill him and the dolphin knows that the shark can kill him. And they're like the two extremes, and they know. You can put a dolphin and shark in the same tank. They won't come close. They'll just circle around. Both will keep attentive, but there's a compromise. It's not like, boom, one will go after another. No, it's just a beautiful, beautiful compromise.
And we are, in fact, very intelligent in the whole race. We are, in fact, very, very advanced. But what is our compromise to nature, to the extreme of the nature, when we are one extreme of the nature? But what is our compromise? Its completely crazy compromise that we have made. And today, there's one thing that can really do it, and that is Knowledge, of us experiencing that Truth, of actually becoming one with that most beautiful harmony, is the only thing that can bring that compromise back together.
So now I'll finish, and it's up to you to realize. And I hope you realize it, because it is for your own benefit.
And it's like little wars. It's happening everywhere. It's not just Greece or one place. Premies are going off the track in so many places. It's like saying, "Well, America's doing this and this country's this, so why aren't we doing this?" No, no, no. This is not our business. Our business is to realize the importance of Knowledge, and this is why we are here. And if we take our main motive and throw that down the drain, then we are very, very smart, I guess -- who take their main purpose, who take their main motive, and forget that and start saying, "Oh gee, urn, why don't we do this? And why don't we do that? And why don't we do this and why don't we do that?"
I mean, there's a lot of things I could name. But I hope that I don't have to, because I hope you have understood what I am trying to say. I hope -- well again, all I can do is just about hope -- I hope that you have, for your sake, for everybody else's sake, understood that we all are premies. We all are brothers. And we all are brothers and sisters, here for one motive, for one reason, for one purpose, and for realizing this Knowledge. And if we miss that motive, then it's not only that we are the dirty fish in the lake making the whole lake dirty, but we are also making our complete surrounding like that. It's like there's too many people involved in us not realizing the importance of Knowledge, in us not realizing the importance of service, in us not realizing what satsang is. There's really too many people involved.
If you want me to name it, it's you who's involved first of all, all the premies -- brothers and sisters -- are involved, and I'm involved. And when you don't do something right, it's just not a reflection, it's not a prestigious thing. No, no. It's just brothers and sisters around you who don't feel comfortable. When they don't feel comfortable, then who else is there who's not going to feel comfortable? And that's me!
And so, really we can make it beautiful. And our main objective anyway is to understand that Knowledge. And if we can understand that and come from a really clear
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But there is an experience, and there is a way, that really we can surrender. And this is surrender to just not anybody, but this is surrender to Lord."
place, come from a really beautiful place, come from the place where we should be, then our directions will be clear. Then we will know what to do. Then when we'll be given an agya, when we'll be given a service, then we will really know how to do it well.
So we have to come from a clear place ourselves. And to be able to come from a clear place ourself, we have to do meditation. We have to understand Knowledge. Because everything is around Knowledge. Divine Light Mission was founded by Shri Maharaj Ji so many years ago, because he wanted to spread this Knowledge. And today, if we are not coming from a clear place, then what is going to happen? Then this world is not going to realize Knowledge. Because if we are coming from wrong place, if we are coming from a completely wrong place, not from a clear place, then it's going to delay more and more and more and more. And that's why I said that there are too many people involved in it. As a matter of fact, that many people around the world are involved. Because if all the premies come from a clear point, then you can really become the instrument to help spread this Knowledge all around the world.
It's like a dirty lens is not going to take very good pictures. And so we have to all become clear. We all have to realize. And we all have to really look in our heart and understand that Knowledge and do meditation and get clear, so that we can be in Peace, and henceforth bring the whole world into Peace.
Thank you very much.
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