Beyond Heaven and Hell

Prem Rawat (Guru Maharaj Ji) / Hans Jayanti Festival / Kissimmee, Florida / November 11, 1978, afternoon program

So dear premies, I've already worn all the suits I have. This is the only thing I hadn't worn for a long time (Indian kurta and dhoti).

And today, I couldn't believe it. Last night after the satsang was finished, after the movie, we all went back. I just couldn't believe it that today (that was "tomorrow") was going to be the last day of the festival. And even today … what happened? Where did the whole week go? We've been here and it's been incredible: a lot of satsang. And yet, I've never seen so much smooth sailing. And this is all only possible by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

Yesterday when Hansi woke up, I said, "Hansi, are you in heaven?" He was all blissed out. And he said, "No! I'm in satsang!"

It was so incredible for me. It's like, "Wow, man. Who wants to be in heaven right now?" Things can happen up there. It's okay. Who cares? Because this is where heaven is. Heaven is in satsang, service, and meditation. Heaven is in Guru Maharaj Ji. And when we let ourselves go to Guru Maharaj Ji, then heaven emerges for us.

Because to me, even heaven is a concept. Because in heaven everything is supposed to be luxurious. You're not supposed to catch a cold in heaven. You don't have to do this. You don't have to do that. Once you are there, you're always there. You never die after that. You're in heaven. It's incredible. And hell is absolutely the opposite of that, where you have to always be burning. And here you are in heaven. It's not hot; it's not cold. It's perfect. Thermostat is set at the perfect temperature. And you just relax. You can have whatever you want.

Because all we want to do all our lives is to have what we want. "Wouldn't it be nice to have this? Wouldn't it be nice to have that?" And wouldn't it be nice to have all those things, maybe.

But what about satsang, service, and meditation? That's the best. That's the tops. That's the maximum. Guru Maharaj Ji's darshan, Guru Maharaj Ji's inspiration, Guru Maharaj Ji's Love: that's it! What is above that? And we keep on seeking that happiness that really …

I've been here. And the first day I came it was really beautiful. We arrived. A couple of helicopters landed by the residence and we all went in. And the residence was pretty incredible. Premies had really fixed it up. It was really beautiful. It doesn't even look like three trailers put together. And then I came out here. The stage wasn't finished. It was not anywhere near finished. And the premies were working and it was just an incredible vibration. It was such an incredible thing that was happening.

I took the golf carts and I came out there. They had this tent there and that tent there and all this was going on. There was lumber here and everything was scattered all over the place. And I drove and I parked the car and all the premies who were working on the stage were singing Arti. And they were facing the stage. I guess there was an altar there or something. And slowly they turned around and sang Arti toward me.

And it was at that time when I first came that it was like, "Yes. Yes. It's going to happen. Yes, that dream is really going to happen. Yes, satsang, service, and meditation is going to manifest in a very strong, very powerful way, in just one place." And maybe problems happen: "What about this? Or what about this?" And it was like, "No! It's just going to happen. It's just going to take place, that's all."

And then the next day I went around and premies were constantly arriving. The statistics of how many premies would be here would go up and down and up and down. I said, "Look! There are going to be a lot of premies here." And that's what there are. There's a lot of premies here.

And to me, yes, there are problems. There is this problem; there is that problem. The announcer gets up and talks about those -- his incredible satsang: "This is a disaster. And that's a disaster." And an initiator came up to me and that's what he started telling me. He said, "Well, this is a disaster, and that's a disaster."

And I said, "Look. There is going to be the seventh day. The program is going to happen from now till then. Premies are going to come. Satsang is going to happen. Darshan is going to happen. Love is

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Guru Maharaj Ji and Perfect Master

going to manifest." And I said, "Either you can be completely into your head about everything and it'll still happen, or you can let go and enjoy the festival and it'll still happen."

To me, there is no disaster. This is not a disaster. The world is a disaster. Has been, always will be.

Us? We have Knowledge. And we can survive the worst disaster. But it really depends where we are at. It really depends where our head is screwed into. I know that if I really want to look at this festival as chaos, I can. I can. People have been stung by bees or bitten by this or bitten by that. It has been cold at nighttime. And this has happened.

I know. For the first three or four days the heater wasn't working in the trailer and it would get freezing cold. The only thing that would kick on at nighttime was the air conditioner. It was cold. And I know it has rained. And I know this has happened and that's happened.

If you really want to talk about it: sure! I know that we can talk about it for 24 hours nonstop. But what about the fact that here we are and look what's happening! Yes, of course, mind would want us to kick that idea out. "So what?" And I haven't felt like that. I know that a lot of negative things have come up. "Maharaj Ji, this is happening. And, Maharaj Ji, that's been happening." And to me, I don't see those things happening. I see one thing happening. And to me, that's the most important thing.

When we compare ourselves to this world, yes, of course it's going to be a disaster. Because the world itself is a disaster. What is the happiness? And when we leave that world, when we let go of that concept or that "world" out there, everything is beautiful. Everything is incredible. Not to a person who does not have Knowledge. To him, it'll still be a disaster. To him, it'll still be nighttime.

But to us, Guru Maharaj Ji has shown us where the sun rises from. Guru Maharaj Ji has shown us where the sun comes up from. And now we know, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, where to look, and we will see our light. We will see our sun.

And it reminds me of this one story where this is exactly what happens with the people of this world. And the story goes that once upon a time there were these owls. And they used to live in this tree. And the owls had baby owls. The whole community of owls used to live in the area.

One day a swan came to the community of the owls to rest and started talking to the baby owls, and said, "Have you ever seen the sun?" And they said, "Sun? What is sun?" (Of course this is the story. It's by all means from India, where they say owls can't do this and owls can't do that. They can see perfectly okay in the daytime. It's not that -- it's just that they're nocturnal. They go to sleep during the daytime and they're up all night long. But I've seen owls hunt at daytime. Perfectly okay. They just like to sleep at daytime.)

Well, anyway, the story explains a point.

The swan said, "You have never seen the sun? You've never seen this beautiful, warming, kind and whatever it is: the sun in its own personality -- you've never seen that?"

"Well, no!"

So the swan said, "Well, I can show it to you." But he said, "First of all you can't see it here. You have to go to a certain place to see it. And you should ask the permission of your parents if you can go to see it.

So the little owls went over to their parents and said, "Can we go see the sun?"

And the parents said, "What? Go see what?" "The sun!"

"What's a sun? Who told you about sun? Never heard of that word sun. What is it?"

And the owls just started sharing what the swan had told them, that there is a sun and it is beautiful and it is warm and it is incredible.

And they said, "Well, we really don't know. We love you. And we know that you're not telling us a lie. But we really don't know who this swan really is. He might be tricking you into going there and then he might eat you or something like that." They said, "Well, we don't know."

The swan said, "Come on! That's not the way it is. Come, I'll show you."

And the owls said, "Well, okay. We'll have to go to the High Council, call the old Wise Ones out and have them form an opinion on it."

So all these wise old owls collected together. And then the baby owls made their appeal to them. They said, "We would like to go see the sun."

And the owls said, "Well, what? What's sun? What is sun?"

And they said, "Well, sun is this incredible thing that's warm, beautiful, splendid, rises and gives warmth to the whole world and gives its supply to the whole world. And without that we would be nothing!"

The wise old owls looked at each other. It was like, "Have you ever heard of it?" And they were talking to each other. "Have you ever heard of sun? Have

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Perfect Master
you ever heard of sun?"

So by talking to everyone who was there -- everybody said, "No, we've never heard about the sun." -- they came to the conclusion, "There can't be a sun! That swan is completely a hoax! That swan is completely lying. That swan is just wrong! Because how could there be a sun when we have never seen it? And here we are, we have lived for so many years!"

And finally the little owls came back to the swan and they said, "You have really broken our hearts! Here we were, really relying on you to show us this sun and this whole jive you gave. And all the time when you were telling us about this sun, your intentions were evil! You wanted to kill us!"

And he said, "No!" He said, "Do one thing. You don't have to go anywhere. Just do one thing. You can go to sleep whenever you want to, but when I call for you, wake up and look up. Wake up! Open your eyes! And then see if I'm wrong or not."

The owls went to sleep. And right when the sun beautifully started to manifest its glory, the swan said, "Okay, now open your eyes." And they saw! They saw the sun. And it was the most incredible experience of their whole lives.

And this is what Guru Maharaj Ji does.

This is the problem. You can go to the people of this world and say, "Okay. Guru Maharaj Ji can really reveal the Truth to you." And they'll say, "Come on, man. You kidding? Go mind your own business." Or you go to give satsang and they say, "Not today. I don't want to buy anything." Slam the door at you. That can happen to us. Because this world can't possibly imagine.

And it's like a bunch of owls. And they all go up and then they go ask their high council -- this council or that council -- "Is there a realization possible in our lifetime? Is there in fact a way to be one with God, to merge one with the Creator? Is there possibly a way in this century that there possibly could be a Perfect Master?" Pose those questions to this world and they will give you this whole explanation. "The odds are, no! But there is always a one-to-one million possibility that there might be a Creator here, present, in a human form." And all those concepts have settled in, all those concepts get hammered in and hammered in.

Because as I was saying, one of these days in my satsang, how incredible would it be if you were to take something like this microphone to be your god. It would be incredible! Because what do you have to do? Absolutely nothing. You don't have to do one single thing to please this god, if this were your god.

He will never smile by himself. However you paint him, however you make that statue, that's how he is going to smile. And that's the way it is. That's what's going to happen. People like to believe that! Why? Because it's so simple. It's so easy. You don't have to get your boss mad at you. Never will any festivals happen. Here it is, your own personalized god with your initials, apostrophe "S", and "god." "R.J.M.'s god." This little thing you carry anywhere you want, pull it out any time you want, believe in it whenever you want, say things to it whenever you want. "You are a bad god. You didn't do that for me."

Here we can carry a piece of this and a piece of that and say that this is my god and yet at the same time we believe that God is everywhere. At the same time we say, "Oh yeah, God is omnipresent." Can it really be like that? But man has always had this habit of going to the easiest thing possible: the easy way out. Man has always liked that. Man has always wanted that: however it is possible to have the easy way out.

But we have to humbly realize one thing. And sometimes that experience maybe manifests to us. (And I know that there are people who don't have Knowledge and maybe at some point in time that experience has even manifested to them.) And the experience is that always in our lives we think, "Here we are. We are alone." We think that this is it. We can do whatever we want to do in this world. We don't need anybody to show us the way! This is all part of ego as far as I'm concerned.

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"I." "I can do it." And yet, what can a person do in this world? What can his achievements be in this world?

Even the greatest achievement is not really great. I know that in India once this guy invented this bullet that could go through metal. And it was like, "Wow man! He's really had an incredible achievement." And everybody was talking about it. "Incredible achievement." Right now, maybe to some people it's quite obvious that if one day we can have a fuel-free car that runs on solar energy, or some kind of a break-through, then that is going to be incredible. And maybe that person would get a Nobel Prize. I don't have any doubts that he would. "Incredible achievement, man! Beautiful!"

But do all those achievements in our lives, all those things in our lives, even make a dent in us?

Look at Marolyn. She remembered the first time that her father went out and got a TV. And it was like, "Wow. TV. Great!" Watch this show and always have a fight over who's going to watch which show.

Today in the Malibu residence where she lives, there are TVs after TVs. There's a TV in my office. There's a TV in the living room. There's a TV upstairs in the bedroom. And there's a TV in the kitchen. And a TV in the dining room. And the most-watched TV is in the premie house.

And I know that that has not made any difference. Now it is literally possible for her to watch every channel that she wants at one time: look at all these eight televisions. But that's not what has made a difference in her life. All these big mechanical achievements and advancements and "this-ments" and "that-ments" don't do anything. They just come and go. It's just a Simple Simon story.

Look at how many things have happened. When I first came to the United States, the speed limit was 75 miles an hour. And I remember from that time to this time, there have been so many outrageous changes. On the Santa Monica Highway itself there was nothing like what they have now: these huge digital signs. And as you're driving down the freeway, if there happens to be a traffic jam, they can tell you, "This is the problem up there. Drive slowly. Only use this lane. You can use that lane." That's a big achievement, no?

But did that make a dent in Santa Monica Freeway's traffic? Absolutely not. Nothing. They even made a 'Diamond Lane' especially for the purpose of people who have three or more people in their car. Doesn't make any difference.

In Berkeley they have this train system which is supposed to be one of the most modern train systems there is. Incredible! And they're having problems because the people who it's all meant for really don't use it. The engineers who designed it and did the whole programming behind it said that the problem is that the American man still likes to drive his car, park it in the underground parking garage, walk up to his office, and have that freedom to be able to go anywhere at any time!

So all these changes in this unstable world that are happening really don't make a dent for us. From 75 miles an hour they dropped the speed down to 55 miles an hour. And everybody went, "Oh no! Don't do this! What are you doing this for? What are you doing that for?" "Road and Track" magazine had a picture on the back, "P.S." And there was a picture of a Mercedes Benz with a license plate "Y" -- "Y" as in Yankee -- "Y55MPH."

So what I'm trying to say is that this world that we depend on so much: how constant is it? How real is it, in fact?

I know that by 1980s there are going to be incredible cars on the market. Incredible. This electric door stuff and electric locks and all that are nothing! I know that when this one car company was going to come out with this electronic instrumentation, it was the biggest thing. "Wow, man! Electronic instrumentation." Now you can get about 50 kinds of electronic instrumentation. It will tell you anything you want to know while driving down the highway. If you want to know how fast you're going in kilometers, hit a button and it'll tell you in kilometers. Miles per hour? Miles per hour. The amount of fuel that you have left. How far you can go on that fuel. How long it's going to take you to get there. How many more miles to your destination. And approximately, at the speed that you're going, when you are going to get there.

That's an incredible advancement compared to this Ford that I have. Premies gave it to me and it's incredible! It's this old, old car; strong running.

When the fire came, there was a canopy on top of it. It caught fire and all the interior and all that stuff burned. And here was this car, sizzled from here to there. And I went in there, put the key in, pushed the starter button and it started right up! Honked the horn and it went.

But you look at the mechanics of this eight-ball machine and they're incredible compared to today! In cars these days, in the middle of the steering wheel, whatever insignia it has, you just pop that. There's 21-millimeter bolt sitting there. Unscrew

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Guru Maharaj Ji and Perfect Master

that and the steering wheel will be right in your hand. Undo a couple of wires that are for the horn and that's it.

In this car, you can't just do that to take the steering wheel out. From where the steering wheel is, instead of using wires and switches right in the steering wheel, they actually use a rod for the horn. So when you press the horn, this whole rod as long as the length of the whole steering wheel goes down and then pushes the switch which mounts at the end of the whole assembly. To take it off you have to take that off, then pull the whole steering column out. And this whole mechanics comes with it: this huge rod that's all a part of the steering wheel.

To tell you how much gas there is -- the gas tank is right by the windshield, in the middle of the car -- you pour the gas in it and it's got a little meter with grooves in it. And as the gas comes up it rises and turns at the same time, tells you "Full." As the gas goes down it turns and tells you "Empty." When you're driving and you go over something rough, your whole gas meter just bounces up and down and you can see the gasoline. And I mean, "Incredible invention. Great! What a car!" You laugh at it. The miracle is that it still runs!

And look at the cars today! Man oh man. This gadget and that gadget. And you name it and it's got it. As soon as you put them into Drive, all the doors will lock automatically. Can't beat that. The old Ford doesn't even have locks that you can lock. And here in this car you push it and it all locks.

In Japan, in the taxis, the taxi driver hits a button and the door opens up. You can get out and he can just push another button and it closes. You don't have to get out and open the door and do this and do that. But all these achievements …

And I know there are people here, and to them it's like, "Man! So much has happened. Man has gone so far." And yet, has he? Has he really gone that far? Where is he now? Where was he then? The same spot. It's like funnel. A great big mouth in the front but then a little tube. And it doesn't matter where you pour it from it all ends up in that little tube at the bottom. And that's what this world is. Make this funnel-head; make that funnel- head. Do this in this world. Do that in the world. All ends up down the same drain.

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978 But what we really need in our lives, unless we get that -- what we really need in our lives, unless we really believe in that -- unless we have all our faith in that instead of in this materialistic world, I can't tell you what's possible. There are possibly no words to say what is in fact possible. Because that Knowledge brings us the reality that we all seek. That Knowledge brings us the Truth that we all want. That Knowledge brings us who we really are. And only the true realization, only by the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, is that possible. And so our key, obviously, is Guru Maharaj Ji. And that's where we have to have our faith. That's where we have to have our trust.

I mean, how incredible is it? How could it be more perfect than to have this world, to have the burning, to have the suffering and yet have a salvation out of it? Only by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

What does Guru Maharaj Ji give us? He doesn't give us a mantra. He doesn't give us a wand. He doesn't come and slap us on our face and say, "Hey! Look!" Realization!

And look at every Perfect Master who's come in this world. What has he given?

There are people who are stuck in Gita. Every day they read Gita. And in Gita there is this whole description. Because Gita is a little part of this book, Mahabharata. And in this whole Mahabharata, it explains that on one side there are all these Pandavas. And on the other side there are the Kauravas: the good guys and the bad guys. All these soldiers are ready to fight. Literally every army of India, all the kings, consolidated on either side, ready to fight. People who were just the best: they are ready to fight.

And in that Gita at that point it gives a description of Krishna showing Arjun this Divine Light. He says, "O Arjun, what you see with your two eyes is not what the reality really is!"

Arjun goes, "What are you talking about? I can see you!"

He said, "That's not really me, though! I give you this other eye. I give you this Divine Eye. I give you this Third Eye through which you really see my form."

And this is the thing. This is incredible. So there are all these people standing there. And all they can see is that Krishna is sitting there and Arjuna's there. And they're both mumbling, talking. I mean, probably there were even people who couldn't see that they were talking.

And you've got to look at the situation. Okay, there's people standing, ready to fight: people on horses, elephants, chariots, this and that. Ready to go. Probably there were people going, "Come on! Come on! Get it over with. Let's fight! Let's get it over with!"

And Krishna then reveals his form. Nobody budges. Nothing happens. Krishna is showing his Divine Form -- what Krishna really is. Krishna reveals to Arjun what that reality really is. Nothing happens. Nobody budges in the audience. Nobody kneels down and says, "Lord, here you are." But Arjun does. What happened? Was it all sweet talk? No! It wasn't sweet talk! Arjun had a realization!

Because Krishna said, "You can't see me with these eyes!" There was nothing wrong with Arjun's eyes. He said, "Nor could anybody else!" Because only that person who was there and to whom this Knowledge was revealed could clearly see what that really was, what that experience really was.

And yet today people have illustrations of Krishna's Divine Form! How is that possible, that everybody else saw Krishna's Divine Form except Arjun? What was wrong with Arjun's eye? Did he have a cataract? Was he blind? No!

But it's in our concept. And this "divine form" of Krishna: there he is standing and he has got so many arms. And one has got this chakra on it. And the other one has a mace to hit people over the head with. And he's got a sword. And he's got this and he's got that. So many arms, and then he's got so many heads. That's incredible! Then they maybe illustrate it in movies, too.

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And at this time, this incredible form is being displayed and nobody can see it? So if they couldn't see it, how can you see it to even illustrate it? It's a physical impossibility. But because of that concept, even that illustration comes.

I mean, stories after stories, ideas after ideas -- that's all okay. Believe in them. But don't become like that idiot who parks himself under the highway sign and here comes the smokey, here comes the policeman, who says, "What are you doing here? Get that car outta the highway! You're going to cause accidents!"

"Why, man? I just want to go to Los Angeles! And it says right there: 'Los Angeles,' and the arrow pointing down."

That's merely an arrow. All the books, all the scriptures, point to one Guru Maharaj Ji, point to one Perfect Master. And without the assistance, without the Grace, without the aid of that Perfect Master, nothing is possible. Nothing can manifest. Nothing can take place.

And to us, I can't say how lucky -- lucky isn't the word -- how fortunate we all are! How incredible it is that we have been given an opportunity to become Guru Maharaj Ji's, to surrender ourselves. That's incredible. And vet at the same time how stupid we are to sometimes let that opportunity go and still mingle with our head, still mingle with our mind!

And again, it's only possible by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace … Grace is there. Grace is really real. In reality there is a Grace. Truly there is a Grace, Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji.

The Love, the kindness of Guru Maharaj Ji, the compassion of Guru Maharaj Ji, is Grace.

Grace is that sword with which we can fight our way into any jungle.

That Love, the mercy of Guru Maharaj Ji: that's the Grace.

You can't say, "Guru Maharaj Ji, give me Grace so I can have a child." That's wrong. "Guru Maharaj Ji, give me a Grace so my apples will grow better this year." "Guru Maharaj Ji, please, one of my tires went flat. I don't have a jack. I need to go somewhere. Please will you ask your Grace to jack up the car so I can change the tire?"

"Oh Guru Maharaj Ji, give me the Grace to become the 'Incredible Hulk.' " (If you're not familiar with the 'Incredible Hulk,' it's this guy who got some kind of gamma-rays in him. And whenever he becomes mad -- to me? Another manifestation of mind -- whenever this guy becomes mad, he becomes gigantic. And he comes out, barging, and does good for this world. Gets the had guys.)

And Guru Maharaj Ji gives his Grace in many forms. I mean, it's incredible how many forms Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace comes in.

One time there was a festival happening in India. And because there was a huge tent where the program happened, everybody slept there if they didn't have a tent or if they couldn't find a place to sleep. It had this carpet on the floor, so they just put their beds there and they went to sleep.

And it rained and rained and rained. It just rained. Everywhere it was muddy. And it was incredible. There was live electricity running into this whole tent: 220 volts. (That's the Indian voltage. And it varies from 110 to 240. You have to be lucky when you plug in an American appliance. Sometimes it'll work without blowing anything.) There was this whole voltage running through the whole thing and the whole thing fell.

And adults who could run, ran out of it. But then there were all these little kids trapped inside. There was live voltage running across the tent and it fell. And this thing was huge. If it were all piled up and put on one person it would kill him. And when the whole thing had fallen, everybody realized, "My God! Look what's happened!" And it was wet. And it was heavy because of the rain It was saturated with water.

And so when people realized that there were people trapped in there, there were little bablies trapped in there, they tried to get it back up. But what you could see were these little feet kicking, and nothing was happening to these little children. They were perfectly safe. They were perfectly okay. They got the tent up and the kids were having a ball. It was like playing "tent." And they were just kicking their little feet and just having a ball!

Now, that's not luck. What's luck got to do with it? Those children were lucky? All of them who were under the tent just happened to be a case of one-in-one-million luck? All the lucky ones stayed; all the unlucky ones ran out and the tent fell? They were unlucky. Of course they were unlucky. The tent fell on them. What else do you want, the whole sky to fall on you, too? But the Grace was there and it protected them. What is it?

When Shri Maharaj Ji was giving that satsang he said, "Here I was." And one day he locked his room. (This is an incredible story. And I even have a tape of it. It's an incredible story.) One day Shri Maharaj Ji locked himself in the room and said, "Guru Maharaj Ji, if you are really real, come here and give me darshan." (Not that this is what

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Perfect Master

you guys should try. Absolutely not. I wouldn't recommend it.) This is what Shri Maharaj Ji did. He said, "Maharaj Ji, if you're really real, come and give me darshan."

What do you know? "Knock knock knock." There he is! "What are you doing in this room?"

Now that would be one-to-one-millionth of your luck. That wasn't it. I mean, how many times does a guy get lucky in the theory, the hypothetical "luck"? Because when you can't explain the Grace …

People who don't have Guru Maharaj Ji's Love, people who don't have Guru Maharaj Ji, to them it has to be luck. What else can it be? Imagine. What else can it be? Just throw in the name of luck. Throw in the name of Creator. Throw in the name of evolution. Because people can't possibly comprehend that there is a Creator who sat there and made every inch, every millimeter, every one- millionth of a millimeter of that pine cone. You know? That's the way this world is!

One time Shri Maharaj Ji … I already told you that story. He was walking by and got to this rest house. Nobody was there. It was dark. It was in the middle of the jungle. And he said, "Guru Maharaj Ji, I want food and I want water."

And at that time who else would come by? Premies. Two premies. One soldier and his wife. And they had food. They got their bucket into the well, drew out water, gave it to Shri Maharaj Ji. Nice cold water. Massaged him all night long. And it was completely incredible!

If that's your luck, go fly a kite!

It's not luck! To me, it's obvious that it's not luck. Because it's Grace. Because it's Guru Maharaj Ji.

Once one person has surrendered his life to Guru Maharaj Ji, nothing can intervene. And that's absolutely true. When nothing can intervene in his life, then how can luck intervene? Only Guru Maharaj Ji's mercy can intervene. And that's not intervention, because it's Guru Maharaj Ji's mercy. It's Guru Maharaj Ji's compassion. It's Guru Maharaj Ji's Love. It's Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

And this is not how Grace works: you put your hand in the guillotine and, "Guru Maharaj Ji, if your Grace is really real, you'll save my hand." Chances are it'll get cut. You don't put Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace to tests. Some people have. And when they do that, it just goes down, down, down. It doesn't come. It doesn't come and doesn't come. And it's like Guru Maharaj Ji is saying, "Maybe he'll stop. Maybe he'll stop. Maybe he'll stop." At the final end when it doesn't stop: (scooping motion) real quick, shoot a couple of inches of Grace right into his head.

This happened to us in Woodside Avenue. I was in my bedroom. Got up, washed my face. And I was just there. All of a sudden I heard this incredible sound in the house. I didn't know what it was, so I looked at the front yard. There was a van standing there halfway in the sitting room! "What is this? What happened?"

And there was this premie who said, "Guru Maharaj Ji is going to save me. Look! I'm going to prove it!" And he brought his van full force, went through the solid fence around the residence, through the flag pole, right into the sitting room. Everybody was very surprised. And of course his van was totalled. He got saved. But you wouldn't want to do that, would you?

Because Guru Maharaj Ji gives us the … We have to beg for Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. We have to make way for Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. We can't command Guru Maharaj Ji. We can't command Guru Maharaj Ji.

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Once there was a king. And this king came to Guru Maharaj Ji's court, and everybody was sitting there. Guru Maharaj Ji was giving satsang. So he just came in, sat down. And Guru Maharaj Ji was saying that the power, the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, can make anything happen. It's incredible. It's so powerful, that even Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, the darshan of Guru Maharaj Ji, can take the sins of his past life and clean it all up.

The king was sitting there. He had his doubts. "How is that possible?" So that night, when the king went to sleep, he had this incredible dream. And in the dream he saw that here he was in a village. And this village pretty much was his. Because in it were his nieces and the nephews and all his family. And there were hundreds of them. There were his kids, and kid's kids, and kid's kid's kids, and kid's uncle's nephew's sons, daughters, brothers -- everything. And every time he would walk anywhere everybody would come, "Oh Great-grandfather! Oh Grandfather! Oh 'This-father,' where are you going? Get me this! Get me that!"

And it was always so weird for him. It was always hell for him. It was all dirty and everybody's noses were running all the time. There was dirt everywhere. It was cold at nighttime. It had inadequate facilities. It was this; it was that. It was everything.

And one day, in this dream, that guy who had all this happening to him died. So everybody was crying. And this was happening and that was happening.

Well, anyway, he woke up. He woke up and there was a messenger standing. It was in the morning. There was a messenger standing there and he said that, "Guru Maharaj Ji has sent the word that he'd like to go hunting if you'd like to come along."

And he said, "Okay."

Guru Maharaj Ji took his horse and a few devotees here and there and they went hunting. And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Look. There's going to be a rule about this hunting. First one to go after a certain animal then has to stay with it. Nobody else is going to chase it anymore. It's yours. You go get it.

So the king saw a wild boar run by and he started chasing it: the wild boar. And everybody just held back. And there he was. And he started running and running and the wild boar was really fast. And they were all running.

All of a sudden the king sort of slowed down and he looked all around. And it was like, he had seen this mountain! He had seen the jungle! It was all very familiar to him. And he kept going. And it even looked more familiar and more familiar, till he saw these huts! And it was like, "Oh my God!"

As soon as he walked there with his horse, all these kids that he had seen in his dream started coming to him. "Oh, you have come back! It's incredible. Great. Come on. Did you bring this for me? Did you bring that? Oh my Great-grandfather, how are you?" And that was happening. And it was a mess!

And here was this king, almost getting ripped in pieces. And he was saying, "Look! I'm not. I don't know you! I've never seen you! Who are you? Get away!"

They said, "What are you talking about?"

And by that time Guru Maharaj Ji had come. And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Look, do you really think he's your Great-grandfather or however you're related?" He said, "If you really think that that's the person, why don't you go dig the grave and find out?"

They dug the grave and there was this person lying there who looked completely identical to the king!

So then Guru Maharaj Ji turned to the king and he said, "Look. This was your life. This is what you would have had to go through. But because you had surrendered your life to Guru Maharaj Ji, because you had faith in Guru Maharaj Ji, look what Guru Maharaj Ji did: just made it into a mere dream. That's all. And you had it last night. And here is the proof that this is exactly what was going to happen. But you never died. And the whole thing happened in a dream."

And then he realized that, yes, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace it's possible.

We are not kings. And we don't have horses. And it's not a long, long time ago. But we still have Guru Maharaj Ji. And we still are here, whoever we are. All we have to be is be humble! All we have to do is get rid of our incredible, idiotic ego and go to Guru Maharaj Ji with our sincere hearts and say, "Help me!"

Say that little prayer to Guru Maharaj Ji: "Guru Maharaj Ji, you're all. You can do anything. I am nothing in this world. Help me because there it is. What I have done in this life is such a web."

We sometimes get caught in the situation of the spider who builds a web to trap little flies or insects or this and that so that it can eat them. But sometimes the web gets so complicated that the spider itself gets caught in it. And that's how that spider dies.

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That's like the way we are. We do this and we do that. We build this whole arena so that this may come and that may come. And we build this whole web of illusion around us. We make all these things so that maybe happiness will come along and get caught in the web and then we will be able to have it or something. Some crazy thing like that.

But sometimes we ourselves get caught in it, in this illusion, in this maya -- in such a way that we try to get out, but we can't. We're so caught. We're so indulged.

And that is not the way that we can keep on going. We can't keep on building the web and getting caught in it, and then Guru Maharaj Ji comes along and picks you out, puts you somewhere else. And then you get caught again: picks you out, puts you somewhere else; you get caught again.

Our lives can't be merely like a beach. And you can dig holes in the beach and you can do this on the beach. And you can write things on the beach. And then the wave will come in the morning and it will be all smooth. I mean, something has to happen more than that. Our lives can't constantly stay alive.

There was this premie and I guess she called her father. And her father said, "The purpose of my life is pleasure. The purpose of my life is to enjoy all that I have."

I said, "You should go tell your father, enjoy it while he can. Because after this, he's going to hell, straight! And he's got this time to enjoy it. Might as well enjoy it! He won't be able to enjoy it after this!"

And isn't this true?

You don't even have to bother about hell! Man, the thing is, if you never came on this Earth … I mean, look. Look at it this way: You know when you see a picture of hell they have these burning flames? And there are these people there, burning in the flames. (This is the picture I've seen of hell.) These great big red flames, a pit, and you are falling endlessly in this pit.

But then there are these people who have got two red horns, a tail with an arrow on it and all this stuff with a three-headed spear.

Now, tell me something. Are they in hell or heaven or not anywhere? They're not burning. They're the managers! They have been sent to hell to manage the hell! They look like they're having a nice time. They're all smiling all the time. And poking people anywhere they want and shooting them down this huge pit. So are they in hell or are they in heaven or nowhere?

You can get caught in all these concepts and all these things so much you can't even get out. Look at it. Maybe that's a concept. But if a person were to be born in hell, died in hell and did everything in hell, there is no hell for him. What can the hell be? That's it!

And are we sure that what it seems to be is really what it is?

People don't know what the true pleasure of Guru Maharaj Ji is. People don't know in this world that what Guru Maharaj Ji gives us is, in fact, the true pleasure. What they think is the true pleasure is not the true pleasure. They have been born in this world. They live in this world. They're going to probably die in this world.

And, "O, Guru Maharaj Ji. All I can do is just pray. Sing his glory." I mean, what else can a human being do except to sing the glories of their Guru Maharaj Ji? "O, Guru Maharaj Ji, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I mean, even "thank you" isn't the word. Thank him for what? He's given you everything.

"You are everything. In you I dwell. In you I live. In you I have found myself. And you are everything to me: my world, my life, my friend, my everything.

"And yet without you, I can't even take a step. Oh, I might think I can take a step. But give me that strength, give me that clarity so that I never think that, 'Oh yeah, I can do it.' I want to rely on you more and more and more. I want to surrender to you more and more. Because what can I become in this world? What can I become in this world?

"The happiness is not anywhere else except where you are. The happiness is not in pursuing the pleasures of this world, but pursuing you is my happiness. Being with you is my happiness. Watching you is my happiness. And give me the strength, give me those eyes so I can see you. Give me that strength so I never forget you. Give me the brains so I can never forget you. Make me what you want me to be. Let me do what your true wish is, what your true command is. You are everything.

"Let me become humble. Keep me humble. Always let me be humble. Do it! Because of my insincerity, darkness, illusion, I always tend to go to maya, grab the feet of maya, kiss the feet of maya. And I know that you have the power and the strength, you have the Love and the compassion, have that mercy on one tiny soul. Don't let it wander. If it takes being under your feet, then that's what I'll be. What I want to

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Perfect Master
become is your wish. What you don't want me to be is your wish. And give me the strength. And I know you can! Give me that sight because I know you can.

"I come to you because who have I got in this world? You are my father. You are my mother. You are my brother. You are my sister. You are my friend. You're my everything! You are riches. You are wisdom. You are my all, my Lord, to me. And Guru Maharaj Ji, please make that a reality in my life. Make that true in my life.

"My ego will haunt me. My confusion will pursue me to do everything else. But I know that your Grace can pursue me to do what you want me to do. Your compassion and your Love can destroy the greatest darkness, can destroy the greatest evil that man has ever known. One blink, one little finger, one little sight and you can do it.

"And yet who am I to even ask you, 'Please do it to me? But I know that you have the compassion to maybe somehow listen to me. Someday, somehow, will you please find it in your heart -- if you ever do, Guru Maharaj Ji -- to save me from this world? Take my mind away. Take me and put me into your feet where you really are."

And you know, this is the incredible thing. All that sounds great. But when we truly pray to Guru Maharaj Ji, from our heart, he does blink. He does move his little finger and it all does disappear. That's the fantastic part of it, the incredible part. All that: Guru Maharaj Ji does dissipate that darkness. Makes us humble. Takes our ego away. Binds it into him. Our boat is on the other side! Completed our greatest destination. Completed our greatest journey. That's it. What even the saints, what even these sadhus, what even these people who sat in the caves for ages couldn't do.

"O, Guru Maharaj Ji, I feel that I'm the greatest man in this world! I am the greatest because you are the greatest. And you have made me the greatest by just doing it! The journey that they all talk about and could never reach, could never finish, O Guru Maharaj Ji, with just a blink of your eye you have put me across. O Guru Maharaj Ji, you have taken me from being into hell and heaven and put me where you are! And what else can I possibly desire? What else can I possibly want?"

And it's so incredible. Because Guru Maharaj Ji -- I know. Guru Maharaj Ji, physically, only has two ears. He can listen to one thing at one time. Two ears: but can only listen to one thing. Two eyes: can only see one thing. But it's incredible. Because everybody's prayer is heard. And as soon as it becomes sincere …

I mean, there is Guru Maharaj Ji, just waiting and waiting and waiting. Those hands that can create the world -- that can ruin the world -- are waiting on a steering wheel to drive you away from that misery and take you away from the conditions of heaven and hell and whatever, and take away all the misery.

Listen! That's incredible!

Our gods, here and there: they don't listen. And what do they give us? I know people go to all these gods and go, "Give me a son." So you got a son. What are you going to do with it? People go, "Oh, give me money." So now you have money. One more thing to get into. I mean, all these illusions and all these things.

This one guy used to pray to the goddess all the time. He had a neighbor and the neighbor was pretty well off. And he would always pray to his goddess, "Come and give me darshan. Come and give me what I want. Give me wish. Please. Come on. Take one out of the hat."

And so one day this goddess appeared in front of this guy. "What do you want?"

And he was so boggled, he was so confused at that point, that he muttered out -- he didn't mean to, but he just murmured out (what he wanted to say was, "May I have twice of what my neighbor has") -- but he murmured out in a hurry, "May my neighbor have twice what I have."

The goddess said, "Okay. Sure. Why not?"

So then one day he would get one bucket of gold. And his neighbor would get two. Now that really made him jealous. So he had to find a way to get rid

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of his neighbor. So he said, "May my one eye go blind." His neighbor's both eyes went blind. "May I have half a well." And the neighbor got a full well. And he said, "May I barely fall in this well." And the neighbor fell all the way into this well.

So our trips of maya, our trips of illusion after illusion after illusion are so "humongous," so incredible, that how can we keep at it? We'll have to be literally stupid, real stupid, to do a thing like that.

And Guru Maharaj Ji finds that mercy. Guru Maharaj Ji is the solution. Like I said, Guru Maharaj Ji is the track. And Guru Maharaj Ji is the train. Guru Maharaj Ji is the boat. And Guru Maharaj Ji is the captain. In Guru Maharaj Ji, we will find everything. In maya, we will find nothing.

There is that one famous story about the mind, about the effects of this mind. And one time there was this devotee. And he meditated and he meditated and he prayed and he prayed. And finally this goddess appeared and he said, "Could you give me some kind of a power? Maybe you could give me some kind of a thing which could do all my chores, give me anything I want."

And the goddess said, "Okay, you can have it. I can give you a genie. But you have to understand one thing, that if you ever become idle, it'll be all over for you. As soon as this genie doesn't have anything else to do, it'll eat you up."

And it was a real problem. And it didn't even occur to him. He thought, "Man, I could keep this genie busy every moment with all the desires I have, all that I want. This genie wouldn't have the time of day to even look at me." And this is what the goddess gave. This is what this guy wanted and this is what the goddess gave.

Gave him a genie. He took the genie home. The genie started to come and eat him. He said, "Wait! Wait! I haven't even begun yet. Build me a castle. Build me a palace." And he was really stupid. He didn't understand the power of that genie.

Genie just went, "Adabra-cadabra cajalus-mahall, bippity-boppity-boo." And there was a magnificent palace.

And man, oh man. The guy was really happy. And he got lost in looking at it.

And all of a sudden the genie came to eat him. He said, "Come on!"

"Wait a minute!" He said, "Now I want this. And I want that. And I want this. And I want that. I want a river here, and this here and that there …"

And I mean, all these things were happening as soon as he could say them. And very soon, he got tired of even thinking about things that he wanted.. So very soon he got tired and he ran out of things_ And the genie came at him. So he knew that the only hope he had in his life was Guru Maharaj Ji, as always. That was the only place he could go to. And Guru Maharaj Ji would give him a solution.

So he ran as fast as he could run and got to Guru Maharaj Ji, threw himself at his feet and said, "Guru Maharaj Ji, help! Please help me! This genie's after me and he's going to eat me up."

And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "What happened? What's the matter? What's the story?"

And he goes, "Well, I prayed to this goddess all my life and finally she came down and gave me this genie which I've always wanted in my life, so that I could have anything that I wanted, and there was this one condition …" and it was fast talking. Probably was fast talking. Because the genie was coming. "Please Guru Maharaj Ji, help me. Because this genie -- as soon as … You know, I didn't realize that if I didn't give this genie something to do that it would eat me up. And here I don't have anything else that I can tell him."

And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Well, I'm sorry. It's your fault, mister. You are the one who should have realized that."

He said, "Guru Maharaj Ji, help! Please? You know? Come on! Do something!"

You know, the thing that happens to us when we get desperate: "Oh come on, Maharaj Ji. Come on!"

Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Don't bother about it. Do you really have that faith? Do you really have that trust? Do you really have that Love for me?"

He said, "I have it. Just do it. I really mean it. I couldn't mean it more seriously at this point."

He said, "Okay, let the genie come."

The genie came. And it was about to engulf this devotee. Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Tell this genie to bring you a dog that has a curly tail."

And he said, "Wait a minute, genie! Don't eat me. Go get me a dog that's got a curly tail!"

And the genie went out and got a dog with a curly tail and then came to eat him again. And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Tell the genie to straighten out the dog's tail."

And here was genie coming at him. And he said, "Wait a minute, genie! We've got another one for you. After this you can eat me up. Straighten this

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Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker at Hans Jayanti 1978
Prem Rawat aka Maharaji the Very Flabby, Fat And Jowly 21 Year Old Guru Maharaj Ji and Perfect Master

dog's tail out!"

And the genie took a stick of bamboo, wrapped it around the dog's tail for a minute or so, thinking that that was straight, cut the string and the dog's tail just curled right back up! He said, "Come on, man! Straighten this tail out!"

And this genie, for the rest of his life, and even supposedly now somewhere, is busy straightening out his dog's tail! Every time it does something the tail just curls right back up! Can't do it! (And of course there is another ending to this story. And the other one is that Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Tell this genie to make a huge tree." And the genie made a huge tree. Then Guru Maharaj Ji said, "Tell the genie to go up and down it." The genie went up and down, up and down. He said, "Now you have the genie under control. Whenever you want him to do something else, you can tell him to stop. But when you want to, have him keep climbing up and down the pole.")

But anyway, this is our mind. We pray, "Man, I can have this. I can have that. I can desire this. I can desire that." And it all comes at us and it's just like, "I'm going to eat you! Haven't you got anything for me?"

Then we have to go to Guru Maharaj Ji. And Guru Maharaj Ji gives us the solution. But Guru Maharaj Ji says one thing. He says, "Look! It's chancy to come up to me and go, "Come on, Maharaj Ji! Come on, man! Let's do it. Get rid of my mind. My mind is eating me up. Don't you understand that? Do it!"

Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Look, that's chancy. Do it slowly and easy. Pray to Guru Maharaj Ji. Become one with Guru Maharaj Ji. Surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. And then it's possible."

So premies, how lucky can we be to have a Guru Maharaj Ji? And now we have to try to surrender. Do satsang, service, and meditation.

The premies that have to leave before the evening satsang, my blessings to them and have a nice trip home. See you soon at one of the festivals somewhere. And premies, well of course, hopefully there will be another evening program. And I'll see you then.

Thank you very much.

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