

Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Pimples and Zits Galore at Guru Puja (Worship) 1979
Prem Rawat (aka Guru Maharaj Ji) / Guru Puja Festival Miami Beach, Florida / July 19, 1979
So dear premies, welcome to Guru Puja. Really Guru Puja is a very sacred occasion. But only to those who can be devotees, only to those who can be premies.
In this world there are so many factors involved - even in just living day to day - so many factors involved with what's going to happen, what this life is, what the next moment's going to be, what this is all about. And sometimes there's even that intense feeling of frustration. It's like, "My God, what's going on?" Very intense.
And what is in this world? What has this world offered us so far? Not the Creator. Creator has offered us everything. But this world that we have made ourselves: the fences that we have drawn up, the boundaries that we have identified, the regulations that we have put together, the governments that we have made, the things that we have done. "Our world." The thing that we live in. What has it really offered us?
I feel it never had anything to offer in the first place. And it can't offer us anything because it has nothing to offer.
But Guru Maharaj Ji does. Guru Maharaj Ji has something very incredible to offer. And when Guru Maharaj Ji offers this thing, and a devotee recognizes, dedicates, surrenders, realizes, then there is a very ultimate, very intimate, relationship that happens. And this relationship is called love.
People strive for love in different ways. Of course they don't know what love is. What is it? I mean, "I love green" or "I love blue" or "I love pink" or "I love purple." That's "love." It's such a categoric thing for us. "Love." "I love something." And it's conditional. It's very, very conditional.
People get married and they see a quality in somebody and based upon that condition there is a contract - a love-contract - executed called marriage. "For richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health." It's a contract. And the contract is executed based upon certain figures, certain things.
And even before a contract is executed there is a certain understanding between two parties, a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. And that understanding is, "Okay, I see something in you." Or, "I like you. I love you." And it's for a very particular reason. And vice-versa. Husband sees something in his wife and a wife sees something in her husband and they call that love. And then that leads on to the written contract. Then you go in front of the judge, the county recognizes it, issues you a license. And then you go in front of the preacher, who is the "representative of God."
And yet how obscene is that? God has love. God loves us all. The Creator loves us all. But he never said, "I like your moustache." "I dig the quality you have. I dig the way you talk. And therefore I love you." There is no contract between us and the Creator. And yet, in front of that Creator that has the love for us that is unquestionable, that is ultimate, that has no boundaries, we try to exceptionally - I mean, it's our ignorance that we see love in this world.
And this love is what we come to experience in this festival of Guru Puja. "Guru Puja." Now this is, of course, a Hindi word. And yet I know that most of you don't speak Hindi. And yet you're still going to have an experience. We had Guru Puja in England. And this was called "Guru Puja '79, Lingfield, England, U.K." And there were a lot of Indians there. Big community. But there were a lot of other premies who didn't speak a word of Hindi. (I wouldn't say no Hindi. They did say, "Jai Satchitanand" and "Guru Maharaj Ji" and "Guru Puja." But they don't know Hindi.) And still they had an experience.
It's a matter of identification. We identify with that so much. "Guru" or "Puja" or this and that. And yet the Guru Maharaj Ji, the experience of Guru Maharaj Ji, is not contractual. It's not based upon you and then there is Guru Maharaj Ji. And you wag your tail for Guru Maharaj Ji and Guru Maharaj Ji will wag your tail for you.
It's not like that. Because when we can be the recipients, when we can have our hearts open, then Guru Maharaj Ji showers us with an experience which in fact is the true love, which in fact is the experience
that we in such a bewildered manner try to accumulate from this world. And in one sense, when you see this experience, when you feel this experience, you feel like sympathizing. You feel sympathy. "My God! What are these people in this world missing?"
And the thing is, you can't even feel sympathy for them in one sense. Because Guru Maharaj Ji is always giving. There is one saint in India who wrote a song. "There is a fish in the water that's thirsty and every time I hear of that it makes me laugh." And it's such a deep point. "There is a fish in the water and it's thirsty." I mean it doesn't matter - make him laugh or make him cry. Whatever.
But in fact there can be a fish in the water that can be thirsty. That fish is surrounded by water. Even the oxygen that a fish accumulates is through water. And yet having water all around, it still can get thirsty. And this is the condition of this world, that Guru Maharaj Ji comes. Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't only come in this 1979, 1978 or this twentieth century. Guru Maharaj Ji has come time after time after time after time into this world. And still some of us go away from that experience, leave that experience and want to experience something else.
And really, those who ever experience the experience of Guru Maharaj Ji, those who can truly experience Guru Maharaj Ji in their lives, those people are very, very fortunate. Because they have experienced something that this entire creation was created for. We have that potential in us. For those of us who can really open our hearts up and let Guru Maharaj Ji come in, for all of us who can, or who have the guts to, go under the waterfall and just completely drench in that fresh, cool water, are very, very fortunate. I feel that the word "fortunate" was invented for those people who can experience that love, that Grace, that mercy - the fulfillment of a purpose of life.
How many people get born every day? I don't know. They go around doing statistics. They take statistics from hospitals and they try to somehow come up with a solution, come up with a figure of how many people get born every day. But I don't think that's even accurate. It's approximate. Average.
And so many people come into this world. I mean, just look at what this world is all about, what this Earth is all about. Here we are. We all get born. Every one of us in this hall was born. Okay, here we have our ties and our suits and we're sitting on chairs. Who cares about getting born? But you have to realize that there was a time we were all born. And when we were born, why were we born?
Okay, science has an explanation for everything. So much so that when they can't understand something they even have an explanation for that. They call it "phenomena." And we come into this world and it's "phenomenon." Happens every day, every second, every minute. But it is a "phenomenon." Why? Why do we come?
I mean look at this processing machine, this thought-processor that this body is. We think, think, think and think. Endlessly we keep thinking. Even
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when we go to sleep we think.
And people - I don't know. I have never seen this happen (only in movies and I've heard people talk about it) - when people get up and sleepwalk. Even at that point that guy is thinking about something and thinking to such an extreme that his body is actually reacting to the thought process. And he's walking around with his arms out.
But why are we here? We don't know. Look, face it. It's a very simple thing. We don't know why we are here. What are we supposed to be in this life? What is it all about? Try to go back and figure out what happened. I mean who did what? All these things that we follow today. In different cultures, in different societies - how that even came into existence. And you can go as far back as you like and you never can find out what happened. And every day in our lives we get up and we repeat ourselves. And yet nobody knows.
It's like the example of sheep. One sheep goes, all the sheep follow. There are all these things that we always seem to get into, not knowing what the purpose is. And Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world -
no histories, no backgrounds, no resumes - and every time different, although with the same message. Unique. Another "phenomenon" which science can't cope with because there are no explanations for it. There are no fundamental explanations for it. I mean, just … nothing.
But Guru Maharaj Ji does come. That Master does come. And when people just like you and me open up our hearts, be what we are, take away our masks, take away our greed, take away our anger, take away our selfishness, take away all the things that we have fitted ourselves with and just be what we are - just to surrender, just to accept, just to know, just to realize, just to feel, just to experience …
Then an incredible thing takes place. The thing that all the scriptures talk about. That "phenomenon," that incredible thing - and yet, it's not even a phenomenon. It's so simple. It's so incredible. It's so beautiful. And when you feel it, you know. There is no more to say. There is no more to hear. You know. You understand.
It's like going to a foreign country and you want bread and you don't know how to say bread. You want
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Pimples and Zits Galore at Guru Puja (Worship) 1979
to say, "I want bread." And you're trying to explain to this guy and he just says, "Uh, I don't understand," perhaps even smiling at you
or laughing at you. "This guy is pretty stupid." Sometimes people really get into it, trying to get these explanations across. And then all of a sudden somebody is walking by and he's got some piece of bread in his hand and you go, "Look!
Over there."
And it's like what happens when he can see, when it's clear? Then nothing needs to happen. There is an automatic understanding. There's a very clear, very beautiful understanding that just happens. And that's the understanding that Guru Maharaj Ji gives. That's the understanding that Guru Maharaj Ji comes for. And that's the understanding that the devotees yearn for from Guru Maharaj Ji.
And that's what makes this Guru Puja festival the Guru Puja festival. Not some Hindu trip. Of course not. But only when we can open our hearts up. Only when we can look. Only when we can realize.
It's so easy to get lost. It's so easy to get lost! All you have to do is lose your perspective. Perspective. But it's so hard to be found in this world. Look at people! Sometimes it's an incredible experience for me to just see people. Just look at them, driving along, when I'm sitting in the back seat. It's incredible. Every single one has his own trip. Every single one is doing his own number. Somebody is scratching his head, somebody is scratching his ears, somebody is scratching his nose, somebody is trying to put his little finger in his mouth to try to get the particle of food out of his back molars. Everybody is doing some thing. Somebody has a Cadillac. Somebody has a Rolls Royce. Somebody has a motorcycle.
Look at these bus drivers. They have an incredible responsibility. They're carrying a lot of passengers on their trains and what have you. And you look at them. And that bus driver doesn't know. He knows that he has to take people from 16th Street to a 22nd Street bus stop. And yet he doesn't know what his ultimate destination is. And it's so funny that everybody sitting in the bus doesn't either, yet they are driving around all day long, aimlessly. No purpose to it.
Look at this whole thing with the DC-10. It was such a thing. It was such a thing that happened. A DC10 rotates, a bolt falls off, control is lost, it loses lift on one side, flips over. And everybody gets killed. People die!
To me, it's. such an eye-opener. It's such an eye- opener that these people have died and all people can care about is, "Hey, that's not fair. That's not fair. Get that thing up in the air." And it's like, "Okay, that's not fair." People lose money. People who own DC-10's lose money. Thing isn't flying. They've got this huge jumbo jet just sitting there doing nothing. (And especially with an airplane, less you fly it, more troubles it gets.)
You've got this thing and people are just aggressive about all these details. "No. Look. We have safety- tested this and we have safety-tested this and we have done this and we have done that and there is nothing
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wrong with this and there is nothing wrong with that, and the FAA is playing a whole game." And FAA said, "They're playing a whole game. Look, we found cracks."
And they say, "Well that's the way they put it on, is the way they found the cracks."
What about all those lives that were lost? What did that mean? What did that mean? Who in this world ever stops for one moment … I read the official report prepared on the 747 accidents in Tenerife. There was this one aircraft taxying on the runway, hopping along. All of a sudden the KLM guy, a very experienced pilot, says, "Okay, let's go."
And the co-pilot says, "Listen, I don't know. I'm not sure. Let's reconfirm from the tower that we have a clearance to go."
And the captain turns around to the co-pilot and says, "Listen. You mind your own business and I'll mind mine, okay?"
And yes, he minded his own business and the other guy minded his own business. And all of a sudden this thing starts rolling, this 747 gorged with fuel starts rolling and rolling and all of a sudden the Pan American guy sees these two lights coming at him. And whatever he had he put into it and just tried to get off the runway. The KLM guy saw this airplane, "Wow! What happened here?" and all of a sudden pulled his stick, tried to take off. And the airplane got airborne, but hit the tail section of the Pan Am 747. And a tragic accident happened.
And yet what about every single life that was lost? The birth, the growing up, the school, the college, this, that, what have you - the life. The life … has absolutely no meaning. Look at the DC-10 thing. They know why all those lives got lost. They know. The stupid bolt fell off on the runway. The pylon had a crack. That's why all those guys died.
"Oh really?" I mean it just feels like, man, stop for a second and say, "Wait a minute. If your bolts are going to destroy life, then what is living all about? What is life all about when an itsy-bitsy little bolt has your life, as precious as it may be to you, under its control?"
And this is how the reality suffers. This is how the reality is sucked away. And what's presented to us every single day, in the name of, on behalf of, reality - a complete picture that's not even real. Has nothing to do with reality.
Energy crisis. That's a new one. It's a good one. Energy crisis. "Huh, what about my gas? What about my gas?" "How am I gonna get my gas?" "Oh, no!" "I don't like the president anymore. He doesn't give us gas." "But the president has to teach us a lesson." And I mean, so many arguments. In California, they almost got so hot that they wanted to kill somebody for it, energy crisis or no energy crisis.
What do you think John realized in his life, Luke realized in his life, Matthew realized in his life? What did Jesus Christ come into this world for? "Don't bother. The Saudis will give us gas sooner or later." Is this what Jesus Christ came in this world and said? "Don't bother. I'll go over there and I'll try to con-
vince them"? No. That's not the realization. Gas crisis! Well, what is gas crisis? This whole Earth we are living on can collapse. It's such a thing that we live every day, but don't know what for. We live. We exist but don't know what the reason is.
It's like this photographer who goes out and, "Bam, bam, bam, bam," starts taking pictures. But he doesn't know what he's taking a picture of. He doesn't know why he's taking a picture.
If you put one drummer in one soundproof booth, the guitarist in the other, the vocalist in the other, the bass in the other, and tell them, "Play," what are they going to play? The guitarist can't hear what the drummer is doing and the drummer can't hear what the vocal is singing and it's like, "Play." And they don't even know what they're playing for. They can all start playing. And you can get it on a 16-track machine. And you can hear it, too. And it'll sound just completely nuts. It'll sound so aimless.
People study music. People compose music. People play music. It has to be in perfect harmony. If it doesn't have to be in perfect harmony then we all can play. We're all musicians. Anybody can get up there and take couple of sticks and go, "Bang, bang." What is there to play? It's the harmony.
But can't we realize that in our lives, too? Isn't that what our lives are all about? The son leads his own life. The father leads his own life. Our own trips. The things that we get into. And what is the harmony? Sounds like a bad piece of music. Sounds like an untogether, unfit composition.
And yet we know that that one Creator that created this whole Earth didn't create it that way. Or for that purpose.
In France, when the program happened in Montpellier, there was this premie band. That was exactly the problem with them. They didn't sound so good at all. There was a premie guitarist, probably his hand was playing it a little bit faster than he was singing.
What do you think it is? Why do we live, anyway? What has this world got?
It's so simple to me, that every time we come into this world, here we are. And every time this world makes a sucker out of us. We just completely lose it. And every time, when this happens - why are people so surprised? They hear Guru Maharaj Ji. "Guru Maharaj Ji can reveal Knowledge to you" - what are people so surprised for? It's the oldest thing. It goes as far back as before history can even record the incidents. And not in one place. A repeated history. A repeated message. Not only in America, in South America, in Australia, you name it. Everywhere in this world. China, India, Nepal, Ceylon. This has happened so many times.
And where is our understanding of it all? Why does Guru Maharaj Ji come for us? Where is our effort? Okay. Most of the people sitting in this auditorium are premies. Where is our effort to really understand? Okay. What I am saying sort of jives. Jives with what you have heard for six years, seven years, eight years. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Right, right. I know that."
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Guru Maharaj Ji's blessings
come. They do come, when our
hearts are pure. When there is
something in us that can accept
that. When there is something in
us that can realize that. Then Guru
Maharaj Ji's Grace works."
But that's not going to do you any good.
You go to an aircraft school and the instructor gets up there and says, "The aircraft flies." That's all he says is, "The aircraft flies." And you say, "My God, I'm wasting time here. I know the aircraft flies." And you just leave. "What's this guy going to tell me? What can this guy possibly tell me? He just told me the aircraft flies. I know the aircraft flies. I know that much."
That's the sad story. That person leaves and never listens to the rest of it. And the rest of it is exactly what he wants to know: how the aircraft flies. First thing, the aircraft flies because …
And all of us sometimes make that mistake of leaving, of separating ourselves before the "because," before the reason, before the reality, before the true understanding. And you tell me how any one of us can possibly benefit? And Guru Maharaj Ji comes. You know that experience is there. I know that experience is there. I know. That's why I am here talking to you. That experience is there, that Guru Maharaj Ji's love is there, that kindness of Guru Maharaj Ji is there. Guru Maharaj Ji comes in this world to share that love, to share that experience, to show you the path, to give you that understanding you so desperately lack in your life.
And yet, what goes wrong? What happens? Who drifts? We do. We drift because we assume. We drift because we think. We think. We translate. We would like to put everything in our little boxes. We would like to put everything the way we think it should be.
It's been a long time since when I said that premies, we really have to make one thing clear in our lives. And that is that Knowledge isn't just going to become a part of life. Knowledge isn't just going to go there and say, "Here is your life," and you get up at seven o'clock. From seven to eight you're going to sit down and do meditation. And then you go to your office. You do your number, come back home. Relax. And then twenty minutes, forty-five minutes or an hour before the program is supposed to happen in your community, you try to kill two birds with one stone. While you're at it, you clean up a little here and you clean up a little there, help set up a few chairs and then sit down on top of the chair. Namely your own chair. You grab it from where it isn't and then put it where you'd like it to be. There is your service. You sit on top of it and relax. So you've done your meditation. You've done your service. "Where is that initiator? How come he's late? Doesn't he know he's delaying my satsang?" And the fact is that that's not the way to go around to it.
And yet, what really has to happen is that Knowledge has to be that whole thing in our lives. That's it. And then our daily routines can just be. But not that our daily routines are it and then Knowledge is one of those "its." But Knowledge has to be it and those daily routines are our physical handicaps.
And yet you tell me - a very simple question. I have said it five or six times (more than that, probably). It's been printed in magazines. It's been filmed. It's been video-taped. And I'm pretty sure that you must have
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seen one of them - either read the magazine, seen the film, seen the video or heard a cassette tape or heard the satsang itself. And yet how many of you have sincerely been able to accomplish it?
Now there are two things. Either what I've said was impossible - can't be done - or you just didn't catch my drift. You just didn't understand what I said. I mean, those are the only two possible explanations you can narrow it down to. Either it's a total impossibility - can't be done. It's impossible. How can you do it? - or you just don't even understand Guru Maharaj Ji. Which one? Which one is your excuse?
And the thing is, you see, I'll say it now and if I live next year I'll say it next year. If I live the year after next year I'll say it that year. If I'm still around by 1995, I'll say it in 1995. Year 2000, if I'm around then, I'll say it even then. Because I know that's a reality. I know that it can be done. It has been done and it can be done. And if anybody will ever do it, it'll be the humans. Not the gorillas, not the elephants, not the hippopotamus, not the rhinoceros, but people just like you.
And so tell me. The thing is, there's only one thing left. Which of course is not - can't be - qualified as an excuse and sometimes is very, very hard to accept. The effort on your part hasn't been so great. I know that's a very hard thing to accept. "Listen, man, I'm doing whatever is humanly possible. I am making that effort."
Look. It's a very simple thing. Initiators get up. They all tried to express - have in the past, did today, and will tomorrow, and day after tomorrow, as long as this program lasts - they will try to express one thing: satsang, service and meditation - this is something that we have to do. To love Guru Maharaj Ji, to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji is something that we have to do.
Now I can't say that they have done it in their lives. Sometimes, in fact, maybe their ears can't believe what they have just said. But the fact is that this is no routine. It may appear to be a routine but it is no routine. What I tell you, what I am trying to tell you, is the way it is.
And that's the way if we are going to get across, if any one of us is going to make it, well that's the way we're going to make it. There are no "ifs," "ands" and "buts" connected to it. There is only one thing. One simple thing. And then where does our effort lie? Where is our understanding?
Sometimes it's very easy to call it a routine and get attached to it as a routine. "Satsang, service, meditation. Satsang, service, meditation." It sounds like a "choo-choo train" going. But it isn't.
Satsang. Okay, don't call it satsang. If you hate the word satsang, call it inspiration. To inspire us. Why do we need inspiration? Why? So we can make that effort more efficiently in our lives. So that we do not lose the track.
Look. Jockeys. I was in England. And every time you turn on a television you see a horse. And there's this guy on top of the horse. So much horse racing
happens in England. Guess it happens everywhere. Dog racing in America and horse racing in England. And these jockeys who ride these horses have little sticks in their hands. And this stick is a very, very important tool. When it comes to the finishing line and the second horseman wants to be the first, he sort of lifts off from the seat and takes that stick and starts whipping that horse.
In the dog tracks they have a rabbit. And this rabbit runs in front of the dogs. The dogs look at it and they chase the rabbit. Why? Why does the jockey hit his horse and why do the dog races have rabbits? It's a fake rabbit, of course, but what is the purpose of it? To inspire. To inspire the dogs to run. See, when they see that rabbit going at it, they want to get it. They want to get it. And those dogs are so dumb. They have run and run and run and they know that none of them ever caught a rabbit. And yet, there it is.
And why would a jockey ever want to beat his horse? It's right at the finish line when they start doing it. They let the horse run, don't beat him, don't get him mad in case he just stops and says, "I ain't going." But he does it and the more he hits him, the harder he hits him, it inspires that horse more and more to go at it. It would be very stupid for us - people who are seeking a realization, people who are seeking an experience in their lives - to be chasing rabbits at dog tracks. Can you imagine human beings doing that? "The Spiritual Society. The International Spiritual Society." You buy a ticket, go in there and chase a rabbit.
And it's very, very hard for us to get a stick and beat ourselves every time we want to get inspired. But we do need inspiration. We need to be inspired to make that effort. Because our common factor is laziness. If we could do everything in this world without doing anything, that's the way man might like it.
They have these cartoons like "Jetsons." And in that the guy gets up and he goes, "I better go for my daily walk." And he hits a button by his bedside and a screen appears. And it's his film of walking. He is in his own film and he is walking. And he lies there and looks at it. And somehow that translates to him a feeling that he has just walked a mile.
All these advancements that are coming. In Germany they just invented this bus and it was very amazing. In the documentary there was this guy sitting and driving it and that looked very normal. All of a sudden the guy turned, got up and walked away. And the bus just kept on going. And it came to the bus stop, stopped itself, opened the doors, then closed the doors, took off and went right back on the road.
That's our problem. We don't want to do anything. And yet, there is something that we are here for. And why do we even need that inspiration to begin with? Because we are so off-tuned, so off-tuned, that we can't listen to our inside inspiration that's there, glowing all the time, happening all the time. But we are so far away from that, so far gone from that. It calls but we don't hear. It says something to us.
What is man's quest? What has man accomplished?
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Pimples and Zits Galore at Guru Puja (Worship) 1979
Okay, there was a time, there were these Englishmen. And they were very sick and tired of paying all the taxes. They were very sick and tired of having to be constantly under control, and decided that they would like some freedom. So they got themselves a ship and called it the "Mayflower" and sailed on down to the United States. Okay? I mean, this is what they tell you it was like. Then they came and they were very thankful. "Here it is," you know. "Ta-da!" There's this whole world. There's America.
There were people in England who committed crime. These people were not thought to be very good at all. They didn't know what to do with them. (This is what I have heard so if there are Australians here, don't feel too bad. Because this is what I have heard.) And they would send them to Australia. I hope it's changed since then. But that's how Australia came about.
What is it? Do you think that now all those people who left England and came to America are happy? Are Americans happy? Are Englishmen happy? Are Australians happy? Are Canadians happy? You see, the thing is, there is a saying that says, "When you cry, you cry alone. But when you smile, when you laugh, the world laughs with you." That is not true. When you cry, you cry alone. And when you laugh, you laugh alone.
Happiness - that true happiness that we all look for - is in within our hearts.
America is a country that has a lot to offer. "Freedom," you know. England is a country that has a lot to offer. Canada is a country that has a lot to offer. In
their own ways. But what Guru Maharaj Ji has to offer is for everybody. It's for Americans, for Mexicans, for South Americans, for North Americans, for Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, refugees - everybody.
And only the people who have been Graced, the people who have been blessed with Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, can in fact realize the opportunity, can in fact realize what it means. Because it means everything. Everything. Without that you may have what you may think is everything and still have nothing.
With Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, with Guru Maharaj Ji's blessings, with Guru Maharaj Ji's love you may have what you might call nothing, but in fact have everything. And that's the way it is. That's the fact.
And what this world pursues day to day, what we get so intrigued by every minute - and Guru Maharaj Ji's asking us to just turn our heads for one minute, one second, for one moment and look. An initiator was giving the example of a department store. What is it? It's not even a department store; it's like a little catering van that comes by, opens up the doors and we start looking at all the ice cream and this and that and what we could have, and completely get intrigued by it. Completely. This and that and this and that and this and that.
What do you think makes a little child who is six, seven, eight years old, get lost in a toy store, get lost at a big festive occasion? What is it? It's a very simple thing. The child's come with his mother. The child has a very deep affection for its mother, its father. And under any circumstance if you would say, "Your mama is going to go away," the child would not like that. And yet - that's the truth and that's the way it is. Look, that's the fact. Premlata will not even go anywhere without "mama." Wherever she has to go, "mama" has to be there. And that's the way it is - and yet when that child goes to the store and sees this intriguing thing and this interesting thing and this interesting thing and loses the value, loses that precious relationship, for a moment the child doesn't even care if the mother is there. That important thing - to hold on to the hand.
They have invented a thing so that won't happen again. It's called a leash, a child leash. And they put your children on the leash and they look like a dog. A dog who can do a very fancy trick and walk on two legs.
And we have to understand that that's exactly our case, too. That there is that love that we thrive for. There is that love that we want in our lives. There is that love that can fulfill us, fill us up with that love. It is all there. Guru Maharaj Ji can give us that love that we are looking for, that we truly want from our hearts.
We come into this big "toy store," look at all the toys there are and get very intrigued. And sometimes it costs us a bit too much. Sometimes it costs us everything that we have. We come into this world. We go away from this world. And there is absolutely nothing to account for. There's nothing left. Becomes the
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Pimples and Zits Galore at Guru Puja (Worship) 1979
same old story every day. Another tombstone rises. Another body is burned. Another body is thrown in the ocean. Every day.
And yet you tell me. Does it ever appear to be that that is life? 1919-1974. A dash. That's it: a dash. Is that dash, in fact, truly signifying what this life is all about? Yes! For that person's life, that's exactly what it is - a dash. Born and died. The only two important things that ever happened in his life. Two most important events.
And Guru Maharaj Ji makes this life life. Life to live; to make it a reason to live, give it a purpose to be alive. And when we see that, when we can comprehend that, then that experience can also manifest in our lives - what Guru Maharaj Ji is, who Guru Maharaj Ji
is. What can Guru Maharaj Ji give you? Guru Maharaj Ji can give you your life back that you have just sold to this world for a petty price. That's what Guru Maharaj Ji does. This body, this soul, this life that we just sell and give to this world unnecessarily, Guru Maharaj Ji takes it back and gives it back to us - to live, to experience.
And in every one of our lives if we really can experience that love, if we really can be that devotee of Guru Maharaj Ji … Not a person who can do good routines. As one initiator was saying, is it the fan club that says, "Bhole Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai" all the time? Is it another one of those things? That's it?
The funny thing is, that's what a lot of people think. And I'm not talking about people outside this conven-

Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Pimples and Zits Galore at Guru Puja (Worship) 1979
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tion center either. In this convention center. That's what a lot of people, that's what a lot of premies, think - that this is just one more of those things.
If you know what Guru Maharaj Ji is, who Guru Maharaj Ji is, then what would be the significance of you saying, "I love you, Guru Maharaj Ji"? What would be your experience every time you said, "I love you, Guru Maharaj Ji"? It would be that experience that you can't even get after reading every single scripture that's existent today. Because you can feel that love. You can experience that love. You can realize that love.
But to us, there is too much fog. And this fog is our problem. It's our problem. This is where our effort has to come in. To remove that fog. To really see Guru Maharaj Ji for a change. Really experience Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.
Everybody says, "By your Grace, Guru Maharaj Ji. By your Grace, Guru Maharaj Ji. By your Grace, Guru Maharaj Ji." What do you think Grace is? Bubble gum? Put a cent in, turn the thing and out it comes. Put it in your mouth and it lasts and lasts until you get sick and tired of it and spit it out. Is that what Grace is?
Grace is there. There's no doubt about that. There is a thing called Grace. There is a power called Grace. There is a blessing called Grace. There's absolutely no doubt about that. But it only happens when our effort, our effort, is there. Not by saying, "Oh, by your Grace, Guru Maharaj Ji."
Sometimes people even say, "And I moved out of the ashram, and it was so much Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace that he made me understand that I shouldn't have walked out of the ashram in the first place." That's not Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. What inspired you to move out is Mr. M-i-n-d. And that's it. Period.
And Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace comes; Guru Maharaj Ji's blessings come. They do come, when our hearts are pure. When there is something in us that can accept that. When there is something in us that can realize that. Then Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace works.
And no, but you can't bet on it. You can't just say, "Well, that's happening because of Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace." What if it's your own mind? Where is your line? Where do you draw the line? You see, this is the problem. And mind just accesses back and forth. Sometimes when it's the Grace it takes the credit. And when a "boo-boo" is made, mind says, "It must be the Grace trying to teach you a lesson, dummy."
But really, our experience has to be clear. Our surrender, our dedication to Guru Maharaj Ji, has to be implicitly clear. And then what an experience manifests. The Guru Puja celebration - not being celebrated only this year but from time immemorial. A festival that's greater than any man can ever put together - any race, any society can ever put together - and it happens within the heart. Yes, that experience manifests. The joy happens. The love happens. The bliss happens. The harmony happens. The excitement. Everything. Within the heart of a true devotee, every single day of that devotee's life.
And we come to worship Guru Maharaj Ji. It's a technicality: "Guru Puja." Quote, "Guru Puja." You tell me, who is in this hall who technically has a right to worship Guru Maharaj Ji or would call themselves a perfect devotee? You have to be a devotee, right? Have to have devotion. You have to be there. Something has to be there. You have to have something to worship Guru Maharaj Ji with.
And yet, who can ever say they have it? I don't know of one single person who does. And again, this is the mercy of Guru Maharaj Ji that allows us to grow, inspires us to grow. Okay, here you are, everybody is sort of "jived-in" here now. "Guru Puja. Guru Puja. Guru Puja."
I'm pretty sure some of you took a DC-10, too. "Oh, I'm going to Guru Puja. I hope this plane doesn't crash. Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, keep it up. Don't let those bolts fall. Get me there in one piece."
There's a habit among a lot of premies. Before they drive a car they'll close their eyes. I don't know what they think about. But don't tell me they aren't thinking. They are. So what are they thinking? "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, make this a successful journey." "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, keep those guys from walking in front of the car." "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, don't give me a flat tire this time." "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, keep this thing straight. It's a bad experience when this thing rolls over."
What? "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, you better protect me. I'm going to your Guru Puja. I badly want to see you." And if that's what you said while you were coming here, what's going to be your excuse when you start going back? "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, keep me together. I'm going back." And that's when the eyes open and you start up your car and leave. You don't know what to say after that.
Or is it in fact, "I surrender. Just fill my heart. Let me surrender. Let me give myself to you. Make that 'give' happen. Give me the strength so I can make the effort. Give me the ears so I can hear what you're saying. Give me the eyes to see you. Give me the tongue that can sing your glory."
Or is it, in fact, our little things that we always like to do? Or is it, in fact, that desperate prayer - that desperate prayer to Guru Maharaj Ji?
And there is that song, "Please let me give myself to you." It's a very beautiful song. (And songs are sometimes very strange. They sing one song - One Foundation - called, "Tears of Happiness." They're talking about tears of happiness and yet when they play the song they play it in such a fast rhythm that there are premies in the auditorium going, "Doot, doot, doot, doot, tears of happiness." There's no tears mentioned or anything. It's just jiving with the song, singing whatever it is all about.)
And it's like, "Let me give myself to you." And Guru Maharaj Ji has been saying for such a long time, "Give yourself to me. Let go to me. Surrender to me. Come to me." What are we? Look at the realistic picture. What is trying - what is happening here?
It's like a life-saving device. A little tube or a little styrofoam wheel hanging on the side of the ship drops
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It's a very beautiful song … And it's like, 'Let me
give myself to you,' And Guru Maharaj Ji has been
saying for such a long time, 'Give yourself to me. Let
go to me. Surrender to me, Come to me.'"
down in your way. If you don't care about it you'll just kick it. "In my way." Report it to somebody. "Look at this thing. What is this thing doing in my path?" And yet if you fall into the water, you might even do pranam to that device. "Save me! Help me! Keep me afloat."
And sometimes this happens with us and Guru Maharaj Ji. Guru Maharaj Ji constantly is saying, "Come to me. Come to me. Come to me. Come to me. I have something to give you. I have something that you can realize. I have something that you can experience. You can experience Guru Maharaj Ji. You can experience that love. You can experience that incredible bliss."
It's a thing where you don't even give a thought to it. And when it boils down sometimes to a nook and a cranny, Grace …
Standing at the airport on stand-by. Go to the airport. Guy looks at you. "Sorry, no more seats."
And it's just like, "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, please. Help!" What's Guru Maharaj Ji supposed to do? Write a ticket for you and say, "Here. I heard your prayers. And I've answered your prayer. Here it is. Your ticket to Hawaii. Have a nice vacation." What?
Where is that desperation coming from? Why are you desperate? Are you desperate to pursue what you feel like pursuing? Are you desperate? Are you really desperate? In what? What? How can a man who is sleeping say to anybody, "When I go to sleep …"? He already is sleeping. How can you be desperate about this world?
What is in this world to be desperate about? Nothing. And yet there is something to be desperate about. That love! The love of Guru Maharaj Ji! The blessings of Guru Maharaj Ji that we all need in our lives.
And I know that some of you have just arrived, over there in that corner of the hall. Some over there in that corner of the hall just came in. Some of you arrived this morning. Some of you arrived last night: to come listen to satsang. (I came here from England. Arrived nine days ago.) Why have we all …? Why is this happening? Why are we all together? Because of this convention center? Or Miami needs some desperate money in the summer season? Or the hotels? Somebody has to fill them?
Why did I come here? Because I have a residence here? The fact is it's a leased place. And premies have tried to fix it up and tried to make it as nice as they could. Probably next year it won't even be here. Place won't even be here. Won't be living at the place.
So why? What for? Such a beautiful program happened in England. It was really incredible. The first day it started off raining. The site that was chosen was possibly the worst possible site. If somebody chose the same place again for a Guru Puja festival or any given festival, I would call it sabotage. If you can just imagine, it had a road going right next to it, airplanes right above it, and the train going very, very close to the property. And it didn't have any boats, but had plenty of marshy land. And it rained, got muddy. It was really something.
The first day all the premies came together. And I started giving satsang. It started raining. And everybody's pulling these yellow things over their heads, putting umbrellas up. It was just - okay, it happened. And then some of the airplanes would come by or if it wasn't the airplane the "choo-choo train" would come by. Something always would keep happening.
But really when that all went away and Guru Maharaj Ji started to come in and the premies' love started to come in … when that focus really started to happen, it didn't matter. It didn't matter when it rained. It didn't matter when the airplane flew. It didn't matter what happened.
And we come to experience that love. We come to see Guru Maharaj Ji. We come to hear satsang. We come to do some service. We come to have some meditation.
I sincerely hope that this time you will take something with you - that understanding, perhaps. I don't know how it'll happen. I don't know whether or not it will happen. But I just hope it happens.
I hope you make that little effort. It is a little effort. I'm not asking you to move the mountain. They sing a song. "I could move a mountain." They can't move a mountain. You can't move a mountain. But you can make that effort. And it is far easier sometimes to move the mountain.
But when Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace is there, your determination is there - when that love is there - then it is a lot more difficult to move an ant, a little ant, than it is to make the effort. Becomes simple; becomes easy. And when you try, sincerely try - not chanting a mantra. Not getting up here on that stage and pulling a daily routine. I don't want you to do that. I don't. There's no sense in doing that.
But to come to listen to Guru Maharaj Ji and to take something in your heart, to really grab a bite, to really understand … there. There is something there. That's what has to be done.
So premies, I hope I'll see you tomorrow. And again, we have to all make that effort. It's nice to see all the premies. Thank you very much. Good night.
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) On Stage Dressed As Krishna 1979