Dear premies, it's very, very nice to seeyou again. And it's really so beautiful for all of us to be assembled here on this festival of Guru Puja. You know, it's really incredible. Sometimes we don't realize a lot of things, but they really have their importance.

And I'll just give you a little example. I was at the residence and we were just getting ready to come out here. And all of a sudden, all of the lights went out and it was just completely dark. You could see the twilight and you could see all the other places lit up with lights but this whole block sort of just completely went out. And then there was everybody looking for candles and extension cords to try to run the electricity from the generator of the motor home. And it was trying to get ready without electricity: "Wow! This is really something," and constantly hoping that the electricity would come on and then everything would be okay. But nevertheless, it never came on.

And the thing is, that's the way Guru Maharaj Ji is. And this is why I gave you that example - because he prevails in our lives so much, what he does for us is so much; and sometimes, maybe because of our ignorance or our lack of understanding, we forget that. It becomes too much. It becomes too common. It becomes too easy. He becomes so much a part of our lives, Guru Maharaj Ji does, that we forget. We forget that importance. And then - just by accident something happens, and for just even a second we get pulled away from Guru Maharaj Ji - then we really realize: "Wow, wait a minute." All of a sudden there you are, and you have to try to do everything. It's like being on a big boat, and as long as the engines are running, it's beautiful. You can enjoy yourself. You can sit back and relax and look out and everything is really incredible. But what happens if the engines fail or you run out of gas? Then it comes to the point where you have to row. And I mean, if it's a really big boat, it's going to be very, very hard to row it. You're going to need some incredible-sized paddles to try to row a boat that size.

But nevertheless, this is what this whole program is all about. It's about Guru Puja. I think all of the people understand the meaning of "Guru." I hope all of the people understand the meaning of puja. Because puja means worship. And how do you actually worship Guru Maharaj Ji? Though it's like worship, you don't exactly just go with an arti tray - or as the tradition is, with an arti tray and what-have-you - the red stuff, and this and that and piles of coconut and banana leaves, and the whole tradition - and try to put on more of a show than actually worship. That's not really worship.

And how do you actually worship Guru Maharaj Ji? You see, when we come to that question - how to worship Guru Maharaj Ji, how to really understand that - we have to turn back a few pages. That's just like a big dictionary that says, "For this, turn back to page one." And then when you turn back to page one, it says, "Turn to the introduction." And then when we turn to the introduction, then it says, "Turn to the preface." And then when we turn to the preface, it says, "Turn to the acknowledgements." And then when we turn to the acknowledgements, it says, "Turn to the front of the book. Look at the title." And this is what our lives are really like. We have to go all the way back to really understand what Guru Maharaj Ji is, what this festival of Guru Puja is.

To me, this festival has a lot of meaning - and for a lot of people. And a very common meaning, a common purpose, is that we can all come together again. There's the Holi Festival, and then there are festivals that have no names as festivals but still are festivals. It's just a chance, an opportunity, for all of us to get together and enjoy the company of all the other premies, to listen to satsang, to have darshan, to enjoy the Grace that is happening, to see all of our brothers and sisters, and just to have a wonderful time. And it's just so incredible. It's just so beautiful to come and to be able to share that.

And so this is going back to the history of what is Guru Maharaj Ji. What is the title of this book? What are the acknowledgements? What is the preface? What is the introduction? What are the contents? What is this book?

And today this is the beginning of the Guru Puja Festival, and it's just so beautiful. Just even flying from Malibu, you could feel everybody was excited. Not because we were going on a plane ride. But everybody was excited about what was actually happening out here. You could almost feel it.

And no, to a lot of people: "Logically, that's impossible. I mean, that's ridiculous. That's being, like, crazy." But that's really not true. You can actually feel it! And it's just like the same thing. Because there's so much love flowing you can feel it and you can feel it everywhere. And in this festival, all the premies are here; there are also aspirants. For them the book is just starting to begin. And for us, maybe we are on the fiftieth or the sixtieth or the seventieth page of the book. For them, the book is just starting.

So premies, we have to go back to that point now: How did this whole thing start to happen? What happened? And to me personally, the way - I guess I've told my story three or four times, but let me tell it to you again. My story is that there was a search. And to me, there is always a constant search going on within inside of man. And if ever that search stopped, if the person actually found the true meaning of his life and then that search stopped - I think there would be sometimes incredible things happening if that search actually stopped.

But that eagerness, that anxiousness, always to go

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to look for that answer, to look for that Truth, brings us to a point where in our lives we really see that: "I'm missing something …" Sometimes you stand in front of a mirror and you make faces at yourself. Or sometimes you lie down on the bed and you start thinking. And a lot of people do that -- just start thinking. And what you are thinking is something that you would never say to anybody. And the faces that you are making maybe you would never make in front of anybody. It's because what you are facing at that point is a true vision, is a true reality, is a true image, of what is really happening inside of you. You know, you can fool all the other people, but you just can't fool yourself.

And when it comes to that, you just really see, "Well, okay, I've got this, I've got this, I've got this." And then you start looking. "Okay, when I was a little child, I always desired an automobile," or "I always desired a house," or "I always desired this." And it's like, "Wow! I really beat myself to do this. I really went through a lot to do this. And sometimes aimlessly! Just in one pursuit." Because you see, when man in this world wants to buy an automobile, before he can actually buy an automobile, if he happens to be broke, he has to do a few more things. And one of them is try to find a job and start pursuing, just start doing work. so he can gather some money, so he can collect some money, so he can buy an automobile with it, or accomplish whatever his dreams are.

And man -- to me, this is the problem. It's that whatever human beings are doing in this world, it's very, very difficult to determine what is right and what is wrong. Because to me, you just can't write the book about what is right and what is wrong. It's like one man's medicine; other man's poison. Maybe in some countries stealing is a misdemeanor, while in other countries if you get caught your hand is chopped off and it's not a misdemeanor. In one country maybe there is this Congress and maybe there are all these amendments being made, and maybe continuously there are laws being made while in other countries, like the Moslem countries, they just pick up the Koran and say, "This is our law." So to me, it's just hard to write a book about what's right and what's wrong.

And there are so many people in this world who say, "Do it this way! Follow God this particular way and you will reach heaven. And if you don't, then you just won't get there." To me, it's like: What does God want?

And this is just off the top of my head. I was just watching this movie. It was such a complicated movie, and it was about how the priests were coming on. And it was just such a strong thing. And it just occurred to me: What does God want? Does God want you to follow Him, period? Or does God want you to follow Him in a certain way? And if God wants you to follow Him in a certain way, then God has form, then God is very finite, then God is not infinite. Because He has requested you, very definitely, to go a certain way; otherwise you won't be able to get to Him. To me, the only way (and that's not even the "way;" I mean it's hard to put it, because it's not even the "way") is to just realize God, is to get to Him, is to know Him. Just to have that realization of that incredible energy is what it really takes. To have that Knowledge. To practice that Knowledge.

Because Knowledge is not a way. It's almost not even a method. It's just you going within inside of you. It's just like quenching your thirst. It's just like speaking. It's very natural. And it's within inside of you and it's a part of you. And that is why it's not a way.

So as I was saying, you begin the chapter. There you are. What is your aim? Where do you want to go? Where does the cycle of liberation begin? Where does it end? And questions start coming in your head.

Because somebody told you about heaven and hell. And I'm not going to argue the fact that maybe heaven exists, or maybe hell exists, or maybe they both don't exist, or maybe they both exist. (I guess there are so many scriptures that have been written. There are so many things that have been said. And I guess they have definitely convinced a lot of people. While, on the other hand, they have definitely not convinced lot of people. So I don't know what the majority of the people sitting here are. Who is convinced that there is heaven and hell and who is convinced that there is no heaven and hell.) But it's a straight thing -- that you are here. And Knowledge is here. And that practical experience is here. And this is what you have to pursue -- now.

Now is when it has to happen. Now is when it has to manifest. And I quite clearly remember Shri Maharaj Ji used to say that you can be just like a miser, and you just keep on putting money in your savings till you die. He used to say, "What good is that going to do you? You're dead. You're finished. No, if you want to save something, save it. But also save something now to be able to enjoy it now. Because after you are dead, what good is it?"

And that was so clear to me. Because it's like somebody keeps telling you all your lifetime -- and I'm not arguing that fact -- but somebody keeps telling you for the rest of your lifetime, "You want to go to heaven. You want to go to heaven. That's what you want. So do this, do this, do this and you will go to heaven," So when you die, somewhere between Earth and heaven a little door opens and this guy goes, "I made fool out of you!" I mean, that's not an impossibility. That's quite possible. It can happen, though it's maybe a weird thought. Maybe it's an absurd idea. But that's also possible.

And since it is possible, you start thinking twice about things, you see? And that's my point: to make you think twice about things. If you have to think,

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okay! "There is heaven, there is hell and there is all this …" But what about the experience that you have to gain now?

When that starts happening in your life, when that sort of wheel starts turning in your life and things start to take a little shape, one after another, one after another, then where are we going to go? Where are we going to proceed? And then that big huge wheel of search turns on, to search for the perfect answer, to search for the perfectness, not knowing what perfectness is.

Whenever we talk about perfectness, a bell rings: "Perfect!" But what is perfect? It's so hard to put your finger on it. What is perfect? Perfectness. Impeccable. Incredible. Divine. One after another you just start saying similar words, to try to click in your head what "perfect" is. And no matter what you dig up in terms of words, still you won't be able to click: "What is perfect ?" Even in a meaning, what is "perfect"? -- that which doesn't have any imperfectness. But what is that that doesn't have any imperfectness? It's perfectness. And what is … It's like a big wheel that can just go on and on.

So that is the point that you get to. And then it just becomes a desperate search. It becomes a true search. It becomes an eager search and it becomes a sincere search. And to me, only when that becomes a sincere search do people actually become humble, come to that point where they can actually receive Knowledge. And then this is where the chapter changes. That's the first chapter. That's your search, and so on and so forth. That's your determination that, "Look, this is what I want in my life." You don't know that it's Knowledge. You don't know anything like that. But you want something in your life that's perfect, that's incredible, that's divine, that's mind-blowing, that's fantastic, that's far out. And all these things go on.

And then the whole chapter changes, and you come to the point: "So where do I go now? Where do I look for it?" Well, of course, this is a big chapter. This is where you go into -- many people have gone into the Himalayas, or you bury yourself, or you do this or you do that. I don't know. I guess there are countless things that people have done in their lives to try to find what is perfect, to search for what is perfect in this world.

And then, by the end of that finishing chapter, you happen to see a poster. Or you happen to bump into a premie and find that there was something different about this person, that he didn't get all upset and mad and furious, and go, "Why don't you watch where you're going!" But he said, "Oh, it's okay." (Maybe that's not the way all the premies are, but maybe a few of them are that way.) And then something happened. Or you read a poster and you came to the first satsang.

All along this. I have not said "Guru Maharaj Ji" yet. And you must have noticed that. (Maybe I have said it once or so.) But all along this, I haven't said "Guru Maharaj Ji." Because you know something? This is what I'm trying to explain. Guru Maharaj Ji has paved a whole parallel road all along this that we don't even know about. His Grace -- he has manifested so much.

And what I am saying is -- maybe I can't even explain it to you, but it exists. And this is all I can say: that it does exist. Maybe if you want to know why two and two are four, maybe I won't be able to put that together for you. But somehow along this whole life, Guru Maharaj Ji has played this whole part, this whole role, this whole mystic, incredible thing, this whole drama and a dramatic effect in your life, and he has been just crossing parallel right along it.

And by his Grace, then one day you receive Knowledge. And up to that point, he is not even your Guru Maharaj Ji. That's not even your Guru Maharaj Ji. Because "Guru" is someone you have to accept as Guru, who has shown you the Light. Up to that point, you haven't even seen the Light, you haven't even seen the Knowledge, you haven't even had that realization. Up to that point, he is not even your Guru Maharaj Ji. But the day you receive Knowledge, and by your own effort of doing satsang, service and meditation you start to experience that experience of Knowledge, that experience of Guru Maharaj Ji, it's just like the world's biggest, biggest rose opening up all the petals. it's the greatest sunshine, where all the rays iust completely come glooming out golden into your lives, and you see the Grace manifest. You can see, you can feel, the Grace happen in your life.

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And so somewhere along this line, there's always been Guru Maharaj Ji. And then once we receive Knowledge, once he becomes Guru Maharaj Ji, then it becomes even more. That role even becomes more dominant. Because by his Grace, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, only by his Grace, can we continue in this lifetime even doing satsang, service and meditation.

And doesn't that sound strange? I bet nobody told you that before, huh? Maybe that's what people are thinking: "Nobody told me that before." But that's the truth.

And that's the way this whole mechanism works. Because everything is self-sustaining. Everything is so self-sustaining that you need another thing that is completely self-sustaining, but has that bridge, has that gap, between what is infinite and what is finite, to bridge those two together and bring forth that continuous experience in your life. And so this is what we really have to understand.

And once we can understand the mercy of Guru Maharaj Ji, once we can understand the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, once we can understand that unreasonable reason why -- what is Guru Maharaj Ji? Not who is Guru Maharaj Ji. What is Guru Maharaj Ji. Because to me -- there was a book written, Who is Guru Maharaj Ji? And it tried in one simple book to give that one answer to that one question that took so many, so many, so many scriptures to answer: Who is Guru Maharaj Ji? Because maybe the question there wasn't Guru Maharaj Ji. Maybe at that time it was like, who is the Lord or just the one who has revealed the Knowledge to us?

It's not who is Guru Maharaj Ji. The question is: What is Guru Maharaj Ji?

In our lives, how do we surrender? In just our own lifetime, how do we surrender to that Guru Maharaj Ji? When we start to reason, when we start to figure out that mechanism, that simple mechanism, then we can really see what this festival is all about, besides the point that it's just a beautiful occasion to come together, see each other, have darshan, have a lot of satsang, enjoy ourselves -- what is the reason to come to Guru Puja?

And so now that we are here, premies, it's just to open up to that incredible Grace that is flowing all throughout here. Because it's just so fantastic. It's so incredible. There are so many people who have come from so many places. If I even tried to describe the story of how this one guy got here, I believe that if there are ten thousand people sitting in this hall, every one of those ten thousand stories of their experiences coming here is going to be different. Even if they are a married couple or brothers or came on the exact same charter. But it is going to be a different experience. Because it's just how it all came together for us. It's just, how did we finally end up in this hall?

It's just one thing that has brought us here together and that is Guru Maharaj Ji. And what Guru Maharaj Ji has given us has sewn us all together, has bound us all together. And that is via Knowledge, that is through Knowledge. Because without this Knowledge, without the realization of this Knowledge, we can't go. We can't do anything. And without the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, we can't realize Knowledge.

So maybe it's even a loop. Maybe it's even like a chain. Maybe it even sounds kind of odd, kind of different. Because I'm pretty sure there are some people who are not understanding a word I'm saying, though it's even in English. But what I'm saying is our experience. And if they were to come in, if they were to find out themselves, they would also understand what we are talking about.

So premies, this is so incredible. And we have to realize it -- now. We have to see how beautiful it really is -- now -- to be able to appreciate it. Because you see, this always happens. Whenever that present bliss is in front of us, whenever that incredible thing is happening in our life, we never appreciate it. We don't even realize it, maybe. But when it passes away, then we go, "Wow! That was fantastic. Wow! That was incredible." And then we start to appreciate it.

But the appreciation of this Knowledge, of this Grace that is flowing through us, has to happen -- now. That link that is joining us, all of us in this hall,

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has to be appreciated, has to be noticed, has to be understood, has to be polished, has to be strengthened -- now.

Because this is just like a huge river and it just goes on and goes on. And what we have to appreciate is that there have been a lot of times when people have not realized Guru Maharaj Ji, when people have not realized who that person is. At the time of Jesus, he was a Perfect Master. He came here to reveal something to people. And as I was saying in the last sat- sang, there was John. Believing in God. Everything. Now, why doesn't he just sit down and write a book, write a little chapter? No, he doesn't do that yet. (Well, that's what history says, anyway.) Somebody else comes into his life. Some incredible experience happens in his life. And then he sits down and he writes a book, a chapter -- ever so incredible -- of his experience.

And according to those words -- they're fantastic. How could you possibly say it better? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"? I mean, that sounds incredible to me. There was an experience, a definite experience that happened when he met Jesus. And that was at that time, and when that experience happened in his life, when that experience came in his life, then he writes his experience, then he sits down -- because there is something to write about.

So this is almost the same thing that has to happen now. I'm not saying sit down and write a book. Because there are a lot of premies who write a lot of books, and they send them to me. And you get all these books and you start to read them. They're nice: they're good. But you definitely can't publish them. One of the reasons is there are a lot of things to publish -- a lot of current satsang -- rather than some partially confused premie's experience.

So premies, it's not the idea of you sitting down and trying to write a book. But it's you sitting down and appreciating, and letting it happen in your life -- now -- so that you can see the endless Grace, the endless mercy.

Look at it. There is so much in this world. There is so much. And it's so incredible in this world. You see beautiful trees. And you see beautiful mountains. And you see the beautiful, beautiful ocean. You see beautiful sunsets. This is the feeling I get sometimes when I see sunsets. I look at a sunset and it's beautiful and the more it sets, the more beautiful it becomes. Then in the ocean you can almost see two suns, one setting and one sort of rising. And at that time, it occurs to me sometimes -- I think, "There is some idiot in this world somewhere, sitting down with his books, trying to figure out what this whole system is all about." Instead of being there, looking at it and enjoying it -- to let it happen and to enjoy it -- he's probably sitting down: "And the Earth is rotating, and so the sun is going down, which would reflect off the moon so many times. And why does this happen? Because the Earth is rotating all the time, and that is why this is happening. And maybe the sun rotates …" And he's just learning all these things. But even if he learns about it, what is he going to do -- unless he wants to become an astronaut and go up there.

But premies, just to experience is the most beautiful thing. And this is what we have to do; this is what we have to open up to. To do that. And then the question comes, of course: How do we open up to it? How do we surrender? How do we let go? Because we "clog" on. We hold on to so many things in our lives. it's just like, "Don't let go, don't let go, don't let go. If you let go, you will fall." It's like a roller coaster ride. When you sit in a roller coaster, the stiffer you get, the more uncomfortable it will be. The more relaxed you get, the better it will be. Because there you can be, holding on to this rod as tight as you can, hurting your hand, stiffened up. You're not going to fall out of that thing! And it's just the same way. if you just let go -- to surrender.

Because I remember the first time I'd ever been in the cockpit of an airplane. And there I was. We took off, and the guy said, "Why don't you just take a little feel for it, what it's like?"

I said, "Okay." So I took the steering wheel, and I started to turn it. And as I turned it, I tried to maintain my own balance. So the airplane was turning, and I was leaning the other way. And it was sort of odd. The airplane is turning one way, and you're trying to stay straight, and you can't even control the whole balance on it. And all of a sudden, the plane starts to do weird things, going down all of a sudden, pulling up a little bit.

And then the guy said to me -- and I remember that very clearly -- he said, "Don't bother about it. You're not going to fall out of the sky! Flow with it. You're not going to fall off. It's okay." And that was so incredible.

So I realized, "This guy is right! I'm not going to fall out of the sky. Let me flow with it. Don't even try to turn. And don't try to maintain your own balance. Just sit there, and when the plane turns, you will turn. And let it happen. instead of forcing it on you, instead of compelling it on you, let it just flow completely."

Since then, I have flown a few hours. And I can't possibly imagine how I could have been still flying and all the time the plane is turning, I'm trying to find my own balance. But to let go is such feeling. To relax is the way, is the answer.

Maybe not in all things is that the answer. Say, if you are skiing behind a boat, if you let go, you're going to fall. But in this case of devotion, of dedication, of surrender, the whole idea is to let go, to let flow, to let that happen, to let Guru Maharai Ji come through you. Let Knowledge, let that Grace. take over, let that flow -- instead of our mind.

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Because, see, mind is a very weird thing. Mind is a very strong thing. And we have to understand that mind is a very strong thing. We have to understand the characteristics of our own mind. We have to understand what kind of games it can play with us. Because, boy, the kind of games this mind can play with us are so nasty, so weird. Because it can do things that we would never even imagine. It'll do things that we can't even think about. And that's Mr. Mind. It's like, it's an option. It doesn't exist, so what do you chase out in your lives? It's just like, "Okay premies, get rid of the mind." Or, "Your mind is too strong, so get rid of it."

Okay, that is one way of putting it. But almost one way of looking at it is also, "What is it? Can you feel it? Can you touch it? Can you grab it?" No. It's there. You can feel the presence of it, but you can't touch it. And it is haunting you. So how do you get rid of it?

And I've seen total devastation happen in people's lives with mind. To a lot of us here, when we say the word "ego," it strikes us, "Who wants that?" But do you know there are a lot of people in this world that live for the very purpose: ego?

What is ego? It is a substitute for that self-realization. Because they do not understand who they are. They don't know who they are. So they substitute with ego. They make themselves something. They pretend themselves to be something. They bring something forth. They "suppose."

It's like in algebra. X is equal to Y. Now why? Nobody knows that, but everybody just takes it for granted: X is equal to Y and figure it out. "What happens next?"

And it's almost the way man has been programmed. How many people know -- I mean, maybe somebody does, so maybe I shouldn't ask this question. But nobody ever told me why two and two are four. Why not two and three are four, or why not eight and seven are four? Why does it have to be two and two are four? And from that day on, it's just, "Yessir, two and two are four." And from that day, if you said, "Two and two are eight,""You naughty boy, you haven't been learning your lesson! You haven't been doing your homework. So write fifty pages of, 'I'll do my homework,' " or something like that. Just take it for granted: two and two are four.

And man has just supposed. He has examined so many things in his life, not understanding what their real meaning is, not understanding what they are for. They are there; accept them. Or somebody says, "Accept them," and therefore, they are there. And this is the way so many things happen. A lot of theories -- that's the way they exist.

And so when man starts to build his whole castle of his supposition, he finds, "Okay, I'm building this castle. I have saved so much money. I am a millionaire. I have this; I have that. I have built whole castle!"

But who is the king of this castle? Who is the identity who is going to live in this castle? Who does it all belong to? "Me; I." What is "I?" "I" is this incredible thing, this incredible force: "That's me!" And then he builds this whole thing around it and that's his substitute for that awareness. That is his substitute for that true realization. That is his substitute for what he thinks he is. Instead of looking at himself as who really he is within inside, having self-realization, he poses a whole play, he poses a whole scene, to make believe that that's what he really is. And from there on, that's how he operates. So premies, this is what we have to let go of. This is what we have to get away from. This is what we have to surrender.

And who is responsible for all this? It's the mind. And then, let me explain again. Because there's a lot of confusion when we talk about mind. There is something called the brain that's made out of flesh. And it sits right in your head. And that does a few things, remembers a few things. It functions. It has a function that it does. We are not talking about your brain. And we are not talking about your memory. We are talking about this preposterous beast that sits somewhere out there behind all this, that takes that Knowledge, that takes that memory, that takes that brain, and turns them upside down. That is what we are talking about. Something. We know that that something exists.

There are so many people in this world and they are suffering. And they keep on suffering. Why? Why are people suffering? And this was the great question Shri Maharaj Ji used to discuss or talk about. There are so many people suffering. What is the real solution to these people suffering? Food? If they are suffering from food, naturally you would think, "Take them some food. Give them some food. They will be happy."

But he said, "No. You give them food today; they will need food tomorrow. Their happiness will only last that long, as long as they are satisfied from that food. And it's not really food that they are suffering from." Then, is it clothing? Maybe because they don't have clothes they are suffering. No, it's not clothes. Because you can give them clothes now. Maybe six months or a year from now, their clothes will tear up; their agony, their suffering will start up again.

What is man really suffering from? We look at the symptoms of suffering. What suffering brings us is a lack of tranquility. Lack of knowing. Lack of understanding. Lack of food. Lack of clothing. Lack of this. Lack of that.

Those are symptoms! That is not the reason. That is not the cause. And by trying to just cure the symptom -- if you know that this is what you are trying to do, cure the symptom and not the disease -- you're terminal. Because you can keep on curing the symptom, and the disease will persist and persist and persist till naturally one day you can't control the symptoms anymore.

Look at this whole Earth. Look at this whole world. Where is it at? More and more issues come up. More and more suffering comes up. More and more things come up that are weird, just plain old strange. And things keep on happening that way, for some strange reason. It just doesn't stop.

In Santa Barbara a lot of people were killed, a lot of houses burned down. I was just watching the news on TV. And the reason, it said, was because this guy was flying a kite. And it got wrapped around the electrical cables, creating a short, tying them together. And the spark flew off, hit the brush, started a fire, and all these things were demolished.

Well, that's just a nice, easy explanation. Then, of course, they showed people. And it was very sad because these people had been living there for a long, long time, and all of a sudden, boom! They just didn't have their home there. It was all gone.

Now you look at that whole situation in Buffalo. There they were, all frozen up. They would show pictures of cars, and you just could literally walk on your car because the snow was as high as the roof level. Nobody could drive his way out.

I mean, this hall is air-conditioned, but if you step outside, you'll find it's very hot. Just before I entered this hall it was eighty-nine degrees. Now you imagine, out of all places, it snowed in Miami!

These things keep on happening. And it's just not like one time and that's the end of it. They just keep on happening. Okay, maybe these are accidents. Maybe

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these are what you call "acts of God."

But there is something else. And that agony that man has been trying to constantly put down, get rid of, burn away, is still there. Still people are dissatisfied. And always there has been somebody out there saying, "Look, you're pursuing it the wrong way. You're pursuing it the wrong way. That's not the reason. That's not the cause. The reason is something else. Go look for the reason, and when you have satisfied the reason, automatically all these symptoms will go away. Definitely these symptoms will go away. Then you can distinguish between the true agony that man is really facing and any other agony blamed as the real agony that you are really having inside because of a lack of that understanding, because of the lack of that Knowledge."

And so that is the way this whole story is bound together. That's the way this whole world is put together.

What will it really take to bring this Knowledge forth to all the people in this world? That is the only reason why Guru Maharaj Ji is there. When you start saying "the reason," it becomes very difficult to try to explain the reasons. Because simply, they are just inexplicable reasons. So it's very, very hard. It gets very hard to explain the reasons. But the facts are that they are there -- that Knowledge is there; Guru Maharaj Ji is here.

And what is Guru Maharaj Ji? Again, a person who can bring us from the darkness, who can take us away from the darkness, who can bring us into that Light, who can show us what that Knowledge really is, who can show us that tranquility and give us that Grace that we need to pull us through, to pull us out of this dilemma that we are in all the time, to bring us the true tranquility, the true identity that we seek in this world, and just time after time fail to realize -- that is what Guru Maharaj Ji can do for us. This is what this Knowledge can do for us.

That's almost like a sales pitch. "And Guru Maharaj Ji will give you Knowledge and Knowledge will give you peace and peace is what you need." But it's beyond that. That's not it. The feeling that flows through us -- and I can say it. Maybe in your life you haven't experienced that, but to me, it's quite clearly beyond peace; beyond a nice, cool, easy feeling all the time. it's beyond that. it's that everlasting connection. It's that everlasting glory, that everlasting harmony, flowing through you. That's a lot more than just what the sales pitch is given for. And of course, that's not even a sales pitch. Because what are we trying to sell? We're not really trying to sell anything. We want to give you something. Come. Realize it. Understand it.

So premies, I think that what we have to pursue is a lot more. You have to go beyond that point. If we receive Knowledge selfishly and say, "I want peace, I want peace, I want peace," then maybe we won't even get it. Because what we are trying to pursue is a reason. And we have to go beyond all reasons, beyond all of what we call logic, or beyond what we call our limitations, and go into this endless depth, the endless height of that reality, where there is everlasting peace, where there is everlasting tranquility, where there is everlasting harmony. And to realize that and to become one with it and to be able to feel that constantly -- because Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace when we can feel it, and Guru Maharaj Ji's mercy when we can feel it, are a lot more and a lot stronger than what we can ever desire in this lifetime. Peace can come and go. Knowledge, of course, will bring us that permanent thing. But Knowledge can also take us one step beyond.

Today, everybody's pursuing liberation. Today, everybody is pursuing this or that. And even people who receive Knowledge pursue things, via Knowledge. A lot of people receive Knowledge, "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, I want to have a kid." They say, "Okay, he's a powerful person. Maybe he's strong. Maybe he has the power to give us a kid."

So they receive Knowledge. They come every day, bow their heads, sing arti. Do this; do that. Maybe the kid never appears, never shows up. And then the faith starts to dangle away, fade away. Then you don't see them anymore. Because they are pursuing a particular definite reason. And that reason is they want to have a kid -- a materialistic reason.

Or a lot of people say, "Maybe Guru Maharaj Ji is all-powerful. And if I pray to him, maybe he'll make it manifest for me. I want to get rich. And I promise I'll give him twenty-five percent. I'll give his Mission twenty-five percent every time it comes to me." That never happens! That never, never happens, never manifests, never takes place. Because you have to pursue that one thing without reservations, without a reason why you should have it, without any desire, any anxiety, any curiosity. You have to pursue it as it goes, as it flows. You have to become a part of it. And that is a really important thing that we have to realize, that it's not like saying "shazam" …

It's like when a whole IDP candidate bunch was in Malibu, one question was, "How do you achieve that point where you can always do meditation, when that meditation always flows through you?"

And at that time I gave an answer. But then when I went back, I started to think about that. And it was like, "Wow! I bet a lot of premies probably wonder that: "What do you do to get to the point where you can meditate constantly?"

And I said, "Wow! They're making a great mistake Because what they are pursuing in their lives is to meditate constantly. Not for anything else just to meditate constantly. And it's not the desire to meditate constantly that is going to bring you constant meditation."

You see, it just doesn't work that way. You have to

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be away from that desire. As I said, you cannot desire. You don't go around desiring things. You don't desire Lord and that's why Lord comes. You go beyond desire and you have a real thirst; you have a real cry. That's what brings the Lord into this world, not because you desire. Any time you desire that, it goes away.

It's almost like a beautiful, beautiful dream (and maybe this is not a good example, because to a lot of people the word "dream" is like connecting it to "fake" or "wrong"). But it's almost like beautiful, beautiful dream. As long as you keep your eyes closed and stay there, you will be able to see it, you will be able to see him, you will be able to hear him. As soon as you open your eyes: disappeared.

And that happens a lot of times. There is a beautiful dream we are having and all of a sudden just out of -- well, a normal thing. You open your eyes up and there goes the dream. And then what people do is very quietly just lie there, close their eyes, and constantly desire to see that dream again, till a little while later they get tired and then they go to sleep. And that's that.

So premies, it's not the desire that we have to pursue in our lives. it has to be almost desireless. It has to be selfless. Selflessness.

And then again, in a way, just how do you pursue something like that?

I'll give you a few examples. Lord Krishna says that, "Do the selfless action. Commit an act which is not for you, which you do with no selfish motive." And how is that possible?

Then Hanuman reaches such a stage that Lord Ram asks him, "What do you want, Hanuman? Whatever you want, I will bestow upon you. Whatever you want. Whatever you desire." And at that time, Hanuman just didn't do a flashback and say, "Oh boy, maybe I shouldn't desire anything, and I'll get it -- what I want!" But he did go ahead and desire something. He did go ahead and want something. (And I'm just explaining to you the complexity of this whole thing.) So when he does desire something, what does he desire? He says, "I do not want any liberation. I do not want to be liberated. I want to come again and again, as you come into this world, with your body, to serve you. I do not want liberation. All I want is to be able to serve you every time you come."

Now there is a desire, okay?

And then, in the whole conversation where Lord Krishna is trying to convince Arjun that it's okay to fight -- "Just go ahead and do it," and shows him his real form -- he says, "Look, I'm everything. I'm the doer of everything. I am the maker of everything. I am everything. I am in everything and I am everything. So go ahead and fight."

He says, "It's my agya. Go ahead and fight." Then he also says, "Look, these people are dead, so just go ahead and kill them. It's okay, kid." (That's an exaggeration.) But why? "Because following me, by obeying me, the Almighty, you will attain peace. I'll give you the Knowledge. I'll reveal you myself. You will attain it." So even there, there was a desire.

So in such a complex situation, where you have to commit an action which has to be of no selfish motive -- and then, if it has no selfish motive, what can that action be? It has to definitely be something beyond helping a child across the street. Or, it has to be a little bit more reasonable than giving somebody water.

It's just so incredible. Sometimes people even do those things! Why? So that they feel good about it. Even that has some motive. It's not out of the blue where one person takes this one old lady across the street, or takes a little boy across the street, and then straightens out the tie, gives the jacket a jolt, and looks around to see if anybody saw him or not. It's not that one habitual action that you do as normal as breathing. There is a lot of motive involved there, too.

So premies, what kind of an action -- what do you do in a situation like that? It's a good question. Because that's what we are faced with. And believe me, that's one of the questions that I was also faced with. "What do you do? How do you commit a selfless action? How do you try to do something like that? If you desire, then you won't get it. So how do you desire, by not desiring, to be able to get what you

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want?"And when that gets tricky, the only solution there is and the only solution I guess I applied in my life and I guess you have to go through, is to surrender. Let go. Don't try to pull stunts, because it's just hard and impossible to do it.

This is what we have to really do. This is how the whole role of surrendering to Guru Maharaj Ji comes in. Because then it's not like trying to go up and down in a roller coaster, jumping up and down in a roller coaster. It's the matter of just sitting in the roller coaster, and the roller coaster will take you up and down, will do what you actually want to do.

To desire something else, to be able to not desire, to be able to get what you want without wanting it, is to just surrender to Guru Maharai Ji. And I guess that's one of the reasons why Guru Maharai Ji plays a great role in that whole thing. Because by surrendering to him, he will fulfill that desire that you don't want to desire but want to be able to fulfill!

And besides the fact that it's a very complicated story, premies, I hope I didn't get you confused. And if I did, just surrender and it will be okay.

So besides the whole theory (I don't know how long it's been, a fifteen or twenty minute lecture, whatever it is) -- besides all that, just a simple thing. A very simple thing. It's very, very nice to see you. And it's such a pleasure, such an incredible feeling, to come among premies, to see all the premies. Because it's just such a feeling to know, it's just so incredible to know, that the premies are really trying to make that effort, the premies are really trying to do it. And then, that makes you feel so good.

It's like a captain -- the same old example that I gave the last time. How would a captain feel, or how could a captain concentrate very properly, if he knew all of his passengers kept jumping off his ship? So it's very nice to know that, no, everybody is going to stay aboard. Just truck them right through where you want them, and where they want to go.

.And what we have to understand is that it's just so much Grace that has brought us together here. And it is completely up to us, at this point, to really accept that Grace, to really take that Grace almost (you can put it in one way) seriously, and enjoy ourselves, enjoy the occasion that we have all come here for. Just have a lot of satsang. Just try to have as many Knowledge reviews as possible.

In this time, just try to open up. Because I know, though you're all only human beings sitting here maybe somebody brought their puppy along -- that's a different story -- but you're all human beings), and I know that you are subject to having your own reservations, to having your own doubts, to having your own questions. But remember one thing. If you have any doubts, if you have any questions, there is a reason for it. And then the answer to every question is right behind it. If there weren't an answer to that

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question, that wouldn't be a question, see? An answer makes it a question.

And this is what you have to understand. See, you have to go dig up a little bit. Maybe it takes a little bit of an effort to do it that way, instead of just going to some initiator and saying -- boom! "What about this thing?" He hears your question, he gives you an answer, and you've had it. You take his word for it.

You go back and three days later you say, "I saw that initiator and he told me this and I tried it, and it just doesn't work for me." Then that initiator gives you an explanation about the whole thing and then it keeps on happening for you.

But if you tried to really search for that answer within inside of you, and answer it yourself, then you are beginning to have that key, beginning to have that solution, that it doesn't matter what question you have, you have the answer to it right like that. And a lot of people just come up and they expect me to answer a lot of questions, or the initiators to answer a lot of questions. How is it possible? The only way it's possible is because they meditated, I meditated, and therefore we have the answer. So if you meditate, you will have the answer, too.

So if you have different kinds of reservations and stuff like that not "reservations" reservations, but your own doubts, your own questions), try to dissolve them. Try to put them off.

Because if you can actually enter what is happening here you might be able to -- when you come out -- answer all your questions that you've had and will ever have. And it's possible. The Grace and the bliss that happens, if you can find the source to it -- if you can find the treasure, if you can find the key to the treasure -- then you don't have any problems. Then whenever you want, you just yank whatever you want. If you want a million dollars, you pull a million dollars.

And that is the way a lot of saints have described it, that we are the richest people in the world, because the other treasures that other people have run out, but the treasure that we have never runs out. And all we have to do is just demand upon it. Let it flow more and more, more and more, more and more; and more it'll pour, more it'll pour, more it'll pour. That's the only thing we have to do. That's the only thing. And so, that's some treasure!

Maybe you don't quite understand what I meant. But that's the way it is. This is the treasure of that eternal bliss that we have within inside of us. The more we can let it happen, the more it will flow and the more we can enjoy this.

So premies, it's up to you. If you don't want to enjoy yourselves, have a horrible time. And if you do want to enjoy yourself, have a beautiful time. So thank you very much.

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