A DREAM IN A DREAM

PREM RAWAT (GURU MAHARAJI)

Dear premies, if you're wondering about your "guest speaker," that's me. I mean, we didn't want to pull this stunt tonight but what happened was that I said this morning, "Maybe that'll be really nice to do." Because I wasn't scheduled tonight and I figured I'd be very tired.

And as I was saying yesterday, when that energy starts flowing through you, it's very intense and it becomes extremely hard to try to resist it. I went ahead and had my dinner and I didn't figure I'd be coming here. And then before I knew, I was in the room dressing up and we were on our way.

Again, there are going to be two satsangs tomorrow. But there is one thing that we can always tell each other and that's about that incredible experience that we have and that we understand.

You see, today in this life that we exist in, there are so many things to do. And man really wants to do every one of them. If you ever really read an author who has retired - the way he talks, the way he sounds, the way he phrases his words - it's like somebody who now wants to go off and do his trip.

But what we don't understand is that our trip is something else. We always go into trips. Someone was saying they used to think that if they found a nice place to live in, that's what they wanted to do. That was like the trip they wanted to complete. And if I would guess about it, I know at least ninety-nine and a half percent of the people who are here - and let's make that half percent little babies who don't understand about this world - have their trips, have their opinions. They want to go off and live it off and do it off.

But then again, there is one thing that always happens. And that is the Perfect Master coming into this world and really making us understand, "Go ahead. Do your trip. But in that trip …"

You see, it's like this. There is a first class, there is an economy, and there is a coach in an airplane. Now,

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 Prem Rawat (Maharaji) As The Supreme Lord Krishna

 Prem Rawat (Maharaji) as The Supreme Lord Krishna, 1975

as an advantage in going from point A to point B, the first class passengers are going to arrive just before the coach passengers do. And the coach passengers are going to arrive just before the economy passengers do. And you see, the way that works out is that the first class passengers are sitting in the front of the airplane. So when it enters the border of a particular state, they are the first ones to enter.

If this is what I want, to ride first class so that I'll be there a split of a second before the economy and the coach passengers, then I think it's a pretty stupid idea to ride first class. But, no. That's not the reason.

The real reason is something else. And you see, does the world today kid itself - everybody kids himself - about how it's going to be great riding in first class, because in that trillionth of a second they're going to cross the border earlier than the coach and the economy passengers are going to?

What Guru Maharaj Ji comes and says to us is that that is irrelevant. Go ahead. Ride the airplane. Do your trip. Do your thing. But in that trip, in that camping trip, be sure to take water and be sure to take some food. In case you get stuck.

He doesn't say, "Don't film me anymore" and he doesn't say, "Don't take pictures anymore." He says, "No. Just take extra film along with you in case you run out. Then you will have extra film." And this is all Guru Maharaj Ji says.

Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't say, "Don't play the guitar." He just says, "Tune it up, so it sounds better."

And it's such a subtle point between saying, "Don't play the guitar," and saying, "Play the guitar, but tune it so that it sounds right."

And in this world, in this universe, we always mistake him for saying, "Don't play the guitar." No, he never said that. He just said, "Tune it up."

Because you see, within inside every human being there is a tuning fork that's always vibrating. And to be able to tune ourselves properly we have to concentrate on that tuning fork, and listen to that tuning fork and then tune our guitars according to that tuning fork.

And so, premies, this is the reason that we have to today in this world understand the importance of Guru Maharaj Ji. Now, a lot of times I have said this. "Why is there even an importance of Guru Maharaj Ji?" He reveals us the Knowledge and we do meditation, and we go back to our homes, and that should be the end of the whole thing.

There's a little bit more to that. And that is that through his satsang and through his Grace - by his Grace - we can really understand and we can really get out of the troubles that we get into. Which is not only quite often but it's just about always.

And he is like a winch. The night before the night of the program, I drove up here. It was all rainy and muddy. And I came to this point over here and all of a sudden the car started skidding towards the lake. And I stopped the car. But I wasn't afraid. Because there was a jeep that was following me which had a winch on it. So I knew that if I did get stuck, that jeep would pull me out.

But believe me, there would have been no way that I would have taken that car one step farther, unless I found enough premies to literally lift it and put it on the road. Because there was no assurance that I would be able to even get out of that mud. But when I knew there was a winch there that could pull me out fast, then everything became different. The car did start slipping in the mud and the premies did come and push it. But besides that point, even if there were to be no premies at that stage, at that point, there was still something that convinced me that it is okay, that the winch was going to pull me out.

And this is what Guru Maharaj Ji is. Guru Maharaj Ji is not the jeep. He is the winch in that jeep. And whenever we get stuck, he will pull us out. And that is the reason why he is here.

Now, "Guru" is a Hindi word, a Sanskrit word. And I agree to the fact that bringing that word to the West might be an extremely odd thing. But then I also agree to the fact that why even call it "West" and "East" and "North" and "South," when the whole universe is one?

Let the language be just a factor of communication. Let it be just so that we can communicate between each other. And Guru Maharaj Ji, or "Guru," represents something, means something. It's not meaningless word. It's not an image of somebody. But it is a meaning. Rather than being a noun, it's a verb. And what it really means is it shows action.

I believe that the books that are used in America are quite different from the ones they use in India. But still they say that any word showing an action that takes place, that is a verb. And to me, "Guru" is a word that shows action. To me, "Guru" is not a noun. It's not a name. It's the function of a person, of somebody who comes into this world to save us. And the particular meaning of the word "Guru" is "gu," meaning darkness, and "ru," meaning the Light. The one who takes us away from the darkness that we are in and puts us into the Light is called "Guru."

At one stage or another, we understand the steps of this life, we understand the complications of this life. And then finally, very, very slowly, we really start understanding that there is somebody who can save us from this life, who can really save us from the misery, who can really save us, and pull us out from what we have gotten ourselves into.

And when we go and surrender, when we go and dedicate ourselves to Guru Maharaj Ji, then is when something happens, something clicks. I don't think anybody can define it, what really happens and what really takes place. But something happens - something so beautiful - and that puts us into the place that all our lives we wanted to be in.

I'll tell you a story. And you probably have heard this story. At one time a swan flew into this tree. He just wanted to rest. He had been flying all night long. And he rested on this tree for a little while. And he

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saw these baby owls in a little nest and they were chirping. Just out of curiosity, he went out there and he saw them and he said, "Hi, how are you And they started talking.

And in the middle of the talk, the swan happened to mention the word "sun." Immediately, the owls couldn't understand what he was talking about. What did he mean by "sun"? And they asked the swan, "What is 'sun?" And the swan just went, "What are you trying to do? Pull my leg? Don't you know what the sun is?"

And they said, "No, we don't know what the sun is."

And you see, that's exactly what happens in this world. Every time a Perfect Master comes into this world, manifests himself into this world, he asks us a simple question: do we have that real peace? Do we really have tranquility of mind? Do we have that thing that we are looking for, that we have been searching for all our lives? Do we really have it?

And we, like those little owls, say, "What are you talking about? What are you talking about? What peace?" And he says, "You know, peace. Peace. Tranquility of mind, when the mind settles down, when everything is okay, when everything is blissful." And he says, "I cannot describe the experience of peace to you, but do you have it? You know what I mean. Peace."

And they say, "Yeah, oh yeah, we know what you mean. The fire hydrant broke on the next block and our streets were all flooded up and they finally fixed the fire hydrant and now it's okay."

"That's not peace!"

And the swan is just very amazed. The Perfect Master who comes into this world is extremely amazed. He doesn't know what to think of it. I mean, "… fire hydrant breaking on the other block and your street getting flooded, and then finally someone comes along and fixes it and the flood is gone, is peace? Is the thing for which man has been searching for ages, for centuries …" Is that what people have dedicated their lives for?

And then the man turns around and says, "Oh yeah, yeah. I was working on my drawing table for such a long time. I finally figured out that formula, how to make synthetic fuel." And he says, "That is peace?" This is what happens.

And this is like the suspense we all go through when we read scriptures. But then what happens - as this story will explain to you. I was just trying to explain the astonishment of the swan when he asked them, had they ever seen the sun. And they didn't know what he was talking about and he was extremely astonished. And this is how the astonishment of a Perfect Master is in this world.

Well, anyway, the swan goes ahead and says, "Okay. Well, maybe you haven't seen it. Maybe you haven't ever in your life seen it. Would you like to see it? Would you like to see the sun?"

Then the little owls go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! We just would love to." And he said, "Okay. Just ask your parents' permission and I'll show you the sun tomorrow morning."

And the owls waited, because their parents weren't home. And when their parents finally got back home, they asked them if they could go and see the sun.

And the parents went, "What? What do you want to see? Which is that ride? Which is that show? We never heard about it in the newspapers."

And they say, "You know, sun. Sun. We want to see the sun."

"Who told you about sun? What are you talking about? I don't know what you are talking about."

And they said, "You see, Dad, there is this swan outside. And he says that he can show us the sun and there is something like sun and it provides light to this whole world." And the dad goes, "Oh no, not again. One of those jobs! Not one of those guys! Not one of those people!"

I'm trying to not only tell you a story. Because I don't think that you have exactly come from wherever you have - premies have come here from Italy, from England, from Germany, from South Africa, from different parts of the world - and I don't think that they have come here exactly to hear the stories. But I am giving you an example and I am trying to make you understand what I mean by this example.

You see, the parents get very confused. The kids keep persisting that they want to see the sun. The swan had described this so beautifully, so exquisitely to them, that they just couldn't refuse the offer. And so the parents said, "Okay, we'll have a council of all the great owls. And if they will permit, we will let you see the sun."

So, they have this big council and all the owls that are supposed to be considered very great, very intelligent, all gather around, and the case is brought forth. And the rest of the owls say, "Well, what about this sun? What is sun?"

And this old owl, sitting in the conference, says, "Hmmm. I have lived a long time, but I have never heard about this thing before. I have never even seen it. I don't know if it exists."

And the other old owl said the same thing. He said, "Well, I have lived an awful lot of years and I don't know if something like that exists or not. I've never seen it. I've never experienced it. I've never felt it."

Now, don't mistake this story, because somebody might have an owl for his pet. And he takes the owl and clips his eyelids and puts him out into the sun, where he has no choice but to see something out there. But this is just a story. This is just an example.

At this point it's just so confusing. Everything is just so confused. And the kids just don't know what to do. And they really want to see the sun. They really believe in the swan. Because they have no reason not to. They have not experienced the craziness of this world and they say, "Well, yes. He is saying yes. He is right."

And so the kids sneak out from the conference and go to the swan. And they say, "Listen. Those guys don't even know what you are talking about. So we hardly can expect

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them to give us permission about it. Why don't you let us have just a little look at it. And then it'll be all fine. We won't even bother them about it.

And the swan said, "Are you sure? It's pretty risky, you know."

And they said, "Yeah, we are sure. It'll be okay. It'll be fine." And then the swan says, "Okay. Sit with me on this branch and wait." And out comes the dawn, and then comes the most beautiful, the most gorgeous sunrise with every color. They sit and all they can do is just look at it, just gaze at it. And they don't even have words to express how beau- tiful that sun is.

Well, at the one point they didn't even know what the swan was talking about. But when the practical experience was revealed to them, when they practically, with their own eyes, saw the sun, everything became very clear and they could really see it. They could really experience it.

And you see, that is the experience that Guru Maharaj Ji, the Perfect Master, comes to reveal in this world.

Let me give my example. Now, I studied in a Catholic school and grew up in a family that believed in Hinduism extremely staunchly. There used to be a lot of discussions, and most of them believed. And as a matter of fact, if any of the premies have been in touch or were there in 1971, they know what a scandal was created when the newspaper printed that I am not a Hindu. I mean, you know what happened.

It was okay with me. Because, to me, I am seeing the world. I am seeing something which is much more powerful. I am seeing something which is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. And if there is something that I have ever realized in my life - and I have - then that experience also has been revealed to you, premies. If you have realized something which is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent and just so beautiful, how can you subdivide yourself into the small beliefs and small concepts

which lead us not into that liberation, but round and round in circles?

See, I was born in 1957. But I have read history books. And this is why I came out with the sentence, "This world is like a big pendulum. It goes from the left, to the right, and back to the left again." Because there have been so many beliefs - very staunch beliefs as a matter of fact - and so many ideas. But at that time when there were so many ideas and so many beliefs, there was only one person who came and liberated the people.

There were other believers. Today we do not go around writing scriptures about the other believers of different things. But we write and we read and we respect the people who realized that great Knowledge, who realized Jesus, who realized the Lord of their time.

At that battlefield there were so many people. We don't go around writing history books about them. We are not really interested in reading history books about them. But we sure are interested in reading about a conversation between two people, Krishna and Arjuna. Because there was something there.

And in the same way, history proves to us - this is the way I see it. I see it as a very clear situation, that history is repeating itself right now.

Because you see, today we have sent rockets to the moon, and I mean, what have we not done! A hundred years from today there is going to be a question put - or three hundred years or a thousand years from today - there is going to be a question put before the people, "Did we actually in 1974 and 1975 send rockets to the moon or not?" Because people would not know. People would not understand. People would not comprehend.

In the Gita it talks about these fabulous war things, better than machine guns, better than guns. In the Ramayana it talks about how Ravana actually hovers over like a chopper and comes down and steals Sita away, Ram's wife. And as a matter of fact, there is a very great interest down in South America about these things that look like airstrips for airports and people are making comments about them.

And you know, it just repeats and repeats and repeats itself, again and again. But really, the people who go beyond that experience and beyond repeating themselves are the people who realize that perfect Knowledge through the Perfect Master, are the people who do not repeat that. They say that they were blinded. They themselves admit that they were in darkness. And now, through the Grace, they have been brought into the Light, they have - brought, through the Grace, into that realization. That's why they talk about Light. That's why they talk about Knowledge. That's why they talk about the Word. Because they know that they were not there before. They were unhappy before.

And when this something was done to them - let's put it that way. Instead of saying that they received Knowledge, let's put it this way. Something was done to them. And all of a sudden, boom! They were nice and happy people. And it was this Knowledge.

And today is the time, now is the time, to really open up our eyes and look around and see and find out what it's all about. And if we have understood what it's all about, then now is the time to wake up from the dream that we have always been into, to really wake up and find out that that's not the way it is.

1 here was a king in India. Again, this is a story. And I am not going to give you the page and the book's name that this came out of. Because I don't know. I myself heard it as a story, as an example. And this was a very common example given by Shri Maharaj Ji. And this is about this king who was sleeping. And in his dream he sees that his enemy, his neighboring king, attacks him and takes away all his kingdom. To save his life, he runs through these jungles.

He's running and then all of a sudden he experiences great hunger. And he is really hungry. And then he wants to eat something, he wants some food. Anything would do.

So he goes and sees this hut and

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knocks at the door. And there is this woman in there, really old. And she says, "Listen. You know, if you would have come a little bit earlier I could have given you food. But now all I have left is these lentils that you can take and probably cook." So she gave him some spices and some rice and some lentils.

And he went. He took these soggy, wet pieces of wood and tried to light them and they would barely burn. And he was blowing and blowing and there was smoke coming all in his eyes and his eyes were all tearing. I mean it was just horrible. And then he finally ends up making his food. And once he is finished making it, he takes a big leaf and he puts it on that leaf, so that it can cool down so he can eat it.

Two huge bulls come fighting with each other and they go right over what he has cooked. And this disturbs the king so much - it freaks him out so much - that he starts crying. And the tears actually roll down his cheeks, which wakes him up. And he finds out that he still has his golden bed, he still has his guards hanging all around. He has everything. He never actually fought the war.

Yet he got so confused - the dream was so realistic for him - that he did not know whether what he saw was real or what he is seeing now is real. He was extremely confused.

Now, sometimes you must have woken up after you have been very tired, or you took a long flight and you woke up in this altogether different place where you have never been. You wake up and you don't know where you are. And you wake up, and you open up your eyes and you look around. You just don't know where you are. And you sort of almost jump from your bed - and that's what wakes you up - and you say, "Oh, I am at such-and-such place."

And it's like, that stage, that very fine stage of confusion, of doubt, got stuck with this king. And he did not know which was the truth. Was what he was seeing before, or what he is seeing now, the fact, the truth?

So the next day in the court he was very disturbed, he was very upset. And he called upon all his courtiers, all his advisers, and he said, "Listen. I have a problem. And whosoever might be able to answer this problem, this question of mine,

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Prem Rawat's First Dance While Dressed As Krishna On Stage in the West

I'll give him my kingdom and I'll become his slave forever. But those who can't answer this question, I'll put them into jail for all their lifetime."

It was a very critical situation, very critical position. A lot of people tried. They couldn't answer his question.

On the other hand, there was this little kid. And his name was Ashtabakr, which means "all crooked limbs." And the reason why he was named that was that his limbs were crooked. And he was playing in the street and they wanted to play a game, and this kid said, "Listen. Why don't you just get out of here. You don't even know where your father is."

The boy became very disturbed. He went to his mother and he said, "Where is my father?"

The mother said, "Listen. Why don't you go ahead and go play? Play by yourself. You want some snacks? I'll give you some snacks. Don't ask me that question."

And he says, "No, I am very interested to find out." And the mother says, "Okay, I'll tell you."

She explained the whole story to Ashtabakr and said, "Your father was one of the victims that went to give the answer to Raja Janak, to the king. He couldn't answer his question, so he was locked up." His father was a very great learned, intellectual person.

So Ashtabakr says - and he was the Perfect Master of the time - 'Okay. I'll go and I'll give the answer."

That freaked his mother out, totally. She said, "Are you kidding? Your father couldn't give that answer to that question. And you think you can?"

And he said, "Yeah, I can. I'll go give it."

So he walks in this big court. He finally decides he has to go and do it, so he does it. And the king had set up two thrones. One was the lower throne where if you sat and you couldn't give the answer, you would just be locked up. And if you sat on the higher throne and you couldn't get the answer, you would be beheaded.

So, as soon as he comes in the court - there was nobody who had ever attempted to try to sit on that bigger throne, because they knew the consequences. And so everybody, I guess, was a little bit smart, and they sat on the lower throne. They all sat on the lower throne.

Well, this Ashtabakr - this little kid - walks up all the way to the stage and he sits on this high throne. And it freaks everybody out. It just totally freaked everybody out. They didn't know what to think of that.

For a second nobody was talking. Then all of a sudden everybody started giggling, because they saw him and he was all crooked. And he screams to the king. He says, "How come you have called me in the court of shoemakers?"

That is a very bad thing to say. The reason is that, according to the caste system that they have set up in India, it's a pretty bad place to be at. I don't see any reason why, but that's the way they see it. And so he says, "How come you have called me in this court?"

And the king says, "What are you talking about? These people aren't shoemakers. These people are the very primo-intellectual people of this kingdom."

And he says, "Listen! You think these people are so learned? You think these people are so smart? Well, how come they looked at me and started laughing? They have to be shoemakers. They have to know their leather. They saw my body, they saw my 'leather,' they saw my formation, and they started laughing at it. If they were really that smart, they wouldn't have. Because they would have tried to see what is inside of me, not outside of me." He says, "When the merchant goes to the sheep, he does not wonder how good the sheep is. He says, 'That sheep has a lot of wool on it.' Because he is connected with the wool, not with the sheep."

And so, premies, Raja Janak whispered to his minister and says, "Tell that crazy kid I have this question."

And so the minister got up and he said, "His Highness, Raja Janak, has this question." And all of a sudden, Perfect Master says, "Hasn't he a tongue in his mouth? Can't he speak?" And it was like, "Boy, this one is a mind-blower. This one is too much!"

And finally the king got up and he said, "I have a question." And he asked the question. He said, "I had a dream once …" and he explained

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Prem Rawat's First Dance While Dressed As Krishna On Stage in the West

his dream. "Since then, I don't know. Is what I am experiencing right now the Truth, the life stage, or what I was experiencing? I mean, I don't know. Am I dreaming right now? Or was I dreaming?"

And so finally, Ashtabakr said, "Listen, king. Neither were you dreaming at that time, nor are you dreaming at this time. And neither are you awake at this time nor were you awake at that time."

And the king said, "Well, I don't understand what you are talking about."

And he said, "Listen. You think you are a king. You think you are an emperor. You think you have all this gold. And what made you realize, what made you understand, that you were still in a lifetime stage, that you were not in fact dreaming? That was when you looked around and you saw this whole kingdom and the castle and everything."

But he said, "Listen. There was somebody who used to own all this before you were the king?"

And he said, "Yeah. There were my parents who used to own all this kingdom. And then when they passed away, they gave me the kingdom."

And he said, "After you die, you're going to give this kingdom to somebody else, right?"

And he said, "Yeah, right. I am going to pass it on. Somebody is going to inherit it."

So Ashtabakr says, the Perfect Master says, "How come when your parents left, they didn't take a single part of this whole kingdom, when they owned it? When they died, how come they didn't take one single drop, one single pindrop, of this kingdom with them?" And he said, "When you die, oh king, are you going to take anything with you?"

And he said, "No."

He said, "It's a dream stage to a dream stage to a dream stage to a dream stage, again."

But he says, "Only the people who have realized the perfectness and have really realized that peace and that bliss and that consciousness and that Truth, are the people who are not dreaming. Because they are experiencing something which is infinite, which is not a dream stage."

So premies, I give satsang, the other people who get up on the stage - they give satsang - and we talk about this Knowledge. And somehow it all comes down to one point and that's to make this Knowledge seem very important.

And we say, "How precious is this Knowledge?" We can never answer that. There is one particular reason why we always try to drive to that point. And that reason is that this Knowledge is precious, that this Knowledge is infinite, that this Knowledge is what we have been looking for. And once we receive it, we really realize the Truth, consciousness and bliss. And that is the reason why we go around saying, "Jai Satchitanand."

And so, by making it clear to you how important this Knowledge is, we can be sure that you will really practice it. Because you see, what we are trying to do is that we are trying to tell you how good this food is, so that you will try it, so that then you'll eat it. And this is all we are trying to do. We are trying to tell you how good it is, so that you will try it. And that's all it takes. Because we know that's the way it is.

So it's getting pretty late and this was just a surprise. Well, surprise!

Tomorrow there are going to be two satsang programs. And you see, we can go on and on. I can talk for hours and hours. But you won't be able to even grasp it all. And if you won't even be able to understand what I am talking about, then what is the use of even talking? I can save it and explain it to you at a later time. When you have already grasped what I have told you today, then you are refreshed tomorrow to grasp more. See? And that's the way it works.

And so, I hope you get all refreshed for tomorrow's satsang so that you can understand.

Because you see, I just don't want to keep on talking. Because to me, satsang is not just two people coming together and "chittingchatting." It's a little bit more. It's really trying to explain the experience that we have within inside of us, trying to make the other person to whom we are giving satsang - assuring that he really does understand what we are trying to tell him, he really does understand the communication, the thing that we are trying to present to him.

So good-night, and I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you very much.

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