Friday, December 5. A profoundly inspiring morning session was followed by an exciting evening celebration which many people felt had the flavor of a 'final night'. While we wait, with baited breath, to find out how much better it can get, here are some excerpts from Maharaji's deeply moving address, yesterday morning.

For me, it all has to be kept very simple. Knowledge is, what this life is, what it means, can only be understood if you look at in the simplest way. Making it complicated doesn't work. To get into explanations doesn't work, because life has its simplicity.

And what I want to talk about: what is the default? In other words, what is your nature? What is the nature of Knowledge? What is the nature of the master? I guess the simplest way to begin would be to begin with the human being.

What is the nature of a human being? What is the default? If you begin to look at it and not interpret it, it has some very profound implications - good implications - but very profound.

For a moment, maybe we can just imagine a being when it comes onto this earth. I'm sure that you have all seen little babies. And what is their nature? Who are they? This is where you began from. You came into this world, you breathed, you are alive. You exist. What is your nature?

Are you you cruel? Or are you kind? Are you forceful or are you gentle? Do you express love? Or do you express hate? What is your default? And if love is the default, that has some incredible implications. If hate is the default, that has some outrageous implications.

We know that the nature of fire is to burn. When we understand its nature, then you can regulate that fire: you can use it to cook; you can use it to help you. It doesn't have to destroy everything.

We know that the nature of water is to wet, is to purge, is to quench. Knowing that, we use the water to queneh our thirst, to clean ourselves, to wash. The nature of water is purity.

What is my nature? I know I can hate, I have the eapability of hating, and I also have the capability of loving. I know that. It's very powerful to be able to love, and it's very powerful to be able to hate. These are no small gidgets or gadgets. These are very, very significant things in a person's life.

Hate will bring hate. Love will bring love. What do you want? Where do you want to be? Where do you want to position yourself? What do you ultimately want in this existence?

Let's just say that there is this feeling, and I call this feeling love. if that is my default, then what am I doing to prevent that feeling from happening? Because if that is my default, that means that if I stop doing everything, that's where I'll go to. So, if I'm not feeling it, I'm doing something to make myself not feel it.

The water must flow from a higher place to a lower place. That's gravity. To make it not do that, you have to do a lot of things - build a dam. Remove the dam and the water will do what it will do by default. Take a metal ball and put it on the surface of the water; it will sink. If you want it not to sink, you will have to do many things. Stop doing those things and it will sink. This is its default.

So, if in my life, as simple as it may be, my default is peace. I'm switching here from love to peace because that's even more profound. After I stop doing everything, I am at peace. That's my core. Then what am I doing that's causing me not to feel the peace?

Joy is my default. Yours, too. What do we do in a day, in an hour, in a minute to position ourselves away from that default? To be content is my default, and if I don't feel contentment in my life, then what am I doing to remove myself from that contentment?

Tranquility is my default. Peace is my default. Love is my default. This is who I am; this is my nature. This is your nature. It sounds too simple, doesn't it? This little simple picture that I am painting doesn't quite fit into the working day of a human being. But it's true. This is who you are.

Accept it. Realize it. Embrace it.

Understand that. That's the fundamental thing. And then, perhaps you can rechart what you want and how this life should be. There are profound implications.

I have to realize in my life what I want. if I ignore that, then the idea of Knowledge, the idea of what Kabir said, the idea of what Krishna said, the idea of what Tulsidas said - the very idea of being saved - is negated. The concept of peace is thrown out the window. The understanding of joy is chucked.

Whenever I see any writings of any master, I hear very loud and clear, "Choice." When I hear the voices of the people, I hear, "No choice. You don't have a choice. This is how it is. Let me tell you how it is." But the Master says, "You have a choice."

Do I have a choice? My goodness, if I have a choice, that has some pretty profound implications, too. Can I choose joy? Can I choose love? Can I choose rejoicing over whining? Acceptance is a very, very big thing. If you cannot see the simplicity of life and accept it, you're going to miss it.

Mine is to enjoy. Mine is to admire. Mine is to capture. Mine is to be in that rhythm. Mine is to sing with the song. That's my little role. I can do that. I can't stop the rain, but I can enjoy. I can't stop the snow storm, but I can enjoy. I can't change the position of the sun, but I can enjoy.

Mine is to accept and understand, to see what is, not to wonder what isn't. Understand this life. Understand this gift. Understand my nature. Can I do that? Is that important to me? It should be.

What is the nature of the master? The nature of the master is to guide. The nature of the master is kindness, the nature of the master is to make that which is hard to understand, easy to understand. The master makes the incomprehensible comprehensible.

Living should be inspired by the living. Living should be loved by the living. Living should be taught by the living. It should be a living experience. That's what learning is. Maybe the tracks are laid; maybe the groundwork is done, but the final embodiment has to take place in a living world.

For me, in this life, what stops me is when I forget. When I say to you that your default is love, you know that. You know that. You remember. It makes sense because you know that.

What the master brings is an understanding, a reminder, a remembrance. The master makes it living, makes it alive, makes it dance. Knowledge is beautiful and unattainable. The master takes that which is unattainable and makes it attainable. For a student, a human being, he has to understand his nature, understand the nature of the master, and understand the nature of Knowledge. It is a beautiful trio. It can dance, it can sing, it can manifest, it can be. And it is so, so, so very, very, simple.

Look at it. Admire it for its simplicity. Rejoice because it is true. Rejoice because you know it. Rejoice because it is for you.

There is one direction, one voice, one objective: a celebration of the simplicity of life. This is about adoring what exists, what already exists.

Maharaji, Friday evening, December 5, 1997

This evening I'd like to talk about transformation, because we have the ability to transform. At any given point in our lives, it doesn't mater how lost we get; there is a reprieve. We can always find our way back.

There is the possibility that we don't have to be lost in this life. Even what we may have acquired as our own nature -- and I must underline that word acquired -- we can always transform. It doesn't matter which state of being we are in: it can become better.

And in this sphere of Knowledge, in this sphere of devotion, in this sphere of the Master, these possibilities exist. These possibilities are very real. And the transformation, that is a beautiful process.

Why do I use that word transformation? I could say change. I could say evolution, but I am saying transformation. That's the word I choose because I need to be transformed. I have that potential. And if I don't utilize that potential, then what good is it for me to sit there and only dream when I can't realize it, when I can't make it real for myself?

Kabir says something about this transformation. What he says is that a clay pot can contain water in it, but without water, you can't make the clay pot. Transformation.

What happens? Clay has a hidden property that can make it become a solid vessel; otherwise it's just powder. But when water is brought into it and a mixture is made of water and clay, and it is put into a kiln, the potential to harden is released.

Now, it's different: it is no longer susceptible to those things that it was susceptible to.

For you and I to use water, we need to contain it, too. Water has a problem, too. Its nature is to run, which is no good for us. It has to be contained.

So, in a way, the water needs to transform a little bit and what holds it needs to transform as well, and if both of them transform enough, you have water available to you.

Kabir gives an analogy. Kabir says that for you to experience peace and joy, they have to be contained. The one thing that disturbs your peace, that disturbs your joy, has to be put at bay. It has to be contained so that you can feel, so that you can experience peace, so that you can experience the joy that is inside of you. And that transformation is not possible without Knowledge, and Knowledge is not possible without the Master. - Prem Rawat, Long Beach, 5th December, 1997

"I wonder what the next year is going to be like.

If I want it to be good, I can make it good. That's what my master did when he gave me Knowledge. He asked me, "Do you want Knowledge?" You how, he didn't have to ask, he could have said, "Sit down, I'm going to give it to you." And I would have gone, "Yes, yes, sir"

He was a very powerful person, but very loving but at the same time, very powerful, very strong. He could have said, "Sit down and I'll give it to you and you don't have a choice," but he said, "Do you want it?" And I think about that day: I said, "Yeah. I want it."

I had no clue. I was a little kid, remember? I had no clue about the door I was about to open.

It wasn't that I was all kicked all up and down in this world and I had my hundred problems. No. I didn't. I really didn't have any problems. I really didn't.

I used to go and play with the dew. I used to walk out in the grass in the morning and see this wonderful dew. The world was just magical. I remember I would just sit there and watch clouds go by. That was just great. I had my toys. Life was just exquisite.

I didn't understand what a key I was getting. I had no clue, till I got it, till I opened that door, and then I began to see.

I began to appreciate.

That's how it needs to be for you.

That's how it should be for you."

Maharaji, Long Beach,
December 4, 1997