The Golden Age

A Zillion Advantages

Guru Maharaj Ji speaks to premies in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 4 January 1976.

This is my first time in Brazil, and it's a very beautiful country. Especially in this part of the world, premies are very slowly starting to grow. Whenever the Mission has grown anywhere around the world - like in America, England, Germany, and India - it began from this very stage, from this very point where things weren't so developed.

When this point comes, then every premie has two options. One is to really dedicate himself, really realise what this Knowledge is, really do that service, and really get the organisation together. The other option is to just forget about everything. A premie can either say, "Fiddle-de-doe," or he can say, "No. I'm going to go ahead and I am going to really realise this Knowledge, because that's the aim of my life." These two options both have their advantages and their disadvantages.

First of all, the advantage of just forgetting about everything, not meditating and not doing service, is that you don't have to work so hard. You don't have to sit down and do meditation; you don't have to go to the ashram and do service; you don't have to do any service at all, you don't have to do anything. The disadvantage of that is where that puts you: in total darkness, total confusion, what we call in the English language, "hell". What you experience when you do not meditate is a personal dissatisfaction.

You see, if we do not have Knowledge, then we don't know where we are, because there is no point of reference. A person who is just walking on the street doesn't know what liberation is, he doesn't really know what happiness is, he doesn't really know what peace is. For him, peace is that his car doesn't stall on the highway every day, and peace is to have enough money, a nice house, and everything else. But really that is not happiness.

There are so many people in the world who have the consciousness that, "Oh, I have a nice paying job, I have lots of money, and I have a beautiful family … That's it, that's happiness." But that's not happiness. That is an illusion of happiness. That's like when we look at ourselves in the mirror.

Right now, Premlata really doesn'tknow her face. When she crawls up to a mirror, she thinks that's another baby. She goes up to him and when she moves her hand, her hand in the mirror moves, and to her that's just another baby who won't really play with her, but who will just do exactly what she will do. But we have grown and so we know better.

When we go to the mirror, we don't do the same thing. We don't go and play with the mirror, because we know that what's in the mirror is an illusion. So this is what we have to realise: in this world, happiness is beyond the concepts we have. If you have a concept about happiness, that definitely is not happiness.

So, that is the advantage and the disadvantage of just totally forgetting about everything. But then, what is the disadvantage and advantage of actually doing service, satsang, and meditation, and really realising what Knowledge is? Well, the disadvantage is that we have to do meditation. But it's so beautiful that also has an advantage. Meditation is within inside of us and if we just concentrate inside, if we really practise Knowledge, it's right there. So it's really beautiful, it's almost automatic.

The second disadvantage is that you have to do service. But that is really not a disadvantage either, because we have to function, we have to work in this world. We work for this stomach and all the crazy things in the world. So I don't think it would make any difference to us if instead we directed our actions to Guru Maharaj Ji, to this whole humanity. I think that's an advantage, not a disadvantage. But if somebody is lazy, then that is a very, very big disadvantage.

Then there is the next thing - you have to really dedicate yourself, you have to really surrender yourself. Well, that is a disadvantage in a way, but then again, it is not a disadvantage. The reason is, who are we anyway? We think we are Mr. Joe Blow, or we think we are so- and-so, but who we really are is just a puppet. Here we are today; the next minute we could be just totally gone, disappeared. But because we have these concepts, we have to keep on thinking these crazy things, "Well, I can't surrender. I can't, I can't surrender." But yes, you can surrender. You have to surrender. And as a matter of fact, it doesn't matter what you think, you are in the hands of somebody else all the time. I mean, you already are just puppets.

And so, that's all the disadvantages. Now about all the advantages: I can name about a zillion advantages to this Knowledge, to doing meditation, to doing service. But a few are good enough: that we will find peace, that we will find tranquillity. Those alone are good enough advantages for this whole humanity. There are also other advantages that are standard with Knowledge, but there are so many that it would take me centuries just to say what they are. And the advantages are not only in

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terms of a single human being, but for all humanity.

To me, Sao Paulo is just another place with premies. It's not like Brazil, and it's not like, "Well, they only speak Portuguese so I should forget about them." No! A premie is a premie. And so we really have to try hard. We really have to understand, come together closer and closer, and really work hard. Otherwise we are half premies. If you take great pleasure in being half a premie, then that's okay. But being half a premie is actually no good, because here we are, with Knowledge, with incredible power, with incredible potential. And what are we doing? Nothing. So premies, this is the time to come together and really, really understand. It's all there.

Open those curtains

If these curtains had been drawn when I came on the stage, you wouldn't have seen me. You wouldn't have known if I was on the stage or not. I could have been sitting on this stage and you could have been sitting in your seats in this very theatre, and nothing would have happened. Those curtains can affect so much - like a cloud. The sun is so powerful, it has so much light in it, but one piece of cloud can cover it right up. Does that mean that the sun's potential, the sun's power, goes away in front of a cloud? No. It's still shining. Or does that mean that we go blind? No. We don't go blind. We still see. It's just that there is something in between us that is preventing us from seeing. And as soon as that thing is taken away, as soon as those curtains are opened, everything becomes clear.

So premies, it's all there. It's just a matter of us opening up those curtains. Like I said, it could have been that the band is playing, premies are singing, and I am sitting behind the curtain. I could be here with the curtains shut, and every premie would be just listening to music and they really wouldn't know when I went away. It would be like, I came here, and you were here, too, but you couldn't see me. And so when I came and when I went away, it was all the same to you.

Why? Because of one simple curtain; because that curtain was between us. Therefore, I couldn't see you and you couldn't see me. So having me fly all the way from America to Sao Paulo would have been just totally meaningless. So open up, understand - because it's all there.

Before you receive Knowledge, there are so many concepts that you build inside your head. Like, "What is Knowledge gonna be? Is it gonna be chanting, or is it gonna be … " You just don't know what Knowledge is, but you are given satsang every day about Knowledge, so you start building up concepts. "Well, what is Knowledge? Well, what is Knowledge? Well, what is Knowledge?" "Knowledge will be given to you. Knowledge will be given to me." So you go up to an initiator and you say, "Please give me Knowledge."

Then after you have realised Knowledge and you really meditate on it, you say, "Wait a minute, this is always inside of me. This is always there. It's just that I didn't know it." As I was saying before, you have the option. You can do it. You have the option and you can really understand this Knowledge, really realise this Knowledge. Otherwise, coming into this world is totally in vain, it's useless. We are here, in this world, and we have a definite purpose, we have a definite meaning.

You see, just because you speak Portuguese and you have a nice tan and you live in Brazil, that doesn't make you any different; not at all. If a bolt of lightning hit an American, it would kill him; if it hit you, it would kill you; if it hit an Indian, it would kill an Indian. If a car were coming 60 miles an hour on the highway and it hit you, the car wouldn't say, "Wait a minute. I don't wanna hit a Portuguese-speaking person," and then veer off. If it saw an Indian, it wouldn't say, "Look at that Indian. I am gonna get that Indian," and then hit him. And it wouldn't come up to an American and say, "I warn you, don't stand in the middle of the highway." No! If it hits us, it's going to kill us all. It doesn't matter who we are.

So whoever we are, first of all, we are beings, we are creations, we are a part of creation. If you take a beehive in India, and you hit it with a stick and stand there, all the bees are going to come out, bite you, and sting you. If you do the same thing in America, the same type of bees will do the same thing. If you do that in Brazil, they will do the same thing. It's all the same and we are exactly like that. We are a part of creation and that's the way we are, all the same. We just build up our barriers in different ways, in different meanings, in different senses, and then we lock ourselves up. You are a human being. If you realise Knowledge, you're a premie.

Meditation, satsang, and service is what we need. Without meditation, we cannot realise what this Knowledge is. A lot of people have questions like, "Well, if Knowledge is so perfect, why do you need to meditate on it?" This is a very simple question, and a lot of people have it. "Why should we do meditation?" A simple test you can give yourself when you go back home is don't drink water for three or four days. Then take a glass of water and put it in front of you and just look at it. Believe me, it

The Golden Age

will never quench your thirst. As a matter of fact, that's the way they torture people.

So if water is something that will quench your thirst, and you know that, then why the process of drinking? I am not asking you not to drink water; this is just an experiment. It's just like food or like drums. Drums will play, but if the drummer doesn't play them, they won't play. As soon as he plays them, they will play. And so, if the drums are perfect, if the drums are finely tuned, if the sticks are there, if everything is there, then what's the necessity of the drummer? The necessity of the drummer is that he has to play them.

In the same way, we are here, and Knowledge is there. Meditation is the way of accumulating it, of really realising it, of really practising that Knowledge. Because it's like eating; it's like drinking. You are drinking water, and you are eating food. That glass in which we accumulate water is necessary for drinking; that plate in which we accumulate food is necessary for eating. It's the same way when we really practise Knowledge, really start realising Knowledge. We call that process meditation, and it's as simple as that.

What you cannot conceive

So, if you have received Knowledge, and you know that, then you should practise it. You should really, really try to realise. I mean, what is it? Some premies can't even understand it, can't even comprehend what Knowledge is. To them it's just something you do. Whatever the initiator says to do is what you do and that's Knowledge. No, no, no. Knowledge goes way beyond that. Knowledge goes even further than that. Because it is further than that.

There was a saint in India called Tulsidas. Somebody came up to him and said, "What is illusion and what is peace?" Right out of the blue, Tulsidas said, "Whatever you can conceive with your body is an illusion, and after that it's all perfect truth." That's really so beautiful, because that is a fact. Man is going around trying to perceive, trying to conceive, all these things in this world and he thinks that's happiness, that's the truth. Tulsidas says flatly, "Whatever you can conceive, whatever you can conceive with this body is all fake, all illusion. And what you cannot conceive, beyond that point, is where all the truth of the world starts." That's the truth that we are looking for. This is where we have to be. That's the point that we all want to achieve. That's the point that we all want to gain. And it's so beautiful.

Can you imagine, this could have been very easy for me. You see, every Perfect Master who came into this world, every person who took upon himself the duty of revealing Knowledge, revealed it in his own way. That's just the way it was. He just said, "According to the needs of this time, this is the best way to introduce this Knowledge. So let's do it that way." And I could have said, "Well, according to the needs of this time, the best way is to let them wait. Let them wait for seven years, eight years, ten years, twenty years, all their lives. And just before they are ready to die, we will give them Knowledge." That could have been the procedure being followed here.

But it's really beautiful that we say, "Ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Just ask. It's so easy. Just ask and it'll be given to you. It's not like at the time of Krishna where people had to wait years and years and just do service. They weren't even premies, because they didn't have Knowledge; all they did was service. That's all. And then, if after years and years of doing service, and getting old, if the Perfect Master said, "Well maybe, maybe you should have Knowledge," then he gave it to them.

But look. This is the craziest age, the craziest century, where everything is going bongo every day. Man takes a step forward, and the conveyer belt goes backward. That's exactly what's happening. Man thinks, "Oh. If I make a hundred-story building, it'll be beautiful.

It'll be perfect. It'll be peace." So he makes a hundred-story building, but after two days he is sitting in the lobby and the whole building comes down right on his head. So, man is nowhere. Yet in this crazy time, craziest of crazy, this Knowledge is available. And we have just begun to make this Knowledge available to everybody.

It's really fortunate for all the premies that they have this Knowledge. And once we have realised how important, how beautiful Knowledge is, once we have understood how perfect Knowledge is, our duty, then, is to go and do service - to really get in there, so that the whole world can benefit. You see, right now in the whole of Brazil we are only having a program in Sao Paulo.

And then I'll go to the next program that won't be in Brazil. How many people are benefitting from it? Not very many, except for the premies and aspirants. But if the Mission was really strong here, really together, and there were aspirants all over the place, and initiators came and gave them Knowledge, then can you imagine how many programs you would have here and how many premies would benefit from those programs? It's incredible.

That's the way it works everywhere. When premies come together and realise and say, "Well yes, this is our responsibility, now that we have understood Knowledge, it is our responsibility that this Knowledge is spread to the rest of the world. Because it is beautiful." That's when it all happens; that's when it all takes place. That's when it happens. That's when people start realising Knowledge. That's the only real way that we can reveal Knowledge to the whole world.

You have the option

You have the opportunity, you have the option, and it's up to you. You can go two ways. You can reach in your pocket and say, "Heads I win, tails you win." You can just say, "Heads, I'll do satsang, service and meditation; tails, I won't." You know? That's one way to do it -flip a coin. And the other way to do it is to really surrender and really get into it and really, really try to realise. Because it's all there. I know, and you know, that you have been waiting for this Knowledge, that you have been waiting for this experience, since even before you knew it existed. Now you have it, so it's up to you.

I can only do a certain part. I can only reveal Knowledge to you and advise you. See, I am not saying, "You better do service," or, "You better do satsang," or "You better do meditation." No. I am not saying that. I am advising you that this is good for you. This is because I have had the practical experience myself, and I want to share that practical experience with you. This is why I go around giving satsang, this is why anybody goes around giving satsang. Satsang is not, "We want you," but satsang is advisory. It's like, "Well, this is what we have experienced, and this is what you can experience."

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The Golden Age

So really premies, I think it can be really beautiful. And it is beautiful. Just get those curtains out of the way and it is extremely beautiful. Because it's all there. It's the missing link, you see. As soon as we can put that missing link in it's place, everything will fit, everything will make sense, everything will be there. The puzzle will be completed. And that's the goal of our lives. God gave us everything, except one thing, and that's the missing link. What He did was place that missing link in our pockets. He placed that within inside of us.

God gave us this whole of nature, the whole of the world. He gave us so many things. And we come into this world, and we start putting everything together, everything together, everything together, but then there is something that's always missing in our lives. And what He did - so that we wouldn't lose that missing link, so that we wouldn't space it out - was He put that missing link within inside of us.

When we come into this world, we start putting the puzzle together, but it just doesn't fit. So we look outside for that missing link, and this is how many people have just wasted their lives. They are trying to find that missing link outside. But for safekeeping, He put it inside.

Then came the problem that man was so blind that he couldn't see that it was inside of him. And that's why Guru Maharaj Ji comes here and tells us, "The missing link is inside of you. Put it together and your puzzle is completed. That's the goal of your life, to complete it." So, I hope you understand. Because our minds can be really strong, really tricky. Our minds can throw us off so much that we won't even understand, we won't even realise what is happening.

Mr. Mind's medicine

Let me explain to you a little bit about mind. See, the way mind works is that before you receive Knowledge, mind is totally driving you totally crazy. Then when you receive Knowledge it's a big blast for you, it's a big change for you, it's a big thing. The mind says, "Well what's this?" And you say, "Well, this is your medicine, Mr. Mind. This is gonna take care of you forever." The mind says, "But I don't want it." You say, "Well, you are gonna get it anyway." and that's where the determination comes. "You are gonna get the medicine anyway. We are gonna wipe you out anyway."

So the mind goes away for a little while, and that's when premies who have just received Knowledge are very blissed out. They go, "Oh, this is just so beautiful." That's when they write me letters saying, "Oh Guru Maharaj Ji, thank you. This is just so gorgeous, this is just so beautiful. Thank you for this Knowledge; thank you for everything." And that's when they move into the ashram, that's when they start doing service. Because there is no mind there, there is no mind to interfere.

Well then, after a little while, mind sits back and says, "This is very, very bad. I cannot function. I, 1, I mean, this is very, very bad. This man is controlling me. This person is controlling me, while I am supposed to be controlling this person." And so the mind says, "Well, let me have another try on this guy." So it comes, it starts freaking you out, and you say, "Mind Ji, Jai Satchitanand, go on your way. Forget about it. It just won't work." And mind goes away. Then you feel really blissed out and you feel really confident, "Oh, this mind came and I got rid of it." But, you see, it just so happens that mind won't give up so easily. So it sits and it designs; it plans the most perfect way - just about perfect - a very, very good way, that it can get you.

One morning, while you are sitting under your meditation blanket, it comes up to you and says, "Premie Ji, Jai Satchitanand." You are sitting all by yourself in your room, everybody is doing meditation, and immediately you take your covers off and look around. "Who said 'Jai Satchitanand?' " You put your covers back on and start doing meditation. Then the mind says, "Premie Ji, uh … don't you think you have been doing service for a very long time? Don't you think you have been sitting for meditation now for about five minutes? That's a very long time. You have been sitting here for five minutes. And you have been doing service for two days now. That's very bad. You know, you don't need to do this. Everything is okay; now that you have Knowledge, everything is okay. You don't need to do service, you don't need to do satsang, you don't need to do meditation."

You say, "Man, I sure do feel tired. Yes. I have been sitting for meditation for five minutes now, and I have been doing service in the ashram for two days. What do they think I am anyway? I am not gonna do any satsang, I am not gonna do any meditation, I am not gonna do any service." Then you chuck your baragon out the window, throw your blanket away, and you walk out of the ashram. And mind just got you. That was it. That's all it took.

When I first gave this example, there were some premies who were laughing and some premies who were crying. The premies who were crying were the premies who looked at themselves and said, "How can I be this stupid? How can I be so foolish as to fall into such a small trap so easily?" They looked at themselves, their mind had done that, and they had fallen into the trap. Really, that happened to them.

The other premies were laughing. And their mind was also laughing right behind them, because he was ready to get them too, saying, "You are very, very thirsty now. Go to the Coca-cola stand that's about seven miles away from the ashram or away from the festival site so that you can …" You know, it's just like mind. Mind is so strong and keeps on going until it has made sure that it has got you. Then you roam the jungles of Rome, as they say, and you just do this whole trip. What mind does to you is take you into the middle of the jungle and leave you there. And then you say, "Oh no. This was a trap. This wasn't the truth. This was a trap. Truth was back there. Truth was within inside of me. And now it's all gone, it's all over."

Well, if that ever happens to you, believe me it's still not all over. You can still come back. But it'll take you a long time to get back on your feet. I don't think you want to go through all that procedure at all. Because I tell you, it's a real trip which mind lays on you. So just watch out for your mind, because it's very crazy. It's very, very crazy. Just keep out of that, and do satsang, service and meditation, and realise the beauty that there is within that.

Stick with it

So, I hope you understand. I don't know when I am again going to get the opportunity to come to Brazil, but I hope that you understand whatever I am saying and really try to implement it in your life - really, really practically

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No. 30, June 1976

try to implement it in your life so that this satsang is of some use to you.

I am just totally booked for this year, and I don't know where I'll be going next year. So I don't know when I'll get an opportunity to come back here. But when I do come back here, I want to see one thing, and that is that premies progress; that you are really together. And for aspirants who are waiting for Knowledge, who do not yet have Knowledge, and who want Knowledge, as I was just saying when I started giving satsang, you have two options. Take them now. Make the decision now and stick with it. Because you don't want to go flying without an airplane. So make the decision now.

If you receive Knowledge, and then you don't do meditation, that's really bad. It can really be very, very bad. And I'll tell you why. Vegetables are very good for you, very healthy, very natural. You can go and buy about three truckloads of vegetables and put them into a room. But if you don't eat them, you know what'll happen? They'll start rotting. And when vegetables start rotting, they make a big mess. Though they are beautiful, they are good, if you don't utilise them in the right way, in the right time, they can be very, very bad. So it's the same way with Knowledge. Knowledge is very beautiful, and it is what you want. But if you don't do meditation, it'll rot, it'll start rotting inside of you and it'll be very, very bad. You'll be confused, and that's the way it is.

It's very hard for anybody to forget an incident. Once you have experienced such a glory, such a beautiful Knowledge and then leave it, it becomes very hard. It becomes very impossible. But if you are interested, and if you want Knowledge, then you can have it. We'll be scheduling an initiator to come and give you Knowledge. Then you can realise what Knowledge is. It cannot be put into words, so I can't really tell you in words how this Knowledge is except to use the greatest word there is for it, and that's great - Knowledge is the best. I mean, it's beautiful.

So understand, realise. Because we are here for that very purpose. I hope you understand, do satsang, service and meditation, and thank you very much.

Whatever I have said, maybe you won't be able to understand it all at one time. But as the days go by, I think you'll start understanding what I mean. That's the way it works. Slowly and slowly, it'll all start coming back to you and you'll start understanding. So, blessings to all the premies and thank you very much.