Open As A Child

Satsang given by Guru Maharaj Ji in Kansas City, January 21, 1978.

Dear premies, this is the second day of the festival. But to a lot of people, especially sitting over there, it's the first day. And you weren't here yesterday, so, "Happy New Year!" And, again, it's just so wonderful to be able to sit down again and share some satsang, have some satsang. Because last night it was really incredible. After I got back home, a few moments later, Michael Woods arrived and he had the videos of that night's satsang. So we put them on and we started watching them. And all the premies gathered and we were just watching the satsang that had been given that same night. And it was incredible. Because here I was, and all I had done was just take my jacket off and sit down, take my shoes off, and in that time he arrived and we were starting to watch this video. And all of a sudden I turned to Marolyn and I said, "I can't remember any of this!"

Of course, I was the one who was giving the satsang. And yet I didn't remember any of that. And that's the same way when I'll see that video again, and it'll be the same exact thing, same exact story. Or I'll read it in Divine Times. It'll be the same exact story. Or in Elan Vital, and it'll be the same exact story. Because it's such a flowing river, there is no end to it. It's such a constant experience that has to be happening within inside of you to be able to talk about it constantly in so many different variations.

I mean, that's what the scriptures basically are. And there's so many satsangs that I have given. And there's so many, so many satsangs that Shri Maharaj Ji has given, and there's so many satsangs that initiators have given. And it's all focusing on one thing basically, and if it is not, then there's sort of a question about it being satsang. But it's all basing into one thing. It's all focusing onto one thing and that's satsang, service, and meditation.

And there is a particular reason why there has to be - in that course - satsang, service, and meditation. And in our lives that's why we have to practically implement. That's what we have to practically lay out. Not in terms of what I was talking about yesterday, like, "Okay, I've lived in ashram for two years and I've had Knowledge for four, and so now it's about time to move out into this world, go get married, get a job, get a house," and so on and so forth - not implementing it that way. But implementing it, really applying that satsang, service, and meditation directly to us.

Not on side effects. Not on different things like, say that drummer does satsang, service, and meditation so he will improve his drumming a little bit. Or that violin player over there does satsang, service, and meditation so they'll improve their violin. Not for that reason. But for directly that one thing that is within inside of us, that cries out, "Satsang, service, and meditation!" And that crying out is so muffled in the things that we have created, that when that thing within inside of us really cries out, "Guru Maharaj Ji; satsang, service, and meditation," it gets so lost.

And that's what's really happening out in the world today. Why do you think there is such an aggressive desire that people have to want to know something, to want to learn something, to want to find out the infinite thing?

Because at the residence I was going through a few books. And there was "The World of Leonardo." And it was like incredible: his imagination, his ideas, his mechanical ideas that he had, his painting, his education, his knowledge. And you could just see that it was trying to go out. He was trying to make something come into his life, into his concepts, into his imagination, into his reach.

And the same way, there was another book which was about just the age, the history, where the language actually began, and where writing started to happen, and people started to communicate things in a different way. And it was just incredible to just read some of the quotes, the proverbs they used to have. And it's very, very strange proverbs that they have. Something like, just for example: "A friend's for a day, and kingship is forever," or something like that. But in their concepts, in their own imagination, they were trying to reach out to something. It was very crude way of doing it. And yet they were still trying to reach out to something.

And now we look at those books and we say, "Well, that was really crude to what they were trying to actually achieve." Because today, when you want to design a specific thing, you don't sit down with your pen and pencil, you put it right through a computer, and the computer does the work. And there was poor Leonardo da Vinci way back in those times trying to design an armoured car, or a flying saucer, or something like that.

It's like, this is the situation in this world: There is a house, and that's burning. And people see that house being burned down, so they call the fire engine. And the fire brigade come out. But the people who are operating that particular fire engine are very crazy. They're nuts! And they get all lined up and so on and so forth, come there blowing their sirens and everything. And then they take out these long hoses out of the back of the truck. And there are two fire hydrants.

And as a matter of fact this is quite true. I vaguely remember this, but people were putting out fake fire hydrants for the dogs. And so it's like, there was the real fire hydrants, and there were the fake fire hydrants.

And there are these two fire hydrants, and the fake fire

hydrant is for cosmetics, so they paint it different colours and so on and so forth. So this fire guy says, "Oh, well, this one looks pretty good!" And there is this whole house burning down. And he's trying to hook up the water hose to the fake fire hydrant. And because it's made out of plastic, he can't. He can't screw it on. He can't unscrew the top off, first of all, to screw the hose on. And there's such a fight going on within inside of him. He's really trying to do it, and the guys are screaming, "Water! Get some water going." And he's saying, "I'm trying! I'm trying!"

And you know, quite obviously, what the result is going to be. Well, this is what the result is going to be: Because he's stupid enough to try to start off with a fake fire hydrant, he's probably stupid enough that he is not going to heed to the real fire hydrant in all that time. And when that's going to happen, there's only one consequence to the whole thing, and you obviously know it: the whole house is just going to burn down.

And this example, where does this fit in our lives? Here it is: There is this body. And the time is the fire, and it's burning it down. It's just ticking away; it's just going. And there is a lust created by other people, by society, or just ourselves. And we see, "Well, we need water! We need to come to that point. We need to come to that point of extinguishing it."

So many ways it has been described: to become "immortal." What does immortal mean? You never die. To become "liberated." So you want that liberation from the fire, you want to become indestructible, you want to reach that goal, and you have that lust in your heart, and you have that desire in your heart. And you cry out, "Water!"

Then we call the fire engines. We call the fire brigades, and that's this world. We look to this world for peace, for satisfaction, for that thing. And it's there! Because Guru Maharaj Ji's in this world, and that's why it's there. So there is a real fire hydrant that has real water in it, and it's ready to go.

But then also this world has created another way of satisfaction, another way of peace. And that way of peace is - instead of saying two fire hydrants, there's just multiple fire hydrants. And there's only one real fire hydrant. And you call upon these people of this world: "I want peace; I want satisfaction." And these people come with their fire brigades, with their sirens on: "Wuu, wuu, wuu," you know, "Here it is! Here it is! I'm bringing you peace." Red flashing lights, flashy things to bring you peace, to bring you satisfaction. "Listen, kid, you know? If this marriage didn't work out, try a next one." Or, "If this house is no good, try a next one." "If this job is no good, try a next one … "Somewhere you got to get satisfied." And it's just absurd, because they're just telling you to just try to hook on these hoses. And they're trying to take your life …

I mean, really, in this world, how many people really lead their own lives? Very, very few. Very, very few. And if these people do exist; people who do lead their own lives, they must live on a very desolate island where no ships sail by, and nobody goes there, and no airplanes fly over it.

Look at one situation, and that's beaches. And I know in Malibu there was a great controversy going about that because there is one area, and that's supposed to be the nude beach. And people were so into it that to them freedom was to go nude! And it's just like, freedom from what? Because somebody told you to put clothes on, now you want to take those clothes off, and you want to go and sunbathe that way. So it's no different. I mean, you're not going out of any puzzle. You're not coming out of any solution. You're not entering any solution. You're into the same exact puzzle still! You're in the same maze! It's just that you're just making all these turns into the maze. And you're way far away from the real path, from the real way that is actually going to lead you out of that maze.

But in our lives everybody tells us what to do. And it's not like you just stand out in the world and say, "World, I'm not going to listen to you anymore!" It's like, okay, maybe that kind of a revolution is going to start someday, but I don't think it's going to be in our times. And then maybe even that kind of a revolution has already started!

I mean, people want something. People want to put out that fire. And they'll go for anything! It's just like, "Okay, so the professional drummer plays the drum this way. I'm going to play it from the other side." Or I mean, the way to play piano is to sit on a bench and to play it properly. "Well, no, I'm going to stand on it." Or, "I'm going to do this." Or, "I'm going to jump up and down on it, and that's the way I'm going to play piano." It's not like those are the things that are actually going to lead us out of our problems.

It's just like if we were cooking peas and we had a pot and we fill it with water. And we bring a stir-stick and stir the peas. It doesn't matter if that pea is on left or right, on top or bottom, it's still in the same pot. So all these complicated things that we try in our lives, all these attractive things that we try in our lives are nothing. Because they're all in one line, all these fake fire hydrants.

And you know what happens? What has happened to so many people, century after century, Perfect Master after Perfect Master after Perfect Master? People don't listen to that Perfect Master. And there was this Perfect Master saying, "Well, wait a minute! Try this!" And you go to the world and you say, "Well, I want peace!" And people say, "Well, wait a minute, I'm trying! We're trying. We're trying to accomplish peace. We are doing this. And we are having this economic talk. And we are trying this program here. And we are trying this."

That has never brought peace to this earth. And that real solution is what we really want. To hit that right fire hydrant. But it's not like a gamble. It's common sense! And of course, like I say, common sense is the most uncommon thing. That's the one thing that you don't find is common sense.

And people are looking, looking, looking, looking, looking. What I just described is so fine, is so thin on the margin that you hardly even notice it. It's such a part of our lives that to

us, it really doesn't make a difference. It's on such a margin, on such a fine, fine, fine margin. And yet, that margin is so crucial. And when you look at that, so many people just pass by that margin, just pass by that margin, just pass by that line. That experience of Knowledge just shoots up. It's like adrenalin; it just shoots up again. And you just realise how lucky you really are to have that Knowledge, to have that Grace, to have the right fire hydrant.

And there they are! I mean, so many buildings are burning down. And amongst all these buildings that are burning clown, there's so many buildings that are being actually quenched, actually being extinguished. And that is the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji. That is the Grace of this Knowledge. That brings us to that point. That brings us to that place where we can quench, where we can achieve that satisfaction that we really want to achieve in this lifetime.

Otherwise it's just a cat and a mouse game, and we're going to just be chasing that mouse for the rest of our lives.

And so just looking at it, to me, personally, it's so incredible. We have the Knowledge! We have the right fire hydrant! And knowing that, that that's the right fire hydrant, you almost don't want to jump up and down too much, and say, "I got the right fire hydrant! I got the right fire hydrant!", and waste the time of doing that. But you just want to merge into it, you just want to take that hose and just snap the cap off it and put it on and turn it on and get that water going there as fast you can! So that you actually do extinguish the fire successfully in this building, in this maze. Find that right path. And then to feel that satisfaction.

And it is possible. Premies who are really practising Knowledge; it is really manifesting in their lives. It really is manifesting in their lives. Maybe it's slow, or maybe it's fast; but it's such a wheel, such an infinite wheel. Because there is such a barrier in one way. And actually it's not in one way, it is, it is a barrier, and it is different.

And there is this river of infinity flowing. And a lot of times I've given this example, and yet, however many times you give it, it's not enough. And it's just, there is this infinite river. And we want to join this infinite river. Now what do we expect? Is this infinite river going to come to finite thing? Because if it does, if all that attempt is not necessary, and it's just that finite river comes to the infinite river, then that river that's infinite is not going to stay infinite anymore. The only way to merge with that infinity is if the finite thing goes and actually merges with it; becomes one with that. Not the finite coming down to the infinite.

It's not like here we are, and we just sit down - and this is the easy way to explain it, and a much more practical way to explain it I guess - here we are sitting down and saying, "Okay, Knowledge, why don't you do your action? Why don't you do your trip?" No. Knowledge is there. But Knowledge is not going to do it that way. We have to try our effort, we have to put our effort in so that Knowledge - then we can merge into Knowledge and experience what that Knowledge really is.

Otherwise, there's so many things that are going on in this world. And it's so easy, so easy, so easy to get lost in it. There's like such a maze. And you see people walking in the streets, and you see people going up and down aisles, and you see people in airplanes, and you see people - I mean, you see people everywhere. And constantly something is happening in their life. And you look at people when you're stuck in a rush hour and it's such a thing. It's kind of hard to explain, I guess. But it's such a thing. They don't even want to look at you!

They come and they stop right by you. They just give you a little glance at your wheels or something, if you've got good hubcaps on. You know: are you el-cheapo, or el-expensive? And that's it! And then they start looking forward. And if you are expensive, they give you a little bit better look, where you can almost see these fiery spots in the back of the eyes. It's just like, "How come you have that?" And then, it's not even like that's the end of it. It goes beyond that. And then it's just like, "No, I'm not going to look at you. I'm not going to give you any significance." It's not that that happens momentarily. No! It happens about fifty times down the highway! Every time the traffic comes to a halt the same person pulls right next to you, and the same thing again happens.

And this person is just concentrated in one thing: to go, go, go, go, go to his family. Go to his family, go to his home. Go to wherever he is going! And he has to face that coming out of his house every day: Go to the office, go to the office, go to the office, go to the office. And then? Go to the house, go to the house, to go to the house, go to the house. And every day it's like that. And to me it's sometimes very funny to watch people like that.

And then there are people walking up and down the streets and they're talking. And to them world exists, world doesn't exist. Some people are so lost window-shopping, some people are so lost in talking to themselves. Some people are busy eating. Some people are just standing by the curb and just watching cars go by. And everybody is busy into all these different things. And you look at all the significance of all these different things and there is none.

And then, the amazing thing is today at darshan line. So many people were walking just like - you were walking the same way like you would walk up and down a sidewalk. But there was a lot of difference! You weren't just walking up and down because you wanted to walk up and down. As a matter of fact, you couldn't walk up and down too many times, just one time. And there was a purpose, and there was a meaning, and there was a very specific meaning. And that was to come and to have darshan.

It wasn't like, "Go check out the scene." Or it wasn't like, "Browse around." But it was to go have darshan, to have an experience. And it's completely different.

Why is it different? You might compare that to a cinema theatre. People stand in the line, and they get the tickets, and then they go on and they go watch the movie. But there is a lot of difference. The movie that they're going to watch is going to end, then start up again at a different time, and then-the whole thing is completely mortal. It'll just finish; it'll just end. It'll just go away, the whole thing, the whole show. Because what the show is about is fake in itself. You see the cops and robbers. And what's cops and robbers? Are cops and robbers always going to exist? Maybe the profession will, but that cop definitely someday has got to go. And that robber someday has just definitely got to go. And all that scene that's created in front of us is just that illusion, it's just got to end.

But that experience of Guru Maharaj Ji - yes, maybe one day the physical manifestation of Guru Maharaj Ji has got to go because it's physical. And yet that experience that we experience in darshan is not physical, and therefore it's never got to go, and it never goes away! It's the same experience, it's the same joy that all the saints have described in seeing Guru Maharaj Ji and experiencing darshan. And okay, of course, "darshan" is a Hindi word. You might have a different interpretation to it. Now, what are you going to use? "Homage"? What are you going to use? Anything. I mean, and yet, simple enough: "Darshan," if you can understand the meaning of it. Because it really is an experience. And when we experience that, we realize. Then it's very, very clear to us. And we have to be open for that.

And yet, to be able to experience darshan, we have to be open to Knowledge. Because without Knowledge, darshan is nothing. And how does the Knowledge in itself grow? How does the Knowledge in itself manifest? How does that satsang, service, and meditation in itself manifest? And that's the most important thing in our lives now. Because that's the point that we have come to: To know what satsang, service and meditation is. And to completely merge with it, to completely become one with it, with that satsang.

Now, an initiator gets up and gives satsang, or I'm giving satsang, or somebody else is giving satsang, and we are using the same P.A. and the same loudspeaker, maybe not the same microphone. And then Joe Anctil gets up and he talks about these announcements: "And now will Mr. So-and-so come to the side of the stage?" And, like last night when I went back I had the audio-feed on, and you could hear all this noise going on in the back of the hall, and he was just talking about all these announcements. And in Miami we also had a video-feed, and I know, it wasn't what was going on when satsang was going on. It was just like people were just getting up and walking away if it didn't concern them whatsoever. But when satsang is going on - because that's our focus.

It's not like "talking" is the point. Verbally explaining something is not the point. Oh yeah, maybe somebody who is higher educated can do a better job of doing that. And yet, experience is what we are pursuing. Experience is what we have to really come to. And that comes by our own elevation of service and meditation. And yet to inspire, to be able to come to the point to be able to do service and meditation, we have to come to the point of actually being open to satsang.

Yesterday that's what I was talking about: There have to be two parts. There are two parts. There's receiving and there is giving. And the giver has to have experience of that Knowledge to talk about it. And the receiver has to be open to be able to listen to it. Because if you are completely in your mind, if you are completely in your mind, if you are completely full of other stuff, then what are you going to grab? How is it going to filter within inside of you? Because it's so hard, it's really hard. But what we are trying to do here is to communicate, is to transfer an experience that is not verbal, from one person to all the people who are sitting here. Now, that's what has to manifest: a transfer of experience. What I have experienced, and what I know, and what I am talking about, I want you to experience that. And I talk about that. And yet it's not verbal. And yet, the only channel we have right here is verbal. So I mean, you have to try to take one experience, convert it into something that it really isn't, and then try to portray it that way. And yet, if you are open, if that channel is open, that experience will flow through it, that experience will come.

It won't be just like a bunch of gibberish about - okay, you know, verbally this was wrong, or this wasn't said right, or this statement was wrong; but the actual experience of just that Knowledge, what that Knowledge really is, what that Knowledge really does, what that satsang, service, and meditation really does, what Guru Maharaj Ji really is. That experience. That has to flow, that has to come through.

Because without it, without satsang, the chain is not complete, and therefore you can't go anywhere. It's like a tyre with a quarter missing from it. Oh yes, it'll roll, but it'll be awfully wobbly. And it'll be, as a matter of fact, so wobbly that you won't be able to use it. And it's the same way.

This is the trouble with people, with human beings. They're so locked, tied, and bound in their concepts about things that they can't just accept everything open. I mean, everything has to go through an interpretation. "Okay, what does he mean by 'satsang?" So, somebody told you what satsang meant when you never knew what satsang meant, right? So now every time you hear the word "satsang", it sort of clicks in that way with you. Or then, so many other things that are associated with satsang clicks in you. Or same thing with service. "Oh yeah, service is - " And the word service comes up and you think about it, "Oh, yeah, washing Guru Maharaj Ji's cars." Or service is taking movies. I mean, whatever you are into. "Oh yes, service is playing drums." Or whatever your service is, you click to that. "Oh yeah, it's being the national coordinator." And that's the way you interpret it. "Oh yes, I have to start filming a little bit better." "I should start playing my drums a little bit better because that's my service."

And then meditation. And that's a real one. You talk about meditation and people are really into it. So many interpretations of meditation. They just think that when you got your legs crossed and you're sitting like this, that's meditation. And is that meditation? Is that really service? Is that really satsang? No. All those three are an experience, and they're very specific experiences. And all those experiences are manifesting constantly within our lives by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Only by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

And you look at it. You say, "Okay, well, what's Guru Maharaj Ji? What's Guru Maharaj Ji got to do with this whole thing? If it's really manifesting in my life?"

It's really something. Because in this whole plan, in this whole thing, it could have been different. It could have been just like this: when you got born, and the doctor slapped you in the back to make you breathe, all of a sudden you had enlighten-

ment at the same time when you started to breathe. Or when you got to your "T.T's", like, Terrible Two's, and all of a sudden, one night, right on your birthday, you had an enlightenment and you received Knowledge. And, bong! That was it!

It could have been like that. Or there's so many ways to imagine it. It could have been just so many different ways. And in those ways you wouldn't have needed Guru Maharaj Ji. It would have been just completely just you and yourself and there's the Knowledge. And, I've tried to imagine that sometimes. And when you do it, all you can think about is a complete chaos, a complete catastrophe, because you know what you're talking about? It's a ship without a wheel, a ship without a captain. Okay, so it's there! Okay, so it's floating! But it's not going anywhere.

And that Guru Maharaj Ji makes that difference to make that ship actually move, to actually put that ship where it really needs to go. And then it can be so complicated, and Guru Maharaj Ji makes it so simple. And yet, to us, of course, like always; everything is complicated, everything is difficult. The grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. "What if it was this way, it would be easier." No. And Guru Maharaj Ji has made everything so easy, so simple. I mean, just look at it, how simple it is! The experience of life itself laid out very straight. You come to me and I'll give you peace, I'll give you the satisfaction that you want. You approach Guru Maharaj Ji with a heart like of a child.

Now, it depends. That's the analysis that the Gita even uses; that you should approach with the heart of a child. It depends how old the child is, I guess, and also depends what that child is really like. If he's really been taught into cunningness, he might approach with a heart like of a child because he is a child, but might have something up his sleeve all the time.

But the whole idea is to come with an open feeling, to just come with that surrendered feeling. That's the idea, because a child is surrendered. To him, you do the talking, you give him the explanations. It's just like Waddy. It's incredible. To her, you tell her things. It's just like "Why? Why does that happen?" And, "Why does that happen?" And, "Why do we - " and "Where are we going today?"

You know, when we started off from the residence; "And where are we going now?" And Marolyn said, "Now we're going to the program. Same place where we went today." And she said, "Oh." And I mean she could have said anything: "Oh yeah, we're going to the airport." "Okay, we're going to the airport." So I mean, you tell, and she's surrendered about it. She's ready, she's open, she's willing to understand, to grab.

And you see, to us that's such a common thing, such a simple, small thing: "Yeah, he's a kid, a child, a baby!" And so, "We just can tell him anything we want." And yet premies, that's what we have to become. It's not a joke; it's not simple. That's what we have to become. We have to become as open as that child to be able to receive that satsang, to be able to understand the mechanics of Knowledge, to be able to fulfil that thing that we really want, to be able to actually quench that fire that we actually want to quench.

So there. It's getting down to the very basics, and that's what it involves. Become a child! Start from there, and be opened, and surrendered. And surrender. It's like, why did the word, "surrender" come in? What has surrender got to do with realisation? You know why, if things do seem difficult to us, do you know the reason why they are? And if things are not manifesting in our lives, you know the reason they are not? It's this monster called "mind" and it spells out m-i-n-d, and we call it "mind," and that's the monster.

And you can describe it so many ways. You can describe it so many different, different ways. "It's a monster." Then you can describe it as a worm, like a termite - just eats you up. And then you can describe it as fire. You can describe it in as many ways, just about, as you want! But there is something that puts an artificial fire hydrant in front of us. And that's the thing that we have to really conquer in our lives.

And yet, that's one way to put it, and is that what we have to conquer in our lives? Is that the solution? And yet, no. The solution is we have to surrender by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace via the tools that he has given us. Through Knowledge, surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji by his Grace so that he can take us. So he can give us that experience that we really want.

So premies, the premies who haven't had darshan today, we're going to have a darshan line tomorrow. And that's not for all the premies, by the way, it's only for the premies who haven't had darshan. And in that matter, I think all of the premies should cooperate. The reason for that is that I do want to start the program early tomorrow, so that we can end it early, and then people can go back so that their bosses won't be angry at you, you see. "Have you been to that guru's again?" And you can say, "I'm not telling you," and ah - or anything, but - or you can tell him, "Yes." Settle that for once and all.

But the most important thing really is to just cooperate in this matter so that the darshan line doesn't take too long and we can start the program early. So it's all the better for you, so that you can hear satsang earlier tomorrow. And that's what we really need.

And that's the whole idea of this festival; to just come together just to be able to listen to satsang, because we all need satsang. And it doesn't matter what our imaginations are. And I know premies are tired. Because a lot of premies have been traveling so much. Or whatever happened today, or so on and so forth. But, really, in one way - okay, you're tired, you're yawning, or you're sleeping, or you're nodding, whatever you're doing. But just think of one thing, that this is a moment, this is a moment in our lives that's so precious.

Let's not go into, "Is it going to come again or not?" You can talk about that, too. You can give it emphasis that way, that, "Oh, it might never come again. You never know about life." You can give it emphasis that way, or you can give it emphasis just by explaining the one simple thing: just look at it, how beautiful it is. And is it really the thing to miss ever in our life, even if we had hundreds and thousands of it? No. You never miss satsang. You never miss that experience of satsang. You never miss that experience of Knowledge. And just take as much as you can, because more you take, it's never enough.

And by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, so many programs are going to happen. And so many more premies are going to be listening to satsang, and be just experiencing the same thing that we are experiencing again and again and again and again.

So premies, there's going to be satsang tomorrow, and that's the general thing about the darshan. And just really let yourself go. Really surrender yourself. Really let yourself flow so that all this can pour into you, all this can help you.

Because you know what satsang really does? It just makes us stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. So if you want to get strong, here are your vitamins. And you just have to take them. And take them as prescribed. And take the right vitamins and you'll get strong. And you are getting stronger.

So premies, just let yourself flow in this beautiful, beautiful river of satsang, and just experience what's really happening.

Thank you very much.