
The Proper Perspective
Guru Maharaj Ji's Memorial Day satsang. Malibu, California, May 28, 1978
So dear premies, I hope everybody can hear me. You've been listening to the satsang of Raja Ji. And I'm pretty sure that for a lot of you, that wasn't the first satsang. You've heard a lot of satsang.
The most important thing is, what do we get from it? What is the point? What do we actually gain from satsang, service and meditation? Where does that lead us? Where does that take us?
Today's a typical Sunday. I shouldn't say typical, but it is unusually warm in Malibu. It hasn't been this warm for quite a while. And everything is quiet. A lot of premies have gone to retreat near Palm Springs.
And you just sit there, and all of a sudden you just sort of get lost, all of a sudden you start doing something, or just sitting there, relaxing or something like that, and you lose the focus. I mean, not that you're supposed to maintain that focus 24 hours of your life. But you know, there's so many things going on in this world at this time.
Some people are sleeping; some people are getting up. Some people are doing completely crazy things. Some people are making up plans to kill each other; some people are probably in the middle of killing each other, fighting, yelling. Some babies are being born; some people are dying. I mean, so much is going on while I'm just sitting in my office giving satsang to you.
And yet, it's such a way to look at things. To a lot of people, they would think that that's kind of a wrong way of looking at it, because you're not really associated with who's dying. You're not really associated with who is being born. You're not associated with any of those things. So it's okay; you don't have to bother about it. You don't have to be concerned about it.
And yet, I remember when we were on vacation just recently. We were just on the beach. And for Hansi we would make the tunnels and castle and everything. And I was just playing in the sand. I just took a fistful of sand and I said - I took it and I dropped it back on the beach and I said - "I just changed the whole universe; the whole structure of the universe. Universe is not going to be the same again."
And Marolyn was right next to me and she said, "Oh, yeah, but that's always happening."
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If you shift one grain of sand from the beach, you've changed the whole structure of the universe. It's not the same. Because in that whole universe, where that one grain of sand used to be, it's not at the same place. And therefore, technically, or however you put it, you've changed the whole universe.
And yet, that's exactly what's happening from the time we are born, where we weren't in this universe before, and now here we are: One more body. And the whole structure of the universe changes. And as we grow every day - and of course, then there is a point we stop growing, and then maybe we start getting fatter or we start getting thinner, slimmer, or we start getting grey hairs, start getting old - and every day some kind of a change happens. And the structure of the universe, the whole universe, changes.
Now the only reason why I'm going into the depth of this thing is that after all, talking about a universe is not a joke. This universe itself is not a joke. It's a vast, vast universe. There are things out there that we don't even know about.
I was reading a little Time-Life book for kids, and it was about the moon. And it was such an adventure. It was such an incredible thing to be out there. Took them days to get up there, and there you are in a tiny little capsule. You look out the window, and there is Earth, there are stars.
It's quite a perspective. Because I just remember when I was very little, going from Dehra Dun to Delhi, which is approximately 150, 200 miles. It was an outrageous thing! It was like going from one point of the world to the other point. To me, that was like going to some foreign land. Because I didn't understand. It was a four-hour journey, and you kept on going on and on. And it was just like you were some- place different. There was no school - that you had to attend.
It was completely such a small perspective of this world. And then it all changed as I started to learn, "Wait a minute! Delhi's only 150 miles." Until that first trip happened … I guess when I travel on airplanes, it's a big scene because there's so many hours to one place: two hours, three hours, five hours, six hours, seven hours, whatever. But when I first took my flight, I didn't even think about hours. To me, I was in a capsule. And I was in the very back of the airplane. There were three seats across, and I wasn't sitting right next to the window. And to me, it was like we were moving or we weren't moving, or how long we had been flying, and I didn't move from my seat once, because I didn't know anything about airplanes. It was just like, to me it was a "Razza badazza! What's going on?"
I just sat there. I mean, things kept on happening but to me, nothing was happening, because I didn't have the same perspective. I wasn't thinking about, "Oh, there is a round Earth under me, and I'm flying from Point A to Point B, and we are flying 500 miles an hour, and we are covering so much distance, and we're doing this, and very soon we're going to be in England."
To me, it didn't matter. And then when I arrived in England there was almost like no jet lag, because I wasn't thinking about it. To me, there was nothing going on. To me, I hadn't travelled. I was just in this capsule.
And then, of course, it was a beautiful, beautiful reception, and it was really incredible, and I guess I was a little tired just because of the time change, and it was a beautiful thing.
But you look at it. This life, in our perspective … When
I say, "To me, 150 miles was going somewhere" - I mean, of course, for premies who live in Europe, you know, if you live on the border of some country, 150 miles does mean you're going somewhere else. But look at it: Continent of Asia, particularly in the country, you travel 150 miles and nothing happens! It's just like, what is it? One hundred fifty miles is something that you sometimes end up driving in one day! But to me it was like going across the world.
And when I say this, when I talk about the airplane and just the examples that I have given you, when I say this, it's like, wow! That's really incredible. But, look! That's exactly the way we are right now. Because we have such a limited perspective. We have such a small perspective of this whole entire universe. If we don't think that there is a universe, that doesn't mean that there is no universe. By thinking or not thinking, we do not change or alter any facts. And that's a fact.
And so, there is this universe. And I mean, there's vast galaxies. And maybe after galaxies, there are other galaxies. After other galaxies - maybe after this universe - there is another universe. And that's regardless, you know, of anything.
Because right now I'm sitting in my office, and I look at my book shelf. And there's all these encyclopedias sitting there. And those are full of knowledge. This is the experience of people, and they've written it down. Everything you can possibly imagine. And yet, the perspective is so small, the perspective is so limited, the perspective is so incomplete, that it's completely mind-shattering. It's completely incredible to know that in our little world that we conquer by travelling in space 1200 miles an hour, just be in one place, and be in another place, and do this and do that, and say, "Man, I've accomplished so much!"
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Or we enter school. And this is no statement against the school or anything like that. But I'm just saying, we enter school. And at the other end of it … five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years later, we come out like a new man! Is that really being a new man? Because every day a new discovery is made and people say, "Man, that's really incredible! You couldn't have believed that!"
Today we have mechanical gears. We have watches. We have electric watches. We have space ships. We have airplanes. And some hundred years ago, there was Leonardo designing these things. Those discoveries were there. It's not like our discoveries do in fact turn up a different thing. No! Nothing like that. It's just that whatever is there, we discover it a little more. And yet, that's how small we are. And to put things in the proper perspective, we are in a very ridiculous place.
And yet, just as that one grain of sand has the capacity, just as that one grain of sand has the capability, of changing the structure of the entire universe, we have some significance, too. There is a significance attached to us, too, as to why are we in this Earth. Why are we in this world? Why are we here? Why are we present? Why are we breathing?
The way it is, it really doesn't matter. If you change a speck of sand or something like that, it just doesn't matter, because there is such an enormous universe that by changing one grain of sand, it just wouldn't affect it. And yet, premies, why are we here?
Okay, forget about the grain of sand. Forget about the universe. Forget about everything. And yet, don't forget it entirely. Just consider the gravity of the situation, as a universe on one hand, entire universe. And in this universe, a little planet no bigger than … Maybe there are people from another planet who don't even see us, we are so small, hidden behind some sun, or too small to see. Okay?
It's an incredible, incredible thing: That, on one hand, and ourselves on one hand. What is our purpose? We can comprehend so much. There is no limitation to our comprehension. Or maybe there is. We don't know. What makes a thing go one mile an hour? What is the comparison of that one mile an hour? We make a space, and we take this certain space and we call it one mile. And in this one space, the amount of time that it takes us to cover that space, if it takes us a certain amount of time, we call it a certain speed in miles per hour. It's just the speed it takes to cover that distance. We call it "miles an hour". And yet, that is supposition.
You know, we're only 24,000 miles around. What if there were a planet that is 250 billion miles around, and their ratio of measuring is somewhere so high that they don't even consider mile to be anything. They don't even know about a mile! I mean, you can just start getting into this whole aspect of things. And sometimes it's a little outrageous. I have to admit that. Because you can really sort of get dragged into it. You'll get spaced out.
But we are here, and there is a definite purpose for us. And by saying to ourselves, "Look, my purpose is what I'm doing; I don't want to know about anything; I couldn't care less about anything; I just don't want to know about anything," that doesn't change a fact. There's so many people out there. And you just try to give them satsang and they couldn't care less about it. And yet, does that change a fact? Does that change the fact that there really is a purpose in our life?
And, I mean, why do we get a pleasure, why do we get so much bliss, why do we get a certain incredible feeling inside of us when we fulfill that purpose, when we accomplish that purpose? And the reason, the sole reason behind it is because that's what our aim is. That is coming home. That is what we really desire. That's what we really want. And that's what's getting fulfilled. And when that fulfillment happens in our lives, everything gets fulfilled, everything gets quenched. All the thirst gets quenched.
There is a company that publishes these encyclopedias. Whatever printing method they use, they have to have some kind of a proof-reader. And there is this guy who proof-reads these things. By now he should be pretty smart. He isn't! You know why? Because he keeps reading them again and again. It doesn't matter. It's his job. That's it. Does he gain anything from them? No! A person who really wants to gain something from them goes to them, reads them, gains …
And yet, there is something like - well, of the small books I see - there are something like 54 volumes down here, and 19 volumes of the big books, and they keep on going. And yet I can't possibly see, by reading all that and whatever else is on the cupboard, that I'm going to attain self-satisfaction, that I am in fact going to attain Peace.
I mean, this is my feeling about it. I haven't quite read them all - but the thing is, that my feeling is that they won't even help me a cent's worth in the search of Peace.
Because it's two things, and there is no other broker that can come in the middle. There's you and there is that Knowledge. There's you and there is that perfection. There are all these scriptures and there are all these things and that's just incredible, that's just great, that's all fantastic. But when it comes down to that search, when it comes down to that Peace, it's you and that Truth, it's you and that Knowledge. And we have to come to the right source, and we have to realize the right source, and not fiddle for the rest of our lives trying to find out what that right source really is, going from book to book to book.
Because, look. Scratch all theory, just for one moment. Just be open-minded about it or open-headed about it. Just drop your egos. Drop your concepts. Scratch all theories and say, "Okay. I want what I should have." Forget about putting those things in words like, "I want God. I want self-realization. I want Peace. I want Truth. I want this." Just say to yourself for one moment, out of all concepts gone: "I want what I want to have. I want what I really should have. I want to fulfill what I am here for."
And all of a sudden you find yourself thinking in a very, very odd manner. Because the first thing that you'll strike is a concept in your head. The first thing you'll strike is scripture in your head. First thing you'll try to go after is what you've been taught for so many years. And yet,that's one of the things that you can't think about. You can't think of
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any theories that you know. You can't think of any of that.
Then how do you fulfill it? And it's just like, right down the road; perfection, perfection, perfection, perfection, perfection has to be met. Right down the road.
I mean, it's just like "Sugar tastes sweet". Now, I can say that in Hindi, which is the other language I know. And that's about it. I don't know too many languages. But we can probably walk down into the United Nations building and get a translation of "Sugar is sweet," in every language there is. And yet to whose mouth will sugar come? To whose experience, by reading all those statements, will there be actual sweetness in their mouth? None! Because it doesn't matter if it's translated in 800 languages, if there are that many. It doesn't matter which language: Hindi-Windy, English-Winglish. Doesn't matter! Sugar is sugar. Alter it in some other language; don't alter it in some other language. It just doesn't matter. Only the direct expeience of that sugar is going to bring you the experience of the sugar. And you can have as much as you want in the middle, it's not going to do anything.
And Knowledge is the same way. The experience that we want is the same way. Because as soon as that experience manifests in our life, we know. And of course, we're constantly backed up by mind, battled by mind. The mind keeps saying, "No, this is not it. This is not it. This is not it. This is not it." That, of course, doesn't change the fact.
And only our commitment, only our dedication to what we really want, is through Guru Maharaj Ji, is through that Master … Because, he has that key! He doesn't even have the key. Let's put it this way, he has the solution. He has what we want. Because in him lies the solution. He is the solution.
It is not like two bodies that we have to approach, because as I've already said, forget about mediocre brokers. That's not going to do you any good. Because there's plenty of brokers out there. You can go to them. All they want from you is their cut. And they couldn't care less about what your experience is really going to be! "Okay, kid, you have come to me, and here is your knowledge." They give them that. "And I think this is knowledge. Practice it for the rest of your life, and when you die, you'll get the experience of your life."
And that's a pretty safe bet! How can you go wrong? When you're at your death bed, when you're dying - you can't pretend you're dying, you have to be dying -- and then all of a sudden the thing hits. Now it hits! It doesn't hit. It's a good question. Will it happen? It won't happen? A good question.
But the experience of Truth is regardless of whether we are here or not here. The experience of Truth is always. We don't have to wait for any time. We don't…
Because time cannot be a factor. Because time is very, very finite. I mean, of course people say it's infinite. But if there's nobody to measure it, then there is no time!
It's a very common thing that happens. People forget their watches. Then it's like, day is day; morning is morning; afternoon is afternoon. Doesn't matter. There is no relativity between any hour after hour after hour, because they don't
have a watch. And then it's just very simple. Come night, "Oh, it's night time. Goodnight." Come morning, "Oh, sun is up; morning. Good morning." And that's that. Afternoon, noon, "Oh, it's hot. Must be a good time of the day to go take a nap." Or anything like that.
Because Truth is always there, no time factor can make a difference.
Our body is finite. Something within this body is infinite. And if we join those two things, if we make that one connection … Because what we are trying to reach, what we are trying to get to, is that most spectacular experience. And that experience is always there, because it's infinite! And we can always achieve it. We can always be there, by going to Guru Maharaj Ji, by going to the Perfect Master. Because Perfect Master not only teaches us perfectness - and that is why he is a Perfect Master - but he has the key. And not only does he have the key, but that answer, that solution, that experience, lies within him. Because he is that experience.
And by approaching that Master, then he unfolds, he unites yourself, that individual, that one jiva, that one soul, to himself, and thus bridges the most, most incredible barrier, crossing the most wide, most outrageous, most violent stream of all between us, crossing all factors of time, life, death, anything that's finite - crossing all those factors - and bringing us into that perfect harmony and that perfect unity.
Because it's just like what Tulsidas said: Look wherever you can see with your eyes. Feel and perceive what you can perceive. And make it a rule of thumb that that's all maya. Wherever you can see with your eyes, it's all maya.
And when we go to Guru Maharaj Ji, when we reach Guru Maharaj Ji, it's not only … I mean, of course, premies come for darshan, and it's a very beautiful thing. But it's not only seeing Guru Maharaj Ji. And, you know, it's so clear. Because it's like, what? Two, three, or four years ago, a lot of people would come through the darshan line, I guess. (Still they do come through the darshan line. I'm talking about specifically non-premies.) And they would come, they would take one look at me and take one look around, and they would look like monkeys who were trying to figure out what's going on. "What's happening?" With their big, wide, round eyes, they give a look at everything, take it in and just keep on going. And yet to the premies, it's such a wonderful experience. Why? I mean, it's very very clearly understood.
Because when in the presence of Guru Maharaj Ji, when in that beautiful, beautiful presence of Guru Maharaj Ji … Because there is the solution. There is the answer. And we get attracted by that. We get directed by that. It's like a magnet. And again, it's a very beautiful experience in our life that we have been granted, again, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, that we have been granted that experience of him!
Because Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't say, "Okay, come to me and I'll go, 'Adabra, cadabra, cajalis mahol.' " But Guru Maharaj Ji says, "I will give you that experience." And how can he give that experience? Because if it were a question of give and take, then anything that can be given, and anything that can be taken, has a beginning and has an end. But Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't give or take. Guru Maharaj Ji merges. Guru
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Maharaj Ji merges you with his own experience. And that is how the barrier is completed.
That is how the bridge is put up. And only when we let go to Guru Maharaj Ji.
Because look at our own obstacles: Ego, mind, everything. I mean, just about every thing that we can perceive by our eyes is maya, is an illusion. It can be there; it can be not there. It can be there in one moment; it can be gone in the other moment. And it's ever-changing, constantly changing and changing and changing and changing.
So what does it all mean? This is what basically it means: That we have more to go than we think we do. We have one aim to accomplish, and almost unnumbered things to fight away from, go away from.
Become like a lotus. Be like a lotus. Become who we really
are. Because how long do we stay who we really are? How long are we into that flow?
And I guess you all know by now, but I and Marolyn are expecting another baby very, very soon. And it's pretty incredible, because there was Wadi, there was Premlata. She was born. And that was a baby. And it stayed a baby, and it was a baby and there was nothing like, "You are a big girl now" … or anything of that. Come Hansi: "Big girl." And she is big. She is all grown.
And when Hansi came, if you could instantly compare it, it was like, okay, Wadi had ten different decisions she was making in one minute. Wadi was pursuing all these different things. "Okay, Pranam Bai, you do this," or "Somebody, you
do this," or "You do that," and so on and so forth. And there was this baby, just trying to even figure out, or doing whatever, or thinking or whatever, or not thinking, or doing whatever it was doing. And then, Hansi was a baby and Wadi was a big girl.
Now comes Navi. Then, same thing happened. There was Hansi, and he's still a baby, and Wadi is still a baby. But the distinction has already grown. And it's not like we have persuaded, we have hammered, we have done anything like that. It's just been the course that it has taken. And you can already see that there is a vast difference from that stage of when they were first born, where they could care less about what was going on: If the room was pink, if the room was purple, if the room was green …
And then, Wadi really went into this whole thing about pink. And when she was born I think she couldn't care less about it. Because there was not a pink in the whole place. Carpet was yellow. We didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. There was a great big blue pillow in the bedroom. I mean, wow! She didn't complain about that at all.
Now, you know, just even very recently, if you give her a thing that is blue, it is like, "I don't want that. I want pink." Anything that had pink in it, it belonged to her. It was hers. Because it had pink!
And I mean, Hansi is in a real stage. He's a real boy, and he just trucks along, and he just does his own thing. I mean, he is not that oriented about blue is for boy and pink is for girl. He'll take pink. He'll take blue. He'll take anything that
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comes. But yet he's very, very oriented in his own idea about mechanical things. He doesn't quite particularly like very many dollies; he doesn't like dollies, as a matter of fact. But he likes switches and buttons, and turns the switches for the lights on and off, and I mean, that's his thing - you know, helicopters and so on and so forth. And then, at the same time, you look at Navi, and Hansi becomes somebody else. Hansi becomes bigger, and Navi is a baby.
And yet, after looking at three kids and expecting this kid to come, this other baby, this other child that is to be born, you can really see that as soon as this baby is born, Navi is going to be completely a different baby, because there is going to be…
I mean, it's like it's a question, okay? Whether it's us that makes those things babies, or big or small or little, fat or slim … or is it in fact theirs, their own idea? And of course, that's a thing you could argue about for days and days and days. But Navi has her own characteristics. So who are we really?
In essence what I'm trying to say - is Navi what she was when she was first born? Or is Navi what she is right now? What's really her? What's what? There is a natural flow of bodily things going on. She sees something; she likes it. There is a reaction. She wants it. And so there is a physical development which involves brains, which involves eyes, which involves that. But then, slowly and slowly, the mind starts to come in. Slowly and slowly, that connection starts to become stronger and stronger. And then, before you know it, it isn't Re just crawl up to thing and say, "I want that" - or not even be able to say, "I want that," but somehow express the desire of wanting it - it eventually becomes, "Give me that; that's mine. You can't have this. You can't have that."
And Hansi goes through that stage with Navi a little bit. I guess not a little bit. He doesn't want her playing with his toys. And yet, that's all slowly starting to change. And it's just like, what's our true nature?
So I mean, of course it's on a very basic level, the whole example. But it's quite obvious that only by Knowledge -and then, not even that - only by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, can we really understand who we really are, can we really have our true identity, can we really experience ourself, can we go beyond the barriers of right and wrong, can we go beyond the barrier of all time, and cross all infinity and merge with what's finite. And that's only possible by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.
It's just like our love for our Guru Maharaj Ji can never, can never, cease to exist. If there is a definition … Okay, this is a little harsh way to put it. But I'll put it: If there is a definition to sin - if there is one - then it definitely applies to the place of ever leaving that Love, of ever forgetting that Love, of Guru Maharaj Ji.
Because without Guru Maharaj Ji - the saints have said, there was this whole world and there was everything, but nothing was there. And if they would have lived in that fantasy of "Oh, everything is there; everything is okay," they would have never understood that they're not living in anything, that all the factors are so small, all the factors are so, so ridiculous. And when Guru Maharaj Ji comes, and really shows them that Love, shows them true Love, shows them themself …
Because, who are we before Guru Maharaj Ji? What are we until we have understood who we really are?
And so if we haven't understood who we really are, and that there is no definition that applies, when we understand who we are then we go beyond all understanding. Then we merge with that Being that makes us who we are, that gives us that feeling, that gives us that feeling of understanding, that gives us that experience of Love, that gives us that experience of Knowledge, that gives us the experience of happiness.
And just how much can we love Guru Maharaj Ji? How much can we dedicate to Guru Maharaj Ji? How much can we become with Guru Maharaj Ji?
I don't think ever anybody who has realized Guru Maharaj Ji, who has ever been with Guru Maharaj Ji, has ever put a limit to it. Because to do that would be another sin. Because it's an everflowing experience. You never want it to stop. You just want to keep on going with it.
Anyway, maybe these are not some of the feelings that people would understand. But this is my feeling toward my Guru Maharaj Ji, that you cannot ever stop. There is no possibility, there is no probability, there is no question. I mean, there is nothing that you can do about it in one sense, but to just keep on going. Because it's such a beautiful experience! It's such an incredible experience!
And by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, every second, every moment, every inch of the way, things keep manifesting and manifesting and manifesting. And when we let go to that Guru Maharaj Ji, when we let go and surrender ourself … Because who are we? Before that we were nothing. After that we are nothing. But we become one when we accomplish the purpose of why we are really here in this world.
So premies, I hope I'll see you very soon. Until then, again, keep doing satsang, service and meditation. And just flow with that experience. Because without that experience, we're lifeless. With that experience, we become who we are. Not Joe Blow. Not Smith, not Kathy, not John, not this, not that. But we become who we really are. And if we forget who we really are, if we let go of Guru Maharaj Ji and really forget who we really are in the true sense of the word, then that's almost like commiting suicide, that's almost like dying.
And Guru Maharaj Ji's compassion is there. Guru Maharaj Ji's mercy is there for us, to just take us forever and ever and ever. And that's where we have to be. Because that's where the experience is. What I talk about is not a theory. It's not some homemade theory of mine. But this is the true experience. When we experience it, all concepts go away.
Because there's so many people out there. They read my satsang. They put a question mark around this, put a bracket here, put an underline there. They don't understand this; they don't understand that. Of course, that's the way it is! But common experience …
And when you experience, there are no question marks. There is nothing except Love and that true experience.
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