Now You Have A Say

Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang at the Guru Puja Festival in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday, July 14, 1978.

Welcome to Guru Puja, premies. It's very wonderful to be here at this occasion, especially at Guru Puja. Because there is a whole significance of Guru Puja to all the premies. And the manifestation of Guru Puja - when does it really become alive in our lives? Because let's look at it this way: Whenever there have been people on this earth, there has been a Perfect Master. And the whole thing is, where, in history, has there been justification of that Perfect Master? Where has there been an overabundant response to that Perfect Master by the people of that time?

Yeah, later on it's all great, it's all fantastic. And yet, you look at it: People read Bible. And Bible is about Christ, about the satsang he gave, about the things he said to his disciples, to his people in that time. Because he was the Perfect Master. But you look at it and it's really something, because there was a meaning to being there at that time, most definitely. Because that is the only reason why we even want to read some of those scriptures, some of those things that were not directly written by Jesus, but were written later by John and Luke and Matthew and all the saints.

Because to them, they could see that Perfect Master. They could realize that Perfect Master. They could understand. They could feel. If there is any communication, any way of communication besides the telephone and all that, it is that they were there and they were enjoying it. They were seeing their Perfect Master. They were feeling their Perfect Master. They were hearing their Perfect Master. And it was a most incredible, blissful thing for them.

And obviously it's not put down in a way that it was a bad scene. It was an incredible thing to come together when Jesus came and all his disciples came. And it's the same thing in Gita. Same thing with Ram. It was just such an incredible

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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Baby 1978 thing when all the disciples came together and Ram was there. When all the disciples came together and Jesus was there. And when all the disciples came together and Krishna was there. Same thing with Mohammed.

So what is that thing that makes that occasion so, so special, so fantastic, so neat? And that is premies. Because without premies …

Because you look at it this way. There is water, and there is a well. Now this is something that a lot of saints have said and a lot of scriptures have said - not this particular example, but what I'm trying to say. And that is: Okay, we have a well and we are thirsty. But we don't have any hands. Our hands are missing. So we see the water and we feel the thirst. Right? But there is no way we'll be able to get the water until somebody is there. And that water can manifest for us if somebody helps us. Because, ourselves, there is nothing we can do about it. We don't have anything: Don't have any arms, don't have organs that can fulfill that function of drawing the bucket from the bottom of the well.

But then that person who stays there, who stands there and helps this person get this water, he can't do anything either if that person is not there! You know what I'm trying to say? Because he's the helper. But he can't help anybody unless there is somebody there who needs to be helped. So there is the helper, and there is the one who needs to be helped. And when they both come together, a beautiful thing manifests: A function, a purpose, then takes place.

And it's the same way with Guru Maharaj Ji. Premies are the ones who need help, and Guru Maharaj Ji is the one who can help. But if there are no premies, who's he going to help?

I was just listening to Shri Maharaj Ji's satsang yesterday. He was giving satsang in Bombay, and he said, "It's so beautiful that we all have to realize that we have this human body. Because, look! Because you are here, now I can talk to you. I don't want to go talk to some donkey. I don't want to go talk to some alligator." And here, that is the benefit, that is the purpose; to be able to come, and be able to share that beautiful joint experience.

There is an experience. There are other experiences. But there is one unique experience that manifests between a devotee and Guru Maharaj Ji. I mean, there's all different kinds of experiences, but then there is this really beautiful and really incredible experience that manifests. But for it to manifest, we have to be first a real devotee. Otherwise it's like a perfectly normal, perfectly healthy person going up to this well, going up to the helper, and saying, "Give me some water," instead of approaching in the way of saying, "Can you please help me?"

And this is exactly what Lord Krishna says in Gita. He says, "Come to me. Come to me with a humble heart. Come to me with the heart of a child, and prostrate yourself." He says, "Go to a Perfect Master, go to the Perfect Master of the time and surrender to him. And then he will reveal to you the Knowledge that you need. Then that whole cycle will be completed."

And it's besides everything else happening in this world. There is a lot happening in this world, and it's outrageous. Because you look at it and this world is going aimlessly; aimlessly just-sometimes you wonder what people really think. Because they must think something so strange - I won't say absurd, I'll just say strange - that they live their lives in an empty hole! Blind. No purpose to be fulfilled.

I mean, you look at all these TV commercials and, "Yes, we can provide you the best view, and come with us. Live with us. We can give you a really beautiful view over beautiful rolling lawns." And there's a mortuary. "Come, plan with us. Live with us. Choose a site now." And that's the way-it is. You look at newspapers sometimes and you start looking at ads: "Yes, the finest in those services." You drive through Los Angeles and on just about every bench where the bus stop is: "Mortuary. John's Mortuary. Beautiful service."

And so what are we trying to live? Are we already trying to live our death while we haven't even died yet? I mean, is that what the whole psychology is? And it's obviously becoming a big thing. So it's strange what people think. What are they going to do?

You look at this whole nuclear warfare, and it's outrageous. Because there is Russia and then there is United States. Now I don't want to meddle in any politics. That's none of my business and that's not my affair either, and I think otherwise of it. But the main thing is, here they are. They're fighting.

It was really beautiful, though, the way they made this cartoon. And the Russians were going, "Yay!!!" And they would add a couple of more warheads. And then the Americans would go, "Nu-nu-nu-nu-nu-nu," and they would

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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) With Wife - Durga Ji - and Baby 1978 add a couple of more warheads. And then the Russians would go, "Nu-nu-nu-nu," and they would add a couple of more warheads. I mean, they just show it in the cartoon. This coming in; this coming in … and this is a statistical cartoon. It's not one of those Warner Brothers cartoons. But this was in one of the reports that they did for the nuclear warheads!

Now, my question is: I was watching this program and I just turned off the TV and I said, "They're crazy! What are they going to do? They're going to explode bombs at each other, and one bomb by itself is completely sufficient to ruin this entire beautiful world for a long, long, long time! What are they going to do? Are they going to really fight this out?"

And then they had all these comments: "Oh, but we need this. This is our guarantee. This is our support."

What kind of a guarantee is it when you can't use it? But, no! "This is our guarantee. We are going to have this so that our allies or different people just don't attack us. Because here is our guarantee. They do it to us; we'll do it to them. That's the guarantee."

There is so much water out there, but you can't walk on water. You can't always live on boats. And I wonder if they just look at maps and just feel the map and it feels the same as where the picture of the earth is, of where maybe a continent is, like the United States or Asia, and they feel that, and that feels the same to them as the ocean.

And they say, "Well, if something happens … " And they move this little house of theirs. "If something happens and this place blows up, we can just move right out there!" I wonder if that's the way they think. I mean, obviously not. That's not the way they think, but I wonder if they're making this casual mistake on the side.

Because where are we going to go? Where are we going to disappear into? What's going to happen to this whole humanity? What is the solution?

If nuclear warhead is the solution to Peace, then instead of saying, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, get some nuclear warheads and the God will be with you. But what I'm talking about … of course it sounds very funny, but what I'm talking about is serious. This is the way it is. People really think that this is what's going to bring Peace in this Earth.

And what do you do with it? People are having enough problems getting rid of the radiation waste: What do they do with the radiation waste? They can't bury it here; they can't bury it there. It starts to pop up here and pop up there. So what is happening?

This is really a pretty good example of what's happening: There is this driver and he is driving a sports car. And he's got a gauge for how much water there is. And he's got a gauge for how hot the water is. He's got gauge for how much oil there is. He's got a gauge for what the oil temperature is. He's got a gauge for gasoline and for gasoline temperature. He's got the entire works on his dashboard.

Now he starts driving. He's got an efficiency meter. And all of a sudden he notices that his car is not running too good. Just imagine. You don't have to get technical about all this. Just

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imagine that all of a sudden he notices that his car is not running too good. It goes putt-putt, and it does everything else except go forward. This is a most efficient car, with a V-12, four overhead cam shafts, fuel-injected, and so on and so forth.

And then he wonders, "What's wrong?" So he looks at his gauges and he sees an apparent loss in the quantity of water, in the quantity of oil, and a massive loss in the quantity of fuel. Instead of looking back in his rear view mirror and a random question coming to his thick head: "Have I got a hole in the radiator? Have I got a hole in the block where all this oil is leaking from?" Instead of just looking in his rear view mirror and seeing these trails of oil, of gas, of water behind him, he just keeps on driving.

Now what would you say in a situation like that? "You should have checked that before! You are a stupid idiot not to do that! If you could see the gauges, that you were losing water … I mean, after all, the car isn't so thirsty that it's just going to drink up the water. Obviously you were losing water! The gauge was showing you. Why didn't you look back to see if you had a hole in it?"

Okay, and here is a situation where this guy is a stupid idiot. And you get out of your car and say, "Man, you should just throw away your license. You don't know how to drive these big sports cars anyway. You should go learn how to drive. Learn how to read gauges. Go learn your A-B-" and you can get all mad at him and everything.

What about us? We are having an apparent loss of Peace per day. Apparent loss of Peace. We are having an apparent loss of what the Creator has put in this Earth for us. Pollution. Jungles getting wiped out. The ocean's not retrieving back together properly again. We are having some fantastic problems. You look at, for instance, where India was, where the desert was. That was actually a very rich, fertile soil, and now all of a sudden it's all desert. And obviously it's apparent. Because you read all these statistics, you read all this, and there's more crime in this world every day, new kinds of crime, different kinds of crime.

And you look at the whole psychology of man. The whole inspiration of man to live, to exist for a purpose, is gone, is lost. Because there is no purpose! So then why are we being such idiots as to keep on continuing, when we know that when the same thing happens again you are supposed to look in your rear view mirror and make sure that you don't have holes somewhere? And we just keep on going, making the same mistake again and again. So what is going to be the benefit of this whole human life? What is going to be the benefit of us being here? What is the benefit of us being here?

I mean, apparently - again, as apparent as it could be - when God created beautiful, beautiful, beautiful ocean, He didn't create it to get it all polluted. Because He could have just done that right away. When He made the water, and made it salty and put it in the ocean, made an ocean out of it, He'd just throw in a couple of cans of pollution-makers in there, and it would have been polluted from the beginning, from the very start. You see these beautiful forests just completely chopped out, finished, gone. He could have just made it so that the tree starts, it grows - because all you see is stubs, where they cut out all the trees - so the tree grows, but it never gets higher

Guru Maharaj Ji has planted in us the answer than a stub, that's all it stays. And that's what the tree looks like. It just looks like a stub and it's a fully grown tree. But the Creator didn't do that; He made it a full, living tree.

So what are we doing? Where is the benefit? And here is a good question: If we do believe sincerely that there is a Creator, then what is the benefit of creating this creation? Why did He do it? It's a good question. But nobody asks that. Everything is given. "Okay, there is a Creator and there is a Destroyer, and there is a Sustainer." But let's ask ourselves a question: Why does the Creator create? Why does the Sustainer sustain? And why does the Destroyer destroy? Why? Why are we here?

And this is a great question. It's an immaculate question. It's a big question. And yet there is where the beauty lies.

That question is like a termite that can eat people up, and has eaten people up. Not literally eaten people up, but almost literally eaten people up. Eaten their souls, literally. But Guru Maharaj Ji has planted in us the answer to all the questions that could ever live, and made us his devotees by simply becoming Guru Maharaj Ji, by simply opening that door so that we could walk in, so that we could become who we are. And just as simple as that, we've been saved.

And when we come together as premies, come together as Guru Maharaj Ji, and meet, and know what Guru Puja really means … because in one way there can never be Guru Puja on certain dates. There never can be. That's wrong. It's ethical'-. wrong.

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Prem Rawat aka Maharaji 1978 If you are a devotee, then you have to worship your Guru Maharaj Ji forever and ever and ever. Twenty-four hours a day, two hours a day. If your day is two-hours long, two-hours long. If your night is twelve-hours long, another twelve hours. Every moment, every second. And then the only thing is that happens, that happens; but when we understand what it is all about. So far we are naive, so far we go around playing the games of …

Okay, I'll give you a typical example. Okay, here is a person who received Knowledge. Very enthusiastic. "Oh, incredible, great, beautiful." Da-da-da-da-da, all excited. "I received Knowledge. Jai Satchitanand." You know. So far, so good. Then he goes home; "Man, I'm going to meditate. That's what the initiator told me." The whole entire Knowledge session flashes up.

"Wow man, it was really beautiful, it was really incredible." And you sit down, and for a few moments that's what you're going through. Then you sit down and you actually get into meditation. You get up and you're really all just completely Missed out. And that goes for second day and the third day and the fourth day and the fifth day - maybe a week or so.

Then maybe the sixth day you wake up for meditation and you find you made a boo-boo. You were supposed to get up at a certain time or be at a certain place at a certain time, maybe like your job. And that in fact you just spaced it out by doing meditation too long or something like that.

So then, premies, we start shifting. We start lowering that standard. And what does it then become? "Okay, if I wake up at 7:00, and it takes me 15, 20 minutes to do this, that, that, and if I sit down for meditation at 7:30, and do meditation till 8:30, I can still get up, have my breakfast, still be able to go down, get my early morning newspaper, and still be able to catch the bus and get there in time." Then that works out.

Then slowly and slowly and slowly, seven o'clock's too early. And then it just so happens there's an hour change in time. You gain an hour, you lose an hour. Summer comes or winter comes. Then you say, "Man, that's just too early. Why don't I do this: Why don't I go to work, go ahead and sleep, get ready, get my breakfast, do everything, go to work, and then find a time there to meditate? And you just see that this just keeps on happening. Just deteriorates. Everything else …

Before, nothing else was important. Knowledge was important. "Man, if I could only receive Knowledge, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, I'd meditate, I'd meditate, I'd meditate. I wouldn't space out for one second." After you receive Knowledge, things switch a little bit.

Knowledge sort of - it's like before, all you see is Knowledge. Nothing else. And then you see Knowledge and a little bit of the top of your apartment. And then before you know, you want somebody to come in, take the window out of your apartment or your house, and install the Knowledge so that it's accessible there any time you want. Just reach over, turn on the Knowledge, have a nice time, turn it off, and still be able to do whatever we want to do. Okay. And you see the deterioration, and here is what is happening. No. It's okay, you change your time. Say instead of getting up 7:00, you start getting up at 6:59. That's okay. Or instead of getting up 7:00, you start getting up one minute past seven. That's okay.

But you have in the whole process adapted Knowledge to your lifestyle; not your lifestyle to Knowledge. But you have just taken that Knowledge, put it in a nice bag, gift-wrapped it, put it in your pocket. "Oh yeah, when I feel lonely, feel sad, feel this, I'll just pull it out and look at it. Be a nice thing."

But premies, that's not the way it works. Knowledge is it! This life is Knowledge. And you know that. And by coming together to realise that, then we really truly become those true devotees. And when we become true devotees, then Guru Maharaj Ji becomes more and more true for us. And when Guru Maharaj Ji becomes more and more true for us, Knowledge becomes more and more true for us, more and more real for us. And then that joy, that Love, that beauty that exists between Guru Maharaj Ji and his devotee also becomes more and more real, and becomes more and more ever-present, and becomes more and more steady, and becomes in a way so that we become that.

Because you look at Mira. And she was a person who was from a very good house, very rich. Her father was king. Her husband was a king. But she left all that. And I'm not saying that you have to lose your kingdom. Maybe you don't have a kingdom. Then you don't have to bother about losing it. But she left all that to merge with that experience, to merge with that one thing that she wanted to become, that Love.

Because I know there are people here who have come who maybe don't experience Knowledge. To them; yes, yes, of course. There's Guru Puja and I'm their Guru Maharaj Ji, and so on and so on and so on. And then there are people who

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experience Knowledge in their lives, and I am their Guru Maharaj Ji, and they have come to Guru Puja, and there are no, "so on's and so on's and so on's." It becomes very definite in our lives.

Because this is not a theory. Nobody's trying to preach a theory to you. Those examples taken from Shastras or taken from scriptures and taken from here and taken from there are just simply to try to give you an example. But this is not a theory. This is a practical experience. This is the practical, live experience of that Knowledge that you yourself have to feel, that you yourself have to realize. There's nobody coming here and saying, "Yeah, you're supposed to feel this and you're supposed to feel this and you're supposed to feel that." No.

There is that Love. And nobody can ever sit down and describe that experience of Guru Maharaj Ji and devotee. And of course, providing that there is that true devotee, that there is that true devotion, that there is that interlock, that there is that communication, that there is that channel through which devotion can be experienced. And then in turn becoming part of that channel and becoming that devotion, becoming a devotee. And who can realize that?

Because in this world there are so many, so many things going on. I mean there is just about every kind of a trip you can get into. There is just about every kind of a thing that you can get into. It's almost like somebody comes up to you and says, "Oh, okay, now you're saved." So you say, "Now I'm saved."

And it's about as good as talking to somebody who is in water, surrounded by about 50 sharks that are circling closer and closer and closer and closer and closer - his buddy just got killed, and there's a third person who is in the middle of that circle too - and he's just saying, "You just got saved." It's just like it's apparent. Nobody got saved. But just because somebody came up to you and said, "You got saved," you say, "Oh, I got saved."

But not with this Knowledge. It's not like that. You say that you got saved because you feel you got saved. You say that by your own experience, and that's what satsang is all about. Satsang is an inner experience. And we all come together for that, for that beautiful Love, for that beautiful experience, for that incredible depth, for that incredible infinity that exists and has no barriers, for that feeling.

It's just like Shri Maharaj Ji was saying, that only a few people realize that in their time, only a few people get to really appreciate that feeling of being a devotee, of being Guru Maharaj Ji's, of being saved. Because only a very few people in fact really put that effort through. Only a very few people really make that effort.

Because look at it in the way of how many things we do in one day, or in an average period of two years. I don't think you could sit down and count amongst all those things that we do in one day or two years. If you are twenty years old, then in twenty years, how many of those years, in fact are for that upliftment, are for that experience that you really want.

Because what is the experience of a cup of coffee? That's it. You just sit there and you sip it. And that's that. What is an experience of a movie? You sit there and you see it. It's finished, it's gone. And if you are really one of those people,

only a few people get to really appreciate that feeling of being a devotee maybe it'll get you.

Or all of a sudden, you're sleeping at night-time and you'll just jump out of bed, or something like that. I mean, it's just like you look at so many things that are being made just to grab that one little place where it really matters.

You know, first it was "Jaws," then the "Jaws 2," and now, "The Swarm." They're making this movie about bees. It's incredible! Here is a possibility that you might get attacked by a shark, and there is the possibility that you might get attacked by "Shark 2," "Jaws 2," and there is the possibility that you might get attacked by "The Swarm," bees, you know.

But then there is no possibility because, as a matter of fact, it's always happening. You're always going to get attacked by your mind. And in whom, in which person does it send those shrieks down their spine?

Wow! Talk about sharks, "No, no, no!" It's like Hansi or Wadi-They're just really into it. "Shark, shark," and they want shark-this and shark-that, and they look at the teeth, and you draw them a shark and they look at the fin and they go, "Du-du-du-du." And to them it's a very thrilling thing, "Wow! Shark!"

And sometimes I go, "Wadi, there's one right behind you!" And she goes, "Uuuuu!" Of course, she is doing it, because she really doesn't feel it. Because sometimes when she's not in the mood for it you can tell her there's two of them behind

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Prem Rawat aka Maharaji in 1978her and she won't do anything.

But to us that becomes one of those possible dangers, and we think about it. When we were in Florida, in Miami, premies were skiing. I was going to take John skiing. And John saw these two fins out in the water. And I said, "Okay, let's go!" He said, "But don't take me that way. I'll go over there, but don't take me that way." And it's just like all this fear in our lives really manifests. It's not like one of those things.

Raja Ji is flying these days and he was saying that they were doing these stalls, and he said that he likes to do these stalls over land. He doesn't want to do them over the ocean in case something happens and he has to ditch in water. He doesn't want to ditch in water; he wants to ditch where the land is so at least there won't be sharks there.

And I mean you look at it and okay, you look at a shark, you read about sharks, and they are pretty fascinating things, and definitely one of those things that you don't want to encounter with your hand in their mouth trying to shake hands. But it's one of those things; I mean, you look at it, and there is more danger out there. I mean, definitely people who live in Tucson don't have to bother about sharks. But people who live out in Los Angeles, they say, "Oh, shark, shark, shark!" People who live by a coast: "Shark, shark, shark!"

Why should a person living in Kansas City bother about sharks? What kind of shark is going to come up and attack him in Kansas City? And yet, it's so amazing. There's probably some places where they read all about sharks and get all fascinated by them.

And here you've got nuclear warheads floating everywhere. They can wipe out the entire country. "That's okay." Why? Why is that okay? "Because sharks are unpredictable." Oh. So these people who have the control over nuclear warheads are completely predictable. They're perfect, right? I mean, that's the other thing that I was completely fascinated by. There is a man thinking that, "Oh yeah, everything is okay, everything is predictable." Where is that guarantee? Where is that protection? You've got sharks everywhere. You don't have to bother about sharks in the ocean.

Does that mean a person who is really, really, really, really, really scared of sharks - and he lives in California, over the water, and likes to swim in water, like a natural lake or ocean or something like that - he's really freaked out, sees a shark. "Man, I'm never going in that ocean."

But then, he's still really afraid. "What if the ocean comes in and the shark comes in with it?" or something like that. So he moves out. Moves out to somewhere in the middle of the country where there is no salt water, just fresh water. "Okay, now I'm saved. I'm safe." Is that the thing?

There's a lot of people who are afraid of sharks. Look at Joan Apter. She's really, really afraid of snakes. She will just about fly if there is a snake there. And yet can she say to herself, "If I go to a place where there are no snakes, I'll be saved"? No!

Because that's not the problem. The problem is us!

How can you go around cleaning the streets with this great big thing called, "skunk deodorant," trying to clean this place where the skunk died, with a skunk tied on your back? Wherever you go, you're cleaning it, and still you can smell it. And you keep saying to yourself, "That's a really strong smell." Everywhere. Yes it's everywhere. Because it's right by you, and wherever you go it goes with you! But if you got rid of that, then there would be a difference.

And as I was saying in Malibu: Okay, a concept originates from our mind, and Guru Maharaj Ji blows the concept up. Fantastic! One of the reasons to go to the programs.

Beautiful. Or Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace comes along and blows a concept. Wow. Incredible. Beautiful. Or something somebody does blows a concept. And here you are going like a fire cracker, blowing your concepts everywhere you go!

"Fantastic! Beautiful. Wow, I'm just getting all these concepts blown out."

And you feel real good, and two days later you feel the same old junk. Because is it the concepts that are your problem? Or is the concept-maker your problem? And that's where the trouble lies. You are carrying around your concept-maker with you all the time. So one concept comes up, you shoot it. And before you know it, the other one comes in. And it's just like trying to wipe that smell of that dead skunk away from you, when wherever you go you're taking it on your back. So how are you going to do it?

First of all there has to be a separation between us and that thing, whatever it is, that is making us freak out, that is making us go through these problems, and keeping those problems constantly alive, constantly there.

And then what is the way? What is the way to get rid of it all? To just surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. Just surrender! How far

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Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji

 

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji

"When all the mind, all the links, all the ropes tied to you
have been cut, then the true rope between you and Guru Maharaj Ji
begins. When you have given up all the roads, that is when
you seek the true road.
"


are you going to walk on your own? What are you going to try to do?

I mean, presently somebody's trying to swim the English Channel, and there's other people who've swam the English Channel. That doesn't mean that every time they want to go to France, they swim to France. No, they go by airplane or they take a boat there. It's just one of those things. They want to do it for a record, for time's sake, for this or for that. But you don't always do it.

And here is Guru Maharaj Ji saying, "Okay, come on board!" And you say, "I've been in water before. I'm okay." Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Look! This is not only just a problem of water. It's what's in the water. And that's going to get you."

And you say, "No, I'm okay." And then you keep on going and Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Are you sure?" And you say, "Oh yeah, I'm positive. Just take off." And Guru Maharaj Ji takes off!

Because remember one thing: You are not the only person on his boat. You have not chartered Guru Maharaj Ji's boat. You can't just say, "Stop the boat. I want to go off for a swim." It's not one of those things. And yet that's exactly what we try to do: "I'll skip meditation today. It's okay. I'm tired. I'll skip my meditation. I'll skip Arti. I'll skip darshan. I'll skip a program. I'll skip this. I'll skip that." Skip this and skip that. How can you? I mean, I don't understand that.

When this Knowledge was imparted to me, when this Knowledge was revealed to me, it was like there were no - and there are not, presently, two ways about it. It's a very simple thing. It's a very simple, very flowing thing. And you get into the river and you bathe and you bathe and you bathe and you bathe in that satsang, in that Knowledge, in that Grace, and let it carry you.

But we want to be our individual, personalized soul; our own individual personalized god. And man has this concept of salvation … and that's not everyone, it's only a very few people. Liberation. Not everyone, only very few people. "I want to get liberated. I want to get saved. I want salvation."

Some people want salvation; some people don't know what salvation is! To them, it's the great, long hood of their Cadillac. That's it. Just drive down. It's the concept of life: To become something is it. "If in my life - " and then they go, "I can have this, I can have this, I can have this, I can have this, I can have this, I'll be happy." That's their idea of happiness.

And yet, premies, let's look at one thing: What is the true definition of happiness? What is happiness? Is happiness just a smile. Or an experience deep within? What is it? No; when people are very happy, they cry. Tears come out. Emotionally they completely let go. They just fire away, just going at it. So it's definitely not a smile.

It's an experience when you are happy. Nobody has to ask you that question, and you don't ask yourself that question: "Are you happy?" You know you are happy. You don't have to ask yourself: "Are you happy?" You don't have to stick your finger in the hot water to say, "Am I cold?" No. It's there. And it's that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji wants all the premies to have. To surrender. To let go.

Because, I mean, what are we "let-going" of? Of that concept-maker. Because after all, why does it feel so good to get a concept blown off our back? Because that's the smell we don't like, and that's the smell we're trying to get rid of. And when we finally do get rid of that smell, it feels good! We accomplish a purpose.

So premies, where is that point going to be in our lives? When? Tomorrow? Day after tomorrow? A year from now? At Hans Jayanti? When are we going to become really happy in the true sense of happiness? Not a big fat smile on our faces.

You look at some of those things that go on, like "Show must go on." And you see this actor, right? And he's blowing it. The only thing that he can think of to sort of assure the people that he is not blowing it is to just keep this grin on his face. But that's not happiness.

You go to Viet Nam, get your lips blown off, get a real big circle right there. That's definitely not happiness. What is happiness?

That experience when we become one, when we become whole. What is that feeling? I mean it's just like such an incredible feeling. What is that feeling when that baby comes to it's mother? It's definitely true that the child can, in fact, survive without it's mother. That can happen. And yet, that's not it. That's not the problem. That's not the matter. That has no bearing on it.

It's just that affection of joy. It's being whole. It's to let go. It's a feeling to be. It's a feeling of joy because you come there and you don't have to do anything. You're safe. You're sound. You're secure. You're there! And there's so many things combined.

And we lose that feeling. We lost that a long, long time ago. Then we are lost. We rattle our heads; "Is it this? Is it that?" A home, a cubby-hole that man makes himself. That's where he keeps this; that's where he keeps that. And then, "Oh, it's so nice to be home." And you just come in and throw your legs up on the pillow. And yet, is that happiness? Is that it? Is

11 The Golden Age

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Jithat the entire happiness of a man? Definitely not!

And so many times you see people saying, "Look, man, don't bug me." They turn around to their little kid; "Don't bug me. This is the only place I can come to. And here you are bugging me. Just go, take off somewhere." Or some attitude like that.

So premies, that stable source of that happiness is Guru Maharaj Ji, is that Perfect Master. There is no other source. And the reason why I'm saying that is because I've experienced it. And I experience it! Not only experienced it, but I experience it; that Guru Maharaj Ji is the whole entire sole distributor of happiness, through Knowledge. And is happiness.

Because he can give us that same fulfilling feeling. And it's not only a feeling, but in fact that fulfillment that we lack in our lives. And that's what we want. That's what we try for. That's what we search for. That's what we fumble for. And Guru Maharaj Ji brings that experience alive for us, again and again and again and again and again.

And it's been so beautiful just to be able to come to this program, to be able to come to Guru Puja, to be able to come to this festival. Because we've been waiting and I've been waiting for this festival to come for long time. Because that's where - of course, that's a festival. And again, it's another thing that comes together for us to be able to all come together.

I mean, as far as Guru Puja's concept is concerned, there's going to be a tour happening in Europe, and that's going to be a Guru Puja Tour, so that's that. There is no definite date for Guru Puja. Whenever that devotee can worship his Guru Maharaj Ji, his Perfect Master, it can turn into Guru Puja, and the same experience that we all as individuals receive from this festival. So you know it's just all there. And it's all there for US.

The boat is not there for Guru Maharaj Ji. The boat is there for us. And Guru Maharaj Ji's on the boat, not because the boat needs Guru Maharaj Ji, but we need the captain. And it's all there for us, to be able to take us to that other part that we really want to go to.

Because anyway, in any part, in any place, it's almost like we lose that track, we lose that sight. And it's so easy to lose that sight. Because there are so many sights. We have so many concepts. We are all over the place so many times in such a short time that we just fumble all over the place. But Guru Maharaj Ji brings us the purpose of our life. And the Knowledge brings us the purpose of our life: Why are we here?

Because why are people in this world unhappy? They don't know what they are here for! What are they? Just something that just gets up and goes through this procedure? "Look, it's my job. Look, it's my family. Look, this is what I like to do." And it's such a gigantic field to just completely get spaced out into, that definitely, if there is a threat of shark, if there is the threat of something, that's the threat: Threat of mind.

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji And so I mean it's completely obvious. What are we going to

"It's just that affection of joy.
It's being whole. It's to let go.
It's a feeling to be.
It's a feeling of joy
because you come there
and you don't have to do
anything. You're safe.
You're sound. You're secure
You're there! And there's
so many things combined."

12 The Golden Age

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Jido be able to be at that place, to become one, to be where we want to be? And the only way that can happen, the only way that can manifest, is when we surrender.

Because as long as we're going to be like a little stub stuck in the ground, we're going to be just like, that rock that can be soaking in the ocean bed for years and years and years and years and years and years and years and it's literally porous. And bring it out of the water, let it sit out in the sun, (snaps fingers) just dries just like that. And that's what the human beings are.

Because, look, what hasn't the Creator given? This body … What hasn't It manifested for this humanity? I can't think of one thing. Everything. Everything to survive. Everything to enjoy.

I mean, look. There was just no reason to make sunsets so nice. There just wasn't! You could just have it like a great big switch. And eight o'clock, hit the night-time, you just poof; it just goes right out. That's it!

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji And you look at these clouds, the formations that they take. It didn't have to be like that. It could be just like a great big showerhead. Turn it on, Dzzzzzzzzz, rain for two minutes. Then it'd stop. I mean, all these things just didn't have to be there. There be no trees. Just little air filters coming out of the ground. They suck up the carbon dioxide and pump out some oxygen and that's it. And then us: A little mechanical, dumb, idiot-looking robot. Which we are, in some senses. But then there was this whole beauty, made for this humanity, made for us; for realization. To explore, to enjoy.

You look at a rose. And you take that rose and you smell it, and it smells nice. You smell it again. It smells nice. Smell it again; it smells nice. You could just put a little atomizer in there, ttzzzzt. Good. And then, no more smell. You want to smell it again, you just push a little bud of it and then ttzzzzt, an atomizer puts out a little perfume. But a perfume to stay with it forever and ever and ever.

And you know something? It could have been all turned around. Because to us, some things taste good; some things taste bad to some other people. Some people like salt, some people like sugar. You see some of these people and they have a plate of food and they take the salt shaker and just sprinkle it all over it. And then they eat this stuff, and it's really really salty. Or some people take sugar, sprinkle it over everything till everything is crunchy and sugary, and then they eat that.

And with all these different tastes, the Creator could have made that rose smell terrible. But no. To everybody it smells nice, it smells incredible.

So obviously, if there is somebody who is not to be blamed, it's the Creator. But we are. We are in that vulnerable position. Because we are the people who are making the boo-boos, and keep on making the boo-boos, that keep on making more boo-boos and more boo-boos, till it puts you right to the end of the pits. And Guru Maharaj Ji comes to save you.

Because even to have the possibility of this happening, of us drowning, Guru Maharaj Ji's there. So I mean, it's like the perfect creation. And it is the perfect creation. Because with everything, also the Saviour, also the person to come and save.

The Golden Age 13

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji
"You're hanging on to that maya. You are hanging on to that illusion.
That's why if you keep hanging on, you'll always stay here.
But if you let go, you will leave that illusion.
You will leave that maya, and come to that point where you really want to be,
where that perfection really is, where that reality really exists. "


And it's all there for us. And to be able to just surrender. It's so important, just to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji.

Because we keep hanging onto ourselves! Time and time after time, and time after time. And then every time we hang onto ourselves we get a kick. Right? And we say, "Man, I should surrender." Then we hang onto ourselves, get another kick. Hang onto ourselves. And this process just keeps on going.

But if we can just let go to Guru Maharaj Ji, then all the processes can stop. Everything can stop, and that one process of perfectness can then start. Because then, that is the time when that process starts; when all the other processes have stopped.

When all the mind, all the links, all the ropes tied to you have been cut, then the true rope between you and Guru Maharaj Ji begins. When you have given up all the roads, that is when you seek the true road. And just to let go, and just to surrender, brings us to that road, brings us to Guru Maharaj Ji to be able to carry us, to be able to take us away from that and bring us to that beautiful place, and to be able to bring us to that beautiful point. And it's just so incredible, the way everything is.

You're premies. You're here to listen to satsang, to have darshan, and to enjoy a beautiful three-day Guru Puja. And then more festivals, and more festivals. And then, come Hans Jayanti … and it's all there. It's just how much we open up, how much we become a part of it. And that's how beautiful it's going to happen. That's how beautiful it's going to become.

So premies, it's just wonderful to be here, to be with all the premies again - not all the premiesare here yet. But everywhere. And you can just feel that love from those sincere hearts.

So it's for us, premies. It's for us and it's for us now, to be one with that, to become one with that, to be in that place where it is beautiful. Because again, in this world, it doesn't exist. As we have now made it, it just doesn't exist. It exists within us.

So, I'll see you tomorrow in darshan. And this is the time to let go. This is that time to surrender. This is that time to understand Guru Maharaj Ji. Not who Guru Maharaj Ji is! Again, that can never be answered. But how much can we become a part of Guru Maharaj Ji? And that's the important question. How much can we completely submerge ourselves into that lake of devotion? Some people barely want to dip their finger. Some people just want to go for a little swim and then come back. And some people really want to submerge. And if we can all submerge, if we can all become a part of it, then it's like lighting up little lamps in everybody's heart. And it can all come together. And that's it! That's it. And that's what becomes of us, that's what happens to us, that's that opening that Guru Maharaj Ji brings in our lives: Makes those little lamps light up in everybody's heart.

And we, just as human beings, want to see those lamps lit up in everybody's heart in the whole world, in the whole universe. And if there's Martians out there, it wouldn't hurt for them to have their lamps lit up, too. And it's just like that. And the power of Knowledge brings that together, makes that possible. The power, the Grace, really can do it.

So premies, just let go. Because what are you going to hang on to? What is there to hang on to? A little more craziness? And I mean, sometimes you can really even feel it, that that's exactly what it is: It is craziness. And yet, man, you want to grab onto it like you were screwed to it, you were welded to it, you were glued to it. And yet, you see how much you really want to let go of that craziness, how much you really want to let go of that mind.

Because I don't mean "mind" ; the brain. The mind. This obsolete, non-visible force just taking us through all the dumps. This thing that makes us go cuckoo: Get rid of that. That concept-maker … to get rid of that concept-maker and be in Guru Maharaj Ji's world, be in Guru Maharaj Ji's boat. Be where Guru Maharaj Ji wants us to be. Because then we have surrendered. If we surrender, then we will be where Guru Maharaj Ji wants us to be. And where does Guru Maharaj Ji want us to be? Where he is. And then that process can be, in fact, completed.

Because, really isn't much out there. Oh yeah, it all looks too much, too incredible, too great, fantastic. And it's just all a nice little show. It comes and it goes. It's like those books, "Scratch and Smell." Oh yeah, it's all there. You scratch it a little bit; it smells good. You don't scratch it; you don't smell anything. And then you go every day and you scratch a little bit, scratch a little bit, scratch a little bit, till you scratch through the pages, and then it's time to scratch the book. It's finished. Gone. And you throw away the book.

And that's what happens. And that's what happens to our lives. We do a little bit here, we do a little bit there. "That was fantastic. Let me try that again. I like hang-gliding. Oh no, I like to climb the mountains better. Ah, let me go skiing. No, I want to go scuba-diving. Oh no, I want to go flying. Oh, I want to go to moon." You know, scratch a little here, scratch a little there, "Oh man, I'd like to be - " It's like everybody who sees those movies of those jet fighters just screaming into the wild blue yonder, "Oh man, I'd love to be there." All these things.

The Golden Age 15

Prem Rawat aka Guru Maharaj Ji And then comes a time when that blue yonder is where you're going, and that's it. There is no possibility of coming back. And it all changes. All of a sudden it becomes a little different. "Oops! What about this? I haven't done this yet. I haven't scratched this yet. I haven't scratched that yet."

As I was saying in the beginning of this satsang, what do people look to? Where do people go to? What does this suggest to you? Better planning, to think about mortuaries while you're still alive? That would give you some inspiration to live, wouldn't it? You'll be thinking for a week, instead of living, "Yeah, when I die, which way do I want to face?" Because they really go through this whole thing. "We'll put you on the most beautiful side of the park."

And after three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 15 years, "Okay, Joe, take the bulldozer over." Ddddz, there goes your beauty. A nice 50-, 60-storey building, and you're looking up at the basement. That's your view: The bottom of the basement of the 60-story building. And that's what happens to us. Either we get cremated, either we get buried, or get floated by, put in a river, and that's it. That's our life; that becomes our life.

In Benares, in India, there is a place. And this is a holy place. So people travel with dead bodies from all over the place to come to be able to cremate them there. Because if they're cremated there, they've got a free ticket all the way up there. That's what they think. So they stand in lines with these dead bodies! There's lines after lines after lines after lines. And you stand there and you watch all this happening.

And there are these guys who are the "log throwers." And, see, they don't have time to go through the whole commotion of emotion. They just keep it coming and keep it chugging, and they just keep bringing those logs up, keep throwing those logs, because they've got to get this line rolling! And they've got two or three places where they bring them. You just sort of take all the ashes and you chuck it in the river which is very, very close. And that's it! Sometimes the people who bring the dead body leave, so that they just take the half-burned, half-baked body and just throw it: "He's got his ticket there."

And this is very interesting. To those people who are the relatives of the dead, of the deceased, want him burned at this particular spot for his welfare. Okay? So they travel with him on their shoulders. All that. To those people who are at this holy spot, they could care less about him going to heaven or hell. As fast as they can get it cremated, they can get the other person on.

The only thing that has no say over it … what if you don't want to go to heaven? You want to just sort of stay in the middle? Or get put in a hole! Well, of course the relatives of the deceased have a say. And of course that person who is going to burn him has got a say. The only person who doesn't have any say is you. You know why? Because you're dead!

But now you have a say. You are alive. And you are not dead. So doesn't it seem apparent, again, that now is the time to be in heaven? What good is it after you're dead? What if you make up your mind that you don't want to go there? Then what?

But now you can feel it. You can feel the heaven. Now you can know that you are in heaven, because you have the body and heaven is now. And so you don't have to wait in a line to be cremated in Benares. You can go to that heaven that we all want to go to, now. It can all manifest now for us. And this is the power. This is the Grace.

And you put it this way: "Oh, everybody's out there to throw you into salvation." But this is the power … because look at it. And you look at it this way: That is the power of Grace. that is the power of Guru Maharaj Ji, to bring that heaven, to bring that experience which people call heaven.

Of course, it's one of those things. Here you have a guy in white robes, long beard, sitting on a chair. I wonder who makes the chair: Hallmark? Or some furniture place up in heaven? But the thing is, in heaven you're not supposed to work! So the chair must be made in hell, where you have to work, and then shipped over to heaven for this person to sit on. Is that heaven?

That's not heaven. Heaven to people is a concept. And I'll tell you what. What kind of a concept is it? It's what man wants in his life now: Ah, you just sit down by these nice heavenly pearly gates, and the angels are always playing this thing all around you and you don't have to do anything, and everything is so beautiful. And God is there, and everything is beautiful.

That beauty, that natural attraction that we have, that we would like to have, something that we really really would want, we call that heaven. Right? And what we don't want.

16 The Golden Age

Prem Rawat aka Maharaji with His Niece, the Hollywood Actress Navi Rawat burning in some firepit, and this and that, the concept of hell, we call that hell. And so now we have heaven and we have hell.

And then, just like a fine line, "If you do good, listen kid, you're going to go to heaven. If you do bad, listen, you dummy, you're going to go to hell. And so then, here is a basic standard format of what you have to do to go to which place."

But then every culture, every society dominates from there on. If the Moslems eat a pig, "You're going to go to hell." And if the Hindus eat a cow, "You're going to go to hell." So what's good and what's bad? It's all relative.

And it makes you feel like you are walking on glass that's been suspended by fine, fine wire, and you don't even want to make this glass move, because everything you do wrong can be right, and everything you do right could be wrong! It just all depends on which side of the sun you face. And that's the way it is. I

Jews say, "You have to do this, you have to do this, you have to do this. That's good." Other guys say, "No, no, no. That's not true. Don't do any of that stuff. You do this, you do this, you do this, and you will get there."

And this is the most surprising and amazing thing. All these guys get up there and say, "Okay, man, give donations. Go to the holy places. Bathe in Ganges. Have spiritual rituals and you will go to heaven. Read the scriptures and you will go to heaven." And in Gita itself, which is regarded as a scripture, Krishna is explaining to Arjuna that doing all these things, you don't get me. You get me only by the true devotion.

So premies, with all these controversial things, they call me controversial! Of all things that there are in this whole entire earth, I, as Guru Maharaj Ji, have an experience for you, as premies. And when you receive that experience, when you feel that experience … nobody tells you to, but you feel that bliss, you feel that harmony, and that's the way it is. There are no ands, ifs, and buts about it. You don't have to read the big scriptures, you don't have to read anything! Or you could read everything.

You could be the good-doer, or you could be the bad-doer. Just come to this Knowledge, come under the shelter of Guru Maharaj Ji, come under that Grace, and everything will be okay. Everything will be fine.

Because look at so many people who were saved by the power of this Knowledge. And not all of them were good-doers. But they were saved. And they were saved because they felt saved, not because somebody went up to them and said, "Hey! Get up! You're saved. It's okay now." But they felt that they were saved, and that's the incredible thing.

We can feel this Knowledge. We can feel that bliss. It's not everybody going, "Get blissed out. Get blissed out. Get blissed out! Are you blissed out?" But you feel blissed out. Nobody has to tell you you're blissed out. Nobody has to say, "Get blissed out." You just get blissed out because you are blissed out. And you feel that bliss manifest inside of you when you experience Knowledge, when you experience that Grace come through and just lift you. And that's the practical experience. There is no other practical experience in this world than this experience.

Because look how many scriptures that have been written. How many Perfect Masters have been on this earth? And yet it had to be an individual, person-to-person basis. I mean, if that Perfect Master wanted, he could have consolidated Mohammed, Jesus, Krishna, Ram, every one of them, in one format; John, Luke, Arjuna, Hanuman, in one format. And there'd be just two people, and they'd just come down, and that would be it. But no, that's not the way it is.

Perfect Master came every time to impart that Knowledge to his premies, to his devotees, people who believed in him, from time to time to time. Because it's the practical experience that we all have to experience, that we all want to experience, that we have a thirst to experience.

So premies, just let go and you'll be there. And that's the surprising thing. If you let go, you'll be there. If you don't let go, you'll always be here.

You know why? This is what you're hanging on to. That's why. You're hanging on to that maya. You are hanging on to that illusion. That's why if you keep hanging on, you'll always stay here. But if you let go, you will leave that illusion. You will leave that maya, and come to that point where you really want to be, where that perfection really is, where that reality really exists.

Thank you very much. The Golden Age 17