So premies, here we are. Nice moonlight night. Come together, just to experience a little more Grace, just to experience - really experience - something that, to begin with, nobody even knows about. And then secondly to have the Grace in this lifetime, to have Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace

The Golden Age 3

in this lifetime, to be able to experience that Knowledge, to be able to experience Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, to be able to experience Guru Maharaj Ji's love.

You know, in a way it's really beautiful. Because before, this whole program was set to be in the Miami Convention Centre. And I know that in a lot of satsangs that I've given I've said, "What difference does it make if it's the convention centre or not?" And it was so incredible how this all just got put to the test almost.

There we were and all of a sudden there was this storm called David out there, doing it's thing. It was small and nobody even was heeding it. And then all of a sudden it just grew and grew and came closer and closer. And on Friday night I called up and I said that we better do something about it. There's a program scheduled tomorrow and it wouldn't be a good idea if it decided to come "this-a-way.

So what do you do? I mean, what do you do? Can't really do anything. What are you going to do, go out and … Hansi was saying this just before we left for this pro-gram. He has this Spiderman costume on and he was saying that he was going to go pick at David.

What do you do with it? There it is, a hurricane. Whatever it is, it's out there. And it was, "Where can we go? What can we do? There's nothing. There's really no place we can go."

Because we so - almost so much locked up into our concept that to us it was like, "Wait a minute. This isn't going to happen." Long before even the program dates were announced whoever suspected, "Wait a minute. You know you're pretty dumb to say it's going to be in Miami, when it's not going to be in Miami. It's going to be in Orlando." But you don't know.

And this hurricane just kept coming and then all of a sudden there was that point where it was unclear whether we're going to do this program or we were not going to do this program. And it was sort of suspended for few hours. And then it was like, "Okay, the program is cancelled. It looks like this hurricane's coming."

I was sitting in my office, there were all these premies and it was like, "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" And I said, "Well, how about Orlando? We have the place." You can't call it a coincidence. We got this place from the first of September to prepare for Hans Jayanti, with no idea that this is what would be happening here.

And this whole thing builds up and builds up and finally we get out of Miami and everything is being packed. Everything is just big rental trucks and premies preparing to get out. Just leave, leave, leave. Everywhere there's this little wave going over, "Hurricane, hurricane, hurricane." And nobody knows about it. And now the program was on and it was going to be happening in Orlando. And it was so beautiful.

And this hurricane's coming towards Miami. The eye of it was about 145 miles out. It's travelling at about 15 miles an hour with winds up to 90 miles an hour around it. And it's coming right for the Miami area. That whole area has gone on hurricane warning. And all this upper area here has gone on hurricane watch.

And what is it? What does it mean to you and me? What is it in our lives? There's this one hurricane and it's physically materialized. It physically poses a threat. And when we know it physically poses a threat then we swing ourselves a little bit and say, "Wait a minute. I'm gonna save myself from this hurricane. I'm gonna protect myself from this hurricane. I don't want to be in this hurricane. I don't want to get hurt."

"When we come to the
Perfect Master with an empty
heart, when we come to the
Perfect Master with a real thirst,
when we come to the
Perfect Master really searching,
then and then only is this
experience imparted to us."

And yet how many times do we really sit down without those hurricanes being physically a manifestation and say, "Wait a minute. My whole life is a hurricane. Where am I going? My whole life, the way it's going, is just going to end up nothing." And it happens.

It happens. For so many of us. We come into this world. We do whatever we get into. We do whatever we feel like and then all of a sudden there is that day, there is that time, there is that moment. And who thinks about it? Who thinks about how you are going to go? What's going to happen? Are you going to be lying in a hospital bed? Is it going to happen when you're knocked out on a surgeon's table, having surgery done? Or is it going to be a car? It's going to be an airplane? It's going to be walking? It's going to be sitting? What's going to happen?

And yet we know that none of us are made just to come in this world, do what we have done - whatever we have done ?and then all of a sudden reach a point in our lives when nothing matters, nothing is important anymore and we just leave.

4 The Golden Age

And time after time this is why Guru Maharaj Ji comes - to say, "Wait. Don't get caught in this hurricane. Don't get caught in this world of maya, of this illusion."

They have all these radio summaries going on. And you listen to them. What in essence they're saying for Miami is, "Pack your bags and get out. The hurricane's going to hit. And it's going to be a good size and. . .

But they're not saying that.

They're giving you the peripherals. "Oh, it's about 90 miles an hour and it's about 170 miles an hour and it's sitting north-northwest." And you have to take all that data and really try to digest it in your head, "Oh yeah. Wait a minute. You know what that means? That means it's heading for us."

And for those people who don't even under-stand that, who can't even comprehend that - to them north-northwest doesn't mean anything. "Then what's happening?" And Guru Maharaj Ji is quite different. Guru Maharaj Ji does it quite differently. He doesn't say, "Oh yeah, and it's north-northwest and it's 90 knots," and all that. He says, "Wait! Stop! Pack your bags and quit! Go now. You have to be saved now. You can't be saved when it's going to all happen to you. It's not going to be the last moment of your life when you have to be saved. It isn't when you get old, when your teeth fall out."

To a lot of us it's when your dentures start falling out and you go bald. That's when it is time to go to Guru Maharaj Ji's shelter. That's the time to go to Guru Maharaj Ji and say, "Yes, Guru Maharaj Ji. Okay, here I am. Save me."

Every step of the moment we need to be saved. Every step of the moment we need to experience Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Every single step of the moment we have to be completely conscious of what that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji is trying to give us really is.

It isn't thousands of books that are going to give us that experience. What is in books? What is that? It isn't this home-made inspiration that's going to do it.

0ne time there was this guy in Akhbar's kingdom. And Akhbar had a bet that you can live away from the heat. The lamp is over there but you can be here, be completely cold and still be okay because the warmth is coming from the lamp. They had a competition. Whoever could sustain themselves all night long in this freezing water in this pond could have a lot of money. There was this poor farmer. All he wanted was a lot of money. And so he had said, "Okay, I'm going to do it."

So he went into the pond and he stood there all night long completely freezing. And the next morning, the king called him up and said, "How was it? How did you manage to do it?" The poor guy was all blue almost and shivering and everything. And he said, "Sire, all I could do was concentrate on this lamp that was burning miles and miles away. It was just a flicker. Instead of thinking about how cold I was and what was really happening to me, all I did was concentrate on this lamp."

And the king said, "Well, you can't have your reward. You were receiving warmth from that lamp that was sitting miles and miles away from you."

There was this smart courtier at the king's court. And he said, "Well, I have to teach this king a lesson. That's not right. He promised him and what he's talking about is pretty stupid."

So the next day the king called for his courtier. He noticed that he wasn't in the court and so he said, "Go call my courtier. Go call my minister." And a batch of soldiers went out and told the minister. They said, "The king is looking for you." He said, "Well, as soon as my dish is cooked I'll come. I haven't had any breakfast." He didn't come. He didn't show up.

He didn't show up and a second batch of soldiers went out there. "Well, my breakfast isn't cooked yet. When it gets cooked, I'll come.

Finally the king got so fed up he himself went to the minister's house. And there he sees this really weird thing going on. This minister has a huge pole and on top of the pole he has tied a pot. And at the very bottom he has a little fire going. The king sees the minister and he said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "Well I'm trying to cook my breakfast."

"Well, you're not going to be able to cook your breakfast like that. How's the heat going to reach from here to there?" And he said, "Well, the same way, you know, how do you figure that heat ever got to that man who was in the cold water for such a long time?"

And to me it's the same way again. We have all these expectations. We have all

The Golden Age 5

these things lined up for us, thinking that yes, these things are the things that are going to bring us that Grace, that are going to bring us that love, that are going to bring us that thing that we are really looking for in life. And how's that going to gel? How is that going to happen?

But when we come to the Perfect Master with an empty heart, when we come to the Perfect Master with a real thirst, when we come to the Perfect Master really searching, then and then only is this experience imparted to us. And it's so clear. Time after time, this is exactly what happened. People came to the Perfect Master. They saw something. They recognized something. They were seekers. They were looking for some Truth in their lives. They came to the Perfect Master and then they were imparted this experience. And once they understood the experience, when they had the experience, they really understood something. They really recognized something.

And premies, what an opportunity we have been given at this point to just make that sincere effort happen towards Guru Maharaj Ji. To make that sincere "happen" happen. Really happen. Because we have to make that step in our lives. It isn't as though we can take the same theory, "Yes, whatever I am doing, I'm making an effort towards whatever Guru Maharaj Ji wants me to make an effort towards."

I was talking to the initiators this afternoon. And we were talking about experience, about surrender, about effort. And what is our effort? We all make effort. Everybody makes effort. Everybody makes effort. Even guy who comes to rip you off makes an effort.

In Napoli, supposedly, they have all these people - I mean I've been to Napoli once. I never experienced it. But supposedly it's really true. You go to Napoli - not "Napoli, Florida," but Napoli in Italy - and they come to you and they show you this expensive watch. "And here's a watch. I'll sell it to you for five dollars." They go through an effort. Their intentions aren't pure. Their intentions aren't to sell you a nice watch. But even to do what they are doing - for even five dollars - somebody has to go out, get a really cheap watch or manufacture a really cheap watch. Then they have to go out and duplicate what an expensive watch looks like. And then they have to give it to this one guy who can go out and rip you off.

Everybody makes an effort in this world. People made an effort to come here. People made an effort to put up this stage. But that's not the effort Guru Maharaj Ji is talking about. That's not the effort I'm talking about.

Everybody surrenders. If we really take that word "surrender" we can see that everybody surrenders. Everybody has to surrender. Haven't you ever bargained? That's what a bargain is all about. You go to a shopkeeper and you ask him, "Well how much does this thing cost?"

"Oh, it costs $5." And you say, " How about $4.50?" And he says, "How about $4.55?"

You go, "How about $4.20?" And after all this bickering and everything that goes on, finally he says, "Ah, you can have it." He has just surrendered.

I remember when I was in Hong Kong, we went to buy a cosmetic case. And we were talking to this guy trying to get him down on the price. He sold us the case but he was so upset, he was so furious, he was so mad. I was just standing and watching all this happen. This premie trying to bargain with this guy. And finally he said, "Take it. Take it. Here. You can have it for the price you want it." And then he got really upset. "Get outta this shop!"

He surrendered to the situation. He said, "Sure, you can have it for what you want to pay for it."

In that situation we all surrender. All of Orlando is being flooded by the people who are coming from Miami. They have surrendered to this Hurricane David. If that's what it is then okay, they have done it. And there are people who get into rush hours and they surrender to them. And there are people who get to the airport and their flight just left. What are they going to do about it? They have to surrender to it.

But is that the surrender that I am talking about? Is that the effort that I am talking about? And is that the experience that I am talking about? No. What is the experience? What is the experience this

6 The Golden Age

"We know that
feeling. We can
feel the heat of
the hand of Guru
Maharaj Ji, feel
it come so close.
So close."

world can give? Any corner we go to. Yes, we can surrender to this hurricane. But it doesn't feel good. All those people who had to leave their homes, "shutter up," pack, go shopping, do all they have been through - they don't have a beautiful experience. They're mad. They're mad. And people who missed their flights, they're mad. Upset. Sad. Sorry.

And really, far beyond all that, beyond that surrender, beyond that little insignificant effort, beyond that insignificant surrender that perhaps we have to go through every single day of our lives - beyond this insignificant world - lies something else. Where this world, where this imperfection ends: perfection begins. Where what's finite stops, that's where infinite is on from. That's where infinite happens. When the experience of this world goes away, then the experience of ourselves, then the experience of the realization, then the experience of the Truth, begins. And that's what we have to try to accomplish in our life.

It's so true. I see it so many times. And I I see it in different premies. There's a lot of service areas. There's a lot of service happening. And you see it in all these service areas. You can see that some people are trying to take what Knowledge is, what that experience is. Some people are trying to take what Knowledge has to give, what Guru Maharaj Ji has to give, what that experience really is, and are moulding it. It's like making a popsicle in the refrigerator. When you put water in the freezer it's going to form into ice. And if you put it in a little tray with little squares in it, it'll form into ice cubes. And if you put it in a long, cylindrical shape it'll form into popsicles. You can go on and make ele-phants and tigers and whatever you wish to make.

To some of us it's like that. "Yes, Guru Maharaj Ji is offering us an experience." Okay, but it's like, "Here, Guru Maharaj Ji. Pour it in my tray. Pour it in my tray so it'll conform to what I want it to be." I mean in all sincerity how many concepts do we have of Guru Maharaj Ji? How many concepts?

And it's one concept after the other concept after the other concept after the other concept after the other concept.

You know, today when I was driving out of here, I was driving in this Malibu Classic. And it's usually the car that's always going in front of me. It looks like many of the cars that are around here. Here I was driving and looking at the premies. And the premies would look at the car and then start looking again. And then all of a sudden they would turn around. And it's such a thing. When the motor home was coming from Miami to Orlando and they stopped at a place to get some gas - and this is what I have heard - the premies started kneeling to the motor home. I wasn't in the motor home! And they were trying to even tell the premies that I wasn't in the motor home.

Because we fix it up. We fix it up real nice, real clean, real tight. "The white motor home" - that's what you're looking for. The white motor home. And even here it was like that. I was coming in the car ahead of the motor home. And everybody's looking at the motor home. Everybody's looking at the motor home. Because we have it all wrapped up real nice and tight.

It's the same thing as, "Jesus is going to come through the clouds." What if it's a clear, sunshiny day and there aren't any clouds around? But it has to be on a day where there is enough precipitation so it'll form cloud. And then Jesus can come through it.

I mean, isn't that where it is? Always we have our little concepts. Always we have our little trays. Always we have our little ideas of how everything is going to work. Okay, it doesn't matter if you think that I am in the motor home, as long as you don't think the motor home is me. It's okay if you think that's where I travel because sometimes I do. And that's no problem. And to have little concepts about this or to have a little concept about that - maybe it doesn't hurt us. Maybe. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt us. I'm saying maybe it doesn't hurt us.

But when we start having an experience and then try to conceptualize it, reason it, put it in our little packages, that's when we start to get hurt. That's when we start to get really, really, really hurt. Because Guru Maharaj Ji - remember this. Remember this. Guru Maharaj Ji isn't going to come out and give you this much of an experience and say, "Here. Try this for a couple of days and then if this doesn't work, I'll give you the next best dose." Or, "Try this. Get used to this and then we will go on to the next dosage."

What Guru Maharaj Ji wants to offer to you is a total experience. This experience isn't all cut up in pieces. Okay, it doesn't matter how many ways it's put there. Surrender. Surrender, you know. Satsang. Service. Meditation. Darshan.

The experience - what is it? Isn't it all one lump sum? What is that experience? When we have satsang, doesn't it tickle us at the same place as when we do service or when we have darshan? Isn't it that feeling?

Or is it when you have darshan it strikes you on your head and when you have satsang it strikes you on your mouth, or vice-versa? And in the program your whole body goes through it - satsang, service, meditation, darshan? No. To go beyond all these barriers that we put up, to go beyond all these concepts - because you don't know the experience Guru Maharaj Ji wants to give you. If you knew what that experience was why would you be sitting here? You have no idea what Guru Maharaj Ji wants to give you. You can't even dream of it. You don't know. You don't even have the faintest idea.

The Golden Age 7

The Golden Age 8

And yet, somewhere within inside of you, you know that what Guru Maharaj Ji wants to give you, what Guru Maharaj Ji has to offer you, is where you want to be at. And maybe that feeling strikes us, when we really go deep in, within inside. And it's like, "Yes! Yes I do. Yes, I do want to surrender. Yes, I really do want to give. Yes, I really want to let go."

And maybe it's such an incredible experience. Maybe it's such an incredible, incredible experience that you just really feel it. It's just right there. Like, "Yes. Okay."

And then what happens? Then it's like having those movie boxes. You put a quarter in it and you turn the handle and you watch the movie. And then when it ends you put another quarter in and turn the handle and it starts from the beginning again. Is that what it is?

But we set up our little barriers, through our own weakness, through our own falling into the pit. We set up, "No, no, no! No, no, no! This is the way I want to do it. This is the way I have to do it. This is the way I should do it."

It's like this stage. Look at this stage. This stage is basically the stage that they were building in Miami. As a matter of fact it is. And they were building the sound towers and they were just in the middle of building this whole stage, putting it all together. And I was just standing right about out there. And you could see that here is this stage. It's there. And everybody who was working on it knew that it was going to be put up sooner or later. And yet right at that point, as close as it was coming to being finished, the closer it was coming to being completed, the concepts started coming in. "Have it this way." Or, "Have it a little this way." Or, "You can do it a little this way. You can do it a little that way.

And then this whole game starts happening. This happens to us every time we leave that experience of satsang, service and meditation. "Come on man, that ice cream can't hurt me." I'm not saying that nobody should ever have ice cream. There are premies who would leave the ashram just for that. "No ice cream? I mean, no ice cream?"

But I'm just saying, where does it take us? There are two differences. One difference is what we think. And one difference is what Guru Maharaj Ji sees. And they're two very, very distinct differences. What we think and what Guru Majaraj Ji sees. And it's like a driver who's driving along thinking everything is fine and all his four doors are open. His trunk is popping up and down. His hood's open. Somebody just did a gag on him. His tyres are running out of air. And here he is. To him, everything is perfect. "Keep driving on. It's okay."

Ad yet there is that difference. Guru Maharaj Ji sees what we are trying to do. And we think, "Oh yes, but, youknow, I'm doing what I feel like doing. I'm doing what Guru Maharaj Ji is telling me. I'm having this and I'm having that and I'm doing this and I'm doing that."

And Guru Maharaj Ji sees that you can always go to that step, you can always take that option.

It's like walking on a rail that's two feet wide. If I put a piece of board here that's two feet wide and asked anybody to walk on it, who would hesitate? Two feet wide. It's on the ground. That's quite normal. But if I were to put that 40,000 feet up in the sky, you think you would venture? Because then every margin, every error, everything becomes precise. If you slip, that's it. On the ground, no problem.

And this is the difference. You think you're on the ground. If you make a mistake, it's okay. And Guru Maharaj Ji sees you're not on the ground. You're 10,000 feet up in the sky and if you fall you haven't a hope. Doesn't every Perfect Master come in this world and try to tell what this world is up to? Like, "What are you doing? What do you think you are up to? Where do you think you're going?"

To us, everybody has a destination. From that big, fat cigar-smoking boss right down to that little, skinny janitor only four feet high. Everybody has a destination. Everybody is going to their places. And Guru Maharaj Ji comes - that Perfect Master comes - takes one look and says, "Wait a

The Golden Age 9

minute. You're not going anywhere. Don't you realize? Don't you recognize this? You've just been all through this before."I mean every time. Every time. Every time. On my 18th birthday we were having that big party in Malibu. And I very distinctly remember a premie asking me a question. He said, "What does it feel like to be 18?" And I don't even remember what I answered. And yet I've been thinking about that. What does that mean to this world? They spent their first year a little differently but in essence did the same exact thing. And then there was a second year. They lived little different but did the same exact thing. And then the third and then the fourth and then the fifth and then the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, el-eventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three - you know, it goes right down the line. In essence, we just go around the circle every year. And that's all it is. No different. It's so much like, "It's there." And we become those puppets of this world. We become the puppets of this maya.

Doesn't change a fact. We are puppets. The only thing is, whose puppets are we? Who is that person behind who is guiding this puppet? What is that power? What is that force? And for most of us, all it is is mind. Mind is that thing that's every day going, "No, you have to do this, no, you …" I mean, have you ever sat down and thought why you have to do that? After you come to the point of having to have an antacid tablet, have you ever stopped and said, "Why did I have to do that?" Maybe you slipped in the bathtub, maybe cut your finger, cut your thumb, had an accident. Have you ever hit somebody from behind in a car and gone, "Oh, no! Why did I have to do that? Why couldn't I just concentrate a little bit more? Why wasn't I looking straight?"

And maybe those things are so obvious, it's such a slap on our face, that we wake up and go, "My God, why did I have to do that?" And yet in this life we do millions of things every day where nothing slaps us back. Because it all gets accumulated into one big slap. And when we get the slap it's all done and over with. You don't even have time to go, "Oh no, why did I do it?

Why have I thrown my life away? What have I done with my life?"

Look at this world! I mean, what is this world after? What is this world pur-suing? There are people who go out and they donate. Charity. They go to goddesses and gods and go, "Oh, if I can have a son I will donate $50,000. I pledge $50,000." People go out and go into the Ganges. Every year there is this one festival where thousands and thousands and thousands of people come to bathe in the river Ganges at that particular location. There are people who crawl up steps on their bare knees. There are people who do lying down posture - pranam - all the way from wherever they are to a certain temple.

And what does it all mean? Nothing. Because even Lord Krishna clearly explains in Gita, "By doing all these things you cannot have my experience. You cannot have that realization of this Truth." And then you all of sudden wonder, "Well, isn't that obvious?" But when does that happen in your life? When does that manifest for you?

Look, it could have been, "Wait 10, 20, 50, 30, 40, 60, 100 years and then you

10 The Golden Age

will have an experience of Guru Maharaj Ji." What is Guru Maharaj Ji offering anyway?

Guru Maharaj Ji's not offering anything. What is it? How do you put it together? How do you take all this data and try to make a picture out of it? What does Guru Maharaj Ji do after all? Does Guru Maharaj Ji offer you something? Does Guru Maharaj Ji give you something? I mean, what happens? What happens in all of our lives? What's Guru Maharaj Ji trying to tell us? What's Guru Maharaj Ji trying to direct us toward?

We have to understand that all our lives long we have this association. "Me. I am." It's like in some of those comedies three people count themselves but they only come up with two. It always goes, "One, two. The third one's missing." And everybody sees it and laughs.

And yet isn't that the way with us? We say, "Okay. I have given up my pen. And I have given up my car. And I have given up this and I have given up that." And all of a sudden that list becomes big and rapid. The most important thing you haven't given up. The most important thing you haven't counted yet - that mind. That's got to go, too. That 'I" That "am."

We always go, "Oh yeah, I've given up this and I've given up this and I've given up that." We always say, "Okay, I have to give up this." We count. And yet we forget the most important thing. And that's that "my." That's that ego. That's that "I" That's that "am" that we have to let go of, that we have to give up.

Because all there has to be in our lives is just that experience of Guru Maharaj Ji. All that has to really manifest in our lives is that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji … Or that place that Guru Maharaj Ji has to take us to. I mean, even that just doesn't sound right.

Because really what has to happen is that that identity has to be lost of "you," "me," and "I" and all that. And that nothing has to be there. When we stop, when that "I" stops, when that ego stops, then the experience begins of who you really are. So long as this cloud hangs there, so as there is this cloud of yes, this fantasy of what I am or what I should be or what I am going to be or whatever - till then there can be no manifestation of experience whatsoever.

You have to understand that Guru Maharaj Ji has that love. Guru Maharaj Ji has that mercy. Guru Maharaj Ji has that compassion. Guru Maharaj Ji is saving us every second. Guru Maharaj Ji is saving us every minute of our lives. Every step that we walk can be that potential step for us that can do it. And Guru Maharaj Ji saves us from every single thing, day after day after day after day after minute after minute, second after second.

Sometimes something happens in our lives that really clicks in. And then mind comes in and it clicks out. It's just that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji gives, of that Grace, that mercy, that compassion, that love, sustaining us every second. However. But every minute, every second, just being. And nothing else. Not the mind and not the ego. Just sustaining you so that you can have an experience, so that you can be, so that you can have a purpose. And to show you the purpose. To take you to that purpose. To have that complete surrender, to have that complete Grace, to have that complete faith.

And we forget. We forget. It's like that little puppet forgets who is the master.

The Golden Age 11

And all of a sudden this puppet starts dancing and the whole audience just leaves. And then that master has no purpose for that puppet. And this is what happens in our lives. As long as we completely entrust ourselves, as long as we completely let go, as long as we completely keep having that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji is giving us, as long as we stay in that river of experience, everything's fine. Everything is okay; everything's great.

But then all of a sudden something very different happens. And we say, "But … but me! I am!" And we start moving in that wrong direction.

The Grace is there. And you see this whole thing happening. To me it's just so much Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace that we are sitting here. Because what's going to happen out there in Miami? I don't know. Who knows? Already it's overcast in Miami and the wind's starting to pick up. The ocean's getting a little bit rougher. And that's going to keep happening and keep happening. Then all of a sudden everything is just going to become completely still.

Right when the eye of the hurricane comes over. Just still. Nothing happening. And that's when we go, "Oh great, everything's over. Is it over? Is it not over? Whatever. And then all of a sudden it's all going to come again. And then when it's probably gone it's going to rain and rain.

And yet, to some people maybe, "Oh yeah. man, that was a great decision, you know. We moved out of there and we are doing our program in Orlando." Because the thing is, if it's going to hit Miami, it's going to definitely come up here. But the

12 The Golden Age

time slot that it has to travel for will give us plenty of time. The program will be finished by then and we'll be probably heading home.

Okay, maybe to somebody, "Oh Guru Maharaj Ji, I'm so grateful you saved me. What a great idea. What a great decision it is that you moved the program from there to here." And yet what is that? Doesn't Guru Maharaj Ji have - doesn't Guru Maharaj Ji also have that Grace, also have that power to be able to stop that hurricane?

And yet, that's nothing. What has that got to do with it? Hurricanes come and hurricanes go. To some Africans, they're probably getting up in the morning and playing their drums, having a nice time. They don't care. They're not going to shutter up their huts because Miami is going to get a hurricane. What have they got to shutter up anyway? And yet the most important thing - and we forget that - the most important thing is that here we are, now and alive. And that's Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

And that Grace is far more - you know, everybody looks for this miracle. "Okay, Guru Maharaj Ji, let's see a miracle." What is a miracle? Your life is a miracle. You are a miracle. Aren't you a walking miracle?"

You look at yourself - really. All the things I that we get into. All the things that happen to us. We're all walking miracles. But so many circumstances happen - different people, different times, different things. And yet, here we are. It isn't that physical miracle that's going to do anything.

The Golden Age 13

What is the value of that physical miracle if we can't recognize the miracle inside right now? What do the other miracles account to?

I was watching this comedy in England. This is at the time of Jesus Christ and this guy was a lame guy who's been healed. And he's still a beggar. He doesn't have any education and can't really do anything. He's still a beggar. So all of a sudden nobody gives him any money. So he stands up and he goes, "Wait a minute. I'd better become crippled again. This healing has done me no good. Now that I'm all healed, nobody gives me any money. And I'm not doing so good at all."

Okay, that's just a joke or something that these guys were trying to portray. "You were better off when you were a cripple. Now you have been healed and now you can't even get your two-time bread. At least when you were crippled you were getting your two-time bread."

And yet is that the total experience of our life, to get the "two-time bread"? Or be able to walk somewhere? Or be able to do something?

If we were in that "boat", man, I don't know what would happen to us if Guru Maharaj Ji told us to do what he told that devotee of his. I don't know how many times I've told that story. And yet to me, it's just so important. Because what that story has to say, what that story has to portray, is dead centre. It's right on the point. It's right there. And it's just like, to that devotee, it wasn't his concept, "Oh my God, where am I going to eat? Oh my God, if I don't eat I'm going to die." To him, that was not the point. But it was to obey Guru Maharaj Ji's agya.

How many of us, how many of us would really last "on the boat"? Not very many at all. Because all we see a lot of times is just "us." It's just "us", just "us." And Guru Maharaj Ji comes and says, "No. What you think you are you're not even that. What you think is your life isn't even that. What you think is right isn't even that. What you think is wrong isn't even that."

And that's why I guess that expression is there. A lot of mind-blowing things happen when a Perfect Master comes into this world. The first thing he hacks at is what we have - the sand castle that we built. We build this huge sand castle and then the ocean comes and just eats that sand castle away until we say, "What's going on? I just built this. This is what I've done all my life."

And yet the Grace that Guru Maharaj Ji has to shower upon us - that mercy that Guru Maharaj Ji has to shower upon us - it's way beyond. And all we have to do is to really let go. Go away from that concept. Go away from what we think it's going to be like.

Because we can do it. When we go to Disneyland we do that - sit in the roller coaster and watch. We dedicate that moment of our life to that roller coaster. Take it up; take it down. Take it upside down, around and around. Whatever it wants to do, we'll do it.

And Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Look. I'm not going to take you upside down. I'm not going to take you around and around. I'm going to take you where you really have to go, where you really have to be, where your destination is. Where your goal is. Where you are." And that hand comes. And sometimes we know it. We know that feeling. We even feel the heat of the hand of Guru Maharaj Ji, feel it come so close. So close. "What is it?" Maybe we keep going, maybe not even anything.

Just to extend that hand, to take that one more step or to stretch even just an inch and you would touch. And that's all that's really needed. Sometimes it maybe comes up to that point for all of us, where it's ever so close. I mean, ever so close. And then for some reason that doubt, that mind, that ego, that whatever it is, comes in and jerks the hand off.

And isn't that almost that lifetime's effort to get to that point? And again and again Guru Maharaj Ji gives us that opportunity. Guru Maharaj Ji gives us that chance to extend out. Guru Maharaj Ji gives us that moment where we can do it. And all we have to do is really be there, to make that little effort. Not to climb the mountains. There is that song, "I could climb a mount-ain, I could surely swim the greatest seas." Then what? So what? Do you think that those guys who went up to Mount Everest all of a sudden had an incredible experience? Yes, I know the kind of experience they probably had. "Let's get out of here, now we've done it." Where is it at? What did that bring them? I mean, what is a mount-ain? People have gone to the moon and what does it mean? What does it mean for you and me? What does it mean for this whole world? So they went to the moon. Still your car is giving the same mileage, 12 miles to the gallon. Still your head hurts. Still every time you slap your face it hurts. Whatever. It's all the same.

And we get caught up in this whole thing. We get caught up in our own trip. "Yes. This is what's going to help me. This is what's going to help me. This is what's going to help me."

There is only one way out. What are we fighting for? There is only one way out. There is only one way that it can all really happen. And that's nothing but Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. There is nothing else but surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. Just let him come forth with that experience.

And sometimes even about this world that doubt comes. Where is this world going to? Look at this whole gas crisis or what-ever. Where is this world at? No gas, so the whole world goes nuts. "No gas! No gas! No gas!" Is that the experience that we have grown up for? Is that where it all sits? Is that where it all levels off? Is that the end?

And we sometimes know that there is only one door and we know that that's the only way we can really go. We know it. We feel it. We see it. But then, so much, it's, "No, no, I have to do it my way. No, no! I have to do it my way. I have to do what I think is right. It's my discretion. It's my this, it's my that." Whatever. Whatever we try to materialize in our mind and see as this world.

So premies, really, it is beautiful that we are all here. Doesn't matter. It seems like a very nice temperature up here. It doesn't matter. I mean, nothing matters. And that will become true for you because it comes true for me. It comes true for me. And it'll come true for you, too, when you can take that step, when you can grab hold of Guru Maharaj Ji's hand. Then that'll become true for you, too. It just wouldn't matter.

You tell me, what's with you in this world? Sometimes everything goes. Everything shakes loose. Everything breaks. Every-thing is just nuts. And sometimes really that happens in our lives. You know, everything is just fog. Fog, fog, fog. Can't see out. Can't see anything. Can't go anywhere. Can't do anything.

And yet if you turned in one direction, just one direction, there is no fog. Maybe that's where your effort is. To really say, "Yes. That's where I want to be. That's where I want to go. That's what I'd like." And to make the effort to really fulfill it. So tomorrow, hopefully, we'll have darshan. And then maybe we'll see if there is some time left. We'll have some more satsang. I don't know. Maybe nothing happens tomorrow. Maybe no darshan and maybe no satsang. Or maybe darshan happens and then satsang happens. Maybe satsang happens and darshan happens. Maybe none of them happen. Or maybe only darshan happens. Or maybe only satsang happens. Whatever the combination. It could go up to zillions or billions. You can't get stuck. You can't afford to get stuck. You can't say, "Well, if there is no satsang tomorrow I'm going on a strike."

That effort has to be there. You can't wait all your life just sitting there saying, "Where is my program?" As though what you need is a little bottle and somebody to come along and stick a bottle in your mouth and then turn you upside down and pat you on the back and make you burp. How long is that going to be? Like, "Here is your experience, premies. Here she comes. Here it is."

Or what is it going to be? "Yes, Guru Maharaj Ji, I want to really dedicate. I want to really serve you." Isn't that what we talk about at every program? Isn't that what the last program was all about? What do you think we showed there, some kind of a different movie?

That's what it was about and that's what we have to come to - to really surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji, just to have that experience that Guru Maharaj Ji wants us

14 The Golden Age

to have. And no if's, and's, buts, listen, look, but, "you know, I don't know about that one." None of those things. To have that complete faith, to have that complete surrender.

And then there really can be a fulfilment. Because for a devotee - like for that one devotee. It wasn't, "O Guru Maharaj Ji, but … please let me eat, will you?" To him, that's not even an issue. That's not even to be talked about. It's like, "Don't even ask me if I can hear you. Don't even repeat your agya again to make sure I heard it. Let me be at a point where no pains, no trouble, nothing has to be taken by you. Give me that agya however you can so I can fulfill it to the best - above and beyond my capacity." Not to become this shining star, "Oh look, Guru Maharaj Ji! I ain't eating this …"

But never a question. Never a moment of "But what … ?" Never. Ever. And just to be. And going through all that.

To us, what would that be? What would that amount to? That would be torturous. We couldn't even take it. And yet to him, after all that, he was having an experience of Guru Maharaj Ji. He was having an experience of Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace manifesting for him right till the last minute. To him it didn't matter. This world wasn't an object. His desires, his concepts, his understandings, his myths, his mysteries weren't an object. It was only Guru Maharaj Ji. And that's the only thing that mattered in his life. There was only one thing. Guru Maharaj Ji's agya - whichever way, whatever way - whatever Guru Maharaj Ji was going to say he was going to do.

And it wasn't a matter of sitting there and saying, "Okay, Guru Maharaj Ji has said this so now I should do this." No. It was so built into him. Because his object was not, "Here, Guru Maharaj Ji!" Not like a salesman. "Here Guru Maharaj Ji. Here I am. Give me my ticket so I can go sit and watch the show." But his object from the very beginning was to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji, just to completely let go to Guru Maharaj Ji. That's where his object was.

One time Arjun started having this feeling that he was a great devotee. I mean, why not, you know? Top dog, up there. Krishna's friend to begin with and now a devotee. "Wow, he's up there." He started having this feeling. And Krishna sensed it. And he says, "Arjun, what makes you think that you are such a great devotee?" And he said, "Well…" If I came up to you and I said the same thing to you, you would go, "Well, you know, I try."

And Krishna said, "Okay. What we will do is we will see if there is a devotee that's better than you, if there is some devotee who can dedicate more than what you can conceivably dedicate. Let's go see."

So Krishna became a saddhu - big beard and long, long twisted hair. A lot of ashes all over the place, and saffron clothes. He became a saddhu and told Arjun to become a lion. And they both went to this kingdom and came to this king, who was a premie. He didn't know that that was Guru Maharaj Ji. And so the king saw them and welcomed them and gave them some food, gave them everything. And the saddhu said, "I won't eat." "Maharaj, how can I help you? How can I do anything?"

He said, "Well, I don't eat until my lion eats. You know, my lion has to eat too. That's the only way I'm going to eat."

The Golden Age 15

Use these eyes to look at Guru Maharaj Ji,
not this whole crazy world. Use these ears to listen to
Guru Maharaj Ji and not this whole crazy world…
And then - then there will be an experience."

---

He said, "Well, what will your lion eat?" He said, "Well, what my lion is going to eat is half of your son. What I want you to do is go saw your son in half and bring half of your son to this lion. And when this lion has eaten, then I am going to sit down and eat."

And the king was very grieved. It's his only son. The one son he had. So he went to his wife and he said, "What are we going to do?"

She said, "Well, why don't you just go ask him what does he want to do."

And the saddhu had told him, "There's one condition. This kid is not going to cry, scream, yell or do anything when you're sawing him in half."

Then the boy just said, "Sure. I'd be more than happy."

I don't know. This is a story. You don't have to get involved in it. But the only thing is it might convey a message, might convey a point. It's a very gruesome story, of course, cutting up your son or something like that. But it might convey a message. And so they took the saw and they started cutting him. All of a sudden from one side a tear falls down. And the saddhu says, "Well, that's completely unacceptable. Why are you crying?"

"The reason why I am crying is that there's only one half of me that's fortunate enough to be in use."

And it's like, "Okay, go on! Go on." And they cut him in half. Brought the son. And so the saddhu said, "Well, why don't you tell your servants to bring plates for you, too." So they brought out a plate for the saddhu and they brought out a plate for the king and they brought out a plate for the queen.

And the saddhu said, " Well, why don't you bring a plate for your son, too?" "Well, how is he going to eat? He's already dead."

"No. Go ahead. Put a plate out for him." And I mean the story goes on. And then

16 The Golden Age

he took the two halves and put them together and the son came alive, Krishna revealed himself, and then Arjun saw that where he thought he was, was nothing; that if somebody had asked him to do that, he could have never been able to do it.

And that's not what Guru Maharaj Ji is going to ask of you. And that's not where it has to come to. But yet Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Surrender. Let go. Just be. You know, just be. Just go to that experience. Just surrender. Just let go of this world. And then you can have that experience." And premies, this is where it really has to be for all of us. This is where it has to come alive for all of us. This is where it has to really manifest for all of us. It's our experience. Our concepts aren't the things that are going to help us. Our imaginations, our wild expectations, aren't the things that are going to help us. And we know that. We know that. We know that very well. Our mind isn't the thing that's going to help us.

And what is going to help us is Guru Maharaj Ji. And yet when do we really take that time to look towards Guru Maharaj Ji? When do we take that time to turn to Guru Maharaj Ji, instead of our ego, instead of our mind, instead of what we want to look at?

So premies, again, hope I'll see you tomorrow. Again, here we are. Just experience. Who knows? Maybe this is the festival that's going to do it to you. And if there is the slightest chance that it will, well then that's all that's needed. That's all that's ever needed.

Who knows? Whatever is it - and all it is is really Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Maybe that's the reason why we are all here. Maybe this is going to do something to us. Maybe it's really going to open up our hearts. Or maybe it's really going to turn that rock into sponge. And yet, unfortunately it's always our option. It's never forced upon us. It's always our option. And we have to really just let go to Guru Maharaj Ji. Listen to Guru Maharaj Ji. For change look at Guru Maharaj Ji. Use these eyes to look at Guru Maharaj Ji, not this whole crazy world. Use these ears to listen to Guru Maharaj Ji and not this whole crazy world, what it has to say. And then … then there will be an experience. Why we are here - just to be for Guru Maharaj Ji. Not here because you have come to the "great Orlando, great Kiss-immee, Florida," to do it a favour. No. Just to take this body and really put it where it can completely do what Guru Maharaj Ji wants it to do. Instead of how this world has dominated it for such a long, long time. Just that surrender. Just that faith. Just that love, to feel for Guru Maharaj Ji. So incredible.

So premies, thank you very much and good night

The Golden Age 16