"And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north … This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. And He said unto me, 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.' And the spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet …"
From the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
The Surprise of All Surprises
Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang at "Court of Love" September 5, 1977Dear Premies:
I don't know how I finally made it here because we have been traveling since late last night and we got into New York at about 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning. And it's been pretty incredible because you know you come into New York from a nice quiet town and all of a sudden there you are in the middle of just about everything. And I mean there was a lot that happened but besides that I just feel that there was a lot of grace. And this is what really we have to all experience in our lives and really understand what grace is, and how does it actually and practically work in our lives. You know the other day at the residence in Denver I was having satsang with the premies and it's just like so incredible because always our fight is against death. You know it's like so much we do in our lives to stay alive or to do this or to do that, it's just a big fight against death. And yet we know that all that battle, all that energy, all that we put in to stay away from that death, to stay away from it all, still that battle can never be won. Because it's so incredible, when I was coming to Denver from Los Angeles, we got airborne out of L.A.X. and there we were climbing and the captain and the co-pilot were just fiddling with the cabin pressure and we really didn't know what was going on. And all of a sudden you know I felt the airplaine start to go down a little bit and I told Steve to find out what was going on. And all of a sudden, pop goes the oxygen masks and it was like they just couldn't hold up the pressure at that altitude. And they started to come down and you know it was a whole trip that happened there. And you could really see because it was so incredible - your body doesn't have a built in alert system. Your brain doesn't have an alert system built into you where if you don't have enough oxygen into you you can start going "you don't have enough oxygen, you don't have enough oxygen." It's not like that. You'll just sort of pass out. That'll be it, you know. That'll be it. It's like you'll be breathing and you'll just black out.
But premies, it was at that instant so much was going on, and it felt like ages were passing. It just felt like it was happening forever. Because really there was not much oxygen coming out of those oxygen masks. But it all happened in like 2 seconds. That was it, and then we were back to normal where we could breath.
So it's like we really have to understand what is our ultimate fight all about all against, is that what we all fight. For the rest of our lives just constantly to do this or to do that not to die, to survive. A fight for survival, the fight against death. And yet we know that nobody has really won that fight yet. Everybody in this world, one or the other day ends up flat against it. So then what is the purpose of this human life? Just to fight a fight that is never going to be won? You know? And it's just like flying over here you could see all these gravestones, and these headstones in the graveyards. And obviously, these people, that's what they've done for such a long time. Just fighting, for sort of an endless reason and there they are, 6 feet under the ground, little slabs saying born in 18-something and died in 19-something - he was a good guy. And that's about it. And that's the result of your whole fight, that's the end of your whole fight, that's the motive of your fight. And yet there is so much of a greater purpose in our life that we can realize, that we can understand manifest within inside of us. And that's why we have to concentrate, that's why we have to motivate ourselves. Because you see this whole game, if you call it a game, and I don't think it is a game, and yet to lot of people this whole game of liberation, of realization, of understanding, of perfection, of total surrender. And it's really not a game, it's the fact, it's the truth. It's like what is it based on. They have these questions, what is it based on? Well this is based on true understanding. So far you are in an illusion. Everything can be O.K. You can be in the middle of the desert and hallucinate that there is a feast before you. Hullucinate that there is a waterfall. And then you hallucinate all that. You run towards it and when you finally get there, nothing like that exists. It just doesn't exist.
But what is this Knowledge all about? What is this truth all about? What is surrender all about? What is realization all about? It's about snapping out of that illusion and finding out - no wait a minute, all that we pursue so much in our lives is just a hallucination. And it is there because we are really trying to implement, to force that on ourselves. We are really trying to make ourselves believe that all those things exist there because we want them so bad. We really have no way of figuring out what it is and yet we have a lot of concepts about it. Like for instance, God. You can go to just about any child who has a good vocabulary and draw a picture, who has good imagination, and ask him about God and he will give you a very straightforward answer, "Yeah, well God is this old man. You know, simply because first of all he has been there for a long long time. And anybody who has been there for a long long time has got to be pretty old, you know. And secondly, then, if he is old, he doesn't have a razor, so he doesn't shave his beard. And because he doesn't shave his beard and he's so old so it's got to be white. And he doesn't cut his hair, and he sits on a beautiful chair." I mean there's just so many concepts. And people really believe in that. You know, it's not like that's all O.K. and that's the end of the story. Well no, it's so realistic, that here you are, you can barely crawl and yet you will run towards this illusion, this hallucination. But this is what Guru Maharaj Ji does. He says forget about this hallucination. This is not really true. What you are trying to pursue, what you are trying to fight against you will never be able to fight against. Because you are going to lose that fight. You know, don't fight against it. It is not to be fought. It is to be accepted as it comes. And yet what you have to fight is those hallucinations, and stick to what is the reality in this life, what is the truth in this life, in this world, you know. And it's like this is where we have to go. This is our point. So then it becomes the whole question of how do you snap out of these illusions? Because they constantly keep happening, you know. And then most of the credit here goes to Mr. Mind, or Mrs. Mind, or Miss Mind, or whatever it is. It goes to that. And you know it just takes us from one place to another place, from one place to another place, you know. And yet we find ourselves just nothing is really manifesting in our lives. There we are. That's the end of everything, that's the beginning of everything.
And yet, premies, there is so far, so deep within inside of us such a great place, such an incredible place, such a beautiful place, which is so real, so true, so fantastic, that if it could be possibly and perfectly described to us, and of course technically why not? If it exists theoretically somebody should be able to describe it. But look, it's just not possible, you know. It's just like there's so many, so many, so many scriptures that were written. And these guys actually sat down and wrote these things. And that's no joke. Especially when you don't have an electric computor or a typewriter or an electraset machine, or something like that. Where you got to actually sit down, take word by word, and edit it and so on and so forth, and these guys actually wrote this experience. And yet that experience is not sufficient, you know. I mean, look at Bible, it's just composed of so many experiences, why not just one person's experience, finished. Does that mean that what John describes is really not true, so that substituted by Luke or Matthew? No, it's all that true experience. But yet it's like you know you have this retreat going on for a few days now. And Hans Jayanti is coming up very soon, and that's going to be a very long, long program. We haven't decided where it's going to be, but we have decided the dates for it, you know. And it's just like there it is going to be, you know, and all the premies are going to be there, and there is going to be so many satsangs, I mean that will be like another whole program that will be happening. And there is so many satsangs that you are going to hear there. And so many satsangs you have heard here. And yet maybe those words that you have heard exactly in each satsang are not exactly identical. Yet they try to describe the same thing. And each one of them go only so far and then leave it up to you to realize that experience yourself so that it can manifest within side of you because theoretically, you know, and technically, why shouldn't it be done. But it just can't be done. It just cannot be described. It is the undescribable experience. And you have to realize it for yourself. And there is no reason in the whole wide world why you can't. You most definitely, most certainly can describe this, and then have this experience manifest within your heart, to yourself. Not describe it to somebody outside, but to know it within yourself, within your own heart. And this is where we really have to come back to. This is where we have to focus on, you know, not at what we are always trying to do in this lifetime, not what we are always trying to pursue in this lifetime. I mean there are certain things, there are a few things that you have to. But besides all that, the true aim, the true, true, true, true aim is what we have to really, really pursue. And to find the true aim that we want to pursue we have to surrender. You know it's like there's three things. There's surrender, there's grace, and there is Knowledge. And it's more like grace is on one end, Knowledge is in the middle, and surrender is on the other end. And it doesn't matter which way you flip it. And it doesn't matter which way you slice it. It all comes out the same. Surrender, Knowledge, and grace. You know it's like first of all we need grace to receive Knowledge, to understand Knowledge. To be able to surrender. But yet if we don't surrender we won't have grace, you know. And so that's one cycle. And yet if we don't have grace, how are we going to surrender? And yet if we don't have Knowledge in between the both, the grace and surrender, how are we going to go on either side? How are we going to be able to either ever accomplish grace in our- lives or the experience of meditation or the experience of surrender, or actually surrender? I mean, how is that ever going to manifest in our life? So it's like we have to indulge in that whole atmosphere, completely let ourselves go into that whole atmosphere. You know, it's like just driving down here you would think at 5 o'clock in the morning everybody would be sound asleep, you know, and nobody would be up there, everybody would be just, you know what's going to happen at 5 o'clock? And maybe it is something unusual, you might see a guy running across the road or running across the park, and when he gets up he is into yoga or something like that, and so he daily exercises at 5 o'clock in the morning to wake up. But that's what, you know, you don't see. You don't see a guy running there. You don't see a yoga guy going around there. What you see is a guy whistling at taxis, or you know just doing, just goofing around, whatever they can goof at, you know. So it's like such a vast difference between what people are actually trying to pursue, and what people are actually trying to accomplish. And you know, to them, maybe that is what is going to bring them actual peace. Maybe that is what is going to bring them actual satisfaction that they are looking for. So I don't know how people get that kind of an idea, ever. But they certainly do, and they do staunchly believe in that. They very staunchly believe in that. So that's what it is. Love it up, kid. That's about it, you know.
But there is this whole atmosphere of Knowledge, there is this whole grace, there is this whole world of Knowledge, of surrender, of realization, grace that we have to enter, that we have to focus towards, that we have to really realize, you know. And I understand that the program was supposed to be finished at like about 5, at 3. But don't bother about it. That whole highway is jammed, the cars are bumper to bumper. So just relax, and maybe the traffic will clear up and then we can go. You know, but it's like I know that there is a lot of people here, and always when the satsang programs are taking place, like for instance at Florida, Guru Puja Festival, it's such a trip, because you know all these people go out and they book their charters, they book them at the wrong time, you know, they book them at the wrong time. And then all of a sudden somebody comes up to you and starts saying, Guru Maharaj Ji, you've got to finish the program at such and such a time. I say, well forget it, you know. I mean those people who want to leave they can leave, by all means. And yet it's so beautiful, because if they could just stay there for that second and enjoy that, that would be beautiful too, you know. So it's like grace is something that just happens. You have to let it happen within inside of us. If we do not let it happen within inside of us then it will not happen, it will not manifest, you know. Because the whole thing was and I don't really understand this, because I have been traveling all night long and the plane got delayed hour after hour after hour after hour, and somebody told me this ride was only half an hour, and no it's not, it is 45 minutes, a long ride. And it's just like the way it all started was Sunday morning I came out of my room, turned on the stereo system, turned on the tape deck, turned on the DVS, and I was recording some songs onto a tape. Then I started to play the One Foundation tape that they just recorded at Malibu. And then, you know, I just turned around and Michael was sitting there and John was sitting there, I said "You know, there's a really beautiful idea because there's a satsang that they are having tonight at the Community Center in Denver and what we could do is we could pipe it to New York, you know, at this retreat. And Raja Ji had already left. And then it was like a couple of hours later there goes the phone, Raja Ji's on the phone. And I had talked to Raja Ji prior to that and everything was nice, he had gotten here, you know, everything was O.K. And he said, well everything was beautiful, everything is arranged just nice, and so on and so forth. Well, I wouldn't go into all the arrangements quite, but anyway he said maybe we should try to come. And there we were, you know, trying to get a plan together, try to get everybody together, who's going, who's not going, to try to put the whole package deal together and in about 3 or 4 hours try to take off. And I said, boy, and the original plan was - I mean this was really a sophisticated plan, and it took a long, long time to figure out how we were going to pull it, and we didn't pull it.
The plan was what we were going to land in Allentown. There, there were going to be two helicopters waiting. And then those helicopters were going to pick us up, and drop us at an airport that was going to be about 15 or 20 minutes away from here. There there were going to be these couple limousines sitting out there waiting at this airport that were going to bring us here. And I guess that is the whole reason why Bill was trying to keep you up last night til 6 o'clock. The thing is we got in about 5 or 6 or 7 o'clock, so it just didn't work out. By that time you guys went to sleep. And we were just thinking the premies would be falling asleep, and I would come in, then we would go "Hi, Maharaj Ji." But anyway it worked out really beautiful. And then it was like boy, those 2 helicopters that were sitting there at Allentown haven't left. yet because they got fogged in so we said "How are we going to get over here?" And we were tired, we hadn't had enough sleep, and I said "two hour car ride, forget it." I mean not now, not after this long, long ride with this airplane coming over here and when we got to the airport well I need not to say what happened there. But the whole thing is somehow I got here, you know, and it's just that you have to really let go of a lot of stuff, and you have to really, you know, say O.K., you know, this will happen, maybe it won't happen, flipping coins, and stuff like that.
So premies, the essence of this whole thing is, I don't know, you know, I just got here a few minutes ago, and I really don't know how much satsang you have heard, and how much you have really gained from this satsang. Because satsang is so beautiful. Yet it is so technical. Yet we have to hear it through this body and when of course there is an experience of satsang that we feel then the body has got nothing to do with it. Yet we got to hear it. And you know a lot of times we just hear it from one ear and just take it out the other ear. And I just hope that that's not what happened at this retreat. This is just a retreat. And the whole idea is really for you to come here and get away, well if you are here from New York, and if you are from New Jersey you can get away from New Jersey too. And to get away from everything and just come together just for one purpose, and that is to have a lot of satsang, to have a lot of meditation, and to have this opportunity to share with each other. And I just certainly hope that you have taken in that satsang, you have really taken in that what has been said here to heart, and really tried to follow up on it. Because all you have to do, you know it's like how sophisticated it is, how simple it is. And the simplicity of this whole thing is that all you have to do is just let go, and just flow with the flow of Knowledge, of surrender, of grace. And let them carry you.
You know it's like can you imagine sitting in that helicopter and going and sitting in an airplane and then wanting to fly because that is what you want. You want to fly from one place to the other place so you start going like this, sitting inside of the helicopter. And what basically you will be going is you will be all over the pilot, you will be all over the helicopter, you know, because you are trying to fly. That's not, that's not what you try to do, you know, when you get in an airplane. You let go! And you relax, and you sit back and you let the airplane take you. It's like a vessel that takes you to that place that you want to go. And the only difference is that in a helicopter and an airplane are so many technical things. And for everything there that is in that helicopter and that airplane there is that much to go wrong. And yet in that boat, in that grace, in that whole vessel of surrender, satsang, service and meditation, there are no moving parts. There are no technical parts. There are no parts to go wrong. You know there is no decay material. The only decay material that really there is, is you yourself. So unless you jump out of the boat nothing is going to happen. Everything is just going to be beautiful and smooth. So all you have to do is just let flow with it. And I just hope you have benefitted from this satsang, because boy, I sure went through a lot to come here. I just hope that you all know, you know it's like this satsang sort of provided two things. I sort of kept my promise that I made, that we'll have a program between Guru Puja and Hans Jayanti. There it is. And it's small, and not too sophisticated, but there it is. And now we have Hans Jayanti coming up very soon, very, very soon. Well, actually it starts the 8th, 9th and 10th, which is the regular dates. But then, you see, the 10th is a Thursday, so why stop at that, when you've only got one more day and that'll put us clear across to Saturday. That's a 5 day Hans Jayanti. And this helicopter is going to land here, and it's going to make a lot of noise, so premies, it sure was nice to see you. And I love you all, and I'll see you at Hans Jayanti.