Limitless students of the limitless Knowledge!
(Morning satsang to western guests
24 March, 1990
- I mean, you look at so many premies who are here, who have come here and what have they come for? And I know that so many times in the west, it's like, "Oh yeah, but those guys have so much devotion and they have so much this and they have so much that." Not from my vantage point. Everybody is the same. And if you say, "Oh, but they have more devotion," you're making a good excuse for yourself not to have it. – Western devotees are one of the major sources of prestige for Indian Godmen amongst Indians and Indian devotees are one of the major sources of "authenticity" for Western devotees. Here Rawat confirms this general belief amongst his Western devotees who find the huge crowds of Indians who gather to hear Rawat speak a major source of inspiration and they provide an excuse for their own lack of dedication.
their own effort, every-
body has to make that
commitment–
commitment towards
being a student.
Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed yourselves here. It's a little different, isn't it? But I don't think anything said here is really that different than anywhere else. Everybody has to make their own effort, everybody has to make that commitment – commitment towards being a student.
A real student
You know, one thing that I was saying here yesterday was, that when you talk about a Knowledge that has no limits, when you talk about a Teacher who is willing to have no limits then the student has to be such that has no limits as well. And to even comprehend, to begin to comprehend what it must be like to be a student that has no limits, it's pretty mind boggling. And certainly for nothing in this world we ever had to even
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Knowledge that
has no limits,
when you talk about
a Teacher who
as willing to have no
limits then the
student has to be such
that has no limits as
well.
make enough effort towards being limitless.
You go to a university, go to any educational system and there comes a point when they are quite willing to hand you a certificate and say, "This is it. This is all we can teach you. This is all we can give you."
But then when Knowledge is a life-long process, this life is a lifelong process, then it just becomes inevitable that we have to somehow take our own limits away that we have placed on our ownselves and look at Knowledge in a different light and look at the possibilities that that presents in a very different light. And if that can be for us somehow that we can be limitless as a student, as a real student–Because there are too many definitions of a student. And none of the definitions of a student that we know of are true, are correct. Because it's only once in a while that we come across a Knowledge like this. And it's not everyday that you get to encounter what it's really like. So, somehow it means a different kind of effort. It means a greater amount of effort, I suppose. And to constantly be willing to step the boundaries and to go over that limitation and then get to a place where there can be that beautiful learning.
You know, one of the things that I was also saying to the people here is like, whatever you have learnt since you received Knowledge–and you know, for some of them here at least, that's quite a long time –and if you thought that that was good and if you can really become a student, it gets so much better. I mean, it's like, it's unimaginable!
One thing, Ray was telling me was just pretty interesting. I was just asking him how it was after the programme in New York. Because that's where I said, "You know, if somebody asked me how many students I have, I would say, zilch!" And you know, New Yorkers have it pretty together. They know everything that needs to be done and everything that needs to be had and everything else. So when they heard that one, I think that took them by a shock or surprise: "How can it be that nobody is a student! Nobody? Nobody is a student?!!"
Well, you know, it's like all these kids. And you see these kids in the school. In the morning when
Life Force April - June 1990 29
amount of effort, I
suppose. And to con-
stantly be willing to step
the boundaries and to
go over that limitation
and then get to a place
where there can be that
beautiful learning.
they are just milling around with other students or milling around with their friends they look pretty happy: "Hey, how are you?"–and you see all these kids laughing, and giggling. And you know, one of the things they are really happy is to go to school. But if I wasn't a father I wouldn't know differently. But I am a father and I know that they are not into going to school. For them, any day, it was like–"Oh, do we have to?"–Yes, you have to. What kind of a student would that be who goes to a school, doesn't even want to go to school but goes to a school anyway, because this is what's being forced upon this student, and then tries to learn on top of that? I mean, you can just imagine the kind of learning that would take place. It's like forced learning. A cranium cram. That's the best that could take place.
And all of us have experienced that. All of us have experienced what that is like. And I wouldn't be surprised if we all don't draw upon those experiences in our lives of being a student in those days and apply the same thing when it comes to Knowledge. I mean, I just wouldn't be surprised. Then in fact if you look at it that way a lot of things all of a sudden make sense. Because for the kid who goes to school, it's like–"Oh my god, I've got all this homework to do. Do I have to? Do I have to go to school?" What does the student do in the school? Constantly just looking at his watch if he has one: "When is this period gonna be over? When is this school gonna be over?" But when you think about it, that's exactly what we do. When it comes to practicing Knowledge, can we get a timer for fifteen minutes each technique, you know? "When it is, Oh, my God, I missed the time. Sorry, you know, do I have to practice today?"
No packaging here!
I mean, it was a real revelation in one sense for me doing the rejoice programmes that I did. Because I saw this real underlined thing everywhere that there was a desire from the heart to want to practice Knowledge, to want to be plugged in. Something had a genuine desire to want to know. And then there was another, whole another mechanism that was completely against it. You know, everybody wanted to be a
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compare with that
incredibly abstract line
of society, then human
beings make mistakes.
Once you eliminate that
abstract line then there
are no mistakes. Then
the very reasonable
nature, the very beauti-
ful nature is what's left.
The very essence of
human nature!
packaged student–"Just wrap me up. Just tell me what is ABCD and give me the book that I must read and package me up and then I'll do that."–And when the rejoices happened that's exactly what I was fighting against.
There is no packaging here. The possibilities are too much in Knowledge, in learning, in understanding to try to package anything. … Because once you package those things all the possibilities disappear. And why would one want all those possibilities to disappear when by great whatever it is–fortune or whatever you want to call it–we once in a while come across something that truly is endless–Impossibilities.
But nonetheless, here we are and can we actually become those limitless students of the limitless Knowledge? Well, I have my doubts, but the only hope is that one can give it a try. One can give it a go. That's about the extent of it, you know, because we are so caught up, we're so caught up in the rest of it–whatever that rest of it is that we just totally forget.
It's always amazing. Because the western people, you know yourselves, you come to India and you see the Indians and it's like a complete culture shock. A complete shock. I mean, nobody ever told you what an Indian road would be like. It's amazing. It's like, all you can do is just drop your lower jaw and look out of the window and go, "Haan! Does this really work? I mean, is this for real?" And it works. I mean, it does work. More or less it works. And why is it such a cultural shock? I mean, you look at so many premies who are here, who have come here and what have they come for? And I know that so many times in the west, it's like, "Oh yeah, but those guys have so much devotion and they have so much this and they have so much that." Not from my vantage point. Everybody is the same. And if you say, "Oh, but they have more devotion," you're making a good excuse for yourself not to have it. Because it's the same reason why you came here, why they came here. There's no difference why you came to Knowledge, why they came to Knowledge. There is no difference.
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You know, you can make a hundred million excuses–"Oh, but it's different."–What is the difference? There is no difference. And that's what we have to see in our ownselves. That is the very human nature, the very, very human nature, the essence of hum an nature. Maybe we have always looked at the essence of human nature as to make mistakes. Maybe we have always negatively looked at the human nature. But the very essence of the human nature is to want to know. The very essence of the human nature is to want to be satisfied. The very essence of the human nature is to want to be content, to achieve the equilibrium. That is the very essence of the human nature, not to make mistakes.
human nature is to
want to know. The very
essence of the human
nature is to want to be
satisfied. The very
essence of the human
nature is to want to be
content, to achieve
the equilibrium
That's compared to a society. Society says this is what people should do. And then we say, "Okay, we'll go along with this monster called 'society' and therefore, we will do whatever the society asks us to do." And everything is compared to, isn't it? Isn't everything a comparison? And when you start to compare with that incredibly abstract line of society, then human beings make mistakes. Once you eliminate that abstract line then there are no mistakes. Then the very reasonable nature, the very beauti- ful nature is what's left.
And if we can understand that there's a call. And you know, you can do whatever you want. But unless you are going to listen to the call and if you're going to do something to get the call answered, it's all gonna work. And if it doesn't, hang it up. There's no point in it.
Because so far the call isn't answered it's really not worth it. It's not gonna work. I mean, it just can't. It can't work. When the call is answered, when something very simple insidhumanatisfied then everything works. Even if it doesn't work, it works. And those are the principles of whatever you want to call it.
So anyway, time has certainly flown by here. It has been quite quick. And hope you enjoyed yourselves, you learnt something, understood something. Take care.
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