Prem Rawat's (Guru Maharaj Ji) Satsang:
Miami, Florida, April 6th, 1978
Dear premies, it's really wonderful to be able to have this program, because it was such a thing: "Where should we celebrate Holi? " And then it was like, "But maybe take the advantage of the time and do some programs in Europe." And just the way it worked out was completely incredible because we had a very, very fantastic Holi in Europe for all the premies, in Marbella. And just to be able to come back and celebrate the same festival with the premies here in North America and South America and other countries that premies have come from …
And it just shows the significance of Holi. Because there are a lot of concepts about what Holi is all about. And just the way a lot of people maybe even celebrate it, it's very notoriously known to be a very strange festival that really gets into it. And people start throwing Mobil oil at each other and mud, and just really get into, in their concepts, whichever way they think that can satisfy their anguish, their desires.
But the most important thing is that we can come together and have that experience. The most important thing is for all of us to be able to come together and share that satsang, to have that satsang; to be able to share what we have all experienced, to be able to share that Love. And that's what makes it so important. That's what makes it completely unique.
Because, it was completely incredible, this festival that we had in Europe, just the way everything was working out. We had this huge bullring. And first it was like, "Wow! Who wants to hold a program in a bullring? This is where all the violence takes place. And it's just crazy to hold a program in the bullring." But then you look at it and there were these ideas, there were these concepts: "It's kind of crazy to hold a program in bullring." But when it really boiled down to it, when the program actually started happening, it was completely incredible. Because it was like this bullring stood for something. And when that satsang started to happen there, when all the premies came together though maybe this bullring was made for bullfights, something happened to this bullring, which made it completely different. That whole vibe completely changed.
Because I went to see it a couple of days before the program, before the festival actually started. And outside of it there was a big bazaar going on, and it just really had that real heavy vibe of, you know, a real violent vibe to it. But it was completely beautiful to be able to just come down and sit down and to just give satsang to the premies. Because you really weren't giving satsang to the bulls, there were no bulls there. And you weren't giving satsang to the people who wanted to watch the bullfight. They weren't there for that reason.
The reason was very obvious, the reason was very clear. The reason was very straight. All the premies had come there to listen to Guru Maharaj Ji, to have that satsang, to be able to just come together and share that bliss that we all have received, that we all have experienced, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. And that's the most important thing, and that's the most beautiful thing.
And you go back, you start turning pages of this world. And it's completely absurd..Because I know that in every program I talk about how absurd this world really is. And maybe sometimes I get into it, or maybe sometimes the initiators really get into it; talking about how absurd the world really is. And you would think that that would be about good enough explanation for a few days or a few months or a few years, that it wouldn't really deteriorate any more than that. But it keeps on deteriorating even more and more and more and more and more. And you can just obviously see in this world that what people are really looking for, what people really want is that Knowledge and nothing else except that Knowledge.
They wouldn't want anything else in their lives except Guru Maharaj Ji, to be able to then open their hearts up to Guru Maharaj Ji, and receive that Grace that in turn will give them that satisfaction that they are really looking for in this outside world. But it's just like from door to door, they knock. Not that the world has really learned from what it has gone through. Almost, there's nothing to learn! What is there to learn?
There was the Second World War, so many people here were involved in it. And there's so many people out there who were involved in Second World War. And then a time will come when they'll just sort of leave, and the new generation will come. And when this new generation comes, it'll be just a very mysterious history left. Just like what is left of Roman wars, or Alexander going to all these different places and invading things, or Napoleon. All those things that, at that time, people really got into, just completely gets lost. There's not even enough trail left behind so that generations after generations after generations can follow it, and really learn something from it. But I mean, it's just completely outrageous.
Why are we all here? Why are we in this world? What's going on? A very, very unique question: What's going on? And it becomes such a part of asking questions to people. It's just like every time you see somebody, it's just like, "What's up? How are you doing? What's going on? " Or if something goes completely berserk: "What's going on here? " It just always comes out. Maybe you portray it in a different way, you don't exactly use the words, "What's going on? " But that's the question: "What's going on? What's happening? "
What are we doing? What is mankind, what's humanity doing with this precious gift that has been granted? We take everything for granted. And one thing that we take for granted is ourselves, is our own lives. And yet every step that we take, every step every day, something really amazing happens, something really wonderful happens, something really incredible happens. And yet that most incredible thing that happens, that most won-
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) formerly Guru Maharaj Ji the Greatest Magician 1978
Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
When we came back from Europe to Florida, because of the time change, I got up really early in the morning. And I looked out the window, and Miami was all lit up and so it looked like it was dawn but it really wasn't. It was just all lit up. And I said, "Wow! That looks really nice. Nice view."
And then half an hour, hour or so later, I looked again and it was just starting to break. And I mean, it was like it took all these lights and all these signs and all these cars going by and all these things that were happening at that time of the night -- just completely took that and buried it. The beauty of just that sun starting to come up --- and it was cloudy here and there. And as it would come up, it would just shine this red light all over the - and it would just be a beautiful blue sky with this beautiful red, just touches of red, like an incredible artist had painted it all over, all over this blue sky. And then slowly and slowly the sun came out, and the birds, and then -- I mean, this whole thing started to begin.
And that happens every day, even if you live in Seattle, and it rains a lot, and maybe you don't get those touches and you don't get those little flares. But such an incredible process has already taken place for the clouds to be there. A lot of people get depressed when it's cloudy and it's raining and so on and so forth, but just to be able to know, just to be able to understand one simple thing: How did that cloud get there? What happened? What made it manifest?
And that's an incredible miracle. That we have been granted an opportunity, we have been granted something not even wish, because we don't even know how to begin to desire that thing. We don't even know what our lives are, so you can forget about our desires of our life, wanting our life. But it's just completely incredible because here we are, and we are there. We are at the place to be able to unfold the greatest mystery.
And there's a lot of people who have ways with words. And I'm pretty sure I'm not one of those guys. But they have all these ways with words, and they get into them, and they call this a mystery. You look at Bible, and you look at Gita, and you look at Ramayana, and you look at all these scriptures. (Not that I've read any of those.) But just the quotes that get thrown around back and forth are all these descriptions of this one thing, of this one most mystical, most fabulous thing. And here we are, granted that opportunity to be able to unfold that greatest mystery.
It's not like first you are horn, and then you grow up, and you grow up and up and up and up, and all of a sudden you go from Phase Zero to Phase One, from Phase One to Phase Two, Phase Two to Phase Three, and when you reach the Phase Three of your life, this is the time to unfold the great mystery.
Phase Zero is when you're just too small to do anything. Then you get into it and get into it, get into it and get into it. And before you know you're already making that transition from Phase Zero to Phase One. And then before you know, you're already making that transition from Phase One to Phase Two. And before you know, you're starting a nice descent. Those birthday candles sort of just slowly and slowly start to take more space. And it sort of gets harder and harder to blow those candles out. You know, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 60. 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70.
A new bill was just passed that the retirement age officially is now 70 years old! And people were saying how incredible that was. You don't reach 65 now and just say, "That's it. That's the end of my life." Now you can go for five more years and work till you're 70 before they have to retire you.
To me, it's really funny. I mean, it's good. Maybe some people really like that, and I'm not making any statements about the bill. But if that person didn't realize what the motive of his life was for the past 65 years, is there a miracle going to happen in those five more years? He's going to be 70 and -- boom! everything is going to manifest for him? That unique thing that he has always wanted, that most incredible thing that he has always desired, is that all of a sudden in five years going to manifest for him? Is he going to become happy in those five years, when he has not been able to be happy in the past 65 years?
And that's the question. Why not? What's been stopping him from getting happy for the past 65 years? Where has man gone? Where has man put himself? He has made himself such a busy bee that if he can't do anything after 65, he thinks he might as well be dead. Our actions, our motives, our desires, our concepts,
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) the Greatest Magician With Giant Holi Water Cannon 1978
completely dominate us all the time. And where does that really take us? Where does that really lead us?
It's like quicksand. Just like quicksand. The more you wiggle your feet, deeper you go. More you do it, deeper you go. And the thing is, fortunately, there is a stop to it. Everything has a bottom. Earth has a bottom. And eventually, if you kept wiggling your feet, you would keep going down and down and down and down and down till you would reach the bottom. And there would be no quicksand there. But unfortunately, the height from the top surface of the quicksand to the bottom is a little too much for you. It's not like it's only five feet, it's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet. So even if you ever did make it to the bottom, it won't be in this lifetime. It won't be now.
What I'm saying comes out as a statement. And yet what I'm saying is that this is what happens in this world. People go through everything, and fictiously demand upon themselves to make their own statues, to carve their own houses, their own castles, their own imagination. And they live in this imagination. They survive in this imagination.
Maybe you can live in this imagination and say, "OK, look, it's safe. I can't go wrong. I'm living in my imagination, and my imagination has an end to it. And someday I'll reach the end of my imagination, and then I'll know where to go on from there. Then I can walk. Then I've hit the hard surface. From that point, I can walk on wherever I want to go. I can get out of that quicksand. I can get out of my concepts. I can get out of what I have made myself." And not putting it that way to yourself, just imagining that, you know. "Look, I just can't go wrong. This is it. This really is! And if it isn't, then I'll find it. I'll find out."
But that's not the way it is! And I talk from my own experience, and that's all I can talk about: my own experience. That's just too late. It always is too late.
Your dream castle is not worthwhile building. You know why? Because as soon as the tide starts coming in; slowly and slowly, portions of your castle will start dissolving, and just become that sand again. And to your amazement, to your surprise, you will find the next morning, no trace of that castle whatsoever. And by that time, it'll be a little too late to think or to act on it. It'll be just too late. Because by the time you find out that this castle that you entrusted everything in …
The time, that precious opportunity that has been given to us now to just be even alive, to have that capability of being able to experience Knowledge, of being able to experience that devotion, to be able to experience, most of all, Guru Maharaj Ji … And I mean, it's just like that reality of being able to experience the Truth, the reality, to be able to experience what we want to experience, to be able to understand what we want to understand. This gets covered up by so many, so many, so many membranes.
It's like if you take the wrong exit in New York City, you've just about had it. Either you're going to run out of gas, or you're going to end up wasting a lot of time. Because once you've taken the wrong exit
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Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
Why does Guru Maharaj Ji, why does somebody have to come in this earth … I mean, if you were to really look at it from the logic, from the perspective of what you call intellectuals, and just ask a very basic question: "Why does somebody have to come every time to reveal us Light, to take us away from darkness -- and that's what 'guru' means, one who takes us away from darkness and puts us into Light -- why does this person , why does this thing, why does somebody have to come and portray this role again and again and again ?
And within that, you could get a lot of answers. Within that, you could get a lot of your picture of how great of an idiot you really are. Because then you would even come to that point of saying, "Well, if that is really the point, if that's really the purpose, that I do get lost, that people do get lost, then I've been wasting my time investigating this. I should really be at this point, be where I'm supposed to be, be in that shelter, be in that Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji." And that's the conclusion again and again, and again and again you will come to. Because there are no and's, ifs and but's about that.
And it's just so incredible, to be able to, now, in this age, where everything had no heading, everything is just like spreading butter on bread. It just doesn't matter from which end you start. (It just doesn't matter. You just pick the piece of bread and you just take your knife and it just doesn't matter. It's just toast. It has four squares, four corners, and you just take it and slice it any way.)
Maybe people can say, "Oh, well, there used to be the 'Good 01' Days,' you know, 1800's, and people were this and people were that ." No. It's not like that ever this world was really, really incredible. Never was. Why? Because mind has been always there, just taking that wave, just taking that potential of destruction and destroying humanity again and again and again. And that is why Guru Maharaj Ji always comes again and again and again.
And here we are at this age. All the technological advancements, all the things that we can have, we can get into. What do they bring us? Where do we personally end up? Where are we? I mean, coming back from England I took the Concorde. And I walked into the lounge and they had this Concorde lounge. There were all these people there. As soon as I walked in -- it's not like they recognised me or anything -- it was just snap snap - snap snap snap. Like everybody just turned around: "Who's flying the Concorde? Who is this guy? " And then Marolyn walked in, and then Raja Ji walked in, Claudia walked in, John walkedin, and Steve all these premies walking and people were just (stares with mouth open)…
And then I was standing right next to these people and they were filling out their Customs forms to come into the United States. And this guy was saying, "Forms, forms, forms, forms; forms, forms, forms. It's an endless saga of forms! " I didn't say anything to him. But something that I did feel was, "Sure, buddy. I bet you made a few in your lifetime, to give to people, to hand them out. Same thing. The endless saga of forms, forms, forms, forms." Forms are one thing. And filling out this Customs form gave him a hard enough time. "Why do they want to know where we live? " They were going into this whole rap. "This is completely becoming - " They were talking with an English accent, but it was just like, "What is this? Is this it? "
These people are supposed to be in this category or that category, and that's why they look. They have this camera, it's an infrared camera, and it's supposed to scan. And they go like this in the lounge and say, "Oh,yeah, everything is OK. Everybody is the right person who is supposed to be there." And somebody walks in there with some funky suit, or somebody walks in there with jeans on, and everybody goes, "You see that guy? He must be in the wrong lounge. I wonder why they let people like this in."
And you could just feel so much mind. Because Waddy and Hansi were playing. And they were playing with orange juice and they were playing with tea cups, and they were pouring the orange juice in water and in the tea cups, and were spilling them. And they were having a ball. And you could just see these people going, "What are these kids up to? What are these kids doing? They should leave their kids back home." And it's just like, wow! It's completely nuts in the world. And the experience of it gets more and more frustrating in this world.
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) formerly Guru Maharaj Ji the Greatest Magician With Family at Holi 1978
It's such an incredible balance, because you feel it's like getting into an automobile and going 200 miles an hour and hitting a pole standing in the middle of the street head-on and nothing happens to you. Nothing! You don't even feel shock like this or nothing. It's perfect! And you get out of your car, and there's not even a dent on the bumper.
And if somebody were to make a car like that, it would be completely incredible. And it's like Knowledge is even much, much, much more. Because you see this aggravation. It's just like you're flying by and all of a sudden you see this pole. And all this frustration of people, you see all this mind just coming out and out and out and out and out.
And it's just like an endless machine of mind. It can manufacture tons and gallons and gallons. If mind is liquid, gallons and gallons of it. If mind produces, cubes, then tons and tons of those cubes. I mean, whatever mind is, it just keeps producing it, and producing it, and producing it, and producing it, and producing it. All the way from London to Washington and it never stops! And it's completely amazing!
And then to be able to just have that Knowledge, and just to be able to see what's going on. To be able to have that answer to that most incredible question: "What's going on? " And to these people, that's the way it is: "What's going on? What are these kids doing here? " Or, "What's this happening for? " Or, "Why is this happening? "
And by Guru Maharaj J'is Grace, you can just sit back, smile, and say, "1 know what's going on.I don't have that question. I know what's happening. Because I know why I'm here for. And anything else that I do, I know that is not solving the purpose of why I'm here for. I know that that's wrong."
And the greatest difference -- you know, that big thing: "To be or not to be." Or, "What's right or what's wrong? " Even more intriguing than that: "What's good and what's bad? What's heaven and what's hell? " And there are all these questions, and all these well, let's put it this way: All this mind throws out the dilemma of "What's good; what's bad? What's this; what's that? " A parallel.
Why not "good" with "God"? Why does good have to come with bad? "Good -- Bad". "Light --" (snaps his fingers) immediate parallel:"Darkness." Why? Why does it have to be that kind of a parallel? I mean, it's just a magnet. You come out of one end, the magnet turns on and you get snapped into the other magnet. You come out of one question , you come out of one feeling , you come out of one emotion, you come out of one way, and you get snapped into the other one."Good -- Bad.Heaven -- Hell." And it's just like this endless dilemma.
By Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, in one second -- really -- in one second; and maybe even a second is too long it gets answered to us, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. You just look at the mercy. You just look at the Grace.
To be in this world -- to first of all put us there. And to put us there in a way where we won't just suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer. But to put us in a boat. And put us in that ocean and say, "OK." Instead of just putting us in that ocean without any boat, without anything, and just we
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Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
Why do we have to understand that? I mean, then comes that question. "OK. If Guru Maharaj Ji is all merciful, if Guru Maharaj Ji is everything, then let it be! Let it go on. And let him do it." But that's the snag. And that's where the snag is.
You have to let him do it. You have to let him put you on that boat and sail you across that ocean. You have to surrender. And that's the greatest thing. In this whole saga, in this whole mechanics, in this whole thing of whatever you call it: peace, liberation, Truth the greatest thing: to surrender. And that's why we have to understand.
We have to understand Guru Maharaj Ji. Not in a mental way. Not understand Guru Maharaj Ji in, "Yes, Guru Maharaj Ji is 'G-U-R-U'." But to understand so that we can take advantage of him. To be able to understand: "Wow! And I'm here? " And just to understand what to do, and what not to do. And to just know that, "So far I keep myself surrendered, so far I keep myself in that place, everything is OK." And you use that understanding. And you just make everything OK just by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. And everything just bam, barn, bam, barn. Everything works out.
And when we don't have that understanding -- and where does that understanding really come from? Again, it's Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace that we even get to have that understanding ever in our lives. And again, by our own effort of doing satsang, service, and meditation, do we come to that point where we can even have that beauty, where we can even have that understanding by his Grace, to be able to then turn around and use that to be able to become his, to be able to surrender to him, to be able to be on his boat and enjoy the ride.
I guess there's thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of ways of explaining it. When we were talking in Malaga, and actually Marbella, we were talking about this program, and just the way it was manifesting.
I was first of all in England. And we had a very beautiful program there. And after the program it was, "OK. What's going to happen? There's a Holi that's going to happen in America. Is that going to be final? Is it really going to happen? Well, wait a minute, I'm already in Europe. Let's have another program here. Let's do the Holi in Europe." And then, "Where are we going to hold this Holi in Europe? " And people were saying, "Well, hold it in Rome." I said, "No, it's too cold." "Well, I mean, the idea of Holi is to just be able to come together and share satsang and everything. What difference does it really make? " And I said, "Yeah, that's true. But it would be nice to have a warm place."
And it really didn't matter. It really didn't matter. I said, "You know, what we can do is set up the guns at the bottom of the stage (hold the program in an indoor hall) and at the last night, when everybody is finished singing Arti, you can just blast the guns and everybody would get wet! " It became more of a joke than a more practical thing. And we were saying, "Yeah, we can put some permanent colours in there, and people would be dressed in their nice suits, the last day of the program -- get all blasted by colour."
And then everybody was working, everybody was working, everybody was working. I mean it was just like you were flying through just everything. And it was just floating, like a big floating machine. And it was like, "OK -- like people could not get away from ideas. It was just like the ideas kept pouring in. "And, you know what we can probably do -- " And I just said, "Well, probably it would be a nice thing to do to just go back to America, stop in England, and do another program, because most of these English premies aren't going to be able to come." And then it was like finally this one place got finalized. "OK, it's in Marbella." And we took the airplane out of England, landed in Marbella. That was that.
Then the problem came, "How are the premies from England, or anywhere, going to get to Marbella? What's going to happen? It's Easter weekend. Planes are booked solid." And they were booked solid. And it was just like, slowly and slowly and slowly things started happening. Because the last day of the program when I was just leaving the hall, a bus pulled in full of premies. I mean, it was just completely incredible. I was giving satsang and premies just kept coming in, coming in, coming in, coming in, coming in. It started to get fuller and fuller and fuller and fuller and fuller, till the last day it was really, really packed.
And we were talking about Grace, how it really works, how it really manifests itself. And it's just completely incredible. Because you just start to sec little examples manifest. And premies were coming however they could. It was so beautiful; it was so incredible. If they could take a jeep, they were taking a jeep; if they could take a bus,
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) formerly Guru Maharaj Ji the Greatest Magician With Giant Water Cannon Holi 1978
they were taking a bus.
And there were even premies who got there and sort of got taken for a ride. They got there and they didn't have any hotels, and the guy who -- supposedly some story where this guy was supposed to be there, gave them an address to this hotel and said, "Look, I'll just take a taxi cab." They got to this place, looked it up, to the hotel, and the hotel had been closed for ten years or so. And they were there with their suitcases and everything right outside the hall. It was completely incredible.
And then it's just like you just see those little examples, just little things happening everywhere. And in one way you can shut yourself completely off and say, "Nothing is happening. Nothing is going on." Or then just really look at it from the right perspective, be at the right place, and just say, "Well, what am I doing? Where do I fit in to this whole structure? Where do I fit in? Where does the Grace come in? And it was just like, Grace is so incredible. Because it doesn't only come, it's always constantly flowing. But you have to come to Grace. You have to come to a point of compromise with Grace. It's an underwater river. And if you can put yourself in a position of that surrender where that Grace can just suck you in, it all works. And it's just like one of those last minute things.
It's just like everything is untogether, everything is falling apart, you're just going (breathing out) "What's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to happen? " And then all of a sudden something happens! And before you know, it just happened!
Same thing with England, same thing with Marbella. And then it was just so beautiful coming from the residence over here. It was just like, "Wow! And now, this program." It's just a beautiful thing, just to see you all, premies. And it's just like, just to be here, to just be able to give that satsang. And to be able to just share that experience of how it all works and for you to be able to then take it and utilize it and be at that place where you can experience Grace. Because Grace is beautiful. It really is beautiful. It really is incredible. But you have to be at the right place.
And satsang, service, and meditation - I mean, it's just like again and again and again, you can repeat the same old chapter. And yet, who's repeating what? Nobody's repeating anything. This is something that we have to do. This is something, after realizing who we are, after realizing that we are not some Joe Smith, after realizing that -- what kind of a world we really live in. I mean, it's outrageous! Because so many, so many concepts every day are what we have to deal with. Every day. Everybody's concepts. And it's just like trying to struggle, trying to struggle, trying to struggle, trying to struggle, and you never get anywhere in your life. You never reach any point in your life. And then all of a sudden, when you let go, when you really let that Knowledge come in, when you really let that surrender come in, it's just like dominoes, you know: hit one, and doesn't matter how long they are, just rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryou know, till the last one falls.
And that's the way the Grace is. Just one chain has to be started. That one chain reaction will just carry it on and on. But who starts that one chain reaction? Who starts that first action? Is it us? Is it really us? And, in one way,
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Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
When you have problems, when you have trouble: "Oh yeah, OK. This is the time. Knowledge. It'll work for me." Some troubleshooter or some -- I mean, just different concepts that we have. It all just becomes a very, very flat, very, very even surface when we realize just one simple thing, when we realize just one incredible thing: that we are here, Guru Maharaj Ji's here, and Knowledge is here. And it can all click. That most incredible scene, that most incredible thing that we really want manifested in our lives is possible.
And it's just like we can take so many freeways, we can take so many paths. And all these paths just end. All these paths just die. And there is one true path. There is that one reality. There is that one Truth that really is within inside of us all. And that's where we have to come. It all has to hit home, by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, again; only by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Because just to be here, just to be here, and be breathing, and to have that time given to us to be able to meditate, to be able to sec Guru Maharaj Ji. I mean, it's just like a part of this whole action, of this whole role that just continuously goes on and on and on. But for only devotees.
For out there, it's a bad scene. And it's always going to stay a had scene, unless we all turn around, unless every human understands the need and understands that one basic factor: "Why are we here? " Till then, it's going to be a bad scene out there. And it always will be. Because people don't know what they're looking for. People don't understand what it's all about. Because there they are. And they're spoon-fed. And not only a little bit of "Zoom Cereal" is spoon-fed into their mouth, but lots of concepts. And lots of concepts. And it's just like, "Yeah, and when you grow up, you can become a doctor. And when you grow up, you can become a baseball player." Or, "When you grow up, you can do this and you can do that."
I was asking Bobby one day, I said, "Bobby, how come you decided to become a cook? You were in the school. How come you decided to become a cook? " And he gave me this really funny explanation about it. He said, "One day the teacher was asking the kids in the school what they wanted to become." And you know, that happened a lot of times in my class. The teachers just get into it. It's two minutes before they think the bell is going to ring, so they might as well start talking about something. They're not into teaching. They want to get home as bad as all the kids want to get home. And so they start talking, and it was complete gibberish: "What do you want to become when you grow up?"
And he said that all these kids were there and they were all giving these answers. Somebody said, "Oh yeah, I want to become an engine driver." And somebody said, "Oh yeah, I want to become a bus driver." And somebody said, "I want to become a pilot." And this is what he thought: All these people were saying all these funny things. They wanted to become a bus driver or an engine driver or a plane driver or something like that. And he said he thought to himself that he would say something very smart and very serious about it. And he said that he wanted to become a cook when his turn came. So he went back to his mom, and he told his mom that he wanted to become a cook. So his mom took him out of school and put him in this culinary school, and he became a cook!
It was like he just sort of went on and I was just standing there and he was chopping onions. And he just went on and he just told this whole story and I went, "Wow! That's how you became a cook, huh?"
And to me I just thought, "Oh boy! Is that the way people become who they are out in this world? " Some odd, eight ball dream that the teacher happens to ask them, "What are you going to become when you grow big? " And just because they think that they want to play a little smarter than the rest of the kids, they say, "I'm going to become a taxi driver!" And it's just that they become taxi drivers. I mean, it's not like there's anything wrong with driving a taxi, but is that where the seed is planted? Is that where it all begins from? Is that where it all originates from? And it just sort of gave me goose bumps. It's like,that's completely crazy.
Because there we are, and in this spur of a moment it I don't know how long and how many kids there were in that class, but it couldn't have been more than 40 kids, and I'm pretty sure there weren't 40 kids either. But in that amount of time, a whole life got decided, just like that. And that life could have been ruined, gone down the drain. And I mean, just be anything! And such a precious thing. It's destiny. Does that destiny get decided in a
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji) the Greatest Magician With Giant Water Cannon Holi 1978
class-room ? Is that what it's all about?
Maybe this was a funny example. And maybe your destiny didn't get quite decided in the school. Maybe it got decided in the college. Does it really make that much of a difference? Is that your life? Is that what you are? Is that really, really you? I mean, this is like just a simple old question. Is that really, really you?
Sometimes you go over these golf courses. You're driving by the golf courses. Or like once I was in San Diego, and we just wanted to take a ride in this golf cart, so we went over to the golf course. And they won't let you have the golf carts, only if you have golf clubs. So we went ahead and rented the golf clubs, and we were just was just riding around. And everybody was saying, "Well, you should start, you know. And then you can just go on and then they won't be able to see you. We can just ride around."
And all of a sudden you go off from the driver, the first driver, and it's just like see all these guys and they're really, really into it. They have this club and they come swinging at it and it looks like they're going to hit it and then they stop at the last moment. And they're thinking! They're constantly thinking! And everybody has to be absolutely quiet. OK, maybe I'm making it sound a little worse than it is, really. But the thing is that here they are. A whole life -- decisions are being made. And all these decisions lie on this little ball that's been wrapped around harder and harder and harder thousands and thousands of times; has this guy's name written on it, and it's sitting on this little tee.
And there is this guy, with his golf, really swinging at it, really concentrating. And this guy could be a brain surgeon! And he could be deciding this guy's future destiny, if he's going to be a vegetable or is he really going to do some good job. Thinking all the time, all the time. And then all of a sudden they shoot this ball. And I just say, "There goes somebody! "You know? And it's just like, that's it.
And the first time I ever played golf was in Mexico. And I couldn't even get the ball going from the tee, it was just making huge holes right before the ball. And people were looking at us like, "What's the matter with these guys? Why can't they even hit a ball?"
And then it just went on from there, as further down the holes you went down. It wasn't the ball. It had nothing to do with the ball. It had nothing to do with the driver. And I mean, there was John there and there was all these, "Now use this driver. Now use this one. Now use this one. This is the best one. Hit it straight. Hit it this."
And I could have just picked the ball, and driven it over to the hole, and just taken a good shot and dropped it in there. It would have been there! But, of course, there's a whole mechanics to playing golf. And maybe one of these days Tim is going to come up with a book, "Inner Game of Golf." But there's, I'm pretty sure, a whole mechanics to it, and I'm not quite familiar with it.
But I'm familiar with one thing, and that's life. I'm familiar with one thing, that's Knowledge, that's Guru Maharaj Ji. And as there are different mechanics to playing golf, there's even more sophisticated -- much, much more sophisticated mechanics, and yet very simple and beautiful
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Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
It doesn't even work, you see. Because it's everywhere. It's always manifested. It's not like you take it from one place and you put it to the other place. Or it's not like you make a little miracle happen. That miracle is everywhere! That miracle is in every molecule.
I mean, it's like you watch "Star Wars" or something like that and you go, "Wow! Outer space. Going more than the speed of light." Or this or that. You can get into that movie and get into all those special effects. And yet, those are just imaginations, speculation.
And yet, what we have within us, that energy that's making us survive, is way out there. It's to the end of the universe, if there is an end to the universe. It's there. If the earth is the beginning, then it's there. And it's everywhere. It's on Mars, it's on Moon. It's everywhere! And making everything tick as it is, day by day by day by day. And that's what I mean by an incredible, incredible miracle happening all the time.
And so the greatest Magician of all is here. So premies, the point is that if you want to watch this show - and that's what we are here for, to watch this show -- why don't we open our eyes? Why don't we sort of wake up? Why don't we look at the stage, and watch the greatest Magician perform his miracles; every day, every second of the life that he does? Why are we so involved in our glass of water and crunching ice that we completely lose the perspective: Why did we come to the hall? Why are we sitting here: To watch this incredible performance of this incredible Magician.
And yet He does it. He's doing it every day. Every one is incredible. I mean, it's just like you take any miracle in this life and it's completely, completely incredible. And all these miracles are happening right in front of us! Right there!
And I think the appropriate word is "Stupid." Because you pay so much every minute, every second. If you can price that second, if you can price that minute, and that's what's going every second, every minute. Just going, going, and going, going. And you're here! The time is ticking away.
And you are in this hall, in this auditorium. Not this auditorium, but this vast auditorium where they have special effects called "Moon." They have this intense, intense, intense spotlight. They call it "The Sun." They have a beautiful, beautiful ceiling. It's called a "Sky." And in this sky, in this endless, endless ceiling, we are on this tiny little table, and it's called "The Earth." And it happens to be round. And we are sitting there. And we are there. And we are in this auditorium.
We are in this greatest miracle of all the universe. And Earth is just a little speck, Earth is just a little planet. And we are sitting on that planet. That's our table. And we are eating away at everything, crunching ice, getting so spaced out, and spreading butter on our toast, that we just miss. Every time that miracle happens, we miss it.
So premies, is that the destiny? Is that where it's all going to end? Is that where it all finishes? Or does it really go beyond that? And that's not a question, you see. Because the answer is more predominant, is more energetic, is more powerful. It really is not a question. It's a question that appears to be a question, but it's more like a statement with no question mark at the end of it.
Because the answer is at every moment with us. And the answer is there. Just to know we are here, Knowledge is here, Guru Maharaj Ji's there. There is our answer. And there could be no greater answer. There could be no greater answer than that total experience of our Knowledge, of ourselves, of who we really are. And even if we had it for one second, even if we had it for one moment we know it's there. And there is no greater answer. There is no greater proof that can be given than that.
So premies, it's that incredible-ness. It's that great miracle. And let's not miss it. It's happening every moment, every moment, every moment, every moment, every -- I mean, it's just like, as I'm flashing away -- even this is (snaps his fingers) a miracle. And that you are there and you're sitting on those chairs, you feel those chairs?
That's a miracle. And you know, these lights are shining, this is a miracle. And everything in this, is just a start. We are in this auditorium; it's only so big. And this world is huge, and this universe is gigantic -- if there is a word more than even gigantic -- "colossus," you know? Huge. Enormous. And everything. The planets, the meteorites, everything that's happening. It's just a great game of this great Magician.
And so it's our opportunity to be able to just watch this Magician play. And even more so, to be able to become a little part of his magic. To be able to participate in his
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji formerly Guru Maharaj Ji) the Greatest Magician With Giant Water Cannon Holi 1978
magic, I guess, is even more incredible than to just watch it. Because just to watch a reality manifest ….
You know, there comes a magician or something like that. And he pulls a little rabbit out of his hat, and everybody goes, "Yay! ! " And here is this Magician. He not only puts the rabbit in his hole, he makes that rabbit right from scratch. And he pulls it out of that hole, and he puts him back in that hole. And he makes him jump, and he makes him twitch his nose. And he makes him eat, makes him see, makes him sleep, everything! And have we ever clapped at this Magician? I mean it's like we never (applause) sometimes we just never get to, you know.
And yet, those little things in our life always take that precedence of what our idiocity can do. It's just one of those things that you get a small calculator: "Incredible." A tape recorder that can record for five hours and only takes up as much space as a pen? "Wow! Beautiful." (And something like that, initiators would like, because at Father's Day I got this Nagra, small Nagra. And I showed it to the initiators and they gave it that look, that, "Wow! That would be really nice. Record satsang on, and a few additional things.") But it's just like so many, so many, so many things to us. So many things that are not even incredible in the least sense of it, become so amazing to us. And the most amazing thing that's happening becomes less amazing to us every day. Because we take that and dilute it and dilute it and dilute it and dilute it.
And mind just takes it and automatically dilutes it and dilutes it and dilutes it. "So what? It's a rabbit! "But why does that rabbit, all of a sudden, become so important that people will travel miles and miles and miles and miles - I mean, wouldn't that be wonderful if a magician pulled out a rabbit, or a rhinoceros, from under his sleeve? I mean, people would go, "Wow! What kind of a magician -"
I mean, just let me describe this magician. If this magician could cut somebody in half without using a box, you would say, "Wow! Incredible! " If he could make from nothing, just from nothing, all of a sudden this huge Banyan tree appear, that you watch in front of your eyes grow and grow and grow and grow. What if he took just his hand, and wearing no sleeves, no sleeves whatsoever, and pulled out all these things from just midair. And what if somebody told you… And then, you know, just doing everything.
You know what amazes a lot of people? It's one of those tricks that they do with the money machine. In Satyalok, when they used to have Vaisakhi festival in India, there was this magician who used to come, and he would put in a piece of paper and a five dollar bill would appear. And Shri Maharaj Ji used to really laugh at that, because he said, "Why don't you just take a lot more paper and put it in there and just distribute it to all these premies so they can go back home with it? " And it was just like, then he would explain his trick.
But what if there was a Magician who took a speck of dust and turned it into a pearl? Or took coal and turned it into diamond? And not a fake diamond, a real diamond! Not just a fake pearl, or a pre-made pearl. No! A pearl that manifests from scratch. Wouldn't that be an incredible magician? I mean if something like that, if you were to advertise in Newsweek, a lot of people would come to see this guy. And it's just like, wow. What for? There's even a bigger miracle happening.
There is that miracle happening that this guy is trying
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Prem Rawat the Greatest Magician
And so, premies, just to be able to become a part of His magic is so incredible. And you know, we are a part of His magic. He's given us this. We are one of those things that He has created. Not an illusion, we are real. And that's what we have to understand, and that's what we have to see for ourselves. And even more. It's just like more and more and more and more and more He has taken us back home, and He's taking us back home. And just realize, just open up your eyes, and just see and just realize that you're becoming a part of that miracle every day, more and more and more.
And so, don't keep thinking that the curtains are still drawn, and that there will be a time when you'll be called out to the stage … No. You're on the stage. It's you! You have that Knowledge. You have that opportunity to be able to realize Knowledge, to be able to realize Guru Maharaj Ji, to be able to make that effort to accomplish satsang, service, and meditation, to be able to accomplish the purpose of this life, which is the greatest miracle. The words stop short. You can't go on any further. And by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace it's all here. It's all with us.
And now it's just to surrender, and to just let ourselves go. Because who are we? What are we going to stand up to? What are we going to do, declare a one-man army? What are we going to do, play this fancy show where we get up on this little stage, and we step to one corner and we go, "Hey, Soldier." Then we step down and we go, "Yes, General." Then we get up back on, "Soldier, have you cleaned your rifle? " "Yes, General, I cleaned my --" I mean, just play this stupid control of our lives that we do every day.
For how long is this obscene affair with our mind going to keep on going? Let's put it this way. We're just going back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. And we know it's mind. We know. Because everytime it kicks us, it hurts! And we know. And we go, "Ouch! " But then we turn around and we put ourselves in exactly the same position, that same vulnerable position where we first got hurt. And then we keep making that mistake again and again.
And then it's just like, let go! Just. let go! Let go of -- I mean, I'm not saying that you're holding onto your armrests or something, and let go of that. But let go to Guru Maharaj Ji!
It's just like, there is no definition, really, of surrender. Surrender is not a thing that just happens (snaps his fingers) "surrender." Or that one morning you realize and you got a really bad headache, and after a little while the headache goes away and you go, "I surrendered! It happened! Isn't that beautiful? " No. It's not like that. Or one day you wake up and everything is a different colour. "Wow! I've surrendered!" It's not like that. Surrender is an everlasting --
Because till there is going to be something to surrender, you have to keep on surrendering it. When that thing ceases to exist, then there is nothing to surrender. So till you are here, present, going on, you have to keep on surrendering. You know why? Because there is something there to surrender. And so surrender it. Let it go. And not in sense of complete mind, not in a sense of that fictious imagination: "Oh yes, I'm surrendered. Look at me. I'm standing -- " You know, this happened.
One day this premie, you know, I was staying at the Woodside House in England. This was a little while ago. And all of a sudden, I was in my bedroom, and I heard a big thump. And I looked out the window and there was this truck standing in the front yard of the house. And it had sort of ran into the flag pole. And I said, "What's going on? What happened? " And everybody said, "Oh there was an accident happened."
And it turned out that there was this premie who had decided to test out Grace. So he came full force running into the residence to test out Grace.
Not like that. Don't surrender like that. Don't try out Grace like that. That's not the way to do it. You're probably going to get the bad end of the bargain anyway if you try that. But to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. And I mean it's just like to really, really surrender. I mean, how can you express this any other way but just to really, really, really, really surrender. Let go! Let go of your concepts. Let go of this wild imagination. Stop making your castles that are going to demolish the next morning. Or the high tide comes and they're gone. Stop playing all the games.
Stop putting yourself in the position where mind just keeps taking you like a big cement truck. And you just put some concrete and some cement and some water in there, and put the truck on the road and as it goes it just keeps that concrete turning and turning and turning and turning
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Prem Rawat (Maharaji formerly Guru Maharaj Ji) the Greatest Magician 1978
and turning and turning. No, no. Nothing like that. But just to realize, just to understand Guru Maharaj Ji. Just to understand that beauty. Just to understand that Love. Just to understand that Knowledge. And things become simpler and simpler.
So premies, it's completely our option. I've seen something and it's just so wonderful that it doesn't matter. Premies, when they have that feeling, when they have that realization happening, it's incredible.' t's just really, really incredible. And it's just whenever the premies come together, are in that right consciousness, it's beautiful.
Because a lot of times there's a satsang program happening and there's a few non-premies there, and they're not interested in what's going on, but they're sort of just living it up, being there, just sitting there. And they're not into it. They're not understanding what I'm talking about. And when situations like that happen, you can just spot them out in the audience because you see something, you feel something. And yet, with thepremies it's just so incredible because that beauty, that Grace, just pours, just manifests. And it was just like … Well, you know, there are really no words except it's completely incredible.
And so, this is the first day of our festival. And this is a four-day festival. We had three days, five days. It's four-day festival. And tomorrow there's going to be darshan. And then after darshan we're going to have the Holi festival. And after the Holi festival we're going to have the last day program, where we're going to be saying, "And, you know --" just like in Rome, and same thing in Malaga. I said, "And today is the first day, but before you know it'll be the last day," or something like that.
And you can make that the last day or not a last day, just an everlasting, everlasting, everlasting program to happen, to
just keep on flowing with that Grace forever and ever. To keep on flowing with Guru Maharaj Ji forever and ever. To
keep being on his boat, just to stay on his boat forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
I mean, it's just like he says,"OK,here is your destination. You may now get off." And you say, "Can I please stay and go back, stay on the boat, and go back again, still stay on the boat, and go back and forth however many times you want to, and just stay on the boat? " Just to be watching that Miracle-worker, and become a part of the miracle. And become this little act, this little scene that's just so incredible. And it's our option; it's our choice.
And so I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow. And it's very wonderful to be here, because what we all want to talk about is that Love. What we all want to talk about is that Knowledge. What we all want to talk about is that experience.And so premies, welcome to this Holi festival. And I hope something wonderful happens to you.
Thank you very much.