Part II
THE CONTEXT
Who among us has not at some time stood on a hillside, looking out over a valley, heard the song of birds, and the wind in the trees, and felt some mysterious emotion welling up within the heart? For a moment we were at one with everything, for a moment the routine of our life was broken and we found ourselves wondering at the beauty of existence.
There is something strangely beautiful in this all too rare moment, when for once life is seen in a little more depth. We sense that life is a very wonderful, a blessed experience. What intangible essence lying beyond our conscious recognition is responsible for our life? We only feel a kind of tingle, exciting freshness, somewhere within, a sense of rightness, of belonging to everything.
In search of this brief instant, men Climb Mountains, soar on the winds, dive to the ocean depths and attempt impossible feats of bravado. We search for affinity with nature, which we can glimpse within us something as perfect as the sun and the bird's song, as the sky and the wind, and as the flowers of springtime. A glimpse of unity, a oneness with all things only faintly hinted at from around the edge of the mind.
Most of our lives we seem destined to experience separation from each other, from nature, from the
43
44 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
pure powers of life, and from God. Why, we are even cut off from our own self, and the members of our families. Yet, strange though it may seem, this body, the human form, is created to allow the soul to experience the end of all separateness, the final coming together: the union of the soul with God. Only in this way can we live together on earth in perfect harmony.
The soul which was once a part of God is in its true nature perfect oneness; yet due to the influence of the millions of forms all around us, the soul's attention becomes divided, and unified experience is lost.
Perhaps our experiences of nature recall some distant memory of the soul to us, and this is the cause of our awareness of deeper joys; for in the soul waiting to be realized, there lies a reservoir of peaceful happiness. All of the power and beauty that has gone into this creation lies in seed form at the center of our being.
The realization of this perfection within is an inborn desire in every human being, and whichever way man may try to achieve this realization by external means, this desire will not be fulfilled. The purpose for which this human body was created is just this, that we may know that higher bliss which frees us from suffering, and allows us to enjoy our lives from moment to moment. It is the will of the divine that every human being should know this. It rests with us to find this perfect peace and happiness; when we l have found it, automatically our hearts will wish to tell others of the new joy in our lives.
In the beginning of time, when space and time first separated and space opened out into three dimensions, before the creation of universe, before the first pair of opposites was formed, there was a perfect essence, aware, possessing all divine qualities, a supreme intelligence.
The Context 45
Far more empty than space, more eternal than time itself, is the absolute, so marvelously empty that it is completely full. It contains all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be. Its divine qualities cannot be described, yet still we name them: imperishable truth, eternal consciousness, incomparable bliss.
Words cannot do justice to that immaculate perfection who is at once our creator and compassionate Father, the very soul of our life, the primal energy, mother of the whole universe of nature. While she cares for every single creature, sustaining the ideal environment, he dwells within as the very consciousness itself. Formed and formless they are one energy, one perfect vibration.
Now this vibration is the invisible force sustaining the life within this body and in all creatures, maintaining the motion of all the systems even down to the last atom.
From time immemorial there have been Masters who revealed this energy, and disciples who experienced it within themselves through the Master's grace. They referred to it as the Word. It is the simplest and subtlest vibration in the whole universe the pure, pristine state of unmanifested consciousness. All beings are endowed with this consciousness and are thus potentially divine, but only the human being is able to recognize and manifest this divinity. The Word is the true form of the self, our true identity. It is also the true form of God. Yet only in the Perfect Master is it totally manifested, and in the normal human being it is obscured. The true Master in this age is Guru Maharaj Ji, and he has been born to reveal this eternal reality Within US, to return us to that eternal state which is beyond suffering, fear, and delusion. When this Knowledge is given, it is shown practically. The Word, the pure wave of being, is clearly revealed, and its pure energy is clearly seen as radiant
46 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
light. The space enshrouded in mystery where it dwells is filled with sweet music, and perfumed by the delicious nectar of bliss. It is an experience transcending time and space, yet of great significance to our lives, here and now. The Word, in reality, is all there is all we are. In terms of true existence, it is the only one thing in the universe. Atoms, molecules, cells, life forms, worlds, stars and galaxies are in essence this Word: clothed in illusion for a limited time only, these forms appear as different. The outer shell will disappear in time, but the Word will remain forever. The great cycle of the entire universe is simply one manifestation of the Word, from beginning to end. Life is the finest manifestation of the Word, and in human life the Word is manifested most clearly, provided we make ourselves disciples of the Master. His power can pierce the obscuring veil of ignorance which surrounds the Word and permit us to see that pure energy in our hearts: it is possible for every member of the human race to know God and to see his radiance in everyone we meet.
The whole universe is a play where his life can assume countless forms; and in the final act of the play, his life finds its original form again, the pure love of the father.
Dear sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers and children, the final and most blissful part of God's plan for the universe can only be enacted with your cooperation, When you receive this Knowledge, you'll wish to thank with every fiber of your body the mother who gave you birth, you will wish to worship God with every second, every breath of your life. To every human being you will smile the smile of self recognition and extend the hand of brotherhood and unity, and you will welcome all life forms and all nature as if part of your own body. Until that time, we are dreaming an uncomfortable nightmare, trapped
The Context 47
in illusion, blinded, deluded by the world around us, unaware that our fears are for nothing and that the key to eternal peace and happy contentment is in the hands of fifteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji. The door to that everlasting bliss is within our own heart.
Many times your soul has cried out in pain and confusion, it has longed for this opportunity to disentangle itself from a never ending dream punctuated by birth and death. Many times the soul, in birth, in death and through life, imagines itself released, but there is only a transformation: the shedding of one skin to be replaced by another. The illusion goes on until, in the human form, we hear this message, telling us how we may find the divine teacher who will open the door from illusion into reality, from death to eternal life, and from suffering to blissful joy. All who hear this, please take heed. Whether you realize it or not, you are searching only for this. This is the great gift which God bestows upon us, with great love and hope that we do not waste it. Your own soul will be most disappointed if it comes to the end of this short span as a human being no nearer to knowing the bliss of its own reality. Not knowing when we may obtain another such opportunity, the disappointment of our soul may become a long and bitter agony. Do not concern yourself with intellectual questioning, you cannot weigh this urgent message with the concepts of your past, you can only feel its sincerity in your heart. There is never as much time as we imagine, the world itself is in political instability and in this special time we, as Divine United Organization, disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji, Perfect Master of the Aquarian Age, call upon you to take responsibility for the future of our world and of our race. You may not know it, but by knowing the oneness within you, you are making a great step towards the oneness of mankind, and we urge you to take this message seriously, hear
48 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
it with your heart and to avail yourself of the perfect Knowledge; being given at this very time out of the infinite mercy and compassion of Guru Maharaj Ji.
Mahatma Saphlanand
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science … To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend … This knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true righteousness. In this sense, and this sense only, I belong to the ranks of devoutly religious men.
Albert Einstein
Ever since Einstein, Michelson, and Morley demolished some of the basic assumptions of science, small schools of scientists have been plumbing the limits of scientific knowledge-from sub-atomic physics to evolution to the heat death of the universe and the origins of the cosmos-seeking for an unshakable scientific reality as comforting as the myths they were leaving behind.
They tested the ultimate nature of matter, with cyclotrons, atomic bombs, electron microscopes, and radio-astronomy, in the hopes of finding the ultimate building block of the material world.
49
50 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
They examined genetic matter, DNA and RNA, in hopes of finding what makes matter come alive. They bred and irradiated plants and animals, dug up fossils, and collected specimens, to see if evolution might be said to have a purpose.
They calculated the mass and speed of the receding galaxies, worked out the mathematics of diffusion and entropy, and plumbed the limits of space with radio telescopes and cameras in satellites to see if the universe would have to die some day-and if it did, whether it would ever begin again. To see if galaxies would fall away from us forever. To know if, when the last star burned out, a light would ever be re-kindled. To know if life was doomed.
And they tried to find out how it all began. Michelson and Morley were only able to upset established science because established science had made assumptions that it thought were common-sense facts. Established science had assumed, for instance, that space was full of an ocean of stuff called ether, and that light travels through ether at a constant speed. Just as, when you drive through a steady downpour; the rain seems to fall toward your windshield no matter which way you turn. In the same way, scientists thought, since the earth travels through space, light ought to be hitting its forward side travelling at a faster speed than the light that hits the rear of the earth.
So Michelson and Morley decided to find which way the earth was going, and how fast, building a gadget that would measure the speed light and taking measurements with the gadget pointing in different directions. It was a nice idea, but didn't work. No matter which way they pointed t machine, light always seems to be travelling at precisely the same speed.
A little while later, Einstein came up with his revolutionary Special Theory of Relativity. One of the things this theory showed was that the speed of light
The Context 51
is an absolute. No matter how fast you are travelling, light always' leaves you and reaches YOU at a single speed. Another thing this theory proved is that nobody can travel faster than light, no matter how hard he tries.
Einstein also proved that when you travel at the speed of light, time stops. And that all matter can be converted to and from light energy, according to the formula E=MC2. This formula is usually translated as "Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared." But this translation misses the point. E =MC2 expresses a vision of the clear unity of matter and energy, a vision that Einstein undoubtedly saw. Imagine an atom exploding into light, the light flashing through space at an incredible 186,300 miles per second, and hitting every point in space it passes through with a force that itself is pure energy, pure speed, the essence of power, a force so powerful that it seems ready to leap away from the light at the speed of light redoubled. The flash of an atomic bomb from a pinhead of matter liberated into energy. The speed of light squared.
The schools of scientists who followed Einstein were unable to come up with any vision as brilliant as that, but they began to turn up some tantalizing cities. They found that the universe bad begun as a vast cosmic egg of light, which in one timeless moment had exploded into the universe. They found that there was at least the possibility that the universe might fall back into that cosmic egg of light at some far-off future time. In such an egg, matter could not exist All matter would be liberated into pure light, and all light would be merged into one.
The atom defeated its investigators, the seekers for the tiniest particle from which everything else could be built. They found that, when you get that small, it's not even clear that particles are particles. Under some conditions they behave like droplets of water or mercury - except that these were droplets of electrical
52 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
charge, or even droplets made of two or three different charges linked somehow together. Under other conditions they behaved like fuzzy clouds of something, clouds that were very very thick in one small area and thinned out, without any sort of edge to them, all the way to the farthest galaxies. There is a little bit of every atom in your body beyond the farthest galaxies.
Scientists had entered the realm of things so small that matter was very little different from energy. They worked out the shapes of the electron shells that surround an atom's nucleus. The shells look like different sorts of energy forms bent back on them until they start going around and around the atom in a loop. But one mathematician describes them as the shapes of the places where different styles of energy feel most comfortable.
This was the land of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Scientists found that the very light they used to see these particles (or clouds, or whatever they were) was so very nearly as solid as the particles (if that's what they were) that it would knock them around all over the place. And this made it impossible to see what was going on-especially when the light started to look like it was part of the particle. In fact, the experiment seemed to be embarrassed in the presence of the experimenter. The scientists who studied light found that it would act like either a wave or a particle, depending on how they asked their questions. If they asked it to be a wave, it would be a wave … if they asked it to be a particle, that show it would act.
Physicists had moments when it was almost too much to believe what their eyes and their instruments revealed. If there was so little difference between the smallest bits of matter and pure light, then obviously there was a very little difference between all the things that were made of matter, and the pure light that matter was convertible into. Perhaps human beings
The Context 53
were just energy forms bent into very complicated closed loops. Perhaps when we look at each other we are only seeing the plates where the light of which we are made feels most comfortable Except that in this ease the words "most comfortable" are a colossal understatement, because the light energy of which we are made is bound with incredible strength into the form it has taken.
Scientists grappled with the question of whether the universe was only a clock which, once wound up and left to run, was slowly winding down to an irrevocable halt. They defined the concept of entropy, which is the degree to which the universe has fallen into decay and disorder, and found that entropy must always increase. It was an awful vision, when they put it that way. But other scientists who were studying the subatomic particles and the photon/waves of light recalled how agreeable these particles and waves had been to the influence of any outside force - how easily they could be made to go anywhere, do anything, be anything that tie researcher, asked. These other scientists suggested that entropy on the subatomic scale might not be the spread of disorder and decay at all, but rather a process of everything falling into place - an expression of how willing the minutest bits of matter and energy were to bow to circumstance and accept their fate - a growth of harmony in the universe. And if this is what entropy was at the smallest scale, why shouldn't we believe that this is what entropy is at every scale? That entropy is the natural growth of the most comfortable and harmonious arrangement of the universe. The only reason we were having trouble seeing that was that we were afraid of dying…
Still other scientists were grappling with the ultimate nature of life. Watson and Crick, in a furious rush, deduced the structure of the DNA molecule and the way in which it reproduced. It was almost an anti-climax - the thing seemed to run like clockwork.
44 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
Watson and Crick turned to other things. But more perceptive scientists asked what kept this magnificent piece of clockwork ticking - what had caused it to evolve from simpler chemicals in the first place. Obviously it was the way in which the chemical properties in all the various atoms of the molecule combined, which gave the DNA molecule its living nature. Other scientists had already found that chemical properties of atoms were actually electrical in nature - the ways in which the electron shells of different atoms reacted to one another. So the living qualities of living matter derived from the fact that the energy it was made of was always taking the most comfortable shape, falling into place. In a way, life seemed to be powered by the force that powered entropy, which was also the force that governed the behavior of light - a single unified law governed a single unified stuff that was sometimes energy and sometimes matter. All this law had to do was to define the forms and the properties of the subatomic wave-particles, and everything else followed naturally - the color of a sunrise, the scent of a violet, the properties of human life.
"Mechanical determinism!" the skeptics declared- but the new visionaries of science already had their answer ready. Consider the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which made it impossible to see what the fundamental nature of the subatomic particles could be. Consider the fact that every event on the atomic scale and smaller had to be expressed in terms of probabilities, and probabilities could very well mean that the wave-particle might decide to do anything, but it would probably decide to do this. Electrons and photons are very agreeable, very obedient, very eager to please-but there's a very small chance that in the next ten minutes every particle in your body will suddenly get up and move to the far side of Aldebaran. A very small chance, but it's there.
So maybe there are constant miracles going on down there at the subatomic scale. Maybe all the bil-
The Context 55
lions of billions of billions of billions of subatomic particles are alive; possessed of a very charming, agreeable and sometimes playful nature. Maybe that's why you're alive.
Everything seemed to be reducible to light Matter is simply light locked in a form. Electricity, magnetism, beat, sound-these are light affecting matter. Life is light- playing with matter. Anything that travels at the speed of light is beyond time; and matter is the only form of energy that travels any slower so time exists because light becomes matter. Space is the relationship between bits of matter connected by light Gravity is matter stretching space. (This last discovery was predicted by Einstein and verified during a solar eclipse.)
The only unsolved part of the puzzle (apart from a few minor details) was consciousness. Was this also light? If it was, it was eternal, since physics proved the light cannot be destroyed-and this would mean the whole universe is conscious, which has marvelous, marvelous implications. Or was consciousness only an arrangement of matter and energy, in which case it was mortal and transient, and the universe a tragedy…
The question was still unsettled when Guru Maharaj Ji arrived in America, offering experimental evidence that consciousness was light, and the universe eternally wakeful, playful, and wise…
What is a wave in the ocean? Scientists say that actually the water in the waves is only going around in circles. Six inches up, six inches forward, six inches down, six inches back - the water moves like a roller heaping to let the wind pass over it; and though a six-inch wave seems to be going somewhere, the water isn't really going anywhere at all.
The actual wave is the circular motion of water stirred by the wind.
A sine Wave is the purest wave there is. It is pure mathematics, nothing but the large circular motion making a wave out of a straight line. Mathematicians use a tool called Fourier Analysis to show that any wave, regardless of the shape, is just that pure sine wave superimposed on itself again and again like the complicated patterns of waves in a harbor.
Somehow a wind stirs an ocean of something that fills all of space … and a wave like a sine wave rises and slaps back and forth across the harbor of the universe and becomes the complicated wave force of which everything is made …
Physicists say that everything is made of light and light moves in waves.
And it's all just a sine wave, a circular motion, stir-
56
The Context 57
ring through the universe, visible as light. The wind blows and the universe dances, round and round a center that is very hard to see.
The most special wave of all is within us. It is the carrier wave that runs up and down our nervous system, connecting our brain through the nerves of our body, to our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin, like the subtle current flowing through a telephone wire.
If nothing were to disturb that carrier wave, it would take the pure sine wave shape of primordial energy, but as soon as we start to dream, think, or wake to experience the world through our senses, the wave shape gets far more complicated. The nerves of our senses double and re-double it, superimposing it on itself to make a multiple sine wave that describes the sensations they are having.
When the multiple sine wave arrives at the brain, our brain equipment sorts it out with a kind of Fourier Analysis to figure out what's going on. These sine waves mean there's a tree over there; that wave tells the shade of green of its leaves; all the sine waves are in harmony. And that (perhaps) means the tree is beautiful. All these sine waves are actually one, but it's like the one you see standing between two mirrors when you can see a reflection behind a reflection behind a reflection.
These multiple sine waves are hard on our nerves. It tires our senses to make them. It tires our brain to decipher them. And it tires our nerve cells just to let them pass through. This is only too evident after a long harrowing day when we collapse from nervous exhaustion. We feel that all our senses have been tried to the limit and the only thing we want to do is rest.
Actually what wears us out about these multiple sine waves is not that they are a more powerful current than the natural carrier wave; the natural single sine-wave-shaped carrier wave is just as powerful but so natural to us that it doesn't Burt a bit. But the mul-
58 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
tiple sine waves come from outside our body and so they are not in tune with us. Their energy disrupts the chemical balance of every cell they travel through. They get on our nerves.
Why can't we pay attention to everything at once? After all, we have five senses and an enormous brain. Why can't we use them all, all the time? Why don't we have total awareness?
When scientists first asked these questions a few years ago, they stumbled on a scientific breakthrough. They saw that there must be filters built into our nervous system that screen out most of what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, so that only the most important things catch our attention. The filters are our bodies' defense against total nervous exhaustion.
Researchers found that filters play favorites. If we're paying attention to something, its waves pass through the filter. If we want to be distracted, the filters let those waves through. And when we get completely absorbed, it takes something quite dramatic to pass through the filter.
Our filters make us able to concentrate our attention, and they prolong our lives by protecting our nerves. Each of the multiple sine waves that make up a moment of our waking experience is a part of the original sine wave. The filters are cutting out most of the parts. They are subtracting from our awareness of the world. They are taking a part of the sparkle out of life.
Can you remember how wonderful it was to be just a kid having a good time? (It's okay to have trouble remembering if your childhood was tough.) As infants we led an unfiltered life. Everything was vivid. Tears and laughter and wonderment came easily. The whole world was bright and beautiful - just begging to be played with. But as we got older the filters took over. The subtle and the beautiful faded slowly away.
The Context 59
We'll do almost anything to open our filters up again. We'll attack them with alcohol and drugs. We'll relax them with vacations, massages, sex, comforting thoughts, money in the bank, people to depend on. We'll take part of the burden off our filters by moving to a penthouse, the suburbs, the country, or a monastery. We'll see psychiatrists, we'll try hypnotism, we'll sleep ten hours a day.
These things make a difference, but only a little. The multiple sine waves that tell us what country living is hike may be very much in harmony, but they're still multiple and we still need filters to cope. We still get tired, irritable, depressed, and confused. We still have crises, fights, and divorces; the filters keep closing in, life gets less fun, and so do we. Our kids still prefer to play with other kids.
Fading awareness turns us into pleasure seekers. We pursue laughter, glamor, loud music, passion, and sex because those things are loud and bright, and get a little bit of the glorious childhood past our filters. "Yes," we say furiously, "this is real! This is what life is all about!" And then the wear and tear is too much. The filters close in and we start feeling jaded. We've lost it again.
There's a cure, of course. Just as the multiple sine waves are the problem, the unified sine wave, the pure carrier wave, is the cure.
The multiple sine wave reflects the world our senses experience. So to give our nerves a real chance to recover, we've got to give our senses the chance to take a total break from experiencing that world. Just blanking our mind is no, solution. Not only can't we do anything in that state, but we're not experiencing anything at all. We're actually getting further from a child's bright awareness.
But we can consciously experience the unified wave itself. We can see it, feel it, hear it, taste and smell it. If we are busy using our eyes for other things we can
60 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
feel it and still benefit. The conscious experience of that natural wave pulls every nerve cell that travels through it back to chemical normalcy. It tells every filter, it's all right, you can let go now.
This is the most peaceful, refreshing, reassuring thing we can ever hope to experience. It's like taking a deep long drink at the Fountain of Youth. Incomparable. Fantastic.
But experiencing that unified wave isn't as easy as it seems. We rely on our brain to pick out a feeling, or a memory, or experience--we know no other way. But our brain can only work with multiple sine waves; that's the way it's built. In other words, this is one experience we can't come to on our own. We need help.
What an amazing situation! Every moment in our life is written in that carrier wave. Leave all the body in perfect condition but take away the carrier wave flowing from our senses to our brain and through our brain and down again to our muscles and organs, our hearts and lungs, and experiences stop. We can't see or hear or taste or feel or smell a thing. We can't think, our heart stops, we can't breathe. What's the carrier wave? It's life itself. Without it we're nothing; it is our awareness. We're always aware in it, but we don't know how to be aware of it-no matter how hard we try.
We see patterns of light, we hear patterns of sound, we don't see things or hear things, we see and hear the light and sound coming from those things. And light and sound are energy. We don't taste things, we taste patterns of energy. We don't feel things, we feel vibrations. One sine wave for each part of the pattern, for each multiple sine wave. If we experience this sine wave with our senses we will see light, hear sound, experience unified energy with every sense. White light, because white is the unified whole. Full harmonious sound, for the same reason; a totally satisfying experience naturally.
The Context 61
This unified wave Guru Maharaj Ji reveals. Those who know the science involved, who have taken this Knowledge and have seen that he actually reveals this unified wave, know there is only one way to do this. They have realized that Guru Maharaj Ji is not only experiencing this unified wave, the pure light of which the whole universe arid our consciousness too, is made, but he is totally in control of this wave and can therefore reveal it to others.
The implications of this are even more incredible than the implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment. It's a scientific revolution in the making.
You can prove to yourself that the patterns, multiple sine waves, are what tire your senses by staring at a colored piece of paper fixedly for a few minutes and then looking quickly away to a piece of white paper on a bare white wall. You will see something of the same shape and size but of the opposite color because the color you were looking at was tiring to your optic nerve. The shape will have fuzzy edges because your eyes are also tired of the edges. It's colors and edges that are the essence of the pattern.
You can prove to yourself that blanking your mind is no better by reading up on experiments with sensory deprivation. Scientists have found that people who spend too much time in total darkness start to hallucinate as their nervous system seeks release from the strain.
And you can prove to yourself the benefits of the carrier wave by experiencing it for yourself. Just take Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge and give it a try.
Recent experiments are forcing scientists to wonder why they were so quick to dismiss the pineal gland - the gland stimulated by meditation on divine light.
The Greeks called the pineal the thought-controlling center of the brain; Descartes said it was the "seat of the soul." Why? Because the pineal is the only gland in the brain without a duplicate - and knowing God is an experience of unity.
"That's not scientific," researchers have said. But imagine how startled they were when Doctors Drew and Blatt of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, released their findings: The pineal gland is responsible for maintaining the integrity and wholeness of the entire human organism.
Only recently did modern scientists dare to speculate upon the functions of this gland, and now look what they are saying: One, the stimulated pineal causes energy to flow throughout the entire body so that we can experience higher levels of consciousness. Two, it causes a maturation of the central nervous system and conceptual processes, lending grace and precision to our movements and allowing us to think more clearly on an abstract level. Three, it allows for a discharge of all drives; that is, it releases us from
The Context 63
the domination of hunger, fear, thirst, lust, anger, and pride. Four, it helps us find quick solutions to the most difficult practical problems.
In the lamprey eel and the tuatara lizard of New Zealand, the pineal gland functions as a third eye, highly sensitive to light. These animals have three eyes: two on their face and a third atop their head. All three are connected to the brain. In higher animals, layers of skin cover the pineal gland, but this does not eliminate its ability to sense light. If an animal is active during the day and sleeps at night, the pineal will detect the change in light and adjust its metabolism accordingly. In the daytime it makes sure the animal has plenty of energy to run, hunt, build a home, or whatever; at night the energy level decreases for sleep.
These same mechanisms are operating in man, but who ever thinks of them? And who gives the pineal credit? When was the last time someone said to you, "Oh, my metabolic rate seems a bit high today," or "My pineal gland must not be working properly because … "? Only when something goes wrong - when we're ill and our body cycles are disrupted - do we become aware of the perfect biological harmony which is going non-stop all our lives.
If you are outside and it suddenly gets cold, your metabolic rate will immediately speed up, your glucose will burn more quickly, and more internal heat will be generated. If that's not sufficient, your body will begin to shiver, your hairs will stand up in goose pimples and you will probably begin to move faster. Even more, you'll begin to think, "Wouldn't it be nice to be in a warm house?" or, "I need a fisherman's sweater." On the other hand, if the sun comes out from behind a cloud, you'll begin to sweat and decide to walk in the shade. You'll probably find a soda vendor on the comer or an air-conditioned store. The body has a thermostat which is always set at 98.6° F. and unless we have fever or chills, that's where our
64 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
temperature stays. The endocrine system is in charge of all this, keeping the body in harmony with a massive communication network. Thus it takes care of all the things we never stop to think about, from our heart beat and blood pressure to the amount of water in our body.
Within this endocrine system, the hypothalamus and pituitary control the lower glands such as the adrenals, the thyroid, the gonads, and the pancreas. This is universally accepted as fact. But mounting evidence suggests that all of these highly-developed body controls have one master in the brain: the pineal gland.
For a long time little was known about the pineal gland in man beyond the fact that it is a small, greyish organ-resembling a third eye-which lay deep within the brain. Some scientists considered it a useless left-over from some earlier stage of man's development, like the appendix. Others suspected it had some influence over bodily growth and sexuality, but until quite recently, little research was done. After all, what could possibly be the use of a light-sensitive organ in the center of the head?
Studies by Barberosa (1959), Quay (1967), and Reiter (1969) incline one to believe that the pineal gland may exercise control over all the lower endocrine glands. Other studies suggest that if the pineal gland is removed by surgery or cut so that it will no longer function, the other glands no longer secrete hormones appropriately. This is the reason why young boys with damaged pineal glands frequently develop secondary sex characteristics long before the normal age. The lower endocrine glands have no guide to tell them when to stop.
In its position as head of the endocrine system, the pineal gland may control our daily health and bodily growth, and signal the time for the development of secondary sex characteristics. Beyond that, it is implicated with our conceptions of reality, because the
The Context 65
pineal is the only endocrine gland which secretes its hormones directly into the brain and cerebral spinal fluid; thus it affects the chemical make-up of the brain -which influences our emotions and awareness. What continues to mystify the vast majority of scientists is how a light-sensitive organ can be stimulated when it is so far from any external source of light.
Those scientists, however, who have received the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji recognize that meditation upon the inner, self-effulgent light has a direct effect upon the pineal gland. They say, in fact, that it is the physical receptor within man for the divine light of ultimate reality. It is technically impossible at this time to measure the amount of pineal hormone in the body. In time we may be able to set up an experiment in which people who have not received Knowledge are tested for the amount of this hormone; they might then be divided into two groups, one of which receives the Knowledge and meditates upon it regularly, the other serving as a control group. At set intervals, the subjects could be re-tested to detect changes in the amount of pineal hormone.
However, we can compare the observed behavior among disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji to the results scientists expect when a person's pineal gland is stimulated. Since the pineal gland secretes directly into the brain fluid, any chemical change would immediately be noticed as a shift in consciousness. Indeed, many people who have just received Knowledge speak of a rebirth; they recognize something which is so joyful and fulfilling that they can immediately quit such habits as smoking, drinking, drug taking, and compulsive sex.
Good food, sunshine, and plenty of sleep all contribute to health by providing nourishment to the body, but meditation changes an infinite source of light-energy into chemical hormones which benefit the entire organism. Some disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji report they need less food and sleep when they
66 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
meditate consistently. The ability of the pineal gland to harness energy and convert it into a form which is accessible to all human beings remains unmatched by any technological invention.
Without the pineal's restraining influence, the adrenal gland produces adrenalin in response to every petty aggravation, and the body suffers in a constant state of alarm. Likewise, smaller amounts of free, floating sexual hormones produce additional anxieties and tensions. But as the pineal gland is stimulated through meditation, it inhibits these lower endocrine glands and tunes them down. Meditators as a group have found inner peace and are rarely irritated, despite hectic and crowded living conditions within Divine Light Mission. And as these lower bodily activities are tuned down, higher ones are awakened. Meditators have an intensely practical and positive outlook on life, and are dedicated to finding simple solutions to a wide range of social problems. Even younger and sometimes uneducated disciples exhibit an ability to readily grasp very sophisticated theological, astrophysical, and psychological concepts.
Through stimulation of the pineal gland and meditation upon the Knowledge, man has the ability to go through a biological transformation as dramatic as the change of an earth-ridden caterpillar into an airborne butterfly. Animalistic tendencies are chemically decreased and replaced by spiritual growth. Science bears out what all Perfect Masters have taught: Man's consciousness can shift from the grosser, finite entities toward pure thought and the awareness of infinity.
The Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji is an experience of the eternal life-force within every human being. By meditating on this energy, anyone can attain a natural and complete state of peace. In less than two years, more than 35,000 Americans have responded to this promise. Many have overcome the need for outside stimulation to find security-including their physical and emotional dependency on cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs.
While today the Knowledge has been received by people of every age, social, and behavioral background (many of whom never took drugs at all), its immediate appeal prior to 1971 was to the youth of America: those of the "counter-culture" who were united in their feelings of alienation from society. In rejecting traditional values, many of these young people opened themselves to esoteric teachings, primarily those of the East, from Tibetan mysticism and macrobiotics to Yoga, Sufism, and various forms of meditation. On the largest scale, their efforts to expand consciousness past the realities of the modem world led them to drug abuse.
The Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji is natural and suitable for every human being, but it has had strik-
67
68 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
ing effect in eliminating drug dependency because the drug abuser often recognizes that his mind is the source of his suffering, and seeks a means to control it. Meditation on this Knowledge does not bring a suppression of the desire to take drugs; rather it brings a transcendence of these needs as one becomes fulfilled by the highest consciousness of peace available to man. Physically, the body releases its drives towards temporary sensual fulfillment as biochemical changes occur through activation of the pineal gland during meditation on divine Light.
Guru Maharaj Ji has said: "If you take this Knowledge, you have no need of drugs. It is internal, very internal, much more beautiful than any outside drugs. Today everyone says, "Sonny, don't take drugs," but see, they have to have an alternative, and the alternative is the Knowledge. So those who have this Knowledge enjoy the normal and natural human experience within them, instead of trying to glean some excitement or happiness from occasional entertainment or pill popping. Taking drugs is not the infinite stage, it's a very finite stage, it has a beginning, it has an end. But this Knowledge does not have an end. What I have is like a built-in LSD which God provided you when you were born. There's no need to come down from it."
To have these words reach one of the neediest segments of society, the Shri Hans Humanitarian Services recently applied for a Federal grant to establish a comprehensive drug-rehabilitation program, based on the proven conviction that meditation on the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji is the final step in freeing even "hard-drug" addicts from their dependency. Included in their preliminary proposal is a study conducted early this year with 875 premies, the majority of whom were between the ages of 15 and 29. Its purpose was to get a preliminary idea of the impact of the Knowledge on drug abuse.
In response to the question "Have you ever used
The Context 69
drugs, other than prescription or patent medicines?" 840 out of 875 respondents said "yes." Here is a breakdown of the effects of meditation in the lives of these drug users:
Marijuana: 97% of those replying had used marijuana at least once, with 87% using it more than 40 times. 50% were using marijuana more than 20 times per month before receiving Knowledge; 8% used it at this frequency afterwards.
Hallucinogens: Before receiving Knowledge, 62% were using hallucinogens at least once per month, and 6% used them more than 13 times per month. After Knowledge, 10% were using hallucinogens at least once per month, and only one of the 826 respondents continued to use them more than 13 times per month.
Stimulants (amphetamines, cocaine, etc.): Half of the respondents used stimulants at least once per month before Knowledge; only 7% did so afterwards. Eleven percent used stimulants at least eight times per' month before Knowledge, and 0.5% afterwards.
Barbituates, Hypnotics, and Tranquilizers: 43% used these drugs at least once per month before Knowledge, 6% afterwards. 10.5% used them more than eight times per month before Knowledge, 1% afterwards.
Opiates: Before Knowledge, 21% used opiates once per month, or more often. The figure was reduced to 3% after Knowledge. Alcohol: Out of 450 respondents, 18.5% did not drink alcohol at all before Knowledge; the figure rose to 54% after Knowledge. Of the 16.5% who drank alcohol at least 20 times per month before Knowledge, 3% continued to do so afterwards.
Respondents were asked: "Before you received Knowledge, to what extent did drugs and drug use influence your life?" Their response: "Very much"34%; "Quite a lot"-23%; "Somewhat"-20%; "Not much"-17%; "None"-6%. They were then asked: "To what extent has receiving Knowledge altered the
70 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
role of drugs and drug use in your life?" Among those who had responded "Very much" to the previous question, the responses were: "Completely changed it"-72%; "Changed it significantly"-17%; "Changed it somewhat"-7%; "No change"-4%. Among those who had responded "Quite a lot" to the previous question, the responses were: "Completely changed it"-61%; "Changed it significantly"-30%; "Changed it somewhat"-7%; "No change"-2%.
Thus 90% of those who said that drugs had, at one time, significantly influenced their lives, replied that the Knowledge had completely or significantly altered that influence. This figure is impressive considering that 76% of the respondents had been meditating on the Knowledge less than a year, and none for more than 22 months.
The preliminary study clearly demonstrates the impact of this meditation on the use of drugs and alcohol. Regardless of age, sex, or personal history, drug abusers can be profoundly changed by a comprehensive drug rehabilitation program, the final step of which is direct meditation upon the source of inner peace.
Meditation on the spiritual center of life can have a profound effect on the practice of medicine. With a thorough knowledge of body, mind, and soul, both doctor and patient are in a better position to understand and prevent illness.
The diseases of modern Western man are mainly caused by tension, fear, and anxiety, plus the toxic effects of pollutants, drugs, and poor diet. Medicine looks to biochemistry and physiology to understand and remedy these problems. However, it is impossible to cure our body if our mind remains full of negative thoughts, or if our whole being lacks inner harmony.
The external events of our time - wars, famines, racial unrest, political corruption, corporate greed are one with the unrest and impurity within us. Today we have the diseases of civilization: heart diseases, cancers, digestive disorders, diabetes, drug addiction, mental disorders, venereal disease. For "disease" arises from some abuse of natural law, and the ultimate natural law is harmony.
Fifty to seventy percent of people who come to doctors are ravaged by feelings, thoughts, and actions that are out of control. To find peace, the housewife takes tranquilizers or sleeping pills, the worker drinks his beer at lunch, the executive downs his martinis.
71
72 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
Others saturate themselves with food, drugs, compulsive sex. But they don't find peace; they find frustration and turmoil, and the disorders those things cause: digestive disorder, degenerative diseases, mental illness, high blood pressure, heart disease.
Medical science is beginning to recognize the power of mind over matter. Experience with advanced yogis, studies of biofeedback, and conditioning in man and animals, have shown that supposedly involuntary processes like heart rate or blood pressure can be consciously controlled. To recognize the power of the mind to cause all manner of temporary disharmony - from changes in cellular growth (cancer), to changes in energy metabolism (diabetes, depression), to constrictions of organs (heart attacks) - is to realize the possibility of cure. But the power of the soul is necessary to bring the mind back to harmony. Since the soul is always in a state of perfection, a conscious experience of it will bring perfection. Then the body can heal.
Without Knowledge of the soul, a doctor may be powerless. He may offer tranquilizers or other medications, but these don't always reach the source. Physicians generally approach their patients with physical diagnosis, constant tests, X-rays, blood studies and medications. This course is misleading but most doctors are suffering from inner misery similar to their patients'. The rate of narcotics addiction among doctors is estimated somewhere between one in 40 and one in 400 - about 25 to 75 times the rate in the general population. Furthermore, suicide among physicians is estimated at three to seven times the rate for the general population, according to a study in Medical Insight magazine.
Today many doctors lack a deep human wisdom, compassion and insight. Medical training is geared for the manipulation of physical symptoms and the rearrangement of biochemistry. Today's doctor may
The Context 73
achieve some relief of the physical problem, but the underlying emotional, mental, and spiritual causes may remain.
The doctor is in a unique position. He is the "high priest" of science. He seems to preside over life and death; to him we bring our miseries and our confidences. Some might say that "people problems" are not medical, but religious. However, science is the religion of the day. Religion has power when people experience and love the glory of God; otherwise it is ritual and rules for morality. In contrast, the power of medical science today is experienced very directly, very practically by most people.
Doctors are unprepared for these responsibilities. They may have the capacity to understand emotional problems, but won't have the time to listen, or may be afraid of becoming emotionally drained. And without true Knowledge of self, without the constant experience of love, warmth, compassion, and insight, the physician is in a similar state to his early colleagues who tried to treat pneumonia without penicillin.
By receiving the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji, doctor and patient can help themselves and each other. Within the meditative experience, deep insight into the mind and heart of another becomes possible. The doctor can give the inner support and help that the patient is seeking, and can experience the joy of truly giving. Knowing the joy of service, he goes beyond the desire for profit, prestige, or intellectual stimulation.
The patient gives his trust when he is assured of love. He can come to know the source of his problem and tap his own resources to solve it. Neither patient nor physician is misled by the constantly changing array of symptoms. A balance between science and heart, investigation and compassion, meditation and prescription, can be reached when the nature of mind
74 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
and soul is known. With the recognition of the full human problem comes recognition of the solution.
It is through meditation upon the source of love that the physician can heal. While in the state of natural, flowing calm and compassion, he is free to fully experience the patient's problems without becoming drained.
Illness is merely temporary disharmony. We study viruses, bacteria, allergies, and feel we are seeing the problems. Yet all these physical things are being moved within a spiritual-mental energy field. All manner of therapies can be brought into use once the nature of the mind-spirit continuum is known. Scientists do recognize the existence of subtle energy systems of the mind and body as being more powerful than the gross systems. Yet without understanding the soul-energy, which is more subtle and powerful than the mind, they cannot effect changes at these subtle levels. The laws of spiritual awareness are simple and fundamental to human well-being. As they are recognized through inner revelation, the mind can be quieted and the body healed.
In a cloud chamber an invisible subatomic particle streaks through water vapor leaving a cloudy trail to show where it has been. The casual observer might dream up many theories to explain the little trail, but the scientist knows its true cause is the tiny particle long since gone. When a Perfect Master appears, he can leave a trail of followers millenniums long and continents wide. A sociologist will seek to explain such a rapidly growing spiritual teaching by surrounding circumstances: war, declining empires, technology, moral decay, catastrophe - but he'll be missing the point. At any time, the explosive spread of spiritual awareness is caused, only by the nature of the spiritual experience being given.
Thus sociological explanations of spiritual phenomena reflect only one part of what is going on, while the spiritual explanations show events in the context of a broader reality. Explanations of some aspects of Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge will illustrate this point.
Beyond Similarities
Social scientists have long wondered why the same symbols and motifs appear in myths, legends, and
75
76 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
scriptures from all over the world. "Cultural diffusion" is the answer of the anthropologist. He delves deep into history to construct an elaborate scheme of migrations and questionable trade routes to show how widely scattered civilizations must at one time or another have had enough contact to communicate symbols and stories to one another. Other observers suggest that perhaps universal life experiences give rise to similar symbols. After all, all people everywhere experience nature, the sun, movement of heavenly bodies, changing of seasons, growth and death of plants and animals, wind, the movement of water. In all societies there is birth, death, marriage, language, leadership, and family role-playing. And we all have human bodies: we breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and eliminate. Finally, psychologists have understood that humans share not only outer, but also inner experience. Minds and emotions work the same everywhere.
The "collective unconscious" theory of Carl G. Jung, the Swiss psychologist, comes close to explaining spiritual reality. He states that human psyches have similar tendencies because not only are they similarly structured, but they also merge into unity on the deepest level of the unconscious, as the roots of separate trees burrow down into the same earth. But still he does not take the final step to the complete spiritual explanation. For while bodies and minds have structural resemblance and psyches which are ultimately connected, it is further true that every human is a manifestation of the same energy vibration with the same consciousness. Once the consciousness in a person is connected to the universal energy, he experiences the same things-light, music, nectar, and vibration-no matter when, how, or where he lives on this planet, and he knows that others can experience the same. Perfect Masters have appeared on the earth throughout history to establish this connection in humans between consciousness and primordial energy. Because this is the most profound of human ex-
The Context 77
periences, it appears frequently in the myths, legends, and scriptures of every society. In other words, mystics and spiritual teachers talk and write about light because they do see a light within their own bodies "a thousand times brighter than the sun." Any social scientist having this experience would immediately abandon all his complex theories for this simple, immediate, and universal truth.
Secret Initiation
Sociologists explain secret initiation as a tool of mystic cults. Through secrecy, they say, an aura of mystery and power inspires curiosity, awe, and even fear in non-initiates which makes them easily controllable.
Though observers are not allowed at a Knowledge session and initiates vow never to repeat what is revealed to them, experience of the initiation shows the above explanations of secrecy to be irrelevant. Even if an observer were to film and tape-record a session, he would still not have any record of the experience being imparted. For the essence of a Knowledge session does not involve what is said, or even the demonstration of the four techniques of meditation. Rather, the initiation is a profound spiritual event in which an indefinable essence, or energy, is transferred between human beings. The initiate knows this, not only because a brilliant light has been revealed to him within his own body, but also because many irrevocable changes begin to take place in his life. He discovers new confidence and motivation, the crumbling of fears and limitations, a completely true sense of who he is, increased sensitivity to others, heightened sense perceptions, renewed physical vitality, more frequent experience of "luck" and "coincidence", and finally, more and more, that feeling of "The peace which passeth all understanding." Far from using secret initiation to promote exclusiveness, it is a constant plea of
78 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
Guru Maharaj Ji and his followers that people should come test his Knowledge, free-of-charge.
We must recognize that secrecy of initiation prevents adulteration of the teaching. Sociologists may think that secrecy helps to maintain a politically useful dogma, but publication of the techniques in a Knowledge session would only lead true seekers into confusion. They might delay receiving Knowledge, thinking that merely by knowing the techniques or commandments they will have received the essence. But the essence of the experience - the grace of Satguru - cannot be written, explained, or captured on film. Loss of this essence of the teaching of Perfect Masters has always left an empty, brittle religious structure, committed to words and rituals, subject to outside manipulations, and rendered inflexible through social and historical change. Only when the real energy and grace of Knowledge is personally transmitted do devotees feel the pure spiritual experience which guides them to truth.
Effectiveness of the Meditation
Sociologists focus on the social circumstances surrounding the practise of meditation. They theorize that the new seeker is surrounded by people telling him what he is to experience through meditation, inundating his mind with expectations. Not wanting to admit to himself or to others that he cannot be spiritual, he convinces himself that he feels what has been described. This delusion is reinforced by praise from others, until it becomes a spiritual version of "the Emperor's new clothes."
But the main thing told to seekers of Knowledge is that the experience cannot be described, that there is no way to begin to communicate what will happen through meditation. In fact, preconceived expectation of any of the divine experiences may prevent their
The Context 79
fullest realization. For in meditation only when the mind is stilled can we become consciously aware of unity. Reality beyond the mind is totally new; its perception is unpredictable and spontaneous. If the attention of the meditator is preoccupied with hopes or expectations of what he will experience, his mind is not calm enough to experience the meditation.
Spiritual Discourse
Devotees are encouraged to listen to and to give spiritual discourses, or "satsang." Sociologists see this as an attempt to build up enthusiasm and reinforce beliefs. Students of "collective behavior" observe that gatherings of any enthusiasts tend to break down inhibitions and rekindle interest in the activity. Their theory of "positive reinforcement" says that when a person is accepted and praised by others, he is more likely to continue the accepted actions.
But while "positive reinforcement" may play some role in the effectiveness of satsang - certainly experience of the Knowledge is more likely to be understood by devotees than by non-initiates - it remains a very limited explanation. Just as the essence of Knowledge is not the meditation techniques, the essence of satsang is not the spoken word. The point of satsang is that the same energy or vibration moves both speaker and listener. The devotee knows satsang will often tell him something he has heard over and over; he attends in order to feel and share the energy. Even falling asleep during satsang or hearing it in another language is effective, for one is still exposed to the experience of the vibration.
Serving the Perfect Master
Devotees are urged to do service for Guru Maharaj Ji. According to sociologists, service could have
80 Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
several functions. It can give direction and purpose in life to the disoriented. It can help the more well-adjusted person become more committed to his cause. Finally, sociologists point out that organizations of volunteers cannot possibly maintain and finance themselves, let alone spread their message without the dedicated aid of many members. They suggest that the real reason for service is not to help the member, but to benefit the organization and whoever runs it.
But after beginning to serve Guru Maharaj Ji, the devotees experience service differently. They are not serving an organization or just one person; through dedicated action they help all humanity. In the speech which launched the Divine United Organization, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "And I hope that you understand me perfectly. It's very seldom you get the chance to do this type of service, beautiful service, not for one man, not for two, not for America, not for England, not for India, but for the whole world, for the whole world."
And in doing service the individual experiences direct benefits. It allows the devotee to keep his mind in meditation much more easily: one comes to experience more and more the grace of Guru Maharaj Ji. And with the mind at rest in meditation, he finds that once back in active service, he can cease to identify himself with what he does. Students can function as businessmen, factory workers as artists - just as we all become poets when we are in love. As one becomes an instrument of selfless action, the full force of the energy of creation flows through one until one is able to see the divine hand at work everywhere.
These parallels between sociological and spiritual explanations of the Knowledge could be multiplied many times. But as our sociologist listens a little closer to the satsang he is receiving, he will begin to feel it in his heart. And at that point, the sociologist becomes a devotee.