Guru Maharaj Ji (aka Prem Rawat) Birthday Party Satsang, 10th December 1980

Guru Maharaj Ji (aka Prem Rawat)Birthday Party Satsang, 10th December 1980

The Holy Jesters with Mahatma Gurucharanand wailing a bhajan, Endless Joy: Guru Maharaji is calling me, such a face, Oh my Guru Maharaj, Oh my Guru Maharaj, That every moment in my life, every moment in my life, I may always turn to you. I can leave the whole world, but I will never leave you. My body, mind and all the wealth, I would love to share. Very precious is your body. You are the only one who cares for how much I love you.

Bolie Shri Satgurdev Maharaj Ki Jai

So, you know, just, I feel it's a little chance for all of us to have ice cream and cake. (uproarious laughter) That's all folks. (laughter)

So, actually it's a chance for us to come together and just be able to enjoy something that's happening within inside. Because celebration or no celebration, an occasion or no occasion, a party or no party. You know, to me it's like, just a few moments ago, you know, Wadi was getting dressed and she was putting her lipstick on (laughter) and putting her makeup on (laughter) and everything. And Marolyn just said that "She's really, Wadi, you look really pretty." I said, "Yeah, because she is pretty." I said, "You know, if she wasn't pretty, she couldn't make herself look pretty." And sometimes it is very much like that for all of us too. That we go out and we try to create an environment that will probably bring us, or we hope that will bring us something.

But until there is something really inside to light that fire, nothing can manifest. If there is nothing inside to generate just that particular inspiration, no outwardly motive, no outwardly thing is going to hold it there. No outwardly thing will let itself express it. And no matter how hard we try to just bring ourselves about for a celebration, I mean, for a Satsang program, same thing. For Kansas City, the same thing. I personally had a very beautiful experience there. And it was really nice because it was a chance for all of us to come together and listen and try to understand something. Maybe even try to go deeper, because superficially listening to something isn't going to do us any good. It's like, since you want to play camera, you just pick up a camera and start shooting pictures with it. Because if your attitude is really to play the camera, then it doesn't make any difference whether the camera has film in it or not. But if your attitude, if your understanding is to really shoot something, then it's very important that there be film there. Then altogether another kind of thing takes place, altogether another kind of thing happens.

So I'm just trying to become extremely superficial and trying to plot out things, say, okay, this is the way it is and I'm happy, or try to pin a smile on ourselves and say, yeah, look, I'm smiling. But Guru Maharaj Ji is great when we open up, when we make that little effort to understand, when we make that little effort to recognize. Because sure, there's so many things going on in this world. There always have been and there always will be. Whatever our age is, you know, 20, 30, 40 years old or whatever our age is, I'm sure that the same age group of people have been saying pretty much the same kind of thing all along. This world's coming to an end, I mean, I think that's the oldest statement. The world's coming to an end, world's coming to an end, world's coming to an end. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the first statement made on the very first day that the world was created. The world's coming to an end, the world's coming to an end.

And I almost, I know, some of you may have read this book, it's called Something's Eating the Sun, [Someone is Eating the Sun : Sonneborn, Ruth A., Gurney, Eric] I know what the whole name of the book is. But it's the most stupidest book I've ever read in my whole life. And I think I was traveling in a car and there was nothing to read so I reached in the diaper bag and I pulled out this book, it's a children's book, you know, Something Is Eating the Sun, you know. The chicken says to the turtle and the turtle tells it to the elephant, the elephant tells it to the lion, the lion tells it to the rat, rat tells it to the, you know, whatever have you. It's just like, yeah, this is what's happening.

But truly, for all of us, an opportunity is given to us to recognize something that is more beautiful, that is more sincere and that's more true in this world. A chance is given for all of us to recognize that yes, something is really beautiful in this world instead of just a day we're all waiting for this world to end. Because it just may not happen in our lifetime. And if it doesn't happen in our lifetime, then here we are. And wasting our whole life on an extremely speculative basis. And we, therefore, very easily, and it is very easy to just lose that focus of this life, lose the focus that we are really here to understand, to enjoy. And you see that, okay, you know, when we came back from Kansas City, the big question was, well, is there going to be a party or not? Because the last time it was really nice.

And so it was like, okay, well, is it going to happen this year or not? And I didn't say anything until the very last of the moment. So it was like, it was really getting down to the wire.

And this time we had put one card ahead of ourselves. We had booked this place a long time ago. And then it was really coming down to the nitty-gritty because, you know, everybody had to get moving. This stage has already been built. You'll see a lot of this stage from now on. It's there to stay, I think, for a few years. And, of course, they had to make these preparations and, you know, who's going to do the food and what kind of food it's going to be. Is it going to be cake and ice cream? Because, you know, there was the whole idea, okay, let's just have cake and ice cream, and then for 25 cents they can have Kool-Aid or tea. And, I know, just the way it really involves. Okay, well, let's get them the marinated vegetables. Nobody has to make them. They all come in a can. I'm saying all this since you've already eaten it.

And, you know, just, okay. And then there was the whole question about, okay, what's going to happen? What kind of events are there going to be? Is there going to be a skit? And there was a big question in the Initiator Conference that's been going on for a week. Was there going to be a skit? Is there going to be a skit? And then for the last couple of days we've been having question and answer sessions. And there's a ridiculous question that I said is that if you guys just sat down in front of the premie and didn't do anything, everybody would just crack up. And if you started asking, you know, obviously if they started asking the questions, it would really make you crack up. But, somehow, in trying to even say, yes, okay, let's have this, there had to be a reason.

There had to be a purpose for all of this. If the reason has to be obviously very simple, the reason obviously has to be very deep, the reason obviously has to be very sincere, otherwise it doesn't make any difference. And everything that you see, and even just the simple thing of coming together, has to have that reason. And somehow, to me, that reason extends beyond just getting something together, but even in our life, because it is the same reason. Why do we need to live? Or why do we need to come to see Guru Maharaj? Or why do we need to have a birthday celebration for Guru Maharaj? Or why do we need to have a dinner at a birthday party? Or why do we need to have a party at all? And simply that reason is that devotion that has to be between every premie and Guru Maharaj. That understanding that has to be between every premie and Guru Maharaj.

And that somehow, every program, every festival, every little thing that happens has to evolve because of that love, because of that devotion. That somehow, it cannot be that, okay, we are going to walk into a hall, and we are going to have Christmas lights, and we are going to have balloons, and we are going to have a party. And then we will see if we can squeeze some experience out of it. But obviously it has to be the other way around. Where, okay, we are going to have a beautiful experience. You can't really touch that experience in any way.

But, all right, let's put some balloons in it. You know, let's put some Christmas lights in it. And let's do a little bit of this. And let's do a little bit of that. Get into that flow. Get into that understanding. Because then something starts to happen. Then an experience starts to manifest. And that's what we want, is an experience. Because of mundane routine. I mean, I see how five days a week, you know, every week there is going to be Popeye on, every single day. And somebody is going to watch that Popeye every single day. And then every single day people are going to wake up and watch Good Morning America or Today on NBC. Flip channels between the two. And then someday, I mean, just everything, the way everything is laid out, it's like a broken record. And that's the way it is. And we can conform to all that somehow. Then it will be all right.

And any little deterrent, any little, even the slightest little take-off from that road that we adapt to mean that maybe we are peculiar, maybe we are strange. And did I say that all that is completely irrelevant? When you look, well, okay, in this life, am I having something nice? Am I having an experience that's fulfilling? Am I having something that's going to convince me? That's going to bring me that happiness? That's going to bring me that love? Or not? Maybe it's just simply as simple as that. And that's where my effort comes in, that yes, if I want to have that experience, let me have it now. It doesn't make any difference. There is no quantity. Nobody has an empty and a full gate. The question is that experience now. And let me make that effort now for my experience. I want to wait.

That's what every religion tells you. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait till you die. Then you'll get it all. The thing is now. Let me have a little bit of that experience now. Let me make that effort now. Let me be clear now. Let me understand now. Because for every one of us, there is that necessity. For every one of us, there is that beautiful thing. We come here. What can it mean? It can only mean one thing. Either you're going to have a nice experience, or you're going to enjoy yourself, or tomorrow morning, you're going to wake up constipated. That's the only two things there are.

And if I have it in me to enjoy, if I see that, that yes, okay, here's a gift from Guru Maharaj, let me accept it. That Guru Maharaj gives me Knowledge and Guru Maharaj gives me so many more experiences, let me accept it. Let me take that experience to my heart. Every single one I've given to me by Guru Maharaj. Then it's going to mean something. Then it's going to have an effect. And yet if anyone of you is here to just enjoy a party, there is no party. The party is always going on. If you are waiting for a party to start, it'll never start. Because it's already started. And if you're waiting for a party to end, it'll never end. Because it can't. That eternal party continuously goes on. It's, where am I going to be a part? Where am I going to be? It doesn't make any difference how big a part, even if I'm going to be the smallest fraction of that. And somehow all of it has to be digested.

All of it has to be understood. What Guru Maharaj gives us is a practical experience in Knowledge, in satsang, in service, in meditation. And therefore our acceptance of that practical experience has also got to be practical. The experience that Guru Maharaj gives us is instantaneous of Knowledge, of satsang, of service, of meditation. So does our response to that experience have to be instantaneous. Our acceptance of that experience has to be instantaneous. If we expect Guru Maharaj to make an instantaneous response to us, then we have to make that instantaneous response to Guru Maharaj. Being a devotee brings us an experience of devotion. Yet believe me, that experience of devotion is going to be enjoyed by you. Not by Guru Maharaj. Because Guru Maharaj is always enjoying that devotion. You are the one who is going to benefit from that devotion that you are going to have.

Because you will be enjoying that devotion. You will be enjoying that love. You will be enjoying that peace. You will be enjoying it all. And somewhere, and somehow, I have to digest that. I have to understand that. My response, my gratitude, my feeling, my connection, and my devotion to my Guru Maharaj, I know has to be real. It cannot be hypothetical. Because living in any kind of hypotheses like that is just a dream. And when I live in a dream, then one day I'm going to wake up and I'm going to find that I'm just there for me to even have, for me to even enjoy. And yet, if I am open, if I am responsive to what Guru Maharaj wants me to do, just to open up, to have that devotion, then it's not going to be hypotheses. I'm not going to be living in a hypothetical world. It's going to be a real experience. Every minute, every moment of my life, a real thing is going to manifest for me. And that's the way it has to be.

Now and always. That's the way it has been. For maybe all of this is said, and maybe many of us get disheartened. Maybe for many of us it's too hard to understand, but there is nothing to understand in it. It's very simple. And there is no reason to be disheartened. It's made for all of us. For us to accept, for us to enjoy, for us to feel a part of. The thing that I talk about now is absolutely no different than it was centuries ago. The thing that I'm trying to convey is absolutely no different than what it's always been. And yet, always has been that response that has been wanted. That response that has been looked for by every single devotee to give to his Guru Maharaj Ji.

That response. Okay. Because we have to try to create our happiness. We have to imagine our happiness. We have to try to create something nice, something wonderful. It already is there. We just have to open up that door. And walk inside. And there is so much for us to enjoy. Literally, we won't know what to do with it. I know that my prayer somewhere has to be that let me have that connection. Let me sustain that connection.

So maybe the greatest problem in front of me comes and maybe it's like, oh my God. And maybe my faith and maybe my belief starts to shatter. But I know that if my belief and if my faith shatter, what's there going to be left of that connection? And if my connection breaks, then what's there going to be left of me? What am I then to expect? What am I then to desire? And what am I then to even feel? The thing that I really want to feel. And to even my greatest problem, to even my difficulty, I have to let go of it. And because I know that faith will pull me through. I mean somehow, and maybe it sounds peculiar, but we have to have faith in faith. Because we even lose that. We even lose that tiniest space in the faith that we need to have to go on. It's the principle.

It's the principle of nature. That one thing feeds another. My faith feeds my devotion. My devotion feeds my connection. And that connection ultimately feeds into my salvation. Into my love, my life, my experience. And for every of that, for every part of that, it all has to be true. For every inch of that has to be true. There cannot be any gap. There cannot be any hole. It's impeccable. Because it's ultimate. Its existence is with or without us. Because again, it's ultimate, it's infinite. And yet for us to enjoy that in this lifetime is also impeccable. It's also infinite. And it's also incredible. And given that opportunity, we have to accept. We have to take. So, you know, all I can say is thank you very much for coming here. I hope you've all enjoyed coming here. Enjoyed your meal. Especially the Jim Emerson. You'll be disheartened otherwise. And I just need it. There's two ways of it. I've really experienced it. Either this life can be a chain in a series of disappointments and ugliness. Or this life can be a series and series and series of joy and happiness, bliss and contentment. And I know that I've got to get good at it. And pick the right one. I've got to pick the bliss. I know that I've got to be my own salesman. And somehow I've got to convince myself that that's what I want. That bliss, happiness and contentment. Not everything else. Because both packages come standard. And I've got to pick and choose the right one.

So again, thank you very much for coming. And blessings to all of you.