Maharaji: Enjoying Knowledge, Alexandria 2000-07-17 E13R

Words of Peace: Maharaji, Enjoying Knowledge E13R
Maharaji in Alexandria, Virginia

Well, I'm glad that this event could happen. Get an extra bonus. Well, what is there to say? Well, actually there is something wonderful to say because I have some good news. Wonderful news. And yet, that news that I'm talking about is always wonderful. And the news is you're alive. You exist. And not only that, not only that, but you must understand that clarity resides within you. That hope resides within you. It doesn't come from somewhere else. It resides within you. That truth resides within you. That love resides within you. It doesn't have to come from anywhere. And that is the most profound and the best news anybody could ever tell me in my life. That hope, hope resides within me. Do I remember this? Do I know this? Well, when everything is sort of equal, meaning I'm not in the big disaster mode and disaster isn't got me checkmated.

Yesterday, I was stepping out of the elevator. Actually, I was in the elevator. The doors opened and I was going to get out of the elevator. And there was this couple. Well, I know if it was really a couple, but it was a man and a woman. And they both had drinks in their hands. And the door opened and they just walked right in. And then they realized we were trying to get out. And they became very apologetic. Oh, I was really sorry, really sorry. Didn't realize that. Very sorry. And, of course, after we got away from the elevator, I said to the person who was with me, I said, you should have pointed to that glass and said, you have a perfectly legitimate reason to have not realized that somebody may be stepping out. You got your drink in your hand. What else do you need? But when a person is sober, and I'll talk about what's in that glass. And that glass didn't accidentally happen. Believe me. That glass didn't just find itself in the person's hand. Oh, no.

But when a person is sober and they're having a conversation about hope, and it's like, yeah, hope is wonderful. And, yeah, hope is within me. But, unfortunately, intoxicated, intoxicated with this brew of ignorance, intoxicated with this brew of forgetfulness. When I need to know that the most, that the hope resides within me, I will forget. And once forgotten, once forgotten, I will not know where it is, how to look for it, and I will forget the most important that it is within me. The hope that I'm looking for is within me. That the love that I am looking for is within me. That the joy that I am looking for in my life is within me. There is no question about it. Ask me. I bring hope to people. And I will tell you where it is. It is not in my pocket. When I come and I speak from my heart to people, all I'm trying to do is hold up a mirror. That's all that needs to be done is to hold up a mirror. And, my God, it has to be held at least every day, if not every hour, if not every minute, if not every second, because it has to be held up, and I have to be able to look in there, and I have to be able to see, wow, that you, as a living being on the face of this earth, and this one I always find funny, bean or bean? Because I have definitely seen human beings, and I have definitely seen human beans. Both. And even the human bean is really a human bean who has forgotten his or her nature. Do you know what happens to an animal who has forgotten its nature? Confusion. It pretends to be something it's not. It wants to become something it's not. And most importantly, you can look at it and you can humor, but it's not good for that animal to forget its nature. As it isn't good for me, for you, to forget our nature.

On this journey, you were set out. You were set out on this journey to enjoy, to feel, to admire, to learn, to grow, to be fulfilled, and the provisions for this journey were packed very well. You didn't do the packing. Somebody else did the packing. But packed well. It is understood that in this journey, you will need hope, and it was provided. And on this journey, you will need kindness, and it was provided. And on this journey, you will need joy, and it was provided. And in this journey, you will need tranquility, and it was provided. And in this journey, you will need understanding, and it was provided. It was all packed. So you, the traveler, one, one, do you know what all has been packed for you? Two, have you opened it? Amazing, huh? Sounds simple? My goodness, I even know what I'm carrying. I even know what I got packed. That somebody, through their kindness, through their generosity, has packed for me. So that I will be well served, well served on my journey. And all I need to do is look and open and use, use those things that have been packed for me. Because it is that once I begin to accept, once I begin to understand the care that has been taken so that my journey will be enjoyable, is amazing. My goodness, how dare I sit there and fret over what I have when I haven't even opened and accepted and used what I do have. Because my imagination will never prepare me for the tools that so wisely have been placed for me that I will need. Not may. No. No, no, no, no, no. There is no excess baggage here. Everything that has been packed you will need, not may need. Sometimes it is the issue of looking at it as it is, not hypothetically.

In Montreal, I was fiddling with the channels and that's because probably I had given an analogy about how this is what people do, sit there in front of the TV and change, change, change, change, change, change. So somehow that got me in that mood and I'm sitting in front of the TV, change, change, change, change, change, change. And I see this one story on a girl, little girl, born with cerebral palsy. And, you know, the first strike is, oh my God, that's so sad. I went through that. That's so sad. And then I just watched the story unfold. And this girl grew up and at that point I guess she was 10, 11 years old in this documentary. And she couldn't talk with words and she talked with her eyes. And she smiled. And then, you know, somebody got her a computer with one of these vision reading things where it reads your eye and she had pre-made statements in the computer and she would just look at it. And one of them was, I am happy. And she'd go to it. And she'd look at her parents and this computer voice would say, I am happy. It was packed. It was packed for her. Her parents tried to provide her with whatever they could provide her but guess where that happiness was. They couldn't buy her that. And before she could ever express it through the computer, many a times she had been happy. Many a times. Because it was packed with her. And with her in mind, she will need this on her journey. Now how many of us see the fact that the happiness that we will need in our life is packed within us, is already placed within us as a miracle?

I always say, what good is it to give a bunch of monkeys a typewriter? Now what's wrong with that? Why not give monkeys a typewriter? One, they have any use for it. Two, they need it. Three, they want it. And four, even if they got it, they wouldn't know what to do with it. Have we forgotten our nature so much that joy, tranquility, satisfaction, contentment is as alien to us as a typewriter would be to the monkeys? Something to think about. Because it is extremely, extremely important to be content. And it is possible. That's the good news. To be in that place, good news, the heart. Who says a human being is not born with a manual? Not only is it not that you are not born with a manual, you are indeed born with a manual, but an automatic manual. You even have to read it.

Now there are people who write to me and say, I know the difference between my mind and my heart. And the question is, can you please explain to me the difference between my mind and my heart? If I'm walking down the street and I see a really nice looking car and I want to drive it, people know. Is that my mind or my heart? What is this heart? Is it a director? Is it a commander? Or is it a feeler? Could a device be made that actually got you through this life on feeling?

Then I've got another one for you. So I'm in Montreal looking down at the street and I see a blind person with a stick walking alone. And I was like, my goodness, look at that. And he had his stick and he would scan with his stick. And he was just clipping right along. Just clipping right along. And he got to a fire hydrant and he felt and he went around it and he just started scanning again. And then he came to the curb and he felt that difference. And he stopped and he scanned and he felt the curb and he felt the roundness of the curb and he made a 90 degree turn and he kept scanning. And he went to the other side and felt the other curb, stepped over it and started scanning. I mean, it was amazing. And then there was construction going on and they had this one scaffolding, actually a scaffolding on both sides. And so it was like a narrow tunnel. And he just scanned, scanned, scanned, scanned, scanned. And when I came out the other side and I'm like, wow. This guy is good. And then there were tourists, you know, standing there. So, yes. In fact, in this life, the greatest way to map, the greatest way to get across would be by feel. Because the variables are almost infinite.

No two days are alike. A roadmap could be or couldn't be created. No book could be written. Because the left become right, right become left, left become right again, left become left again, right become right again, right becomes left again. There is no north and there is no south and there is no east and there is no west. And if there isn't, how could you have a map? It's a living being who needs to go across this journey. And it will happen by feel. Of course. Makes complete sense to me anyways.

It will happen by feel. A while ago, there was this one accident that happened in South America where, you know, there are these pilots, they're sitting in a pretty modern jet, pretty modern equipment, giving them all this display and giving them a picture in their mind of where they think they are. But they weren't. And as much as they thought, I'm sure that when they struck the cumulonimbus granite, terra firma, they felt it. They felt it. Must have been horrible in that moment. Oh my God. Why? Because there is a reality and you better not try to fool it. even try. There is a reality. you try to figure a way around that reality because there isn't one. There isn't one. There never was and there never will be. And so, is this reality mean and ugly? Is this reality horrible? On the contrary, on the contrary, it is sweet. It is beautiful. It's real. It says you weren't, you are, you won't be. But it doesn't say you weren't and you won't be because it does say you are. you realize? you realize the fact that reality says you are is as real as you won't be and you weren't but it does say you are. And my God, I am. I exist.

And that means everything to me. And that you can be happy, that means everything to me, that you can be satisfied, that means everything to me, that you can be in that joy that means everything to me. To accept, to know that in my luggage is wonderful stuff, incredible stuff, and all I need to do is unzip it. Ah, that noise of unzipping joy. No hope, problems, problems, and the mind begins to eat. Offers you no advice, offers you no word of hope, but offers you judgment. You shouldn't have done that, you stupid idiot. This brew that I hold between my fingers is no elixir. It anesthetizes me from my reality. It doesn't remind me that I am alive. It reminds me how many problems I have. It doesn't remind me that I exist. It reminds me of my perils. It reminds me of my failures. Put it down. Put it down. Turn inside and there is another elixir that will remind you of you. Remind you that you exist, not not exist, that you exist.

And I wonder, do I need a reminder? Do I need a reminder in good times? You bet. Because when a person forgets their nature, this is a no brainer, right? Everything else becomes important. You know, I have woken up on two very similar days and oh, I got to do this, and I got to do that, and oh, I got to do this, and oh my God, I got to do this, oh God. And still not having done any of those things, I've gotten up another day and it could be the next day and I know what the focus is. So, you want to be busy, huh? You want to have an active life? Then let me tell you about your life is hyperactive. Without any effort, a breath comes. And without any effort, a breath leaves relentless. You like to have a lot of appointments? Try making one with your breath. And see if you can keep it. You're an efficient person, right? You've got your organizers and your computers and your reminders and your alarm clocks and your da-da-da-da. You're an efficient person. Keep an appointment with your breath if you're that efficient. For a moment, remove yourself. Hover a little higher than this entire humanity on the face of this earth. See all the people going about their business, doing whatever they do.

What do you think after witnessing them for an hour, your opinion would be? What do you think is the most important thing that they should be doing? How would you define? How would you rate an order of importance? Which is the most important thing to a living human being? Their appointments, their responsibilities, or their life? I'm just pointing out the obvious. I'm not here chastising you for it. I'm not. I'm not. Last night, you know, I made a comment. I said, you know, these hotels are really trying to provide complete service because they also want you to experience a little bit of what hell is going to be like.

At daytime, you know, they try to provide you with everything. Yes, come, you know, and stay with us and we'll make sure everything is taken care of and you will experience the best and all of that. And then at night, you should also experience what hell is going to be like. So what they do to save a few bucks, turn off the water chillers. They leave the fans on but they turn off the water chillers and the temperature starts to escalate. Now you wonder, why am I getting hot? Hormones? No. It's the water chiller is being turned off for a few bucks. (laughter)

And hey, I mean, we're just talking a few degrees here. You know, maybe from a desired temperature of 72 degrees or 70 degrees. Maybe we're talking 80, 82 degrees. And that is intolerable. Sitting there going, "Oh my "God," you know, what can you do? You take the thermostat and throw it full cold. Doesn't help because it's part of the experience package. You paid for it. And of course, they want you to jump out the window. The reason why the window is open is because they want you to jump out the window because you're going to want to jump out the window because what they're going to do to you. But they want you to jump out the window either otherwise your experience wouldn't be complete. So there you are. You can't go out on the window, open the window. There's no balcony. It's hot. You can't sleep. And at that point, you start thinking very bad things about the personnel who run the institution. And even in that moment, forget, you're alive. This wouldn't be happening to you if you weren't. And even through all those problems, I'm not saying, you know, because automatically people conclude that means accept it. I'm not saying accept it.

That's not my point. But even in that moment of frustration, do not forget that there is a heart. Do not forget that there is a life. Do not forget that there is a breath. Under no circumstances can you forget what your true nature is. Thank you.