Maharaji: the Sculptor, Amaroo 20011

Maharaji: the Sculptor, Amaroo 2001

Have you read your invitation, it says, come as you are, come as you are, no one else just you. Have you read the invitation? Your honor. This is in your honor. This is in your honor and what is it about? It is about being fulfilled. It is about feeling that joy in your life.

Elderly Japanese:I wanted to talk to you in person, in English. My dream became true. Thank you for this precious opportunity. I love you, Maharaji. Somebody speaking from their heart to your heart, to tell you about the possibility of life. It's your turn to be here. Your time to be here. I'm happy here, just to be here with you. You could be happier there. (laughter, woman runs to front) Of course I have to ask you, are you happier now? Yes. This is why I say, don't throw away the thirst. That's your invitation. That's your path. That's your ticket. And you're lovely too.

All in the name of fun. Let it come. Let it dwell. Let it come forth. Let it manifest. Let this life manifest. Accept the invitation. Please accept the invitation.

So, a beautiful opportunity to be in Amaroo. And a beautiful opportunity to be reminded once again of the most important thing in our life.

There's a beautiful song. And it talks about how there is butter in the milk. And when you need to butter your toast, you don't just dip it in milk. Would you? There's butter in there. Go ahead. No. You need to extract. Extract. It's there. It's there. But you need to extract it. Capture it. The whole process. So, we too get to extract this joy, this beauty, this kindness, this passion from the milk of life. There it is. It's all liquid. And we're looking for something. That's so beautiful. I find that incredibly beautiful. That there it is. There we are. And we're looking. And we're all looking. Don't you find that fascinating? I do. We're looking. And what are we looking for? Oh, we have no idea. No idea. We hear all the names and it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. I think I'm looking for that. Looking. Looking. Searching. Looking. Trying to find. Looking. Every day. Every day. Looking. The beauty is looking for beauty. And looking around. Oh, that's beautiful. Oh, that's nice. The joy is looking for joy. Why is he laughing? What's funny? Somebody starts, you know, you're sitting in an airplane, you're sitting in a bus terminal, you're sitting in an airport. And somebody starts laughing. Laughter looking for laughter. Happiness looking for happiness. Joy looking for joy. Love looking for love. Kindness looking for kindness. Simplicity looking for simplicity.

This is a whole another song I was listening to. And the words are not exactly in Hindi, so it wasn't very easy to grasp everything. But one ending line was good. I managed to catch that. Like a drop of water in water. Did you get it? Like a drop of water in water. Gone. Next. Become one. That's it. Like a drop of water in water. That's what we're looking for. This drop of water is looking for that bucket of water to go mix in it. To go join in it. That, there it will be content. It's like that. You take a drop of water and put it on a rock. It's not happy. It'll evaporate. It'll evaporate. It mixes with dust. It'll evaporate. It'll be gone. It doesn't like it. And it mixes with water. Okay. Here I am. I'm in my element. Are you in your element? What is that element? The element in which there is a recognition of each breath. That there is a recognition of the gift that has been endowed upon you. Freedom. Okay. Reflect on freedom. Freedom is to get away from something. Something that is holding you back. Right? Freedom. I want freedom from this. I want freedom from that. I want freedom from this. How about if you were to redefine that freedom? A drop of water merges with water. What if that's freedom?

Not all your life trying to get away. Because how many things are you going to run from? How many things? If you're trying to be in the game of getting away, I'm afraid you may not succeed. Because even if simply all you did was to make a simple little destination for yourself which says, I want to get away from my fears. It's not a big tall order. You will find that as you start unlocking fears, you will find more fears. Fears you didn't even know you had. And most of those people end up going, Haiyaiya! Oh my God! Where did these come from? Where was this? And you know, this is the irony of it. It's easy to get away from other people. It is hard to get away from yourself. So, enough running. And you don't have to run.

Let this drop merge with that beautiful water. Let my happiness find the ocean of happiness and merge with it. Let my happiness merge with the ocean of happiness and merge with it because then I will be happy like I have never imagined. It has found it. It has found it. Let my love find the infinite sky of love and merge with it. Then I can be in love like I have never imagined. That I can't ever imagine. Let my thirst find the perpetual well of thirst. This I know a lot of people won't understand. Thirst. Find the well of thirst and yes, not only find, merge with it. Let it dive in there. So I can be perpetually thirsty. Very odd formula for a lot of people. Talk about quenching. What are you talking about thirst? No, I am talking about thirst. That's so special. Feel that thirst and let it shape you. Let it mold you. Let it fold you and let it unfold you.

Not long ago I was having a conversation with some people. Very interesting. They were fascinated by this. Really. And in a way their level of like complete amazement to what I was saying was, they couldn't believe it. Why be amazed? Is it not obvious? People want to know what is the plan of things. Take a guess. Let's look at some simple facts. One, you have been given inside of you a thirst for joy. A thirst for happiness. You have been given inside of you a thirst for that tranquility, that serenity. A thirst to be content. And you know what this thirst is? This is your invitation card to the party. So my first question is, have you read your invitation card yet? Because everybody is busy going, what shall I wear? What shall I wear? What shall I wear? Have you read your invitation? It says, come as you are. Come as you are. No one else. Just you. And people are, what shall I bring? What shall I bring? What shall I buy? I mean I got to take something. Have you read the invitation? This is in your honor. What are you going to bring? Your own present for yourself? This is in your honor. And what is it about? It is about being fulfilled. It is about feeling that joy in your life. It is about being in that beautiful ocean of tranquility. It is about feeling this life. It is about being filled with gratitude. Gratitude. Not with jealousy and fear and anger, but be filled with gratitude. Not to be filled with ignorance, but to be filled with knowledge. Not to be filled with ideas, but to be filled with what you know to be true. To be filled. Not a taste. Not a teaser. Not a sampling. But to be filled.

This is why I say, don't throw away the thirst. That's your invitation. That's your pass. That's your ticket. If you didn't have that, serenity would mean nothing. If you didn't have that, joy would mean nothing. Read your invitation. Again and again and again and feel honored. Feel honored that you have been invited. You are in-crowd. You are in. Not out. Not some pathetic little existence bobbing up and down somewhere going, I wish I were alive. But you are. What a great honor to have received this invitation. And how does the invitation come? An invitation that sparks itself again and again and again in your life. Go. Go. Go. And calls you and calls you and calls you and calls you and calls you and calls you. Every day, every moment, this breath comes and it fills you. And here comes that call. The call of silence. The call of that beauty attracting you. Attracting you. Everything on the outside. Attracting you. Attracting you. Attracting you. Reminding you. Reminding you. Reminding you. Reminding you. This is what happens.

For those who don't know, a sunset is a sunset. And those who do, they look at the sunset and they close their eyes. And they take that breath and they allow themselves to be filled with gratitude. They look at the stars and they say, beautiful. And then they close their eyes because they know they are a part of that incredible heaven above. As they are a part of this incredible earth. As they are a part of that sky. As they are a part of all that is around them that is beautiful. And it is beautiful not in their own, but it is beautiful because the beauty inside here is calling out to be one with it. To be one with that beautiful. And those who know, know. They understand. They recognize.

You know, a million years will only come as a moment. So if you can capture that moment and feel what it is like to be alive. Then you have lived for a million years. For a billion years. Because you have captured the essence of life in a moment. So you know, it is not a question of speculation. Here is a mosquito. It is not a question of speculation. It is now. And now is a wonderful thing because now doesn't carry with it all the burdens of yesterday. All the guilt of yesterday. And it doesn't carry with it the fears of tomorrow. And it doesn't carry with it any successes and any failures. And it is perfect.

This morning umm I just want to talk to you a little bit I know its a little uncomfortable with the sun and all but it looks like you have got your hats and you are dressed for the occasion.

The real thing that I was thinking about is how simple it is when you use the analogy of a sculptor. And that there is this piece of rock. And it has somewhere, somehow, embedded in it a shape. And that sculptor comes along and takes away all the bits that are not needed. That are masking that shape. And when those little bits, those little pieces are taken away, what emerges is a beautiful, incredible shape. A rock tends to be hard and yet that shape could be very soft. That shape could be very beautiful. And I always parallel that to my life. That it isn't a question of trying to create so much. But it is to take away all the little unwanted pieces. All those unwanted bits, all those things that I don't need anymore. All those things that are really hampering the existence of that which needs to be. And that, to just take that in, just to try to understand that in my life, in your life, it isn't a question of fighting. You can't have that. It isn't a question of winning and losing. It really is a question of allowing that beautiful shape to emerge. That beautiful shape of tranquility, of serenity, of this breath. This is what I've been given. This is what I have.

People ask this question. Why is it that something good happens to one person and something bad happens to another person? And they're still going around and circling trying to figure that out. Nobody takes into account that that which happened that was bad to this person was because of other human beings. They did it. They fixed his goose good. But it's too close for comfort to have to blame each other. So let's find somebody else we can blame. Let's come up with a theory of karma. Bad karma. Nice explanation! Yeah, must have done something bad in his lifetime, now he's suffering. Or you can come up with another theory. That's good, that's good. He suffers now, he'll go to heaven. He'll go to heaven. (laughs) And so we come up with explanations and this is what we're doing. Explaining, explaining, explaining, explaining, explaining, explaining, explaining.

So what it is, is that you have gotten a rock and now you're putting things on top of that rock. And saying, well I'll fix it, I'll make it look beautiful. So let me find this little plant and I'll put that onto and let me find that flower and I'll put that onto. And you know what happens? You know what happens is a few days later, the flowers die. All the plants die. And guess what? It's back to a rock. It's back to a rock! Oh let me paint this rock. Few days later, the paint strips off. It's back to a rock. Let me put this rock in water, it'll look beautiful. Put it in water. Few days later, it's dry. It's back to a rock. Rock, rock, rock, rock. Because the rock has never been transformed. And that's what was needed. It is being decorated. It is being altered on the outside and inside it's still a rock, it's still a rock, it's still a rock, it's still a rock, still a rock, still a rock, still a rock, still a rock. And what do I say to people? It's not the little flower you need and it's not the little vine you need and it's not the paint you need in your life. You need a chisel and a hammer. Let's go. Let's take the extra bits away. And then you will no longer need, no longer will you need the little vines. The little flowers, the paint to try to make this rock look beautiful. Because take away the unwanted bits and it would have emerged into something that will stay beautiful without ever having to touch it.

That's what I say to people. Don't give up hope for this life, for this joy. You can't. How can you? How can you give up the thirst? Remember what I said earlier, the invitation card. It's already there, it's printed, it's got your name on it. Your name. Not your name, the Christian name that you have been given. It's got your name. Another one. And look at that. Respond to that. Hope is a gift that we have been given. It is hope that makes everything dance. Hope. Hope is in a little seed, an innate seed, waiting to grow. Hope. Hope. You are a human being. And you have been given that gift of hope. So you throw away the key and that's it. That's it. All of us in our lives need that hope. It's a candle that burns. It's the sun. The sun is setting, it's beautiful. Beautiful golden light. And if it wasn't for the hope that it'll come again tomorrow, goodbye to the sun this evening would be a very hard thing to say. Would it not? So it'll come tomorrow. And I hope I'm there to see. And I hope you are there to see.

And you know, I'm sure those people who are sitting in the audience today, "Oh my God, the sun is so hot." I mean, look at this. Cloudless day. We had one day, a few days before, and it was just nice overcast. It was perfect. Here it is, cloudless. And now it's beautiful. So hope. It allows us so many luxuries. It allows us to move on. And hope that this heart will continue to seek that joy. That that thirst will be there. The hope that I will not misplace my invitation. The hope that I will continue to make the effort that is needed to be in this company of joy. In the company where what is spoken about touches my heart. I like that. I like that. When something touches my heart, it's special. Not too many touch it. Not too many things in this world touch my heart. So hope is nothing to throw away. It's not a good idea. There's a lot of other things you can get rid of. You got to lighten the load, get rid of a lot of other things.

Turn within. Says the invitation. Turn within. Not living in fear. Not fear. Let me make that clear to you. You do not have to live in fear. You do not have to live in fear of tomorrow. You do not have to live in fear period. Because that fear is there. Because of the unknown. Know that one thing. Know that one thing. That makes all the unknown insignificant. And you will no longer live in fear.

What's going to happen tomorrow? Well let me explain to you. Good things will happen tomorrow and bad things will happen tomorrow. Certain. And of the bad things, there will be many bad things. Different scales. Micro scales perhaps. But some will be worse than the others. And then some will be even worse than the others. And it could be as bad as you bumping your head on the shower side. Or it could be that, you know, you have realized you didn't change your blade while you were shaving. So you cut yourself. There will be those things and maybe different scales of the bad things. But you know what? You should concentrate not on that. But concentrate on that which is good. And of all the things that will be happening that are good. There will be one thing that will be happening that is incredibly good. And that is, that this gift of breath will come. And if it does come, then that will be so incredibly good that it will be better than all those bad things put together. Don't wonder. Experience. Experience. Experience the joy. Experience this life. Experience this breath.

Don't sit there and go, what's going to happen to me after I die? Have patience. You'll find out. I say, you want to know what's going to happen tomorrow? Have patience. You'll find out. People are like, they want to know the future. No problem, you get to know the future. You want to know the future? You get to know the future. All you need is a little patience. But get to know. This journey, get to know. This time, get to know. This breath. For this union. This union. This union will not come again. Your memories, your guilt, you, this is you. This is unique. This isn't happening again. The way you become happy is completely unique to you. Nobody else has ever become happy that way and no one else will ever become happy that way again. It's your unique signature. Here, we're not even talking about twins and quadruplets and this. Forget it! People say, no two people are alike. They don't know why they're not alike. Here's the reason why they're not alike. Because the way they will experience happiness is a unique signature. It's a unique signature to them. No one else will have it. Even if they have a twin and another twin and another twin and another twin. No. What makes you smile? Really, smile is your unique signature. And another person may have exactly the same lips as you. But what makes them smile that particular way will not be duplicated.

So experience that happiness. Let it come. Let it well. Let it come forth. Let it manifest. Let this life manifest. Accept the invitation. Please accept the invitation. In this life, we make things so mysterious. But it isn't mysterious. It's simple. You look at your thirst. If the thirst is there, you need this. You need this life. You need to capture that moment. You need to be alive. And if it's not, you're not going to get anything. You'll be alive. You'll be going around. You'll be able to speak. You'll be able to see. You'll be able to do. But you won't have that fervor of being alive. Because that requires a fervor. Keep that in mind for every step that you take in your life. Every step that you take in your life. Evaluate which direction that step is. Is it towards that inner journey? Is it towards the heart? Or is it just merely another step that you're taking because somebody else has taken one too? Yesterday, the electricity went out. Immediately, I get on the phone. Electricity is out. Yeah, we're working on it. Few minutes later, the electricity comes back on again. And it's like, it somehow becomes. We take so much for granted. It somehow becomes. That's my God-given right. I need that electricity. It's my God-given right that I have that water coming out of that faucet. It's my God-given right that in this moment I'm alive.

I don't have to think about it. How can that be? When the preciousness of each breath does not diminish by its quantity. You have to understand that. Just because you have been breathing for the last 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, however old you are, does not mean that the preciousness of breath should just diminish. That it's any less in its value. That it's any less in its importance. Somebody said to me, you know, you travel. You should see all these places. You should go and see all these places. And I say to this person, I go to these places and I see something more fascinating than you can possibly imagine. People look at the pyramids. They go to Egypt and they look at the pyramids but they don't look at the people. And do you realize it is the people who made the pyramids? Look at the people. Be interested in people. Who they are. What they are. Because they're like you. They're so like you. And they, each one of us living on this earth in our lives, in our time, wanting from the depths of our heart to be happy. From the depths of our heart to be content, pyramids will come and go. This is what I call stupidity. What a great accomplishment. They point at the pyramids and say, what a great accomplishment. And nobody looks at the people. Look, what a great accomplishment. That is a great accomplishment. People look at the Taj Mahal. How? Look at that. Incredible. Look at the people. Incredible. Incredible. Amazing.

Shah Jahan was able to make one Taj Mahal. He wanted another one, but that didn't come through. One Taj Mahal. One. And that creator has created so many Taj Mahals. But, it's not accounted for. It's not accounted for. Don't have the eye? Don't have the eye. People say, look at this painting. Oh, it's incredible. You know, it cost 14 million dollars. Look at this painting. I say, look at this painting. It's priceless. People say, look at this diamond. It's incredible. It's huge. It's expensive. And I say, yeah, look at this diamond. Look at this diamond. It's also incredible. It's priceless. It shines. It's real. Who reminds you of that? Who brings that out? People go to universities, they sit down, and the professor comes out. Now we're going to discuss the great works. And let's read. Look, look what has been said. Amazing. Incredible, isn't it? And I say, look here. Look here. Look here at these people. And in the hearts of these people there's amazing work. Hidden. Waiting to be discovered. Not only by others, but by themselves. Discover it.