Maharaji at the University of Salamanca, 30th June, 2003
Rawat's speeches were not written or prepared but they are certainly not unrehearsed. The speeches preceding his current one are the rehearsals and his speeches following evolve gradually using the same store of tales, premie gossip, clichés, life events, recent tv shows, stock phrases and buzzwords.
This was the third in a series of speeches 'Maharaji' gave at universities as one leg of the "Legitimacy Project," a secret plan to make Prem Rawat appear to be an internationally respected figure, a situation in which appearance was all that was required to make him an internationally respected figure … eventually … he hoped. It seems he was invited into the university, apparently by the vice-Rector. This is puzzling.
It was a short speech of 19 minutes. He was loud, spirited and upbeat in his delivery, louder than one imagines most speeches at universities are and devoid of any factual basis. No research is cited, no expert is quoted, no evidence is given. The speech is a series of assertions made by 'Maharaji.' He said the word 'peace' 34 times in his 19 minute speech. Firstly, he asserts that only "those who have studied the passion of the heart" (a meaningless phrase) can address 'peace.' He is referring to the personal, inner, inexpressible feeling that he claims to teach through 4 techniques of meditation though this gets no mention at Salamanca University. The speech is not about ending war or ameliorating violence in society and is not even a spiel to attract people into his cult with unrealistic promises of personal peace and bliss. This is a speech, given only to include into his resumè that he has spoken at Salamanca university as if he was an internationally respected figure. It is not worth
He says he has a "dream that all civilisations, that all people on the face of this earth will be in peace" and others disagree with him. He has never entered into any public discussion with anyone about peace and has nobody in his "Royal Court" in his Malibu Palace who dares to disgree with him. "I travel the world. I bring this message to people" He has travelled the world since 1973 speaking mainly to the same people over and over, premies as they called, as this is his source of income. He says the same things over and over.
The Oldest Dream: Maharaji at the University of Salamanca, 30th June, 2003
It's an honour to be here to talk about a very simple subject. Peace. Now there's a lot of ideas about peace. There's a lot of ideas about what should happen. What should happen? And I'm not really here to add new ideas but I'm here to present a very simple possibility. Because for me, something has to be complete. I believe in that. A bridge that is not complete cannot be used. It can look really pretty. But it cannot be used. A painting that is not complete may almost be there. Almost. But it's true expression will never come to bear. A symphony if it is not complete. It is not going to be able to express what the musician wanted to express. So to me I believe that things have to be complete but maybe that's because I also cook and when you are cooking a dish there-you may have people going "Is it ready? Is it ready?" and you have to say "No you have to wait." And maybe you are opening the lid and you are looking again and you're opening the lid and looking again but unless it is ready it will not taste like it is supposed to taste.
So then, this is a very simple question. What makes a human being complete? What makes a human being complete? There is of course, the thought, the formulas. If you have this, if you have this, if it's this way, if it's this way, then you are complete. Or there is a feeling and the feeling dictates that you are complete. This is this is a very important thing and I'm putting it in a very, very basic way. You wake up one day and I'm sure that all of you have felt this. You wake up one day and you feel tired. You look at the clock and the clock says 10:00 o'clock in the morning and you say "Well, you know, I have had long enough sleep. I shouldn't be tired." But that doesn't help. You say "You know I need to have a cup of coffee." So you go have a cup of coffee and you still feel tired and you go "I wonder" all day long you sit there and you go "I wonder why I'm feeling tired all day long. I wonder why I'm feeling tired all day long." Because here comes this one thing which has nothing to do with formulas. It is a feeling. It is a feeling and the formulas may say "No. You are satisfied. You have had enough sleep. There is no reason for you to be tired." But you cannot ignore your feeling. If you feel tired, you feel tired. And that's how it is. It comes to hunger. It is the same way. It comes to thirst. It is the same way. And when it comes to peace, its exactly the same way. Because even if somebody tells you that "Yes, now you are in peace." It has nothing to do with it.
You have to feel peace in your life. And who can even begin to address peace in their lives? Except for those who have studied the passion of the heart and come to that conclusion that peace is necessary in their lives because they want to be complete, not incomplete, because they want to accept the gift of being alive in its entirety, in its entirety. Not just in little bits and pieces. Not contemplating what tomorrow it's going to be like, not sitting there and trying to absorb that which can only be felt, to try to understand that only with thoughts. Tools. Tools are very important. And you know what's more important about tools? You have to know which tool works on what. Because wrong kind of screwdriver will not work. Wrong wrench will not work. Thought is a tool. Feeling is a tool Thought satisfies our curiosity, satisfies our mind and feeling satisfies what we are yearning from our heart. And once you have understood that it is important in this life, that it is necessary in this life to achieve that completeness, to achieve that fulfilment. Then that is the day you begin to understand the necessity of peace in this life. Is peace a novel concept? Or is it a reality? Is peace something that we can live without? Or is it indispensable? Which one is it? I have to feel, I have to be the judge. I have to be the one who understands the value of this life for myself. I have to be the one who understands why I need peace because there are people who will give me another formula "This is why you need peace." But I need to understand in my life why I need peace. Me! Me. My existence. My life. The breath that comes into me. The joy that is me because I have been given a gift. I have been a given a gift of life. I have been given a gift of enjoyment. I have been given a gift to be fulfilled. These are some of the most powerful elements in my existence.
Fulfilment is not a joke. Because look around in this vast world. That's what people are trying to do. That's what people are trying to do. Whether they think it is to make a small aeroplane out of wood and cloth and get it to fly. For the Wright. For the Wright brothers, for the Wright brothers. This was something they wanted to do because they had seen the birds and they thought "If I could just fly like that. If I could just fly like that. Oh, that would be wonderful. Fulfilling a dream of centuries. I want to fly." One dream goes much further than the dream that the Wright brothers had and it is the dream of having peace on the face of this earth. Wright brothers' dream has been fulfilled.
Now it's almost getting to the other side. The skies are getting too crowded. Planes are getting delayed. People are losing their luggage. Now so many people want their money back. Now, so many people think that flying is not safe, that they'd rather take a train. We have gone to the surface of the moon. That was a dream that people had and it has been fulfilled and fulfilling that dream, many are sacrifices were made. But there is a dream that has been there longer than the dream to go to the moon. There is a dream that has been there longer than the dream to fly like a bird in the sky. And it is one of the dreams that even today remains unfulfilled. Unfulfilled. When are we going to acknowledge the peace that we need in our lives? When are we going to acknowledge and take the first steps, the first steps necessary to fulfil the oldest dream that mankind has had.
Peace would be good. There have been always those that have advocated war and there have been always those who have advocated peace. Those who advocated wars, their dreams have come true again and again and again and if only they could see the weapons of today. They probably fall flat on their face or they'll probably say "I wish I only had this." But what about those, those great voices that said "Know thy Self" voices like Socrates who turned and gave the simplest of messages to people "Know thy Self." When will their dreams be fulfilled? When will the dream of the very heart that resides in each one of us going to be fulfilled?
I'm here to tell you that peace is a fundamental desire of every human being. That it needs acknowledgement, that it needs to be realised and most importantly it needs to be fulfilled. We need to turn within ourselves to find the answers for peace. We're not going to find them outside. They're not on top of some mountain. They are written in the very scriptures, in the very books, in the very pages that reside in the heart of every single human being, regardless of who they are, what they believe is, what they have done, what they might do. And that is a reality. It's not fiction because it doesn't matter what happens, until that dream is fulfilled something will not be complete. And when the road is not complete, it may be there, but it cannot be traversed. It cannot be travelled on.
How can we begin to have the aspirations that we should be having? There are dreams yet that we have not dreamt. There are ideas yet that we have not thought of. There are journeys to be made that we have never ever imagined. And yet, truly these journeys need to begin with the person who is fulfilled, who is complete. And yes, I have this dream that all civilisations, that all people on the face of this earth will be in peace and people say to me "Isn't that reaching too far? Isn't that an impossible ideal?" Then I say to myself "If that is true, then it is the only ideal worth having" because if people think it's impossible, then yes, it must be something that I can try to help with. And that's what I do. And the amazing thing is that to have peace on the outside. You have to have peace on the inside and you know this, this is not new news. Everyone knows this. That to have to have peace on the outside. You have to have peace on the inside and to find peace on the inside is the most simplest process of all because it is already there. It does not have to be created. It does not have to be manufactured. The process of peace is to discover, not to create It is there. It is the default It is there for us to have, to enjoy and to have our lives fulfilled. This ideal cannot be just hailed as too incredible and that's it because everybody has an excuse of why there shouldn't be peace on this earth.
Those who have the ideas, who have the convictions need to come forward why there should be peace on this Earth. We have heard enough for those who say why there shouldn't be peace on this earth or why they can't be peace on this earth. There needs to be the quest. The thirst for peace lies within all of us. I have travelled around the world and I have found the currency not to be common language, not to be common clothing, not to be common food, not to be common but the desire to be fulfilled is common every single person on the face of this earth. Yes, we have different cuisines but the hunger is the same. Yes, we may have different tasting water but the thirst is the same. Yes, we may sleep on different kinds of beds but the sleep is the same. And yes, we have become very good at seeing our differences. But now comes the time to see our similarity. That we have the same question, that whoever we are wherever we look whatever we do, it begins with each one of us.
When you look at ocean, when you look at a gorge, you see that the river has carved this huge gorge. How do you think it happened? I'll tell you how it happened. It happened drop by drop. Little drops came together. The snow thawing in all these little places on the mountains, one drop at a time, one drop at a time, coming together in the most fragile of streams and coming together and coming together and coming together and coming together till there is a roaring torrent. No rock, no soil, no mountain, no mountain can withstand that. Nothing can withstand that. That is the conviction that we too need to have in our lives. The knowledge of all things begins to be complete because the knowledge of the self is included in that knowledge. Then that one statement made by Socrates a long time ago, Know thy Self does not just become something to discuss but to make a reality.
I travel the world. I bring this message to people. All I am doing is presenting a possibility. Peace is important to me and I hope that peace is important to you. Because after all, when I look at the horizon, and if I have to imagine this world without peace, that indeed is a very grim prospect. When I see the light on the horizon, I certainly hope it is the light of the peace that dances waiting to shine in my life, in my time. Thank you for coming And I would like to thank Don Jose Maria Hernandez, Vice Rector of this facility. Thank you very much and have a pleasant weekend. Thank you.
There were two distinct audiences that the camera rolled over a few times. A group of women who appeared to be premies as they looked smiling and enthusiastic
The other were two groups of mainly men who were stony-faced or sleepy.
