Maharaji: Beyond Appearance 2004 E155

Maharaji: Beyond Appearance 2004 E155-CD

Maharaji, as Prem Rawat is widely known, speaks to people around the world about the possibility of finding inner peace and contentment. He started addressing audiences when he was only 3 years old. At the age of 13, he was invited to address audiences in London and Los Angeles [as Guru Maharaj Ji, The Lord of the Universe]. Since then, he has presented his message to over 6.5 million people in more than 50 countries. Speaking at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, he recently said, The peace that we are looking for is already in the heart. It needs to be felt and I can help you get in touch with it. Maraji's message is more than words. People who listen to him express finding profound inspiration, a fresh perspective on life and peace within themselves.

All these little roads that we take, all these journeys that we make, there is a very fundamental journey that is taking place. And that fundamental journey begins with each breath. Every day. Every moment. Every day. And in this life, you will do many things. Some things you will do because you want to. Some things you will do not because you wanted to, but you had to. And some things you will start doing because you wanted to and then later realize you didn't want to. And this world places such a significance on those things. What it is that we should be doing. What it is that is the fundamental responsibility of each human being. And the saga goes on and books get written. And more books will get written. And more articles will be written. And more people will go out there and say, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me.

But let me give you a piece of advice. A very simple advice. All that you see doesn't appear to be what it really is. If you look a little more beyond the surface, beyond the appearance, you will find a little more. What am I talking about? If you look at an oyster, doesn't look like much. Look a little more and you will find a pearl. Look at a beehive, doesn't look like much. Look a little more and you will find honey. You see a mango on the tree, doesn't look like much. Green, yellow, red, orange. Look a little more and you will find wonderful fruit inside. And then, this is where it gets very interesting. Look a little more and you will find something more. And in that mango, if you can look a little bit more beyond just the flesh of that fruit, you will find a seed. And the seed doesn't look like much. But in the seed is the possibilities of unlimited mangoes. I'm not even going to say thousand. I'm not even going to say a million. I'm not even going to say a billion. Unlimited. Unlimited. Because sow that seed and maybe you will have a hundred mangoes and each one of those mangoes will carry that seed and on and on and on and on and on. It will go. So of all the things you should do or shouldn't do, all the things you could do and you wouldn't do, at least there is one thing that you can do. Is look a little bit more. And when it comes to this life, a breath doesn't appear to be much. But look a little bit more and you will find an existence. And look a little bit more. And in that existence you will find the thirst to be fulfilled. And then look a little bit more. And if you can go beyond that barrier and really look a little bit more, you will find the infinite well of that water that the thirst exists for. And when you can drink that water, you will be fulfilled. In this life.

In this time. This is what it is all about. You're coming and you're going. You have come. And you have rationalized and you try to rationalize everything that happens. Because you have to. You cannot live in a vacuum. A human being sees the sunrise and he says, why? Sees the sunset. Why? Looks at himself. Who am I? Sees himself. Feels the existence. Feels life. Why? Where did I come from? Where am I going to go? Was I here before? Will I be here tomorrow? Will I be here the day after tomorrow? And what will happen after I die? Will I come back? Or will I be gone forever?

Now what I have just said in the past few seconds is the crux of what people have asked. And from there you have got answers. Seemingly that there are answers. And you have scriptures and you have philosophies and you have people saying, well, you know, this is how it is, this is how it is, this is how it is. In reality, it is completely different. You see, traveling has one consequence besides being tired and everything. It's time changes. And to stay on top of time changes is a challenge in itself. Because even if you had a watch that can tell you all the times, there's not too many watches in this world that can compensate for daylight savings time. So you have to know. So you can be in one place and all of a sudden that country at 2 o'clock in the morning is going to switch another hour. And you look at your watch and you know you have to wait till all that time change is finished before you will again resume to telling normal time.

And I was in the same circumstance not too long ago. Looked at my watch and I realized that's not the right time. So then I asked somebody, what time is it? And they gave me an answer. They gave me an answer, they gave me a time. And I said, no, you're wrong. You're wrong because that country has gone into daylight savings time and they're one hour off. The thing is, if I didn't know that and I asked the time and the person gives me the time, I will merely accept it and say, okay, that's the time. The problem is you have to know. Almost you have to know what time it is accurately, then ask somebody, which you realize what is the point of asking somebody if you already know, but then you ask somebody and that person tells you a time and you have to know whether that answer is right or not. So you're merely verifying that which you already know. All of the stuff that happens in this world, all of the philosophies, all of these things, at the bottom of the day, at the end of the day, at the bottom of the barrel, how do you know that the answer you are getting is correct? How do you know? You know. So you learn something else, which is merely to accept. You take a person and you tell them, well, you are really good at timekeeping, so you are the official timekeeper and whatever answer you give, whatever answer you give, I will accept. And so then the person gives you a time. It doesn't match anything, but you say, okay, that's it, that's the time. And that's what we do. Because we do not use feeling to verify if it is true or not. Ask the heart, where did I come from? And the answer comes back, it doesn't matter.

Ask the heart, where will I go? And the answer comes back, it doesn't matter. Because that's the truth. It doesn't matter. What matters is your life. That's the only thing that matters. If you really want to hear the most appropriate answer I have ever heard of where you came from, you came from dirt. And where will you go? Back to dirt. That's the best one. Dirt. And here it is, this is the dirt. And it can talk, and it can walk, and it can say things, and it can hear things, and it can see things, and it can dance, and it can smile, and it can cry. And then the whole show will get packed one day, and the dirt will go back to being dirt. Because that's its nature. The only difference between you and the dirt is not talking, it's not walking, it's not seeing, it's not hearing, it's not tasting. It's being alive.

It's because you're alive you can do all those things. That's the difference. Because you are alive. Because you're alive you can taste. Because you're alive you can see. Because you're alive you can hear. And if you make sense of what is being alive, what does it feel like to be alive? To be alive. To exist. To experience joy. To experience that passion. To experience that serenity in your life. Then you're just walking dirt. That's it. Fundamentally, that's what you are. But that difference is everything. It is looking, merely not at breath, but looking a little more at what is this breath. Not merely looking at a structure of days and weeks and months and years, but what it is to be alive in this small time, in this thing called a moment. What is it like to be free of the future and the past? To be so much like a kite that flies. It flies. It cannot fly into the future, and it cannot fly into the past. It needs the wind. And it needs that string. And when that string is attached to that kite and the wind is correct, it will come, and it will lift up, and it will go into the sky, and it will fly. This life, it's no different.

You, me, how easy is it to become a prisoner to the past? And there's not one single person who has not been the prisoner to the past. Maybe you think of yourself as a prisoner, but everybody thinks about the day gone by. Everybody thinks about the month gone by. Everybody thinks about the year gone by. Everybody thinks about whatever episode may have happened a year ago, six months ago, two months ago. Prisoner. Or you fly off into the future. Imagination. Tomorrow will be the better day. Tomorrow, some hope, some idea will manifest. And we keep coming in and out of future and past, future and past, totally missing the present. Totally missing the present. You are very much fundamentally placed in that place called now. And you are, you are. Not as a ghost, not as an idea, not as a concept, not as a memory, but you are. And what is there? What is in that place? There's peace in that place. There's freedom in that place. There is centering in that place. There is joy. Joy. Joy not because of something, but just joy. Because of the freedom. Because of the reality of it. Because of the beauty of it.

This is the possibility that exists in your life. Everything else is a variable. It will vary. It will change. It will change. And why will it change? Because that is its nature. It will change. And you will make countless attempts not to make a change. And it will be futile. Because you won't be able to change it. The nature of that, that is changeable, has been playing on the face of this earth for as far back as one can possibly go. And the only nature that has not changed, even in you, is the coming and going of this breath. And an innate desire to be content, to be happy, to be in joy. And if that, you can accept in your life. If you are willing to look a little bit further than the surface, because most people stop right there, just the surface.

But if you have the drive in yourself to look a little bit beyond, then you will find amazing stuff. Amazing! Amazing stuff. We're basically all the same. We speak different languages, so we think there's a difference. We think the same things. In different languages, we think the same thing. So we have a little bit different colored skin, and we look at that, and we think we're different. There's no difference. We look at our face, and we see the little difference in our face.

Oh, I'm different. No, you're same. It's just different models of the same earth. Same dirt. Different models. And I think wisely different models, so you wouldn't have a boring world. Some variety. Just like trees have a variety. You know, just like flowers have a variety. Not all the flowers look the same. But they're the same! And we're the same. But we mistook that variety. It was for purposes of beauty, and we mistook it for differences. And then we created our countries, and we created our grids, and then you know the rest of the story. And then we lost the very touch, the very purpose.

You're dirt, I'm dirt. Let's shake hands. Dirt can shake hands with dirt. No. We said, no, you're dirt, I'm dirt, but I'm different kind of dirt. I'm better dirt than you. And the day the dirt said, I'm better dirt than you, that was the end of peace. Up till then, peace was very possible. But then this whole superiority thing walks in. I'm better dirt than you. I'm more intelligent dirt than you. That's the end of peace. Whatever drama you go through in your life, lower the shield of hope. Because there is always hope. Not the wrong kind of hope.

Somebody passes away and you hope, well, I hope they come back. Not that kind of hope. The hope that you will learn something that in you will love, will live the loving memory of that person. That that person, what they were all about, will go on to live. Maybe the body is not there, but they go on to live in you. In you. Not as a ghost. But in that wisdom, in that joy, whatever they brought. They brought laughter, then that laughter will live in you. You know. The good, the good, the beauty of a person will extend into you. And that can always be.

That can always be. So whatever you go through, let the shield of hope get lowered. Because that's what, whatever the problem is, it's going to work on lowering the shield. Because then it can get to you. Once it got you, then you will become depressed. That's when depression sets in. It's like, oh my God, you know, it's not going to happen, nothing's going to happen, hope is gone, da-da-da-da-da. So rather than even the littlest hope, it's like, okay, another day, another effort. Another effort, another day.

And I live, and I'm thankful for this breath that comes in and out of me. And then I'll make that effort to even look beyond that, and I will see, I will see the pearl in the oyster. I will see that this flower is not just color, it's not just a shape, but I will come, and I will smell, and I will find something more, a very sweet aroma that exists in that flower. Just remember, everything, even this breath, there's something behind it. Dig in. Then there will be the joy.

You came empty-handed, but you have to go empty-handed. You really have to go empty-handed. And what you'll be able to take with you is this cup of joy.