Maharaji: The Grand Illusion - Maya
Maharaji / Prem Rawat loves to use 'illusion' in his speeches. He averages 3 times a speech in our records. Much of his spiel is based on making it sound as if the basic processes of existence are part of / imbued in / can be related to his spurious system of personal growth, using his techniques of meditation, regularly listening and 'learning' from his speeches and providing him with free services and money to allow him to live in well deserved luxury and try to attract other people to this life. This video is part of a speech he made on the 1st July 2007 at Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
What is this grand illusion. Everything in life is growing, is static or decaying, each persons' life is finite, we are born and we will die. Yet we act as if everything is permanent. For good reason. We, very sensibly, think of this very often after we've passed through our teenage trials. There's no need to think about breathing unless you have emphysema or you're a deep sea diver. There's no need to think about death until it is time to write your will or you're a funeral director. Our life will continue until our body fails us, there is no universal force powering us to which we must bow down and sacrifice to. But Rawat wishes to overturn this commonsense way of life for his own benefit, selling us snake oil for free in hope of future benefit. Its worked reasonably well for him, though its been a bumpy road. There's only so many people will buy what he's selling, the market is saturated, his brand is passé.
- Whoever can explain to you, this, of how everything happens, is not telling the truth Absolutely, yet that is exactly what Maharaji the not-so-grand-illusionist claims to do, he explains everything, there is a fundamental thirst in the heart of every human being on the face of this earth, da da dada dada da …
- We are tantalised by technology Rawat is tantalised by technology He hopes his technological process, the Keys, regulated autoKnowledge Sessions, creating his own internet cult, etc will deliver him from needing human help, except financial help.
- He tells a story of how he made fools of 2 pilotswho needed his advice
- like an illusion, it is here today, gone tomorrow like in reality, life is here today, gone in 90 years, big deal
- you need to feel your life We all feel our life, Rawat is pretending there is an extra ineffable 'feeling' that is possible, he is trying to sell blue sky and Himself
Maharaji: The Grand Illusion - Maya
This is not about the books, this is not about the explanations because people who are caught up in explanations and I know this, are on one hand pulling thorns out of their foot, on the other hand, they're sewing them. Those people who were caught up in the explanations, they're going to need more explanations. Am I wrong? You think all the explanations that were written 200 years ago, 300 years ago, 2000 years ago, would have been sufficient. You think they're sufficient? People are still writing them. People are still interpreting them. People are still trying to figure out what was really said. And do you think it's going to stop? Do you think it's going to stop anytime soon?
No. People will go on explaining to you. To you. What that really means when the word was you. And you, you, you want nothing better than a pre-digested package. Feed it to me. Feed it to me. Give it to me. You know this is how most people are. They buy something new. I know there's a lot of people who gonna buy the new iPhone. but they'll never read the manual. And for years they're gonna go around with this iPhone till they find somebody else who has an iPhone, who has read the manual and they will go "How do you do it?" Now the manual is available to everyone. The people will not read the manual. "Just show me how you do it."
This is what happened, one time I was on this aeroplane and the aeroplane had been sold and I had been flying that aeroplane quite a bit and so I went in the cockpit just, you know, just to make sure that the pilots were comfortable andn any switch they didn't understand I could, so I went there and both the captain was sitting here, copilot was sitting here, went behind them and I said "Can I help you with anything, are you, are you okay?" And they said "Oh yes. Yes. we're fine." I said "you know I used to fly this. If you have any questions?" and I could see them both struggling with the FMS, the navigation unit. They were both struggling with it because they didn't know anything about it. I said "Can I help you with that?" They go "What do you know about it?" I said "I know any anything you want to know, I'll tell you." They said "Okay, you have 30 seconds, that's what they said to me, in 30 seconds." No problem. I had no problem with that. I started explaining to them and 30 seconds later I stopped (laughed, applause) and it just so happened that in the 29 second it was getting juicy, it was getting, to what they wanted to know because they had to take the aeroplane from where it was, to an airport, not too far away, but they wanted to know how to operate this thing. I stopped. 5 seconds went by, 10 seconds went by and they both turned and looked at me like, what? And I said "Whoa, 30 seconds are up." (laughter)
They were like "Oh God" and they said "Oh please go on." I said "Are you sure?" (laughter) I said "Look, let me tell you what what you need to know to get this thing from here to there comfortably. So I told them "You know, what, what you're used to" because what I was flying then I knew what the differences were in the two and I said "What you're used to is 'flight plan,' on this one it's called 'nav.' So whatever you want to do in the flight plan just push the key nav, it'll do it. "Great, wonderful, thank you." You know, but this is what happens, everybody wants that predigested package.
Just explain to me how everything happens. Whoever can explain to you this, of how everything happens, is not telling the truth, because it cannot be explained. We forget, we forget our very humanness, that we are a human being. That so many have come before us. We are tantalised by technology "Oh, it's different now, isn't it? Is it? Is it? I saw this woman on on on TV. On news, crying, because she was watching pictures of her house burn down in Nevada. And I'm like "But, you know, you're watching this probably on a high resolution monitor and this is being shot in a high resolution, you know, format and and and and this is all satellite linked." Does it make any difference? Does it? What does all this technology got to do with it? Your humanness has nothing to do with it. Your sorrow, your joy, will not be affected by all of this.
This was dubbed long time ago. There was a word given to this, called the grand illusion, called Maya, Grand Illusion. People still understand. "Why with all the, why is all this, how could this be?" and the people make jokes about how can this be an illusion? Because, not because it is an illusion but like an illusion, it is here today, gone tomorrow, it disappears, (snaps fingers) a sleight of hand. What seemed to be forever is gone and where? no-one knows. People go and they watch the magician take a little bunny rabbit and make him disappear and everybody goes clap, clap, clap, clap. Right in front of your eyes. A day is gone. (double snap) The biggest magician creates his grand effects. The day is gone. A life is gone. (limp wristed applause)
And nobody applauds of how wonderful that little little illusion was because it is not an illusion. That which is gone. It's not coming back. And that's why you need to be conscious in this life. That's why, that's why every day needs to count. That's why every hour needs to count. That's why you need to feel your life.
