Maharaji: Journey To Clarity S029

Maharaji: Journey To Clarity S029

Time certainly has a way of flying, and this event, of course, has gone by very fast. It's been a beautiful event (vigorous applause), and I hope, I hope each one of you got something out of it (laughter and applause, because in your life, it is about you, and I know there's so many things that people say, and things that we have heard from the past, so much of access luggage, things that we need, but we carry, things that are not going to help us, but we hold on to them, and this journey of life really becomes a journey of being conscious, because the questions are, what do you see in your life, in your existence? What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? What do you understand? What have you realized? And these questions are not about the you society of today, or the me society of today, or the I society of today, because a lot of people say, you know, I think, I feel, and these have just become nomenclatures, words that people use, but the real question is, what do you see? When you open your eyes, and I'm not just talking about these eyes, these eyes will see the reflection of the light, as it's reflected into them, as the light is reflected from the objects that are around you, but what do you really see? What do you really see? Do you see your path? Because I know a lot of people would say, well, I see people, I see houses, I see this, I see that. I'm not interested in that.

That's not what I'm talking about. But do you see your path? And when you see your path, your path, the one that you are going to walk, what do you see? Do you see obstacles? Do you see blocks? Do you see thorns? Or do you see something beautiful, that is clear, that it is not filled with distractions? That this is the path, this is the steps that you're going to take on this path, and each step that you're going to take on this path is going to take you closer and closer and closer to that place that you want to be. When you hear, what do you hear? Ask somebody in this world, well, what do you hear? Well, I hear, you know, people talking, and I hear this and I hear that. That's not what I'm talking about. What do you hear? Do you hear the call of your heart? Do you hear that simplicity beckoning to you to come? What do you feel? Do you feel, and people ask people, what do you feel? Oh yeah, I feel angry, I feel this, I feel that. No, this is not what I'm talking about.

Do you feel that connection with this blessing that is being given to you? Blessing. There's a beautiful part from Ramayana, and this is what it talks about. And in India, when I say it, it's beautiful. Because what it says is that this body is the vessel to go across this river, the river, this ocean. And that the coming and the going, the coming and the going of this breath is my blessing. And what you need is a very strong oarsman who can row this vessel across this ocean. Beautiful. Beautiful. Loaded. Loaded. Because if I can understand what that means, that this is my opportunity not to be caught in the confusion, but to row across that confusion. Not to be caught in despair.

Define the ocean, right? What is the ocean? Why is it called an ocean? Because like the ocean has the properties in which I can drown, not be able to swim. You get it? Nothing obvious or apparent happens. It's not like falling off a cliff. Everything is fine till you hit the ground. But ocean has this water in it. And it's funny because this is what is always considered to go across the ocean, to go across this ocean of whatever. And this whatever is a big whatever. Because this is where all the philosophies come in. What is this whatever? And everybody has their whatever. Every religion has their whatever. But everybody acknowledges that there definitely is a whatever. And this whatever has to become a cross. You have to go across it. And you know, you are mostly water. So is the ocean. But there's one thing you need to do. And that is breathe air. And drowning is the process where that does not happen any more, even though you have the ability to breathe. Wrong stuff going in the lungs. Cough, cough, can't cough. And even though you are mostly water, that water in the wrong place. Now, we'll drown you.

Confusion, despair, doubts, but in the wrong place, I cannot deal with it. And here is my chance, this is my possibility, my chance not to overcome them. I'm getting very subtle here with this, but I have to definitely draw some lines here in how most people see it and how I see it. I could have said how it is, but that would be too arrogant. So how I see it, because it is a question of perspectives, what you see. Somebody stubs their toe and then go, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts. Why did you stub your toe? Because you didn't see. You didn't see that obstacle, that hurt you. Because had, this is implying that had you seen it, you would have avoided it. What you can't see, you can't avoid. You cannot judge whether this is friendly or non-friendly. Is this going to hurt me or is it going to help me? That side, that picture is very, very important.

So is the issue to overcome or is the issue to get to a place where all this that I truly despise is not there? And what's the difference? If I need to go, if I need to go from Kathmandu to Delhi, do I have to really climb the mountain? Mount Everest? No. And all those people who climb Mount Everest really going from Kathmandu to Delhi? No. There's a big difference. Because if I want to go from Kathmandu to Delhi, there's a road. It runs south, it gets into India. Then it turns northwest and it's clear sailing to Delhi. Well, not really clear sailing. There's bullok carts and there's tongas and there's, you know, chaiwalas and there's rickshaw walas and there's cars and there's trucks and there's all that. It's not clear sailing. But I guess compared to climbing Mount Everest, it's pretty easy. And a lot of people get in their minds that I have to overcome. I have to overcome. The question is, where are you headed? Where are you going? Because if the objective is to go to Delhi, you certainly do not need to climb Mount Everest. There's a much easier way. Take the road. And you know what? If you take the road out of Kathmandu, it doesn't even head towards Delhi. It doesn't. It heads south. You want to go west. But take it. It'll get you there and you won't have to climb Mount Everest.

That there is a way. There is a way. To open my eyes and to see that which is obvious. Do I see my path? Do I see that journey that I have to make? Or am I so overwhelmed? That I do not see any journey. I do not see any path. All I see is today's Sunday and tomorrow's Monday. And that's it. Everything chunked out. Compartmentalized. If you're in a boat, a sailboat, you've got to know where you're going. And yes, you're going to go completely in the wrong directions because of the wind. It's called tacking. You're going to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. But you know what? Ultimately, because your destination is clear, you will get there. You will get there. The good news is that it isn't about overcoming. It isn't about climbing Mount Everest. It isn't about proving yourself.

But it is seeing the obvious in this life. It is seeing the obvious that there is my path. That's the path that I have to walk. That's the path that I'm going to be. That's the path that I have chosen in my life. That I want my life to be filled with joy every day. That I want my life to be filled with clarity, clarity every day. That I want my life to be filled with that beauty every day. That I want my life to be filled with that simplicity every day. And then the final statement, the most powerful little statement, no matter what, I want my life to be filled with that beauty every day, no matter what. Somebody gets it. No matter what.

These are such basic building blocks. And these are basic building blocks of existence. These are the building blocks of being alive, alive, good, bad, insects know it, they do. They see you as a total danger. As soon as they sense you're coming, they go the other way. It isn't because this whole world is caught up in good and bad, good and bad, good and bad, right and wrong, good and bad, right and wrong. This is good. This is right. This is wrong. There are people in this world, there are people, people, and they do all sorts of things. Mind-boggling.

There's one thing that I really enjoy, and I have a unique perspective in that sense, that I have sat at a stage, 250,000 people looking at me. And you may have gone to a football game where they may have 100,000, 150,000 people, but they're not looking at you. I've been in a place where 250,000 people, they're looking at me, and I am looking at them. Just seeing human beings. I really just like to see a person just as a human being, not man, woman, rich, poor, educated, this, that, just human being. This is a human.

And it is so fascinating, because when you see a human being, you see that potential, and you connect it, and I do. This is just beautiful, because I see that, hey, you are a vessel that can go across this ocean of confusion, of despair, of all that you want in your life. That you can be in that place where there's clarity, where there's simplicity, where there is the joy, where there is light, where you can dance, where you can be, where you can exist. You. Because everything else is just a shell that is being added, and added, and added, and added. And you have been taught, protect that shell. Right from when you were very, very young, you've been taught, protect the shell, protect the shell, protect the shell, protect the shell, protect the shell. Get a better shell, and protect that shell. And get even a better shell, and protect that shell. You. You are a possibility. You are a possibility to the most amazing richness of this existence, of this life.

This is what has been painted. It's textures, what it is, what you see, what you view. I love photography. I love taking pictures. And when I take a picture, camera comes later. First my eyes have to see. And what do I see? And I took some pictures recently. And one of the pictures that I called Bubbles, and it was just exactly that. It was of some bubbles. And I took a little tiny tray, poured some oil in it, poured some other liquid in it. And then what I could see. And then I realized, there's something that I can't see. And for this, I will use this tool. And I took my camera, put a macro lens on it, and went right down on it. And there it was. Amazing. Amazing things were happening. There were these tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little bubbles. And they were beautiful, and they were perfect. And they were interacting in their shapes with each other. And then, click, snapped. That moment in time. I couldn't take those pictures fast enough, because it was happening so quickly. I mean, they were just changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing. And the interaction was incredible.

And one of the things, whenever I take a picture, one of the things that I really like to take, or really compose part of it, is the light. To me, lighting is everything. Color follows. If the lighting is there, because I understand that that's all my eyes really see, is light. And so if I can make that light dance, I will have a picture that is incredible. Guaranteed. And the other day, I wanted to take some pictures of the sunset. So I got my camera out, and the sun was setting, and it was hitting the balustrades and casting a shadow of balustrades. And I just snapped those pictures, and they are amazingly beautiful. What they are a picture of, all of a sudden, that disappears. Because all there is, is light, and dark, and light, and dark, and light, and dark, in the most softest fashion. Because it's a good 12 feet, 15 feet of distance between the balustrades and the wall where the light was being cast.

To see, to see that one thing in my life that maybe I was never able to see before. Camera? But in my life, I have been given the camera of Knowledge. The gift. And I look. And if I look, what will I see? Because with the gift of Knowledge, that's what it wants to show me. Do you see the path? Do you see your way? Do you see your journey? Do you see this gift? Do you feel that the coming and going of this breath is a blessing? See, priorities become so different. Priorities become so different when I realize that the coming and going of this breath is a blessing. Then I need to fear. I can begin to enjoy.

You have a limited amount of energy. You do. Everybody does. There is no such animal as an unlimited amount of energy. These are your resource in this world. And if you spread your resources thin, you have very little left to fight the battle or to win the war. spread your resources thin.. Pull them out. spend that time being confused. Pull that resource of being confused. spend any energy on that. Pull it out. And deploy it towards being clear. And people, age old question. Age old question. And so many people have asked me this question. But how do I do that? What do you mean, how do you do that? You did it. You deployed that energy in confusion, never, ever stopping yourself and saying, I want to be confused. In fact, maybe it even seemed intriguing to you to be confused. Somebody tells you something, and it's making no sense whatsoever, but you're sitting there going, wow. Things go whoosh. And you go, that was amazing. That has to stop. Because those are the perfect ingredients to be confused for the rest of your life. No, I want to know. What doesn't matter to me, doesn't matter to me.

When I'm going home, when I am going home, there will be hundreds of thousands of signs on the road. But the only one that matters to me is the one that will take me home. There are thousands and millions and millions of roads in this world, but when I am headed home, the only one that counts to me is the one that's going to take me home. By simply knowing which roads not to be on is not going to take you home. But you have to know which road to be on to take you home. And when you know that road that takes you home, you will automatically avoid those roads on which you should not be on. You get it? I mean, that's like so simple.

And people in this life approach clarity and all these subjects exactly this way. "So, Maharaji, tell me all those roads that I should not be on." And I always say, "Well, how about if I tell you which road you should be on?" And that never crosses people's mind. That seems over-simplistic to them. And it's like… And that's why most people, when they hear me, they go, "That was so simple. I mean, some people even find it boring. Man, it would have been so much more interesting." A lot of people come up with questions and always interviews. "Oh, yeah, what are you going to ask? Well, we'd like to ask, which are the roads we should not take? Well, how about if we just clearly define the road you should take? That takes you home. That takes you where you want to be. That takes you where you want to go. Would that be good?" But it's over-simplistic. The mind, the thought pollution is so severe.

To me, it's like, it's a bit of a joke. There's this guy, and he was walking along. And he bent over. And as he did, some change from his pocket fell out. And it ended up in this sewage dump. And it was full of you know what. And all his change fell in there. And he thought for a minute. And he pulled out his wallet. Took out a couple of hundred dollar bills. And threw it in there. And this guy watching him, he said, "What'd you do that for?" He said, "Well, you didn't expect me to bend over, reach in there for just a few cents. Now that I've thrown a couple hundred dollars in there, it legitimizes me reaching in there, recovering the $200 plus my change." Let me add, ante up the confusion.

So when I hit clarity, it'll be something else. And one of the requirements to revel in the World of Knowledge always has been to have a heart of a child. Simplicity. Observance. Clarity. When a child does not understand, and you ask them, did you understand that? They do the most cutest, sweetest, most beautiful thing. And they go, not confused. The adult. When you ask them, did you understand that? They go, oh yes, of course. I knew that. No problem. That's why you need to be alive.

You need that heart of a child. To risk nothing. Because that's what the child does not do. The child does not risk anything. Anything. It does not understand. The answer is simple, because this is what you asked. Did I understand? And the answer is, no, I did not. Simple reality. No judgment is passed back and forth. The world says all that the world says to us. Of course, it never even pauses to see if we understood. But every day, there is a new responsibility. Every day, there is a new challenge to be had. Every day, there is something new to try out. Every day, there is something new to be conquered. I'm not interested in conquering all that. I'm interested in conquering one thing.

And that is, I want to get across this ocean. This ocean of confusion. This ocean of darkness. This ocean of doubts. And I want to experience every day that simple beauty, no matter what. No matter what. No matter what may come my way. I know what's going to come my way. I have no idea what is going to come my way. I. Nothing in the past will prepare me for what's coming. Nothing. Because it's highly modified. Maybe the same thing, but it's highly modified. All things or problems go through a very fast evolution. New one. They tinker around. There's no beta versions. It's just one and complete evolution next. Here it is. But if my determination is clear to me, that it doesn't matter what is going to come my way.

I want that clarity to be in my life. It doesn't matter what comes my way. I want that beauty to be in my life. I want that feeling to be in my life. Then this is possible. People try to teach you formulas of, let's redefine come what may. There is a lot of crazy ideas and thoughts running out there. No shortage of them. And the people who are actually talking about these things even know what they're talking about. And it is much like the prisoner who is chained to the wall lecturing about how to break free. That's not the sad part. They have an audience. Let's redefine come what may. Let us put stops to what may come in and we'll change that. And so nothing bad will ever come. No, no, no. This is not what it is about. It is not about the bad or the good coming.

Because these definitions will change. These definitions will change. The artist calls the art gallery up and says, well, do you have any good news for me? I mean, did my painting sell? And the gallery owner says, yeah, well, I have good news for you and I have bad news for you. So what? He says, yeah, well, all your 15 paintings, they sold. He says, oh, who bought them? He said, well, your doctor asked if the value of these paintings would go up after the artist dies. And then he bought all 15 of them. you see what you call good? Is relative. It is relative. Somebody may be praying all their life. Going over, you know, God, I need a job. And then they get a job. And then the doctor calls you up and says, oh, you only got two days. And then people go, what a cruel joke that was. Who set himself up where? Yeah.

What do you want to pray for? Then of all the things that you could pray for, pray for one, to be in that peace, to be able to recognize the blessing of this breath. The coming and going of this breath is my blessing. Beautiful, I love it. This is how that incredible beauty is touching us every time, pulsing. This is the difference between you existing and you being a part of the dirt from which you came. Fine, mine. So fine, almost imperceptible to the eyes, but it's there. It's there and it is within you. Look through the lens of Knowledge and you will see all that has been hidden. All that that you could not see, all that that you could not admire. Listen, listen to that rhythm in your life that is beckoning you to dance and be fulfilled and be content. Aspire every day for that. Every day. Every day that awakening needs to happen. Every day that commitment needs to be made. Every day.

You know, when you are flying in these modern airplanes, they have some very, very sophisticated navigation equipment on board. Incredibly complex navigation equipment. One obviously you know about is called the satellites. GPS system. Constellation of 12 satellites, 14 satellites, beaming down information, the computer looking at all that information and coming up with a position resolution to a few feet. Then they have another device called the laser refs. Amazing little devices. They fire a pulse of laser and you see it is all based on the theory that the light will continue to travel straight. So they fire a pulse of laser and if the mirror moves, when the light bounces again on the third mirror and then back on the second mirror and then on the third mirror, if any motion has happened, that light isn't going to fall dead center. It's going to fall wherever it was released because light will continue to travel straight. Just from looking at that, it ascertains its attitude. Left, right, and acceleration. And using all of that information, it can come up with some pretty decent positioning. So I mean, you know, you're talking about high tech stuff here. But when you're flying across the oceans, there's one of the things that the pilot is going to be doing and taking his position. Now, you can say, well, why you trust the stuff? Of course you do. But you need to know where you are. And this position report, and in fact, you're required to make a position report. And you're automatically required to make a position report if that point isn't further than an hour away. You have to, within an hour, make that position.

This position report in your life is called a reminder, a renewal and re-understanding. And it needs to happen every single day. Because if it doesn't happen every single day, you are only going to know about it when you realize, where is the destination? I didn't get there. Find that position, find that commitment every single day in your life and be fulfilled. What a beautiful tool that you have been given, that Knowledge is. Be, exist, enjoy. This is all good news. This is good news. See your path. See your path. And if there are obstacles, remove them. Clear that path. Clear. So that your journey would be smooth. That your journey would be beautiful. That your journey would be most, most enjoyable. Enjoy your life. Enjoy this existence. Be thankful. And most importantly, be in that place. Know that every breath is a blessing. Thank you very much.