Maharaji in Portland PWK-058 2008-09-11

Maharaji in Portland September 11, 2008
Vision and Reality PWK-058

Well, there is a lot going on around the world. People slowly but surely getting an opportunity to listen to this message. But of all those people around the world, today is your turn. And you have to watch a video. You can hear this in person. And what's the difference? Believe me, most of everything I say gets edited. So what you get is a very small amount of edited stuff. Because I'm here to talk to you, each one of you. Whether you have Knowledge, whether you're aspiring to receive Knowledge. This life, this time that we have, I want somebody to come along and point to the preciousness of that. The importance-ness of that. Because that just doesn't exist.

You know, we live in a world that's very, very different. To give you an example today, I wanted to know what is going on with the hurricanes. So I turned on the TV and I put on the weather channel. And as I'm listening to all this stuff that they're talking, the whole conversation was about the hurricanes. And I'm on my iPhone, SMSing, looking at my messages. And it was really funny. At just one point, I just started laughing. Because here they were talking about how many people could get hurt from this hurricane and how many millions of dollars of damage has been done before and how this could be one of the ones that's really going to do a lot of damage, possibly. And it doesn't really matter how far away you live from Texas coast. They have already shut down the refineries, so the price of gas is going to go up. And I'm just SMSing and listening to all this stuff.

And all of a sudden, they say, are you overweight? Would you like to lose 5 to 10 pounds? Then this medicine is for you. And I'm like, wait a minute, half of the United States was going to get in trouble. And all of a sudden, we're talking about 5 to 10 pounds overweight? That's the world we live in. That's the world we live in.

What is reality and what is not has become an incredibly fine line. So fine that it is almost indistinguishable. Long time ago, somebody said, as far as your eyes can see, consider it to be an illusion. You know, we, in our little world, have made compartments for everything. So when we hear a deep thing like this, we really want to act on it. Because the consequences of that would be amazing. I mean, you'd come out of your garage and you'd go, my house is an illusion. You look at your wife and you're an illusion, honey. You look at your kids, you really, you're an illusion. You'd walk over to your car and you'd say, that's an illusion. I mean, you would be almost paralyzed. Wait a minute, as far as the eye can see, it's all an illusion? Then God forbid I see myself in a mirror, then I'm an illusion. He's trying to turn on the light. This is an illusion. Everybody was wondering what he up to, seeing him sneak in there.

So we have compartments and we say, well, this is one of those deep thoughts. Some saint said it, and wow, it's incredible. And then we move along. We are on our way. Because we really want to change. And if it means to say, oh, I love changes, and not have to change, then we say that too. I love changes. And people do that. They actually make declarations, I love changes. So that nobody causes me to change. Have you? Do you have peace in your life? Yes. Really? Oh yes, yes, yes. I read the scriptures, I go jogging every day, I do yoga, I have peace. And everything is taken and turned around. Taken and turned around. Taken and turned around. So when somebody says everything you see is an illusion, we go, wow, what an incredible deep thought. Very spiritual. I feel awakened already. Now where is Dairy Queen? And that's it. It's true. And if you happen to see yourself in that mirror and you say, gee, I'm an illusion too. It's true.

Let me give you an analogy. I was mentioning this in San Jose. In my house, there's a place where there's a picture of me when I was a little baby. I could stand, but I was quite, quite young. And you can't miss this picture. I mean, every time you go somewhere, there it is. So one day, I saw that picture. Looked at it. And I said, where is he now? Where is he now? What happened to him? Somebody might say, well, he's still alive. It's you. All right, well, take a picture of me and put it right next to it and you will see it doesn't look anything like me. There I have curly hair. You know, I've got this toy in my hand. I look completely different. But I remember vaguely, but I remember that picture being taken. So where did he go? Was I real when that picture was taken? Then where did he go? Isn't that what illusion is about? You see it and then it's gone. And you know where it went. Because you could look for the whole world through the whole world. For this baby boy. And you won't find this baby boy anyway. And when somebody says that's this world, as far as you can see, is an illusion. And we believe it is because we think it's an illusion. We think this is the reality.

Just like the Egyptians thought those pyramids and that everything that they were doing was going to take them to immortality. Not true. Still hanging around at the Cairo Museum. And when I was there, here I am. And the first time I went to Cairo. So I go and I'm only there for a short stop. I'm on my way to South Africa. And so I stopped in Egypt. And then the next day I was going to fly. Just basically, it's actually an interesting route. You basically follow the Nile. And the airway just goes right over it. And go all the way down. So I decided, well, here I am in Cairo. I've heard a lot about these pyramids. I may as well go see them. So I went to see them. And what do I see? There was a kid, must have been 10, 9, 10 years old. Standing at the edge of the pyramid, taking a leak. At the pyramid. The king, once upon a time, that's where the king was going to be laid to rest. So that he could connect with his immortality. So that he could ascend to heaven. How beautifully decorated they must have been. Today, this kid couldn't find a better place. I mean, and this It's surrounded by desert. I mean, in the desert you just kind of go a little ways and do your business. You know, he found the pyramid. And he wasn't a tourist. He was a local.

So, why am I talking to you about illusion and reality? Does it matter? Does it matter? Does it matter that this is an illusion? Does it matter that it is a reality? Yes, it does. Why does it matter? Because I see myself in relation to all those things that I am surrounded by. If I didn't see them, if I didn't see any relationship between those things and me, not a problem. But I'm caught where I see that relationship.

There's a story. There was a king. I'll abbreviate this. It's an Indian story. They can go on for a long time. So, I'll really abbreviate this. So, there's this king and he's dreaming. Good king. And he's dreaming. He's dreaming that he's lost his kingdom. He's dreaming that he's been defeated. He's dreaming that he's running into the jungle. He's dreaming that he's really hungry. The jungle is cold and wet. He comes across this hut. He knocks at the door and he says, do you have anything to eat? And an old lady says, I have anything to eat. But you know, I have some rice and I have some lentils. I'll give it to you. Maybe you can cook it and satisfy your hunger. So, he lights, he gathers the wood. The wood is all wet. He gathers the wood. He lights a fire. The smoke is running into his eyes. I mean, it's a mess. Finally, he gets enough of fire going. He puts the pot on. He puts a little bit of the lentils. Put a little bit of rice. Boils it together. And it's too hot for him to eat. So, he takes a leaf, a big leaf and puts it on the leaf to cool down. In the meanwhile, while he's waiting for it to cool down, two bulls come fighting. And take what he has made and plow it into the dirt.

In this desperation, the king begins to weep. And he weeps and he weeps and he weeps and the tears rolling down his eyes wake him up. You know, when the dreams sometimes get too intense, you wake up. So, he wakes up. He looks. There are the guards, his bed, beautiful bedroom. And he thinks to himself, what is real? What I just was feeling, is that real? Or now that I'm lying here, is this real? So, he gets up in the morning, goes to his court and he makes a declaration. Whoever can answer my question, I'll give him half my kingdom. People come. Oh, you know, I'm sure dream readers must have come. Oh, that dream means this. worry about it. This, this, this, this, this, this, you know. Here, king, here's a book. Dream interpretations. Whatever. Nobody can satisfy him.

Then this young Master comes. And he says, are you ready to listen to me? I'm really abbreviating. It's hyper compressed. You're getting an .mp3 of this big .AIFF movie story thing. So, he says, if you're ready to listen to me, then listen, king. Let me tell you. What you saw in your dream was not real because that was a dream. But when you thought you woke up and what you saw was also a dream. Both are dreams. That's the point of it. That all that we consider to be real. It's not. Then we have those who we feel are really we relate to and we call our relatives relations. Then we have those who are the loved ones. We love them. Are these real? Are these real? Are these relations real? There's a time when all these relations come to an end. So it is. So it is. The loved ones, there's a time when no longer can they reciprocate that love. So why am I talking to you about relations and love and all that good stuff? My point is that if you're going to have relations, have a relationship with something inside of you too. And if you're going to have loved ones, then find the love that is inside of you too, because this is the one that transcends the limitations of this world. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

You go to somebody's house, you go to have dinner. When you come away from that house, what do you carry? Well, you still got food in your guts. But what do you carry? That memory. That enjoyment that you had. Learn how to truly enjoy, because when you know how to enjoy, you take that with you. And a heart that is full. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever situation you go through, you carry a joy with you. But if you have not understood and included the true Self, the true Self in this life of yours, then yes, you live in a world of illusion. Because you somehow think that this all will be there forever. But it won't. One day, I wasn't. Today, I am. One day, I won't be. Illusion. What an incredible illusion. And these are just all those pictures of little me, are just top frames in the big illusion. Tied all together, and it will be one lifetime. Lifetime. Some say it goes by too quickly, and this is a hard one to relate. It depends how old you are. If you're young, oh no, oh my god, a year? I have to wait a whole day? A year seems like a century, a day feels like, oh my God, a whole day.

Then when you get older and older and bolder, because it's all about perceptions. How you perceive, what you perceive. How you see things.

Learn to see the real in you. There is something real in you. There is something beautiful in you. If you have to be mesmerized by the beauty, then be mesmerized by the beauty that is the beauty within you. That's what adoration is for, to adore. To adore that simplicity inside of you. If you have to understand and understand your self, the Self. If you have to love, then love this beautiful breath that comes into. Oh, by the way, this is all not for nothing. There is a reward. There is a reward. If you do this, if you do this, you will be given a gift. And you know what the gift is?

Peace. No ordinary gift. Peace.
Joy. No ordinary gift. Joy.
Love. No ordinary gift is love.
Clarity, no ordinary gift, this clarity.
Gratitude, no ordinary gift, this gratitude.
Contentment, no ordinary gift, this contentment.

Does that entice you? The flower has a mission for the bee, right? Can't talk to the bee, but the flower does two things. One, entices the bee visually by looking really pretty for the bee. Advertising food here. And the second, holding nectar for the little bee. The bee is drunk in the sweetness of the nectar. The bee is drunk. The flower has done what he called, the flower called the bee for, put a little dab of pollen. The bee is covered with this stuff. Doesn't care. So addicted, so addicted in a desire for more. All this tiny little bee needs. And this it has, and this it exploits to the fullest.

No hesitation. We hesitate. With all the wisdom that we have, we use our wisdom to hesitate. Should I? And we have learned something, but we use that learning. For all the wrong things, we never hesitate. The record is almost perfect. Wrong reasons, wrong things, things that will hurt us, would we hesitate? Nah. Right things? Let me think about this. We got a sharp knife in our hands, we're cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting. Oops, I cut myself. And it's one of those embarrassing things when you cut yourself, cutting food, because you did it. It was your doing. It wasn't the knife just said, is he looking? Is he paying attention? Well, there's a lot going on around the world. People slowly but surely getting an opportunity to listen to this message. But of all those people around the world, today is your turn.

And you have to watch a video. You can hear this in person. And what's the difference? Believe me, most of everything I say gets edited. So what you get is very small amount of edited stuff. Because I'm here to talk to you, each one of you. Whether you have Knowledge, whether you're aspiring to receive Knowledge. This life, this time that that we have, it was somebody to come along and point to the preciousness of that, the importance of that. Because that just doesn't exist. You know, we live in a we live in a world that's very, very different.

And to give you an example today, I wanted to know what what is going on with the hurricanes. So I turned on the TV and I put on the weather channel. And as I'm listening to all this stuff that they're talking, it was the whole conversation was about.

How beautiful clarity is. I want to receive in my life the gifts of understanding because it saves me so many questions.

There is something in me that loves to wallow in questions. I care if I get an answer or not. I just love to wallow in questions, question, question, question, question, question, question. And then there's something in me that wants to be content, understand. They're people. That's all they do. They question everything. Is there a God? And let me answer that. For the thing that asked, is there a God? No. Because the thing that asks, is there a God? Will try to define the undefinable. Who is asking the question? The other day I was asked this question, what is the basis of Knowledge? None. Because it puts you in touch with something that also doesn't have a basis. What would be the basis of the energy that is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent? That doesn't come and go. I ask you, how can something that is omnipresent come and go? Is it possible? Come to where? Can only come if it wasn't there. If it was already there, how can it come there? And go where? Somewhere where it's not. Because if it didn't go somewhere where it's not, then it's not omnipresent.

Will this ever understand it? No. And that's why every one of you has this. A heart. A place. Inside of you. Where there's the feeling of wanting to be content, of wanting to be happy, of being appreciative of being happy. It doesn't happen here. This immediately says, oh, I hope we can do it again. And then when it happens again, you know, it wasn't as good as the last time. e got to make it better. Because the purpose of this is to find defects. It finds defects in everything. It is the very thing that entices you to say, oh, you need this dress. You need this suit. You need this tie. And then once you get it home, eh, it's okay. That's why your closets are so full. But all that brings us so much anger.

We trust it. People are very angry these days. Why? Because in each one of you, do you know that in each one of you dances the infinite? That infinite is dancing in the hearts of every single human being.

Kabir says, nobody is poor. So I'm not saying this, okay? Kabir is saying this. Kabir says, nobody is poor. Nobody is hungry. It's just that they have forgotten to open the gift that they were given. That if you could open that gift, you'll be rich beyond belief. When the heart is full, you are rich. When the heart is empty, it doesn't matter. Hunger? When you are at peace, you can enjoy food. When you are in turmoil, you want to eat. It is not just a question of taste buds. But for this life to be complete, this is our chance. This is our chance. You have the option to wallow in the sea of questions or you have the chance to swim in the sea of answers. Your choice. Your choice. And this is a choice that you're going to have to make every single day. Nothing is automatic. That's it. How do you like that? Because that's freedom. That's freedom.

A lot of people say peace, peace, peace, peace. I talk about peace. I can assure you that people understand what peace is. They think peace is absence of war. Which what? They think it's the absence of war on the outside when two countries fight. If they cease fire, that becomes peace. That's not peace. True peace, true peace is when the war inside stops. That's when you get peace. Absence of that war. The war that you fight every day. The war that you fight day and night. The war that you fight and fight and fight and you know you can't win and you know you can't lose. What a predicament, huh? You can't win it because you fight it with yourself. So even if you win, you lose. And you fight and you fight and you fight and you fight and you fight and you fight and you fight. And you use explanations. These are the blows you use in this fight. Explain, explain and explain. To whom? To yourself. Trying to figure it out as the time slips through the fingers. Trying to figure it out. You can't. All that I did, was it right? Am I happy? Am I content? These questions cannot be answered with this. It has to come from here. Are you happy? And in that breath, feel you're home. Home. Not obligation, but feel home.

In that breath, find your peace.
In that breath, find your gift.
In that breath, find your clarity.
Find your gratitude.
Find your understanding.

Not in thoughts, not in words, but in a feeling. Feel content. Feel happy. Allow yourself to be filled with joy.

To know that you can trust. It's the strong the bond is of coming and going. Of this breath. Ever understood this? How delicate a breath is? Do you know breath is delicate? Do you know how strong it is? It keeps this dirt from turning into dirt. How thick would you say a breath is? How thick would you say a breath is? But that's the distance between you and the dirt. That's it. How much do you think a breath weighs? Who cares? As delicate as it is, it is powerful. Powerful. It comes. For that moment, you remain alive. Alive. You can think, you can see, you can feel, you can understand, you can dance, you can rejoice, you can, yes, you can live. And gone. When you were born, this is what everybody was paying attention to. Before you were born, they were paying attention to everything else. Boy, girl, what are we going to name, grow up to be lawyer, doctor, this, that, all these stupid ideas. Then you came.

And when you came out, you know what everybody was paying attention to? Breathing, or not. There's this time when a child is born and there's just silence. It's almost like everybody holds their breath, but they just want to know, breathe, breathe. The mother, being through this exhaustive thing, focused on one thing. Father, if he happens to be standing there. Doctor, if he happens to be standing there. Nurse, if she happens to be standing there. And of course, a lot of times there's photographers. And them too. Breathing, or not breathing. And then you take your first breath, and this amazing blessing comes. The first one. It's a blessing. And it comes, and the transformation of you being alive begins. Your color changes from dead blue to pink. The message is given to the mother's body. Okay, no more blood supply is necessary from the placenta to the baby, and the blood supply actually starts to wean off. And then, you wah-wah, and wah-wah, and wah-wah.

You cry about something when you're a baby, you cry about something when you're grown up, you cry about something when you get old. You go wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah, but never understand the significance of the breath, and then finally the moment comes in you, that's it. And they come into the room and they look at the, if you're in the hospital, they look at the, you know, cardiogram, the electric one, make sure that that's finished. Then they actually will come and see if the heart is really stopped, it wasn't just, you know, wires fell off or something. And the last, but not least, look for the breath. Breathing or not.

When that breath stops, the story is finished. The period has been placed, the book is closed. Take your face, now nobody wants to see it. And they cover it up. Doesn't matter how pretty you are. Doesn't matter for the very family that would like to come and kiss that face a hundred times, nobody wants to see it. You have any delusions that this is dirt?. That's what it is. It's just so far the blessing keeps coming, it can dance, it can walk, it can talk, it can think, and then when the blessing is gone, it can't do anything. I mean nothing. Can't smile, poke with a needle, no ouch. But here I am, honey, no response, nothing. So, is this real? Is this real? Or something in here, is that real? That's the point. That comes full circle. So when somebody said, all that you see with these eyes is an illusion, give it a thought.

Maybe it's not so far-fetched. But you are alive. Knowledge is for the living. Whilst you're alive, recognize that joy in your life, recognize that potential in your life. If you have Knowledge, make a little effort to practice it. If you are an aspirant, aspire. Soon you will have Knowledge. If you are a little child, came to hear, I hope you heard something that you can carry with you, that you like. And that's what this is all about. So it was a great opportunity to be able to come to Portland. All of you, enjoy. Enjoy this life. That is the most beautiful part of this life, that you can enjoy. So thank you very much, and I hope I'll see you soon.