PMT 012: Guru Maharaj Ji (aka Prem Rawat) Los Angeles, April 19 1974
This is the first in a series of 3 consecutive nightly speeches in Los Angeles from April 19 to 21. In the 15 minute speech the young Rawat says 'like' 44 times, "it's like" 27 times, 'really' 19 times, "you know" 14 times, 'beautiful' 7 times but 'perfect' only 3 times. He states that a person can "receive Knowledge" and practise the meditation he 'reveals' but unless they also do service ie provide voluntary labour and money to himself or his organisations he'll "probably never have it" ie a practical experience of the bliss. He expands on this the next night.
At this time DLM had suffered terrible publicity from the failure of Millenium '73, was in huge debt, had shut down most of it's activities and many members had apostasised or lowered their committment. He acknowledges that many premies are very, very confused (in Rawat's lexicon 'confused' means not accepting everything he says as gospel and/or having any negative thoughts about him or Divine Light Mission) but his solution for this is basically that they should ignore all the problems and pretend everything is fine and they are 'confused' because they are 'chicken' (ie cowardly). He assures them that despite many premies being concerned about problems in Divine Light Mission everything is going to be fine which prompts relieved clapping and Bolie Shri's from the audience. He says he will be going to Denver (DLM headquarters) "to take care of everything." He calls for the premies to do prachar ie increase the membership of DLM which he quite rightly says can only be done through person to person recruitment though this is only successful if there is committment, enthusiasm and a believeable message which is why today there are only a fraction of the number of his followers than there were then. Naturally he mentions cars comparing the perfectness of a Rolls Royce to a Volkswagen. Some parts of the speech do not make sense ie the second world war pilot and the valley, a map and $100 bill and that you are a Perfect Master if you want to be.
(Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!)
Well (laughter) you name it (laughter) so uh it's kinda nice to be back. So really, there is nothing much to say because uh whatever we want to talk about is the Knowledge, right? You hear about it and really this Knowledge is just not a subject that can be talked. It's like water and if you tell somebody that you are thirsty and uh you start giving a big lecture about the water he'll say "Get out of here and get some water for me. Don't give me that, I don't wanna lecture. I want water" and that's like many people are expecting that, that they'll probably get a big lecture from Guru Maharaj Ji or from Mahatmas or from some premie. Maybe sometimes they do get it, probably I end up like that talking about three hours sometimes (laughter) but the fact is that, of course a human person, a human being needs a little explanation about everything and that's about it and that's the big explanation actually but really this bliss, this beauty that we are trying to attain, what we are trying to achieve is beyond these words plus being beyond the words we still need directions to go about because this life, you know, is so dark and for some people it's like it's here now and for him if there is any light it's in darkness and for a person, if there is any light it's in Sun and people who are just completely concepts like that and get very, very used to darkness they just love darkness because that's where they see their light.
That's where they can do something people who have even had one little glimpse of that perfectness they know it, it's like uh if a person has been riding Rolls Royces and you put them in a Volkswagen he wouldn't like it too much (laughter) because his concepts are completely changed and this is their biggest problem that at least I am facing today and the problem is when I go to people and tell 'em about this Knowledge forget it, we don't even want it. Say "Why?" "Because the way we are, we are happy." It's like I was talking to this person maybe a couple of days ago and was like well if somebody's happy what are we going to tell 'em? And I said look a person thinks he's got a beautiful car and he's got a beautiful house and it's got beautiful kids and his got a beautiful wife and he's happy. Well because you can't really blame him because he's happy because that's what he has limited his experience to and that's all his experienced and he feels happiness in it but all you can tell him "Say look brother there is something beyond this point, there is something even more beautiful than what you have ever experienced." It's like maybe and maybe not.
It's like you can put sails on if there is a wind it'll take you somewhere, if there isn't, probably go nowhere and this is how this life is that once we go to somebody who can take us somewhere who we can trust, whom we can believe, it's like how do we believe? We are going down this highway, go about 60 miles and we don't even see a highway sign, we don't even see any signs and we have till going, going, going, going and somebody asks us "How come you are going on this highway?" "Oh because this map says" "And what's a map?" "It's a little piece of paper you probably got it free (laughter) from a station which doesn't even like-just get it out of here!" And the man says "Oh this is what I'm thinkin' about and this is where I'm goin'" and it's like, well, you reached there and there is like a ??? that's like a trust and you don't even know about it but you are trusting that piece of paper. Why don't you take a dollar which is worth a dollar, put it in your hand and say "Why not press it down?" It won't take you anywhere because it's like uh it doesn't even say anywhere where to go. It's a dollar and that's it but you need a map to go somewhere and that, that situation you might have a $100 bill in your pocket, it's no good and that little map which is worth nothing, was given you free, complimentary, it's worth everything and this is how sometimes Knowledge and Guru Maharaj Ji works.
It's like somebody will miss you down in the aeroplane and probably on the sidewalk and gives you this Knowledge, you know and it's like many people have this concept about "Oh well this is how it's gonna be, Oh this is how it's gonna be, Oh this is how it's gonna be." They never get to the point, they never get to the situation where they can realize anything because all life long they have been living up to a concept. If you ask a guy who had been flying planes in second world war, if you would ask him will a man ever go to a moon, he say never because he knew how hard every plane system is at the time when he will fly properly. It's like just about naked from the valley up. It's like oh had no expectation that today man has gone to moon, he's doing fantastic things and it's like that little trust, that little belief that that guy had in second world war you couldn't blame him because he was taking this hunk of aeroplane down in the valley, shooting fire and then wanted to bring it up and it wouldn't even come up and get shot right there. To him you can't even blame because that's his experience, that's all his experienced all his lifetime now how you going to make Apollo? It's got thousands and thousands of miles per hour he can never do it but now if you ask somebody they say "Of course, that's very easy" because see in this whole world everybody moves by his own concepts and by his own experiences. Take the president of America or take a person walkin' on a street, he moves by his experiences, he moves by his concepts, whatever they are and same thing with this Knowledge.
You know, it's like you have to come to a point where you want to receive it and after that it's like you can bring all your concepts together, you can tie up in a bundle and me put it before Guru Maharaj Ji and say well this is what I believe in but again that's how it far it goes, that's how far you can go in it because after that point everything becomes realistic, everything is real, everything is beautiful and really my point of coming here today to this program and I surprised you, maybe I didn't (laughter) but uh the point of coming here is to tell you that many premies, you know, have confusions about what's going on in Divine Light Mission but I just want to tell you one thing, everything is gonna be fine (clapping, Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!) because maybe you were born in an evening when the sun was setting down and was dark for 12 hours but don't expect that forever, it's gonna sunshine again and this is that really after you know I was just feeling this way strongly myself and then somebody really advised me that I should get a darshan to surprise premies and I thought that was a pretty good idea and I hope that you go to all premies and tell 'em that I'm going to be here tomorrow again (cheers) plus uh I have a little surprise for you too which you're going to see for yourself probably tomorrow but really
there are many premies you know who are very, very confused about what's going on in Divine Light Mission but look I can tell you one thing if somebody wants to go in darkness you can take a plane and go there. If somebody wants to be in light all the time you can take a plane and go there still. They'll probably both be same expense but there is one way that'll be dark, dark, dark probably for 24 hours and other way around, it'll be light, light, light for 24 hours. It's up to man, it's always been up to man.
It's like you can never say "Oh I am confused because of this, Oh I am confused because of this" because if you are you are the biggest chicken. (laughter) You don't even know what you're doin'. You don't even know, you don't even want to know, it's like those people who thought they were really brave when Jesus came. They weren't, they were really chicken because they weren't even able to face Jesus, they weren't even able to accept even surrender themselves a little bit, try to realize what He had to show 'em and really this is how every time it is with man.
Somebody wants to know he can be Perfect Master it's like uh if you really want to next thing you know you are a Perfect Master and if somebody doesn't next thing you know they are down the hill just like uh this is how it always works and my point, it's like not now I'm gonna always be tellin' you about this Knowledge, I'm gonna be always tellin' you about how fantastic it is because I've experienced it and I want you to experience it and it's like being confused, you are getting confused for nobody else but yourself only. See that's how it works. If somebody is confused, he's confused for himself, he's worrying himself, nobody else. You know it's like, get out of it, if he's-the way you got into it, get out of it and it's like to yourself because there was a point where you were understanding everything and as soon as you can't understand you are confused, well start understanding and you'll be out of it. Well some premies think oh maybe I'm making it sound too easy. Well it is that way. How easy was, was it for you to get confused? It didn't take any time, did it? (laughter) Probably sitting in a chair, you got confused. (laughter) Well that's how it takes, sitting in a chair and get out of it and it's like some people are lazy, forget it. They'll always gonna be in it because they don't even want to get out. Some people even enjoy their confusion you know it's surprising but some people really do and really premies (clears throat) it's like you know it's like.
I'm in Los Angeles and I'll be going to Denver after a little while to take care of everything, settle it down (knowing laughter) and uh what I'm planning to do with some premies who want to do prachar, they just want to dedicate their lives to prachar and plus I'm making these ways of service because till now it was like if you had service do service you know you gotta move out into an ashram not any more.
I have a little idea in my head that if premies want to do service and they already have a family, they can have their family and still do service because like service is something that the point of realization when you do something like a man can go into a school and learn to be a doctor and sit down in his home, after some time he'll probably forget it and a man can never go to a school, doesn't even go to a school, doesn't even like the school and he just stays with the doctor, he can be a doctor himself some day because he can learn more and that's how service is, service for Guru Maharaj Ji, that's how it works.
It's like you can go and receive all your Knowledge you know and just, just meditate, meditate, meditate but then there is a little more, more, a little practical experience and you probably never have it but service is something that brings you much more close to that experience and so, well, I'll finish it here and go tell all the premies to be here tomorrow, as many as there can be because there's something like of for some times premies think that's rare for me to come and give them darshan, maybe satsang but really I know that's my duty.
This is where I landed before in Los Angeles, the first time I did and I started from here and see this whole Mission growing, it started right from here in Los Angeles and as a matter of fact from Hollywood Bowl, well, Gary he knows it and other few premies who know it, how it all started but you know it was, it was really blissful, and it's like really once we all get into prachar how many people will understand what we're talkin' about because they have to be told, they don't even know, we can't even blame them. There is an article out in the newspaper and it's probably all wrong, probably all wrong, top to bottom, maybe even some times the spellings are wrong in it but we can't really blame them, you can't really blame 'em because they do not know what they're talkin' about, nobody told 'em ever. It's like they went there as a press reporter so if they went there as a press reporter they did their duty.
Somebody must tell 'em as a person to person, as a human being to human being not as a man to a press reporter. No, that's no way, that's, it's business in between. This Knowledge is not from one man to a business it's from a man to a man, from a human being to a human being and that's how it should be understood, how it should be made to understand to people on a very personal basis.
So well, just tell everybody I'm gonna be here tomorrow, they should come and enjoy satsang. Thank you very much.
(Thank you Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai! Maharaji we love you. Maharaji can we have Holy Breath?)
Okay let's tell everybody that they can come tomorrow and have Holy Breath.
(Oh wow!, Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai! Maharaji would you like a bigger hall?)
Okay but tell everybody because uh they want Holy Breath (Thank you Maharaji Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai! See you tomorrow. We love you)