PMT 012: Guru Maharaj Ji (aka Prem Rawat) Los Angeles, April 20 1974

An edited version of this speech was published in the Golden Age magazine titled "Agya: The Direction of Love." It was the second in a series of 3 consecutive nightly speeches in Los Angeles from April 19 to 21. In this 30 minute speech the young Rawat says 'really' 40 times, 'like' 47 times, "it's like" 16 times, "you know" 26 times, 'perfect' 15 times, 'beautiful' 10 times but 'fantastic' only 2 times. He explicitly states that a person will not continue practising the meditation he 'reveals' unless they also do service ie provide voluntary labour and money to himself or his organisations and that there is no other path to realize God except his. He acknowledges that many premies are 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) because of the failures and hypocrisies of Divine Light Mission and other premies but that any criticism (warranted or not) of Divine Light Mission is just an excuse by your mind to prevent a person practising this Knowledge. This excuse is just one of the countless tricks of your mind which is an mean enemy of a human being and dedicated to attacking you at your weakest point and prevent you practising Knowledge and the only way to prevent this is to obey his agya. He claims to be able to provide correct guidance to his followers no matter where he is though, in fact, this guidance is always the same, practise meditation and believe what Rawat teaches and by this time, despite his self-serving claims, at least 4/5 of the 50,000 Americans who had been initiated had already decided not to bother with it and had no further involvement with Divine Light Mission. He also taught that he was perfected in the Knowledge and that he could make other people perfect but not Perfect Masters using the parable of the paras which turns iron into gold.

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(Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai! Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!)

So dear premies,

We have assembled here because uh I think yesterday I said uh people who wanted Holy Breath could come today but really, before, before we start going and do any satsang or before I start giving Holy Breath to premies, I think it's really important to understand the purpose, the meaning of what all this is, because you know many times, many premies are talking about service. Many times I am talking about service, many times Mahatmas are talking about service and I believe many people-premies are doing service, you know, but after all what does it mean?

See yesterday I gave an example and I'm going to give it today again and also elaborate it a little bit and it goes that look, I can go into a school and learn for maybe three or four years how to become a doctor and I become a doctor, I come out, and all I do is buy a house for myself and a farm and live there and never practise it. In a matter of maybe five, six, seven, eight years, if somebody calls me and says, "Well, I have this problem," or "We have this problem," I'll say, "Sorry, buddy, but I haven't been practising." But on the other hand, there can be apprentice who has never gone to a school, who started off with a doctor and he just learned it, just picked it up from practical experience, from just working for the doctor, doing several things, not only one thing, sometimes picking up the thermometers, sometimes taking the injections, syringes, sometimes giving the shots thus seeing how they are given, sometimes bringing the tablets over, sometimes distributing the tablets and all these things, very little things. Probably doesn't even get paid for that sometimes, very, very little. But, when they all add up, at one point he can be such a good doctor that he can beat some doctors that have gone to school because he has more practical experience than those other doctors have.

In the same way, this is what service can bring us. Anybody can receive Knowledge and sit in his home, try to meditate. He'll probably understand something for a little while, but then there is a little touch, there is a little feeling, there is a little communication and he won't have it, you know for some time he'll just end up not doing meditation and the next thing he knows he's getting confused and then next thing he knows, he doesn't want anything anymore. And it's like, uh, he doesn't care for Knowledge, he doesn't care for anything and then many times premies see that and they, they get all confused and they come to me and say, "Guru Maharaj Ji, how come this Knowledge is so important for these people and how come that guy received Knowledge and it isn't important for him? He doesn't like it anymore."

I'll tell you one thing there are premies, well, they have not received Knowledge but they have been doing service and sometimes they're around me and I see 'em and it's like, they seem to be completely blissed out, except, they are pretty recognisable because you can see bliss on their half face and half is still searching for Knowledge and it's like once a person has received Knowledge and he is doing service, he is in touch. He is doing service for Guru Maharaj Ji because this is for whom we are doing service. Then that experience just grows and grows and grows and it grows and same way, this is, this is the whole meaning, this is the whole meaning for premies. Why, why am I telling premies to do service? You know that's the whole reason, so that they can understand, they can come in more touch, they can realize because see, neither can I, neither can any scripture and neither can any born saint, anybody, neither anybody has been able to nor can describe that little thing that we each look for. Now, I can't call it bliss, either because it's a little more than bliss. It's, it's just something that, when it comes between a devotee and Guru Maharaj Ji, it's just like, it's just like a glue and just takes 'em and sticks 'em right together, it's such a glue that once it's there, they cannot be separated and it's like that, that thing, really I don't know what it is, because, never tried to put it in words, neither can I put it in words either because it's something that's within inside of us. And it flows from within inside of us. It's more than love. It's like almost like a combination of love and bliss and that flows from a devotee to Guru Maharaj Ji and it's like when that is communicated and that is by service, by doing meditation.

Because really what I am telling you is something that I have experienced and many people look forward towards me because they think I have gained some experience. I know this Knowledge, I have perfected in this Knowledge. Well tell you what, you can also perfect in this Knowledge. It's no big deal and you can realize this Knowledge as good as I have and this is the difference.

See there is a stone in India it's called paras and it's a very valuable stone, it's a very precious stone because if you take that stone and touch it to an iron bar, the iron will turn gold. But a saint says that there is a great difference, there is a great difference between that stone and Guru Maharaj Ji because that stone can only turn the iron into gold but if it is for Guru Maharaj Ji, he can turn the other guy just as he is. That means not just make him gold, but also put him to a certain point where he's, he's also like Guru Maharaj Ji because this Knowledge is within all of us and it's like we have to realize it and many people think, "Oh, there different ways to realize this," but there really aren't because that's the way it works.

It's not like maybe sun, there may be fifteen different ways to see the sun, you know, but they all come to one point that you have see, have to see it through your eyes. Otherwise if you don't have eyes, forget it. You might have eighty different ways and you still won't be able to see it and like it all comes, you can have different methods, you can have this and that, movie, all that, but it all comes to one point that you have to have eyes to see the sun and in the same way, there is a little, really whatever I am telling you to do, it's out of my experience. If I wouldn't have experienced this, I would not have said it to you because I don't talk about a lotta things because I have not experienced them but this Knowledge is the most important. Why do I say that? Why do I say premies do service? Because they must realize something. They can come to the same point as I have but never try to shoot for that point, because you will never end up there, if you try to aim for it. Just do it, and you'll next thing you know, you are already there.

It's like, I can sit on a steering wheel and try to concentrate, "Oh, I have to go. Oh, I have to go Pacific Palisades, oh I have to go to Pacific Palisades, oh I have to go to Pacific Palisades," and maybe the next thing I know I am hitting a car because my concentration, I'm driving but my concentration is completely gone that I have to go to Pacific Palisades. That's not wrong because that's where I'm goin' but that takes away that concentration which can make me proceed successfully to my destination and when that's taken away, when all that concentration is put into one point, where you are going, then you will never be able to reach because you should not think you've made that and put that in your background, now think how to reach there and to drive carefully. Because maybe, I am thinking about Pacific Palisades, maybe I end up in a hospital. I might get smashed by some car because all, all I am thinking is, "Pacific Palisades, Pacific Palisades, Pacific Palisades." There is a car coming or there is a stoplight and I might just mess it up, you know, end up in a hospital instead of Pacific Palisades but if I take Pacific Palisades as my destination and put it in the background and drive and I can be talking about ten different things, you know, ten different things and it's fine. Listening to the music and talking and opening the window sometimes, getting the fresh air, talking about pollution, talking about this, right in the middle of a statement if there's a supposevly (sic) we are talking about a satsang program and supposevly (sic) we get to see a car blowing all the pollution from the exhaust. We start talking abut that, talking about all this and still proceeding to one destination and we successfully reach there because see, I have not taken all my concentration and put it into Pacific Palisades. Neither have I taken all my concentration and put what's going on around me. I have taken all that concentration, at least half of it and put it to my safe driving and I drive safely and I am able to reach there and this is how it works. If you ever want to receive perfectness and if you have, "Perfectness, perfectness" on your mind, forget it. Means, you just forget it. You'll never reach there. But take that perfectness as your destination keep it in your background and start thinking of a way how to get to that point and before you know it, before you know it, that's where you'll end up.

Right there and really, I understand that many premies are getting confused. Why they are getting confused? "Oh, oh, because we don't think Divine Light Mission is running properly. Oh, because we saw this happening the other day."

I'll tell you one thing. That's just an excuse, that's just an alibi for your mind because it's got nothing to do with you. Peace is not gonna come out of Divine Light Mission, understand? Peace is inside you. You gotta realize it inside you, not in Divine Light Mission. You don't go to a desk in headquarters and say, "Can I have some peace, please?" (laughter) Peace is inside of you. Understand? And when people really say this, really, I, I just feel like saying, "Look, mister, you don't have to come here making excuses of confusion." Because it's really mind that confuses a person. Because mind takes an alibi. What? Okay, if it is that way, it's gonna, gonna change. Sun doesn't stay the same way as it is. It moves. Earth moves. The whole nature moves. Clouds move. A human being moves. Well, if something is, is not at a good situation, it'll also move and if it's, it's in bad it's gonna move to good and that's, that's how it always works and really, try to understand.

Try to realize one thing at least and remember this, that you have no idea, you have no idea, how many tricks the mind can play on you. They are countless, they are completely countless. Plus it's such a enemy of a human being. It's always mean not from now, it's always, always, always mean. It attacks you at a point where you are weak and like if a human being has really has just received Knowledge and is going probably a little ways or has received Knowledge a little while ago and is going and he feels weak about something, right then and there mind comes and he says, "Oh! I think I must do this. Yeah. I strongly feel." Now where is the feeling from? He doesn't know where the feeling is. Can be from mind or it can be from within inside of him. "But oh I strongly feel that I should do this." But look, first make sure, first really, really make sure that that feeling that is coming inside of you is from where you want it, not from your mind and it's really hard to tell, too but if you are meditating, if you are trying to realize this perfect Knowledge more and more and more and more and more and more, it's no big deal.

Not at all because you know, when I received Knowledge, it's like before I even received Knowledge, I was kind of guessing what the Knowledge is. I guessed it a lot. Because I used to listen to Shri Maharaj Ji's satsang and they just used to be very, very long, and like many, many examples and they were really, like really beautiful because they explained so clearly by every example and everything and uh well there was one point where I just started listening to satsang and this is how I really got into satsang first of all because there were a lot of stories that were told and I just loved stories at that time and this is how I actually got into satsang and then, more and more started coming into me and I used to imagine what Knowledge is, a lot. I was thinking, "Maybe something like this or something like this or something" because I hadn't seen much of the world anyway at that time.

It's like uh I used to think from to go from Delhi or from Dehra Dun to Delhi is an international place. Delhi is somewhere in West or something like that because we would just go from school to the house and residence back to the school. That's it and so, it's like according to my concepts, I used to really, really imagine what Knowledge is and there was also one point when at that imagination, at the point of imagination, there was such a point of the mind where it was trying to convince me that this is it. Maybe I used to think a Knowledge is an apple and there would be something inside of me which said, "This is it.You said it. You said it right! (laughter) This Knowledge is an apple!" Because that point was a little weak in me because I was still guessing. My, I hadn't reached to a conclusion. There was nothing inside of me that could say "No!" That could say "No come on, this is not it, Knowledge is something else" and at that time it was-it would be such a convincing thing and I used to sometimes feel pretty happy about it. Said, "Oh, yeah. I, I found out what Knowledge is" and be pretty proud of it.

But then, when I received Knowledge, it was something, it was some experience because all these things that I had been convinced about, for about at least a year this was going on with me and I had been convincing, something had been convincing in me, "Oh, you said it right, this is it. There is just no way out of it, you know, this is it. You said it" and all these things and then I realized that they're all wrong. As a matter of fact, there was one point where I had to go to Shri Maharaj Ji and ask Him that, "How come, when I was so convinced about these things, that Knowledge is like an apple, Knowledge is like this, the knowledge is like this, they proved to be all wrong?" And this is, this is what He said as I just told you a little while ago, that, "You have no idea how many tricks this mind can play on you and when. You have no idea. You can be going in a car, fine, it'll attack you and there you go." So the best thing that is why, this is where really the importance of Guru Maharaj Ji comes.

I'll tell you one thing if the sky is clear, if the sky is really beautiful and a, and a pilot is just goin' through, he probably doesn't need anybody because he can see, the visibility is probably a hundred miles. He can see that there are no planes coming, it's beautiful and he can go but, if it's clouded, it is overcast, raining and there are all these airplanes in the sky, down under, above the clouds and in the clouds and all that, he needs, he needs a radar and he needs a radar control-man bad. Really, really he needs them because they can see where all the activity is going on, thunderstorm and all these things where they are going on and where that airplane is and they can give him exact vectors (course direction of aircraft) to get him out of there, just beautifully. I mean, when, when I was flying in the tour, from Denver, it was just so beautiful because we are sitting in this 340 (Cessna 340 airplane) and suddenly next thing we know it was in Kansas, we took off from Kansas and this was really overcast and we had to go and we took off and the next thing we know it was just like right in the clouds and this, I looked around and all you can see is barely the wingtips and two little lights flashing and that's it. No ground, nothing, neither. I was flyin' the plane for a little while and, and I see on my meters and I am taking a turn and it was like, I, I'm thinking I'm flying straight because I had no perception of where the earth is, where the sky is, or nothing and Bill took the radio, he called the radar control and switched on the autopilot, put it right on it, sit back and relax and he gives you vectors, just turn that little knob, go like that, go like that, next thing you know you are broken out and you are right out of Kansas, going right into Canada.

But that's where you need Guru Maharaj Ji. Because that's what Guru Maharaj Ji is. He's uh, he's uh sitting in a radar control and he can be anywhere, you can be anywhere and he can be anywhere and he just gives you vectors because you don't know and he just gives you vectors till you're out and just beautifully gliding along and that's the necessity of Guru Maharaj Ji and I think I have given you a pretty good example. Because uh I have experienced sometimes, it really gets rough and everything like that and you just take it right between two aeroplanes if it's foggy and everything, the mountains and they can see all the mountains when you are coming to Denver on the radarscope and they'll clear you right through. They can give you so good vectors, they can clear you right through two hills and it's just, it's just fantastic and that is why we need a person who can cue us, you know this is like um I was telling you a moment ago that well, you know it's like how do we know which is our feeling of mind and which is a feeling of what's really strong in us, what's really beautiful in us. But if you can't judge it, that means, start taking vectors from Guru Maharaj Ji and until you are all cleared up, everything is fine, you just fly along that path and that's just really beautiful and that is the example of agya.

You see that's why agya is important. What agya is, it's like really airplane, that airplane is obeying an agya of the radar control and if he doesn't he might as well forget it for himself and that, that's just, that's just a reason, you know, why sometimes people get so lost without agya, without that, without those vectors. Because they don't know where they are going and they are still proceeding, they are proceeding full throttle and they don't even know where they are going and it's like this is a life, not a play and to take big chances like that with this life, I think it's very dangerous. Just really, really dangerous because, if you lose it once, you don't know if you are going to get it again or not and what we have here, some people say, "Oh, we want to enjoy this life." I'll tell you, there is a magnificent way to enjoy this life, beautiful way to enjoy this life because then you can understand it's like if everything, if anything is a mystery, you can never enjoy it because you are worried about, "What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?" If something is a mystery, you can never enjoy it, you know, but if something is not a mystery, it's something, it's something completely revealed, then you can perfectly enjoy it. Then you know what you are doing.

If I put, put you into my Bora (Maserati Sports Car) and say, "Drive it," you won't like it at all because you don't know where to shift and which, which switches to play along with and where does thing happen from and where does the steering go up and down, means you don't know anything like that. But I know. It's fine for me. Just race it, race it, race it, (laughter) it's okay and if it, it's just like, if I put you in a cockpit and say, "Fly." I'll tell you, you'll be scared because you don't know which, which toggle to play along and if this happens what to do, how to turn the aeroplane and this and that but if you know, like the captain knows, it's a pleasure to fly, it's a beauty to fly.

Side B

And this is, this is some, like uh when I was on the tour, Mata Ji, we, we used to have long discussions and Mata Ji was really against that plane. "Oh you shouldn't fly it. It's very dangerous." It's because she didn't know because she used to see this big, huge dash program from me "Ah you know how to figure out all these things" because you know more than half these switches are circuit breakers, you don't even play around with them and that's why they look so complicated because in a row there are about 50 of 'em and you see all these and you say "Wow, look at all those switches and they are not even switches they are circuit breakers and all you got to do is just hit the pop, power buttons, push 'em down and it, it just, just feels, just looks so complicated but it's really not and so premies, I have told you this now and I know it.

This is not new, not at all. I, I probably told you a long time ago, whatever I am telling you right now. Maybe examples are a little bit new, maybe they're not. But it's up to you to understand, to realize this Knowledge but look, perfection is something that we are going to. Understand? Perfection is not coming to us, we are going to perfection. Keep that in your head. Some people think, "Oh, just sit back and relax", and perfection is going to dump on you. No. We are going to perfection and if we are proceeding towards perfection, we have a way to go and we should watch out where we step. Because the most important part, the most important place. It's our life's desire, wish, longing, to be there, to be where the perfection is and once you are there, I can't explain, it's all gone because there are no more desires, no more wishes, no more wills, you are just one with it and it's beautiful.

So now uh if somebody knows how to sing a song, maybe they might sing a song for you. You might be bored with these satsangs. (no) Again it begins now oh okay Longfellow was just telling me they're going to have a skit, you better watch out and after that people can come and receive Holy Breath and go and really what I would like you to do is to start from you know a rope and if you wanna go you can go and if you wanna still stay you can just come back and sit in your seat, it's up to you.

(Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!)

That balcony will fall down fast if I start singing a song. Where is? What is?

(Attempts to sing begin and succeed)

I love you my Lord
Your grace is overflowing
I love you my Lord
You are all knowing

Aren't, aren't, aren't you going to move this chair somewhere

I was just thinkin' about it, we have been talkin' lately about prachar and you know it's, it's pretty funny. I live in Los Angeles and there doesn't seem to much activity going on here and I think premies should wake up now, just about time they should and start doing prachar because it's really important tell people about this Knowledge and you know, it's like uh the way to go about it, instructions will be given to you and there are some premies who want to also start the projects, different, different projects they should contact uh Doug Whitten and Richard Profumo about that and uh really we should, you know, we should all get together and wake up people. Tell 'em there is something like this Knowledge, you know, they need it and this what everybody has bin lookin' for. Look at the highways. In Los Angeles everybody's just crawlin' in 'em and this and that which really shows that they're really searching for some, for something, they really want something. You can't blame 'em because they don't even know what's the name of it but they're all thirsting for it.

Thank you.

(Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!)

Song

Waiting the Word of the Master

Skit