LIVING GRACE
when You sing, my Mother,
and the doves in the trees take wing.
Shri Mata Ji speaking at Satyalok Ashram, India, April 13, 1971.
Dear lovers of the Truth, God once said,"I am hungry for love, and those devotees who remember Me with all their hearts, I shall keep in safe shelter. I shall make Myself theirs. Indeed, it is only because I am imprisoned in their hearts, that I come into this world."
People are getting trickier day by day, you know, and even children can get caught up in it. These are tricky times. But if' all the care which we lavish on other things was put into doing what God asks, our troubles would be over.
Everybody wants to be someone nowadays; nobody wants to feel unimportant. And so the rich fight the poor, and there are trouble spots all over the world, and man has so much trouble to contend with. Nobody wants to be under anyone else. We all want to be independent. But we always forget about God when society becomes stormy. We make such a great sacrifice, we forget God, just so that we can be a political animal. We put God on one side, and our own powers and such on the other. If only man would stay with the inner Truth, and leave this outer world in God's hands, life would be so perfect! We fight all our wars to protect our own interests, anti forget, we forget that when we were in the womb, there was someone looking after us.
While we were in the womb, all our needs were provided. Who was it, who was looking after us so well? If man only thought about this, there would be an end to war. Or again, if he asked himself what right he has to destroy human life, when he cannot create it.. But he doesn't think. So it is said that the mind fails in time of stress, and the population explodes.
When does the population explode? When man behaves like an animal. Why do we call man an animal? Because an animal has no wisdom, and relies entirely on sensual pleasures. Animals have no forethought. What has God not given us? Has He withheld something from us, that He gave to men of earlier ages?
There is a power called the Father, who sowed the seeds of this entire Creation, and it is His own garden. Have you ever heard of someone who wanted to destroy his own garden? Does a gardener labor for days on end, watering his seeds, and nourishing his plants, and then decide to destroy them? In springtime, when the plants are just coming up, and everything is in blossom? This Creation is God's garden, do you suppose that He wants to ruin it? But He deforms His garden when we completely forget Him. Only when men forget God do they build their own destruction. Our history books tell us as much. So many troubles come down upon man's head. So the Saints warn us:
0 Mind, you carry on your back
your actions, like a heavy pack.
No wonder that your shoulders ache.
Another straw's enough to break
your neck. So drop this stupid load.
This is the last house on your road
where you can find food. Be Love's guest.
Beyond here's desert. Stay and rest.
Saint Kabir tells those wise enough to hear Him:
Tremble, friends, and watch your breath.
Your life is in the hands of death.
And then again, it is written:
You think too much about your friend, and never guess your love will end. Such love is bound to make you sorry. When your lover's late, you worry. Loose those heart strings while you may - death might kiss him any day.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna makes it very plain to Arjuna, that one who is thinking of sensual pleasures at the time of death, will be born again and again in animal bodies more suited to such tastes.
This is why God said:
If your love is always true,
not one breath do you forget Me,
always, I remember you.
34
Mata Ji the Mother of Prem Rawat aka Maharaji. She disowned him.
Mata Ji the Mother of Prem Rawat aka Maharaji. She disowned him.
Guru Maharaj Ji, by His grace, is revealing the same remembrance, the same devotion which all great souls and divine Incarnations have revealed in their own times. Guru Maharaj Ji asks us to meditate and surrender constantly. Today, people's meditation is not constant. One cannot constantly count prayer beads, there are bound to be interruptions. One cannot read scriptures twenty-four hours a day, because there are other things that must be done. Business-men have to answer the telephone, and housewives have to cook. How can they do these things, and remain constant in meditation?
Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, "Remember My Name constantly, and fight." He is very definite that the remembrance must be constant. Guru Maharaj Ji has taught every one of us that same, unbroken love, those same techniques. It is really our great loss, if we do not meditate.
Guru Maharaj Ji is showering His mercy on us all. When the sun rises in the morning, it fills with light all those rooms that are open to the sun. But it is not the sun's fault if its light cannot penetrate to the basement. That is the fault of the man who built such an inaccessible place, where it is always dark, even when the sun is shining. In the same way, a man whose heart is closed to love cannot enjoy Shri Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge. Until reverence and love fill the heart, we are unprepared for that Knowledge. If Lord Krishna had felt that everybody on the battlefield was ready for Knowledge, He would have given it to them.
But He didn't give it. Was there something wrong with the Knowledge? Or were those people simply not ready for Knowledge, able only to think in terms of earthly kingdoms? 'They met in battle because earthly kingdoms were all they could understand. But Arjuna recognized, even then, that to fight is a sin, even though his own property had been improperly taken. He knew that to kill even these cruel and treacherous warriors would be a sin. But Lord Krishna was the eternal soul: He could read the mystery. He knew Arjuna was sinless, that he considered it a sin to kill even such treacherous persons as those. So, on that very battlefield, where all the warriors were drawn up ready to fight, He gave Knowledge to Arjuna. The true Religion was transmitted there. Satsang showered upon that battlefield like a cloudburst, but did anyone pay any attention? Only Arjuna was aware of it, because only he was thirsty to know the Truth.
So the first thing every premie should do is to tidy up his life. If there are still loopholes for deceit in your character after you have received this holiest Knowledge, then the Truth will still be veiled from you. If you have the very least doubt, you should at once go to Shri Guru Maharaj Ji, and have it cleared up. If a man comes to a fountain, but still does not quench his thirst, is that the fault of water? Please find out where the mistake lies. Please ask Shri Guru Maharaj Ji why your mind is not yet constant in devotion and meditation.
It is because of doubt: doubts are treacherous, and if you entertain them, they will ruin you. Why is Shri Guru Maharaj Ji the Most High? Because His words, like the sun, have the power to banish darkness, remove all doubt, and fill your hearts with light.
He will fill our hearts with light, if we have hearts like Shabari's. Shahan was such a true lover of the Lord. One day, Mattunga Rishi, who was her Guru Maharaj Ji, told her that the time would come when the Lord would take form as the Hero of Raghu's race, that He would leave His father's kingdom, and lead the life of hermit in the forest. Mattunga Rishi Said how fortunate she was, for her eyes would rest upon the Lord, for Whom His own heart longed. And He told her that Lord Rama, when He came, would visit her own hut.
Every day, year after year, she swept the path on which Lord Rama's Feet might walk. Every day, year after year, she picked the freshest fruit from the trees, in case Lord Rama chanced to pass that day, for she trusted her Mattunga Rishi's word. If you had been there, you might have doubted, or been fainthearted. But she was sure. Her Guru Maharaj Ji had
36
spoken. How could she doubt her Lord? So, day after day, , year in, year out, she swept the path, and picked fresh fruit and flowers for the Lord.
These modern devotees say, "Our Guru Maharaj Ji has certainly given us the True Name, it's just that. our minds aren't settling on it." Kabir wrote a poem about this, He said:
If you sit for meditation,
but your mind's somewhere outside,
you will feel no dedication,
for a starched cloth can't be dyed.
I like this statement of Saint Kabir's very much. Your mind is wandering all over the place, and talking to you about your relatives, and how your son did in his exams, and so on. Your mind is caught up in a hundred thousand worries, and your body is sit- ting for meditation. How can such a busy mind possibly be lifted into meditation? If Lord Buddha had thought that worldly affairs were everything, He might not have found God. But something was missing, and He could feel it, so He left His queen,
His son, His parents, His brothers, His friends, His kingdom and subjects, His prestige, His comforts and pleasures, took the cloth of' a beggar, and searched with great austerity in the forests, seeking God. Why? Because He was missing God. He was longing for God. He had no other aim. He wasn't devoted to riches, He wasn't devoted to having sons, He was simply devoted to God.
You also must love the Lord as Buddha did. You too must become a lover at Guru Maharaj Ji's Lotus Feet, and see what happens to you when you are dip- ped in that Holy y Name. See how full of color you become! Please look inside you, spend some time in meditation, and find out for yourself how much joy there is in being detached from the world, and attached to Guru Maharaj Ji's Lotus Feet. Meditate constantly on the Holy Name. This is why Guru Maharaj Ji has told you that even if' you can do nothing else, you should constantly meditate, and remember the Holy Name.
Mata Ji the Mother of Prem Rawat aka Maharaji. She disowned him.
37