Something Perfect

Prem Rawat (Guru Maharaj Ji) began his Third World Peace Tour in New York City at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, July 28, 1973.
Eight thousand people came to hear him give the following address.

Dear Premies,

Why I we have assembled here, or at least supposed to be assembled here, to listen and to talk about this strange thing. Supposedly a phenomena to the world called this peace. Everybody is looking for this, in different ways, of course. Some people think it's in money, some people think it's in the external pleasures, some people think it's in the Himalayas, some people think it's in the nature. People are looking for it in different, different ways, but really it is in one place -- right within our hearts.

It's like this, that our watch is tied to our wrist, and we are looking for it all over the house. We look in drawers, in our pockets, under our bed, everywhere, and we can't find it, and we are just going mad. We scratch our head, thinking where did we put the watch, just completely not understanding that it is actually tied to our wrist. When we see it there, in its proper place, we find it.

Now I think that's the same exact position with the whole world today. The whole world wants peace. Everybody wants peace. Now maybe we don't call it peace, maybe we call it peace of mind. Maybe we don't call it peace of mind, we call it Knowledge. Maybe if we don't call it meet er peace, we call it God. Maybe we don't call it God, we call it the Word. If we don't call it the Word, maybe we call it the primordial vibration. But it all comes to one point, that we need something. And that something that everybody is looking for is peace.

Out of all seven days, we have two different days, two different days and that's all. That is Saturday and Sunday, what we call the weekend. But where is peace? We don't want peace for two days, we want peace forever. We don't want to live in

peace for two days, and then be unsatisfied and in misery for five days. No, we want constant peace. Peace has been described to us as being constant within our hearts, and that's what we want.

So what is this peace that everyone talks about? Today, People think peace is in wealth, they think it's in a car, it's in Rolls Royce. They get a Rolls Royce for themselves, then wham! they start putting things on it. They put one thing on and they say, "Oh, that doesn't look nice," so they put on some other thing.

Probably everyone has seen how people buy their cars and the things they put on them are just incredible. Lights all over, and fenders all over, and the way they color it with all these snakes, and name their cars, and put in every type of option. Why? Because they want something, you see. They want to reach some point.

Now, there was a time, there was a time, when there were no airplanes. Then the Wright brothers came out with something that was a flying machine. Well, they worked on it, and finally they got it flying. After they got that working, they made a twin engine, then a four engine, then an amphibian. They made all these things trying to approach something.

Today they have come out with a 747, a DC-10, and a Concorde. After that, probably they are going to come out with something which is going to look like a telephone booth, you go in there with your luggage, and there is a dial. You take out your American Express card, or any card, you press that card into a slot and it goes to the computer, and checks if you have a good balance in a bank account. Then a light comes on which says "ready," and you just press the button "London." After five seconds you are in London.

And maybe, after this, something else is going to happen. Maybe they are going to take the world and put it on wheels so London comes rolling to you, instead of you going walking to London. If you people are not satisfied with this, I don't know what is going to happen. Because that's the maximum, and I don't know what's going to happen after that.

All this is quite possible, because we are looking and we do not have a limit. That means we will go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on -- well, obviously it won't finish! You see, it's like this: there are fifty people who go to a cinema to see a movie. They stand in a queue to get tickets, and the guy says, "Oh, there are fifty people out there." He starts cutting tickets and he thinks after some time fifty people will be

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over. But if those fifty people, instead of going into the theater, come back again into the line, and just go round and round and round and round and round and round -- is that line ever going to finish? No. Not until everybody's tired. or the ticket man says, "All right, I am tired -- finish it off." So this is what is going to happen with the world if we continue reaching to no point. Because we are not reaching to any real point, this is quite true. Whatever point we are reaching to is incomplete, is imperfect. We need something perfect. Something that starts with "p," and sounds like perfect.

Everybody in this world takes things and compares them to a perfect idea -- a perfect car, a perfect chair, a perfect suit. Everybody is trying to compare what they have to what is perfect, because that's what we want. But understand that that's not how perfection goes. Perfection is something else, beyond, beyond all the dimensions in which we are living. Perfectness is infinite, and the dimensions we are living in are finite.

Take a big huge Lincoln Continental, then take a small Mini-Cooper and open the back and try to fit the Lincoln Continental into the Mini-Cooper. It is, of course. impossible, because the Mini-Cooper is so small and the Lincoln Continental is so big. Now here both objects have a beginning to them, have a size to them. But what about finite and infinite? How are you going to fit an infinite thing into a finite thing?

What we need today, and what every Perfect Master comes in this world to reveal, is Knowledge. Now what is Knowledge? This is a big question. You might have heard the Mahatma Ji giving satsang. and talking about Knowledge. Maybe you've read posters talking about Knowledge. Many people came onto this stage and talked about Knowledge, and then maybe you go hit somebody's bumper and he talks about Knowledge. You watch a television program which talks about Knowledge. and you see a news article and it talks about Knowledge. What is Knowledge? Knowledge is that inner experience, that inner energy, that source by which we realize inner peace. It is that inner experience which we need.

What is food? See, there are two things which are absolutely necessary for us; one is food, and the other is eating of food. If we don't have food, we cannot eat food. All right? And if we have food, and do not eat it, it's no good. Obviously it's no good. So. the point is that two things are damn necessary for us -- to have food, and then to eat the food. That's how it is. There is Knowledge, there is that supreme energy within all of us which we have to realize, and then there is the realizing of that energy, actually understanding that energy within inside of us. That's what we. have to do, and that's called Knowledge.

What I am talking about might have different interpretations to it. Everybody who is sitting here might be understanding it differently. But understand this: we are talking about one thing that is common among all of us. If we are black, or if we are white -- it doesn't make a difference.

There is a very bad river in Washington. D.C.; it's a very dirty river. Two people go to that river, one is black, and one is white. The white man goes to the river, and the river says, "All right, because you are white. I will be neat and clean for

you. Go ahead -- jump in me and swim." Then the black man goes, and it says, "You are black, that's too bad. You. can't come into me." No! It's not like that.

See, this river is open to both. For a river there is no distinction Whatsoever. A river does not say, "No, you are black so you can't come." For a river both are equal. And a river doesn't say, "All right, because you are American, I'll let you in, and I'll be clean and nice and good to you. But because you are not American, I won't be nice and clean and good to you." Who we really are is the same no matter where we come from.

Today we have a distinction which says, "Oh, you are eastern, and I am western, and this is that, and this is that." Tell me one thing: who were we when east and west and north were not made? The world was made, and then human beings were made; human beings came into this world, and then came east, and then came north. Man, who made all this, wanted to go somewhere. And if he wanted to go somewhere. he had to presume, he had to presume four directions, which he obviously named as north, south. east, and west. He presumed it -- it didn't say right on the north pole, "north," n-o-r-t-h, north, so that he read it and said, "This is north," and then he went to the east and there was a big "east" written there and he said, "Well, this is east, this east" -- no! He presumed to divide up the earth because he wanted to navigate.

Realize who is God. Today if a scientist comes to us and says, "Do you want H₂O?" and then somebody comes to us and says, "Do you want pani?" and then somebody comes to us and he says, "Do you want wasser?" and then somebody comes to us and says, "Do you want water?" well, it's going to be the same thing. It does not matter in what language we describe it. In whatever language we say it, it's the same thing. It doesn't make any difference.

In the same way, this Knowledge has been described by all Perfect Masters in different manners and in different languages. To realize what they mean, we have to go to a Perfect Master. Why do we have to go to a Perfect Master? See, today, if we want water, it's so simple -- even in an airplane. A long time ago people used to say, "If a man is thirsty, he goes to water, not water to him."

In these days, it's completely different, and it goes like this: if you want water, you press a button and the hostess will come running to you and say, "What do you want?" and you just tell her that you want water, and then the water will come running to you. But it is obvious that the hostess had to go to a source of water, which was the tap. That water had to be filled from a source which was obviously a tap on the ground at the airport. And that water was coming from somewhere where there was a reservoir. The water from the reservoir was there because it was coming from rivers or from other natural sources. And the water there was coming from the ocean. And then there was water coming into the ocean from some other place.

It all leads up to a certain point. Maybe it leads up in a zigzag way, but it all leads us to one point. There was a source of water which eventually we had to reach in order to have some. The point that we have to understand is, what is the source? Until we reach the source, we cannot realize this Knowledge.

Knowledge is within inside of us, but we have to understand the way to realize it. Our face is right with us, but we cannot see

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it until and unless we have a mirror in front of us. That's the thing. We have to have a mirror. The mirror is the Perfect Master. Like water, he is also known by different names.

Some people call him Guru, which has become quite a funny word in the West, and some people call him Perfect Master, which is not a funny word in the West. We just call him in different ways, but what he is, is the one who can reveal to you Knowledge.

See, when a Perfect Master will come to you, he will not be stamped on his forehead saying, "Perfect Master: identified and witnessed by God, signed God." No! When he comes here, we have to realize him. Today everybody prays to Jesus and says, "Jesus, you are my Lord." What about the time when he came? There were very, very few people who said, "You are my Lord." People were saying, "Oh, no, he just can't be it, it's just impossible for him to be the Lord."

There was a time when Jesus was standing, and many, many people were coming up to him. Some were saying, "Well, we believe he is the Lord, he is the one who is supposed to come." Others said, "Oh no, he can't be it."

Everybody was using their intellect, which again is limited -- is very, very limited. So how do we understand, how do we understand when the Lord comes to us? By the Knowledge he reveals. Why do we want to love? Why do we want the Lord to come in this world? So that he can reveal something to us.

Suppose somebody is interested in music, right?, and "James Last" comes to New York. Well, to somebody who wants music, who loves music, that arrival of "James Last" will mean something. For instance, when I came into New York, thousands and thousands and millions and millions of people were awake; they weren't sleeping. And among those thousands and millions and millions of people, everybody was doing something. Each person was doing something and what he was doing meant something to him. Some people were working in the press, some people were working in television, some people were making a movie, some people were busy driving to their destinations, some people were busy shopping, some people were busy doing something, some people were busy doing something. Obviously, it meant something to them.

Then there were all these premies, there were all these devotees and members of Divine Light Mission. My arrival did mean something to them, and to other people it did not. Why? Because of a simple reason: there is something that has been given to the premies and that is the Knowledge. That Knowledge has been revealed to them. John realized Jesus as being his Lord because of that Knowledge. Jesus' coming did not mean anything to other people. Even if it meant slight bit, they didn't want it to mean anything, so they tried to abolish Jesus from this world.

Understand that the only identification we do have is Knowledge. And we can understand this Knowledge because it is quite possible to receive it in this 1973 world, in this 20th century. It is very, very, very possible. This is the year of the 20th century. Why? Because if we add one, nine, seven, and three, it comes out to twenty, right? So this is the year of the twentieth

century. Something has to happen in this year.

Actually, it is happening every year, but people do not realize it. For a blind person, the rising of the sun means nothing, and the setting of the sun means nothing. For him, it's all equal. But for people who have eyes, the rising of the sun means something to them, and the setting of the sun means something to them. To a man who has to always stay in shelter, raining or not .raining, does not mean anything. If it rains, it's going to do no harm to him. If it doesn't rain, it's going to do no harm to him at all So this is the point, that eventually, at some time, we have to receive the Knowledge.

Now, in this world, if we talk about peace as we do, people just don't understand. But peace is there. You know something? In this world everything is ready to be destroyed. It just takes one order, and everything can be abolished from the whole entire world. You won't see one single thing except water -- and you won't even be able to see that because you'll be dead. There will be nothing left.

The position is right: there are B-52's ready to blast off. there are missiles ready to blast off, there are submarines ready; everything is ready. If you try to run into the ocean, they'll follow you. Everything is just ready to go. But somebody, something is holding it back. Obviously something is holding it back. What is it that is not letting the world destroy itself? Well, that's the big mystery, this thing that is just making everything wait, and giving the world a chance. You know, that's it, that's the whole thing. What that something is, we have to realize.

See, obviously we understand that we are alive today, and we enjoy ourselves. We do all these actions, but what is the thing that is making us alive? Isn't that absolutely amazing? Somebody comes out with an automatic transmission, and you say, "Wow, fantastic!" You get something out there, outside yourself, and you say, "Fantastic, what a nice automatic transmission!" What about this thing, this body, that's completely automatic?

You have all these electric alarms, all these electrical gadgets. If a fire goes on, an alarm will go on, and sprinklers will burst open and shoot carbon dioxide and try to extinguish the fire. Well, what about this body? It already had that. If you touch fire. it'll automatically react to it, and then it'll heal itself up. When it gets hot, it'll perspire, the water will evaporate, and you'll be cool. It is all built right in, yet we search for it outside, and outside, and outside. But it's right there, still inside.

It's that dove we are searching for, that bird with the two stalks of wheat that mean peace. Or those two fingers we raise to mean peace. We are always searching for one thing -- peace. It's right within inside of us.

Peace has to be realized, it has to come out, it has to be understood within inside, otherwise, peace outside doesn't make a difference, you see? So we have to understand, and we have to realize that peace within inside of us.

Now I personally I don't I don't have to say anything see I can't promise anything to you except one thing. I can't say I will do this I can't say I will I will stop stop the war in Viet Nam; I I can't promise all these things. But I can promise you one thing. I can promise you satisfaction of mind, I can promise you peace. Cause I have a method.

Now this thing that is within inside of us, it does not mean a change of religion. You can be a Christian, still follow it; you can be a Hindu, still follow it; you can

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be anybody following any religion of any caste, creed, color, nationality, coming from the north or south pole, coming from underwater, overwater, underland, overland, anywhere. If you are human being, if you are human being -- that's it. That's good enough for you to realize this Knowledge, for you to experience the bliss within inside of us -- it's beautiful, it's fantastic. It's just that we cannot describe it in these words, otherwise it would be really, really fantastic to tell you. It is like trying to tell you the experience of pinch, and saying, "Oh, it hurts." Well, if you sprain your ankle or something, again it is going to hurt. But what that exact experience is, until you pinch yourself you cannot understand.

So this is my point. I want to make this absolutely clear to you. If you want peace, this is it. If you want peace, you are most welcome -- most, most, most, most welcome. If you don't want peace, well, you are most diswelcome. A man who does not want peace is not a human. Understand, every man walking with two legs is not a human. Everybody walking with two legs is not called a human. You should understand that. All right? You cannot identify a man by saying, "Oh, he is walking with two legs, so he is a human being." No! You can't do that.

We all want peace; our hearts are sincere. But it is like going into a shop of clothes and asking him to sell a car to you; going into a store of food and telling him to sell you a lens for your camera; walking into a store of cars and telling him to sell you an organ; and walking into an organ shop and telling him to sell you a video camera. It's absolutely impossible, you just can't get it. Sure, it's going to be a very great distress to you, but you can't get it. You are looking for it in a wrong place. You've got to go to a Perfect Master, see?

I don't say I am a Perfect Master as you people would think of a Perfect Master. I say I am a Perfect Master, but how do I say I am perfect? I don't say I am bodily perfect, but I'll say I'm perfect because I can give you, I can reveal to you the perfectness inside you. Anyone who is teaching you science, you call him a science master; and anyone who teaches you woodwork, you call him a woodwork master. Well, I can teach you perfectness, so I don't think it will be too bad for me to call myself a Perfect Master, or for you, to call me a Perfect Master. It does not mean that I become bodily perfect, or anything like that -- no! Not at all. And I don't claim I am a Messiah or anything like that. Just one simple thing -- if you want peace, all right; I can give you peace. That's it. That's the whole deal.

People have many, many misconceptions about us, but we do not want money. All right? We do not want money. Many people think that Knowledge requires money, and because you don't have it, you can't buy it. But you could never buy this Knowledge. If we start putting a price on it, it's going to be a bit of a problem for Divine Light Mission, because it's going to cost an enormous amount of money. Too much. It's going to cost too, too much.

You know all the money the government wasted to send Apollo out there? Well, that was for some achievement. And knowledge is the perfect achievement man has been looking for. I don't know how much it will cost -- much, much more. If I think of how much it's going to cost, if we assemble the whole world's wealth, everybody's wealth, and multiply it ten million times, still it'll be only one penny worth of it it -- that's all. So expensive.

So, we want to give it to people, and, well, we can't charge money to them because they won't be able to pay it, so we give it free. That's the only thing we can do. We give it free. And it's right within you. Within your hearts right now, you are alive because of that Knowledge, and if you receive that Knowledge, if you realize that Knowledge, you have peace of mind. That's all.

We are all looking for this thing everywhere. If a man walks in, and he hears this P.A. system, it's quite loud, isn't it? It's quite loud. But when an airplane comes, it doesn't even have a P.A. system, and its engines vroom and it's so loud. Understand? It's too loud. So this is the point, that in this world we have all these teeny meeny, teeny meeny things to satisfy us, but they don't. One Knowledge, when it comes roaring over persons, that's it, that's enough. That does satisfy us. That is what we have been looking for and that's very, very, very possible to realize in this world. That's all I have to say about it. There is not much to say about it really. We are trying to do all these things in this world, but we are going to reach no conclusion. That's because we are looking outside.

Today people think, "Wow. Peace is giving five pennies to a poor man." But really what is good in this lifetime? We must realize what is goodness, because goodness is something that is good and good is something-that lasts. What is in this world that can really last? Not our bodies. Not even this body lasts very long. It comes, and then six feet right under the ground, and that's it: finished. If you dig a grave

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after two or three months, you will find a skeleton. If we dig later, probably not even that. And that's the whole thing. Not even this body is permanent. So what about things that man has made? How can they be permanent?

Understand what is good, what is really permanent, and then, then, you can understand and realize what the aim of this human life is. We have to understand. Like, if somebody comes in here, and he just roams about, looks, and gets out of here, it's going to do him no good. Not at all. He must make his aim tostay in this hall, and if he can do that, it's perfect.

There are so many people sitting here, so many people. Well, some of them are premies, who have realized this Knowledge. They are sitting here. There are other people who have come here who saw posters, and are very interested in this Knowledge, and finally are going to take Knowledge. There are other people who just came here because of curiosity or they just were driving by and they saw these lights and knew something was going on, and are here just to see what's going on. And then there are the people who just came here for fun: they don't even have any reason to be here.

Its like this. There is one strainer you use for tea, and this strainer, when you pour tea into it, lets all the good tea go, and all the tea leaves that are no good, it keeps. That's one type of person in the world. All that is good, he leaves, he lets it go. And all that's bad in the world, he absorbs into him. Then there is one type of person who is like a grinder. He takes good and takes bad and grinds it up and makes nothing out of it. Then there is one person who is like a sieve. He takes what's good and leaves what's bad.

So there are three persons, and it's up to you what you want to be. If you want to be like the grinder and come out to no point, well, you can be that, it's quite possible. If you want to be like the strainer used in tea, that leaves all the good tea out, and takes in all those bad tea leaves which you are going to throw away, well, you can be that of course, it's quite possible. If you want to he that good sieve that takes and absorbs what's good and leaves what's bad, that's very, very possible too. You can absorb what's good in you and leave what's bad. Then this world will be beautiful for you. Because this world is beautiful.

Our minds, our perception has turned us into such a being, that we are absorbing every kind of thing. It's like radar. Radar was made in such a manner that it is picking up everything. It is picking up these lights, it is picking up airplanes, it is picking up weather, it is picking up everything. It's just becoming a great mess in there.

That is what actually has become our situation in this world. We are taking good things, and we are enjoying them a bit, and leaving them, and taking bad things and becoming very serious about it, and having to go through all this misery and everything and then it's all over. This is what the world is like. But if we understand that one good thing which is there, then really this world is beautiful for us. We have to first understand what is the greatest and the very best thing which is within inside of us. I can reveal that to you. That's all I've got to promise - that's all I have. I can reveal to you that Knowledge which is within inside of you.

You see, we come into this lifetime, and there'll be a time when we go. There is some purpose. God made this beautiful body and sent us here for some purpose; definitely there is some purpose. It's like this. America trains an agent, a spy, gives him a good heating, and spends money on him, and really makes him perfect. It spends 75.000 dollars on one spy, and makes him really go, really perfect, and teaches him karate, so that he is really a good spy. Then they send him on special mission to London, and he just goes to one of the very good hotels and goes to sleep. What is America going to think about him? "What a fool!"

Well, God made this beautiful body, gave it everything possible, made the whole entire world for it, made the whole entire nature for it, made this body the crown of all nature, of all God's creation. Man comes here and falls asleep, says, "All right," and presumes his own aim. He says, "Well, my aim is to eat, drink, and be merry." Surely what God is going to think about us is that we are good, great fools. We come into this world and do not realize why we have been sent.

Remember that history is a pendulum. Everybody has seen a pendulum; it swings back and forth. There is one point that swings all the way in front, and then goes right back. That's history. Well, people now know that, "Oh, if the Lord comes, we are not going to crucify him. If the Lord comes, we are going to try to really realize him." That's the upswing of the pendulum. It goes all the way to the top, and when the Lord comes, it goes right back again. That's the way the whole thing is, you know?

If somebody comes to you and says, "I am Jesus!" and starts shouting and doing all these things, probably somebody is going to come and arrest him and put him into a mad hospital and say he is insane. But if Jesus comes here, or even somebody who dresses like Jesus, well, he is going to be in an awful lot of trouble. People are going to make fun of him. If Jesus comes, having no intention to fool anybody, having no intentions to do anything except preach Knowledge to people and he comes in his white robe and long hair, as we see him in the pictures, he comes to us and says, "Now I have come as I promised to you," people are not going to like it very much. They are going to think he is insane -- not realizing who he is, you see? History is always a pendulum, and this is very true.

Maybe there will be many people laughing at what I am speaking. But this is what I have experienced in this lifetime. This is a fact. This is what is going to happen again and again until we really realize this Knowledge, which is the energy that is right now making us alive.

Well, that's all I have to say about this. And next it's completely up to you. You see, there are two types of people. One is the kind that we have to tell them: put your left foot in front, and put your right foot in front, and then put your left foot in front, keep your nose pointed toward me, and then put your left foot in front, and put your right foot in front, and then they come to you until you tell them to stop. The other people, you just beckon them and they come to you.

Well, I have told you about Knowledge, about that inner experience, and if you want it, it's quite possible. But if you don't want it, presume whatever you like. It's like, you can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Thank you very much.

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