Dear premies, welcome to Guru Puja and "semi-Holi." I know that we just had Holi in Marbella but just for that little extra, you've traveled many miles. Some of you couldn't come to Marbella. But you're all here now and it's happening.

I was just in my trailer watching the video and someone was giving satsang. Then the band was playing the songs and one of the musicians stuck his hand out to feel for the rain. That's about the time I decided that I better come out and start giving satsang. It starts to get pretty cold.

We have all come here to listen to some satsang. And we all want to listen to some satsang. And then all of a sudden it starts to rain and we all put up our umbrellas and plastic sheets and waterproof gear and we all do these things.

And all I can see are a lot of premies standing up and there are umbrellas here and there and plastic sheets trying to pro- tect everyone from the rain because we know that the feeling of getting wet is not so nice. We know that if we get wet in cold weather, we might catch a cold. Well, that's true. And the doctors have told you, and your mother has told you when you were little, "Don't get wet. Don't get wet." And it carries through in your life. And here you are. Adults and whatever. And you don't want to get wet.

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Prem Rawat aka Maharaji The Perfect Master, Lord Of The Universe And Teacher Of The Possibility Of Peace

Prem Rawat aka Maharaji The Perfect Master, Lord Of The Universe And Teacher Of The Possibility Of Peace

It's the same thing with Guru Maharaj Ji. Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Don't get wet by the rain of mind." Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Don't let that mind come in your life. Don't let that mind come and soak you. That's no good. It's not going to do anything for you." For this physical rain we put up our protection and somehow, maybe, we don't get wet.

But what about for our minds? What about our egos? What about for our craziness? What about for our different ideas and different concepts and different things that we just completely get into, that are just showered upon us whether or not we like it? What is our protection against that? Who is going to protect us from that? Who is going to protect us from that rain?

Today is June 21st, the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. And isn't this what the world promises us? Today is the first day of summer. The world promises us happiness, as though what you're looking for is already there in your life. You don't need to look anymore.

People in this world think about cults, think about religions, think about spiritual people, and almost countless things like that. Trips. And yet aren't we all involved in some kind of a trip of this maya? Aren't we all involved in some kind of a trip in this world? Every one of us.

It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant if we want to be involved in the trip of this world or we don't want to be involved in the trip of this world. We are. We just simply are caught.

And because you are caught in one - it's like when you're driving a car. Many people have cars and many people drive them. And everybody likes to think that their car is nicer than the other guy's. Doesn't matter if it's the same exact kind of car, but yours is always better than the other one. Just like the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. A lot of wishful thinking that we do in this world. And that's all it is. It's a wishful thinking.

Imagine this world if there were to be nobody coming in this world and even mentioning liberation, salvation, peace, happiness, bliss. What would happen? I ask myself, would this world be any different? Would this world be any different if such things as peace and happiness did not exist? And the answer to that is a very simple one. No. Because this so-called world doesn't have peace and happiness. It doesn't make a difference.

Salvation, liberation - concepts, ideas as such - are just wandering ideas, but the true realization of that happiness, does that really exist in this world? Is there anything that a human being living in this world could just go somewhere and grab and say, "This is it.

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This is peace. This is happiness"? No.

Because peace is within. That happiness is within. Thai love is within. And in this world, how many times do we look for that offer of satisfaction, for that offer of peace, for that offer of love that we all so desperately want? I mean, we like to think that, yes, we really want that, that yes, we really look for that.

And yet does it ever happen in our lives? No. Only when Guru Maharaj Ji comes in our life, only when somebody who can really offer us that, only when somebody can really give us that - when that happens, when somebody comes in this world. Not of ideas, not of concepts. In one sense, it may not even be of our own type, because to us the world is everything. Whatever this world has got to offer is it. "Look, there is nothing else behind it."

And when Guru Maharaj Ji comes in our lives, he doesn't offer us this world. He offers us Knowledge. He offers us something that is within inside of us that is our own true satisfaction. Offers us ourselves. Gives us ourselves.

This world always gives us something else, but not ourselves. The world gives us, maybe, all these desires. Maybe it gives us money. Maybe it gives us cars. Maybe it gives us airplanes. Maybe these are all the things that the world has to offer.

And yet nothing in this world really gives us ourselves. And that's what we need. What are we going to do with all these cars? And what are we going to do with all these airplanes?

I mean, look at this whole airplane scene that's going on. There were all these people and everybody and this guy, Laker, just got up in the air and he is really doing pretty good. He's got all these brand new DC-10's and then so many other people have DC-10's and this is happening and that's happening. All of a sudden, one goes down the drain and they say, "Look. All of them are faulty." They found cracks in a few others and that's it.

And everybody in England was really mad. In this interview, it was really funny - to me it was really funny - this one woman said, "You know these guys knew about this all the time. Why didn't they do it before? Why did they have to do it now?"

And all I could say to myself was, "Lady, if you knew that this aircraft had a crack in the engine mounting you wouldn't be boarding this airplane." Who would? Who would board an airplane if they knew that it was going to go down?

And look at all this scene. Look at all this hassle that this world is offering us constantly.

This whole nuclear power thing. I mean, there's so many jokes about this nuclear power thing. There are movies out there to freak you right out. Even if you are for nuclear power, take one look at this movie and you are not.

What is this world giving us? What is this world trying to give us? And the question is not what this world is giving us in one sense, but what has this world even got to offer us? If we can't have ourselves, then what is it to have all this?

It reminds me of that one story one of the initiators was telling about this guy who always wanted a lot of money and who always wanted a big place to live and who had all these ideas and concepts. He was a gangster. And one day this guy dies. And he doesn't know that he has died. He is met by this other person and he's taken to this place and everything that he can even imagine, all he has to do is imagine it and it's his. Just imagine it and it's his.

He gets into it and he wants everything and at first he likes it. Just like us. At first, he likes it. This is what he has always wanted. All he has to do is just think about it and he gets it.

And then all of a sudden the whole picture changes. Well, he can think about it and he'll get it but what he really wants he can't get. And that's the way it is. That's the way it's always been. And that's the way it is right now.

To us, what is the most important thing in our lives? We don't know. Could be anything. How are people of this world just so confused? Sometimes you can just see that they're so confused that they don't know what the thing is that this life really wants. Nobody has any idea. Nobody has any feeling.

I mean they get up and on television they talk about this happened and that happened. And news commentaries and movies and films, and they're reflecting nothing but what you already know.

Where is the true meaning of life? Whatever happened to that? What happened to the sincere understanding of why we are here? I mean, television is the "greatest advancement." A very big advancement. And yet one single television station which focuses on one simple thing - why are you here?

If you could only know why you are here then you could know if you want to watch a movie or not watch a movie. If you only knew why you were here, a lot of the guesswork would go away. And yet it is presenting all these ideas, and all these theories and all these concepts …

There's these people who are called intellectual. Mr. Know-'em-alls, you know. What they think is right, correct, true. They don't care about the other person at all. Even if the other person is saying exactly the same thing that they are saying, still they are right and the other person is wrong. And sometimes, this is the kind of wheel that we get caught in. Sometimes this is the up and down and up and down of this mind that we get caught in.

A simple thing in our lives can "disattract" us from our goal, from our purpose. I mean, for all purposes it's raining right now. It is. And it's leaking on the stage and it's leaking backstage and there are spots where I guess the plastic that's supposed to keep it waterproof is dipping at places and the water is just pouring out back there. And all this is happening.

And yet, what is it to us? Right now if the sun came out, what would happen? Nobody would even think about it. It would just be, "Yeah, fantastic. Hurrah!" Everybody would get dry and then everything would be A-OK.

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It was raining in Orlando. I wasn't there. I was giving darshan. I could see it was raining. Some of the premies who were coming through the darshan line were soaking wet. And you could see the videos and there were these initiators with yellow waterproof things on and the microphone was all covered with plastic. They were just trying to give satsang through it all.

Premies over there have been in their tents and possibly were even thinking about coming here and then all of a sudden it starts raining so they duck in their tents and they go to places where it isn't raining so much. And then all of a sudden they hear, "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji is giving satsang." So there was a whole line. The premies were coming over.

Look at that one hour of rain. Even if it rained twenty-four hours, what is the significance of twenty-four hours in our own lifetime? What is it? What are twenty-four hours worth in our lifetime? What do we think about a day?

I mean, look at what people do with Sundays. They just go and lie down for a nice lazy day and that's what they want. And we're talking about twenty-four hours. Perhaps only one hour. Perhaps only two hours.

And yet, what is the significance of two or three hours that we have in our lives? Nothing. We can be waiting for a bus and it doesn't mean anything to us. Or we could be walking somewhere or accomplishing nothing in general and you can see that when it comes to satsang, just when it comes to that point of the real you (not the you that's been plastered up, but the real you) it becomes a major affair. It becomes a major thing. A thing that you don't care about or you wouldn't necessarily care about, all of a sudden becomes a major thing.

And this is a "disattraction" of the mind. This is where the mind wants to take us.

But look at it. What are we talking about? What are we all here for? Why are we even all sitting in this rain? You know? I mean some people really don't care. Some people don't even have proper clothes for rain but they're just sitting.

But it's our own experience that's going to take us to that place. I don't care. I don't think the premies that don't have anything on in terms of rain-proofing are more dedicated than the premies who have something on or vice versa. But it's their own experience that says more. Our own dedication to Guru Maharaj Ji says more. Our own love for Guru Maharaj Ji says more.

When we really have understood that, everybody tries to lead their lives in one way or the other. Everybody has a set pattern. The French have it different and then every Frenchman has it different. The Germans have it different and then every German has it different. The English, of course, have it different and then every Englishman is different. Canadians have it different and every Canadian has it different.

And yet, no one in this world is concentrating on the most important thing. Why are we here? What are we doing in this world? Are all the things that we see, all the things that we perceive, all the things that we want, all the things that we desire - are these really and truly the important things why we are here?

What is most important? What is truly important? That real love that we all want in our lives, for a change, that real understanding that we all want in our lives, for a change - the Truth that we all want, that love that we all want, the love that flows, the love that is really true. Not the idiosyncrasies of this world. Not the "you and me's" of this world. But really, that Truth that Guru Maharaj Ji can give us.

An initiator was saying that there are people who can't relate to me, who can relate to Knowledge but can't relate to me. And then there are people who can relate to me but can't relate to Knowledge. And it's really true. It's really true. There are these people who want to relate.

We have to go beyond that point. There is nothing to relate to.

A tributary that is destined to join that river can't sit there and say, "Hmm, I don't know if I want to go there." A river cannot flow upstream. It is a law of nature. A river cannot say, "But, you know, my destiny is to join the ocean. If I just make a quick right here and go over this mountain, the ocean is right there. Then I can join it." No. Why?

Isn't that what the river does? Isn't what the big rivers who can make it - who constantly flow and

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Prem Rawat aka Maharaji, The Perfect Master and Lord Of The Universe Who Has A Huge Fat Gut

flow for miles and miles and then just merge into the ocean - isn't that what those rivers are doing? And can't the river decide, "How about a quick left, over this mountain, under the pass and over the bridge and here I will be?"

You see, this is what we have to understand in our lives - that that's not the picture. We paint a picture like the famous picture of the Mona Lisa smiling. And the word "Mona Lisa," I know in India, people wouldn't relate to it. They've never seen Mona Lisa, never heard the name. Period. Maybe, people in high society and people who've visited America or lived there for a long time might know. But in India, with my friends, I never heard of the Mona Lisa. Didn't know who she was. I couldn't care less who she was, as a matter of fact. I didn't even have a concept about her.

And in America or in England or in France or in Germany, people know the Mona Lisa. And she's smiling. (Don't you think Mona Lisa ever cried? Probably after she finished with that painting, she cried and cried. Probably got sore all over sitting there in one position all that time, smiling.)

And this is the way we paint the picture of happiness. This is the way we paint the picture of Guru Maharaj Ji. This is the way we paint the picture of Knowledge. There is sweet little us and there is sweet little Knowledge and it's just going to happen. Who needs Guru Maharaj Ji?

Or to some there is us, there is Guru Maharaj Ji and who needs Knowledge? We all have our pictures, we all have our ideas, we all have our philosophies, so-tosay. And yet which one is true? Which one is, in fact, true? Who can paint a picture of the ultimate union? Who can paint a picture of the perfection? Who can paint a picture of what's always been there?

A miracle is performed every second in this work: Every second a miracle happens. Every zillionth of second a miracle happens. But nobody calls it that. You know why? Because we have understood how ii works. To me, it's still a miracle. I know why it rain:. and yet it's still a miracle. I know why the sun shines And yet, still it's a miracle.

But people in this world think they know it. There's no miracle. "Wow. It rains. Don't you know it's so simple. In the ocean, the water gets hot. It evaporate. and becomes a cloud, then it travels over and then rains."

Well, why don't you do it? Why don't you try making it rain? Why don't you try shining a sun like, the sun that shines? Why don't you make it clear Why don't you make the clouds come and go? Why don't you make the howling winds happen? Not on a small scale for a 16-millimeter movie, but on the real scale as it really happens.

And we give an explanation to everything in this world. Everything has an explanation. I mean, just look at it. We see a cowboy movie and all these cowboys are always huge. They're big. You know why cowboys are so big? Always? It's because the set that they make, the buildings and the bars and all the things you see are one foot smaller than proper scale. And so when the cowboy stands in front of it, his head is almost touching the ceiling. He looks huge. Everything is just a foot smaller, to scale. So when they walk down the street, they look huge. And to us, we never think that. I mean the first time I heard that, it's just like "God, look at that." Here you think these guys are seven feet tall, six feet tall but the guy's probably the same height as me. But he looks six feet tall.

A premie sent me a tape of this radio show that was done a long time ago. And it was really beautiful. And I remembered it. I remembered everything that went on. And it was really beautiful. And the way he did it was really incredible.

He interviewed a premie who said that she was in India looking for peace, looking for happiness, looking for something in her life. And she went to Baba and she was physically in bad shape. I mean, her quest was to find something in her life. But she had a picture painted in her head. She had a picture painted that if she goes to India, she'll find it. Thousands of people go to India just for that reason. It's because they have a picture painted in their heads that if they go to India, that's where Truth is.

Truth is everywhere. Truth is everywhere. Look at it. We open the Bible and it says, "God is omnipresent. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient." What is the purpose of going to the church? Why do we go to the church? Why does there have to be a confession booth? Why can't you just confess anywhere?

The same thing happened with Mohammed. Mohammed was lying with his feet towards the mosque. Here comes the priest and says, "Don't you

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know that you're not supposed to put your feet towards the mosque?" And he says, "Well, then, take them and put them where there is no God. Change the direction of my feet if you think that's the house of God - God lives in it. Then put my feet in the direction where there is no God."

And we paint our pictures. In India, there is one person I know extremely well. And this person will bow down in front of every temple. And coming out of her home in Dehra Dun, there was a tunnel. And right past this tunnel was a temple. And every time, we'd go into the mouth of the temple, she'd roll down the window and toss a coin out. Every single time.

And there was this premie who knew the guy who used to collect all the money that was thrown out and then go to all the other temples, you know.

There are very wealthy priests in India and they have these decorated idols. They go in front of the idol and offer offerings to the idol and everything. And of course, the idol is not going to accept those offerings. How can it? The offering goes to the priest's house or wherever he wants it diverted.

But what would you think would happen if one day after the temple is closed, God's resting - and he is in there collecting all the money and cleaning it up a little bit - and all of a sudden the idol moved and said, "Where are you taking that, Buster? That's all mine."

What do you think would be the position of that poor priest? He'd be half scared to death. And he would think about it and think that somebody's playing a joke on him.

God. Everybody has a picture of God. Children. They have a picture of God. This big, huge man. He can fly in a leap. Able to cross tall buildings in one leap. Faster than a speeding bullet. This immaculate thing, immaculate being. We have it in our own ways. People who believe in Ram, people who believe in Krishna, people who believe in Mohammed, people who believe in Christ, people who believe in Buddha, have their own gods in their own different formats.

Every one of us has our different ideas of what that Creator really is. Every one of us thinks that we are right. And yet, all it is, is just our painting. And Guru Maharaj Ji comes, Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world and everybody thinks that Guru Maharaj Ji is also going to pick up a piece of canvas, a bunch of paint brushes and start painting a picture. We'll all see the picture and ta-da! That'll be it. Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world and we all think that we know the kind of picture Guru Maharaj Ji is going to paint.

But Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world, that's true. But he doesn't paint a picture. No. We translate. After a Perfect Master leaves, disciples take what he has said and try to paint it into a picture. But never the Perfect Master. Perfect Master never paints a picture because he knows there isn't a picture to paint. That picture that he would paint is already within every one of us. That thing, the ultimate goal of life, is within, already within all of -us.

And yet we are ignorant. We do not know. We are unaware. And that's no sin. That's no crime. If we do

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not know, we do not know. And that's why, every time, the Perfect Master comes into this world to give us, to teach us, perfection. If we all knew, do you think a Perfect Master would come? Do you really think so?

You know, sometimes we are holding an IDP candidate program at the residence. And sometimes I go in there. I would go in, "Have you got any questions?" For my first question. "Have you got any questions? Would you like to ask any questions?"

Because if they have any questions, they can ask me. I will answer them. I'll gladly answer them. Because I understand that they do not know. And I accept that and there is nothing wrong with that. You know, my theory is - and I have said this a lot of times - that a person who asks a hundred times, if he is not clear, if he is not sure, and asks a hundred times to be clear, is a lot smarter than the person who assumes that he knows. And if they have a question, if they have a doubt - because I know that they have mind and I know their mind troubles them, just like every one of you here.

And if they have a question, ask me. And sometimes, they don't ask. And this happens with initiators, too. Sometimes they just won't ask me a question. And lot of times I have said, "What do you think, you are perfectly realized souls or something? That you don't have a question any more?" And even after that they don't budge. I just feel like getting up and leaving. And yet I know that they have those questions and that's why I come the next time and ask the same exact questions, "Do you have a question? Would you like to ask a question?"

And there are those differences that we try to paint. "Guru." To me, Guru Maharaj Ji is an extremely highly respected thing in my life. To me, you can hardly commit a crime against God. Because there are so many gods. Who are you offending? It's questionable. Well, it's so clear. The Hindus have their own god and he wants them to do a very particular thing. And Muslims have their own god and he wants them to do a very particular thing.

Here is the thing. The Jewish god is different than the god of the Christians. That's not true. And there are so many fragments and there are so many things. Because obviously the god of Muslims, the god of Muslims, does not - definitely does not - object if Muslims eat cow. But the god, the god of Hindus, definitely objects if you eat a cow. So what do you do? What's the sin and what's a crime? It all depends, doesn't it?

Because there are so many different gods in this world. There's so many different religions in this world. And they all have their own rule, own law enforcement, own police uniforms. In India, they have their heads shaved and wear saffron clothes. In Western countries they wear a black robe with a white collar. All different uniforms': All different reinforcements. All different things. And yet, isn't the Truth all away from it? Is that where Truth sits? Is that where the Truth lies?

Truth is within us. That picture that we are trying to paint so much outside is already within us. And we have to look inside. We have to open up inside. We have to understand what's inside of us, not outside of us. But inside of us. And that's why Guru Maharaj Ji comes in this world. He doesn't paint a picture. He just says, "Look. Here it is. Open your heart and let me tell you something. Let me show something."

Because we go blind. We go blind because what we see, what we comprehend is only this world. This world becomes everything to us and our proportions are completely distorted. Oh yes, I mean this world is there and we live in it. And we have to live in it. If we want to live, then where else are we going to live? We have to live in this world. But the proportions get completely distorted and that's where the problem comes. That's where the problem arises.

And Guru Maharaj Ji just says, "Look. That's all the matter there is with you. What you see, is what you believe." An initiator got up and he was giving satsang and he said, "And what do we all want to have to do with this illusion?" And the first reaction, "This is not illusion. This is real, you know. Look. It's here, man. This is real. Can't you see it? Can't you feel it? Can't you touch it?"

So according to our theory, what you can feel, what you can touch, what you can see, is real. And what you cannot touch, what you cannot feel, what you cannot see is unreal. And that's the whole problem why people couldn't recognize Jesus. Their god couldn't be touched, couldn't be seen and couldn't be felt. And when Jesus walked this Earth he could be seen, he could be felt, he could be touched. People couldn't understand that. They wanted a god who, if they went to touch, their hand would go right through his body. Just transparent. A shadow, a ghostly shadow.

And Guru Maharaj Ji shows us something which is real, which is true. Because Guru Maharaj Ji brings us into this world and shows us something, gives us that realization, shows us what God really is. In its true form. That God that has no religion, is bound to no religion, is not abducted by a religion. But that's what the religions do. They abduct God. They steal Him. Get a copyright on Him. If you don't do things a certain way: you don't believe in God.

If human beings really knew that there was a place where God lived, wouldn't we all move there? God. The Creator. The Omnipresent. The Omniscient. The Omnipotent. If we really knew He lived somewhere, wouldn't we all just move in? Don't you all want to be there? And yet, here there are a lot of premies. But even ask that question to people who don't have Knowledge. In their own painting. And yet that's not the way it is, is it?

And so premies, this festival of Guru Puja has an Indian connotation because puja is a Hindi word. And guru is a Hindi word. But the true Guru is neither American, nor Indian, nor English, nor Canadian, nor Mexican, nor Russian, nor Chinese, nor Australian. I don't even know how many countries there are but it goes for every one of the countries.

Because he is here, not for those divisions, but for us. For every individual human being. And the thing is, Guru Puja is a festival when we all come. And the

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thing is, it always rains at Guru Puja. Unless we do it inside a hall. Then it probably rains outside. But it always rains at Guru Puja. (I don't know if that's a point for the rain or not. It just seems to like to be there somehow.)

But the thing is, what is Guru Puja? Why have we all come here? We came for Holi and we will all go for Hans Jayanti and we are here for Guru Puja.

Guru Puja - if you have a Guru, if you have a Perfect Master, you can't do anything but worship him every day of your life. You tell me. If you really have that Perfect Master in your life, what can you do except worship him every day? Get up and worship. Pray. Know. Surrender. Every day of our lives.

But yet we all come here, just to experience what Guru Maharaj Ji has to give us, just to experience what Guru Maharaj Ji has to give us more and more, just to experience being put back on the road, being brought into that harmony again.

And maybe there are several aspects of Guru Puja. And yet in our hearts, there is no other way you can worship Guru Maharaj Ji. I know there are going to be a lot of Indians - or there used to be, anyway, who bring thalis, trays with the red stuff on it and the arti tray and the rice and the sandalwood and - I mean, a lot of things, like sugar stuff for bog and all this stuff. Because they feel that that's the way you worship Guru Maharaj Ji.

Guru Maharaj Ji - you can only worship Guru Maharaj Ji from the heart and that's it. From your love and that's it. And to me, to come to an occasion, to come to a place, to come to a point in our heart where we can even pray to Guru Maharaj Ji, where we can even see Guru Maharaj Ji - that's the greatest opportunity in our lives. That is the greatest thing in our lives. And we just have to open up and really look around and really realize what we are here for, what we want, what Guru Maharaj Ji has given us, what Guru Maharaj Ji has shown us.

Because where were we? Where were we going? Where were we headed? Every one of us. A beautiful story.

"I was drowning and Guru Maharaj Ji came and helped me." Aren't we all drowning? (At least we are drenching wet by the rain.) Yet we are truly drowning in the river of what appears to be something we can feel, touch and see.

And Guru Maharaj Ji comes and he gives us that hand, he gives us that shelter, he gives us that focus, he gives us that aid, he gives us his Grace through which we can even understand what it all means, through which we can even understand what it is all about.

We have come here to celebrate this festival. And yet, what festival? No balloons, no fancy ribbons, no ties, no parties. Probably second to third-class food. Odd times and odd hours. Muddy accommodations on a horse racing track. Airplanes flying by. What are we here to celebrate? This is a bad place for a party. Or for any kind of a festive occasion, for that matter.

But we haven't come here to have a party but for something which is even better than a party. To fill up - not with junk food and then, "plop, plop, fizz, fizz," Alka Seltzer at the end of it - we haven't come here for that. Or we haven't come here for a party that has a beginning and has an end. We haven't come here for a festival where people make believe that they're happy and every day they retire to the bed. They know it's going to end and it'll be the miserable life again.

That's the way always it was with me on Saturdays. We didn't get all of Saturday off when I was in school. And I enjoyed Saturday the most after classes because I knew the next day was a Sunday and I didn't have to go anywhere. Yet on Sunday evening, most of my time was spent thinking, "Tomorrow is school again." Here you are and all you want to do is play and have your games and there you just have to sit down and do your homework. And that's the way it is with those festive occasions. You come. "Hey! Hurrah!" Lights. Balloons. This and that. You all come together, have a party. And you know that when it's all over, everybody will be miserable. It's over. That's it.

And yet we come every day to become happier throughout our lives. We come to one festival to listen to satsang so that throughout our lives it'll make us happier and happier, not more miserable. Every day of our lives. For the rest of the lifetime. For the rest of our life. And that's the power and that's the Grace that Guru Maharaj Ji showers upon us. The little extra - the Holi combined with Guru Puja. Never been done before. And nevertheless, the significance they have …

There are premies here who can't stand the feeling of being wet. (Namely the people who never take a shower or a bath.) Because they just don't like to be

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wet. And they're probably thinking "I'm wet. I am wet." Or people who just put on their best clothes - I don't see anybody with a suit or tie. Well there's probably somebody, somewhere, thinking, "Nice day. First day of summer." Wet.

And yet, to me, it doesn't make a difference. Because before I was going to come on here, I was saying, "My God, it's raining. What are we going to do?" All the premies were starting to get up and warm up a little bit and so on and so forth. Because it isn't the rain that we have come here for and it isn't the sunshine we have come here for. It's to take away those clouds from our heart and make that permanent sun shine again. That's why we are here. And that's what we want. Most of all, that's what we want. The true happiness.

I mean, that's the reason why I am here. To be with the premies. To come to a festival to be able to give satsang. To be able to see you. To be able to just be here. And because that satsang not only brings you the experience - brings me the experience of that Truth, brings me the experience of that love, brings me the experience of that satisfaction.

Satsang is like a diamond. Satsang is like the sun. Whenever it comes out, wherever it falls, it will shine. Nothing to stop it. Wherever it falls, it will shine. Even these clouds are shiny up on the top. Because that's the power of that Grace, to take the darkness completely away. And that's what has to come into our lives. This is what we have to understand, that this coming and going affair, of coming into this Knowledge, coming into this experience, coming for a festival and enjoying it and then it all goes poof - like a balloon - it's no good.

We come to this festival, okay. After this festival there is going to be the Guru Puja festival in America. After the American festival I think there are a couple of programs and after that the world tour begins. And yet, how many programs will I have to give for somebody's heart to really open up? I can give a million programs. I can give a zillion programs. I can give a trillion programs and maybe your heart will not open up. And yet, maybe one is all you need. Because it's you.

Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world and offers what he has to offer. The kind of cards Guru Maharaj Ji plays is that he just takes all of his aces and lays them down. And there's four aces. Beat that. He doesn't have to play a game and he doesn't.

Surrender. Surrender to me.

It could be a huge game that Guru Maharaj Ji could play. At the end of this very game he says, "Well, all along the thing was that you had to spell surrender and then surrender is what you would have to do to really get to it."

But no. That's not the game. It's right and it's flat and it's even and it's clear and it's clean.

Surrender. Let go.

What are you hanging on to? Do you even like what you are hanging on to? These people who are just hanging on and hanging on never even look at what they're hanging on. A filthy piece of rod. Dirty. Mucky. Something you would never, in all your true senses, even want to come close to, perhaps.

But just to let go. To really just come in that focus, in that realization. And that's all. That's all.

You know, when that baby cannot walk sufficiently all by itself, the baby tries maybe and does everything. But when that baby cannot do it anymore, the mother takes that baby and holds that baby. Gives it what it really needs. When we really let go, when that's it for us, then perhaps Guru Maharaj Ji comes and picks us up.

And how many is it going to take? How many falls? Nobody wants you to fall, you know. Except the mind. Because then it can be on top of you. Then it can guide you. Then it can control you, towards the darkness, towards that destiny that has no purpose.

Look at all the people in this world. We look at graveyards. And there are some graveyards where there are thousands of people buried. And what have they done in their lives? What have they accomplished and what have they gained? They came in this world, they lived their lives - their little history, their little portraits - just went with them. What is there left of it to show except a headstone? And that's what this world gives us.

There are people who don't have names. They were soldiers or something like that. They don't have

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names. They're just buried. They find a body. They don't know who it is. They just bury it.

That's it? Is that our life, our destiny - to be six feet buried under the ground with a headstone sticking up? Is that it? Is that the final thing and that's it?

If that's all that this is all about, then the meaning of life doesn't exist. There is nothing to life. What is the purpose of life? Life is no good.

But that's not the way it is. It doesn't end at that headstone. It just doesn't begin from your first, "whaa" - the official date when you were born in this world.

There's a lot more to it. There's a lot more there. And what's there is what Guru Maharaj Ji can show you, reveal to you, bring to you. In your own heart. In your own realization. And that's what we want.

And what does Guru Maharaj Ji say? Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't say anything and yet Guru Maharaj Ji says everything. Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't say anything to us. Because what does Guru Maharaj Ji say to us? Maybe Guru Maharaj Ji is saying "surrender" to us. Guru Maharaj Ji is saying this and that, and "do satsang and do service and do meditation."

What is the meaning of all that? By simply saying it, it won't happen. By Guru Maharaj Ji simply saying, "Do satsang, service and meditation," do you think your satsang, service and meditation will become satsang, service and meditation? Or do you think by simply saying satsang, service and meditation, it'll materialize as satsang, service and meditation? You're wrong. Guru Maharaj Ji doesn't say anything. Because whatever he says we can hear and yet somehow we can't even adhere to it. And yet Guru Maharaj Ji says something which he doesn't say that does a lot more for us. And that's Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace.

But when we can really open up to Guru Maharaj Ji, from our hearts, then we will be able to see and hear what Guru Maharaj Ji is really saying to us. And then we will be able to adhere to what Guru Maharaj Ji is really saying to us physically. Do satsang and service and meditation. Then when Guru Maharaj Ji and all of us come to a festival and we sit down and Guru Maharaj Ji tells us satsang, service and meditation, then it'll make sense to us.

I can understand, perfectly, if premies say, "Satsang, service and meditation. My God, everybody's chanting that mantra. Satsang, service and meditation. Satsang, service and meditation. That's it. That's what anybody knows and every premie is after it. I can't do satsang, service and meditation. My life just doesn't fit in the rut of doing satsang, service and meditation." And maybe people just take off in their own direction. "I can't do it. Look, I can do satsang and I can do service but meditation is out of my realm. Sorry. Ciao. That's it." And maybe it goes back and forth like that.

You see, it is not a mantra. I can agree with you to a certain extent that yes, that's repeated a little bit too much. Satsang, service and meditation. And yet, by repeating it way to many times you can't understand what it means. Do you think by repeating it less, you will understand what it means? It certainly isn't a mantra. It is something to understand. It is something to do. Something to let go to. It's something to let just completely fill your life.

Let that experience of satsang really come into you - of satsang. Let that experience of service, really let that satsang of service engulf you. Let it really become service. Let it really become an experience. And let that meditation really dictate every second of your life. Or let every second of your life be meditation, every action that you do be service, every word that you speak be satsang.

There are ideas people have about what satsang is. If you have an idea about what satsang is, it isn't satsang. People come together and will be talking about a very particular thing, "While I am out today could you make my bed?" And in the process of trying to convince your brother that he should do it, you try to make a sucker out of him. The long lecture that you end up with, you may define as satsang. Well, it isn't. It just simply isn't.

It's not your concept of service. It's an experience. Experience when you do something for Guru Maharaj Ji. Not for yourself. An experience really manifesting for Guru Maharaj Ji of something that you do. And Guru Maharaj Ji takes that experience and plows it back into you. That is service. Because then, genuinely, an experience manifests.

When you talk, and what you speak comes from your heart, when what you say really comes from your experience of that love that you have for Guru Maharaj Ji, that experience of Guru Maharaj Ji, that experience of Knowledge; then - and then only - can it be satsang.

Every Joe Blow talking isn't satsang. I may go as far as to say that sometimes the initiators get up to give satsang, it takes them a couple of minutes to fire up. Like a cold-start machine. Have you ever started a diesel engine up? The glow plug warms it up. Then it gets hot. Then when the diesel strikes, a fire will finally ignite and then it just keeps running. Sometimes initiators will get up and they will be giving satsang and for the first two minutes they don't even make sense, as far as I am concerned. It takes them a little while to get ignited. And once they get ignited, then that experience really starts to flow and then it is satsang.

Because then I don't have to believe in his words. There is an experience coming from him. I don't have to listen to his words. I don't have to listen to his stories. I don't have to laugh at his jokes. I don't have to be even impressed by what he's saying or how he is saying it. But I can close my eyes and still experience something. Because it is coming from his heart. It is coming - that experience that he is talking about - is coming from his experience. He is not making it up.

I mean, you can't make it up. You can't get up there and give satsang and think about it. That isn't satsang. That's the way thousands of people get up and talk. Chit-chat. Get up and make no sense. Fumble up their papers.

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But satsang is an inner experience. And when that inner experience manifests, then it becomes satsang. And I have said, "May your every word be satsang." And it can happen. Your every word can be satsang if your every action can be service and if your every moment can be meditation. And it can happen. Your life can become that.

When Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace is powerful enough to do anything in this world, don't you think it is definitely powerful enough to make your every word satsang and every action a service and every moment of your life indulged with the beauty of meditation? Oh yes. It certainly is.

But we have to open our eyes. We have to open our hearts.

Let's put it this way. We have to give Guru Maharaj Ji a chance. If you can imagine Guru Maharaj Ji holding his hands out and his hands are full of ants and these ants are constantly trying to crawl out, and Guru Maharaj Ji takes his other hand and constantly is trying to keep them in. Yet constantly these ants are trying to get out. Sometimes that is what happens with devotees. Their Guru Maharaj Ji is constantly showering that experience. Guru Maharaj Ji is trying to give that experience. Guru Maharaj Ji is trying to make every word into satsang - every work, every thing, every action into service and every moment of our lives into meditation.

Who takes off in the other direction? Does Guru Maharaj Ji take off in the other direction? No. We take off in our own directions. Because we like that. You know it is so wonderful to just split. Mind loves it. Every moment, every second of it. It is so wonderful that here is satsang going on and somebody is spacing out in that town. It's so wonderful that here is satsang going on and somebody is just roaming about in that corner. It's wonderful. It's incredible. It's wonderful that here is somebody trying to give satsang and someone else is talking at the end of the community hall. It is wonderful. And it is wonderful while everybody is doing service, you've got your legs crossed and you're dozing off in your chair. It's wonderful.

Why is it wonderful? Because that's what your mind likes. That's what your mind wants you to do. And for one time, mind's got you and you're doing everything that the mind wants you to do and you're not even questioning it. Mind's got you in its hand and it's crushing and you're not even squeaking.

But isn't that the way it is? Maybe that's gross. And really, that is not wonderful. We think it's wonderful. It's not wonderful. You know.

Mind is like a golf ball. We are like a golf ball. You know what happens to a golf ball? They take a golf ball, they put it away from the ground on a peg. They take actually a very little itsy-bitsy ball, they take a peg and they put it on top of the peg. And to hit this ball they even clean their clubs - the finest, very expensive. A poor guy even has to carry them around. A whole human is devoted to these golf clubs, so he can carry them around.

And all this is done and yet, you will remember, you are not the club. And you are not the peg. You are the golf ball. Because for that golf ball - how pampered can it be? I mean, after all, how many people get their own servant? Beautiful. You know. Place specially made for that ball. Just for that ball. Nothing else. Called golf courses. Nobody is going to race there, nobody is going to land there. It's just for that ball. It's cut every day. It's kept clean. Incredible - golf balls, golf clubs that cost hundreds of dollars. This ball has its own world. Immaculate world.

And this is what mind does to us, too. But you know, it isn't the golf club that suffers and it isn't the peg. It's that poor ball that has to go flying. And sometimes that's what happens to us.

Maybe the mind says, "Well, what about this? And what about this?" All the things that mind tries to bring to us, make us seem like an emperor. And at the end, we are the ones that get hit and have to fly. We are the ones that lose. All those things that we think are wonderful end up as our enemies.

And yet, it's so beautiful to just have Guru Maharaj Ji in our lives. So Guru Maharaj Ji can - and will - show us that. It's not what it appears to be. That is why it's called an illusion. This world that we get hooked to - that's why it's called an illusion. Because it is not what it appears to be.

As far as definitions of reality are concerned, whether this world is real or not according to your definition - of course it's real, but it definitely isn't what it appears to be. All that love that we dedicate our lives to definitely isn't what it appears to be.

But when Guru Maharaj Ji shows us that Knowledge, when Guru Maharaj Ji shows us that real life, then there are no questions left. Then there can never be a question after that. And that's what Guru Maharaj Ji wants to bring us.

And so premies, it's really beautiful to have you all here on this horse race track. There are hurdles all over this track. And here we are. And this is just the first day of this satsang. And only the first wet evening. (There potentially could be three more wet evenings. If they aren't wet, anyway there will be three more days of satsang - whether they are wet or whether they are dry.) And tomorrow, whether it's wet or whether it's dry, there'll be darshan. And so premies, all I can say is that really, you have to take this opportunity.

Guru Maharaj Ji's always giving us opportunities. Guru Maharaj Ji has given us one opportunity in our lives. There are no other opportunities in one sense. And yet, here we are. At this festival.

And you know something? You can really make it happen for yourself. There's nothing special about it. But it can happen for you. Your effort and Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace is there, your effort - take that step in your life.

Really focus on that satsang, on that service, on that meditation.

So premies, thank you very much and I hope I'll see you tomorrow.

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Prem Rawat aka Maharaji, The Perfect Master, Lord Of The Universe And Master Of Flabby Jowls


Prem Rawat aka Maharaji, The Perfect Master, Lord Of The Universe And Master Of Flabby Jowls

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