It's Up To You

Guru Maharaj Ji - Paramount Theatre, Denver, October 12, 1974

So dear premies, finally I've got an opportunity to talk to you. The thing is that this has been told to you quite a few times - how important satsang is, how important meditation is, how important service is. But one thing you really have to understand for yourself is that the personal experience of these is what really makes the difference.

You know there are so many books that you can read that say, oh you should do meditation, and do satsang, and service is nice. But what we have to understand is that individual experience - I mean, when we go to receive Knowledge, many people have received Knowledge before us and how many people after us but the experience of people who received Knowledge before you and after you did not make any difference to you. Why not? Because it is an individual experience which every premie, every person has to individually experience. So premies, this is an opportunity that I was able to come from India to the West, and so many premies have received Knowledge and finally we got Divine Light Mission set up pretty good, and we are rolling. And there is one thing we have to understand. Just before this program we were filming a film for India, and I could have just sat there while the film was rolling and just laughed and laughed and laughed, and that film wouldn't have been worth sending to India. And when the film started rolling, just automatically there was this feeling that I shouldn't waste it. This is what we have to understand. This life is rolling and it's a film.

And after a little while it's going to get processed - you see we have to understand that too. And once it gets processed then it's going to be shown - and we have to understand that too. And when it's going to get shown, what is going to come out is also very important. So premies, this life has been given to us and this opportunity, I am emphasising this opportunity because it is a very very very beautiful opportunity, so many people have been able to receive Knowledge and right in front of them is a thing that they can do service in, in which they can direct their energies. In the West there wasn't really much prachar done and now this time so many people have received Knowledge.

Listen, this is the big trade, it really is. Like, when we were trying to arrange the hall in Toronto, we found this trade centre and it really brought that feeling back to me, and I said, listen this is really like the trade, isn't it? And the trade is that I am the ain dealer and people come to me and they take stuff and this stuff is then distributed, has to be taken from them and given to others so that other people can also use it, other people can also see it, other people can also realise it. And this is the big trade.

And it's like, when you're talking in terms of a big dealership, and the dealer and the distributor, it's a big business, it's a big trade. And a lot of premies don't want to do that trade and this is where the whole thing gets slowed down. Because this Knowledge that has been given to you, it is now your work, it's your job to go and make other people realise. Now don't mistake me, I don't want you to go out and start giving other people Knowledge, but to be able to do satsang because you can go out and try to give Knowledge to people, but let me tell you one thing, it will not be worthwhile.

But to give satsang it will be of a lot more use. It's like a farmer can sow the seed, I mean that's what he has to do, you know, eventually, that's what he ends up doing, takes his bag and throws and scatters it. But before he does that he has to take that field and plough it and get all the rocks out of it and make it nice and smooth, and then something happens, that when he takes those seeds and scatters them, they grow. But if he just took those seeds and started throwing them on a rock, they will not grow. This is why premies have been told that they should not give Knowledge, so that this Knowledge is not completely wasted, not completely thrown around. But whoever does get it is able to realise the importance of this Knowledge.

And premies, it's like we come, we stay and we go, we leave, but is that it? Now you have realised Knowledge and it changes the whole story, changes the whole theme. But you came, this is where it changes the theme. First of all you came, you stayed and you left, but now it changes slightly and it is you came and you realised the purpose of your coming, and then you leave. Then there is not much difference what it was before. But the whole theme changes, the whole story changes and becomes so beautiful when you come, realise and help others and then leave.

It's a completely different story. There are more words to the story, there is more rhythm to the story, there is a little more adventure added to the story, and it just becomes beautiful. And like, everybody is trying to attain beauty. Everybody, I mean, you know when I look down from my office you see the hairdryer place and you can see all these hairdryers lined up. And it's like everybody is trying to get beautiful, but they never end up being beautiful. And premies, because there is only one way of becoming beautiful, really really beautiful. I mean, when I see premies walking down the street, they're wearing their suits and ties, other people are wearing suits and ties but there is just a little bit of a difference. You can almost see you know. Like streets are busy you know and one premie is walking all the way on the far end of the street and you can trace him like that. He has got something in him. But those guys are wearing $500 suit and $200 worth of tie and just been to a barber and got their hair dried and combed and cut you know the whole thing. But then, they're lacking something, because beauty is within us, not outside. And this is what we have to understand. That beauty which is inside of us.

So premies, this is our job, it is we who have to change the story. And make it more beautiful. Add a little rhythm to it. Make it much more worthwhile. It's like a whole galaxy, and the saints have come and we hear of their devotees and this and that and what happened to them, OK, but now if we really look back at it, you know, how much of this world is following that example? And as a matter of fact if people do try to follow that example now, it's not even going to fit, it really isn't going to fit. You know, it's like taking when the Perfect Master comes you say, OK, it's about time for you to be crucified. Because? Because we are just following the example. What happened to you then, we want it to happen now. No, it doesn't even make sense, it doesn't even fit. But now, we have to realise.

It's like that story, it's a fairy tale. And in that whole fairy tale you hear the fairy comes and the fairy does this and she has this cane and she touches this and this becomes this and the fairy comes and she goes like this and you know, the whole thing happens. And the child just listens to it and goes to sleep or you listen to it and feel entertained. But there is something missing in this fairy tale. What was that power that made her do that? That's what's missing in that fairy tale. It's like that Aladdin's Lamp. People heard that story OK, this guy finds this little lamp and he rubs it just to clean it and smoke starts coming from it and he sees the genie, and you know. But what was that power that had genie in it and when he rubbed it genie came out and genie had every power. That power contains the whole riddle, contains the main part of the whole tale, the whole story. Because imagine if that fairy did not have any power, what would be the story? I mean just imagine. Or if that Aladdin's lamp did not have anything, was a bare old lamp, nothing else, just an old lamp, nothing else. He rubbed it and nothing happened, what would be the story? And I mean I tell you, this is so funny that, when a little kid hears this story, they try to find a lamp, they try to rub itand I have no idea how many kids have rubbed that lamp. Maybe it was completely identical too. Probably somebody made it because he saw it in a picture and their father bought it in an antique shop, and they tried to simulate the whole story. But no magazine, no book, no writer in this world took that story and wrote it down. Why not?

Because that father was missing in it. But how many people who read that story understand that? Hardly anybody, hardly anybody.

and this is what we are missing. That power, that … of energy that we all want to realise, and I mean, … I know it's like so many times satsang has been given … in a whole mass of people but to sometimes individual people. And I tell them that listen, this world is absolutely bananas, cuckoo, and they are doing this and they are doing that, and then automatically a … comes in their brain, are you trying to accuse the world of this? No, I am not. Because the thing is … the mistake they are doing is not known to them and if it is not known to them how can you hold them accountable for it? And then how can you pass a justification on it? How can you say, OK mister, you were doing it wrong. He didn't even know.

And it's like, our job is nothing else but just to take the … put it before people because they have never in their whole life seen any mirror and they don't know what have been doing. It's like a guy stands with the scissors OK, and there is no mirror, and starts cutting his hair. He cuts more on this side than he does on that side and this other guy comes and says, hey you look … I mean, what do you expect, he's supposed to look funny. He did not have a place he could look at what he was doing and then correct himself. And I tell you that if he looks like a fool to you, then you are the stupid one. Because you do not realise that he did not have a mirror to go to and that is why, that was the reason why he made that mistake. So premies, that is how it all comes down. This is how the whole thing stands, that we have to take a mirror. Now we have a mirror, we saw ourselves in the mirror and we have been able to correct ourselves, been able to see that really we have got that beauty, we have got that energy, we have got that source of energy that we have been looking for all our lives. And then when we see it, then we say, wow, it's just like, you can say it's far out, or you can say it blew my mind or a lot of terms. But that's how the story ends up.

So it's like, there's not much to say, I believe half of you are asleep - oh just waking up huh? But no matter how long do I speak, this thing you will have to realise yourself. And secondly premies, it's very important that I discuss it because I do not know if premies will be going from Denver to Toronto for the Hans Jayanti festival, because that's where it's going to be celebrated, I don't know if you people knew it or not, but it's really good opportunity, and the thing is that we need every premie's co-operation. Like I was talking to all the DUO Directors and, you know we were trying to figure out where was the gap in the whole story and to try to fill it up, but the thing is, no matter how hard we try, every premie has to help. Remember, one and one in this story doesn't make two, they make 11. This is how it works, you see it's like when you go to gamble, one chip, just because of a different colour, can sometimes count 10, can sometimes count 15, can sometimes count to 100, one chip. And then again, can sometimes count to one.

But if every premie co-operated it would be so beautiful, because remember, these flowers were there and nobody probably even noticed them, but now they have been brought together, they have been put in that vase sitting there, it's like each flower is increasing each other's beauty. One flower is making the other flower look beautiful and that flower is going to make that flower look beautiful. And this is exactly how it's got to be with the premies. And it can be so beautiful, I mean like trying to talk logical facts or this and that and trying to say there will be peace in this world and they're saying, come on, you got to be kidding you know, or it's impossible. But what if it is? I mean, for so many people, but who's tried it? And we are giving it a try. And we got it exactly the way it's gonna work out, we got it all figured out and it's gonna work. Because we have tested that in the community, we have tried it on one person and it worked on one person. Then we tried it on two, it worked on two. Then we tried it on a whole city, it worked on it. Community, it worked on it.

Can you just imagine that one time there was only one premie? I mean this is just - can you think of it? And from that one premie you have no idea how many there are now. I mean, we do a rough estimate each year, keeps multiplying, multiplying, multiplying, multiplying. So it's like this glory of this Holy Word, it's completely indescribable. If we come closer and really try to co-operate it's so beautiful you know, because I remember when I was in Boulder they would try to figure out a program for me and you'd see 17 premies running out and one trying to arrange one hall, and one trying to arrange one hall, and one trying to arrange one hall, and you know 16 of them coming back with a red face and saying, uh, nothing happened today, and one probably hit the luck and he got a free hall. You know how it was, I don't know if there are those premies here, but you know, you should have seen it, it was really something. But now we have a place that we can go to and help that place and then that thing can help more. And that thing can multiply more.

It's like you can publish And It Is Divine in the Head Office by taking one letter and dipping it in ink and putting it there, and then second letter and dipping it in ink and putting it there, and third letter. I mean you could do it. Take you ages. Ages and ages and ages, and you'd be doing it and doing it and all premies would be busy, that'll be it. But then what do we do. You know, take it to the printing press. And it's really beautiful, I saw it the other day. It just takes the paper itself, prints it and throws it out. It's all in a pack. Keeps doing it, keeps doing it, keeps doing it. And this is how the Mission is. But remember one thing. If you do not put the paper there, nothing is going to come out either. You have to put paper there. You can have ink, you can have all your typeset done, all the mistakes taken out of it, everything done, hook it up to electricity, and have it all rolling and making all the clunky sounds but if that paper is not there, forget it. Nothing is going to come out. But even if there is just one paper, that one paper is going to come out. And we are so many papers. And we can print so many things and let people read us, because we have got it, right. And this is the way it's going to work, this is the way it has worked till now and this is the way it's going to work in the future.

I read people's faces sometimes when I'm sitting in the office and they walk by thinking, maybe there is a better way to do prachar. But I tell you, I've thought about it a lot. There isn't any other method to do prachar, there's just one way. And because it's just an individual experience it has to be from one person to the second person to the third person to the fourth person to the fifth person to the sixth person and it goes on and on and on and on and on. So really premies, this is just, I should say a perfect opportunity for you to do service. Now, I mean, I'm not talking about 1975. I've heard many premies saying, oh yeah, you know, I don't know about it right now, it's in a little bit hanky panky situation this Mission. I'll try in 1975 when they get a little bit together. Listen, it's not going to get together in 1975 or 1976 until you help it. Until you co-operate with it.

You know, the guy says, listen this engine isn't any, good so I'm not going to put it in the car. The engine will never be mended and never be put in the car and the car will never drive and just sit there and sit there and sit there till the evolution comes and changes the whole earth down and it gets rusted. But if you can co-operate, then what we can do is just so beautiful because we can change that engine and mend it and put it in the car and get that car rolling down the highway and let people see. And people will see that man, that was an old car and they got it new, they got it working perfectly. They'll really see it you know. But this Knowledge is just so ancient, I mean for so-called modern people, it's rusted, it's so ancient, it's so old for modern people. Hey, come on, you got to be kidding about reading scriptures, or doing anything which scriptures say or even talking about God you know, too old for us. They will really see that we made a beautiful car.

As a matter of fact, in Los Angeles it's so amazing because you see all these 1975s and 1974s and all these brand new cars coming out. And then you see the big old clunker driving down the highway, beautifully restored, and people just watch it and say wow, that's beautiful you know. It's like John Hampton is into really, really, really into it. And it can be done you know, no matter what, it can be done. And like, what's my job, what am I doing you know, what is this? Only one thing. And that's to get you rolling you know. And I'm the supervisor now. But remember, you are the guys that have to work. If you will not be able to propagate this Knowledge to other people - I tell

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It's up to you
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you, there are many people who think, oh how could we do that, what will our neighbours think and what will our friends think - well listen, what do you think all those people thought of Jesus Christ at the time? But did he give up, did John give up? He did not. Why not? At that time it would be the time when everybody would be in the main streets roaming about, and of course there was said good about them and there was bad talked about them, but did they just give up, because their neighbours said so, because their friends said so? No, they did not.

To a finicky guy it seems, man, I can't do that. But yes you can, that's the fun of it, yes you can. And that's, as I said, that's the fun of it. So every individual premie will have to co-operate. Listen, if you are lifting a very very heavy thing, then what you do is by one hand you lift it and by the other hand you balance it. So if there is only one person, then he can lift it on one side, but then he will have to drag that thing out of there. It's like a chest of drawers that big. One person can lift it with one hand and balance it with one hand, but if he wants to take it out he will have to drag it. But if there are two guys, then you have no idea what they can do. They can lift that and throw it in the air and catch it back again. And I mean, that one person was only able to lift it barely from one side. And we are talking about throwing it in the air and catching it back again. But when there's just one more person combined in that, it made a completely different story, a completely different story.

And premies, it's so amazing because each time I come and start giving satsang I talk about the same old thing. You gotta do this or you gotta do this, you gotta do this. So maybe sometimes it's boring. But I don't think it is. Because I have seen, I have experienced how much pleasure there is in doing it, and all I can do is just tell you. So here we are and every premie will have to realise that this is the time. It's like we have to shoot full throttles, otherwise we are not going to make it on this runway, we're just not.

I don't know if you've every been to - there's that island off Los Angeles, Catalina Island. But it's got this airport and I've tried two times I've been there, and each time I've had to shoot a double approach because it's just right on top of a hill and you completely lose your depth perception and everything, you're just coming down, but it's such a small runway and you got ocean on both sides. It's so amazing, you're coming out, and taxiing out and just about before you hit the runway you just put those throttles all the way forward, you bet. And then you just take off. And it's like, it's so beautiful once you've taken off, and you know you're going to be landing at the airport, and it doesn't matter, you can miss half the airport and come down and it'll be OK. Los Angeles International you know, it's got huge long runways on it, but at that time, that's the time that you require it, if you want to make it I mean, if you don't want to make it, don't do anything about it.

Give half the throttle so that it gets rolling pretty fast and then it won't take off and neither will it be able to stop. So, you know, you can just sit there fair and square. But this is the effort. And like, there's so many premies working - who are they? They are your brothers and sisters working in the office. And it's like, help them, they need it now. And if you don't think they are good guys, well maybe you might think about me, because this is my job, and I'm trying to do it you know, I am in it, I am involved in it completely. And you people will just have to help me get this rolling.

It's like, the car is stalled, and I am sitting on the steering wheel. Listen, you can be pretty sure that if you get it going the right speed I'll leave the clutch at the right time and I'll get it started up. But you gotta give me a push. That's all. And then - that little push, then don't bother. I'll have you all jump in the truck and I'll take you all back. Just a little push is needed.

(Loud cheers.) And, you know, sometimes many premies are thinking, what's he talking about? But try it, give it a try and you will understand, because you have never done it, so you will have to just give it a try.

So premies, now is the time when we have to just do it, because if we want the whole world to realise Knowledge then I just don't want it to be on a piece of paper. I want it to he practical. I would rather have it practically done than talk about it or write it on a piece of paper … world peace. It's like, nobody's going to blame me about it. Because I cautioned everybody, listen, you gotta believe me. If you don't help me, OK, what am I asking for myself? All I am asking is that help me to get this Knowledge to all over the world. Because that's when it's going to be beautiful, really really beautiful, really really fantastic. And this is what we are always dreaming of.

Recently World Welfare Association was formed, and at Guru Puja they had all the brochures about it. And what I am trying to do is put these projects up in front of premies because remember, first time there were only ashrams, and you were either in or you were out, that was it. If you remember, if you received Knowledge at that time, it was like that. If there was any activity going on it was in an ashram, and you had to go to an ashram to do anything. Otherwise stay back at your home. But then slowly and slowly, I mean, everything came back and now separate thing has been formed, and that is World Welfare Association which is completely international. And every type of premie is welcome to help in it. He can be married, non-married I mean, in that World Welfare Association, tell you the truth, 70 years old can work. And they'll be helping. It's like everybody, for every premie, so that they can come forward and they can experience service. From the beginning when premies - when I first came to America there were only a few premies and a lot of new premies and then, to talk about satsang, service and meditation was not too good because they had heard that, a lot of that stuff in India. But now that there so many premies keep talking about service, keep talking about satsang, keep talking about meditation, but you know, if we have really no place to go and do service, then I can keep talking and you can just say, well you don't have any place for us to go and do service. Well?

But as a matter of fact there is a lot of spaces you can't do service in, but then there is just World Welfare Association which is really beautiful, which just fits in Divine Light Mission like you wouldn't even bet it fits in. Because it's so beautiful, because it's completely natural, because it's self-supporting, because it is it. You know, and if every premie helps, remember we got to get four wheels going, to everybody. And I think Durga Ji will give you a little bit of satsang if she's not asleep yet! Try to understand, remember life isn't all what you think it is.

People think it's a little bitty lake, and you are in a boat and it's only two feet deep, so if your boat sinks it's OK because you can just walk. No, forget it … the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You won't be able to walk, or to be able to swim. So forget about that walking to the shore. Just forget about it because it's not going to work. Well you tried it, hard, to figure that way, it was a good method if that lake had been two feet deep - but it isn't. It's giant. And then there's life, just try to understand. You are there and then the world is there, and then this whole world and then there is universe, and then - this is how far we have got putting it into words. And who knows what's after the universe? And then those trillion dollar telescopes only go so far. And that's it. That's their limit, who knows what's after that. Who knows what's infinite. But in that big world, in that giant giant space we don't even know of, here we are, holding our own and trying to figure out our way.

Premies, you know when its told to premies that why does Guru Maharaj Ji come, why does God come into this world, is anytime there is a decline in religion He comes, Guru Maharaj Ji comes and helps. This is why you know premies just get blissed out and say that's so fantastic. But that's about it. But realise how much importance there is to it. When Guru Maharaj Ji comes and tries to help you through. How much importance there is to it. How small you are compared to the whole world. Then the whole world to the universe, and that whole universe to something called infinity. That we have no idea how big it is and how small it is. And in that, we have to stand out our way. So it's like, for a man to try himself, forget it. I must say just forget it. But, somebody who already knows, all he has to do is say, listen, here is the chart, go with it and you'll be right there. And you will be right there. So premies it's like, now she will give you satsang. Try to understand. My blessings to all premies.