The Golden Age

Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang at a premie program in Lima, Peru. 14 January, 1976.

We have all gathered here so that we can listen to satsang. The reason for that is because satsang really holds a very great importance in our lives. You see, I am supposed to go around this whole world and give premies satsang, and inspire them to do satsang, service, and meditation. On one hand that's really beautiful, because that way all the premies get to have satsang, do service, and they get to have darshan. But on the other hand, it's really impossible to inspire anybody. This Knowledge is so delicate, so fine, and so individual, that it becomes very, very impossible, very, very hard for anybody to inspire anybody. The reason is that every person has to individually understand the importance of this Knowledge. Only then can he inspire himself to do satsang, service, and meditation.

The practice of this Knowledge, the practice of this meditation, is not limited to a few hours. It is something which has to be constantly going on, constantly going on, constantly going on. And how constantly can a person give satsang? It's like we are travelling in an airplane and we are sitting all by ourselves. Well, at this point I don't think there is an airline that gives satsang while they are flying. Yet, even at that point, we should be doing meditation. But how can we?

So that inspiration has to be within inside of us. It has to be self-contained, so that even if we are in that airplane where they are not giving satsang, it becomes satsang to us. We give ourselves satsang - instead of letting mind give us "liesang". If you understand the meaning of "satsang", "sat" means truth, and "sang" means company. All our lives, mind has been giving us liesang, mind has been giving us the company of lie, the company of untruth, the company of what's false, what's fake in this world. But we need to be in the company of truth, we need to be one with that Knowledge, one with that truth, because that is our source. That is the main reason why we even receive Knowledge, so that we can be one, so that we can be totally connected with the source that we originated from.

Anybody who comes into this world, not only human beings, but even small animals, can get so lost. They can get so involved and so carried away. So there needs to be a constant reminding. Take the example of a baby. Premlata is just a baby right now, and she sometimes crawls off and starts doing things - like getting into a flowerpot or pulling tissues off one by one. But it's okay for her, because somebody will come along, and say, "Premlata, what are you doin?" and take the tissues away. Or if she is

16

PEACE NOW

getting into a flowerpot, they'll say, "Come on, Premlata," and start playing with her.

But we have to understand that there is no point in our lives when we can say we are mature. We cannot really mature, we cannot really understand, because understanding is infinite. Therefore, even if we are a hundred years old, or two hundred years old, we are still babies. And considering the fact that we are two hundred years old and we are still babies, who is the person who keeps checking on us? Who is the person who keeps telling us not to do these things because these things are wrong? I don't mean just a box of tissues or a flowerpot. I mean, man goes out and does all these crazy things. And if we look at it from a really, really clear point of view, it's childish. He's really like a baby. He is always like a baby.

Look how old civilization is, and where is man right now? He is still very confused. He is still trying to grow. People who have learned something say, "Well, really there is no end to learning." Where do you draw the line and say, "I know everything"? Where do you draw the line and say, "I know Maths," or "I know English"? No. It is constantly going on and on and on and on and on and on and on. It just keeps on going on. And those are very finite subjects. They originated from a very finite point and are only exercisable in this finite world. But even those subjects have a very, very long ending.

Usually, we go to school and after we graduate, we say, "Okay, we have finished our school, we have finished our high school, we have finished our college." But there are people who get into it so much that they keep studying all their lives. They keep studying, keep studying, keep studying, keep studying, and there is no end to it. Definitely there is an end to the books, but they just keep on going. It goes on for hundreds and hundreds of years. Knowledge is passed, understanding is passed, information is passed from one generation, to the next generation, to the next generation, to the next generation. And it keeps on expanding, it keeps on expanding, it keeps on expanding.

There was a time when there was only one testament. Now there are two testaments. And if today's man wants to really, really understand the whole span of the Bible, he not only has to read two testaments, he also has to read the other books that pertain to those two testaments that have been written by the authors of this time. From one it became two, from two to four, from four to eight, from eight to sixteen. It always keeps multiplying.

The Same Old Problem

So really, where is man today? Nowhere. He is still that same old baby. He still keeps repeating himself despite the fact that he is being told, "No, no, no." I'm not saying that you are like that. No. I'm just saying that I'm pretty sure that if you stop for a second and look at yourself from a very clear perspective, from a very clear head, you'll find you are like that, because everybody is like that. We keep on doing things that we are just not supposed to do.

That's the problem: we keep on doing things that we are not supposed to do. But I don't think it's very wise to just keep on telling people about the problem. It's like if a doctor comes to you and says, "Oh, so you have a cut finger. Just a minute," and then he goes out, comes back again and says, "Oh, you have a cut finger. Just a second," and he goes out again and comes in, and says, "Oh! Your finger is bleeding," and then he goes out again, and comes back in and says, "Oh. Your finger is cut." Now, what good is that going to do you?

You go to him so he can patch it up, so he can do something about it. You don't go to the doctor just to be told that your finger is cut. You already know that. You can already experience that pain. You go to the doctor to be cured. And the Perfect Master, Guru Maharaj Ji, because he is a doctor of this mind, can cure this mind. That's why he doesn't just come to you and say, "Well, you have got a mental problem," or "You have got a problem with your mind." No. He also offers you a medicine, a solution. And the solution is this Knowledge, which eventually - and not really eventually but instantaneously - starts affecting you.

Whenever this world has really been insane, really been afflicted with that problem, there was only one thing that ever worked. When Jesus came in this world, he revealed this Knowledge to people. And that was a long, long time ago. You know? Today, again, people have the same exact problem. Like I was saying in Orlando, the difference is that today we have air conditioning, while in the time of Caesar they used to have servants who had gigantic fans to cool them off. Today, we have Fanta and RC-Cola, and we can just go to a machine, put a peso or a dime in it, and get a Coke bottle or a Fanta bottle. Well, in that time, all they had to do was say, "Bring me a glass of water," and it would be there.

Time is such an interesting factor. And what it does to us is so interesting, because it just wraps around itself all the time and then winds and unwinds, then winds and unwinds, then winds and unwinds. You know? After a little while we all get sick and tired of that. After a little while it's unbearable; after a little while it's just too much; after a little while it's like …

Say you go to see a movie, and there is a scene in the movie where the good guy draws a gun and shoots the bad guy. There is only one bad guy and one good guy, and the movie is four hours long, and that's all they show; the good guy pulls the gun and shoots the bad guy, and then the good guy pulls the gun again and shoots the bad guy.

Or if we have a bad record, we put it on, and all of a sudden there is a scratch in it. It just goes, "kkrrk", and goes back to the same thing. For hours and hours and hours and hours there can be just one word repeating itself. It just keeps on repeating, because no way is that record going to mend itself. That's when you have to go to it and give it a little assistance. That's the time when you say, "Oh, this is a bad record. I should take it back," or "Oh well, it's scratched, so I'll just move the needle over." Then you give the whole record player a little tap, it moves a groove over, and it's fine.

It's such a common thing in our lives. If you go to see a concert and this 300-piece orchestra, beautiful violins, french horns, trumpets, cellos, everything, keeps playing the same song, how interesting, how good is it going to be? After a little while we will just get bored and say, "Oh, come on, these guys have got

18

No. 28, April 1976

to be crazy. What are they doing? They are playing the same song again and again!" If we are very aggressive and we have a tomato, we'll chuck it at them. If we are not very aggressive, we will just walk out of the theatre.

That's so funny, when it's practically shown to us, and if it would happen, that would be our reaction. I mean, nobody goes to a concert to listen to the same song again and again and again. And you don't see a movie where the good guy pulls his gun and shoots the bad guy again and again and again, and the bad guy falls and the bad guy gets back up again and the good guy shoots him again and before you know it, the bad guy has got about 300 bullets in him and he's still not dead. That would be so ridiculous.

But if you stop just a second and really look at it, if you believe in Adam and Eve, well, from that day there has been cuckooness going on. If you believe the story of Noah's ark, there was a time when God said, "Well, everybody is nuts. Everybody is crazy. I got to get rid of everybody." And that was a very long time ago. And if you believe in evolution, ever since the time when man evolved, crazy things have been happening.

There has already been the first World War and the second World War, and I don't know about the third World War. It looks like that's coming, too. It just keeps on going and going and going like that. If we were to put somebody in a room with a one-way mirror so he could not see outside but we could see him perfectly, and he was such a dumb guy that he kept on seeing that movie and he kept on listening to that record again and again and again and again, we would laugh at him. Well, why don't we laugh at ourselves? Because that's what we have been doing.

There's Got To Be An Answer

But we never really stop and think for a second, imagine for a second, really see this whole situation and really evaluate it in our head. If we did, and there are a lot of people who have, that's all it would take. It just takes one little, little second, and the whole thing starts happening inside of us. That's when the whole search really begins. That's when we really start looking towards Knowledge, that's when we really start saying, "Yeah man, this is not it. There must be an answer. There must be an answer to all these problems." These problems have been created, and everything that's been created can be destroyed. What is not created cannot be destroyed, but these problems, these situations have been created.

There was a time where there was no man, and there was nothing. Even nothing did not exist. There was just one omnipotent power that prevailed over everything. There was no distinction of one thing or another thing, it was just one thing. At that point where there was just that omnipotent power, there were no problems. So we definitely know that all the problems that exist in the world today have been created. And therefore, there must be a solution to them. Every problem is already followed by a solution. It's just for us to look, for us to understand.

So premies, if we really look for a second into our hearts, truly within our hearts, and not freak ourselves out, we will find that one of the major problems that we have is our own mind. Our mind has become such a part of us, and it is a problem; it is that thing that has been creating so much mischief within inside of us. Therefore, we always need to keep that mind quiet, to keep that mind shut, to keep that mind out of the way. That is why, as I was saying before, we need to have constant inspiration within inside of us. It's like, we listen to satsang and it's beautiful; but then we get towed away into the world. So we listen to satsang again, or we do meditation, and again it's beautiful; but then we get swept away into the world.

Dreaming We're Awake

When I was in New Caledonia, I went to this beach, and it was really beautiful and clear. I walked into the water, and it came about to here. I was standing, I was fine, I was looking under the water, and then all of a sudden there was a rip tide. The water started coming and pulling me towards the ocean. For just a second it was like, "Wow. This is a little bit too much." Then the water went away, I walked towards the beach, and it was okay, it was fine. That's what happens to us. But it happens so slowly, so gradually, so quietly, that we don't even notice it - until boom, all of a sudden one day we say, "Where am I? What's happening?" Then we look around and say, "Oh brother. I have really come a long ways off. This is more than I thought."

It's like that example of a girl who was sun-bathing on an air cushion, and floating on the waves. The waves were bringing her in and out and in and out, and all of a sudden she crossed the waves and she was in the ocean. She had fallen asleep, but after a little while she wakes up and she is in the middle of nowhere. She can't see the land, she doesn't know where she is, and she doesn't know how to head back, because in the whole process, she was sleeping.

There is a movie that the premies put together in Denver called "Dreaming We're Awake". It's a very, very subtle statement. If we split up the words and really understand the meaning of each one, we'll understand. We are in a stage of dreaming and we consider that as being awake. So we have to really rely on this Knowledge. And not only because there is no other solution. Well, actually there is no other solution, but it's like, "Well, let's take our chance." No. It's nothing like that. Knowledge is a for sure answer to this problem. It's just that we, as an individual, have to make an effort. Lord Krishna says that if somebody walks one step to me, I'll walk a thousand steps to him.

I came from Los Angeles to Rio and this is such a tour. I went to Buenos Aires, then to Mendoza, and now I'm here. I have travelled a long ways to come here. But your house could have been next to this hall, or your house could have been upstairs from this hall, with a satsang program being held here, and if you were up there, there could have been no contact, no communication. But when you come into this hall and you listen to satsang, there is a lot that happens. So even one step is a lot. And one step in our life is to realize this Knowledge - which is a lot. Look at it, what other choice do we have? It's not like there are 450 knowledges and we can go to any one of them and say, "Okay. This will give me salvation." No.

Peace Now

There are a lot of people who come to me and say, "Guru Maharaj Ji, would this Knowledge liberate me?" I say, "Well, what do you mean 'liberate' you?" Then they say, "Would it send me to heaven?" I just look at them like, "Have you got a guarantee that there is a heaven and there is a hell?" If you do, then

19

maybe I'll stamp it for you and I'll say, "Okay. You will go to heaven," or "You will go to hell." But since there is not a guarantee, we need peace now.

If we go to a shop and pay 200 or 300 dollars for a suit, and the guy says,"Byebye! See you next lifetime. I'll have the suit ready for you then," how would we feel about that? We would probably just laugh and say, "Ha-ha-ha, very funny. I want my suit." But this is what we are trying to do. We need peace now. The problem is with us now, and we need the solution now.

That's why we need that constant inspiration. And the only way we can really have that constant inspiration is if we do satsang, service and meditation. It's so beautiful, like a three-cylinder car. I remember a time when mechanics used to say that there cannot possibly be a five-cylinder car. How would it run? Well, now there is a five-cylinder car. So this is just like a three-cylinder car. There is one thing that keeps us busy, and there is one thing that keeps on inspiring us. There is satsang, there is service, and then there is meditation. Alone, by themselves, they mean very little. But when you add them together, it equals infinity; it equals what we waited for all our lifetime, what we wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for, what so many people have given their lifetime searching for, what all the scriptures are trying to indicate, what we have always wanted, the solution to our problem. Satsang alone: I don't know how much good it can do for you. Or service alone: I don't know how much good it'll do for you. Or meditation alone: I don't know how much good it'll do for you. It'll do some good, but when you add those three things, I am very sure the total of those three things is what you want, what you have been looking for. So really, every premie just has to realize for himself.

realize You Need It

Today I was looking through my schedule. Now, this is my first tour in South America, but I must have given thousands of satsangs in my life. Some premies have been to a lot of them, and they never get tired of it, because it's a constant inspiration. It inspires them to go on. It's a boost. It's like a flash. You only need that flash for one picture. You don't need it on all the time, because if that picture turns out perfect, you can store it and have it for a very long time. That's what satsang is, and we need satsang. But before satsang can really do us any good, or before we can really start respecting or understanding satsang, we have to experience the need for satsang, the importance of satsang.

You can go into the market and buy everything that there is. But you don't. Why not? Why don't you just go to the market and buy everything? The reason is you only buy what you need. And out of that need, you only buy what you think is important. In the same way, this is a very, very important factor in our lives. If we do not understand the importance of satsang, then satsang seems like a lecture, with a very loudmouth somebody who just keeps on talking. But satsang is a lot more than that. So we have to individually experience the need for satsang, and when we do, then it automatically becomes very beautiful.

It's the same with service. We all work, so what's so special about service? But when we understand the importance of service, it makes a whole world of difference. It becomes really beautiful. We start to see, "Yeah. I need this, I want this, I want to do service." The same thing for meditation. When we really understand the importance of this Knowledge, we really realize Knowledge and see the importance in our life, that, "Yeah man, we really need Knowledge," then we start doing meditation.

So, see the importance of all those things and then practically implement them in your life, because you need them. I can advise you to a certain extent, but after that, it's totally up to you. It's up to you to really realize the importance and to implement it in your life, to take to heart the advice, and really understand the importance of Knowledge, satsang, service and meditation. If you don't then you will just be that premie who comes because he doesn't want to join the Rotary Club or the Lion's Club, or who likes music and nice air conditioned halls, so he takes a drive every evening to the ashram. You'd be surprised, but there are people who do that. Just because they like the ashram, they go there. It doesn't mean anything to them to go there; they don't even have Knowledge, nor do they intend to have Knowledge.

So really realize and understand. What I am saying may mean nothing to you right now, but maybe somewhere along in your life you will feel the necessity of it and then you'll remember my words, you'll be able to really see what I am talking about. Really understand and open yourself up to this Knowledge, because it's really beautiful. Just open yourself to satsang, really open yourself to this meditation, really open yourself to serve. Because without that, we really can't call ourselves premies. So, just realize. Because everything is there. The whole scenery is there, it's just for us to go and take a picture of it. And when we do we capture it, it's beautiful.

So, understand. Because this is the time. We can put off just about everything till tomorrow, but not Knowledge, not the aim of our life. We can't just say, "Okay. We'll do meditation tomorrow." No. If we understand what it means, then we've got to do it. We've got to really do it, and really understand.

Thank you very much, and blessings to all the premies.

'So see the importance of all these things and then practically implement them in your life, because you need them. I can advise you to a certain extent, but after that, it's totally up to you.'

20