Maharaji Speaking at the Thammasat University, Thailand, 17th May 2005

Maharaji Speaking at the Thammasat University, Thailand, 17th May 2005

Your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. What I have to say this evening is really quite simple. It is simple because it deals with every individual. Sometimes when we look at these huge structures, huge buildings, tall buildings, we forget something. Yesterday I happened to go for a walk and I found myself in the middle of these really tall buildings everywhere you looked and I was trying to figure out where I was and where I needed to go. And it hit me once again that what I see is this massive building. But what is this massive building? What is it I see? Windows. I see a face. I see the decorations. But what is this building? And I sometimes forget that one, this building, this building is standing on a foundation which I can't see because it's buried. Only when something bad begins to happen like an earthquake will my attention even go towards the foundation. Hoping. Especially if you are in a tall building. You hope that the foundation is good, that it'll stand. And I also forget that however tall this building is. It is built of blocks of components that are much, much smaller than this building. And the integrity of this building actually relies on the integrity of those far smaller components that make up this building. Now I am sure that you don't need a lecture on architecture and you are not here to learn about architecture.

But when we talk about peace, it isn't any different. We look at the world. We see huge nations. We see countries. We see cities. And what we forget that all these huge countries, all these nations are actually built on these little, on these little components called human beings. We are the components. We are the components and the integrity of that country. The integrity of that nation depends upon the integrity of these individual components. When you look at this world, this is what we talk about. We talk about countries. What we don't talk about is people. Because if people do not have peace in their lives, whatever it is that one is trying to achieve as an objective will never succeed. There is an analogy that I give. In the analogy is that a film is playing, a projector is running and a film is playing and we're looking at a picture on a screen and all of a sudden we see something on the screen that we don't like. So what do we do? We mean we immediately go and pull down the screen. That's never gonna make any difference. It's not the screen. It's the film in the projector that is being projected. And if you don't like what you see on the screen, don't change the screen. Change the film and if you change the film then what you will see hopefully is what you want to see.

This begins with our understanding of what we have been given. Why is this important? Because the entire world is telling us about things that we do not have. Nobody is pointing out to us of what we do have. What we have been given is the life is this existence and this existence needs to mean something. Existence. Well, it means nothing to us. Then what happens? The value of human life becomes non-existent. Any cause way takes on a greater meaning for war than for peace. Because that one thing, that one thing that is irreplaceable has lost its value and then it doesn't matter. Causes become greater than life itself. in life. Becomes a man or less commodity in this great market where things are being traded all the time. I'm here and I go around the world and I say to people that you are alive. And that means the most and it moves to mean the most for you that you yourself need to understand the preciousness of your existence.

Believe me, this message is too simple. Specially when you go in front of a group of people and say by the way you are alive and that's important. People go "Well. What's so great about the message? What message? I don't see a message." Ah, till the day comes, till the day comes and we begin to get deprived of this life that we have and then all of a sudden "Oh my God. This is all I want. I don't care about anything else." Somebody once said it is very true that all our lives we are busy making money, in fact, so busy making money that we lose our health so that we can make money or only to turn around and spend all that money in trying to gain back our health. Justifications are many. Rationales are many but realities are few. Rationalisms do not change reality. Explanations do not change the truth. And your existence isn't incredibly precious. And regardless of whether you pay attention to it or not. But today today the sun rose and you awoke. And what did you think of? You thought about your responsibilities. How do I know? How do I know this? How do I know this? Because that's what we all do. We all I'm not excluding myself. You see, I'm not excluding myself I'm not saying I don't need peace. I'm here to tell you about peace. I don't need peace. I'm not excluding myself. I'm saying I need peace to like you do. I am in the same boat as you are. And that's what makes me infinitely more qualified to talk about it. If I was in some other boat. this would just be wise ideas. Theories But I am in the same boat.

And then you hear about the frailty. Yesterday I got up. Everything was going okay. Okay. Trying to get my emails, trying to log on to the computer and then somebody came and said to me that a very good friend of mine passed away. Now stopped. I thought about it. And I said "Did you say that?" And I understood in that moment. Once again, I understood in that moment how precious life is. And once again, I understood in that moment that no day can be wasted. And once again, I understood in that moment that of all the gifts that I have been given in my life, the greatest gift that I have been given is the gift of this breath as it comes into me every moment. It is the most nonjudgmental gift that I receive. I judge the world. The world judges me and we all play a nice judgement game. So who are you and what are you? and what have you accomplished and what have you …

And we have our signs. Believe me, we have our signs. Sometimes if I wear really casual clothes I blend in so much wherever I go that people don't pay any attention to me. I like that because I can disappear. I go to Mexico and people think it's definitely a Mexican One time I was I'm Mexico and I asked directions and the person got very upset because I didn't speak to him in Spanish and he was like, you know, "How come you kids go out and come back and you don't speak your own language?" But to me, I know that I wear the suit and I wear the tie and I'm empowered. People look at me. Oh somebody important." But I cannot get lost in that because every evening I have to take this off as powerful as it is, as incredibly good as it is and nice it is. I can't sleep in it. So you see, it's like every day. It's like one lifetime. And the sun rises and I'm born. And then all these things happen and some things happen and I'm in control of them and some things happen and I'm not in control of them. Some thing happens. I like them. Some thing's happened. I don't like them. But rather than make judgements whether good things happen, bad things happen, right things happen, wrong things happen. The sun does set and the eyes do close and I fall asleep. For me. I want every day. This is my ambition. This is not open to the practicalities of whether this is possible or not.

Achievement. The truest achievement in this life doesn't happen because somebody overcame some odds. But it happens when a person understood in their life that 'no' was not an answer, that compromise was not a solution. The greatness of this life. The peace in this existence. The greatness of what we have been given can truly be manifested when each one of us, each one of us begins to understand that 'no' is not an answer, that compromise is not a solution to realising the greatness of this existence. Some people say immediately "What do I have to sacrifice to do that? I don't have time." Let's understand the value of time. Very humbly. I propose to you that time has you, not the other way around. We sometimes in our arrogance forget who's got hold of whom? Who's got hold of whom? It's a bit like a big tiger that has you by the neck. And you're saying I got the tiger. See, I got the tiger. No, you don't have the tiger. The tiger has you. And we forget that we are influenced by this time. We have only seen one aspect of time and the aspect of time we have seen is age which we we want to be all young spend a lot of money trying to be young especially in the Western culture that's a major obsession. Young, young, youth, youth, youth, youth. There is another element to time and that's your frailty or your strength. Do you understand? To see the mortality can either give you, make you weak or make you strong. What do you want to be? What do you want to be? Peace in your life. What do you want it to be? Do you want it to be chaos? Or do you want it to be peace? Because both are possible. The potential exists for both in every person's existence.

To me we look in so many places for that one thing that indeed is with us and it gives me this thought, this, this analogy that comes to mind. There was a man and he left his home. It's a little story. He left his home to earn money, to become rich. And so he went to town and he got a good job and he made a lot of money and he was returning home and a thief saw him and suspected that this man was quite wealthy. So he joined him and started walking with him. And this thief started having a conversation with him. You know how are you? Where did you go? What happened? Became his friend, befriended him and man started telling him. "You know, I used to be very poor and I decided to go to town earn money and I earned a lot of money and I'm going home with it." So the thief said to himself "Well this is good. I can rob him." So they went along that night they stayed in a little inn and they both shared the same room. The time came to have dinner and the thief said to the man "Why don't you go ahead and I will join you." So the man said "Fine." He went to have dinner. The thief searched. Searched his trunk. Searched under his pillow. Searched his clothes. Nothing. Puzzled the thief went and joined him for dinner and they started talking again. The man reconfirmed that yes, indeed. He had a lot of money. This really puzzled the thief. So again, he joined him and they went on for their little journey. They were arrived. They arrived at another inn and the same exact thing happens. The thief says "You go ahead, have dinner. I'll join you." Start searching, searching, searching. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Finally, the thief gives up, goes to have dinner. Same conversation, same thing. The guy says, "Oh yeah, I made a lot of money. A lot of money. And I'm taking it back home." Finally, the next day they came pretty close to where the man lived and the thief said to the man. He said "Please. I have something to ask you. Now that you're almost home, I must confess. I'm a thief and I have been your friend only to get your money. So every night that you used to go and have dinner. I would search for this money and I never found it. Tell me is it true you have money and if you do have money where did you put it? And the man said "You know when I first saw you, I suspected you were a thief. I just suspected you were a thief. So every night that you would go to the bathroom to shop, to shower, to change, I would take my money and I used to put it under your pillow. Knowing that that's one place you're not going to search and my money would be quite secure and that's exactly what happened. Here's the money. Let me show it to you and show them the money. So here's the money. But if you only would have searched under your own pillow you would have found it.

When I first heard about the story. I really liked it. And the reason why I liked it is because we forget to search within ourselves for that one thing that we are looking for. Now of course the big question is, what is it we are looking for? And everybody has their definition of what is it that we are looking for. Some people say "I'm looking for wealth." Some people say "I'm looking for a good wife. I'm looking for a good business." I understand all that. Now let me ask a question. Why? Why? Why? Because we think - that - will - bring - us - happ-i-ness. That's what we're looking for is happ-i-ness. What we're looking for is contentment and what we think, that these are the avenues to get to it And so we look and we search and we search and we search and we search and we do what is necessary. We do what is necessary and in all our search and in in all our doing. Who do we forget? Who do we forget? Us. We remember everything else but weu forget ourselves.

A very famous Chinese philosopher said to know your friends, to know your friends is good intelligence. To know your friends is good intelligence but to know yourself is true wisdom. To know yourself is true wisdom. Socrates. Know thy Self. Because that's the box that hasn't been opened yet. That's the person who hasn't been contacted yet. That is the person who hasn't been asked yet. What is it that you want in your life? What is it that you want in your life? Ultimately at the end of all of these things that you do and search for what do you want in your life?

And the answer believe me, I have been around the world many times and you see, I have a very funny perspective of world. I do. I really do. People. People get very confused when they listen to my definition of the world because I started travelling when I was very young and you know what? I never saw the world. Never saw the world. I never came across one thing that I could put my finger on and say this is the world. All I saw was people and people and people and people and people and wherever I went I couldn't talk to them. They didn't understand my language but peace is what they were looking for. Peace is something they wanted in their lives. I'm here to remind you that in whatever equation you have created, please put yourself there because otherwise, even if you manage to solve this formula, it will mean nothing.

Without you, Without your heart, without your understanding, without the peace in your life there can never ever be world peace. It's not possible. Where do the wars begin? Where did the wars begin? Wars don't begin on battlefields. Here! And when the war has started here, there is no stopping it from getting to the battlefield. This is where the war starts. This is where the war starts. And this is where the peace resides in you and you. So what is the magic formula? There is one. There is a magic formula. And you know where it is? In me. In you. That's where it is. The solution lies within us. In our understanding that yes, peace is a possibility.

And I am that field in which the seed awaits. Awaits. The seed is within me. It needs to be put in the ground. You see, if you take a bunch of seeds, this is good. If you take a bunch of seeds of all different flowers and put them in a can and shake them up. What do you think will happen? What do you think will happen? Maybe you won't be able to identify the individual seeds because they are all mixed up. Maybe you won't be able to say this seed belongs to this and this one is this and this one is this and this one is this because it's all mixed up. But my friends take those seeds and sow them and they will sort themselves out. You don't have to separate each seed. Just sow them. Because just being mixed up in a can does not deprive those seeds of their individuality and their individual beauty and their individual need and their individual little possibility that each seed carries within it. We too are a bunch of seeds that have been mixed up in the can and the world says "I don't know what's all in here. There's a bunch of seeds in there." Sow it. Water it and all of a sudden you will see it's not just a bunch of seeds.

It's individual things in there because that's who we are. Individuals with the same thirst. I know the world shows us our differences and I see a similarity. The world says your light coloured, your dark coloured. World says you're tall. You're short. The world says you're fat. You're skinny. And you know what I see? I see people who want to be happy around the world, who want to be happy, who want to feel that contentment in their lives. This is what I see. Ask them those questions that are pertinent to you. Ask them those things that are important to you. Ask them those things that are going to make a difference in your life. Consciousness does not begin by the birth of unconsciousness. Consciousness begins with that very first step of understanding that I exist. People say isn't that selfish? Isn't that selfish that you should be thinking about yourself? It is not about thinking about myself. It is about accepting what I have been given. It is about accepting the gift that I have been given. When I take a breath. Is that selfish?

Breath is one thing that I cannot share with anyone. I cannot give to anyone. I cannot make a gift of it to anyone. It is me and it comes in me alone and it runs through me. And I'm saying find a way to accept that gift of life. To accept that breath in your life. Because these are the fundamental places where peace can begin to germinate. You know that peace begins with you. And if you can understand that then yes. And yes, there are cynics. "Oh, you you cannot have world peace. There's so many people out there. There are people out there who do this. Who do that? Who do this? How can we have world peace?" Ah, you didn't listen to me because I said the component of the building that brings the building together is not as big as the building. It is much smaller than the building. But it is what is making, all those little components is what is making the building stand up. I'm talking about you. Peace begins with you. Peace is possible with you. Will governments bring peace? I don't know. I don't know. Why do I say that? Track record. Can they bring wars? Ah yeah. Why do I say that? Track records. Can people feel peace? Yeah. Yes. Why do I say that? Track records. Yes. People feel and feel peace. Yours is this life. The gift that you have been given. Awaken and accept. Realise what a gift you have been given. Understand this beauty that is dancing in front of your very eyes.

When you point your one finger at someone else. Look, how many are pointing towards you? When you go peace is there. Look how many are saying, this away. (scattered applause) When you say joy is out there. Look how many are looking towards you. And indeed when you say God is up there (applause, fingers are pointing back at him). Look how many are going in here because this, this is the temple. This is the stage where the peace dances.

That is not something of today. We look at technology and we say "Yeah, but the world has changed." Has it? We talk cellphones. But what do we talk about? We talk about the same things we would talk about if the person was standing in front of us. Long time ago, this was the only way you could talk to somebody was to get there and then you would ask "How are you? Hello." Today we have a cell phone and what do we say? "Hello." It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed. Technology will keep on happening and things will happen that we cannot even imagine. But to say that that changes our fundamental needs. That is not true. Once there was a chariot, before that there was a horse. Today, there are fast cars. There are fast aeroplanes and what people do is exactly the same thing. They visit, place to place, looking, scene, and indeed, the tourists. You are a tourist too, my friends. You have come on this incredible vacation. You have come on this incredible vacation but instead of enjoying, it you're painting the hotel, (laughter) changing the carpets, fixing the plumbing and saying "Oh, once I am through with this then I can really enjoy my vacation." That's not gonna happen. This is a vacation This is a vacation. And you are that tourist. What are you doing? Are you enjoying this existence in its truest sense. Or are you busy going "Well. yeah. Well, let me fix the carpet and let me fix the walls and let me fix the window" because by the time you fix all that you have to fix, the vacation will be over.

You know it is like that. I have four children. When they were young. It was like, "Well when the kids grow up." Now they have grown up. So what do I know. Now that my kids have all grown up. What do I know? You want to tell you what I know? Kids don't grow up. That is the most incredible lie on the face of this earth. Kids grow up. I will look at peace when my kids grow up. Kids don't grow up. They're still kids and even though they all have their own thing, you sit there like a parent doing exactly the same thing as when they were 10 years old. Where are they? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you okay? You haven't sent me an email. You haven't called me. You know you can do that. You can let me know you are okay because kids don't grow up.

Don't wait. This is your time. This is your vacation. Grab that peace in your heart. Grab that request for that peace in your heart. Find that contentment in your life. That is the only way to enjoy. Because the only thing you can enjoy is that beauty that is inside of you. That's what peace is. Peace is beautiful. Peace is real. Peace is that passion. Passion for existence, for this breath. When I'm not caught up in duality but a feeling and understanding of what life means. What every day means. What every hour means. What every breath means. Then, then I can begin to savour what peace is all about. Will that stop the wars? I don't know. I hope so. Because wars are terrible and everything has been tried. And even today billions and billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars are spent every year to research better methods of destruction. And hardly anything is spent on research for peace. Anything. Not even a fraction. When people say 'peace', you wonder how serious they really are. But maybe, not by the masses but to understand the value of each seed in that can. Not the bushel of roses, but one rose at a time.

Finding that contentment. That is the only possibility that never has been tried. Making it incumbent upon people to have peace, to solidify every brick, every block and to say yes indeed this building can stand tall because every brick, every block in this building has integrity, is solid and come the earthquake this is not going to fall down. That is the integrity that is needed. People of this world are the bricks, are the mortar, are the steel girders, are the blocks, are the cement walls of the structure.

This is our time. This is our life and it is incumbent upon us to at least try to make a difference. Rather than to offer logic of how it cannot be done. To at least try to see the possibility of how it could be done and maybe there will be at least the hope indicates so, that there will be peace on this Earth. (applause) So thank you very much for coming this evening, for listening to what I had to say and if nothing else I hope that I have provoked some thoughts, something you might think about and if I have done so, then I have succeeded and very humbly all I can really say, its your life, please enjoy this vacation because you know, like all vacations sooner or later, it's going to be over. I'm not talking about death. I'm talking about life. That you don't even have to make an appointment for. It'll come. Life is what we have to work with. You can't work with death. You can work with life. Make every day count. So thank you very much. And thank you for coming.(applause)