Maharaji at a Rented Room at Oxford University, 28th July 2005

Maharaji at a Rented Room at Oxford University, 28th July 2005

(Standing Applause) Well, I don't have a written speech um and what do I what do I need to talk about or say really is very quite simple because it deals with a human being on the face of this earth. One person, one individual, one life that breathes, that thinks, that wants to understand, that wants to learn. Is my message associated with any religion. Well, no, it's not. And just as I was hearing the introduction, "I remembered when I was in Zambia a long time ago, a little boy asked me, what is your religion? And people have been asking me questions all my life. Before the teachers started on me it was my parents, after the teachers, it was all the people who were interested in wanting to know more about this that I talk about. So there has been questions and yet this little boy asking me a question, "What is your religion?" stumped me because I had never thought of it. What is my religion? And I said "Well, I don't particularly have a religion because I believe in the universality of that power that exists in the heart of every single person and that there's no one way to get to that power, to that experience, to that joy."

Sometimes in the pursuit of all the things that we pursue, that we pursue in this world. All the reasons, all the causes that exist in this world, we forget about us. Who am I? Me. Who are you? You are unique. There is no one like you on the face of this Earth. I love this part (laughter) because I cannot emphasise it enough. The uniqueness of every human being on the face of this earth. Indeed. Like a snowflake that does not duplicate. So are we unique and this is our time. We look at it in terms of decades. We look at it in terms of hours. This is how we measure time. This is how we count time and I think because watches tend to be round and the hands go round and round. We also think we're going round and round and our time will come back. It's not quite like that.

This is an opportunity that we have been given. How we have been given, I don't know. If I am thirsty and I come across a well in the desert, am I really going to be very reluctant and say "What, who dug this well?" or am I going to say "Water, I need that water." There is truly a reason perhaps to know who dug the well but not at the expense of quenching the thirst. There is a reason perhaps to know how the well was dug but not at the expense of quenching, the satisfying that thirst that is so innate in every single human being. Learn and learning is a process that will happen for every single person. I know that. People will learn. This is our nature. If you take a child that was born in India, place them in France. Guess what? Without much trouble they'll be speaking French. Indeed. When I was going to school, we had a kid from England who was not in the same class and he spoke fluent English and I was just astounded. He was my hero. And it was like, here's this kid about the same age as I was and I had trouble speaking English and his English was flawless. Of course I never measured it the other way. How good is Hindi was, because I think that was non existent. Learn we will. Given a person who has nothing even he will learn. Maybe if he has no other way of making a living. Maybe he would do things that are not acceptable to society. Learning will happen. But what is the most important thing to learn amongst all the other things that we learn? Mind you, I am not drawing a parallel so severe as to say one or the other because that is never correct. We need to know what we need to know.

I was asked if I have been to Oxford before and I remember, not of course at the university, but I used to come to the airport. I was a young kid. I used to come to the airport to learn how to fly. That was my passion. I didn't mean that no, I give up flying, I give up everything in order to pursue only one thing. No, this is a misconception that people have that to attain happiness, to attain peace, we have to sacrifice everything else. Where did this myth come from? I don't know. And I don't want to open up a Pandora's box. And I don't want to know how far people are going to get when peace lies inside every single human being.

Millions have come to these gates to learn and understand and go and go on in their life to be successful and prosperous. But there's one kind of prosperity that was talked about a very, very long time ago. And that was "Know thy Self." The idea of peace is not new and this is not certainly I mean, somebody made a comment recently. I was in Italy and somebody made a comment that you know you're capitalising on the world situation today talking about peace. Wrong. I've been talking about peace since those childhood pictures. Because I know that there is another face of peace and there is another face of peace that people paint in which nobody is fighting with anyone. Everyone all they say is "Hello. Thank you. Everything is wonderful. Good morning" and that's it. All the children behave themselves all the time. And when you go to your neighbour to borrow his house. He simply says "No ???, no problem. I'll move out. You can have the house and you know whenever you are ready to vacate, just call me." The wife agrees with everything the husband does and says. The husband does and says nothing to everything that the wife wants.

No wars. All the countries live happily together. Never, ever saying "That yeah, I think I think that that lake belongs to us. That river really is on our side. Now that little piece of land is on our side." You know what? Knowing human nature. I don't know how far that concept is going to fly. But there is a face of peace that does not rely on boundaries. There is a face of peace that has nothing to do with obedience. There is a face of peace that has nothing to do with your wishes, but rather a face of peace that lies in the heart of every single human being on the face of this earth. This is the possibility, the reality, that certain people have always visioned for, that "Know thy Self" not "Know thy fence" and inspect your fence every day in case the neighbour has moved it. But "Know thy Self" that the resources of that joy the resources of that peace that you are looking for exist with you, that you have those tools that you need to accomplish those very aspirations that your heart desires in your life regardless of all the external circumstances.

Some people think that if I fix my external circumstances, where they don't ever breakdown, then I will be fine. Everything will be OK. It's a bit like this. A person says "You know I hate to fall but I might. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to pad my carpet. I'm going to pad my house and I'm going to pad my carpet and I'm going to make it really cushy." So they get a 4 foot high inflatable floor and they put that everywhere and it's great except you can't walk on it and every time to get over, you open your door and there's a opening and you've got to climb a step to get on top of it and then of course you try to get up and it's too wobbly to get up and you have to crawl everywhere and then you get to the steps and that even gets worse because now the steps are all four foot high too as they go across and up and down and all tha. In trying to make this world more proof.

I've never spoken about this before. War proof. Have we made it war proof? You know, that if a formula does not work. If a formula doesn't work you can't say "Well you know, that's that's nature's fault. Formula is perfect." No, you change the formula. You can't change the nature. You change the formula because the formula was wrong. Nobody can say "No, Look, the formula is perfect." And then our desire to make this world of ours, ours, not somebody else's, war proof, have we made it war proof? In our desire to make this world a "better" place, have we made it a better place?

One example, I give this in India quite often. So in India technology has hit hard and Indians love technology, they do. They've got cell phones everywhere. Everybody has cell phones. It would be easier to count the amount of people who don't have cell phones than count the people who have cell phones. They've got cell phones and one of the problems at speaking to audiences, that could go into hundreds of thousands, is cell phones. Because through the entire talk. Di di di di … Can you just imagine this? So we had a talk about this. How do we deal with this issue? So I came up with an idea. I said let's make a cartoon showing that this is really a nuisance for everybody and please turn off your cell phones. So we made a cartoon. We put that up and everybody laughs at it as it's shown and then the cell phones go off and this kept puzzling me and puzzling me and puzzling me. I know that they have every sincere desire to sit there and listen. They have come, gone through so much trouble to get there. They must want to have their cell phone turned off. Then it hit me. They don't ever turn their cell phone off and never bothered to read the manual of how to turn it off. And this was later confirmed in a meeting where the person, in the, in a very small meeting, his cell phone went off and he got so embarrassed that all he did was disconnect the battery. (laughter, unintelligible)

When the formula does not address the root of the problem. You will have no solution. You may have a solution to something else but you will have no solution to the problem. In trying to get rid of the termites, by some form, you may end up inventing a new soap. But to think that that's going to get rid of the termites, uh uh, inventions, concepts, ideas, theories. They all have their place and they're all wonderful and they're all needed. But so does reality. Reality has a place in our lives too. And the reality says to us a very simple message "Are you in peace?" Reality says to us in a very simple way "Are you content?" Not by thought? Not by thought, but by feeling. This is a fine point. If I accidentally on my schedule have clicked off "I have had lunch." Maybe I needed to make a little note "Have lunch" and accidentally on one of those, you know, palm devices, I've checked it off and I look and I feel hunger in myself. I feel hungry and I look at my palm and it says "You've had lunch." What should I do? I have a dilemma on my hands because my Palm clearly states I've had lunch. It's been marked off. My stomach says otherwise. What should I do? That's not a complicated question. Exactly what to do. Look at something to eat, Palm or no Palm.

Peace is the same way. There cannot be a formula. I am content because I did this and I did that and I did this and I did that in my life and therefore everything is fine. There has to be a reality. I'm sure this might have happened to you at some point in time where you're driving along and you get a flat. When you open your trunk to find the spare missing and you say to yourself. "But I thought." The power of thinking is incredible. But that's not gonna help you with your spare tyre, because, just because you thought it was there, in reality is it or isn't it? This is what I talk about, There are plenty of people around, I would never ever dream of replacing them for all the thoughts and all the things that they have to say.

Religion has a clear and a distinct place in this world. And I would never say "Yes. You have to leave a religion." Never. Because it's not about that. My message is not connected to religion. My message is connected to get in touch with the heart. The heart that you have, that to understand the value and the preciousness of your existence and to listen to those fundamental needs that you have, to address those needs that you have, rather than to cover them up, to actually address those fundamental needs that you have as a human being that is unanimously the same for every single person on the face of this earth.

Somebody who can speak 10 languages always impresses me. One day I realised they don't say anything different. They can say the same exact thing 10 different in 10 different languages, that doesn't mean that they are saying anything different. Yes, we have differences. We have languages. Yes we say all these things that we say but we say the same things. I am thirsty. I'm hungry. I want to sit down. I want to go there. I want to fly there. Welcome. Good morning. Goodnight. Go away. Come. I don't want to see you again. Same stuff. You overcharged me. Same stuff. Whether it is happening in one language or the other language because we see and sometimes it is easy to see our differences and sometimes it is very hard to understand our similarity. And our similarities are that we are on the face of this earth, that we have those simple and basic means and necessities that address to be content, to be happy is a fundamental need of a human being.

Indeed, if a person can be happy, you can put them anywhere and it wouldn't bother them. If they can be happy there, you can put a person in a place where maybe the formula or the concept of the idea says that there should be happy but that doesn't mean that they're happy and they can't wait to get out. They can't wait to get out and it is the same way because that innate, that fundamental thing unless it has been addressed in our lives, not by somebody else, mind you, not by somebody else but that fundamental need has to be addressed by every individual for themselves. What have I done? What have I done today to make my day content? After all, what I have been given is not a joke. I have been given the power to feel and we know that human sorrow can be mighty, human pain can be mighty and we also know that human that human joy can be mighty. What have I done today to secure my prosperity towards joy? To secure that happiness for myself? What have I done today? Have I begun to listen to those fundamental needs that I have? Needs that say be content. What was the essence of those words that said Know thy Self.

Indeed, we know our neighbours better than we know ourselves. The neighbour does something. It's like, I know that. That's predictable. When we do things is like, whoa, what happened? How did I? How did I do that? I can't believe I did that and here the neighbour does everything from, you know, 9:00 o'clock into 5:00 o'clock and you know everything. Yep. Yeah. That's my neighbour. Yeah, I know. Hey, that's that's why I'm he's taking a shower now. He's falling down the stairs. Now he's making his coffee. Now he's doing this. Now he just fell off the roof." Ha ha. That's what Shakespeare said. Nothing is more pleasing than watching a neighbour fall off the roof. (laughter)

What about you? "Oh, I don't know what happened today. I don't know what I did today. Where was that? I know that is I'm getting older. The memory is getting questionable. Questionable, at best. Sometimes you just kind of look around and go "Hmmpf, Have I been here before? (shrill laughter) What have I done? What did I do today and of all the things that I can do and of all the things that I could have possibly done. If I did that one thing to acknowledge my thirst in my life then I did something to secure that joy in my life. Good. Good.

Just recently I was speaking in London and I gave, I gave an analogy of practise and there was a little Chinese story that I came across when I was in China and there was an archer, he came to town and he was exhibiting his talent and he was showing off and it was wonderful. It was right. Incredible marksman. Right. One arrow after another, right on the dot. And there was a guy standing in the back of the crowd. Instead of cheering him, kept saying "Ah, just a matter of practise. Just a matter of practise. Just a matter of practise." Well, certainly this archer taught a lot of himself and did not like this comment. He was expecting praise and he did not like the comment. Just a matter of practise, matter of practise, just a matter of practise. So he got fairly turned off and run over to the guy and said "What do you mean?" Really upset. What do you mean it's a matter of practise. Can you do what I can do? He goes "Well no. But let me show you something." And so he took, because this guy used to sell oil. He took a bottle which had a very narrow opening, long tube and then a bowl at the bottom and he was able to take this big container of oil and pour the oil where it went right through that little opening, right through that bottle and not a drop spilt. And he looked at the archer and said "Can you do that?" And the archer realised that, no, he couldn't do that. He hadn't had any practise doing that. He goes "You know, I can't shoot the arrows like you, but you can't pour the oil like me. It's a matter of practise."

Now, what's the point of telling that story? The next question is, what do you practise? Because invariably, whatever you practise, you're gonna get good at it. And this isn't the question of good or bad. If you practise cheat and deceit, you're gonna get good at cheat and deceit. If you practise complaining, you're gonna get very good at complaining. I mean, you will be able to complain about everything (laughter) without batting an eye or having a second thought. It will be a flow. When all are your friends are standing there looking at the big harvest moon, beautiful night and everybody in almost tears and in awe of this beautiful, beautiful evening. You'll be able to pull out of your hat, without a second thought. Something to complain about. "Jees, its so dark."

So what do you practise in your life? Because if you practise peace in your life, you're gonna get good at it. You're gonna get very good at it. If you practise joy in your life, you're going to get very good at it. If you practise happiness in your life, you're going to get very, very good at it. If we practise knowing yourself then you are going to get very, very good at it. And you will know who you are. In that day. What is the importance of knowing who you are? What could possibly be the significance of knowing who you are? I mean, let's face it, most people have an idea of everything they don't know. They're weak at, they're bad at. And when it comes to performance, we kind of like "Hm Hm. Yeah, right. I'll stay away from it." But here look at it this way. When you begin to know yourself, you begin to realise what a gift you are. When you begin to know yourself, you begin to realise the value of every breath that you are being given. You begin to understand that one stage, that one floor in which on which, truly a dance of life is taking place. A dance that is sweet. A dance that is beautiful. A dance that is magnificent. A dance that is all about you. Not about the years that have gone by and the years that have been missed.

It is time to rewrite the log where it says I am-This is a typical question. How old are you? How old are you? How old are you? There was a time when everybody was older than I was. Everybody. I mean, it was safe. I was the youngest in my family. I'm still the youngest in my family. And then it was everybody was older than me. It's not like that. So people ask me how old are you? How old are you? How old are you? I ask people how old are you? Because this is what, this is how we judge. Even a little celebration of birthdays. Now people don't like to talk about their mortality and yet that's exactly what a birthday is. This is how many years you have lived. Here are the candles for each one of those and you blow them out. In fact, that's how the tradition started. It is understanding, those have gone by. Passage. So far we are judging our travels by passage. We are judging our travel. Like remember when you were a little child and you kept asking your mom and dad. Are we there yet? How long more? Are we there yet? When are we going to get there? How long do I have? How come you? How come we're not there now?

Now, you all heard these questions. Perhaps from your own kids. Perhaps from other kids. Perhaps watch a good movie. Does it sound familiar? Preoccupied by the business of are we there yet? How much more to go. How much more do I have? One day I was talking with this doctor. And I said, you know, you guys have powerful words. When you tell somebody, everybody knows that one day they all have to go. But when you tell them that, they really go for a spin. Yeah. What is it? Of all the things that we know. What is it that we don't know? We don't know that there is a beautiful dance that is taking place. We don't know the truth. Whatever we go through in this life and how much pain in suffering there may be on the outside, inside there is a lamp that is burning bright. It doesn't matter how dark it is on the outside, there is a lamp that is always lit. And there is something inside that yearns again and again to be fulfilled. Again and again inspiring us to fulfil ourselves.

What is it that inspires us to go to the moon? The betterness in us, inspiring us to be better. Is technology is the only answer. No. There's something else too. And what I offer to people is a way to connect to that beauty that is inside of you. To stand on your own feet. Not merely just words. To stand on your own feet and be the judge. You be the judge of whether or not you feel that peace, feel that joy in your life or not. This is not about well, my Palm Pilot says I have had lunch and therefore this hunger is false. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that. I believe in a very simple reality. I believe in the reality that I wasn't, I am and I won't be. And that doesn't make me sad or concerned about that I won't be. It makes me very, very, very, very active in wanting to find out what is going on in my life in this moment. But I don't have to take it in the chunks of years that I don't have to take it in the chunks of months and weeks and decades. But I can actually take it moment by moment. That is a gift. That is the gift. I have that control to understand that this can be taken moment by moment, that fulfilment can be felt moment by moment.

I don't have any time control. I cannot control my watch. Simply sit there and keep growing the hand backwards is not the solution. But I can do something And what I can do is taking my life moment by moment as it is being offered to me as it is being given to me as it is unfolding for me. It is not a question that it is relative that I feel every step that I take, I deliberately take. I want to deliberately take every moment that comes to me. I want to deliberately and purposefully accept that moment in my life. I need to understand those things that I need to question and those things I need to accept because if I cannot distinguish between the two I've got problems and I need to understand all that that the world is giving me and I need to accept what this breath is giving me. The union of both can be a wonderful experience in this life and the source should be you. The source should be you. It should be your understanding in this life that brings you joy. Something that you have felt in your life that brings you joy. Because this is how, this is how you have been created. This is how you've been made. You are partial. I'm sorry, but you are partial to joy. You like it. Pain. You don't It's just like you know if somebody comes and touches you very gently. It's like ah and stabs you, ouch you recoil. You recoil. This how you are made.

Indians understand this very well because they, you know, a lot of Indians they when they do electrical work they just find out by touching it, if it's working. (laughter) It's true, it's true even even if you give them meters this is they still prefer that because they've done it so many times but there is a way that they do it because they understand this recoiling business and there's a way that they do it which is to go like this, because when the shock hits, hand will recoil and they'll move away instead of going like this, (palm first) you go further down. 50:21 Do I understand? Do you understand your nature? Peace is possible, that the face of peace that is possible begins with you. If you want to light up this hall. How many blown bulbs will it take to do that? This is a quiz I asked the last event I had in London. How many blown bulbs does it take to light up a football field? Anybody's guess? Blown bulbs do not light up anything. This Earth is the football field. We each one of us is the bulb. One light turn us on. Turn us off. There isn't going to be any leader. That's abdicating our responsibility. Abdicating. Yeah. The world leaders will bring peace. History. Not a happening thing. History says they can bring us war. Really easy. Peace. Slim chance.

Up to us. Each one of us. And this is where it begins. That's the face of peace that is possible. And so yes, peace is possible. But the peace that begins with every single individual. That's the peace that is possible. Then people get into the logistics of it. Well, you know, you're not gonna succeed. Am I going to succeed? Am I going to succeed? A few people will tell you. "Well, you know, that's too much. And there is too many in this as a 2 that at the two that a ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta never never, everybody's never." I mean people are so positive about this. "Never, never" but the face of peace that I'm talking about, since it is dependent upon every single person, even if one person feels it, I have succeeded. I have succeeded. The face of peace that I'm talking about is the possible one for every person can feel that thirst inside of them and address that thirst. And this is what I do. I go to people and I talk to them and I try to tell them "Hey there's more important stuff going on inside of you than you realise."

And yet, amazingly enough. Here's the catch. Everything that I have said this evening and you have been so kind to hear, nothing is new. Doesn't that amaze you? It's not new, in fact you, in fact you know about this stuff and you have always known about this stuff. And so I hope that for 45 minutes that I have been speaking it hasn't been boring for you because all I have been doing is reminding you of what you always knew and that I take pride in. I really do cause I'm not here to prove to you that I'm a good speaker. I'm not, far from one. I'm sure their speakers were much, much more wonderful. I didn't write any speech nor did I memorise any speech. I know I have to be in a good place so that whatever I am saying to the people who have come very kindly to hear me, that it comes from my heart. If it starts to come from just my ideas you'll be bored and my goal is only one, is to remind you, to remind you that you are a bulb that can glow very bright. And once you're dead, once you're really dead and you shined and then maybe somebody came along and said "Well, you know you better conserve that." You know you can shine very, very bright. Shine. Shine. Get in touch with that place inside of you that wants you to shine.

The fact that you can experience peace is not a mistake. You are meant to experience peace. You are meant to experience joy in this life. Use those talents like you have used others. Use those talents that you have and be fulfilled. It is simple. So yes, all I do is go around reminding people of what they already know. But then that's a good thing because somebody needs to remind us as we grope around sometimes in the darkness, bumping our toes and going "Ouch. Ouch." Somebody's saying "Hey turn it on." Turn it on and you won't have to go "Ouch. Ouch. Ouch anymore." Cause there's no reason. You know, people would rather keep the bulb off, light off, go through "Ouch. Ouch. Ouch" and then try to have a meeting of why "Ouch. Ouch. Ouch" is happening rather to just turn on the bulb.

We're talking about rush hour yesterday and my eldest daughter rightfully pointed out that why did they call it rush hour? (laughter) That's when everybody's going the slowest but that's the way we are because everybody just happens to be in a rush but they're not rushing anywhere but we still call it a rush hour. We should call it the slow hour, the slow hour has come, the painful, the painful hour has come. How is it that people, traffic jams happen and why are they happening? Because everybody's rubber necking. Everybody's looking at the accident and people in the back are going "Why are they doing that? Just move." Till they get there. What happens? Yes, let's be in darkness and let's discuss the theories of why we are in darkness. To me, I like things to be kind of simple. Turn on the light. Turn on the light. No. This is to me-it's still a mystery of why they make flashlights black. Night when you need it the most, you're not gonna see it. But people do, the manufacturers really take a lot of pride in making flashlights black. To this day, I haven't figured that out, so what I have done, I keep my flashlights where if there's no light, I can just reach and find it because that's the only way I'm gonna find it. They could have helped by making it a brighter colour, but since they don't, I don't care. I still need the light, turn on the light before you go on doing the "Ouch Ouch" turn on the light, see what's there, save a lot of problems.

If there was no light, that could be a problem. But there is a light. A light inside every single human being on the face of this earth and it's a beautiful light and beautiful life and it needs to be enjoyed to the fullest. I know there are so many people who would go and stand in the Louvre and look at Mona Lisa. I was there too. Yes, it's beautiful and then I thought to myself, at least in one museum, it would be really nice if they could put a mirror because Mona Lisa was just painted. You're not a painting. You are alive and more exquisite. More incredible than Mona Lisa will ever be. It's a painting. You need to understand that because that is real. That is real. So thank you very much for coming today and giving your time listening to me.

I hope it reminded you of something even if it's about lunch tomorrow and I thank everyone and I know Professor Geaves, I used to call him Ron, but Professor Geaves has been very kind in inviting us here. So thank you very much and goodnight.