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Maharaji addresses a record audience of 275,000
Maharaji told the story of a poor farmer. The farmer wanted to go to town, make money to feed his family, and come back with some savings. As he was about to leave, his wife prepared four sweets for him and slipped a gold coin into each of them. "Do not eat these sweets unless it is an emergency, and you are very hungry," she told him. He promised her that he would do as she said.
As he traveled to the big city, he became hungry, but he remembered his promise and did not eat the sweets. He had fruit instead. A few months passed, and he had never touched the sweets. He was roaming the city looking for work. In spite of all his efforts, he was not able to make a living. Much time passed and he became even poorer and hungrier. He remembered the sweets, but thought, "These are only for an emergency," and he did not eat them. Before long, without ever having touched the sweets, he died of hunger.
The story of our life, Maharaji said, is like this man's. If he had looked into the sweets that had been given to him, he would have been rich. We have also been given something very beautiful within: Within our heart is peace, happiness, just like the gold coin in the sweets. We keep saying, "Not today, tomorrow" to happiness. And our precious time passes.
He said that now is the moment to enjoy the riches that have been given to us, and he gave the example of seeds in the desert. They wait a very long time for the rain, and when the rain comes, they do not say, "I am busy now. Maybe later. Come back." Whenever it rains, they accept the rain, and they grow. Maharaji said we should be like these seeds.
He went on to speak of the preciousness of this breath: Unless we understand this breath, we are like the farmer who never understood the wealth he was carrying. The real human being, Maharaji said, is not the one who carries lists of what he would like to acquire, but the one who is thankful for what he has been given, the one who is thankful for having been given everything in this life. He asked everyone not to have blind faith, but to understand their thirst, their hunger; practice this Knowledge; and experience for themselves that the gold coin of happiness we are looking for is within.
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