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The Young Leaders Forum of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry invited Maharaji to address an audience of distinguished business and government leaders at Sirifort Auditorium, Delhi's premier auditorium.
Speaking from a simple stage, Maharaji stated that while we tend to think we are free, our heart cries for freedom. There are many bars in our life, he said, behind which we are imprisoned without even knowing it - bars of ignorance, sorrow, doubt. Without knowing it, we are trapped in a cage of doubt. And yet the bird in our heart wants to fly. How can we afford to give this bird in our heart a chance to fly?
Emphasizing that the peace he speaks of is not connected to any worldly situation, Maharaji told a story. Once upon a time, he said, God told a person: "Tell me what you would like, and I will fulfill your wishes." The man replied: "A good job." So God gave this man a good job. A few years later, the man prayed again and told God: "I would like to have a good wife." So God gave him a good wife. A few years later, this man asked for a few good children. So God gave him a few good children.
More than twenty years passed, and the man asked God to give good spouses to his children. So God gave good spouses to his children. A few years later, the man prayed again, and God asked him, "What would you like this time?" And the man answered, "Peace." Then God asked: "But when you started praying to me a long time ago, you said you wanted a job."
And the man replied: "I asked for a good job because I thought this would allow me to be rich and to find a good spouse, and I asked for a good spouse because I thought she would allow me to have a good family, and I asked for good children because with all this wealth and family, I thought I would have peace. But from the beginning I wanted peace." "Why wait so many years?" said God. "Why didn't you ask for peace in the first place?"
Maharaji expressed that the Knowledge he offers does not necessarily make people successful in their external lives. He encouraged people in the audience to pursue this kind of success if they want. And if they needed help finding success in the form of peace within, he invited them to come to him for help.
He emphasized that, while we have to take care of our worldly responsibilities, there is one responsibility that we have towards our self, and that is our personal venture to find peace in this life.
A high point in the address was when he stressed the importance of each person finding peace whether they are interested in Knowledge or not. Every person, he said, must find peace - not a fake peace, not a peace made of worldly formulas, but real peace - the peace that is felt in the heart and that is independent of circumstances.
Maharaji concluded by saying that the Knowledge he offers is unlike any other knowledge because it is the one knowledge that allows a person to take the senses that are running outside and to direct them within. And when the focus goes within, he said, then joy, peace, fulfillment manifest from within.
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