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So often peace is defined as the absence of war. There is war that happens between two countries. There is war that takes place between two people. There is war that doesn't even require two people; it takes place inside of a person. For a war on the outside, maybe a cease‑fire can be negotiated. Between two people, maybe an understanding can be negotiated. But even in the absence of those kinds of wars, there is a war that takes place inside a human being—a much more ferocious war that devastates the very elements that are the foundation of a person. Which of these wars will become absent so that one day we can stand up and say, "Now there is peace"?
Those people who have talked about peace in earnest have said, "What you are looking for is within you. You are the source and you are the resource for peace on the face of this earth." This is the realization, the understanding, and the challenge of feeling peace in this life—not being distracted by all our agendas, but accepting and understanding the agenda we have been given with the opportunity to be alive.
Maybe we cannot create breath, but we have the potential to appreciate breath. Maybe we cannot create love, but we have the potential to experience love. When we begin to look at our own possibilities, at what we have been given and what potential we do have, we can also begin to shine in our lives, just like that beautiful full moon. All of us have that potential. It begins with fundamental understandings. It begins with understanding our similarities, not our differences.
Right now in this world, we look at what country people are from, what language they speak, what they do. In a survival situation where, let's say, people are in a life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean somewhere, they're not talking about where they are from. Anything that is unnecessary is dropped in favor of what is necessary to survive. It is necessary to collect water, to stay away from the hostile elements, and to have food.
With all our differences, we're not that different. Our quests are similar. The need for peace is not created by a document. It is created by a fundamental desire innate to all human beings, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful. It is that innate desire that has, throughout history, pushed us again and again to find peace. The want, the concept, the idea of peace did not start this year or last year or the year before.
Peace is so fundamental that, for as long as people have been on the face of the earth, this is what they have looked forward to. This is what they have wanted.
The precedence for peace has to begin somewhere; it cannot just be ignored. There is plenty of precedence for ignoring peace, and it has brought so much misery. It is incumbent upon us to have the strength to say, "Peace today, not tomorrow." It would be sad if another generation were to go by ignoring the very basic and fundamental call to have peace on this earth.
This is a vessel and we are its inhabitants. We have the possibility of making a difference. I am not telling anyone what to do so there will be peace. I am saying, "Whatever it takes, let us have peace. Whatever it takes." If we can go to the moon, we surely should be able to figure that out. Why does it have to be such a mystery? Why is it that, when it comes to going to the moon, nobody has a problem, but when it comes to having peace, everybody has their own opinion? Why can't we put aside our differences? Why can't we put aside our opinions for the sake of peace? What is so wrong with peace? What is so bad about having peace?
Is it a dream? It cannot be. Dreams only happen when you're asleep. Peace will only happen if we awaken. People say, "I have too many responsibilities." But this is your responsibility, too. You may be fulfilling all the other ones and ignoring this very fundamental one. Let today be the day when you take a step toward yourself in the truest and most earnest way of looking for peace. The day you start looking for peace, peace will start looking for you. The day you start recognizing your potential, your potential will start recognizing you. This is how it works.
Whatever it takes, find that peace, and for the rest of your life, enjoy that beautiful peace that has been lying in wait within you. It begins with you. You are the source. You are the source for the thirst, and you are the well in which the sweetest water resides. Within you are both the thirst and the means to quench it. Begin by accepting this possibility in your life. That is where your answer lies. You have had the question for a long time. Now it is time to get the answer and get on with your life—in joy, in harmony, and with understanding. Now is the time to begin to enjoy the rest of your life.
Enjoy every day for the rest of your life. If there ever was a gift, this is the gift. If there ever was a time, this is the time. If ever there was an opportunity, then this is the opportunity. This is my message.
It begins with each one of you. It will be everyone's effort that will make peace possible—each one of us. And yes, peace is very, very possible. I see the possibility, and you need to see it, too.
After all, wherever you go and whatever you do, your heart will not leave you alone because it, alone, holds the quest for peace. You cannot run from it. You cannot evade it. Be sincere toward this existence. Be sincere toward today. Be sincere toward tomorrow as it comes and unfolds itself into today. All those promises will only come together today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is just an idea. Today is when all tomorrows manifest. In today, find your reality; in today, find your courage. And today, find the possibility of being in peace, being in joy, being in the reality that you are.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
People say they want peace. Then they ask: "How will you bring peace?" They forget where peace is. Peace has always been within us. What we have been searching for is how to access that peace. But in search of the tool, we went further and further away from the fundamental reality of where peace exists, where joy is, where fulfillment is.
When I say to people, "What you are looking for is within you," it often comes as a surprise. They realize they knew that, but they have always looked somewhere else.
The idea that it is within has become alien to us. We think: "It can't be within me. Something has to happen. Someone has to come along. Some book has to be read. Some pilgrimage has to be made. Some seminar has to be attended. Something like that has to happen, and then maybe I can get peace."
I often give the analogy that, to understand the value of water, you have to understand thirst. If you don't have thirst, it is very hard to understand what water is all about. These days water comes in many different kinds of bottles. There are companies that promote their brand of water - water from the mountains, water that is good for you, water in a blue bottle, water in a green bottle, water in a white bottle. None of this is what water is all about. Water is not about blue bottles and green bottles. Water, as it relates to me, has the possibility of quenching my thirst. This is what is most important.
In Europe, when you go to a café and ask for water, they will ask you, "Do you want it with gas or without gas?" When you are not thirsty, you think about it. You might ask, "Do you have French water? Do you have Spanish water?" But water is actually about quenching the thirst as it relates to me. It has other uses - in rivers, in dams, in the ocean, all of that - but what I am talking about is the water that has the possibility of quenching my thirst.
We get caught. Our focus becomes: "Will this thirst be quenched by cold water? Distilled water? In a green bottle or a blue bottle? French? German? English?" And all of the conversation that inevitably ensues is because people have forgotten - they really have forgotten - what water is all about.
Everywhere you go there are people just like us. They are living their lives, just like we are. They are looking outside for answers that are on the inside, just like we are.
Go back to the simplest of possibilities, the simplest of understandings - understanding about you. So many people say, "You talk about peace, but this world is so crazy. How can there be peace in this world?" I agree that the world is crazy, but the subject here is not the world. The subject is you.
The issue here isn't the world; the issue is you. The issue isn't the rotation of the earth. The issue is the coming and going of the breath in this vessel. The issue isn't the thirst on the outside. The issue is the thirst on the inside.
It is individuals that matter. It is you that matters. It is in you that the gift of breath comes. It is in you that there is consciousness. It is you who can see the good and the bad. In you lies the ability to appreciate. In you lies the ability to enjoy.
Wherever you have been in the journey of your life, you have always carried a huge box inside full of joy. This is the joy you can get in touch with. And if you want to do that, it will be your personal journey. You can't take it with anyone else. It is too personal because it is a journey inside.
There is a joy, and it is the joy of existence - not what is happening in existence. They are two different things. There is the joy of existence, and then there is the joy of what is happening in existence. What is happening in existence we try to control and manipulate.
Sometimes things go our way. Sometimes they don't.
But then there is another joy. That joy has been there through all the years of your life, waiting to be discovered. And that joy will be there for as long as you live. It is the simple, simple joy of being alive.
In my life, there are good days and there are bad days. The days I call good are the days when everything goes according to my plan. The days when things do not go according to my plan, I call bad. Yet every day that I have been given is above and beyond being good and bad. Each one has its own meaning and its own beauty. And I can get in touch with that beauty. My plans will change. Sometimes the days I call bad actually end up being good. And some days when everything looks like it is going according to my plan turn out to be a disaster.
Good and bad. Life is not just about good and bad - it is beyond that. When we begin to understand that, we begin to understand that it is a privilege to be alive. It is a privilege for which this heart needs to be filled with gratitude. What we have been given is far more precious than all the good and the bad put together. All of that is transitory.
We can know that which isn't transitory, that which will be here as long as we are alive. That is our solace. That is our harbor. That is where we need to be when the storms come.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
Most of what we hear in life is about either how it was or how it could be. Especially when we get older, we think back to how it used to be when we were young. And then, we look to the future and think about what might be, and that's what we work for - our dreams, our aspirations. We think, "Someday in the future, I'll be happy. I'll be content."
I talk about a different dimension, another time. This time is not in the past, and it is not in the future. It is now, in this moment. At this very second, breath came into you heralding the possibility of immeasurable joy. In this moment called now, all your wants and wishes are being fulfilled. Who is this "you"?
It is this "you" that allows you to be a father or a mother, a husband or a wife, a teacher or pilot, doctor or lawyer. It is this "you" that allowed you to be a child, that allows you to have a job, and will allow you to retire. One day, this "you" will be no more, and nothing will matter.
What does matter is whether you recognize the "you" that allows you to be everything you are and will allow you to be everything you will be. What is this breath, this life, this existence?
When you have it, you have everything. When you don't have it, you have nothing - not even nothing. You don't have to work for it or earn it; you have it. What do you have? It begins with the fundamental understanding of you - understanding what you do have, not what you could have.
The world says if you want to be happy, this is what you must do, but it never shows a person who did that and was really happy. What the world gives you is a formula with no equals sign at the end. What does it produce? Nobody knows. I'm not criticizing anything. What I am saying is, the key ingredient missing in all of this is you. In your life you have all your responsibilities, but what about the responsibility to recognize what you have been given?
Have you heard the call of your heart? Pay attention because the request is about peace, about joy, about being fulfilled now - not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
To be complete. Not "almost complete." The painting that is almost complete does not express what it could. Its potential has not been realized. The song that is almost complete does not express what the writer wants to express.
In this life we, too, are almost complete. Not quite. It is like the bridge that is magnificent, but it has another eight feet to go. Nobody can use it because it's not complete. It is almost complete - not quite.
How do you become complete? What does it take to complete this existence? It is so simple. Recognize what you have been given. That's all you have to do. After that, what happens is automatic. The unfolding begins, the discovering of the home within you begins.
So much is changing around me all the time, and it will continue to change. But there is one thing that has not changed. The breath coming in and the call of my heart have always been the same. Not a single beat has been missed. The call of the heart has always been, "Be fulfilled. In every moment, be fulfilled."
What you are looking for is within you. In every breath lies the possibility of being fulfilled. Listen to that sweet song of life. You've been saying, "I think I have everything, I think I have everything, I think I have everything." Know. Know that in every breath lies the possibility of being fulfilled.
Walk in certainty towards the well that will quench your thirst. If you don't know where that well is, then look within you, not outside. You have looked outside for too long. You have found many things, but you haven't found the one thing you were looking for, the one thing that started the search of a lifetime. What is that one thing? I don't need to tell you. You know.
You are the one who is searching. When you are attracted by the sign on the side of the road, you are searching. When you look at the shop window, you are searching. When you look at the beautiful full moon shining in the sky, you are searching. And you will be searching till you have found it.
All you need to do is read what is written in the chapters of your heart. It's your book. Is it interesting? Nobody will know that except you because it is your book and only you can read it. Every day take a little time to read it because the book being written is the book of life. Hopefully, it will be joyful to read because it is your words that will be written. This is the possibility.
This is about joy - the true joy, the joy of the heart. Once the thirst of the heart has become clear, the purpose of the well becomes very clear. Until then, without the thirst, it's only speculation. Don't live this life in speculation and uncertainty. Every step, every breath should be taken in certainty. Life is too precious a journey to miss.
How will you know when you are fulfilled? The day the call of the heart changes from, "Be fulfilled" to "Thank you." When you start to feel gratitude, you will know you are being fulfilled.
Maharaji
