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Just recently, I told a little Chinese story that I heard. There was an archer who came to town, and he was an incredible marksman. He was showing off—shooting one arrow after another, right on target. A man standing in the back of the crowd, instead of cheering him, kept saying, "Ah, it's just a matter of practice, just a matter of practice."
The archer thought a lot of himself and did not like this comment. He was expecting praise. So he went over to the man and said, "What do you mean, 'It's just a matter of practice'? Can you do what I can do?"
The man said, "No, but let me show you something." He used to sell oil, so he grabbed a bottle that had a very narrow tube at the opening and a large bowl at the bottom, took a big container of oil, and poured it through the little opening into the bottle, not spilling a drop. Then he looked at the archer and said, "Can you do that?"
The archer realized that, no, he hadn't had any practice doing that. So the man said, "I can't shoot arrows like you, but you can't pour oil like me. It's all a matter of practice."
The point of the story is: What do you practice? Whatever you practice, you'll get good at. If you practice complaining, you'll get very good at it. You will be able to complain about everything. When your friends are looking at the big harvest moon, everyone in awe of the beautiful evening, you'll be able to say, "Yes, but it's so dark!"
So what do you practice in your life? If you practice peace, you'll get very good at it. If you practice joy or happiness, you'll get very good at it. If you practice knowing yourself, you'll get very good at it. You will know who you are. When you begin to know yourself, you begin to realize what a gift you are and the value of every breath that you are being given.
What I offer is a way to connect to the beauty that is inside of you, not merely words. To stand on your own feet and judge for yourself whether you feel that peace, that joy, in your life or not.
This is not: "My Palm Pilot says I have had lunch, and therefore, my hunger is false." I don't believe in that. I believe in a very simple reality that I wasn't, I am, and I won't be. It doesn't make me sad that I won't be. It makes me very, very active in wanting to find out what is going on in my life in this moment. I don't have to take life in chunks of years, months, weeks, and decades. I can actually take it moment by moment. That is a gift.
I understand that fulfillment can be felt moment by moment. I don't have any control over time. I can't sit there and keep rolling the hand of my watch backwards. What I can do is accept my life as it is being offered to me, as it is unfolding for me.
It should be something that you have felt in your life that brings you joy, because this is how you have been made. You are partial to joy. It's a beautiful life, and it needs to be enjoyed to the fullest.Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
Every day is important. What will you do today? A lot of people like to sit down at the end of the day and say, "Let me figure out what I did today." That's a little too late.
You wake up in the morning and think, "What am I going to do?" Maybe there are ten thousand things you have to do, but remember one: today I'm going to be content, I'm going to be in peace, I'm going to be in joy. And then do whatever you have to do—all the chores you have, the sad things you may have to do, even the bad things you will have to put up with. But remember one thing: today, I'm going to be content.
You go through your journeys in life, and hopefully, you come out wiser—not lacking something, but with something. That's what this life has to be, because this is your life. Life is not about saying to somebody, "Look what you did to me."
You are the captain. This is your life. Enjoy every moment of it. It is incumbent upon you to facilitate that and never, ever—no matter what comes in your life—to forget it. You are unique. No one ever has or ever will be able to express the joy of this heart the way you do. Your hard times will pass, but the most important thing is your focus. When a person walks on a tightrope, through the entire journey from the beginning to the end, where is their focus? Are they thinking, "How much further do I have to go?" "How far have I been?" No. Their focus is on only one place: their balance. If their focus wavers, they will fall.
In our lives, we're walking a tightrope, too. Each day that goes by will never come back. It's gone. That makes some people sad. And some people say, "If that's really true, then every day is important." And it is. Every day is important.
Contentment has nothing to do with all those things that go on during the day. It really doesn't. When clarity isn't there and the focus isn't straight, everything matters—even red lights. "Look at this, I'm getting every single red light. Not one single green one." And when the clarity is there, it's another moment to remember something important.
This life is not about red lights and green lights or the bad things that happen. Regardless of all the bad, if there are more things that are good in your life, then it is good. So, for you, is it good or is it bad? There is one thing that tips the balance, and that's your clarity. If you are clear, then the sum of all the good things put together is better than the sum of all the bad things. And good it is.
A coconut floating in the ocean doesn't say, "How come there are waves?" It uses what it has been given. So, let there be waves. Probably the coconut gets to a point where it says, "The bigger the waves, the better, because that means I'll be thrown far inland." Everything switches; everything turns around. This is how we are meant to be.
There is a paradise within. You don't need to count all the problems. Just say, "There is all that, but in the middle of it all, there is something so beautiful, so real." And the real is more real than the fake is fake. Reality is incredible.Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
What does it mean to be free? People want freedom, but people don't know what freedom is. A definition of freedom has been created, and this is what people strive for. Ask them, "Do you feel free?" And they will say, "Of course, I am free, because of this, this, this."
Freedom is being free from fear, free from ignorance, free from doubt. Freedom is not just that you can come and go from your house as you please. You can be free and still be imprisoned. At least in prison, sooner or later they let you go. But if you are imprisoned by fear, by doubt, by anger, you may never make bail or get a reprieve. That prison is much more difficult to get out of—you may never be allowed to leave.
Be fulfilled inside. Every day, prepare for this life to be lived the way it is meant to be. Not outside. It doesn't matter what is going on outside. Be fulfilled inside. Don't gauge your life by all the things that happen in it. Look at the world within because there something very beautiful and simple is unfolding.
The challenge of the world is what you can accomplish. The challenge of the heart is: How much joy can you withstand? How much can you take? How much can you be fulfilled? The challenge of consciousness is: How keen and how aware can you be?
The challenge is to be in peace in the middle of all the turmoil that is there. Some people ask, "Do you need to change the turmoil in order not to feel it?" I say, "You don't."
This life is beautiful. It is. That's why it has been given to you. Its beauty only begins to be appreciated the day you begin to accept it, not to question or challenge it. This breath is a beautiful gift. How you got it, I don't know. The point is that you have it, and its beauty will only begin to unfold the day you accept it, whatever may happen. There is always a "whatever." I don't think there has ever been a generation of people who haven't thought they were invincible. The pharaohs thought they were invincible. Wrong assumption.
Today people say, "We've been to the moon. We have done this; we have done that. We have accomplished this; we have accomplished that." People feel the same invincibility that every single generation before thought they had, only to realize one day how fragile it all is. If there is a strength, it is the strength of existence.
You exist. Accept it. Be. That's all you have to do—be. Be present and you will feel. You will understand the rhythm of that beautiful drum, so strong and so gentle. You are alive, and that needs to mean the most to you. The most. It's a time that's limited. You don't know when it's going to be over. You don't get to know, because it is not the end that matters; it's today that you're alive. It is today that this breath came into you. It is today that a heart is crying out to be free. That's what matters. Let it matter for you.
If you've been asleep, awaken. Awaken to the wonderful possibilities. Let your life sparkle. That's the possibility. Peace is the possibility. Joy is the possibility. Fulfillment is the possibility. Accept that in your life.
Maharaji
