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When it comes to learning, even a parrot can learn. A parrot can learn to say, "Polly want a cracker." But the parrot doesn't understand who Polly is or what a cracker is. All it understands is that every time it says something like that, it gets something to eat.
We need to go a little bit beyond that and understand what is really needed. We think that if we bring prosperity, riches, everything will be taken care of. But there is something more than all those elements. And that one most important thing for human beings is the aspiration and yearning for peace. It doesn't matter where we go, what religion we belong to, where we live, what we do. At the end of the day, we all need to experience peace. Why? This is the nature of a human being—the composition of a human being.
When you have something in abundance, you don't recognize its value. When it is taken away, all of a sudden you're enlightened as to how incredible this one thing is. We are in this world, we see things, we do things, but we don't recognize how important it is to be alive, to exist every day in fulfillment, to be grateful for what we have been given—every day. And to understand and recognize our fundamental need for peace.
When it comes to food, our hunger needs to be satisfied. When it comes to peace, it is the same way. We need to feel peace, not just say, "Peace, peace, peace," like a parrot. But peace needs to be felt by every single person. Fundamental. This is the heart that we have been given. Through our mind, we try to comprehend the universe. Through our heart, we can comprehend our own universe. Through the mind, we try to measure the depths of the ocean. Through the heart, we can measure our own depth.
Every single human being on the face of this earth is a universe unto themselves. Do you know how unique you are? There is no one like you, and there will be no one like you. The way you smile, the way you laugh, the way you cry, the way you hurt, the way you sing, the way you are joyful—every single intricacy is a gift of the Creator that you have been given.
Yet, how do we look at this gift? We look at its shortcomings. We say, "This is what I do not have." Our scales measure the negative, when we need to understand that every breath is a gift. It is a gift that has been given and given, and nothing is being asked in return.
No one can substitute for another person. Nobody can say, "You go feel peace for me." That would be the same as saying, "You go drink water for me. You go eat food for me. You go sleep for me." There are certain things you cannot send a replacement for. Can you imagine being too busy to go to your own wedding and saying to your best friend, "Go get married on my behalf"? It would not work.
So I say to people that it is incumbent upon you, and you alone, to reach out to that one place within inside of you where peace resides.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
I talk about something very simple. These days, when you open up a newspaper or take a look at television, there are so many things one can talk about. Peace is an issue; hunger is an issue; poverty is an issue; social unrest is an issue. One would think I should be speaking about one of these topics.
But what I speak about is something you already know. It isn't about the world; it's about you. As a human being, what you are looking for is inside of you. This is who we are.
People say human beings are not born with instruction manuals. They are. But their instruction manuals are automatic because the instruction is: be content. It becomes obvious from childhood, and it stays there till the day you die. You do what you do to be happy. Whether you call it happiness or tranquility or peace doesn't really matter. Call it anything you want, because it is not in the names. Names came later. That beauty came way before the name.
What is your truest and most sincere desire? I know. Do you know how I know? Not because some angel came and told me. Not because one day I was sleeping and somebody whispered it in my ear. I know because I feel the same desire. I, too, want to be in peace. That's when it feels good to me. I want to be happy because that's when it feels good to me.
What do you want? What do you want? You have heard everybody in your life make requests of you. What do you want—not just today—but what have you always wanted?
People want true love in their lives, and true love is inside of us. Experience it. Understand it. Live your life in simplicity because that's who you are. Be conscious of every day that is given to you because that day is never, ever going to come back. That which you think is yours but can be taken away by someone else is not really yours. And there is one thing that is within you that no one can take away from you. That's yours.
The passage of life can be very complicated. People say, "When it rains, we don't want to get wet, so let us get rid of the clouds." I say, "Carry an umbrella." Sooner or later, it's going to rain. And when it does, you're going to get wet. If you don't want to get wet, open your umbrella. You don't have to get wet. It's as simple as that. That's your reality.
If you want to understand that reality, look within you. People think peace is the end of war. No, because another one will start. The peace that I am talking about can be experienced in the middle of the war. This peace is in the heart of every human being day and night. It is not a lack of something. It is a peace that is there for everyone—educated or non‑educated, rich or poor.
There is a light burning inside of you. Do you really think you were sent in this world with a lamp that was not lit? No. That would be incredibly cruel. There is a lamp lit. And when it gets dark, you don't have to bump into things. Let there be light in your life, whoever you are.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
We talk about peace, but do we ever stop and wonder, "Where did this idea of peace come from?" Why do human beings across the face of this earth even want peace?
If peace is a luxury, then you can say, "Well, it would be nice to have peace." But it's an innate and fundamental desire, a need, a necessity that gets acknowledged in a human being. Something stirs from within and says, "Without peace, the whole equation is incomplete." Throughout the world's civilizations, peace has always been something that has been acknowledged.
The importance I am giving peace is that it is just as important as being able to breathe, just as important as being able to see, just as important as being able to exist. Something within each human being stirs every single day and says, "Let me feel, let me experience the state in which I am not burdened with conflict. It is important for me to feel that simplicity in my life."
Whether we live in what we call a free society or in prison, we need to feel something. What is so fundamental to us is not the boundaries of countries or even our ideals, for in the midst of the ideals, we have forgotten the fundamental human thing.
In this existence, we forget what the primary purpose is. What is the most important thing to you as a human being? To welcome that and not find it mysterious because it isn't mysterious, not to find it routine because it is not routine. To acknowledge that the life I have is an exquisite gift, and I need to make the most of it.
An empty pitcher, an empty well, cannot fill other vessels. A dry well? You can throw 10,000 buckets into it, and all that will come out is sand. And that's if you're lucky. For a lamp to light other lamps, that lamp has to be lit. For a candle to light other candles, that candle has to be lit. Peace is a noble objective; helping mankind is noble. But it has to begin with a lit lamp. First and foremost, peace has to be recognized in a person's own self.
Everybody's requirements are different when it comes to this world: somebody likes a blue car; somebody likes a green car; somebody likes a white car. I'm not passing judgment on that. That's fine. But there is one need that is the same for all. The name for water is different in different languages, but water in itself is not different. Its ability to quench thirst is not different.
We are free to understand the gift that we have been given. That is a freedom no one can take away from us—not another government, not a terrorist. There is a peace that resides equally in the heart of every human being. It is not a peace that somebody hands us on a platter, because that peace can be taken away some day. This is a peace that no one can take away from us.
This is a peace that can be felt even in a battlefield—the innate peace, fundamental to everyone. The fundamentals of every human being: freedom, understanding, peace, joy, happiness.
Feel that peace in your life. Feel that joy in your life. Feel that understanding in your life. Come from that place, and there will be no end to how much you can be filled with beautiful understanding and gratitude. Make it real, make it practical. Make it the way it is supposed to be—every life, everywhere touched because a lit lamp came by and was able to light the unlit lamps. This is the possibility for all of us, but first we need to be lit.
Is it asking for a lot? Probably. Is it impossible? Absolutely not. It is very, very possible. It will take a lot of effort, but then effort is one thing we can make. And it is up to us.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Peace, Related websites Permalink
So many people are so busy trying to figure out what is good and what is bad. Someone once said that every being already knows what is good and bad. A fly knows what's good for it. It feels that flyswatter coming, and it lifts off. It doesn't sit there and say, "I wonder what this guy is really going to do? I bet you he's going to miss." It takes flight. If a bird feels threatened, it doesn't read a book to find out, "What are my chances statistically of getting hurt by this person?" Or think, "Let me figure out what the stars are like today." It takes flight.
There has always been the idea that the human being is superior. I don't know about that. You see the state of mankind: so much war, so much quibbling, so many opinions. So many more people are more educated now than ever, and we have more wars now than we ever had. More food is produced now, and there are more hungry people. There is more communication; the word "peace" is thrown around much more now, and there is less peace on this earth. It seems like somehow we forget our truest nature.
What is your specialty? What distinguishes you? The way I see it is we have become a very strange kind of problem-solver in our lives. The analogy is: Imagine a house, and outside that house is a tree. The tree touches the house, and the ants go up the tree, and from there, they go into the house. All of a sudden, there are ants everywhere, with plenty of food scattered everywhere for them to be able to eat.
Logically, one would say, "Just trim back the branches so that the ants don't have access to the house." But the way a human being would go about it in reality is not that. They will go out and buy little poison boxes. They will say, "Let's have electronic ant detectors and ultrasonic ant repellant. Let's discover which spectrum of light ants don't like, and let's invent a flying ant-killer robot. And let's come up with a kind of food that you can eat so when your skin exfoliates and the ants go to get it, they'll die." This may sound funny, but this is how the world approaches the problem.
All of a sudden, you've got hundreds of thousands of people going in their own direction trying to figure out how to get rid of the ants. Then somebody says, "Why don't you just trim back those branches?" And what will that person be told? "You're crazy. You're being too simplistic. You're impeding the progress of mankind! Here is an opportunity to really be on the forefront of the industry of ant destruction!" It sounds funny, but it's sad.
Trim back the branches in your life so that what you really want can happen. If you are looking for peace, that is a possibility.
It is for a limited time that we are here. Coming and going has to happen for every single human being. If you have found peace in your life, you can be in a place where you enjoy every day, every moment. This is what can distinguish you from being just caught up in the chores of every day. You can experience what it is really like to be alive.
Maharaji
