There is a great beauty in understanding and recognizing the nature of what this life is. You are more than the sum of all the things that happen in the world. You are more than all your failures and your successes. The sun rises in the sky each day, and if you can truly appreciate what message it brings you as a human being, you can awaken and start again.
The other day, I looked at a bird that was just outside the window. I thought, "Once upon a time, this used to be a giant dinosaur." When it was that big, it would have trampled everything around it, including me. But through the years, it has transformed. To human beings, it seems like a negative transformation. It was big, and now it has become small. That's not true. It has become something so much better. It's smaller and more vulnerable, but it can fly.
In the nature of things, we have been given this body, this life. What is it good for? It may have a lot of problems, but one thing it's good for is it can help you experience joy. Today is the day, once again, you get to accept life, enjoy it, and be fulfilled. It gets better and better. Just let it happen.
You need to enjoy. Just enjoy. That's the most important thing. You have this opportunity to be alive. Accept that. It's an incredible gift. Nothing is impossible. You may have a dream, and people dampen it. But you have to hang onto that dream even if you don't know how it is going to happen. Even if you just know, "That's what should happen," it's a very different feeling.
I'm glad that there is a dream. Somewhere there is a dream that peace will happen. And someday it will. That's why it comes about—because of the dream.
There is darkness and there is light, always. What you have to decide is that you want clarity in your life, that you want joy in your life. Things will happen. That is no surprise. But it's your life. Breath comes into you.
Suppose I am playing the flute in an orchestra, and there are four people who are playing flutes, too. If one person is playing off-key, I don't have to play off-key, too, do I? If I know how to play the flute, I can still play even though someone else is off-key.
This is my flute, this is my breath, these are my fingers. It's my expression. So much happens in this world. People we really love pass on. It's sad. Of course, it's sad. But what you have to do is remember what this person was all about. They were about life. They were about being. We can learn from that, that there is not a moment to waste. Not a moment to waste.
When there is darkness, you need to light your lamp. You need to have trust and fly. Fly. If thousands of birds around you start flying, that doesn't mean you will fly. You have to flap your wings. If others are not flying and you want to, it doesn't make any difference. Flap your wings and you will fly.
In this life take that flight. The possibility is there for each one of us to be fulfilled. Don't even think about darkness. You have your own lamp—just for you. When the lamp is lit, it lights up just enough for you to see, so that you can keep walking, keep going in your life.
It's a powerful lamp. You give the effort to light it and no wind can put it out. That is its power. It glows only as much as you need to be able to see. It won't glow for somebody else. It will only glow for you. Its power is such that, if you keep it lit, no storm can put it out. It will be there.
So make the effort to be fulfilled and enjoy yourself. Enjoy this life. You will appreciate more and more. Don't waste another moment on a wasted moment. That's what we do. We waste one moment and then we waste four more on that moment. Go forward.
Rule number one is: Don't put yourself down. When you see a beautiful tree, that tree is about the seed that worked, that germinated, not about the one that didn't. Your life, your breath, your existence is about what worked, not what didn't.
So light the lamp. Enjoy this life. This is what you have been given. This is your opportunity. Some things in life will be bad and some things will be good. Life is not about the bad. The most important thing is that you have this opportunity to be alive. Just accept that. It's an incredible gift. Enjoy this life. It's so important that you do.
Everything is there to make the impossible possible.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
You have everything. You really do. You have this life. Begin with that. I know that some people are cynical. You might think you are a particularly difficult case. A lot of the things we tell ourselves are the things we have been told by other people: "Don't do that.If you do, this or that will happen." Then you think you are a difficult case. Who told you that? Doesn't breath come into you? Don't you have a heart? Aren't you alive? Just on the merit of these three things alone, you are not a difficult case. That makes you a human being, just like me, just like anyone else.
Look at an ant. An ant should be cynical. Have you seen an ant try to go through grass? It has to crawl up and down. Danger is everywhere. It would have a right to be cynical, but it isn't. With its little legs, it marches off. And it marches and marches. It has a focus in life.
Start to see, to appreciate. I'm not trying to tell you that everything is beautiful. But see and experience the beauty for yourself. Allow—give yourself the chance to accept that in your life.
It's like a door, and behind it, incredible magic has been happening. We say, "I don't know what's behind this door and, therefore, I'm not going to open it." And then we look at the room we're in and it's not that great. I say, "Open the door. Go! I'll give you the key, but you must open the door."
When you feel joy, don't you want to be there all the time? It's not a wish. Just wishing won't work. Something has to happen. We have to understand, "This is where I want to be." And know that, not just say, "I don't want to be miserable." Just saying, "I don't want to be miserable" does not automatically put us in a good place. This is the law of nature. If I say, "I don't want to be here," what good does that do? But if I realize where I want to be, then it will pull me there.
There is a place within you that brings you joy. You have to trust yourself just as much as I trust you. And you have to see the possibility in your own self just as much as I see the possibility in you. Maybe for the first time say, "I'm not going to sit there all my life saying where I don't want to be. I'm going to clarify for myself where I do want to be." That's when I can help you.
If you go to the airline counter and say, "I don't want to be here," how are they going to help you? I am like that airline. If you say, "Take me to the place where I can be in peace, where I can be in joy," then I can tell you, "This way. Which seat would you like?"
We have life. That's the biggest passport. This breath is marching every moment. Breath doesn't assume anything. Every moment it comes. Very precise. Then it goes, and it comes again. It doesn't assume: "I've been there for a long time. You'll be okay if I don't come for 45 minutes." It comes every moment, every second.
We have mercy in our life, so many blessings, so much love. It's a matter of uncovering, discovering all the things we have been given.
A lot of people are fascinated by misery and just can't leave it. They complain about everything—about God, the weather, everything. Sometimes there are thunderstorms or it's hot. That's the joy of being here. You can't say, "No thunderstorms, please. No heat, please. No this or that, please."
We have to be strong in this world. To be safe, to be conscious, to be real in this life comes from inside. I can't fix the political system. What I can do is help people get in touch with their heart. I go around the world
telling people they can have peace in their life. I started helping people when I was very young, and this is what I've been doing all my life. The dream was to be able to go from place to place, village to village—and that is becoming a reality.
Every day is new. And that's wonderful. Enjoy your life, every moment. That's how it should be. Don't lose the shield of hope. Learn how to hold onto it. You want that hope.
Sadness will always be there; sadness doesn't go away. All the sadness that you will ever feel is within you. And all the love that you will ever feel is within you. It just depends which door you want to open.
You have everything. Let me help you discover all those things again, how to hold onto the shield of hope. The world has pushed it away. But every day we can have hope. We can learn to smile again. We don't have to be sad. I can't tell anybody that their business will be better. But I know one thing: a centered person is what the whole world is looking for, because that's what we all need. So, just enjoy the ride.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
One with the Heart
A lot of people talk about the past. And yes, there have been great times, but the past wasn't better than today. We just have to see how fortunate we are to be here, keep our eyes open and see what's happening now, because it is incredibly exciting.
Come from a simple place in your life. When you recognize the thing that is within you that has made its temple inside of you, then you will begin to understand the value of being human. That temple is in the heart of every human being, and it exists within you. Don't paint it red; don't paint it green. Don't stick a statue in it. It's not worth it.
The value is in being alive and recognizing that. Sainthood is for people who have died. We are alive now. Feel the triumph in your life. That's all that matters. It's a matter of understanding. If someone were a saint, that person would be recognized for their gratitude, their understanding, their fulfillment.
In this life, we need to understand our selves. Life is thrusting us to move forward every single day. Life is transforming us. That's the challenge. That's what is being offered - to keep evolving, to shine.
A lot of people focus on their troubles and problems. If we could only look at ourselves and see that something has protected us and saved us again and again. Even if it is just for a fraction of a second that we are reminded what is important in life, that's enough.
Everybody is taking a journey. I look at each person's face and everybody has a story to tell. Every wrinkle has a story to tell. Every tear has a story to tell. Every smile has a story to tell. Every person has a story to tell. They really do. Their expression of what they are feeling in their lives tells a story.
Be with this gift of life, of understanding, and we'll fight whatever fight there is to fight. We're not going to go looking for darkness, but if it comes, we'll light so many lamps it won't know where to be. That's what we have: we don't have swords, but we've got lamps and we'll light them. Confusion and doubt don't have to come in our lives. That's the possibility.
I'm not saying that we never get confused. But the possibility exists that we don't have to be confused. There doesn't have to be doubt. As we live and exist, life can be experienced in its true purity, its true beauty, without all the chaos and the drama. Life is saying, "Come across the river, and you don't have to get wet. You don't have to fall in the river. Enjoy the ride."
If you've taken that challenge in your life to be fulfilled, see it through. It takes the same amount of energy to doubt your experience as it does to experience it. Fall in love with what your heart wants you to do. Synchronize with it. Get together with your heart. Make that heart and you a team. When we become a team with confusion and doubt, we don't get anywhere. Though they promise us that we will win every game, we lose every game. Get together with the heart. When the heart and you have become a team, that's incredible. So stay with it. It's important.
The doors are open. This is a very specific training. It is a training to take the most advantage of every breath. This is not somebody coming along and delivering a written speech. No. There's a lot more to this.
Be with yourself and enjoy this life. Keep the focus because you can go really far. I'm very proud of those people who make an effort to be fulfilled. Very, very proud.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
"In life, there are so many distractions, so many roads - hundreds and thousands of them. If you don't have a destination, they're all valid. But if you have a particular place you want to go, the only one that is valid is the one that will take you there.
So often we are not sure what we want in our life. We are not clear about the possibility. We open the window and see everything that is out there: 'That's intriguing. That's interesting; I wish I had that; I wish it was this way or that way.' From the time our head hits the pillow to the time it rises from the pillow, something is forgotten. Who am I? What is this life? What is this existence? What is it all about?
Many people start off on a good footing: 'This life is precious, this is wonderful, this is incredible.' Then off they go - and this includes me - off they go into explanations. We all have our issues and our problems.
How can we say what it means for breath to come into this body, bringing the gift of life? For something so simple to occur, for something so fantastic, so amazing to occur, that every single human being on the face of this earth gets touched by this magic? The magic of this breath coming in, the magic of life as it unfolds, as it dances every day.
Human beings try to hang onto everything they can, not realizing what they should hang onto. The perfect analogy would be that of a boat that has started to sink. When you realize the boat is sinking, you grab onto anything you can. But don't grab onto the boat because it will take you with it. If you hang onto something that isn't floating, you're going to go down, too.
That's what happens in our lives every day when we are not able to distinguish the nature of the things we are surrounded by. Then there is something that is totally different. Along comes a message that says: 'Be in peace.'
What does it mean to be in peace? That's what we need to understand. Yes, there are doubts. There are all those things. But none of those are the vessel the gift of breath comes into. Life is not about my problems. It is about my need to be fulfilled, my need to quench my thirst. This is what I want more than anything else. My most fundamental need is to fulfill what my heart wants fulfilled in my life - not just once, but again and again. I need it every day. I need it as much as possible.
The question always comes up: 'I don't have enough time. I have so many responsibilities.' You don't have to abdicate even one responsibility. Whatever you do and however you are and whatever you are, you can still feel peace.
We live in a world where we can do multiple things. We are in a multiprocessor society. We want to do as much as we can. But that doesn't mean we're clear about what it is that we really want to do. We need clarity about what we fundamentally want in life.
How much gratitude do I feel that I am alive? How clear am I that it means everything to me that this breath came into me and I was able to recognize it? Just even one. Feel the feeling - every breath as it manifests. It is the feeling of peace."
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
Maharaji started by reminding the audience that, as long as we do not experience a satisfaction that quenches our inner thirst for contentment, questions will keep coming to us. Hence the first priority is to quench our thirst. Each breath that comes and goes, he said, is a gift. He described the human body as a boat to get across an ocean of doubts and illusion. He described the role of a teacher as someone who helps guide this boat across to the other side - a difficult task which the right teacher can render easy.
Knowledge, he reminded the audience, is a subject that is beyond the comprehension of the mind. This can be a hard concept to grasp, since the mind is the only tool we have to make sense of things. No label can be put on Knowledge, he said. All a person can do is experience it for themselves through the techniques which Maharaji shows.
To a question from a person asking him how to get hold of the joy in every breath, Maharaji explained that Knowledge is needed. Knowledge is what allows us to catch this joy. This is not a joy that can be thought about, he said; it is a joy to be witnessed, to be felt.
The difficulty in doing so, he said, is that we have bad habits: We are used to looking on the outside for what we need. When it comes to looking for joy, we think it is on the outside, too, and that's where we look for it. We like to think that joy and peace are far from us. We like to point at them as if they were in the future or in some remote, distant place. All we need to do, he said, is remove the curtain. It is just like a person who wakes up in the morning, opens the curtain to let light come in, and then can see what is inside the room.
To a question from a person wanting to know the difference between real joy and salvation, he said that, with Knowledge, a person gets joy from a place within where there is everything. When that place is reached, a person experiences a deep joy that is a door to salvation.
To a question about whether Knowledge helps a person worry less, he replied that what matters is not so much whether one worries, but what one worries about. There are good worries, he said, like worrying about finding joy within or catching joy in each breath. Human beings worry, and we can link our worrying with pain or joy.
To another person who asked whether it would be advisable to relinquish all worldly possessions and responsibilities to dedicate himself to experiencing this Knowledge, Maharaji replied by emphasizing the importance of taking care of worldly responsibilities and of the even greater importance of remembering our most fundamental responsibility. Our fundamental responsibility, he said, is to fulfill the purpose for which we have been given this life. As to whether it was advisable to be a recluse, he said that he was not able to answer this question since he was neither a recluse nor a hermit. Maharaji explained that all he had done was recognize something beautiful within himself and surrender to that. To find joy, he said, it is not necessary to be a recluse.
A person who said he was a devout follower of his religion asked Maharaji about how to have an experience within, something he said he had not been able to get from his religion. Maharaji likened Knowledge to water. The experience that we are looking for is within, he said, and the teacher can help put our hand on the glass that holds the water we are looking for - the glass from which we can drink and experience the water. Until that time, we only know that there is water. With Knowledge, we can put our hand on the glass and drink.
The next question came from a person who said he was "neither educated nor intelligent." He said that he had realized that he had many flaws and wondered if someone like him could learn this Knowledge. Maharaji replied that no one could be more intelligent than a person who recognizes his flaws. He asked this person not to belittle himself. Often, Maharaji said, the more people are educated, the less educated they are. He told the person that he had everything he needed, and that if he wanted joy in his life, this was possible, too.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
Maharaji told the story of a queen who was taking a bath one day. She took off her necklace and put it on a table. A crow saw the necklace through the open window, flew into the room, grabbed it, and flew away. The crow brought it to a tree where he then tried to eat the necklace. When the crow did not find the necklace to his liking, he just left it there lying on a branch.
The queen was desperate: her favorite necklace was gone. When the king came back home that night, he found her in disarray. He offered to get her a better necklace, but she said that no other necklace would do. She wanted that necklace. The king announced that whoever would find the necklace would get a reward. Some people in his kingdom looked for the necklace but could not find it. The king increased the reward. More people looked, but still could not find it. In despair, he said that the person who would find the necklace would get half of his kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom started searching.
There was a canal filled with dirty water near the palace, and under a tree, someone saw a reflection of the necklace in the water. So the person took off his clothes and jumped into the dirty water. When some other people saw him jump in, they suspected that he had found the necklace and they jumped in, too. Soon, some police officers passing by saw what was happening and jumped in, too. The head of the police who was passing by jumped, too, hoping he would be the one to find the necklace. None of them could find it. They all saw that the image was still there, and so they concluded that it was an illusion.
A saint walked by. He asked all these people, "Why are you all jumping into this dirty water?" They told him. He replied, "What you are looking for is not in this dirty water; it is up there in the tree. It is simply a reflection."
Maharaji said we are the same. The real love is within, but we look outside for it. We try to look for it in this world's dirty water. Many people take off their clothes and jump into the world's dirty water in the hope of finding the love that they are looking for. When they do not find what they are looking for, they say that they will find it after they die.
But, he said, if what they are looking for can be found after they die, why do they have life now? What sense does this make? Why were they created? Why does this breath come and go into them now? Why is it that within us there is a thirst for love, if love is only to be found after death?
Maharaji observed that everyone wants their life to be successful. Not a single person does not want to succeed, in their own way. For some people, success is having a large family; for others it is amassing wealth or gaining a position in society.
Maharaji said the role of the teacher is to remind people that what they are looking for is inside of them. He challenged the people, asking them if they realized how much they have received already. So much has been given already, he said, what is needed is to accept it. Gifts started with the first breath that was given to us. Each breath that comes is the touch of the creator. Sadness, he said, is when the breath comes and we do not recognize it. The biggest heaven is here. Those who do not recognize that are in the biggest hell because, while they have the capability to recognize, they do not.
Maharaji reminded everyone how precious life is. While we came empty handed, he said, there is no reason to go empty handed. It is important that no day, no moment, goes wasted. He reminded everyone of how important it is to have peace in their life. To do that, he said, we need to stop cheating and hiding ourselves from ourselves.
Whenever there has been a call from our heart to find fulfillment, to find joy, we have said, "No. I am busy now. I have other things to do." If this is not cheating the self, what is?
One day, he said, all that came from this earth has to go back to this earth. What once was ash will be ash again. Each of us is sitting on a gold mine; there is a gold mine within each breath. If we dig into this mine, we will be richer than we can imagine.
He concluded by saying that we should make our life successful. We should be rich. Richness, he said, is love inside. Richness is peace in the heart. The day we are clear about this, all the questions will go away.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
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.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
Maharaji had first come to Mumbai as a child, barely four years old, and addressed audiences there before his father came on stage. On this visit, the stadium, set in the middle of one of the noisiest, most bustling cities in the world, was filled with tens of thousands of people, patiently waiting under a scorching sun. When Maharaji walked on stage, he was welcomed by a standing ovation, soon followed by an extraordinary silence as everyone became all ears.
Maharaji explained that all people have needs. Some are basic needs such as thirst, hunger, or sleep that need to be satisfied. Numerous businesses have been created to satisfy these needs. In many ways it could be said that the world is need-driven. On the other hand, many needs, he said, have been created by
society, and it is society that tells us we should fulfill them. Trying to fulfill these needs that are not our real needs often becomes stressful. We long for more money or for a better job, but these are not our fundamental needs. They are dictated by the society, and they will never be satisfied completely. He explained that the true need is the need that the heart believes to be true. Since we cannot fulfill all our needs, at least we need to fulfill the one main need we can fulfill, the one need that the heart knows to be true.
The true need, he said, is within the heart, and it is up to the heart to say what it is. It needs to be experienced for oneself. Unless peace is
experienced in the heart, he continued, a person will remain unsatisfied. When the heart is at peace, on the other hand, the need to satisfy a long list of needs is replaced by an expression of gratitude for being alive.
He added that however deep the darkness may be, a lamp is always burning within us, and that within us are the answers that we are looking for. We search for questions because we think they will lead us to answers, but at some point we need to search for answers. If we find answers without the questions, he concluded, that would be very good.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
The Young Leaders Forum of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce andIndustry invited Maharaji to address an audience of distinguished businessand government leaders at Sirifort Auditorium, Delhi's premier auditorium.
Speaking from a simple stage, Maharaji stated that whilewe tend to think we are free, our heart cries for freedom. There are manybars in our life, he said, behind which we are imprisoned without evenknowing it - bars of ignorance, sorrow, doubt. Without knowing it, we aretrapped 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 aperson: "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 yearslater, the man prayed again and told God: "I would like to have a goodwife." So God gave him a good wife. A few years later, this man asked fora 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 wouldyou like this time?" And the man answered, "Peace." Then God asked: "Butwhen 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 wouldallow me to be rich and to find a good spouse, and I asked for a good spousebecause I thought she would allow me to have a good family, and I askedfor good children because with all this wealth and family, I thought Iwould have peace. But from the beginning I wanted peace." "Why wait somany years?" said God. "Why didn't you ask for peace in the first place?"
Maharaji expressed that the Knowledge he offers does not necessarily makepeople successful in their external lives. He encouraged people in theaudience to pursue this kind of success if they want. And if they neededhelp finding success in the form of peace within, he invited them to cometo 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 isour 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 theheart and that is independent of circumstances.
Maharaji concluded by saying that the Knowledge he offersis unlike any other knowledge because it is the one knowledge that allowsa person to take the senses that are running outside and to direct themwithin. And when the focus goes within, he said, then joy, peace, fulfillmentmanifest from within.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
When a candle in real life is lit, it gives light and it glows. You can make a million pictures of that candle and they will never glow like the real thing glowed, when it was lit.
So search, but, search where it is, and you will find it. Search where it is not, and I guarantee you, you will never find it. It sounds like a powerful statement, but how simple it is. The clue has been given. Search for it within. This is not about confusion. This is all about clarity. This is not about absence. This is about being here. The whole world talks about and on behalf of those who are no longer. Yet, every time a someone comes to show and to explain, what is talked about? That which is present. That which is there. That which is available.
This is not about promises. This is about a promise that already has been fulfilled. This is not about a letter that is going to arrive. This is about the letter that has already arrived. That is already here. Open it. And read. Don't just hold it in your fingers and say: "I wonder what is in this letter," speculate what could possibly be written in this letter, and speculate who I think wrote this letter. No. It is time, with confidence, to open it and read. And to feel what is written, because it is exquisite.
in Maharaji: Life | Permalink
