We live our lives and there are so many complexities. We have relationships, and we have many judgments. Sometimes it seems like we are going forward. Sometimes it seems like we are going backwards. Some days are easy, and some days are tough.
Looking through this complex window, it doesn't seem like anything can be simple. But step back and just look at this life. The breath comes. It makes no judgment. We don't have to do anything to get it. There are no forms to fill out, no queues to stand in, no waiting games. We don't need to log on to some dot-net or dot-com to breathe.
Life dances and plays out every day in the simplest, most serene way possible. You exist, not through the avenues of this world, but just as you are. Just you—this face, this smile, this body, this breath, this heart.
A lot of people focus on all the problems in the world and say we have to find solutions to all those problems. I say that we have a quest. It's not a quest that you or I started. It is a quest that was already started for us. It's a quest for peace, a quest for love, a quest for understanding, and a quest for joy.
This quest is not for the joy found on the outside. It is for the joy that is found on the inside. This quest is not for the peace on the outside, but for the peace that lies within.
The good news is that what you are looking for, you already have.
Who has introduced us to us? We're always being introduced to somebody else. No one asks, "By the way, have you met yourself?" Meeting yourself is the difference between being free and being stuck. If you don't want to meet yourself, you are stuck with yourself. The day you want to meet yourself, you become free.
I will tell you about the best book ever written. It's the book of thoughts that you write to yourself. It's clear. It does not need an introduction; it does not need a preface. It does not need footnotes. It is yours. It is the poem that sings out in your heart and awakens the joy. That is the greatest poem ever—joy. And it is your poem, an expression to yourself. That is the ultimate gift.
This world is filled with questions without answers. This heart is filled with answers without questions. We can accept those answers, not the answers the world is trying to give us.
The answers of the heart are very, very different, because the heart says, "Awaken and rejoice. Awaken and be alive. Awaken to the possibility of being fulfilled."
Maharaji
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What Each Breath Tells Us
We get caught in so many of the dramas that happen in our life. Life is full of them. It's just like driving down the road a little too fast and coming to a stoplight. You come to a screeching halt because the light is red. People are turning right and left, going in different directions. Someone is running into someone else. There is a little drama here and a little drama there. Life is very much like that.
With all the dramas that are taking place, there is one thing we cannot afford to forget: The happenings in life are not what life is all about. The coming and going of breath is not about a drama. If you find yourself in the midst of a drama, remember what your life is all about.
Imagine a flight captain who is a very sociable person. Once he's taken off, he gets up to talk with the passengers. There he is, talking to one person about one thing and to another person about something else. The flight is only two hours long, and the time passes quickly. Forty-five minutes go by, then an hour-and-a-half, then an hour and forty-five minutes. The captain is still socializing. Now he only has fifteen minutes to get
the plane on the ground. He has to remember what his main focus is. Even though all this socializing is wonderful, what is the main point of the journey?
What is the main point of the breath that is coming into you?
The main point happens to be fulfillment. When we are fulfilled, we are the most beautiful. That's when we attain our purpose. When a flower blooms, it is no mistake that it looks beautiful. This is how it is supposed to look. This is when it is supposed to be the most attractive—so it can attract the bees. It's no mistake.
An instrument sounds best when it is tuned. That is the nature of its design. I don't know how to tune a guitar, but someone once told me that the secret is to tune each string slightly sharp or flat. My first reaction was, "Wait a minute." But that is what makes the harmony, and the main point of a guitar is the harmony it can produce.
What harmony can you produce? When there is harmony in a human being, we call it peace, we call it love, we call it fulfillment. A human being is finely tuned when they understand that existence has been given as a gift.
We try so hard to understand why we are alive, when all we want is to feel thankful. Gratitude automatically happens when the heart is full. Gratitude will flow, and there is nothing you can do about it. Just try stopping it. Right now, you may have a problem remembering that, but when gratitude comes, try stopping it.
Each breath that comes to us is saying, "Make it happen." With the gentlest persuasion imaginable, each breath is saying, "Be fulfilled in this life." Life is not about dramas and traumas. Life is about fulfillment. This is your possibility. This is what can happen.
Maharaji
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Peace has to be felt. It is not just a subject of conversation. There is a peace that is fundamental to all of us. Beyond all those little differences we have—skin color, shape of the face, hair, clothes—there is a commonality to all of us. We exist. We are alive.
We all thirst for peace. If we really want to see that basic aspiration, we have to put down all the different-colored glasses we wear and see that one fundamental thing that is so simple and so beautiful that exists in the heart of every individual. I'm not talking about creating anything or achieving anything. I'm talking about what already exists within us. You don't have to get it; it's already there. It is a matter of discovery.
Peace is that joy, that serenity, inside every human being. Peace is not a concept or an idea, but a reality waiting to be discovered, a joy waiting to be felt. Feel peace in your life. Make that the priority in your life. Include peace among those things that are important to you. Make sure that peace is not just a dream, some nice thing that someday you will have, but that peace has become a reality in your life.
Your life, every day that you live it, is a consciously struck note. The instrument you have been given is called life. The possibility of peace dances upon the stage where a heart full of contentment and gratitude can exist. Instead of complaining, "Here are all the things that are wrong" or "I wish things were this way or that way," how about looking at things the way they are?
This existence is your home. Be in that serenity, that contentment, that joy. Don't let a moment go by. Play this instrument to express that feeling that you are alive—that this means something to you, that it isn't a story about a person who got everything and kept nothing.
Changes happen, and changes will happen, but there is one thing that has never changed: your thirst for peace, your thirst for joy. Ever since you were a little child, it has been there, and for as long as you are alive, it's going to be there. Fulfill it. Be fulfilled.
I'm talking about really enjoying yourself. I'm talking about waking up in the morning and saying, "What an agenda I have—I get to live today." You get to exist today. What you are looking for, you already have. If you ever want to see a wonder, I suggest you take a look at yourself. You should be excited that you are alive, despite all the problems you have and all the problems still to come. It isn't written, "A problem means lack of joy." If that is your definition, then it is a definition that you have created for yourself. That's a misunderstanding.
Let problems be what they will be. Do your best to fight against them, but that doesn't mean you have to lack the joy that dwells in your heart. Let there be joy. Let there be that peace in your life every single day.
Maharaji
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When it comes to theory, peace is a very complicated thing. I figured this out from pure deduction. I figured that it took a lot to put a man on the moon. It really did. It involved a lot of technology. And sure enough—on behalf of humanity—man was placed on the moon. But peace still eludes the world. So peace has to be really complicated—more complicated than going to the moon. If it's that complicated, I figured, then it's just like riding a bike—too complicated to explain. The only thing you can do is to inspire people to find the way to feel peace. And that begins with presenting the picture of a possibility.
Each person has a version of peace that applies to them. What is it? If you are a city dweller, you hear horns honking, sirens blaring, and everything going on all day and part of the night. Then on the weekend, when you go to that quiet little place and there are no sirens, you say, "Ah, this is so peaceful." That's not peace. Absence of sounds is not peace. Absence of taxicabs honking is not peace. Absence of screeching tires is not peace. But getting away from that situation seems peaceful. These are the individual variations of peace that people have.
If somebody has lost something precious to them, and they are going crazy thinking about it all the time, and you ask them, "What is your version of peace?" their answer will be, "If I found what I'm looking for, I would find myself in peace."
The resolution of conflict alone is not peace. You won't hear this other places. What you will hear is, "Peace is nice. We should all find it and get on with our lives." But it has to be very clear what it is we are looking for, because if somebody's version of peace is no more sirens, then it is a totally different thing.
So, what is real peace—peace that is common to every single human being on the face of this earth? The generic definition of peace is the absence of war, but there is a peace that has nothing to do with arguments and nothing to do with wars. There is a peace that resides in the heart of every human being on the face of this earth. There is a peace that is not temporary, not tied to politics, not found in the formulas of what the world thinks ought to be. It is not somebody's vision, but resides within the individual, whether they are rich or poor, good or bad, right or wrong—even in their darkest hour, even when they are surrounded by an ocean of confusion and doubt.
This peace is not the absence of anything. Real peace is the presence of something beautiful. Both peace and the thirst for it have been in the heart of every human being in every century and every civilization.
This is the good news: the thirst is within you, and the water that will quench that thirst is within you. The good news is that what you are looking for is within you and the means to get in touch with that is also within you. There is a reality that is so sweet—not buried in conflicts and pain, not buried in doubts and questions, but in fact dancing—dancing within every human being because you exist, because you are alive.
I propose that you take on that thirst. I propose that it is the sweetest and most wonderful thirst you have ever had in your life. That thirst is one of the noblest causes a human being can ever have. With all the things we can achieve in our lives, there is one more that is incredibly noble: we can be fulfilled.
A lot of people say, "Isn't that very selfish?" An extinguished lamp can never light anything. It can neither light the area around it, nor light another lamp. The prerequisite for either of these things is for the lamp to be lit.
Light your lamp. People say, "But if I light my lamp, then it'll go out." That is reality. It is going to go out, but while you have the chance, light it. Let there be fulfillment in your life. Let there be certainty in your life. Let there be clarity in your life.
You exist, and because you exist, you have the possibility of being fulfilled. It is incredibly simple—and simply profound. This is what existence is: this breath comes and this breath goes, and it comes again and it goes again. And I walk my life one step at a time.
A lot of people ask, "Tell us something that will give us peace. What can we do to get this peace?" We have a problem here. Usually when you hear about something nice, you want to go and get it. What I'm talking about, you already have. You already have peace inside of you. You don't have to go out somewhere and get it. You already have it. Discover it. Do you know what it is like to discover?
Look at this breath like you have never seen it before. Look at this life like you have never seen it before. Look at this existence like you have never looked at it before. Look at peace like you have never looked at it before. Look at this moment like you have never looked at it before.
Even in the middle of turmoil, peace exists. How does this affect this world? Do you know what this world is? It's a screen. You are the projector, and what you see as the world is just a big screen. So when you see things on the screen, don't look at the screen, look at the projector. That's where it's coming from. The display of the inner fight turns into the outer fight—it always has and always will. When there is tranquility inside, that is when peace begins. Peace here in my heart. That's the possibility.
How is it possible? I can help. Look around this world. If you are interested, search for peace. If you find it, good. And if you don't find it, look me up. I can help. This is what I do—I go around the world talking to people about peace. People say, "Nice words." And I say, "Do you want it? I can make it possible." How can I make it possible? I have that peace in my life. I am aware of that peace in my life. Does that mean I don't have problems? Of course not. I have problems. Does that mean I don't get angry anymore? Of course not. I get angry. Am I a vegetable? No. These are excuses: "If you have peace, then you'll completely change," or "You will have to change your religion." Why would you have to do that? Does your religion say you can't have peace? Of course it doesn't. Your communication to your God in your style, in your way, is beautiful. Why should that preclude the reality that peace lies in your heart? It's already there.
Maharaji
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What is there that is really simple?
As we live our lives, there are many complexities. We have relationships. We have judgments—good, bad / right, wrong. Sometimes it seems we are going forward, and sometimes it seems we are going backwards. Some days are easy and some are tough. Looking through this complex window, it doesn't seem as though anything could be simple.
People ask me many questions about the complex: "Why is my life this way?" "If we have peace inside of us, why don't we already know it?" I ask them to stand back, take away all that is unnecessary, and just look at life, at existence. In this existence, breath comes: No judgment, no prerequisites. No forms to fill out, no queues to stand in. No waiting games, no dot.net or dot.com to log onto. It comes.
The life of being alive dances, plays out every day in the most serene, simple way possible. Every morning that comes, you are. You exist. Not through the avenues of this world, but just you—this face, this smile, this body, this breath, this heart, and this time.
People say, "What about all the problems? Aren't we all trying to find solutions to them? We don't have peace in this world, so we have to find a solution for that."
Here is an analogy. There is a person who was born and raised in a castle. It is a nice place, but one thing this person has never done is to look at their reflection. There is no mirror, no way to see their own reflection. Everything else is there: Great food is there, a nice bed, good entertainment. There is everything except a device like a mirror that they can stand in front of and look at their own reflection.
This person has a lot of dreams, but one thing that this person really wants to do is to become beautiful. In fact, this person is really beautiful—not only beautiful, but exquisitely beautiful. But every day this person laments, "Oh, I wish I could be beautiful," and there is no way they can see that they are.
This is my passion. I go around the world talking to people. I do not give written speeches. If you asked me what I was going to talk about before I began, I would have told you I had no idea except that I wanted to get in touch with my passion so that you could see yourself in a mirror. If you could, you would see how beautiful you are. You would see how incredibly beautiful you are. You would see that you have thousands of drawers filled with things that promise to make you look beautiful. That is what your whole life is about.
Beauty touches each one of us whether we like it or not, just like we have two legs whether we like it or not. You could make an argument for four legs so that you could run faster, or for two short and two long, but what you have is two.
You also have a quest. It is not a quest that you started, but a quest that was already started for you. It is a quest that says, "Peace." A quest that says, "Love." A quest that says, "Understanding." A quest that says, "Joy." This is not a quest for the joy that is on the outside, but for the joy that is on the inside. This quest is not for the peace that is on the outside, but for the peace that lies within. That's the good news. What you are looking for, you already have. The beauty that you are looking for, you already have.
When what is complex is removed, the beauty is there. Complexity is full of doubt. Doubt is like a virus. Should we learn to live with it? Or should we learn to understand the very thing inside that says, "You do not need to be in doubt; you can be in clarity." You have clarity because the clarity you want and need is within you.
Be free to meet yourself. There is no one else like you anywhere. Even twins see things differently. There is a difference in your smile and in what you smile at. The difference is the feeling of joy, the feeling of peace, the feeling of tranquility, and the way that you can express that in your own way to your own self—not to someone else. This is not about writing a book or a poem. The real poem is the one you say to yourself. The best book ever written is the book you write to yourself. It's clear. It does not need an introduction, or a preface, or footnotes. It is yours. Yours is the poem that sings out in your heart and awakens the joy. This is the greatest poem ever.
The day you start to understand the ocean of possibilities that exists within you is the day you take a step closer to your own life. The possibilities are endless. Endless. They are the possibilities of answers without questions. The world is full of questions without answers. The heart is full of answers without questions. You can accept those answers, not the answers that the world is trying to give.
The ultimate truth is not in words; it is in feeling. The ultimate reality plays out right in front of your eyes. You are here. This is the truth. You exist. You can feel, and you can understand, and you can be fulfilled.
Do you see why I have passion for this? It's so beautiful. Maybe you see how you and I are different. My skin, my face, and my hair all look a little different. Aside from that, we are alike. I wasn't, I am, and I won't be. The time when I wasn't doesn't count for me. The time when I won't be doesn't count either. What counts is: I am. Because I am, I have access to something, and I want to have that access every day of my life.
Take away what is complex, the shells and the wrappers, for here lies a gift that is so perfect it does not need to be wrapped. Take that challenge. There is no paper in the universe perfect enough to wrap this gift of life that you have been given. There is no bow that is pretty enough to do justice to what you have been given. The challenge in your life is to know you. The challenge in your life is to understand the beauty that lies within you and to have access to it whenever you want. That is the ultimate gift.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
What I talk about is so incredibly simple that, when we try to look at it from our complicated ways, we totally miss it. What I address is not an invention. It's not as though last night I had a fantastic dream in which I came up with a new way of making everybody a billionaire. This is not an invention of a pot that will cook without heat or a bulb that will light without electricity.
We are always looking for shortcuts, and these shortcuts start to become our miracles. They become a way to break free—to reach out for dreams that are more fantastic than we could ever imagine.
Fortunately, reality is more beautiful than any of my dreams. The thirst I have within me is simple and real. It is a thirst for the water I already have within me. This is the beauty of what I address. I'm sure you've gone to seminars or lectures or listened to them on that magic box called the television. It is amazing. Somebody is always trying to sell you something even though you don't need it.
I travel the world and tell people what they already have. Society isn't set up for that.
In our lives, how long do we continue living on what we don't have when what we do have is amazing? What do we have? Let's begin with the simplest of things. Let's begin with breath. Breath is amazing. It comes one at a time—not a hundred or fifty at a time, but one at a time. It touches you and brings you this thing called existence. Because you exist, you are an uncle, a father, a mother. You see green and blue and yellow and purple. You care about summer. You prepare for winter. Because you exist, you can say, "I love you." Because you exist, you can say, "I hate you." Because you exist, you can say, "I need you." Because you exist, you can say, "I adore you." It is all because you exist—compliments of the breath that comes and fills you again and again and again without judgment.
In our lives, in our societies, we are judged, and we return the favor by judging everything mercilessly. Because we are judged, we judge right back in return. We judge so much that we can judge even when we're asleep. We don't even need to be awake. Every day we judge: good/bad, right/wrong. "This is terrible. This could be different. Why is it this way?"
You've heard of the word "gift." The gift of breath redefines the word. It does not come packed, tied with a silly ribbon. It comes openly to you. All you need to do is to be aware of your existence. You are alive and this thing called breath is coming into you. All you need to do is to be conscious that you are surrounded by the most precious gifts. These gifts are being given. Take them. Take them and keep them.
There is a thirst that is not for water, but for something else inside of you. The question is: How apparent is it? It needs to be incredibly apparent before you will take any action. This is not a thirst for water or for soda. It is the thirst for peace, for contentment.
This is your existence. This is your life. It is unique and you are here. There are three laws that existence follows: you weren't, you are, and one day you won't be.
The magic of existence is in the middle where you exist. That's where you can feel. That's where you can understand. That's where the possibility exists to take on the challenge of fulfilling one's self. Not on the outside, not in this world. It is on the inside.
In your darkest hour there is a candle, and the candle is lit. If you want proof, take a breath. There is your proof. The candle is lit, and even in your darkest hour, you do not need to experience the darkness. Even in those moments where there is pain and suffering, there is a place inside of you that dances and expresses joy. In the middle of sadness, there is joy. How appropriate.
For a lot of people, the formula for bringing light into their lives is to remove the darkness. It doesn't work like that. You cannot take a bucketful of darkness and throw it out the window. Try the other way—just bring in the light, and the darkness will automatically leave. In the middle of mayhem, in the middle of a fiasco, there is clarity. There is a rhythm that is so amazing, so sweet. Again and again it has knocked on your door and asked you to let it through.
In our adult lives, we get quite busy. What does "busy" really mean? While we are redefining things, let's redefine "busy." Being busy is another way of ignoring something. Sometimes we use those words when somebody asks us to do something we don't want to do. We say, "I am busy." True, you are busy, but doing what? You are busy ignoring that thirst, busy ignoring the call of this heart.
Liking joy is not something I learned from anybody. It is something my Creator placed so fundamentally within me, within you. Nobody taught me how to laugh, and nobody taught me how to fall in love with laughter.
There is something so fundamental inside of me that wants to be busy enjoying. The good news is I can be. A lot of people have the misconception that, if you want peace in your life, you have to hand over everything you have. You do not.
There is only one place left where you can have true peace, and it happens to be inside of you. That's the good news. You don't have to give up anything. All you have to do is turn within.
Maharaji
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In a world where so much is going on—where there are so many issues, ideas, inventions, and technology—why am I talking about peace? I talk about peace, not as an option in life, not as something that would be nice to have, but as a fundamental feeling we all need to feel every day we awaken, every day we exist. When I say "we," what I'm talking about is each one of us—despite our barriers or differences.
We begin to believe in our differences. Sometimes when I am piloting an airplane, I make an announcement, just for fun, that just below you can see the border between two countries. Amazingly enough, people start to look. The world teaches us differences and we begin to believe in them. "You are from this country, and you are from that country. You speak this language, and you speak that language. You like this, and you like that." We forget that the fundamental thing that drives us all is the same. We forget that we may be speaking different languages, but what we are saying is exactly the same. "I am thirsty" can be said in many languages. It means exactly the same thing.
When the desire for peace is fundamental to each one of us, should it be such an alien thing? The question isn't whether we want peace. The question is: Do we feel the thirst for peace? The question isn't whether the treasure exists. The question is: Has it been discovered? Once the thirst for peace is understood in a human being's life, that person will look for water, for peace. They will look within.
I see thousands of labels in this world, and I don't know why they are there. Many labels were put on things way before I was born. People believe in them. Nobody questions these labels. When people hear that the definition of peace is the absence of war, they say, "Yes, that's true." There is a war that rages on inside a human being that is far more ferocious than any war on the outside. This war continues way past the cease-fires. The outside war is the manifestation or the reflection of the war within. We have a sense of imbalance, but we don't recognize what is causing it.
I have to acknowledge what I need in my life. If I want peace, I have to acknowledge it. I have to say to myself, in the simplest of words, "Yes, I feel the thirst for peace." I can use fancy words to impress other people, but I cannot use fancy words to impress myself. If I want to impress me, I have to speak the truth. Maybe to the world, truth is a scary word, but truth is what the heart wants to hear. That thirst needs to be quenched. Peace is what the heart needs to feel.
The world descends upon me and says, "You should be this; you should be that." Who just tells me, "You are alive, you exist"? Is that too simple? As soon as my alarm clock goes off in the morning, thoughts come about all the things I have to do.
We keep forgetting what is important. Does not the journey to peace begin with the acknowledgement—in earnest—of those simple things we keep forgetting? The gratitude for life. The gratitude for this existence. The gratitude to be.
Why is this important? It is important because it is the only way you can find your balance. Without that, our life is not balanced. On one side is a simple breath, and on the other side are disproportionate problems.
Look around you. The dissatisfaction you see on the outside lines up with incredible satisfaction on the inside. The poverty you see on the outside lines up with incredible richness on the inside. The doubt you see lines up with amazing clarity on the inside.
When we begin to acknowledge that peace is inside of us, there will begin to be a difference. The day that becomes an earnest truth for us, not just a passing fancy, we can start to feel at peace.
Where does it begin? It begins with acknowledgment. It begins with understanding. Where does it end? Hopefully, it ends with quenching the thirst that you have discovered within you.
What kind of thirst is that? It is a thirst for the water that also lies within you. The completeness is so incredible. Maybe you have never heard of anything like that before. Both the elements are within you. Both the thirst and the water that will quench the thirst are within you. Joy is within you, and the want for joy is within you. It is by looking through the glasses of simplicity that we can even begin to understand this. What you are looking for is within you. There is nothing to buy, nothing to conquer. There is only something to acknowledge.
I hope that, whatever happens in your life, you find peace within you. It is there, and the thirst for it is there. I look at it in a very simple way. I have traveled around the world, and I know a lot of people see a lot of different things. I see something very simple. I see people. Every human being has the right to be fulfilled.
Maharaji
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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
