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 | Digg it
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 | Digg it
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
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
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 | Digg it
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 | Digg it
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 | Digg it
There are two questions that I hear from people again and again. "Why am I here in this world?" and "Who am I?" Two very fascinating questions. The most important one is, "Who am I?" If I can understand that, I can also understand why am I here.
The world constantly pushes labels onto us. "You are so-and-so." It started in school with the teacher calling attendance. Is that who I am? A name? Or am I what I do? Am I a doctor or a lawyer or a captain? A graduate of this or that school?
On one hand, I have a body with blood, cells, nerves, brain, eyes - all of that. Then, distinctly inside of me, there is something that is allowing me to exist. The feeling that it brings is not only the feeling of being alive, but the feeling of being in peace. It brings the feeling of joy, of tranquility. There is something that stays untouched by everything that happens around me. I get affected by good days and bad days; the thing that is keeping me alive is apart from all of that. This is who I am. I'm not just my body, and I'm not just my accomplishments. I'm more. All of that put together is who I am.
It comes back to what is important. There is an option in life to be fulfilled. Good and bad will happen. That's not the point. When it is raining outside and you open up an umbrella, the purpose of the umbrella is not to make the clouds go away. All the umbrella does is to prevent you from getting wet as much as it can. Your feet might get wet, but it will at least keep your head dry. That's what fulfillment is like.
A lot of people think fulfillment will change the whole world for them. It won't. What it will do is let you know where your true home is. The reality is that peace is within me whether I am a beggar or I'm a king. It doesn't matter to peace. We see such a big difference between the two - a beggar and a king. But think about it. What does the beggar really dream of? Becoming a king. And what does a king dream of? "I wish my life was simple like that beggar."
So different, yet so similar. Both are looking for peace. The beggar thinks, "If I become the king, I will have peace." And the king says, "If I become the beggar, I will have peace." These are differences that we have created.
There is one simple similarity we all share. Peace is within all of us. And if we want, we can experience that.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
"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 | Digg it
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 | Digg it
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 | Digg it
