Mind over Matter?
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The most important thing that I can do is to cause you to reflect, contemplate what you have been given, and make you think about the possibility of having peace in your life.
In some ways, you are very much like me. As human beings, we have a need. It is not a need created by society or by religion. It is a fundamental need to be fulfilled, to be in peace. It is easy to toss around the word “peace.” But what is peace? Is it just hearing wind chimes? No traffic? No airplanes or trains buzzing by? To some people, that’s exactly what peace means. And it’s sad that external noise pollution becomes so irritating that when we find ourselves in the absence of it, we call it “peace.”
Or is peace a feeling? An undeniable feeling not born of thought. Everything that comes to us is born of thought. We get good news, “Things are going my way.” We get bad news, “Why is this happening to me?” It doesn’t take much for us to get unsettled. It happens when we’re in traffic and somebody honks their horn. Even if they are honking at somebody else, we get irritated, “How dare you honk at me.”
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Your son or daughter tells you, “I failed,” and you get upset. So is peace simply not being upset? It’s sad but true that some people think when you don’t get upset you must be in peace. Well, there are people who are in a vegetative state, and they don’t get upset over anything. So, what is peace?
Something that is not born of thought, but felt. Something that resides in the ocean of answers, not in the ocean of questions. We have learned to question everything, but we have not yet learned how to accept the answer. Your life. Your being. What does it mean to be here, to be alive?
People read books. I’m not against books. One wall of my office is just filled with books. But what am I looking to the books for? Can they really give me that answer? Can a book really satisfy my hunger? There are beautiful books of water scenes. Can that satisfy my thirst?
You cannot just say, “I’m not hungry. I’m not hungry. I’m not hungry.” The other day, I got up early, had a small breakfast, and went to speak. And my stomach was growling. I was thinking, “You’re not hungry, you’re not hungry…” but it didn’t quit. You can say, “Oh, it’s mind over matter.” But not for the basics, not for those things that really matter.
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One time, my father visited a place where there were a lot of holy men. One of the men was standing on one leg praying to God. There was a sign saying he’d been standing on one leg for so many weeks and hadn’t spoken a word. My father went right up to him and said, “Oh God, why did you give him a second leg? He doesn’t use it. And why’d you give him a mouth? He doesn’t use that, either.” This man got so upset he said, “How dare you say this!” And the second leg came down.
So, what is peace? I can’t tell you what it is. I have felt peace, and I can feel it every day, but I can’t tell you what it feels like. Just like I can’t tell you what sugar really tastes like. If you want to know what I am tasting, you need to taste it, too. Then and only then will you understand what I am talking about.
This life is a gift. I want to understand it as clearly as possible before I lose the ability to understand it. I want to know what this miracle is. A miracle requires an eye to behold it—a person who truly understands what a miracle is. The most amazing miracle is the coming and going of this breath. Out of nowhere it comes, and to nowhere it goes. From this breath comes the gift of life. And life makes all the other miracles possible: You can be. You can admire. You can be thankful that you exist. You can feel and give kindness.
To know in life that all is well. We only think of this in times of trouble. Do you know that you’re fine? You always were and always will be. We live in a world of fear. But there is something within you that you should not be afraid of, and it is the ability to enjoy this life, to appreciate this life.
Prem Rawat
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in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
A Simple Story
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I am here to tell you a story that is simple. This story is not about animals or kings and queens. It is not about the fulfillment of somebody’s fantasy. This story is about you and me — as we exist, as we are.
It’s not a story about aspirations, because people’s aspirations depend so much on where they find themselves in this world. If somebody lost their child, they wouldn’t pray for money. They would pray for one thing and one thing only: “God, can you please have my child returned to me?” That’s it.
If somebody has been told by a doctor, “You have cancer, you’re dying,” what do they pray for? Do they pray for higher education? Do they pray for another child? No. They say, “God, either make this as painless as possible or take away my cancer.” And if somebody finds themselves poor? They pray for money.
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Where we find ourselves in our lives dramatically changes our viewpoint on what our needs are, what the world is all about, what religion is all about, what God is all about — what everything is all about.
But there is a reality: the reality that you are alive. This is the most beautiful reality there is. Whether you are poor or you are rich — what do you really want? In this story, this story about you and me, we have a chance to fulfill our real want. If we want this story to be nice, to have a happy ending, it can be so. So the question becomes, “What is our want?”
Do you know what you want, what you have always wanted, what you will always want? Other people’s opinions and your own needs are two different things. If you have not looked at your real need, your want, all the opinions in the world are not going to take care of it. They are just opinions. What do you want?
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Let me tell you about a possibility as one human being to another. I propose that what you want in your life does not need a name. You can call it peace, you can call it happiness, you can call it liberation, you can call it joy — not a problem. Why? Because these are just different names for the same thing. When the heart is content, there will be joy. When the heart is content, there will be peace.
What is the difference between darkness and light? In darkness, you cannot see. When you cannot see, you cannot avoid the obstacles. All of the stumbling blocks, all of the obstacles on the road do not disappear when the sun rises in the morning. But you can see them, and, because you can see, you can avoid them. Light doesn’t take away obstacles; light illuminates them.
What do I give? I give an umbrella. I do not take away the rain. Rain cannot be taken away — it will rain. But that’s not a problem if you have an umbrella. Without one, you will become wet, and you don’t want to get wet.
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I give an umbrella. Do I take away people’s obstacles? No. I give them a lamp so that they can see, so that they can avoid what they want to avoid. That’s how it is. That’s what you need.
What does this being really want? This being has the most amazing aspiration it could ever have — to feel the infinite. This is the highest ambition: when a mortal wants to reach and touch and feel the immortal. That’s an incredible but beautiful ambition.
Prem Rawat
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in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
Emptying the Bucket
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When I travel and talk to people, what is my challenge? Of course, what I say has to come from my heart. It’s not a written speech; it's not from a book. But my challenge is for you to empty your bucket.
It’s not about saying wise things, believe me. People think I will tell them something that’s going to help them. And I do, apparently, because people write back and say how they've been helped since they’ve been listening to me. But that’s not what I try to do, because I cannot push wisdom into somebody’s head. All I try to do is to help people to empty their bucket.
Our biggest limitation is our imagination. I’ve never said this before because I know people will immediately say, “No-no-no, we can imagine some outrageous things!” Yes, you can. But there is something so amazing that exists beyond your capacity to imagine. I call it the peace and joy that reside in your heart.
The brain is a funny thing. It tries to fill in as much as it can. If we see an object that we have never seen before, our brain gets very confused. It responds, “What is this?” Imagination can only take you so far. But in the realm of the heart, in the realm of this inner beauty, there is something that is indeed divine, not by our making, but by its very nature.
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I’m not talking about conjecture. You see, I’m not going to answer your questions. Is that a favor to you? You bet. All I will keep saying is to empty your bucket, and when you do, you will finally make room for answers to come. Because you see, the answers are inside of you.
Do you believe that? We live in a society where if we want to know something, we search on the Internet to find out. But have you found out?
Where is the understanding in this world? People are more educated now than they’ve ever been. Everybody has their reasons for why things are as they are. But understanding is not about reasons. Understanding is about what you have understood, what you have felt. It’s not about preaching. It’s about reaching and grabbing the answer and realizing, “Yes, now I understand.”
That’s what I want for you. I don’t want you to say, “Now I have been given the answer.” That’s pointless. I want you to be able to say, “Now I understand. Now I know.” That's the way it needs to be—because that is the cry of your heart.
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There is an opportunity, a simple opportunity—if you can see it. How can you see it? Empty your bucket. How do you do that? It’s easy. Just start throwing out all that’s not yours, and I guarantee you the bucket will be very, very empty. Because nothing in that bucket is yours.
In your life, you were told things and you said, “Okay.” Every time you agreed, something was placed in the bucket, again and again. Unfortunately, it has gotten to a point where there’s no room for anything else. It’s full.
What’s in the bucket? Part of all that goes around in this world. People fight over God. Nations get polarized. Human beings express anger towards one another just for their opinion. We have created a world where, instead of saying, “Okay, we’ll never be able to figure God out. Let’s just feel God, respect God, and sing God’s praises.” No. It can’t be as simple as that. “Let’s give God a gender.” Do you think God needs a gender? “Let’s give God hands.” Does God need hands? That power, that energy is everywhere: nowhere to come from and nowhere to go to. Does that power need legs? Think about it.
Maybe I’ve inspired you to empty your bucket. Or perhaps I've given you a notion to at least look at your bucket and see how full it is. See if you can recognize that those things are not yours. You never put them there. They are the voices of the people before you, who told you how it had to be. And you said, “Okay.”
I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I’m saying this is your bucket. At least, it should contain what you think should be in it. Because this life is about you. This gift of life has been given to you. When you accept this gift, it fills you with amazing joy. It brings unparalleled clarity. And then your life is filled with gratitude, gratitude to be alive. Could you think of a better story? Could you think of a better ending to a day? Could you think of a better start to a day than to be filled with gratitude? This is the ultimate gift.Prem Rawat
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in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
A Moment Forever
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This life, in a way, is too short. It would be nice if you could make all your mistakes, get it all together, show up somewhere, and say, “Okay, I’ve figured it out, and I’m ready.”
But it doesn’t work like that. We’re given some time, but we don’t know how much. In the beginning, we just want to be happy. That’s all we know. We don’t know about responsibilities. We don’t know about right and wrong. We don’t know about being human. But we know that we have the thirst to be happy—whatever that means.
Good things happen; bad things happen. As a child, the level of optimism is at an all-time high. Whatever happened yesterday happened, but today is today. No memories are kept, no blame. Whatever we did in that state was not pre-planned. We call this innocence, and to each one of us, this state of being is very beautiful.
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And then we go through the period of learning—the grinding, pounding of information into our heads. The alphabet—A, B, Cs. You don’t know why A is A. It just is. You don’t know why one is one. It just is. And you are tested on it.
This keeps on going; you are being prepped for this world. What does that mean? It means that you have given up on your ideas, and you are now ready, willing, and able to take on the ideas that the world will give you, including how you believe in God. This is defined as responsibility. I call it “the giant leap of faith.”
And then an amazing thing happens. It doesn’t happen to everybody; it happens to some people. They meet someone who says, “No giant leap of faith necessary. You don’t have to jump. Just feel—feel your own thirst.”
“What?” They find this idea to be novel, but they see in it their own innocence.
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“The happiness, the joy, that you want in your life is within you, and the thirst for that feeling has to be within you, too.”
Then they ask, “Could something really be so simple?”
Yes, it could. Because you need to hear, you have ears. Because you need to breathe, you have a nose. You need to be able to see, and eyes have been provided for you. If you need this fulfillment—not want, but need—the thirst for it has been provided for you as well.
Find the thirst. That is the first chapter—recognizing, understanding your own innocence. And not by concept, thought, ideas, or prompting from someone else. The need for fulfillment is embedded within—not in your logic, but in the innocence of the heart. That’s where you will find it. And that’s where you have to begin. If we are thirsty and go looking for water, we won’t get distracted: “Did you see that bird? Did you see that rock? Oh, look at that contrail in the sky.” No. Water, water, only water. It is a need, a passion.
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A human being’s true passion is to be fulfilled. And that passion has survived all our discoveries, turmoil, successes, failures, disasters, catastrophes. However fragile it may seem, it has survived. As human beings have become busier and busier with weapons of destruction, going to the moon, mapping the earth, inventions, discoveries—you might have thought this would have been forgotten. Languages have been forgotten; customs that survived for thousands of years have been forgotten. But somehow, the quest to be fulfilled has survived.
Why am I telling you this? It is a bigger need than you realize. It’s huge. And you get to try every day, consciously, to be fulfilled, to be happy. There is no rewind button.
When I have come home to this moment called now, I feel my heart dancing with gratitude. Perhaps tears come, but they are of joy, not sorrow. Every fiber in my being rejoices to be alive. I have no quest for tomorrow, or even the moment yet to come. And that’s good, because it is a moment that I could live in forever.
Prem Rawat
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
A Matter of Reality
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There is a lot going on around the world. But I want to talk to each one of you about this life, about this time that we have. It’s not often that somebody points out the importance of life itself. We live in a world that sees it very differently.
I’ll give you an example. Today, I wanted to know about the latest hurricane. So I turned on the TV. They were talking about how many people might get hurt, how many millions of dollars in damages the last hurricane had caused, and how much damage this one could do.
Then, all of a sudden, there was an advertisement saying, “Are you overweight? Would you like to lose five to ten pounds? Then this medicine is for you!” And I’m thinking, “Wait a minute. Half of the United States is in trouble, and we’re talking about being five to ten pounds overweight?” That’s the world we live in. What reality is and what it is not has become an incredibly fine line. So fine, in fact, that it is almost indistinguishable.
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A long time ago, someone said, “As far as your eyes can see, you can consider it to be an illusion.” In our little world, we have made compartments for everything. So when we hear a deep statement like this, we don’t really want to act on it. If we did, the consequences would be amazing. You’d come out of your garage and realize, “My house is an illusion.” You’d look at your wife and say, “You’re an illusion, honey.” You’d look at your kids and your car in the same way. I mean, it would be almost paralyzing. You’d wonder, “Wait a minute—as far as the eye can see, it is all an illusion?”
So, we have compartments, and we say, “Well, this is one of those deep thoughts.” And then we move along. We go on our way because we don’t really want to change. If it means saying, “Oh, I love changes,” and not having to change, we say that, too. And people actually make these declarations, “I love changes.” As long as nobody causes them to change, it’s okay.
I ask people, “Do you have peace in your life?” “Yes.” “Really?” “Oh, yes, yes. I read scriptures, I go jogging every day, I do yoga. I have peace. Now, where is the ice cream?” And that’s it.
Why am I talking to you about illusion and reality? Does it matter that all this is an illusion? Does it matter that there is a reality? Yes, it does. Why? Because I see myself in relation to all the things that I am surrounded by. If I didn’t see any relationship between those things and me, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But when I see that relationship, I am caught.
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The point is that all we consider to be real is not. We have our relatives or “relations” and all the people we love. There will be a time when all these relationships will come to an end. There will be a time when they can no longer reciprocate our love. So, why am I talking to you about this? My point is, if you’re going to have a relationship, have a relationship with something inside of you, too. If you’re going to have loved ones, find the love that is inside of you as well, because this is the one that transcends the limitations of this world.
I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. When you go to somebody’s house for dinner, what do you carry away with you? Well, you still have food in your stomach, but you also carry the memory of the enjoyment you had. Learn how to truly enjoy, because when you know how to enjoy, you take that with you in a heart that is full.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever situation you go through, you carry a joy with you. But if you have not understood and included your true self in this life of yours then, yes, you live in a world of illusion. Somehow, you think that this will all be here forever. But it won’t.
There is something real in you. There is something beautiful in you. If you want to be mesmerized by beauty, be mesmerized by the beauty that is within you. If you want to understand something, understand yourself. If you want to love, love this beautiful breath that comes into you. If you do this, you will be given a gift of peace, joy, love—not in thoughts, not in words, but in feeling. And that is no ordinary gift.
Prem Rawat
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in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Digg it
The Company You Keep
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A fifteenth century Indian saint used to talk about how all the trees that grow around a sandalwood tree begin to smell like sandalwood. They aren’t sandalwood, but as they grow, they take on that beautiful scent.
So is it possible that if I keep the company of the most beautiful thing in my life, I will begin to take on its characteristics? Yes. That’s the significance of the analogy.
If keep the company of ignorance, I will take on the characteristics of ignorance, but if I keep the company of clarity, I will begin to take on the qualities of clarity. If I want to have the beautiful aroma of understanding, I need to keep the company of understanding.
If this is even remotely possible, what a possibility exists for me in my life!
Kabir, another fifteenth century saint, says, “We are like cloth that is washed with the soap of clarity again and again until it sparkles. You need to sparkle, to shine, because that is your potential.” You are not sandalwood, and you won’t become sandalwood. But can you take on some of the beautiful, beautiful aroma of sandalwood? Yes. Therein lies your hope.
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I hear from people around the world. Many are in difficult situations. Some are in prison, some with life sentences. My message goes to them, and it’s an incredible dynamic, because what hope can they have? Even in that situation where there is so little hope, they are looking for hope. They are looking for joy. They are looking for clarity!
We become busy doing so many things that we think are important. But listen to the human being that you are. What is your truest need? Your truest need is to be content.
We go along the highway of life saying, “I need this, I need this, I need this.” Some of it is what we think, and some of it comes from other people telling us, “This is what you need this is what you need, this is what you need.”
I have heard people rave about Krispy Kreme donuts. I hear that the bakeries have a light that goes on when the donuts are fresh out of the oven and that people actually slow down as they pass by the shop in case the light will go on. And if it does, no matter what they are doing, people will stop to get a donut and satisfy that desire for something delicious.
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It’s tempting. Sometimes the thought comes to me, “Hmm, maybe I should try a Krispy Kreme donut.” Then I realize, “I don’t want to.” Does it matter? No.
But everything in this journey of life does matter: what is mine and what is not mine; what I know and what I believe; my thirst and the thirst that has been superimposed upon me. This is a big subject. The way we talk, the way we think, the way we imagine things is directly influenced by the society around us, not us.
What is our true thirst? Who are you? Are you just a puppet, built with the papier-mâché of concepts—one layer of paper over another and another? Or are you something more than that? Pray that the answer is “Yes,” because if the answer is “No,” we’re in trouble.
The good news is that we each have a thirst. We each have a quest to be fulfilled, to be in peace. You may not be aware of it, but deep down you know about it.
Keep the right company, and you will soak in their traits. Keep the company of light, and you will begin to glow. This is the transformation of a human being becoming a true “be-ing.” Simple, conscious of existence.
There is a beauty within you that you can be in touch with for the rest of your life. It’s ageless. Timeless. Beautiful. Simple. There aren’t too many things like that in this world.
If you want to keep the company of that, I can help.
Prem Rawat
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