Maharaji in Tel Aviv, Israel 7-9 April 2008
By 2008 it must have been obvious, even to Maharaji himself, that his PR spin was not inspiring many citizens on the face of this earth to rush to get the Keys and eventually learn the techniques of (Self)-Knowledge. They weren't even attending his speeches in large numbers but he had developed a sort of sour grapes end-of-speech patter but this night he carried this to new extremes. He even interrupted himself with his standard put down of religion where he mock humbly puts religion in its place, unimportant compared to himself. He then returned to his end of speech last ditch chance to impress. You should accept his metaphorical gift of a mirror and become conscious, become like his PWKs who don't have to live in fear unlike the rest of us who do.
This speech was in the standard format, upbeat with whispering "spiritual" sections, extra long pauses and a serious atmosphere. He was particularly bombastic in a frenzied ranting at times. There was something unusual. Maybe because it is in Israel but 7 times in the speech when he alluded to/hinted at the existence of a method of practising Knowledge, not theory, there was a very limited, restrained applause.
Someone with very unusual aesthetic sensibilities decided to film this speech in extreme close-up. ***Trigger Warning: Possible Fat Shaming *** at a time when Maharaj's face was bloated with fat. It is also obvious that he is using a hair thickener.
- Rawat stresses how terrible people and the world has become. He is wrong about nearly everything and he is wrong about this. For the majority of people on the face of this earth, life has never been better. There is factual, statistical proof. He finally said this in public to another person and was quickly shutdown with the truth. There is even evidence that we have become less violent
- He has good days and bad days and so do his followers. In fact, it is impossible to tell premies from their neighbours because Maharaji's implausable, ineffable peace is invisible, it has no observable effect except a habit of attending his speeches and not dying of boredom
- This is a PeaceFlix DVD. Remember Peaceflix? It was one of the many ways Rawat tried to monetize his speeches in the past within the constraints of never charging for "Knowledge". Now (2024) he's gone the full Capitalist
Maharaji: The Importance of Being Alive, Tel Aviv Israel, 9 April 2008
That's why we are here? To talk a little bit about peace and I'm not here to tell you what is right? What is wrong? I'm not here to try to point out all the problems of the world. Because there are too many. It will take more than one evening to go through them. But you know, despite of all those problems, despite of all those things, that are wrong in this world. There are some things that are good. Really, really good. All the ugliness that is in this world. There is something very, very beautiful. All the mistakes that have been made in this world. There is one that is perfect. It's not a mistake. That perfection. That beauty. That right is in you and that is what I have come to talk about. There are people who like to point out all the problems and I'm, in a way, glad that they do. But I thought there should be some people who should point out the good, the right, the beautiful. Because this existence that you have, this life that you have despite of all the problems is beautiful. It's wonderful. And sometimes we forget the importance of being alive. Caught up in our troubles, in our turmoils, in our ideas, in our concepts. We forget what we have been given.
You look at the desert. The time to see the desert is not in summer but when it rains. Because mysteriously even the desert holds in it the promise of beautiful life, of delicate tender flowers. But it's needs the rain, without rain the rivers don't flow. They keep their shape. The water has come in the desert and carved the shape and that river, that dry river waits and waits and patiently waits for it to rain and once again the water to flow through it. It is ready. It is ready. Who are we? What are we? Are we the sum of all these things that happen around us? Or is there something more? The sound of waking up in the morning and realising one's responsibilities. "I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this." Or there is something inside each human there that wants to smile. That wants to be thankful, to feel gratitude, to feel joy. This is not my idea, by the way. This is not something that one day, you know, I was walking somewhere and a big flash of light hit me and said, you know, "Why don't you go out there and talk about joy?" But what I say to you today is my own experience.
I have responsibilities. There are good days. There are bad days and in good days I want to be happy, in good days I want to feel peace. In good days I want to feel like I'm alive. In good days I want to feel connected to myself. I want to feel centred. I want to feel one and not two or three or four or five. And then there are bad days. And you know what? Even in the bad days I just want to be happy. I do not come here to try to explain to you the concept of happiness. Nobody can explain to you the concept of happiness. You know what happiness is? Happiness isn't just simply smiling. Happiness isn't simply laughing. Happiness isn't simply a time of day when you become happy. Happiness is happiness. Because you feel good. Not about something. You see, this is what we think happiness is. Happiness is feeling happy about something. Our child passes college. I am so happy. We won a lottery ticket. I am so happy. We get a promotion. I am so happy because we think our happiness is associated with all the things in this world.
Somehow this world is going to make us happy. And I say to you, that there is only one person in this world who can make you happy. And you know who that is? Ah. It happens to be this person that you know very little about. Strange. This person that can make you happy, really happy. You don't really know much about them. You know about your friends. You know a lot about them. Other people, the other associates, the business, the colleagues but very little about yourself. Who are you? Because you are that person who can make you very happy. (applause) Who are you? You came. You are given this gift of breath. You don't think much about it. You will but it will be at the end when its getting hard. Then life is important. Breath, breath, breath, breath. Life is important.
I mean, I see on the highways people driving honking, honking horn going around yelling, screaming. Somehow I get the feeling that these people don't really think life is important. They just want to get where they're going. That's what's important. I want you to take a minute, I want you to take a little time and I want you to understand something that your life is incredibly important. You're not a number. You're not a name. This is always I find curious. I travel so much. You know, and they you come to a country and you have to show them your passport and they could ask you who are you? I'm me. This is better than the picture in the passport. It's alive. It's real. But no. I need a piece of paper to prove I am me. Some countries even issue an identity card. Identity card. This is your identity. A piece of plastic. Listen, I'm not criticising identity cards and I'm not criticising passports. We need those things in this world. But don't you go believing that. Because you are more than that peace of plastic. You are more than the sum of all your goods and all your bads. You are more, you are more.
So many people in this world live in fear. In certain places, it's probably a good idea. But there is a place inside of you that cannot have fear. Because in this place what you should be feeling is freedom. The freedom that I am talking about is a freedom that a person can feel even when they are inside of a prison. Too much. Inside of a prison how do you feel free? Ah, you know, we have our formulas. You see sadness has nothing to do with formulas and because sadness has nothing to do with formulas neither does happiness have anything to do with formulas. This equals this equals this equals happiness. This plus this this plus this minus this equals happiness. No. Either you feel happiness or you don't feel happiness. Either you feel joy in your life or you don't feel joy in your life. Either you understand in your life or you don't understand in your life. Even you feel peace in your life or you don't feel peace in your life. What do you feel? Do you feel that feeling in your life?
Because this is where, this is the stage where peace will dance. This is the stage where peace will dance. This is the stage. where happiness will sing a song for you. This is the stage. This is what this is about, my friends. This is what it is about my friends The greatest achievement of a human being isn't going to be that they went to the moon. That will be overshadowed by somebody going to Mars. There will be technology that will be so incredible in the future that they're going to look at us and laugh. You build a house and you say this is my home. Does the home also say you are my owner? After you're gone. Somebody else will move in and they will call it home and after they're gone somebody else will move in. Just a very slow hotel. (laughter) Come stay for a while. Move out. Somebody else. What is yours? What is yours? Do you know? Do you know this life pounding into you? This breath pounding into you, Where does it come from? Where does it go?
And every time that it comes, it brings the gift of life. And what, my friend, is life? When you are conscious this life holds promises after promises after promises after promises after promises after promises for you. Gifts after gifts after gifts after gifts after gifts. Which gift have you accepted? If you are a stranger to your own self then you came. You lived a while and like many ended up leaving. Came, lived a while and gone. It will happen. Three things. Three facts. You were born. This is a fact. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. Second, you're alive. Third you've got to go. Birth. This is what I what I say and this is how I look at it. Birth has happened. I, you know, when I was born, I don't really remember. They obviously I was born. But I don't, I don't remember being born. And the last one going. It's gonna happen. I do not even have to make an appointment. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. I have no control over it. Ahh! But between the two. Between the birth and the going. I can do something. And if all the things that I can accomplish. Let it be that I am fulfilled, that I know myself. That of all the people I have tried to understand that I understand myself because this is a desert and I want the rain of peace and I want the rain of understanding to come. There are dry rivers here right into flow again. There are seeds here that are waiting to flower to blossom, to blossom, to blossom.
I have been watching spring coming. Ah, it is so beautiful to watch spring come. In the winter. Right outside my office, in my home, I have a tree and in the winter it shed every leaf. everything Just completely everything. Bare bones, just branches and then slowly but surely spring began to come and not a minute wasted and not a day wasted for those green shoots to start appearing. This I call dedication. This I call diversion. This I call life. This I call the Grand Miracle. Once again, not an excuse. "Hey why are we doing thi?"s If that tree was a human tree it will say "Why are we doing this?" Because winter is gonna come again and I'm gonna have to shed these leaves. So forget about this. Just hibernate. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not logic but something that transcends logic. Love is not logical. But even though it is not logical, it doesn't lose its importance and for these little shoots to wait and to wait and to wait until waiting and that waiting. They cannot forecast the weather. They don't "Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, I know these two days are warm, but then the next two days is gonna be raining again. So just wait. No, no, no, no. Here it is. The wind has come. The sun is shining. The temperature is right. Let's go. "And tender and delicate as the shoots are, even the two days cold and rain we will bear it out and keep growing, keep growing, keep growing.
Taking a chance. A calculated risk or a drive that is more powerful. This scene plays out of thousands upon millions upon billions of trees and branches on the face of this earth every year. Your spring has come, my friends. Your spring has come. It is time to reach within and resurface the hope for peace in your life. To see that good, to understand that good, to once again know, to once again understand, to once again say "Yes" to what you have ignored for so long which has been no one else but you. You. You. Socrates said "Know thy Self." Why? Why did he say that? Because in you is the treasure.
There was a guy and he was very poor. And so there was a little piece of farm and he wanted to buy that. So he saved up money as much money as he could save. And nobody was using the land. So he went up to the owner and said "Can I buy this from you?" and the guy said "you can have it. I'll take the money." Took the money and sold him his farm. And this man worked really, really hard. Really worked hard. Ploughed the fields and the land yielded beautiful crops. And slowly and slowly and slowly but surely this man, this farmer he became quite rich. He got married. He built himself a house. He had children. And what he did was he took most of his wealth and he bought gold and he put the gold in a trunk and he buried the trunk in his farm. Time passed. He got old. He called his sons. He said it's time for me to go. But please, plough the farm, plough the fields. He didn't tell them that he had buried the treasure. He just said "Plough the fields. Don't forget to plough the fields, plough the fields, plough the fields and you will be rewarded beyond belief. He passed away. They did his cremation ceremony. Whatever. Lost all interest in the farm. The farm became again once again dead, broken, whatever and somebody came along and said "Here is a little money I have. Would you please sell me your farm?" The sons weren't really interested in the farm anyways so they sold him the farm and this man ploughed the fields and one day when he was ploughing the fields. What do you suppose he came across? The buried treasure. Instantly he was richer than he could have ever imagined.
This is the field. Plough the field. So now I'm sure people are sitting there. It's like, "Well, that sounds really good. How do we plough the field? What plough? I mean, you know, we took a plough. You can't plough this with it. I mean, I know this is just, "Are you interested? (applause) Are you interested?" I mean, have you said to yourself tonight? "Yeah, he is saying all these things, but he is not saying how." Have you? Then it must be that I have got your interest. And if I have got your interest, then you have just taken the first step to ploughing the field. (scattered applause)
That's where it begins. Because now you are going to wonder and you are going to think and I want you to think. I want you to think that you have a heart. And if you don't know your heart I want you to be as curious you can be about touching your own heart. Now if tonight you carry away nothing from here at least the idea that what you have is good. (scattered applause) Great. Maybe if we take that one little second and see the humanity in us because a human being today does not see humanity. We are human beings but we don't act like human beings. Because a human would have the most compassion for another human. Compassion. You know. You know what it is like to be you. You would go, I understand you have good times. You have bad times. No no. Today it is, "I'm gonna kill you." All our education. All our learning, all our history, all our knowledge has brought us to brink of war all over the place. This is not what education is about. This is not the knowledge that has been spoken about. Have you ever heard this one? It is called "the knowledge will set you free." I have. The knowledge will set you free. The knowledge that so many people are involved with is not setting them free. Is enslaving and enslaving and enslaving and enslaving and people are ready to kill each other. And more we say peace, the more turmoil there is in this world.
Something is wrong. Peace begins with each human being. Peace is-Olive trees are not looking for peace and the reason why I say Olive trees, particularly because that's the sign. That's the symbol. Olive branch. If something, if someone run is bothering the olive trees. Believe me, it's human beings. Left alone they'll will be just fine. We need to see our inner potential. Not so that we can be better at work. Not so that we can be better at going to the Moon, not so that we can be better at exploring Mars but so that we can be better at feeling the joy that resides within inside of us. (applause)That's why. So I have a little voice. I have been speaking about this since I was very young. And this is what I have been saying. People have come to me. People have challenged me and humility works very well. All I know is what I know. I say to you what comes from my heart to your heart.
I'm not here to change your religion. If you are Jew be a good Jew. If you are Christian be a good Christian. If you are good you wanna be a good Hindu be a good Hindu. I'm not here to challenge that. I'm not here to tell you how should it be after you're dead. I'm not here to talk to you about afterlife. I'm here to talk about life. (applause) I'm not here to talk to you about then. I'm here to talk to you about now.
If you are interested, I can help you. Believe me that what you are looking for is already inside of you and it will be if you never see me again. So a lot of people ask "Well, sir, what do you offer?" I'll say this metaphorically. I offer a mirror. Not a new face. I offer a mirror. When people go "But what if I don't want to look at the mirror even though when you place the mirror in front of you, technically you are looking at the mirror but one of the most wonderful thing about a mirror is you don't really see the mirror. You see the reflection in the mirror. And what you will see is you. It's you. Be conscious. Be real. Be alive. Because this is the gift you have been given. Understand. Understand yourself. Understand your own humanity. Lot of people think "Well, if I give. Will that make me better?" There are some things you can give and giving is good. But there are some things you cannot give. You cannot give this breath to somebody. "Here. Two more. Three more. Four more. You cannot give this time that you have to anybody. "Here. Take one of my hours." So many people running around. "I don't have the time. I don't have the time. I don't have the time." You don't have the time. What do you mean you don't have the time? Uh uh uh uh. Who's got who? Time has you, my friends You are not in control at the time. Time is in control of you. You are only in control of the things you do in that time. You're not in control of the time.
Understand. Understand your limitations and accept those with humility. Understand you're gifts and accept them with great pride. Great pride. Wherever you go. You carry a lamp within you. You don't ever ever have to roam in darkness. This is what I came to say. It's simple. Maybe you've already heard this all before. If you have? Maybe I've re-reminded you. If you haven't heard this, maybe you'll think about it. I have nothing to sell because that which you are looking for is already inside of you. So thank you very much for coming. And I hope you get something out of it. I go place to place. I do my best to try to tell people about the possibility they have/ Some listen to me. Some don't. It's okay either way because I will continue another town, another place, another few, who I can tell about this possibility and to whom I have shown that lamp. They do enjoy their walks, day or night because they don't have to live in fear. (applause) So. Thank you very much and a very good night to you. Thank you.
