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See the Film, Sing the Song, Read the Book. My years in Captain Rawat's cult were punctuated with campaigns. They all learned from the mistakes of the past, and this time would surely bring the Captain's message to the world. In 1974, one of these evangelical crusades included a book, a film and a song, all named, "Who is Guru Maharaji?". The answer, of course, was Guru Maharaji was the living Perfect Master. (But you wouldn't understand this properly until you joined his cult and learned his meditation.) Premies were told that when the film went on general release, people would watch it, then immediately want to join the cult. There would be hundreds of people queuing up to be initiated. I was particularly fond of the book. The thing that impressed me most, was that it was pubnlished by "Bantam", a mainstream publisher. This was surely a sign that the Lord's message was breaking through into that ball of misery, confusion, and delusion premies called "The World", know by everyone else as "everyday life". The decision of Bantam to publish cult propaganda was probably based on a calculation involving the number of cult members and how much they were likely to spend on the book. Charles Cameron, an English writer, edited the book. It was the acceptable face of the cult at the time. Premies have always had a big problem trying to explain their confused, contradictory beliefs to anyone who can count past two. At the time of the "Who is Guru Maharaji?" campaign, premie beliefs included: - Rawats three brothers were incarnations of the Hindu Gods Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu. In this atmosphere of post-acid, cult, mythological insanity, "Who is Guru Maharaji?" was a breath of fresh air, rooted in science, reason, fact, and experience, stripped of spiritual speculation, and hippy imagination. Yes, this really was the campaign that was going bring in the thousands. How could they refute such evidence? They
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Contents Part
II: THE CONTEXT (Page 43 - 80) Part III: THE QUESTIONS (Page 83 - 99) Part
IV: THE PEOPLE: (Page 103 - 193) Part
V: THE TRUTH (Page 199 - 294) Little Drops of Mercy 3. Satsangs of Guru Maharaj Ji's Family This Immortal Energy Afterword
by Charles Cameron (Page
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Guru Maharaj Ji is remarkable. A fifteen-year-old who comes from the foothills of the Himalayas, he already has a group of doctors working to organize a hospital along lines which he has suggested. He is learning to fly a jet. Thousands of drug users have kicked their habits as a result of his teachings. Senators congratulate him. The blind tell us that he has given them inner sight. And he proclaims that he will feed the hungry and bring peace to all who ask. Christ taught us that we can know a man by what be gives to the world. Mozart was a genius at music. Maharaj Ji is a genius at the practical applications of unselfish love. Putting it mildly, Guru Maharaj Ji was a child prodigy. He is a phenomenon. In this book, two people describe being alive before they were born. Scriptures and prophecies from all times and places are found to agree with one another. Science admits to the existence of God. And Guru Maharaj Ji unveils his Perfect Master Plan. It has been an incredible privilege to work on this book. It is always an incredible privilege to serve Guru Maharaj Ii. Everything he touches turns to love. |
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Across this sprawling city from the seventh floor of a modern office building, I can see a full yellow moon. I almost expect it to explode into a million rainbow comets to announce what is happening tonight. It's strange that the sky would be still on such an occasion. Guru Maharaj Ji has just arrived in Los Angeles. For the third time, the master soul has walked in America, virtually unknown to the public. He is the greatest event in history and we sleep through it. Every part of me wants to shake this country awake. I feel like shouting in the streets. If we knew who he was, we would crawl across America on our hands and knees to rest our head at his feet. This book, Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji, carries my deepest hope that in these pages some words will trigger the heart and mind of every reader to appreciate that this may be the most important question in the land - who is Guru Maharaj Ji? And there should be no rest until each and everyone of you knows. Most of my life has been spent with young people trying to dig America out of the threat of nuclear annihilation, urban war and an all-consuming corruption of human values. I always thought that if enough of us could pick up the shovels we could dig ourselves out of this mess. I know that's still the right idea, but the question is how to get everyone digging together and in the right direction? We never had leadership that could really unite America. And now with the very foundations of the established order sinking in scandal, with people really crying out for new direction, there is no alternative leadership anywhere, not in the women's movement or peace movement or black movement, not in the Democratic Party or trade unions or reform organizations or churches. Really, who can save this sinking ship? The timing of Guru Maharaj Ji's arrival in this world is very far out. Even he admits that he came at the last possible moment. When people finally discover who Guru Maharaj Ji is, they'll feel a nice smile inside thinking about how he slipped in the back door just in the nick of time. But I want to talk to the people who don't know who he is. Because the idea of a fifteen-year-old Indian dressed in a business suit coming to America as the savior of the world must seem like a bad joke. Some people really get angry when you try to tell them who Guru Maharaj Ji is. I remember last spring when I traveled around the country announcing to old friends the joyous news. Many of them thought I bad lost my mind or was secretly working for the CIA. I spoke in Berkeley and New York and said "the Creator has come to help us pull the world back together again," and tomatoes and cherry pies were hurled at me. When you tell someone that Guru Maharaj Ji is the power of creation, they may punch you in the face instead of shake your hand. I go on the radio and say that Guru Maharaj Ji is revealing the same Knowledge of life that Jesus taught and the most devoted Christians call the station sounding like they'd rather crucify him instead of rejoice. It's sad when people won't even investigate a promise to bring peace to the world. Perhaps it's because there have been so many promises that no one wants to hear visions or social plans or dreams anymore. The world is littered with smashed hopes and dreams. It seems easier to end our troubles in a bottle of Quaaludes or Seconal, than evaluate the proclamation of a fifteen-year-old boy to end poverty, war and human misery on a global basis when no one before him could do it. All I can say to the skeptic is that I was a skeptic, too. I was never a believer in any religion. 'When I went to Guru Maharaj Ji, it was not to embrace God, but to see what he could show me. And all I can do now is be honest about what happened. Guru Maharaj Ji showed me God. And it's really okay if you have a good laugh at such a statement, but it doesn't change the truth. And I know that if you go to this Perfect Master, he'll clear away life's mystery and show you the light that is keeping you alive as well. There are no words to tell anyone what this experience is. But I can promise you that once a human being has received this Knowledge, he can understand there is a practical way to save the planet. Guru Maharaj Ji says, "If everyone really knew that God is omnipresent, God is omniscient and God is omnipotent, there would be no need of sheriffs; no need of policemen. Everyone would mind everyone. But a man believes and never knows. And that is why there is this crazy, crazy feeling around the world." People who wonder what has happened to me since meeting Guru Maharaj Ji should know that I spend every joyous, waking moment trying to create the conditions that will help America get into an all-out investigation of Guru Maharaj Ji. Because I know that if we even begin to wonder who this boy is who says, "I have come so that you may know God," the answer will come. When a devotee makes the outrageous statement that Guru Maharaj Ji is the Lord of the Universe, it's cause enough for a chuckle. But it also happens to be true. Guru Maharaj Ji is the Lord of the Universe and anyone can find out who sincerely wants to know. Every fiber in me says that America is going to find out. It's too big a secret to keep quiet. And I'm starting to feel that America is going to be the most fantastic p lace on the planet because America is going to be the first country to realize Guru Maharaj Ji is here. America will teach the whole world the Perfect One has come, and that now there is a way to end the craziness of this century and wipe away the tears of its victims and teach us all how to be human beings again. Rennie
Davis
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The Prophecies In 1898, Morgan Robertson's novel, The Wreck of the Titan, was published by McClure's of New York. Robertson's book dealt with the sinking of a reputedly unsinkable ocean liner, the Titan, when it hit an iceberg during one of its early voyages. It also describes the death-toll that resulted because no one had taken safety precautions seriously, being certain that the ship could not sink. The story was set in April. Fourteen tears later, on April 14, 1912, the great Titanic struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage, and sank with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. She was carrying only twenty lifeboats, and her builders considered her 'unsinkable'. History imitated fiction. Man has always been fascinated by the idea of delving into the future, and today we are witnessing a boom in all forms of prediction. The government runs computerized scenarios of events that could lead to a third World War, and calculates the chances of our surviving another few years. And on the other hand, a thousand diviners attempt to chart the future by the use of palm and crystal, star and tea stain, Tarot and yarrow stalk. So ready are people to listen to prophets at this time, that it is even possible to be a prophet with honor in one's own country. To predict the winner of the Kentucky Derby is one thing. But to announce in advance a major portion of the Divine Plan for this planet is quite another. The greatest prophets of every religion have spoken to us again and again: and always, they bring the same message. Consider this prophecy, from the Book of Isaiah: The wolf also Or this one, from a poem by Marpa the Translator, a great Tibetan sage: The sun and the moon dance Or this prediction, made by Deganawida, the prophet of the Iroquois, and passed down by word of mouth: A great message Thrice daily, the Orthodox Jew recites the "Alenu" prayer, asking that soon this world "will be perfected under the kingdom of the Almighty, and all the children of flesh will call upon Thy Name." For he knows the Messiah will come on earth, and will establish a reign of peace in accordance with the will of God. And every Christian asks for the same, when he recites the "Our Father": "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." When will the Messiah come? The texts are many, and we cannot quote them all. Isaiah speaks of a time when "the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the Lord." And he predicts that there arise a new thing, "a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." In the garden of Israel, these predictions are coming to pass. And for those who have never visited Israel, nor seen roses blossoming in her deserts, perhaps this text will seem to deal with familiar events: "The cars shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways." Not a bad description of today, considering it was written by the Old Testament prophet Nahum. Jesus himself spoke of the coming of the Messiah in a parable which he told to the people of his own time, and which was recorded in the gospels. He suggests that after the Son has been rejected and killed by men, the next step is for the Father to come. In Matthew 21:33, Mark 12:1, and Luke 209, the story is told: There was once a man who planted a vineyard, and he built a hedge around it, and set up a winepress, and a tower, and he rented the property out to some sharecroppers, and left for foreign lands. In due season, he sent his men to the sharecroppers, to collect his share. But the tenants beat u his men unmercifully, killing some, and driving others away with stones. The owner sent in more of his trusted servants, who were similarly beaten. At last, he sent his son, thinking that he at least would instill some respect into the tenants. But they rubbed their hands together when they saw him, and said, come on, this is the old man's son and heir. If we kill him, the whole property will be completely in our hands. So they killed him. Now the question is, what will the owner do, when he comes himself? He will descend upon those tenants, and he will wipe them out, and hand the vineyard over to the people who will serve his interests better. In other words, we would do better to look for the first coming of the Father, rather than for the Second Coming of the Son. The blind medieval poet, Surdas, is quite certain that this time in history is the great turning point, the start of a new age. In one of his songs,he tells himself: You'd best be patient, mind, until the middle He was writing from within the Indian tradition. In India, Lord Krishna's words are well known. In the Bhagavad Gita he tells his disciple Arjuna: Whenever righteousness is in decline, and unrighteousness is in the ascendant, I come in human form. To protect the virtuous, to destroy the evildoers and to establish righteousness on a firm footing, I am born age after age. And Buddha echoes this teaching. Buddhist scriptures tell us that shortly before the Buddha was to leave this world, he called his disciple Ananda to his side, and asked Ananda why he was weeping. Ananda replied that he was weeping because he would be plunged by the Buddha's passing back into that very darkness from which the Buddha's kindness had saved him. Buddha told Ananda to wipe away his tears and reminded him that all fleshly bodies must pass away, while the body of the excellent law endures. Ananda asked the Buddha to whom his disciples should look for teaching when the Buddha was gone, and the Buddha replied: I am not the first Buddha who has come upon the earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom, auspicious, embracing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a ruler of angels and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal, truths, which I have taught you. He will establish his law, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal in the spirit and in the letter. He will proclaim a righteous life, wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands while mine number hundreds. On a more divine light-hearted note, let's mention the old tradition that King Arthur of England will someday return. Not for nothing is he called the "once and future King." Sir Richard Blakemore wrote a poem about King Arthur's return, and published it in 1695. Speaking of Arthur, he says: This great deliverer shall Europa save, There are so many prophecies. And isn't it strange how many of them speak about a child? The Inga Indians live in one small village of thirty houses, in the heart of the Amazon River Basin, between Colombia and Brazil. Their culture is entirely concerned with a child called the Nino de Oro, the Golden Boy. According to their legend, this Golden Boy has come before, and will return again. And when he returns, it is said that all those whom he touches will never leave him, because the gift he gives them is the highest gift of all.
Who
is Guru Maharaj Ji? How has a staff of amateurs managed to turn out the magazine And It Is Divine, making it one of the finest magazines in the country, under the supreme editorship of a fifteen-year-old boy living in India? Who is it that inspires the beautiful music of the London Anand Band? Of the American Bliss Band? Of the London Bhole Bhagwan Big Band? Of the Swiss Pranam Band? And so many other groups across the world? Who is this Guru Maharaj Ji, whose face can be seen on a thousand posters in any one of the great capital cities of the world? Who is this Guru Maharaj Ji, who has promised to bring peace to the whole world? And will he? Guru Maharaj Ji has been opening the hearts of men with his discourse since the age of two, when he would wake up the mahatmas who lived in his father's house at four in the morning and tell them he would beat them if they did not meditate on the experience of God within. At the age of eight, be became Perfect Master, he who alone can reveal the highest human experience. Now, at the age of fifteen, his work for humanity has been applauded by civic leaders and state legislatures, not to mention the estimated six million disciples who thank him for opening their hearts to the unlimited love that was within them. The gift which Guru Maharaj Ji makes to his disciples is revelation: he does not teach any religious formula or ritual, but rather causes the disciple to feel unmistakably within himself that very fountain of peace of which Christ, Krishna, and Buddha also spoke. His disciples experience a blinding light within - much as Saint Paul did on the road to Damascus - not a mild elevation of mood or clarity, but the direct and repeatable experience of divinity, transcending time and space. His disciples have a continual experience of inner peace available to them, and they are overwhelmed by gratitude. Great is the gift that Maharaj Ji gives, for it allows his followers such joy that they no longer depend on circumstances for their happiness, and are thus free to work for the welfare of others without consideration of their personal likings. Their happiness is infectious, for its source is clearly known, and can be communicated. They are untiring in good works. Programs presently undertaken by disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji include the foundation of schools and hospitals, the setting up of worldwide organization to end poverty and hunger, and the building of a model city where pollution and suffering will not exist. Guru Maharaj Ji was born in Hardwar, India on December 10, 1957. His father, Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, was recognized by thousands of Indian devotees as Satguru: the one living master who reveals the ancient Knowledge of the inner self. Walking from village to village, he illumined the hearts of all seekers with the experience of divine Light and the holy Name of God - the essence of all religions. Yet in time this Perfect Master was to offer his full prostration to the Lotus Feet of his youngest son. At two years of age, Guru Maharaj Ji had astonished his family by giving holy discourses, speaking simply but directly to members of his father's household about the importance of realizing God. He soon coined his mother, Shri Mata Ji, and his three elder brothers, Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji, Shri Bhole Ji, and Shri Raja Ji, at public programs where his father was addressing his disciples. Taking the microphone himself, the young Maharaj Ji began giving satsang (holy discourse), speaking in Hindi. "When I was six," Guru Maharaj Ji said, "my Father gave me Knowledge with my brothers in the same room. I was given Knowledge and didn't realize it right away. I knew it was my duty, and l began to meditate, and in about a month I realized it." He then delivered his first English discourse, speaking for over thirty minutes with a strength and authority that moved his audience to tears. His father declared that although Guru Maharaj Ji was small in age, he was great in wisdom and enlightenment, and would one day shine over the whole world as brightly as the sun shines in the sky. Later his father wrote a letter in Kashmir, sending it to his wife in Hardwar: "Give my blessings to Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji, Slid Bhole Ji, and Shri Raja Ji Maharaj, and give my pranams (prostration) to Shri Sant Ji Maharaj." It was his first declaration that in fact Maharaj Ji was the chosen descendent of Satguru. On July 19, 1966, after a lifetime devoted to bringing the Knowledge of God to his followers, Guru Maharaj Ji's father left his mortal, body in perfect peace. "I didn't want to be Satguru. I didn't understand why it is me. I would have been satisfied to be the humblest servant of the Satguru and not to be one myself. It was not my desire. That (my father) sent his love to his oldest three sons and complete prostrations to his youngest. So they crowned me with the crown of Rama and Krishna and put the tilak on my forehead, and again the voice came: '... You are he. You must take this Knowledge out to the world.'" This is the way Satguru Maharaj Ji describes the experience of realizing the task that was before him at the age of eight. On the day Shri Maharaj Ji left his body, a disciple tearfully begged to speak once more with his master. The young Guru Maharaj Ji had replied, "Shri Maharaj Ji has only left his body, but his spiritual body is still here, and he will appear again after a few days." At the time, he did not fully realize that this power was within him. "I went home (from school) and everyone was, weeping. I was just sitting there not weeping and something began to happen to me. I began to feel that I am not this body; that I could not move thesp lips. I always thought that the soul would leave by the mouth, but my mouth was shut. Still I felt like I was leaving my body and my soul was everywhere going out. And this voice came to me saying, 'You are he, you are the one to continue.' "Then I puzzled over the voice. Thirteen days later, I was doing pranam to my Father's ashes and bones. You know, in India they burn the bodies and thirteen days later you go and collect the ashes. I bent down to touch the ashes, the voice came: 'You are he. You are the one to go and give this to the world."' On August 1st, Guru Maharaj Ji, eight years old, stood in front of the thousands of devotees present at his father's funeral. The voice came again, saying: "This is the last I will tell you. You are he. You must take this Knowledge out to the world." "For the first time," says Guru Maharaj Ji, "I did not give satsang. The satsang just came and I began to speak: Dear children of God, why are you weeping? Haven't you learned the lesson that your master taught you? The Perfect Master never dies. Maharaj Ji is here, amongst you now." Immediately his mother, three elder brothers and all the mahatmas present, prostrated at the feet of the Perfect Master and received his blessings. A few months later, Guru Maharaj Ji delivered his first satsang as Satguru before hundreds of thousands of people in Delhi, India. He announced: "I have not come to establish a new religion. I have come to reveal the truth, knowing which you will be free. If you come to me with a guileless heart and sincere desire, I will give you eternal peace." In one of his early discourses, Satguru Maharaj Ji promised to spread the Knowledge of God to the entire world in his lifetime. Before a million devotees in New Delhi, he revealed his plan for a great "Peace Bomb." After weeping for some moments, he said: "These tears are not because I am remembering my Father, but because I am feeling so much power in me. They are tears of strength. I have come so powerful. I have come for the world. Whenever the great come, the worldly oppose them. Again I have come and you are not listening. Every ear should hear that the savior of humanity has come. There should be no chance for anyone to say they haven't heard of Guru Maharaj Ji. Those who come to me are already saved. Now it's your duty to save others. Shout it on the streets. Why be shy? Guru Maharaj Ji hasn't only been acclaimed by his own followers, numerous civic leaders, parliamentarians, professional people and others have praised the work which he has already accomplished at so young an age. Guru Maharaj Ji has been presented with the keys to the cities of New York, New Orleans, Oakland, and Monterey in the United States, and Kyoto in Japan. And the Mayor of Albany, New York, Erastus Coming II, wrote Guru Maharaj Ji: While I do not have a formal Official Key to the City, your inspiration will unlock the hearts of the people of Albany so that no other key will be needed. Mayor Yorty of Los Angeles proclaimed June 22nd to be International Meditation Day in honor of Guru Maharaj Ji's work. In a speech given on the floor of the Connecticut General Assembly, State Representative John Fabrizio said it was "wonderful to see" Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge exert "such a tremendous positive influence" over so many lives. Hon. Paul Priolo, Assemblyman from Los Angeles, commended Guru Maharaj Ji for his "constructive effort to alleviate inward suffering." The General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island resolved that Guru Maharaj Ji "is imparting the true, spiritual experience and Knowledge of God ... bestowing on all, secrets of truth and direct experiences of God by revealing the primordial vibrations of all life." The Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., wrote Guru Maharaj Ji: You are undoubtedly aware that our need of spiritual sustenance is great. Many of our young people are without direction or hope, and our own churches are able to offer very little, being themselves camplicit in many of our social crimes. In the opinion of many of us, it would be a great blessing if you could at some time in the near future visit the United States. And the press? The Toronto Star of May 2nd, 1972 writes "The Guru of the minute is unquestionably Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ji, Savior of Mankind, Perfect Master, Lord of the Universe, revealer of Light, love, peace, unity and everything eternal. Even in photographs, He has the luminosity of a Buddha or a Christ." Perhaps the reporter glimpsed what the Connecticut General Assembly and the Wisconsin State Legislature both call Maharaj Ji's "radiant personality."
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How many times have you asked yourself, Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where will I go?' How many answers have you found? With all the facts we've come to know, we're still in awe of the great mystery of life. There aren't that many basic questions to ask but the ones we do ask are - so universal, so timeless, that all others seem pointless in comparison. Our minds can theorize some answers, but how satisfying is a theory-especially when we're getting older every minute? We want to know, really know, and there's no reason at all why we shouldn't be able to find out. Any science book will tell you that energy is the source and substance of all life on this planet. That's O.K., but not very helpful-unless we can somehow tap that energy, feel it keeping us alive, grow with it, live with it, and get some peace and love out of it. Brothers and sisters, we can. The force sustaining the entire universe is closer to you than your own breath. For proof, look at the atomic bomb. The poetry expressed in the explosion of the bomb was incredible. The message was that within every atom in the entire physical world lies a power beyond imagination. Your
body is made of atoms. Two more facts about energy. One: It's the only thing that's the same in every single human being. We are all composed of it; it keeps us going. Two: if you could be consciously aware of this creative energy every moment of your life, you'd have the answer to every question you ever waited to ask. At some point you're going to have to give up your Apollos... because that's the highest point you can reach. We've been looking around in outer space for only a decade or so, but instinctively each man has always had feelings about space and infinity and their relation to life. Somehow, watching an eclipse or shooting stars brings up feelings from deep within ourselves. These feelings arise in us because the infinity of the universe-the energy of the entire universe-is contained within every human body. And the continuous, joyous, completely blissful experience of this truth is what the Knowledge of Guru Maharaji about. He proves to us that we can experience infinity with our bodies. He shows us how the "goal beyond all goals"-realization of God-can be reached by looking Within. His Knowledge is the ultimate understanding of the source of all life. Guru Maharaj Ji can give you a practical way to experience the light, sound, taste, and vibration of the energy that is keeping you alive. This experience is real it's practical. It never ends. It's available to every human being on the face of the earth. The Knowledge is completely free. No amount of money or power can buy it. It's so precious and simple that the only requirement to get it is a sincere desire to know the truth of your own personal experience-the meaning of your life. It's not a Knowledge of the mind, but of the soul. In fact, our minds can't understand it. And nobody will ask you to believe one word of this before experiencing it. First you have to see, then believe. People do the opposite of that: first they believe and then see. In comics-you have seen comics? There are many, many things. But when those things come the people are disappointed. First they believed, and then they wanted to see it. First see it and then believe it. Receiving Knowledge - Guru Maharaj Ji, are you God? Knowledge is not a religion; it's the direct experience of God, or eternal energy, that all religions talk about. It establishes beyond a doubt the intrinsic unity between all living things. Over thirty thousand Americans have received this experience of light and love by attending Knowledge sessions where mahatmas-highly-realized souls who are disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji-transmitted to them the same experience attained by earnest seekers of truth throughout the ages. Although four very practical meditation techniques are given, the techniques alone are incomplete, and cannot account for the total experience. The full meaning of the inner grace, love and overwhelming peace a person experiences when he receives Knowledge cannot be described. Does the full experience of love lie in a kiss? People who have received Knowledge, called "premies" ("lovers of truth"), praise Guru Maharaj Ji as the greatest living soul and holiest human being on the planet, simply because he has given them the experience of Knowledge. This experience has the capacity to release every one of us from all frustration and anxiety, and return us to our natural states of being; instruments of love, compassion and understanding. The Techniques From the moment of our birth, we perceive this world through our senses. Yet in one second we can experience more than we have in all our years of sensing. Although we've been looking, we have never been taught how to see; although we've been listening, we've never been shown what to listen for. Convinced that food brings total nourishment, we've never bothered to experience the pure and simple taste that exists within our own bodies. And we even taken our breath for granted, never stopping to realize the subtle and perfect vibration that sustains it All our lives, our senses have been so conditioned to concentrate upon the world outside our bodies, that we've neglected to experience the perfect energy flowing through us and sustaining us. Receiving Knowledge shows a person bow to meditate on the perfect life experience. The true reality. There are many different ideas about what meditation is and perhaps a vague idea that any meditation is a way to concentrate the mind. However, there's only one true meditation. In true meditation, the mind concentrates solely upon the fundamental activities of the consciousness: the four inner phenomena always present inside human beings, but so subtle and difficult to perceive without Knowledge, that they go unnoticed. It's not just a matter of looking within and experiencing a word. There's really something to see, hear, taste and feel. Divine light There is a glorious sun, not the sun you see in the sky, but a sun which is within ourselves which is much brighter than the sun you see in the sky. When the sun comes out, it only dispels the darkness, but when this sun comes out, it dispels the darkness and ignorance both. It is much brighter than the sun that shines out. It is all within us, just within us. That really says it all. When a devotee of Guru Maharaj Ji claims he sees the divine light of creation inside his head because his "third eye" was opened in the Knowledge session, be is not speaking in symbols. This light is a very real, very intense, and very bright. He sees it with his eyes closed, and sees it every day. A blind man can see this light. But it's more than a "light show." The entire electromagnetic field propagates at the speed of light. Astrophysicist Kim Malville of Colorado University says: "The amount of matter in the universe is minute in comparison to the amount of light. For every particle of matter there are a billion photons of light. So, really we are still in a universe of light." This is what keeps the universe from being formless "chaos" and gives every living thing the energy to grow. Within the human body, it sustains every function of our living. It is released to us by the grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, for the purification of our mind and body. By meditating on it, we merge with the infinite, loving energy that created us. We become one with God. As Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji, Guru Maharaj Ji's eldest brother, says, "'There are two televisions. One you purchase in a shop, and the other you have inside you. That is Tele-vision." Music There is music going on inside of yourselves, and God plays that music. It is so symmetrical so beautiful, that on the first strike, man's mind is concentrated. As there is light in everything, so there is music that plays throughout creation. It is the sound of life moving through otherwise lifeless matter, rustling the "deadness" in its path. Unlike ordinary music that is dependent upon an instrument to be played and heard, the divine music is always playing, and always in perfect harmony. The only tuning that is required is the tuning of the heart. The music heard in meditation is incredibly more beautiful and subtle than the greatest pieces of music composed by man, because it is given by the composer of man. "I think YOU see different green in every leaf on a free?" Again; these are not metaphors. In the Knowledge session, we are shown how to turn our hearing sense inward to experience an actual music, the essence of every sound in the universe. The music is analogous to the light in that it is an interior sound which is not perceived through the ears. A deaf man can hear this interior harmony. By concentrating their minds on initial sounds, premies grow to hear sounds which can resemble thunder, waterfalls, or "rushing waters", gongs, flutes, choirs, bells, and so on to infinity. Nectar People drink wine and they say 'cheers'. When you share this divine wine, this divine nectar, it is really a cheer. Sociologists are astounded by the statistics: Drug users and abusers, smokers and drinkers from all walks of life are giving up their habits at an amazing and unparalleled rate. More than one premie, when questioned, has laughed and told the interviewer about nectar. Nectar is a spiritual experience yet it defies all conceptions of a "spiritual experience." The taste of nectar is so delightful that it surpasses all other attempts to satisfy the senses. Old habits and even addictions lose their appeal once the nectar flows. In the Knowledge session, we are shown how to taste this real, purifying fluid from the brain, which flows to the throat. It has been described by premies as having a honey taste .. but this is an injustice. Nectar is the "ambrosia" or "Fountain of Youth" explorers have traveled to find, not knowing it lay right inside them. It has a strong cleansing and nourishing effect upon the body. Advanced saints and yogis can live on nectar alone, as Jesus did during his forty days in the wilderness. The Word The world thinks, people think, God is a man. People think God has ears, nose, teeth, and he rises early in the morning, brushes his teeth, washes out his mouth and he is an old man so he brushes out his beard also. But no, God is energy. God is perfect and pure energy, and that is why scientists say that energy cannot be created and cannot be destroyed ... This is the Word. This is God. The Word moves. It is the simplest and most poetic movement in the universe. For in moving through a living being, the miracle of life takes place. The Word is the primordial vibration that underlies everything in existence. It is not a word we can speak, for it existed before language, before man, before life as we know it. When scientists speak of energy that can neither be created nor destroyed, they're using different terms. When this vibration is given the term "the Word", it does not change the actual meaning. It is the source and foundation of the entire universe. It is not "energy," the Word," "the Name," or "the holy breath, or any of the thousands of other terms which have been used to describe it. In and of itself this one Word is the one reality, the illogical yet undeniable "first cause" of the universe. The universe itself. And although the Word is far subtler than the entire perceived universe, it may be experienced: an experience of the fact that we are alive. The striking realization that we can feel, "Yes, I am alive!" every minute, every second, is the great gift of the Knowledge session. From the moment the Word is revealed, every breath a person takes has the potential of being the happiest moment of his life. The "happiest" moment can be achieved again and again, because the Word is infinite. Devotees are advised to meditate upon the light, harmony, nectar, and holy Word in a quiet place for an hour in the evening and an hour in the morning. More important, since this vibration of the Word is always present in one's body, even while sleeping, we are instructed to focus the mind upon it at all times, during any and every activity. While working reading, eating, driving a car, even talking, we can be consciously aware of the Word. In this way, we experience a constant merging with that perfect and pure energy which is God. The result is a complete feeling of inner peace all day every day, no matter what we do, where we go, or who we're with. Guru Maharaj Ji has led us home, where everything is in perfect order. Grace Of all things received when a person takes Knowledge, grace is considered the most important. It is the grace behind the four experiences described above that brings complete inner peace. When the Knowledge is one day "exposed," and the techniques are "revealed" on the evening news, grace is the one secret that won't be lost. The deep inner feeling that makes a human being unflinchingly devoted to ending all selfishness and hypocrisy that exists in the world is the effect of grace. Like all manifestations of the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji, it can only be experienced, not fully described. Grace comes to us from the infinite mercy of God, revealed only by Satguru. Those who receive Knowledge are truly, supremely, eternally blessed.
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Did
Jesus Give This Knowledge? Who was Jesus? For two thousand years people have called themselves his followers, but how man' of them could answer that question? People hay fought crusades on behalf of one who taught men to turn the other cheek, and set themselves up as inquisitors on behalf of one who said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Isn't it the ultimate folly that Northern Ireland is now ravaged by a battle between Catholics and Protestants, two religions which grew from different interpretations of a Lord whose only commandment was love? There are lots of people who think that the answer to Jesus' identity is preserved between the covers of the Bible. Yet hundreds and hundreds of Christian splinter groups have formed, all basing their beliefs on the same Bible, even though that very Bible declares, "There is one body, and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Ephesians 4:4-6.) Did Jesus ever mean us to understand him through Words? It's more than a little eye-opening to realize that he didn't write anything. But what's even more revealing is what Jesus himself says about the scriptures: Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. In other words, sure, look into the scriptures, find out what they're saying. They're telling you that everyone needs a living Master. And that the best a scripture can hope to do is to point the way to one. If I'm on my way to Boston, and I come across a sign that says, "Boston," I don't throw down my luggage and say, "Well, I've made it to Boston." The scriptures can lead the way to eternal life, but they don't give that life itself; only the living Master can do that. According to the Essene Gospel, Jesus said, "Seek not the law in your scriptures, for the law is life, whereas the scripture is dead. I tell you truly, Moses did not receive his laws from God in writing, but through the living Word The law is living Word of living God to living prophets for living men." Even while Jesus was alive, people who hadn't received the "Mysteries of the Kingdom" couldn't understand him: And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Our whole ability to grasp what Jesus was depends upon our knowing those "Mysteries of the Kingdom." But what are they? We all know that pie is supposed to be in the sky, and angels are supposed to live on clouds, but Jesus never told anyone that heaven was somewhere up there. Instead, he taught his disciples that "the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21.) How do we get in? The Kingdom "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." I John 1:5. Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge is the Knowledge of divine Light. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. Guru Maharaj Ji can open this inner eye, and anyone who takes Knowledge has the vision of what shines inside. But if we don't look with the single eye, how can we know God, who is light? And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge is the Knowledge of celestial music. By bathing in its perfect harmonies, the static of our restless mind is cleansed away. Can we fully know the peace of Cod without having heard that inner music? Jesus told the woman of Samara: Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge is the Knowledge of divine nectar. He can show us the well inside us, overflowing with milk and honey. Can we claim to know the sweetness of God if we've never tasted that nectar? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1. Many interpret this Word to mean the gospels; but how could they exist before Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John were ever born? And how could the Bible be God Himself? So this Word must be something else, through which we can be: born again, not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. The Bible tells us to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation (Rom. 10:13.), but is that name "J-e-s-u-s?" Hadn't Jesus made it known that Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ... What is the Lord's Name? "His name is called the Word of God," (Revelation 19:13). It's the same Word which was in the beginning. Only with this Word can we pray without ceasing. Only with this Word can we worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Only with this Word can we be saved. Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge is the Knowledge of that Word. Without that constant lifeline to our Father, without constantly feeling the power of God moving within us, without bowing the eternal Vitality that is this Word, how can we know God? As long as I am in the world... Many claim that Jesus is the only way to salvation, but look at this statement St. Augustine once made. (Later he felt obliged to withdraw it) The thing itself which is now called the Christian religion was with the ancients, and it was with the human race from the beginning to the time when Christ appeared in the flesh: from then on the true religion which already existed began to be called Christian. And Meister Eckhardt, the Christian mystic of medieval Germany, wrote: Everything that the Holy Scriptures say about Christ is equally true of every good and divine man. Jesus said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:5.) But only as long as he was in the world. He promised that when he left, he would send a comforter, and that comforter would be the Holy Spirit. (John 14:26.) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? Guru Maharaj Ji gives his disciples direct intimacy with the in-dwelling spirit When Jesus came, the Pharisees refused to accept him. Their scriptures had promised them a king and they found only a carpenter's son. They found fault with his eating habits, with the company he kept. They couldn't see that the real king was the one who ruled the soul, that the real concern was with what we are fed from the spirit, that the best company was the company of those who know God. And so, for all their talk about God, they missed the chance to know Him. If we allow our preconceptions to keep us from Guru Maharaj Ji's gift of Knowledge, aren't we running the same risk? When you take Knowledge, you won't be losing your Christianity. When you see divine light, hear celestial music, taste divine nectar, and keep the Word, you'll know the core of the Bible. You'll possess that "mustard seed" which opens into the kingdom of heaven. And then grace and peace will be multiplied unto you through the Knowledge of God," (II Peter 1:2.), the same Knowledge that was given by Jesus. Will you take what he gave?
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The
DUO Proclamation Whereas, the one universal belief all people hold to be true, is the belief in life itself; and yet due to ignorance of the aim of human life, the world continues to be filled with misery; and Joan Apter, one of Guru Maharaj Ji's first American disciples, recalls the early days of Divine Light Mission: The Divine Light Mission in America was born in Los Angeles, in a small house atop a fine Spanish colony in Alta Loma Terrace, right next to the Hollywood Bowl. Gary and Will staked the claim, and I joined them a few days after they had moved in. From the window of Guru Maharaj Ji's room we could see a cross on a hill, lit at night with a statue of Christ blessing the city. The place was small, but full of grace. Every night people came to hear satsang and to sing with us. There was Guru Maharaj Ji's presence there, so though people pie could not understand the means through which we expressed our love, they felt the feeling of truth being expressed and came closer to be warmed by it. We knew nothing of what to do. We were dressed in Eastern dress, Gary and Will with dhotis; Will had long hair and a beard. I wore a sari, and we all painted red dots on our foreheads. But the grace was so strong, and Guru Maharaj Ji's vibration so new and fresh, that no one paid too much attention to our appearance. One time Gary and Will gave satsang at a university in Los Angeles. They spoke for hours-and finally, when the satsang was over and the feeling was high, they asked the audience if there were any questions. A boy wised his hand and said, "What are you talking about?" Everyone had stayed and listened, no one had left his seat, but nobody knew exactly what Gary was saying. But Guru Maharaj Ji was entering people's hearts. A feeling had been re-captured, and now their souls were stirring again because at last in America the message of the Perfect Lord was being delivered. No one ever understands; the soul only feels that at last, my time has come. We had dinners at the ashram to attract people and raise money. We had no money at all, but Guru Maharaj Ji always provided for us. We gave satsang and did service, and others would always provide vegetables and money, cars and helping hands. Sometimes our food ran out, sometimes we wondered how we would pay the rent, but we never worried. We lived in the feeling of Guru Maharaj Ji's presence. Sometimes we would enter another world, when Gary would sing and play guitar and I would play harmonium-we entered Guru Maharaj Ji and knew such bliss. When there were problems between us, we would sit down together and talk. We knew we had to work together perfectly, that the ashram must be pure and perfect, and we were always aware of how Guru Maharaj Ji was showing us the way, teaching us how to behave. We gave satsang everywhere-but more and more people were coming to the ashram now, and satsang was 24 hours a day. I was always in contact with Mahatma Ashokanand in England and writing to the Holy Family in India and all the devotees there I loved and felt so close to. One day Mahatma Ji phoned me with the news. Guru Maharaj Ji would arrive in London in June. There is no way to explain how we felt. He had said that he would not be coming for many years, and now it was only a matter of weeks How we longed for him to come here! We determined to prepare for Guru Maharaj Ji and then request from our hearts that he come to us. The next month passed in a flurry of excitement. We got Alan Watts to sponsor Guru Maharaj Ji, and he gave us a thousand dollars for preparations. We Wrote all the societies and organizations to tell them of Guru Maharaj Ji and his arrival in the West. We made visa preparations. It was difficult to get Guru Maharaj Ji's visa. Gary and I were going to the officer every day to see how things were going. Our minds were fixed that nothing would stand in the way of his arrival, and soon even the visa officer was helping us. Guru Maharaj Ji was to arrive in London on June 17, 1971. That night Gary typed, I paced up and down. I typed, Gary paced up and down. Sleep was impossible. Our hearts were in London. I sent a telegram to England welcoming him and begging him to come. It was so funny to hear the telegram operator repeat the message. She said at the end, "Oh, that's wonderful!" Everyone felt the divine love, the pun desire of the devotee wanting to be near his physical presence. We phoned Mahatma Ji in London who by now was completely out of his body with anticipation. Sandy and Ron also comforted us, saying "Guru Maharaj Ji will come to you and then we will be the ones who will weep." The night wore on and we were still pacing. Then at 4 a.m. the phone rang. Gary picked it up, saying "Divine Light Mission." Then his face went white and he handed me the phone open-mouthed. I didn't know what was going on. We didn't know what time it was or where we were. There was just this phone call. I picked up the phone and said, "Divine Light Mission." It was Guru Maharaj Ji. He said loudly, "Joan, when are you coming to London?" It was too much for my heart to handle. The whole week I had been thinking of flying there, scheming of how I could escape to greet him. I had stayed only because there was so much work to be done in Los Angeles. And now he asked me this! I burst into tears and said over and over, "Oh, Guru Maharaj Ji, I am here. We are trying to prepare for you. What should I do?" And Guru Maharaj Ji said, "I will come there," and hung up the phone. Gary and I left the world. We jumped, screamed, laughed, cried, over and over. As it turned out, we had only one month before Guru Maharaj Ji came to Los Angeles. Things started happening very quickly. Three more premies came-Suzy, Arthur, John-and Sharon Keller, who didn't have Knowledge yet, dropped everything and came from Philadelphia. It was so blissful. We arranged programs. We made leaflets, brochures, pamphlets, posters. We rented the Wilshire Ebell Theater, arranged press conferences, fought the time barriers and won Guru Maharaj Ji's visa. And finally that day came. July 17, 1971. Newsweek printed a story of his arrival. All the television cameras were there. Hundreds flocked to see him at the airport. There were so many flowers everywhere. Children, incense, bells, reporters, cameras, tape recorders, songs. The Lard had come. * * * * Divine Light Mission began in India in 1960. The organization flourished until, in 1966, the membership numbered several million. And when Guru Maharaji Ji's father left his body on July 19, 1966, the leadership of the Mission passed to his youngest son, the new Perfect Master. The eight-year-old Guru Maharaji Ji acted with the wisdom and discretion of a man far beyond his years. He provided clear insight for all his devotees, and Divine Light Mission grew by leaps and bounds. Under his direction, a hospital and school were opened to provide for the health and education of his followers. The World Peace Corps was organized to care for the sick and the needy, especially in times of national disaster. When Guru Maharaj Ji was eleven, the first Western travelers found their way to Prem Nagar, the City of Love built by devotees on the banks of the river Ganges. They were caught by that omnipresent love; they had little resistance-and when at last they received Knowledge, Guru Maharaji Ji began speaking to them of how the West, like the East urgently needed a solution for the problem of human suffering Mahatma Guru Charnanand was the first disciple sent by Guru Maharaj Ji to give Knowledge outside India; he arrived in London in October 1969. The Western devotees returned home as they were ready. In London, devotees opened Divine Light Mission's first Western brunch in a tiny city apartment. In November 1970, one-and-a-half million people-the largest number ever gathered for a purpose other than war-assembled at India Gate in New Delhi to pay homage to the Perfect Master. Speaking before them, Guru Maharaj Ji exploded the Peace Bomb: "I declare that I will establish peace in this world." Six months later he left India at last, for Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Everywhere he went, thousands flocked to hear him. Hundreds stayed to receive his Knowledge. In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Boulder, Washington D.C., Toronto, and New York, Divine Light Mission centers sprang up. The Mission, newly incorporated as a non-profit spiritual, religious, educational, and charitable organization, chartered a jumbo jet so that five hundred devotees might return with their Perfect Master to India for the Hans Jayanti Festival that November. Guru Maharaj Ji returned to the United States in 1972 for a second summer tour, the highlight of which was the Guru Puja Festival held in Montrose, Colorado that July. Six thousand persons attended, and the normally august Denver Post celebrated the event with a full-page article headlined, "Gum's Festival 'Perfect'." And it had been perfect-no drinking, drugs, tobacco, sex, rioting, scalpers or nudity. Divine Light Mission was becoming organized-it had 45 centers, 15,000 members, and a national headquarters in Denver. By now, Guru Maharaj Ji had traveled throughout all the non-Communist world. His World Peace Tour of 1972 climaxed when eight 747 jumbo jets were chartered to ferry all the western pilgrims to Hans Jayanti. The Americans alone filled five planes.It was a first in aviation history. June of 1973: Divine Light Mission paused to take stock of itself. There were 480 centers now operating in 38 countries--including nearly all of western Europe; the United States and Canada; the West Indies, Colombia, and Peru; Kenya and South Africa; Yugoslavia, Lebanon, and Israel; India and Ceylon; Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. Its membership in the United States alone was 35,000, where it operated 284 centers linked by Telex and united as a family. Divine Light Mission had become far more a divine civilization in its infancy. Shri Hans Productions was Divine Light Mission's first subsidiary in America. Its focus is on the media, to communicate Gum Maharaj Ji's message of peace. Shri Hans Films has produced two color documentary films, Lord of the Universe arid Satguru Has Come, and will soon release several more, including the story of Hans Jayanti '72 and a feature entitled Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? Shri Hans Records has released two stereo records, including the LP album The Lord of the Universe. Shri Hans Publications produces a newspaper, The Divine Times, and a full-color monthly magazine called And It Is Divine with a current circulation of more than 130,000. The magazine, which features articles on politics, science, religion, industry, and the arts, has won worldwide acclaim; it is supervised- and frequently edited-by Guru Maharaj Ji himself. The doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, nutritionists and other specialists of Shri Hans Humanitarian Services have made prevention their top priority. Spurred by the understanding that physical illness is Closely linked to the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of people in modem society, their treatment and prevention is based on love and understanding. Meditation on the Knowledge gives each physician a profound sense Of the bond between doctor and patient; he is able to devote his efforts selflessly, taking enough time with each patient to respond to all his needs. These professionals, who volunteer their services full-time, operate a fully staffed clinic in New York City and a farm retreat in Rhode Island. Recognizing that Western education is unable to prepare our children for real life, Guru Maharaj Ji directed the teachers of Shri Hans Educational to find a solution as soon as possible. Since then the teachers have been rediscovering how a child can receive a balanced and completely human education, rather than suffering a spiritless and deadening routine. Their efforts will bear fruit this fall when their first school opens in Denver. Divine Sales International takes from the rich and gives to the poor-but everything it sells is donated rather than stolen. Visitors are astonished to see working television sets on sale for a few dollars, shirts and pants going for twenty-five cents. The first American branch opened in New York in the fall of 1972; by now, branches have been opened in the largest American cities. All profits return to Divine Light Mission to pay for the solutions to the problems of mankind. Premies and non-premies work side by side far into the night, repairing damaged merchandise, sorting gifts and making every store as beautiful as possible. Working for divine business isn't a job-it's a privilege and even a delight. Divine Services offers painting, carpentry, plumbing, housecleaning, lawn care, auto repair, and many other services throughout the country. As the newest branch of the divine economy, its prices have made it so popular that it cannot keep up with demand. A Divine Food Co-op Service may soon be on the way. That's only the beginning. There's also Shri Hans Aviation, a divine airline; Divine Travel Services and Divine Travel International, organized to ferry devotees by the tens of thousands to festivals and special projects throughout the world; Shri Hans Engineering and Divine Electronics, wholesale marketers of electronics equipment and designers of everything from inventions to new cities. The Players of the Living Arts are the musicians, actors, dancers, artists and singers of the new age. Guru Maharaj Ji knew this would happen from the start. In December, 1972, and January, 1973, he designed the Divine United Organization, or DUO, as a master plan for the rediscovery of humanity, an organization capable of meeting global needs with total solutions. DUO coordinates the entire divine community, and under the guidance of Guru Maharaj Ji works through purely constructive means to remold this world as a humanistic society where people base their lives upon service rather than selfishness. For the members of DUO, work is worship. The stated purpose of DUO might seem like an idle dream except for the incredible growth of Divine Light Mission. The Mission is different from all other organizations in that all of its members have received Knowledge. They have scrapped every ulterior motive and rededicated their lives. They are well on their way to total selflessness. Taking only what they need, giving all of themselves to the task, they are tackling the most massive job that men have ever faced-out of love for their Perfect Master, Guru Maharaj Ji.
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Forward Who among us has not at some time stood on a hillside, looking out over a valley, heard the song of birds, and the wind in the trees, and felt some mysterious emotion welling up within the heart? For a moment we were at one with everything, for a moment the routine of our life 'was broken and we found ourselves wondering at the beauty of existence. There is something strangely beautiful in this all too rare moment, when for once life is seen in a little more depth. We sense that life is a very wonderful, a blessed experience. What intangible essence lying beyond our conscious recognition is responsible for our life? We only feel a kind of tingle, exciting freshness, somewhere within, a sense of rightness, of belonging to everything. In search of this brief instant, men Climb Mountains, soar on the winds, dive to the ocean depths and attempt impossible feats of bravado. We search for affinity with nature, which we can glimpse within us something as perfect as the sun and the bird's song, as the sky and the wind, and as the flowers of springtime. A glimpse of unity, a oneness with all things only faintly hinted at from around the edge of the mind. Most of our lives we seem destined to experience Separation from each other, from nature, from the pure powers of life, and from God. Why, we are even cut off from our own self, and the members of OUT families. Yet, strange though it may seem, this body, the human form, is created to allow the soul to experience the end of all separateness, the final coming together: the union of the soul with God. Only in this way can we live together on earth in perfect harmony. The soul which was once a part of God is in its true nature perfect oneness; yet due to the influence of the millions of forms all around us, the soul's attention becomes divided, and unified experience is lost. Perhaps our experiences of nature recall some distant memory of the soul to us, and this is the cause of our awareness of deeper joys; for in the soul waiting to be realized, there lies a reservoir of peaceful happiness. All of the power and beauty that has gone into this creation lies in seed form at the center of our being. The realization of this perfection within is an inborn desire in every human being, and whichever way man may try to achieve this realization by external means, this desire will not be fulfilled. The purpose for which this human body was created is just this, that we may know that higher bliss which frees us from suffering, and allows us to enjoy our lives from moment to moment. It is the will of the divine that every human being should know this. It rests with us to find this perfect peace and happiness; when we l have found it, automatically our hearts will wish to tell others of the new joy in our lives. In the beginning of time, when space and time first separated and space opened out into three dimensions, before the creation of universe, before the first pair of opposites was formed, there was a perfect essence, aware, possessing all divine qualities, a supreme intelligence. Far more empty than space, more eternal than time itself, is the absolute, so marvelously empty that it is completely full. It contains all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be. Its divine qualities cannot be described, yet still we name them: imperishable truth, eternal consciousness, incomparable bliss. Words cannot do justice to that immaculate perfection who is at once our creator and compassionate Father, the very soul of our life, the primal energy, mother of the whole universe of nature. While she cares for every single creature, sustaining the ideal environment, he dwells within as the very consciousness itself. Formed and formless they are one energy, one perfect vibration. Now this vibration is the invisible force sustaining the life within this body and in all creatures, maintaining the motion of all the systems even down to the last atom. From time immemorial there have been Masters who revealed this energy, and disciples who experienced it within themselves through the Master's grace. They referred to it as the Word. It is the simplest and subtlest vibration in the whole universe the pure, pristine state of unmanifested consciousness. All beings are endowed with this consciousness and are thus potentially divine, but only the human being is able to recognize and manifest this divinity. The Word is the true form of the self, our true identity. It is also the true form of God. Yet only in the Perfect Master is it totally manifested, and in the normal human being it is obscured. The true Master in this age is Guru Maharaj Ji, and he has been born to reveal this eternal reality Within US, to return us to that eternal state which is beyond suffering, fear, and delusion. When this Knowledge is given, it is shown practically. The Word, the pure wave of being, is clearly revealed, and its pure energy is clearly seen as radiant light. The space enshrouded in mystery where it dwells is filled with sweet music, and perfumed by the delicious nectar of bliss. It is an experience transcending time and space, yet of great significance to our lives, here and now. The Word, in reality, is all there is all we are. In terms of true existence, it is the only one thing in the universe. Atoms, molecules, cells, life forms, worlds, stars and galaxies are in essence this Word: clothed in illusion for a limited time only, these forms appear as different. The outer shell will disappear in time, but the Word will remain forever. The great cycle of the entire universe is simply one manifestation of the Word, from beginning to end. Life is the finest manifestation of the Word, and in human life the Word is manifested most clearly, provided we make ourselves disciples of the Master. His power can pierce the obscuring veil of ignorance which surrounds the Word and permit us to see that pure energy in our hearts: it is possible for every member of the human race to know God and to see his radiance in everyone we meet. The whole universe is a play where his life can assume countless forms; and in the final act of the play, his life finds its original form again, the pure love of the father. Dear sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers and children, the final and most blissful part of God's plan for the universe can only be enacted with your cooperation, When you receive this Knowledge, you'll wish to thank with every fiber of your body the mother who gave you birth, you will wish to worship God with every second, every breath of your life. To every human being you will smile the smile of self recognition and extend the hand of brotherhood and unity, and you will welcome all life forms and all nature as if part of your own body. Until that time, we are dreaming an uncomfortable nightmare, trapped in illusion, blinded, deluded by the world around us, unaware that our fears are for nothing and that the key to eternal peace and happy contentment is in the hands of fifteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji. The door to that everlasting bliss is within our own heart. Many times your soul has cried out in pain and confusion, it has longed for this opportunity to disentangle itself from a never ending dream punctuated by birth and death. Many times the soul, in birth, in death and through life, imagines itself released, but there is only a transformation: the shedding of one skin to be replaced by another. The illusion goes on until, in the human form, we hear this message, telling us how we may find the divine teacher who will open the door from illusion into reality, from death to eternal life, and from suffering to blissful joy. All who hear this, please take heed. Whether you realize it or not, you are searching only for this. This is the great gift which God bestows upon us, with great love and hope that we do not waste it. Your own soul will be most disappointed if it comes to the end of this short span as a human being no nearer to knowing the bliss of its own reality. Not knowing when we may obtain another such opportunity, the disappointment of our soul may become a long and bitter agony. Do not concern yourself with intellectual questioning, you cannot weigh this urgent message with the concepts of your past, you can only feel its sincerity in your heart. There is never as much time as we imagine, the world itself is in political instability and in this special time we, as Divine United Organization, disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji, Perfect Master of the Aquarian Age, call upon you to take responsibility for the future of our world and of our race. You may not know it, but by knowing the oneness within you, you are making a great step towards the oneness of mankind, and we urge you to take this message seriously, hear it with your heart and to avail yourself of the perfect Knowledge; being given at this very time out of the infinite mercy and compassion of Guru Maharaj Ji. Mahatma Saphlanand
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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science ... To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend . . . This knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true righteousness. In this sense, and this sense only, I belong to the ranks of devoutly religious men. Ever since Einstein, Michelson, and Morley demolished some of the basic assumptions of science, small schools of scientists have been plumbing the limits of scientific knowledge-from sub-atomic physics to evolution to the heat death of the universe and the origins of the cosmos-seeking for an unshakable scientific reality as comforting as the myths they were leaving behind. They tested the ultimate nature of matter, with cyclotrons, atomic bombs, electron microscopes, and radio-astronomy, in the hopes of finding the ultimate building block of the material world. They crammed genetic matter, DNA and RNA, in hopes of finding what makes matter come alive. They bred and irradiated plants and animals, dug up fossils, and collected specimens, to see if evolution might be said to have a purpose. They calculated the mass and speed of the receding galaxies, worked out the mathematics of diffusion and entropy, and plumbed the limits of space with radio telescopes and cameras in satellites to see if the universe would have to die some day-and if it did, whether it would ever begin again. To see if galaxies would fall away from us forever. To know if, when the last star burned out, a light would ever be re-kindled. To know if life was doomed. And they tried to find out how it all began. Michelson and Morley were only able to upset established science because established science had made assumptions that it thought were common-sense facts. Established science had assumed, for instance, that space was full of an ocean of stuff called ether, and that light travels through ether at a constant speed. Just as, when you drive through a steady downpour; the rain seems to fall toward your windshield no matter which way you turn. In the same way, scientists thought, since the earth travels through space, light ought to be hitting its forward side travelling at a faster speed than the light that hits the rear of the earth. So Michelson and Morley decided to find which way the earth was going, and how fast, building a gadget that would measure the speed light and taking measurements with the gadget pointing in different directions. It was a nice idea, but didn't work. No matter which way they pointed t machine, light always seems to be travelling at precisely the same speed. A little while later, Einstein came up with his revolutionary Special Theory of Relativity. One of the things this theory showed was that the speed of light is an absolute. No matter how fast you are travelling, light always' leaves you and reaches YOU at a single speed. Another thing this theory proved is that nobody can travel faster than light, no matter how hard he tries. Einstein also proved that when you travel at the speed of light, time stops. And that all matter can be converted to and from light energy, according to the formula E=MC2. This formula is usually translated as "Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared." But this translation misses the point. E =MC2 expresses a vision of the clear unity of matter and energy, a vision that Einstein undoubtedly saw. Imagine an atom exploding into light, the light flashing through space at an incredible 186,300 miles per second, and hitting every point in space it passes through with a force that itself is pure energy, pure speed, the essence of power, a force so powerful that it seems ready to leap away from the light at the speed of light redoubled. The flash of an atomic bomb from a pinhead of matter liberated into energy. The speed of light squared. The schools of scientists who followed Einstein were unable to come up with any vision as brilliant as that, but they began to turn up some tantalizing cities. They found that the universe bad begun as a vast cosmic egg of light, which in one timeless moment had exploded into the universe. They found that there was at least the possibility that the universe might fall back into that cosmic egg of light at some far-off future time. In such an egg, matter could not exist All matter would be liberated into pure light, and all light would be merged into one. The atom defeated its investigators, the seekers for the tiniest particle from which everything else could be built. They found that, when you get that small, it's not even clear that particles are particles. Under some conditions they behave like droplets of water or mercury-except that these were droplets of electrical charge, or even droplets made of two or three different charges linked somehow together. Under other conditions they behaved like fuzzy clouds of something, clouds that were very very thick in one small area and thinned out, without any sort of edge to them, all the way to the farthest galaxies. There is a little bit of every atom in your body beyond the farthest galaxies. Scientists had entered the realm of things so small that matter was very little different from energy. They worked out the shapes of the electron shells that surround an atom's nucleus. The shells look like different sorts of energy forms bent back on them until they start going around and around the atom in a loop. But one mathematician describes them as the shapes of the places where different styles of energy feel most comfortable. This was the land of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Scientists found that the very light they used to see these particles (or clouds, or whatever they were) was so very nearly as solid as the particles (if that's what they were) that it would knock them around all over the place. And this made it impossible to see what was going on-especially when the light started to look like it was part of the particle. In fact, the experiment seemed to be embarrassed in the presence of the experimenter. The scientists who studied light found that it would act like either a wave or a particle, depending on how they asked their questions. If they asked it to be a wave, it would be a wave ... if they asked it to be a particle, that show it would act. Physicists had moments when it was almost too much to believe what their eyes and their instruments revealed. If there was so little difference between the smallest bits of matter and pure light, then obviously there was a very little difference between all the things that were made of matter, and the pure light that matter was convertible into. Perhaps human beings were just energy forms bent into very complicated closed loops. Perhaps when we look at each other we are only seeing the plates where the light of which we are made feels most comfortable Except that in this ease the words "most comfortable" are a colossal understatement, because the light energy of which we are made is bound with incredible strength into the form it has taken. Scientist grappled with the question of whether the universe was only a clock which, once wound up and left to run, was slowly winding down to an irrevocable halt. They defined the concept of entropy, which is the degree to which the universe has fallen into decay and disorder, and found that entropy must always increase. It was an awful vision, when they put it that way. But other scientists who were studying the subatomic particles and the photon/waves of light recalled how agreeable these particles and waves had been to the influence of any outside force-how easily they could be 'made to go anywhere, do anything, be anything that tie researcher, asked. These other scientists suggested that entropy on the subatomic scale might not be the spread of disorder and decay at all, but rather a process of everything falling into place-an expression of how willing the minutest bits of matter and energy were to bow to circumstance and accept their fate-a growth of harmony in the universe. And if this is what entropy was at the smallest scale, why shouldn't we believe that this is what entropy is at every scale? That entropy is the natural growth of the most comfortable and harmonious arrangement of the universe. The only reason we were having trouble seeing that was that we were afraid of dying... Still other scientists were grappling with the ultimate nature of life. Watson and Crick, in a furious rush, deduced the structure of the DNA molecule and the way in which it reproduced. It was almost an anti-climax-the thing seemed to run like clockwork. Watson and Crick turned to other things. But more perceptive scientists asked what kept this magnificent piece of clockwork ticking-what had caused it to evolve from simpler chemicals in the first place. Obviously it was the way in which the chemical properties in all the various atoms of the molecule combined, which gave the DNA molecule its living nature. Other scientists had already found that chemical properties of atoms were actually electrical in nature-the ways in which the electron shells of different atoms reacted to one another. So the living qualities of living matter derived from the fact that the energy it was made of was always taking the most comfortable shape, falling into place. In a way, life seemed to be powered by the force that powered entropy, which was also the force that governed the behavior of light-a single unified law governed a single unified stuff that was sometimes energy and sometimes matter. All this law had to do was to define the forms and the properties of the subatomic wave-particles, and everything else followed naturally-the color of a sunrise, the scent of a violet, the properties of human life. "Mechanical determinism!" the skeptics declared- but the new visionaries of science already had their answer ready. Consider the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which made it impossible to see what the fundamental nature of the subatomic particles could be. Consider the fact that every event on the atomic scale and smaller had to be expressed in terms of probabilities, and probabilities could very well mean that the wave-particle might decide to do anything, but it would probably decide to do this. Electrons and photons are very agreeable, very obedient, very eager to please-but there's a very small chance that in the next ten minutes every particle in your body will suddenly get up and move to the far side of Aldebaran. A very small chance, but it's there. So maybe there are constant miracles going on down there at the subatomic scale. Maybe all the billions of billions of billions of billions of subatomic particles are alive; possessed of a very charming, agreeable and sometimes playful nature. Maybe that's why you're alive. Everything seemed to be reducible to light Matter is simply light locked in a form. Electricity, magnetism, beat, sound-these are light affecting matter. Life is light- playing with matter. Anything that travels at the speed of light is beyond time; and matter is the only form of energy that travels any slower so time exists because light becomes matter. Space is the relationship between bits of matter connected by light Gravity is matter stretching space. (This last discovery was predicted by Einstein and verified during a solar eclipse.) The only unsolved part of the puzzle (apart from a few minor details) was consciousness. Was this also light? If it was, it was eternal, since physics proved the light cannot be destroyed-and this would mean the whole universe is conscious, which has marvelous, marvelous implications. Or was consciousness only an arrangement of matter and energy, in which case it was mortal and transient, and the universe a tragedy... The
question was still unsettled when Guru Maharaj Ji arrived in
America, offering experimental evidence that consciousness
was light, and the universe eternally wakeful, playful, and
wise... |
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What is a wave in the ocean? Scientists say that actually the water in the waves is only going around in circles. Six inches up, six inches forward, six inches down, six inches back -- the water moves like a roller heaping to let the wind pass over it; and though a six-inch wave seems to be going somewhere, the water isn't really going anywhere at all. The actual wave is the circular motion of water stirred by the wind. A sine Wave is the purest wave there is. It is pure mathematics, nothing but the large circular motion making a wave out of a straight line. Mathematicians use a tool called Fourier Analysis to show that any wave, regardless of the shape, is just that pure sine wave superimposed on itself again and again like the complicated patterns of waves in a harbor. Somehow a wind stirs an ocean of something that fills all of space . . . and a wave like a sine wave rises and slaps back and forth across the harbor of the universe and becomes the complicated wave force of which everything is made . . . Physicists say that everything is made of light and light moves in waves. And it's all just a sine wave, a circular motion, stirring through the universe, visible as light. The wind blows and the universe dances, round and round a center that is very hard to see. The most special wave of all is within us. It is the carrier wave that runs up and down our nervous system, connecting our brain through the nerves of our body, to our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin, like the subtle current flowing through a telephone wire. If nothing were to disturb that carrier wave, it would take the pure sine wave shape of primordial energy, but as soon as we start to dream, think, or wake to experience the world through our senses, the wave shape gets far more complicated. The nerves of our senses double and re-double it, superimposing it on itself to make a multiple sine wave that describes the sensations they are having. When the multiple sine wave arrives at the brain, our brain equipment sorts it out with a kind of Fourier Analysis to figure out what's going on. These sine waves mean there's a tree over there; that wave tells the shade of green of its leaves; all the sine waves are in harmony. And that (perhaps) means the tree is beautiful. All these sine waves are actually one, but it's like the one you see standing between two mirrors when you can see a reflection behind a reflection behind a reflection. These multiple sine waves are hard on our nerves. It tires our senses to make them. It tires our brain to decipher them. And it tires our nerve cells just to let them pass through. This is only too evident after a long harrowing day when we collapse from nervous exhaustion. We feel that all our senses have been tried to the limit and the only thing we want to do is rest. Actually what wears us out about these multiple sine waves is not that they are a more powerful current than the natural carrier wave; the natural single sine-wave-shaped carrier wave is just as powerful but so natural to us that it doesn't Burt a bit. But the multiple sine waves come from outside our body and so they are not in tune with us. Their energy disrupts the chemical balance of every cell they travel through. They get on our nerves. Why can't we pay attention to everything at once? After all, we have five senses and an enormous brain. Why can't we use them all, all the time? Why don't we have total awareness? When scientists first asked these questions a few years ago, they stumbled on a scientific breakthrough. They saw that there must be filters built into our nervous system that screen out most of what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, so that only the most important things catch our attention. The filters are our bodies' defense against total nervous exhaustion. Researchers found that filters play favorites. If we're paying attention to something, its waves pass through the filter. If we want to be distracted, the filters let those waves through. And when we get completely absorbed, it takes something quite dramatic to pass through the filter. Our filters make us able to concentrate our attention, and they prolong our lives by protecting our nerves. Each of the multiple sine waves that make up a moment of our waking experience is a part of the original sine wave. The filters are cutting out most of the parts. They are subtracting from our awareness of the world. They are taking a part of the sparkle out of life. Can you remember how wonderful it was to be just a kid having a good time? (It's okay to have trouble remembering if your childhood was tough.) As infants we led an unfiltered life. Everything was vivid. Tears and laughter and wonderment came easily. The whole world was bright and beautiful - just begging to be played with. But as we got older the filters took over. The subtle and the beautiful faded slowly away. We'll do almost anything to open our filters up again. We'll attack them with alcohol and drugs. We'll relax them with vacations, massages, sex, comforting thoughts, money in the bank, people to depend on. We'll take part of the burden off our filters by moving to a penthouse, the suburbs, the country, or a monastery. We'll see psychiatrists, we'll try hypnotism, we'll sleep ten hours a day. These things make a difference, but only a little. The multiple sine waves that tell us what country living is hike may be very much in harmony, but they're still multiple and we still need filters to cope. We still get tired, irritable, depressed, and confused. We still have crises, fights, and divorces; the filters keep closing in, life gets less fun, and so do we. Our kids still prefer to play with other kids. Fading awareness turns us into pleasure seekers. We pursue laughter, glamor, loud music, passion, and sex because those things are loud and bright, and get a little bit of the glorious childhood past our filters. "Yes," we say furiously, "this is real! This is what life is all about!" And then the wear and tear is too much. The filters close in and we start feeling jaded. We've lost it again. There's a cure, of course. Just as the multiple sine waves are the problem, the unified sine wave, the pure carrier wave, is the cure. The multiple sine wave reflects the world our senses experience. So to give our nerves a real chance to recover, we've got to give our senses the chance to take a total break from experiencing that world. Just blanking our mind is no, solution. Not only can't we do anything in that state, but we're not experiencing anything at all. We're actually getting further from a child's bright awareness. But we can consciously experience the unified wave itself. We can see it, feel it, hear it, taste and smell it. If we are busy using our eyes for other things we can feel it and still benefit. The conscious experience of that natural wave pulls every nerve cell that travels through it back to chemical normalcy. It tells every filter, it's all right, you can let go now. This is the most peaceful, refreshing, reassuring thing we can ever hope to experience. It's like taking a deep long drink at the Fountain of Youth. Incomparable. Fantastic. But experiencing that unified wave isn't as easy as it seems. We rely on our brain to pick out a feeling, or a memory, or experience--we know no other way. But our brain can only work with multiple sine waves; that's the way it's built. In other words, this is one experience we can't come to on our own. We need help. What an amazing situation! Every moment in our life is written in that carrier wave. Leave all the body in perfect condition but take away the carrier wave flowing from our senses to our brain and through our brain and down again to our muscles and organs, our hearts and lungs, and experiences stop. We can't see or hear or taste or feel or smell a thing. We can't think, our heart stops, we can't breathe. What's the carrier wave? It's life itself. Without it we're nothing; it is our awareness. We're always aware in it, but we don't know how to be aware of it-no matter how hard we try. We see patterns of light, we hear patterns of sound, we don't see things or hear things, we see and hear the light and sound coming from those things. And light and sound are energy. We don't taste things, we taste patterns of energy. We don't feel things, we feel vibrations. One sine wave for each part of the pattern, for each multiple sine wave. If we experience this sine wave with our senses we will see light, hear sound, experience unified energy with every sense. White light, because white is the unified whole. Full harmonious sound, for the same reason; a totally satisfying experience naturally. This unified wave Guru Maharaj Ji reveals. Those who know the science involved, who have taken this Knowledge and have seen that he actually reveals this unified wave, know there is only one way to do this. They have realized that Guru Maharaj Ji is not only experiencing this unified wave, the pure light of which the whole universe arid our consciousness too, is made, but he is totally in control of this wave and can therefore reveal it to others. The implications of this are even more incredible than the implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment. It's a scientific revolution in the making. You can prove to yourself that the patterns, multiple sine waves, are what tire your senses by staring at a colored piece of paper fixedly for a few minutes and then looking quickly away to a piece of white paper on a bare white wall. You will see something of the same shape and size but of the opposite color because the color you were looking at was tiring to your optic nerve. The shape will have fuzzy edges because your eyes are also tired of the edges. It's colors and edges that are the essence of the pattern. You can prove to yourself that blanking your mind is no better by reading up on experiments with sensory deprivation. Scientists have found that people who spend too much time in total darkness start to hallucinate as their nervous system seeks release from the strain. And you can prove to yourself the benefits of the carrier wave by experiencing it for yourself. Just take Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge and give it a try.
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Recent experiments are forcing scientists to wonder why they were so quick to dismiss the pineal gland - the gland stimulated by meditation on divine light. The Greeks called the pineal the thought-controlling center of the brain; Descartes said it was the "seat of the soul." Why? Because the pineal is the only gland in the brain without a duplicate - and knowing God is an experience of unity. "That's not scientific," researchers have said. But imagine how startled they were when Doctors Drew and Blatt of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, released their findings: The pineal gland is responsible for maintaining the integrity and wholeness of the entire human organism. Only recently did modern scientists dare to speculate upon the functions of this gland, and now look what they are saying: One, the stimulated pineal causes energy to flow throughout the entire body so that we can experience higher levels of consciousness. Two, it causes a maturation of the central nervous system and conceptual processes, lending grace and precision to our movements and allowing us to think more clearly on an abstract level. Three, it allows for a discharge of all drives; that is, it releases us from the domination of hunger, fear, thirst, lust, anger, and pride. Four, it helps us find quick solutions to the most difficult practical problems. In the lamprey eel and the tuatara lizard of New Zealand, the pineal gland functions as a third eye, highly sensitive to light. These animals have three eyes: two on their face and a third atop their head. All three are connected to the brain. In higher animals, layers of skin cover the pineal gland, but this does not eliminate its ability to sense light. If an animal is active during the day and sleeps at night, the pineal will detect the change in light and adjust its metabolism accordingly. In the daytime it makes sure the animal has plenty of energy to run, hunt, build a home, or whatever; at night the energy level decreases for sleep. These same mechanisms are operating in man, but who ever thinks of them? And who gives the pineal credit? When was the last time someone said to you, "Oh, my metabolic rate seems a bit high today," or "My pineal gland must not be working properly because . . . "? Only when something goes wrong - when we're ill and our body cycles are disrupted - do we become aware of the perfect biological harmony which is going non-stop all our lives. If you are outside and it suddenly gets cold, your metabolic rate will immediately speed up, your glucose will burn more quickly, and more internal heat will be generated. If that's not sufficient, your body will begin to shiver, your hairs will stand up in goose pimples and you will probably begin to move faster. Even more, you'll begin to think, "Wouldn't it be nice to be in a warm house?" or, "I need a fisherman's sweater." On the other hand, if the sun comes out from behind a cloud, you'll begin to sweat and decide to walk in the shade. You'll probably find a soda vendor on the comer or an air-conditioned store. The body has a thermostat which is always set at 98.6° F. and unless we have fever or chills, that's where our temperature stays. The endocrine system is in charge of all this, keeping the body in harmony with a massive communication network. Thus it takes care of all the things we never stop to think about, from our heart beat and blood pressure to the amount of water in our body. Within this endocrine system, the hypothalamus and pituitary control the lower glands such as the adrenals, the thyroid, the gonads, and the pancreas. This is universally accepted as fact. But mounting evidence suggests that all of these highly-developed body controls have one master in the brain: the pineal gland. For a long time little was known about the pineal gland in man beyond the fact that it is a small, greyish organ-resembling a third eye-which lay deep within the brain. Some scientists considered it a useless left-over from some earlier stage of man's development, like the appendix. Others suspected it had some influence over bodily growth and sexuality, but until quite recently, little research was done. After all, what could possibly be the use of a light-sensitive organ in the center of the head? Studies by Barberosa (1959), Quay (1967), and Reiter (1969) incline one to believe that the pineal gland may exercise control over all the lower endocrine glands. Other studies suggest that if the pineal gland is removed by surgery or cut so that it will no longer function, the other glands no longer secrete hormones appropriately. This is the reason why young boys with damaged pineal glands frequently develop secondary sex characteristics long before the normal age. The lower endocrine glands have no guide to tell them when to stop. In its position as head of the endocrine system, the pineal gland may control our daily health and bodily growth, and signal the time for the development of secondary sex characteristics. Beyond that, it is implicated with our conceptions of reality, because the pineal is the only endocrine gland which secretes its hormones directly into the brain and cerebral spinal fluid; thus it affects the chemical make-up of the brain -which influences our emotions and awareness. What continues to mystify the vast majority of scientists is how a light-sensitive organ can be stimulated when it is so far from any external source of light. Those scientists, however, who have received the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji recognize that meditation upon the inner, self-effulgent light has a direct effect upon the pineal gland. They say, in fact, that it is the physical receptor within man for the divine light of ultimate reality. It is technically impossible at this time to measure the amount of pineal hormone in the body. In time we may be able to set up an experiment in which people who have not received Knowledge are tested for the amount of this hormone; they might then be divided into two groups, one of which receives the Knowledge and meditates upon it regularly, the other serving as a control group. At set intervals, the subjects could be re-tested to detect changes in the amount of pineal hormone. However, we can compare the observed behavior among disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji to the results scientists expect when a person's pineal gland is stimulated. Since the pineal gland secretes directly into the brain fluid, any chemical change would immediately be noticed as a shift in consciousness. Indeed, many people who have just received Knowledge speak of a rebirth; they recognize something which is so joyful and fulfilling that they can immediately quit such habits as smoking, drinking, drug taking, and compulsive sex. Good food, sunshine, and plenty of sleep all contribute to health by providing nourishment to the body, but meditation changes an infinite source of light-energy into chemical hormones which benefit the entire organism. Some disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji report they need less food and sleep when they meditate consistently. The ability of the pineal gland to harness energy and convert it into a form which is accessible to all human beings remains unmatched by any technological invention. Without the pineal's restraining influence, the adrenal gland produces adrenalin in response to every petty aggravation, and the body suffers in a constant state of alarm. Likewise, smaller amounts of free, floating sexual hormones produce additional anxieties and tensions. But as the pineal gland is stimulated through meditation, it inhibits these lower endocrine glands and tunes them down. Meditators as a group have found inner peace and are rarely irritated, despite hectic and crowded living conditions within Divine Light Mission. And as these lower bodily activities are tuned down, higher ones are awakened. Meditators have an intensely practical and positive outlook on life, and are dedicated to finding simple solutions to a wide range of social problems. Even younger and sometimes uneducated disciples exhibit an ability to readily grasp very sophisticated theological, astrophysical, and psychological concepts. Through stimulation of the pineal gland and meditation upon the Knowledge, man has the ability to go through a biological transformation as dramatic as the change of an earth-ridden caterpillar into an airborne butterfly. Animalistic tendencies are chemically decreased and replaced by spiritual growth. Science bears out what all Perfect Masters have taught: Man's consciousness can shift from the grosser, finite entities toward pure thought and the awareness of infinity. |
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The Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji is an experience of the eternal life-force within every human being. By meditating on this energy, anyone can attain a natural and complete state of peace. In less than two years, more than 35,000 Americans have responded to this promise. Many have overcome the need for outside stimulation to find security-including their physical and emotional dependency on cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs. While today the Knowledge has been received by people of every age, social, and behavioral background (many of whom never took drugs at all), its immediate appeal prior to 1971 was to the youth of America: those of the "counter-culture" who were united in their feelings of alienation from society. In rejecting traditional values, many of these young people opened themselves to esoteric teachings, primarily those of the East, from Tibetan mysticism and macrobiotics to Yoga, Sufism, and various forms of meditation. On the largest scale, their efforts to expand consciousness past the realities of the modem world led them to drug abuse. The Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji is natural and suitable for every human being, but it has had striking effects .....
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In a cloud chamber an invisible subatomic particle streaks through water vapor leaving a cloudy trail to show where it has been. The casual observer might dream up many theories to explain the little trail, but the scientist knows its true cause is the tiny particle long since gone. When a Perfect Master appears, he can leave a trail of followers millenniums long and continents wide. A sociologist will seek to explain such a rapidly growing spiritual teaching by surrounding circumstances: war, declining empires, technology, moral decay, catastrophe - but he'll be missing the point. At any time, the explosive spread of spiritual awareness is caused, only by the nature of the spiritual experience being given. Thus sociological explanations of spiritual phenomena reflect only one part of what is going on, while the spiritual explanations show events in the context of a broader reality. Explanations of some aspects of Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge will illustrate this point. Beyond Similarities Social scientists have long wondered why the same symbols and motifs appear in myths, legends, and scriptures from all over the world. "Cultural diffusion" is the answer of the anthropologist. He delves deep into history to construct an elaborate scheme of migrations and questionable trade routes to show how widely scattered civilizations must at one time or another have had enough contact to communicate symbols and stories to one another. Other observers suggest that perhaps universal life experiences give rise to similar symbols. After all, all people everywhere experience nature, the sun, movement of heavenly bodies, changing of seasons, growth and death of plants and animals, wind, the movement of water. In all societies there is birth, death, marriage, language, leadership, and family role-playing. And we all have human bodies: we breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and eliminate. Finally, psychologists have understood that humans share not only outer, but also inner experience. Minds and emotions work the same everywhere. The "collective unconscious" theory of Carl G. Jung, the Swiss psychologist, comes close to explaining spiritual reality. He states that human psyches have similar tendencies because not only are they similarly structured, but they also merge into unity on the deepest level of the unconscious, as the roots of separate trees burrow down into the same earth. But still he does not take the final step to the complete spiritual explanation. For while bodies and minds have structural resemblance and psyches which are ultimately connected, it is further true that every human is a manifestation of the same energy vibration with the same consciousness. Once the consciousness in a person is connected to the universal energy, he experiences the same things-light, music, nectar, and vibration-no matter when, how, or where he lives on this planet, and he knows that others can experience the same. Perfect Masters have appeared on the earth throughout history to establish this connection in humans between consciousness and primordial energy. Because this is the most profound of human experiences, it appears frequently in the myths, legends, and scriptures of every society. In other words, mystics and spiritual teachers talk and write about light because they do see a light within their own bodies "a thousand times brighter than the sun." Any social scientist having this experience would immediately abandon all his complex theories for this simple, immediate, and universal truth. Secret Initiation Sociologists explain secret initiation as a tool of mystic cults. Through secrecy, they say, an aura of mystery and power inspires curiosity, awe, and even fear in non-initiates which makes them easily controllable. Though observers are not allowed at a Knowledge session and initiates vow never to repeat what is revealed to them, experience of the initiation shows the above explanations of secrecy to be irrelevant. Even if an observer were to film and tape-record a session, he would still not have any record of the experience being imparted. For the essence of a Knowledge session does not involve what is said, or even the demonstration of the four techniques of meditation. Rather, the initiation is a profound spiritual event in which an indefinable essence, or energy, is transferred between human beings. The initiate knows this ,not only because a brilliant light has been revealed to him within his own body, but also because many irrevocable changes begin to take place in his life. He discovers new confidence and motivation, the crumbling of fears and limitations, a completely true sense of who he is, increased sensitivity to others, heightened sense perceptions, renewed physical vitality, more frequent experience of `luck" and "coincidence", and finally, more and more, that feeling of "The peace which passeth all understanding." Far from using secret initiation to promote exclusiveness, it is a constant plea of Guru Maharaj Ji and his followers that people should come test his Knowledge, free-of-charge. We must recognize that secrecy of initiation prevents adulteration of the teaching. Sociologists may think that secrecy helps to maintain a politically useful dogma, but publication of the techniques in a Knowledge session would only lead true seekers into confusion. They might delay receiving Knowledge, thinking that merely by knowing the techniques or commandments they will have received the essence. But the essence of the experience-the grace of Satguru -cannot be written, explained, or captured on film. Loss of this essence of the teaching of Perfect Masters has always left an empty, brittle religious structure, committed to words and rituals, subject to outside manipulations, and rendered inflexible through social and historical change. Only when the real energy and grace of Knowledge is personally transmitted do devotees feel the pure spiritual experience which guides them to truth. Effectiveness of the Meditation Sociologists focus on the social circumstances surrounding the practise of meditation. They theorize that the new seeker is surrounded by people telling him what he is to experience through meditation, inundating his mind with expectations. Not wanting to admit to himself or to others that he cannot be spiritual, he convinces himself that he feels what has been described. This delusion is reinforced by praise from others, until it becomes a spiritual version of "the Emperor's new clothes." But the main thing told to seekers of Knowledge is that the experience cannot be described, that there is no way to begin to communicate what will happen through meditation. In fact, preconceived expectation of any of the divine experiences may prevent their fullest realization. For in meditation only when the mind is stilled can we become consciously aware of unity. Reality beyond the mind is totally new; its perception is unpredictable and spontaneous. If the attention of the meditator is preoccupied with hopes or expectations of what he will experience, his mind is not calm enough to experience the meditation. Spiritual Discourse Devotees are encouraged to listen to and to give spiritual discourses, or "satsang." Sociologists see this as an attempt to build up enthusiasm and reinforce beliefs. Students of "collective behavior" observe that gatherings of any enthusiasts tend to break down inhibitions and rekindle interest in the activity. Their theory of "positive reinforcement" says that when a person is accepted and praised by others, he is more likely to continue the accepted actions. But while "positive reinforcement" may play some role in the effectiveness of satsang - certainly experience of the Knowledge is more likely to be understood by devotees than by non-initiates - it remains a very limited explanation. Just as the essence of Knowledge is not the meditation techniques, the essence of satsang is not the spoken word. The point of satsang is that the same energy or vibration moves both speaker and listener. The devotee knows satsang will often tell him something he has heard over and over; he attends in order to feel and share the energy. Even falling asleep during satsang or hearing it in another language is effective, for one is still exposed to the experience of the vibration. Serving the Perfect Master Devotees are urged to do service for Guru Maharaj Ji. According to sociologists, service could have several functions. It can give direction and purpose in life to the disoriented. It can help the more well-adjusted person become more committed to his cause. Finally, sociologists point out that organizations of volunteers cannot possibly maintain and finance themselves, let alone spread their message without the dedicated aid of many members. They suggest that the real reason for service is not to help the member, but to benefit the organization and whoever runs it. But after beginning to serve Guru Maharaj Ji, the devotees experience service differently. They are not serving an organization or just one person; through dedicated action they help all humanity. In the speech which launched the Divine United Organization, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "And I hope that you understand me perfectly. It's very seldom you get the chance to do this type of service, beautiful service, not for one man, not for two, not for America, not for England, not for India, but for the whole world, for the whole world." And in doing service the individual experiences direct benefits. It allows the devotee to keep his mind in meditation much more easily: one comes to experience more and more the grace of Guru Maharaj Ji. And with the mind at rest in meditation, he finds that once back in active service, he can cease to identify himself with what he does. Students can function as businessmen, factory workers as artists - just as we all become poets when we are in love. As one becomes an instrument of selfless action, the full force of the energy of creation flows through one until one is able to see the divine hand at work everywhere. These parallels between sociological and spiritual explanations of the Knowledge could be multiplied many times. But as our sociologist listens a little closer to the satsang he is receiving, he will begin to feel it in his heart. And at that point, the sociologist becomes a devotee.
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Part V: The Truth 3.
Satsangs of Guru Maharaj Ji's
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The following discourse was given by Yogiraj Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, Father of Guru Maharaj in June, 1961, at Prem Nagar, India. On this whole planet, man is the only rational being. Because of this quality of rationality, human birth is superior to all other births. In all other bodies, instincts alone are working to guide actions. They are devoid of discrimination and do not have the power of invention. They can neither grow nor prepare any kind of food, but they can instinctively devour it when it is prepared and offered by man. Non-human births are bestowed to suffer the fruits of action - good or bad - performed with egoism and ignorance of the true self during human life. Even the most laudable actions performed with egoism and in the darkness of ignorance, bestow at best the life of a lion to reign over the kingdom of the jungle or that of an elephant to adorn the palace of a king. In human form, on the other hand, a man not only enjoys or suffers the fruits of actions performed in egoism and without devotion in previous lives, but he is also free to choose his present line of actions by which he can direct his future life. But human birth itself is not obtained because of the merit of previous actions. It is due only to the extreme grace of the Almighty. Of the graces by which salvation is obtained, human birth is the first and primary. With extreme kindness, but without any consideration, God gives human life at His pleasure. Only in human life can the individual soul throw off the veil of delusion and realize its true self. Only in human life can it lose its seemingly separate identity and become completely immersed in the Creator. Obtaining a human birth is the greatest fortune of the soul because here alone is self realization, or God realization, possible. The great saint Kag Bhusundi who attained Knowledge, immortality, and perfection because of his extreme devotion, said, "There is no life like human life. All souls in both movable and immovable bodies aspire to it. Human life is a staircase which leads to hell, heaven and salvation. Only in human life can one obtain Knowledge, detachment, and Bhakti (devotion)." It is thus for man himself to discriminate and choose which path to tread on. The individual soul itself is nothing but a fragment of the cosmic soul, but having fallen under the influence of delusion it has lost control over the mind, and mind with its unsteady, turbulent, and tenacious nature has been causing untold suffering. But when through the grace of God, the soul obtains human life, a divine opportunity is opened to it to pierce the veil of delusion, to destroy the ignorance from which sprouts all sufferings, and to realize as a consequence its true self, which is satchitananda: its existence, its life-force, and its bliss. Having realized its true self, it can fix its mind on the divine light and by constant meditation acquire unity and tranquility, from which come untainted joy and eternal bliss, the inherent qualities of the soul. When the individual soul reaches this stage it is called salvation, which means deliverance from all miseries and sufferings. So salvation is only obtainable during human life, and salvation cannot be obtained without God realization, which is the only goal of human life. True wisdom, therefore, lies in taking full advantage of this divine opportunity to achieve salvation. It is the state of pure joy that a man is trying to achieve from birth to death. But because of delusion and ignorance, all his efforts are misdirected. The way to find pure or permanent joy is unknown to him. Usually a man believes it might be found in material prosperity and therefore undergoes hardships in order to acquire immense wealth, position or fame. But he soon becomes bewildered, as fear of losing these acquisitions becomes an obsession which robs his mind of peace and happiness, instead of bestowing them. In fact, instead of finding perpetual joy, he finds perpetual anxiety. Material prosperity in its many forms can never provide constant satisfaction, for matter itself is subject to decay; hence any satisfaction it gives must inevitably be lost. Man is in reality divine, free, and one with the supreme, but he forgets his true nature and identifies himself with matter, which is only an illusory appearance. And this is the real cause of man's bondage and suffering. There cannot be any liberation in a state of multiplicity. The state of complete oneness with God is the only goal to be aspired to, and towards which the entire creation is slowly moving. Happiness is dependent on peace, which is a sublime faculty of mind, and peace comes from evenmindedness. This is only achieved through devotion achieved by submersion of the mind into the ever-existent divine light within oneself and by constant meditation on the holy Name of God. This Name cannot be written or spoken, yet it provides life-force to all movable and immovable beings. Realization of this divine light and Knowledge of the Holy Name brings love for God - and from love for God will come selfless service to Him and obedience to His commands. Hence the prerequisites for sublime devotion are first, God realization; then, supreme love for Him; and lastly, submersion of the mid into His Name, which automatically leads to selfless service and complete obedience. God is both with form and without form. Butter still in milk can be said to be without form, and when it is churned out, with form. In the same way, the divine Light which is self-existent in all beings is God without physique, whereas the Satguru of the time, or the realized soul, is God with the physique. Submersion of the mind into the divine light; obedience and service to Satguru together with supreme love for Him; consecration of body, mind, and all activities to Him; together with a great anguish for the slightest forgetfulness of Him, constitute sublime devotion. Hence perpetual peace, eternal bliss and salvation within the lifetime are ensured. There is absolutely no other way to achieve them. This is universally substantiated and experienced by every saint, no matter where and when he lived. It is written in the scriptures, "One who desires to have happiness without Bhakti (devotion) is a great fool. To reach real happiness by other means is like trying to cross the ocean without a boat. Bhakti is a most precious diamond. One who has this diamond in his heart knows not even the slightest misery." Lord Krishna said, "He whose mind is detached from external enjoyments achieves through meditation that pure joy that is the inherent quality of the soul. Such a man who has realized God within himself, and has completely identified himself with the divine, enjoys eternal bliss." Sublime devotion, however, comes from implicit faith and confidence in the Satguru of the time, and it must be clearly understood that only He who can bestow God-vision instantaneously within oneself is the Satguru of the time, and no one else. In reality, He is God incarnate. It is impossible to have unflinching confidence without personal experience of this divine light. All scriptures and all saints unequivocally proclaim that God is omnipresent: He is present in all places and at all times. He is Satchitananda: ever-existing life force and absolute bliss. He is existent as divine Light in all beings. Realization of this creates absolute confidence in Satguru, without whose kindness and help it is never realized. Lord Krishna said to his disciple, "Arjuna, being pleased with you, through my own power I have shown you this supreme, primal, and infinite universal divine Light, which cannot be seen in any other way. Neither by reading scriptures nor by many acts of worship can I be seen in my immortal form as divine light." Therefore, to realize the divine light within, the kindness of the Satguru of the time is absolutely indispensable. At this time only does it become possible to dedicate body, mind, speech, and all actions to the Satguru, which will then give rise to Bhakti, the devotional source of all happiness and peace. So this is like a circle. First, humility and service to the Satguru will obtain his pleasure, and only then will he bestow God-vision for realization of divine light. And after God realization, faith and confidence in Satguru will lead to service, dedication, and devotion. Hence is achieved eternal happiness and salvation which is the ultimate goal of human life. It should therefore be the first endeavor of a human being to find the Satguru so that in the end this goal of human life can be achieved.
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The following discourse was given by Bal Bhagwan Ji in private. Why are we not united? It appears that people who claim to understand the Bible have not actually understood it. That is why today we find different denominations with their own versions of the Bible, each claiming to be the way, and believing in one God, or Jesus Christ. Our disunity reflects the fact that we have not the proper understanding to understand God. History tells us that great massacres have taken place under the name of holy crusades, and that the great churches have not remained as churches but have become political tools for the exercise of power and wealth. To sum up, there is no evil which has not befallen us in the name of religion. Jesus, our Master, gave us the commandment to "love our neighbors as we love ourselves." Why then is there enmity and antagonism between Catholic and Protestant, and why today are they waging war in Belfast, shedding the blood of innocent people, who are like puppets dancing to the strings of religion? How would Jesus Christ feel today, to see his children piling up the same wealth which he himself told them to distribute to the poor? Such deeds clearly show how much we understand Christ, and how much we have followed his way. But even in this desperate state, we Have room for hope. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Today we are in such illusion and darkness, but we still have the promise of Christ who will send us a comforter. But when the comforter is come, who I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of me. In this verse the word "He" shows the comforter is a person; and further on, Jesus Christ himself says, Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter not come unto you, but if I depart I will send Him unto you. As Saint John the Baptist came as the predecessor of Jesus Christ, so will be the comforter of the second Christ. The whole world is waiting for the Christ to come, but the question is, once Christ came, he was crucified. If he comes a second time as he has promised, will there be a second crucifixion? The Jews and the Rabbis who were devoted to their scriptures, read from them that Christ would come. He came and he went, but the world didn't recognize him. The same cause (whatever it may be), will also keep the Christians, who read the Bible and the prophecies of the Second Coming, from the Christ who will appear again. Because if you put your attention to this verse you will understand a new meaning. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already it is in the world. Have we accepted that Christ is come in the flesh? If we have, then we are of God, and if not then we ourselves are antichrist. Imagine how many antichrists believe that Christ is still not come in the flesh. Do we include our name in the list? And if we believe that Christ is already in the flesh, then where is he, and what is his address? And if we do not believe that he can come in the flesh, then the Bible condemns us as antichrist, and we ourselves are the Devil, no matter if we may imagine ourselves to be the most devoted Christians. And as the Bible declares, even now the world has antichrists, for there are people who still do not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Saint John writes of the Word turning into flesh, the Word which was in the beginning. That Word is God, and God is the one for whom Jesus Christ said, "Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." What is the Word which was in the beginning? Some say that it is Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ declares himself to be the son of God, and if he is the son of God, then how can the son be born before the Father, who is God? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Some people say the Word is the Bible, and if it is, then was Genesis an illusion? Because in Genesis there is no mention of the Bible being before the entire creation. Imagine: How could St. John, Matthew, Luke, and the people who wrote the Old Testament have existed before they were born So the Word is something else. It is a reality beyond the conception and imagination of the mind. And here Guru Maharaj Ji reveals the Knowledge of the Word to us. If someone helps and guides us to know and to love God, if someone reveals to us the holy Knowledge of the Word, and if someone shows us light in our hearts, do we not owe our reverence to him? What Guru Maharaj Ji is doing is not taking us away from our Lord Christ or the Bible; he is giving us a better understanding of the scriptures. To us he is hope in desperation, and light in the darkness. He is the Word turned to flesh which raises itself to speak about the glory of the Word. Who else can reveal the Word to us except that flesh which is the Word, or the Word which is turned into flesh? The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, if thine eye be single thy whole body will be full of light. We have all come into the world. What is the light that has lighted us? How can our eyes be single, so that our body shall be full of light? What is that light which is God, for in Him there is no darkness? Surely that light is not sunlight, for there is darkness in the night. How can we be true Christians without understanding the above quotations, which are the central theme of the Bible? Why can't we accept him, he who has come to give us the understanding to understand the Bible and answer all the questions above? Nobody can deny the fact that life demands satisfaction. Whether we are atheists or orthodox, satisfaction is a must that we have to achieve. Satisfaction is God's gift to man. Life remains a vacuum without God, and thus remains a question. To people who know satisfaction, life is an answer. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven. First of all one should have Knowledge from Guru Maharaj Ji and afterwards all the accessories will be added to him. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. There are many prophecies about the Lord and daily we pray that Thy Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus Christ himself makes it clear that the Kingdom of God never comes with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or to there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. In the Bible it is said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and when the time really comes we turn away our faces and reject him who comes to us and for us. Sincere and true seekers have the never ending desire to know God. Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. But are we really finding? Are we really seeking? And above all, are we really asking? The reality is--No. We are doubting. Is it good to start spiritual lessons with a doubt? For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. But what happens to a man who doubts? Nobody can even imagine. Many people who want to recognize Christ by signs should be aware of the fact that no signs will be given to this generation. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, there shall be no sign given unto this generation. It is written in Revelations that Jesus Christ will come as a thief. I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee. So we should prepare ourselves in advance to receive him when he comes as a thief. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. If we have seen God then we are pure in the heart. Seeing God is the sign of purity, and if we have not seen God, then how can we lay claim to purity of heart? We should at least try to find out how many of our Christian brothers who go to church daily have seen God. The question that troubles my heart is this. If these noble men have already seen God, then why do they confine themselves and the people to rituals? For there are many who believe that God cannot be seen, and the rest believe that if you see God then you cease to exist. Here comes the contradiction-for Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Acquiring purity in heart and also living are both necessary if we are to see God, because we can only see while we are alive, and not when we are dead. And if it is true that we cannot see God, then why did Christ ever make this statement? That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. The worship of God can only be done through the spirit, and Guru Maharaj Ji reveals the Knowledge of the spirit to us. For even Jesus says, "And who so shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." (Matthew 18:5.) People who- receive Guru Maharaj Ji who is fifteen years old and is a little child, fulfill the above verse. For ye shall know that truth and the truth shall make you free. For 2,000 years we have been showing the Lord's death, but while we live, our Lord is of the living and not of the dead. He has come to give eyes to the blind, for it is his Knowledge which makes us know what he is. For it is his light which makes us see him. Let us now all join together to receive him and to understand him through his Knowledge. Think-he who comes as a thief and goes away will have nothing to lose. We will be the one who loses the golden opportunity, like the rabbis did 1,973 years ago. Let us remember our past to better our future, and receive the one who has come for us. You know truth is bitter, very bitter when it comes to taste. But that's the way we have to accept things. People thought that Jesus Christ would come as a king and when he came as a carpenter's son, only those truly of him received him with love. Let us now see how many people stand up to receive him who has come for them. As the sun rises from the east to the west, may he bestow his grace on you and give you courage to accept the divine Knowledge. |
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