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It seems possible, on the evidence of this pamphlet - especially in comparison with the Lite Reading intoductory pamphlet of 1980 (http://www.prem-rawat-bio.org/dlm_pubs/litereading/1980/contents.html) - that Rawat and his administrators had sought some professional help in selling his message and himself. The quality and professionalism of the output has increased dramatically and the message has already changed considerably. Rawat has even cut his hair and done some considerable dieting. The word 'guru' is gone even when discussing Rawat's father. Rawat doesn't want to share the limelight though, no pictures of dear old Dad the second greatest Perfect Master of all time. The dominant theme is personal happiness and 'peace' is only used to describe one of the qualities of this happiness. World Peace and millenialism have been banished.
Some things have remained that will later be dropped from the vocabulary. 'God' is still the underlying concept and Knowledge is still Knowledge of God. God is still being felt and seen in the revealing and practise of this Knowedge. Rawat is still spouting weird concepts: "I am not suggesting that, by having everyone practice a certain ritual, we would all suddenly be in contact with God and removed forever from God's blacklist of sinners."
He quotes Swami Vivekananda quoting his guru Ramakrishna seeing God though they come from different lineages and that would tend to destroy Rawat's credibility rather than enhance it.
There is a 2 page "interview" spread: celebrated Austalian television personality Johnny Young flew to the USA to "interview" Rawat. Let me first say that I have never read a bad word said about Johnny Young, he really must be a genuinely nice guy. His career was based on looks, charm and enthusiasm rather than talent and I can never forget having to sit through some of his hideously awful cringeworthy, sentimental, mawkish TV shows because my children wanted to watch them nor should we forgive this phony interview. Young was able to get Rawat a bit of soft media attention in Australia circa 1982 - didn't do propagation any good though. I wonder why? Young is another one of those once were premies who has never publicly mentioned Rawat again after he saw the light.
There are 6 pages of attractive, successful premies giving their little spiels and doing it far better than Rawat can. Their input, no doubt, was part of any professional PR advice that Rawat might have got. Unfortunately they're all talking about the 24 languages that Rawat speaks and the darshan of the Holy Family and how the mahatmas give out the charanamrit at satsang after arti and if you become a monmot it's hell forever cause that's no lila and they end their spiels with hundreds of pranams and Bolie Shri Satguru Dev Mahraj Ki Jais.
No wonder he had to tell them all: NO MORE SATSANG. Actually my theory is firstly he had to find scapegoats for the failure of propagation ("It's you premies so shuttupa your face." and he was sick of his followers making him look mediocre.
There's one of those people giving witness who was a long term friend. She was always a few years older than I am and looked it and all I could think when I saw her photo was: "God, she looks so young! I never saw her look that young."
And certainly Rawat's message to me personally is an inspiring one that I will use next time some passive-aggressive ignoramus like breathinghearts contacts me: "And you're wonderful. Every human being walking on this planet's surface - doesn't matter who they are - they're wonderful. They're human beings. They've been created. They have a purpose."
Thanks for the reassurance, Lordy. I've got a purpose and I'll continue to work towards fulfilling it.
People
from all
walks of life
pursue
Happiness...
And yet
where do
we find it?'
Finding Happiness...
... is not really an impossible task, as many suppose. If you will leaf through this publication, reading as much as you care to, you will meet people from all walks of life who, like people everywhere, are pursuing happiness. As you will see, they are singularly successful in finding it.
For they know the secret that is no secret, that the happiness they pursue, as Maharaj Ji says, is : "A simple thing, for it already exists within each and every one of us..."
If, like most of the people here, and most people everywhere, you want to do more than simply exist, if you want to know more about what makes us all tick, there may be answers here for you, within these pages.
Some insights from Maharaj Ji
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Since 1966, when he was eight years old, Maharaj has spoken to
millions of people, helping them find the source of happiness that, as
he says, "already exists within." In 1981 alone, he went to 20
countries on 4 continents-. Here are some of his observations and
comments, drawn from his talks during those visits:
Some people have told me they seem to be leading their lives as if they
were a ship without a rudder. Whether their lives are becalmed or
stormy. they seem simply to be flopping about, going this way and that,
with the current or whichever way the wind is blowing. And they wonder
when will it end? Where are they going, and why?
It is not that they think much about death. Few of us do, even though
we know it is inevitable. But we do not go to death seminars, to listen
to learned speakers tell us all about it. Indeed, the less said the
better, for most of us. We just want to keep on living, for as long as
we can. to keep on existing in this
world. Yet, we also want to know something of what we are all about, of
what makes us tick, if you will. And we want to take charge of what
life we have, not live it on the hit-or-miss basis of some set of
"Murphy's Laws." We want to live it, to experience it. We want to cut
through all the outer layers and get down to the core of our being, to
our essence.
In a world that treats symptoms. rather than the problems that cause
them. and applies cosmetics, to avoid facing up to reality, that is not
so easy. How many pills. how many aspirins, how many doses of this and
that must we take to keep ourselves together? How many times must we
treat the symptoms before the problem stops coming back again and again?
"Love thy neighbor," we are taught. And we do, as good children. But
then a cynical world adds, "And hate the people down the street, or,
love the neighbor on this side but not on that side:'
Sorting out the neighbors to love and the
neighbors to hate takes time, and a special kind of training. We are
born with love, but hate must be patiently, repeatedly taught, and it
is always a sham.
it is wearing dark glasses. The world is not dark, but, seen through
the dark glasses of hate.
it appears to be. We must take off these blinders and see God, and feel
that love of our Creator we all truly seek; and that is what must some-
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2
how be made manifest to every human being on the face of the earth.
But that is not very easy to do. is it? Go up to a man on the street
and ask him what time it is, and chances are he will pull up his
sleeve, look at his wristwatch and say politely, "It's twenty minutes
to nine." Yet, ask the same man, "Do you know God?" Then the chances
are he will suggest to the nearest policeman that you should be taken
away. Deep down. the whole world thinks about God a lot, but it is
uncomfortable, for the most part, talking about God.
As society, we have gotten together and
agreed to a set of rules called ethics, and a lot of people within our
various societies spend a lot of time bending and breaking those rules.
God may not be mentioned, but many of them are experiencing a hell
here, and many a heaven, and far too many, like the ship we cited
earlier, are spending their full time adrift without a rudder. It is a
game with still others: they tinker with life, defying one of the prime
Murphy Laws that says that, if you play around with something long
enough, you will break it.
Yet, I am not saying that what the world needs now is another
philosophy. It may be that we have too many philosophies already, at
least too many that clash and cause so much conflict and suffering. Nor
am I talking about any new kind of religion. Certainly, we have heard
much too much over the course of history that "God's like this" and
"God's like that" and "Everybody's wrong about God except me." I am not
suggesting that, by having everyone practice a certain ritual, we would
all suddenly be in contact with God and removed forever from God's
blacklist of sinners.
Not that I am arguing against anybody's perception of God along those
lines, but I am saying that the glory and the perfection that I see are
far, far different. That difference for me is rather like the
difference between what a medical student learns in textbooks and what
he learns in the actual practice of medicine after he has studied the
textbooks. All of a sudden, now it makes sense. All of a sudden, the
theoretical becomes the practical. All of a sudden, the mystery
disappears and the Knowledge is truly revealed.
Put quite simply. the distinction is between believing because one is
taught to believe and believing because one knows. The day that you see |
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3
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Maharaj Ji ...
God, the day that you feel God - that is when you believe. It is as the
great Swami Vivekanand said, when recounting the story of his teacher's
reply upon being asked if he had ever seen God face to face: "I have
seen God closer than I am seeing you right now, and I can show you God."
Still, trying to describe the actual experience is like trying to
describe the flavor of sugar to one who has never tasted it. Sugar is
sweet. So? But a few grains sprinkled on the tongue tells all.
Experience is the teacher.
I am not saying I can give you that experience. What I am saying is
that the force about which I speak is already within you. It is
happening within you right now. It is the force called life, for it is
what gives you life, it is the force of God, the Knowledge of life, the
Knowledge that is God. And all I can offer to do is to show it to you
so that you can experience it yourself.
This is not something that I can take out of my pocket and pin on you
like a medal. It is already within you. If you want it, you can have
it. If you do not want, do not take it, and that is all right, too.
Perhaps at this time you do not see a necessity for it. Perhaps at
another time you will. It will still be there, within. you, the
Knowledge of God, waiting.
I am sometimes asked, "What's the catch?" There is no catch, none
whatsoever. It is not as if one stepped up to a counter and paid a fee
and walked away with the Knowledge of life. You would not he very smart
to pay a dime for it. for it is already within you. It is yours.
Will it change you? I do not believe it would cause you to overhaul
your private and professional life completely - change careers in
mid-stream, for example. But I have seen people who have had this
experience within themselves come out of it with a greater awareness of
the beauty of their lives, of the realness of that beauty, and with
more love, more affection. They treat life as a gift, for it is a gift.
And so, you have a gift. You are alive. You have the Knowledge of life.
Like the old teacher, you can see God close up.
It is total bliss, and many thousands of people around the world have
experienced it. It is not something I made up, not something I brought
with me. All the time it was inside all of those who had the
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4
... Knowledge
experience, for it is the force that makes them alive. It cannot be forced on people, it cannot be bought.
Sometimes I am asked about that. I am asked if I
am in this activity, trying to spread the word about the experience of
the Knowledge of life, for money.
No, I am not. What would money do for me that Knowledge has not already
done? There are people who have received this Knowledge who were, you
might say, once kings and queens. They had it all. They were not happy.
And yet, when they had this experience, they were happy, they were at
peace.
If this sounds too simple, perhaps it is because we have come to expect
our approach to spiritual matters to be complicated. Finding Knowledge
is a simple thing, for it already exists within each and every one of
us. It does not have to be searched out in the peace and tranquility of
the Himalayas at 45,000 feet.
Peace is not a tangible something. It is not something to be handed
over as a gratuity from me to you: "Here, here is Peace, and welcome to
it." Peace is within each of us, to be found in the Knowledge of God
within us, too.
People come to me from all walks of life and from every direction and
every situation. And some of them, quite challengingly, ask me what
kind of a business am I in? I tell them I am in the business of making
people happy. That is all. I would like everybody to be happy. I tell
them that I would like even those who say they want to be miserable to
be happy. And, of course, I want to help along those who want to be
happy.
That is it. I am in the business of making people happy. The gift is
there, if you want it. It is still there. even if you do not. But there
is no warranty. Your life is your own responsibility. Break it and
there is nobody out there to replace it.
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5
Some questions ...
One of Australia's celebrated television personalities, Johnny
Young, flew to the United Suites in 1981 and, on August 4, interviewed
Maharaj Ji. Here, edited for brevity is the transcript:
Maharaj Ji, is there really such a thing as true happiness or true peace?
Definitely. There is a thing that we call true happiness. The key word
is "true," for what we all seek is the Truth. We seek the realization
of why we are here. of what makes us tick. of what makes us alive, and
we search for an experience of life that is superior to what we may
have.
Life is there to enjoy. It's there to experience. And that experience
can be beautiful. when it is true. and, when we have that experience,
then, yes, there will be true happiness. I have experienced true
happiness. A lot of people have experienced true happiness. And we all
agree that it is incredible. You see that it is. The experience that
Truth has to give you is that true happiness you seek.
A lot of people could say that sounds great, but how do I have this experience? Is it a practical thing that can be shown?
Of course, it's a practical thing. There is something inside of us
that's quite simple. Fundamental. Incredible. Life. And there is an
experience to it. Without having that experience, we can go on and say
to ourselves that everything is fine. but. when we have that
experience, then we discover how really fine everything can be. Then we
can really say, "I know. I know, because I have understood. I know
because I know." It's not a theory. It's not a philosophy. It's not a
religion. I don't want to offer theories, philosophies, or another
religion. The fact of the matter is that there is something in you,
whether you know it or not. And when you know it, it's incredible.
A lot of times, when people speak about religion, it seems to make
for a heavy conversation. But the people who have had this experience
you speak of seem to be light, somehow. Why is that?
Oh, I talk to many people who are quite dug in with their religions and
I talk to many ministers from different religions. It is really
beautiful for me, and I hope they enjoy it, too. Sometimes, we are
serious about religion. and we have deep discussions. We know there is
suffering and we know there are many problems in this world. But there
is something else, too. Something to enjoy. There is love of the
Creator to enjoy. There is God's magnificence to enjoy.
That's why I'm easy about it. Because I know God didn't make me or any
human being in this world to suffer. There are established religions,
yes. But there is you, too. And you're wonderful. Every human being
walking on this planet's surface - doesn't matter who they are -
they're wonderful. They're human beings. They've been created. They
have a purpose. They have in them the capability of enjoying the
ultimate joy. That's what we need to do: put people in touch with
what's in them.
So, what are the steps? What do I do?
Well, first, you have to want it, really want it. There must be a
thirst. If you don't have any thirst inside of you, I don't mean
anything to you. God doesn't mean anything to you. True happiness
doesn't mean anything to you.
But when that thirst is sincerely there, all of these things I talked about start making sense.
That's all it takes. No more, no less. When that thirst is there, when
it's strong enough, then you're ready. Then you're ready to accept that
experience and gain the realization of the Knowledge of God.
Would a person have to give up belief in Judaism or Islam or Jesus
Christ or whatever, or change his or her religious outlook in order to
experience this?
There is a simple story about the Prophet
6
Mohammed. One day, he went to sleep by a mosque, with his feet pointing
toward the mosque. A man came along and said. "You can't do that." And
Mohammed asked, "Why not?" And the man said. "Because that's the House
of God! You can't put your feet toward the place where God dwells!" And
Mohammed said, "So? Pick up my feet and put them in a direction where
God is not!"
God is everywhere. God is in you. You can
experience the Knowledge of God, you can enjoy it. You don't have to be
sad. You don't have to suffer. You can have that heaven. What you only
dream about otherwise, that dream can become real in this life.
There are many established religions. They are pointing a finger toward
God. We should not get too caught up with the finger, but concentrate
our attention instead on what it is pointing to. If you have a
religion, go right ahead.
I am simply offering an experience of life. It is for every single
human being alive. It doesn't make any difference how young or old you
are, or whether you are black or white, or what your beliefs are, or
whether you are rich or poor. To have that incredible experience, you
don't have to change your religion, you don't have to change yourself.
you don't have to do anything drastic. Just be who you are. And there
it is.
Maharaj Ji, you have a family and yet you travel the world just about all the time. What's your motivation? Why do you do it?
Well, I know that, by Grace, I can bring Knowledge. And it's wonderful,
going from people to people - because that's what I do. I don't go from
country to country, I go from people to people around the world, and
just show them who they are. And then, once they have seen who they
are, and I see their smiles and their bliss, that true happiness ...
it's the most wonderful thing. That is my motivation.
When people do receive the Knowledge you reveal, does their life
style necessarily change? Do they have to be different in any way?
No, of course not. They may be different in that they know more now -
that they're really happy. That, I would say, might be an obvious
difference - that one would be happy. But, otherwise, there doesn't
have to be a change. Some people say they gained everything through
that experience, through that happiness, but I can assure you they
don't have to give up anything.
One big problem seems to be fear. A lot of people are too fearful to
come forward and say, "Please help me." How do you deal with that?
Such fear stems from ignorance, of course.
We are full of fears because we don't know. But that is as natural as
the Knowledge that is already within us. And that's the thing. It's
already within. And when we know. the fear goes away. The people who
come to me need that Knowledge to replace their ignorance and end their
fear. Humanity gets caught up in games, with rules that say that has to
be this way, and this has to be that way. And yet, does any of it make
a difference? We all have the gift of life. This life is pure. It is
simple. It is beautiful. Life is to be experienced.
What do you say to people who believe they can find it on their own?
The problem is they may run around searching for a long, Ion time. The
question they should ask themselves is: "I only have one life to live.
Am I going to blow it away in trial and error or am I going to have a
wonderful experience of my life?" They should realize that they won't
live forever. Now is the time for them, now is the time to be alive.
We need to grow. We need to experience this life. Some people may think
that it is too ego-shattering to admit that they went to someone for
help. But really, you go to yourself for help. You open up yourself.
You say "I am thirsty. I need water." That's all. It's as simple as
that.
7 About Maharaj Ji
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Maharaj Ji was born Prem Pal Singh Rawat on
the 10th of December, 1957, in Haridwar, India. He was the youngest of
four sons of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, spiritual leader at that time for
millions of followers in India.
Before Shri Hans Ji Maharaj passed away in 1966, he left instructions
that his youngest son, then eight years old, should continue his work,
spreading the Knowledge of God throughout India and the rest of the
world.
Maharaj Ji attended St. Joseph's Academy in Dehra Dun, India, until
1971. In response to requests from the United Kingdom, the United
States, and other countries, he left Indiafor the first time at the age
of 13.
Since then, Maharaj Ji has taken his message to more than 50 countries
around the world. In 1981, his visits took him throughout the United
States and Canada, as well as to India, Malaysia, Australia, New
Zealand, and much of South America. His 1982 itinerary is equally as
extensive.
Maharaj Ji is now 24, and married. He and his wife, Marolyn, have two sons and two daughters.
From the time of Maharaj Ji's birth, his father; Shri Hans Ji
Maharaj. indicated often that Maharaj Ji should continue his work. And
he did, from an early age. Above right and center; at 8 and 6, he spoke
to thousands in India, and, center top, to more than one million at
India Cate, Delhi, in 1970, when he was 12: "Why do we search for peace
in this world? Peace is not there ... Peace is within. I will show you
the way to peace ... Soon I will leave my studies and spread this
Knowledge throughout the world." The following year in response to
requests from those who wanted to see and hear him and receive the
experience he offered, he began his travels.
Upper left, at 13, he is shown being welcomed to London in June, 1971.
Maharaj Ji is shown at right with his family: wife Marolyn holding
their new son, Amar; and daughter Dayalata, at left; son Hans Pal,
center; and daughter Premlata. At far right, Maharaj Ji has a quiet
moment with Dayalata. Center; Premlata shows her pet rabbit, and,
right, Maharaj Ji with Hans Pal and Dayalata.
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8
Some perceptions...
The people who have received the Knowledge of life Maharaj speaks of
are many and their numbers are growing. They are doctors, lawyers,
business executives, and they are students, housewives, factory
workers. They are children, teens, people in their prime, those of
middle rears, and retirees in what are said to be the golden times.
They are very wealthy people, and they are people from some of the
poorest areas of the world. They come from all walks of life, and they
are from more than 50 different countries. Here, on this and the
following few pages, some of them share their experience with us,
saying in their own words what it means to them:
A San Francisco filmmaker, Barbara Adams, finds:
"There is such joy, and yet one doesn't shirk responsibilities, in
fact, you become ultimately more responsible to what is really given to
you to take care of. Life is richer, deeper, more delicious than I ever
imagined possible...
"Living in the heart, which - is what the connection with Maharaj Ji
has shown me, makes my life feel infinite, feel huge. The old
rhetorical question, 'Is that all there is?' now has an answer: 'Yes -
and it is more than enough!'"
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In Los Angeles, Prentiss S. Uchida,
corporate executive and founder of a computer electronics company, in
looking at his highly successful life, thinks of a gold wedding ring -
"Just a band of gold, although having value, empty without the love.
The same is true for much in this life; you can attain that gold ring,
beautiful wife, talented kids, successful career, nice house ... but it
is meaningless without that true love, that real purpose. And this
love, this thing that gives life meaning, is what Maharaj Ji has
awakened in me in a very pragmatic way. My everyday life goes on pretty
much as usual, but I see a true meaning to things in my life and a true
purpose to my life."
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What strikes 71-year-old Abeille Guechrad
in Paris, France, is the peace of mind she has discovered at her
advanced age. Her life has been colorful - a resistance fighter during
World War II, later a friend of André Malraux and member of Charles de
Gaulle's staff. "When i was 69, (that) was
a very special year for me ... I made friends with three Americans here
in Paris who had received the Knowledge Maharaj Ji speaks of. What
captured me was the incredible joy that filled them ... they made my
heart melt ... I am by now verging on 71, but feeling younger all the
time ... And what about time? I was always running after time and ever
lacking a lot of it, for all I had or wanted to do. Now, I just take
it, and sail gracefully through anything, be it turmoil or silence:
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A doctor in Los Angeles, California, Cleaves Bennett,
recalls: "Throughout most of my life I have been very successful at
accomplishing whatever I set out to do, and at accumulating awards,
certificates, recognition ...
But I have acquired a perspective which was lacking before. I have not
in any way ceased my pursuit of excellence; indeed, my professional
career is expanding rapidly. More than ever before I look forward to
making a difference in the quality of people's lives ... What I have
learned from Maharaj Ji allows me to relax and be grateful for what I
have, for however long I have it. Why should I worry when the best is
eternal and inside me where I can never lose it?"
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"I never felt such a beautiful experience until I felt that peace within me: comments Robinson Sanhueza,
a taxi driver in Miami. "And that was the first time in my life that I
really felt: 'This is it. This is what I've been looking for.'" |
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Receiving the Knowledge Maharaj Ji speaks of was "the best thing that ever happened to me says Norval Mortenson,
M.D., a San Francisco, California, pathologist. "It's given me an inner
contentment, a joy and peace that I could not find anywhere, it hasn't
meant a withdrawal from the world.
I don't spend my day 'meditating in a cave in the Himalayas.' I work as
a professional, and find that that inner peace and joy are with me
everywhere and can be tapped into at any time, no matter what I am
doing?"
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Olivia Harrison of London, England, is
married to George Harrison of the original Beatles. "As I look around
me I see the beautiful setting of my life she says. "A lovely garden,
beautiful home full of my favorite things, a happy family ... all the
things most people would wish for and much much more. Yet, in this
'material paradise', there is one possession, without which, it would
be absolutely ... meaningless. The happiness and love I feel inside
create contentment and give me the confidence to live life as it has
been presented to me ... in the most natural and peaceful way."
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"I have always enjoyed flying," comments Eugenio Calvo,
a
professional pilot in Spain. "I appreciate the beauty of flying.
Maharaj Ji once said that you can see at very high flight levels, in
the morning, on one side the night with stars and darkness, and on the
other, the sunrise with the sunlight coming from the east. All an
incredible
beauty. But beyond this, Maharaj Ji has shown me a special way to fly.
Maybe we think there are no more ways to fly. but he taught me the
inner flight - a real flight, a flight from suffering to Peace. Not a
theoretical word, as 'Peace is the absence of war.' But a Peace that is
a Presence, the presence of something that you can go to, fly in to."
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Reggie Dyer, is a plumber, and for several
years before was a professional fireman in Orlando. He finds that: "For
me, Maharaj Ji has made it possible to enjoy a true meaning and true
pleasure of life while I am doing my
work, and when I am playing. This Knowledge allows me to be detached
from the ups and downs of my job, and to enjoy a real contentment?'
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Ten years ago, when Maharaj Ji was only 13 years old, W. Timothy Gallwey
of Los Angeles heard him speak. Gallwey, then 33 and later to be
celebrated for his books ("The Inner Game
of Tennis," "The inner Game of Golf?' and others), remembers "feeling
that a boy would not easily be able to deceive me and might even have
something more to offer than philosophy."
"I trusted Maharaj Ji's sincerity and asked for his Knowledge because
doing so required nothing of me that violated my integrity?" he says.
"Surprisingly, exactly as I needed them less, my external pursuits
became easier for me and I flourished inside and out. I realized that I
had been given a gift of inestimable value - one that could make me
truly free."
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11 >br />More perceptions...
Thomas Gray, who first heard of Maharaj Ji
in Buenos Aires when traveling as International Sales Manager of the
publishing
company, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, says: It is now four years since i
received the experience Maharaj Ji is offering. It is the rock of my
existence. It
is never boring. It is completely rejuvenating. That quality which I
unconsciously sought in all the experiences of my life has been
revealed to me and I feel infinitely enriched by it. It is something
that is in me and I just simply know it. And for all this Maharaj Ji
has asked nothing, only that I accept the gift that was given, enjoy it
and be happy and with enormous gratitude in my heart for this life. I
carry on as always, but I now have a clear feeling of being 'at home'
in myself."
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David Noakes, of the "French House" at New
York University; thought he had settled into a life of "stoical, barren
intellectual acceptance of nihilistic disbelief and despair ... Did I
find Maharaj Ji. or was it Maharaj Ji who found me? Everything changed
on that gloriously sunny weekend afternoon in Washington Square almost
two years ago when I first began to learn and to accept the incredible
facts about what he offers
to do for every human being whose heart yearns to rediscover the joy,
the peace, the love, the happiness that are our birthright."
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"Since I was very young, traveling has been my
dream. At the age of eighteen, I left home to travel, to know the
world. Later on, I became an airline hostess;" says Joseffe Petrini
of Rome. "I have seen nearly all the world.
I have met thousands of people and I have had the most varied
experiences. But after ten years of this kind of life, I wanted to know
more, I was expecting more. Even though I was not lacking anything,
still my thirst was there ...
"Since hearing about Maharaj Ji and receiving his Knowledge, I have
discovered the most wonderful place in the world: how to connect myself
with the energy which keeps me alive. I have begun the first endless
trip of my life. I have recognized, as if by a miracle, that my thirst
has been quenched. Everywhere I go, any time.
I can feel this incredible love and it fulfills me completely." |
Alma Murphy, from the United States
originally, lived many years in Sweden where she became a tapestry
weaver. She says, "All my life Ii have longed to be a part of this
beautiful creation and now I feel that I have been invited into it.
Most beautiful, perhaps, is to see that the life that I have been given
is growing ... Just as when
I myself weave a tapestry, there is a thread that is hidden, only to
appear later on in another place. For me I see that my life is part of
a most beautiful plan, and that plan is a most merciful and
compassionate one."
|
Stanley Hobish is a 56-year-old dentist in
Massapequa, N.Y., who, married 35 years, has "a wonderful, loving
family." He recalls: "I am now practicing my profession with a most
significant difference. It is no longer necessary to receive the
approval of my patients and colleagues, and yet I experience so much
love from them that it is overwhelming. I feel like the richest man in
the world." |
12
Michael Nouri is a highly visible actor
(best known, perhaps, for a leading role in the television series, "The
Gangster Chronicles". Metaphorically, Nouri compares himself to a
weary miner, panning for gold with little success until Maharaj Ji,
"for the asking, gave me the map to the "mother lode: the key to my
heart." "To say that I am rich is an understatement. The 'gold' is
satisfaction - peace of mind - love," he says.
|
Marsha Morris, Denver, Colorado, is a
housewife and proud mother of a 13-year-old daughter. She now reflects:
"Everyone is looking for miracles. I found mine. Or it found me, and
life is precious." |
"Since hearing about Maharaj Ji, things have constantly improved for me, especially my experience inside: comments Keena Contreras,
a seamstress originally from Chile, now working in the U.S. "I feel a
kind of care and guidance that allows me to grow and become a happier
human being. I feel freer and
much more able to enjoy everything, ..."
|
Richard Strassberg, an auto mechanic from
Brooklyn, says: "I needed a place to invest my love. Somewhere, where
my love could grow. The love I've experienced in my life because of
Maharaj Ji is immeasurable. I found complete stillness, a place to
start any journey from
and a place to come home to; and I have it within me, wherever I go."
|
"The day I received the Knowledge Maharaj Ji offers, an incredible tranquillity came over me," comments Peter Kronig,
Zermatt, Switzerland. "I felt everything started to make sense, being
alive, doing what I was doing, like teaching skiing ...
All the spiritual books I was reading before, and what they were
talking about, became very simple and clear. Everything in my life
started to have a reason and a meaning everything became so joyful, my
work, being alive. For the first time I had the feeling of truly living. |
Reginald J. Brown of Washington, D.C.,
started out as a career military man. He graduated in 1961 from the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and served in Korea and
Vietnam and at posts at home, returning to West Point to teach
economics and government. Entering civilian life in 1971, he continued
to work in defense-related pursuits, with the government and the
private sector. He says, "At one time, I thought 'Life' meant nothing
more than being able to receive and endure experiences. I was resigned
to expecting nothing more.
"When the Knowledge was revealed to me, I knew I had been given an
alternative to that life of inconstant experience. It is a stabilizing
influence, and I am now able to flow with the ups and downs of this
life.
I know that the sun exists, and that I can bask in its glorious rays,
by simply turning to it."
|
13
And more...
William Murphy, a 60-year-old psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in
Washington, D.C., felt his life "somehow unfinished." His story: "Over
the years
I looked in many places and tried many things ... Our children grew and
as young adults the three oldest heard about Maharaj Ji and received
the Knowledge he speaks of ... My wife and
I found this astonishing and inexplicable. Confused and angry, we
feared they may be misled and exploited. These feelings faded as it
became more and more clear these people were experiencing something
beautiful and compelling, growing and persisting year after year. Our
sense of it was that it was fine for them, but not for us. Then my wife
heard Maharaj Ji speak, and it was not long before she, too, received
his offer. I thought that was very nice for her, too, but, again
not for me. By this time I thought of Maharaj Ji as a great spiritual
catalyst who had elevated my family to genuine spiritual experience, an
experience for which I felt I lacked the capacity.
"Two years later I too went to hear Maharaj Ji, believing I was going
simply for the other members of our family. I found myself listening
and suddenly felt an indescribable excitement and amazement as a
recognition erupted that what I was hearing was real and true ... As
Maharaj Ji spoke, it appeared in an uncanny yet exquisite way that he
was speaking directly and precisely to me and my condition. I felt I
was being awakened to someone unique, unprecedented in my life, someone
indescribably magnificent. I knew that
I had been touched, opened, moved by something incredibly transforming
...
I had found, or better, been found by what I really needed and wanted
...
I have since received the Knowledge myself and find the transformations
in my life continuing ..."
|
Also in Washington, D.C., Jackie Reese,
Administrative Assistant in the School of Engineering at Howard
University, felt she was getting nowhere in a life of "acquiring and
accumulating." Aside from her work, which she loves, and her life in
general, she was searching, looking for "something out there." She
says: "In one way, nothing has changed, and, in another, I've changed
completely - the quality of life that I sought has been uncovered, and
there is rest in my heart."
|
In Chicago, Ill., where he owns and operates an imported-footwear retail business. Arnold Klein
comments: "We are a two-car, house-in-the suburbs family with mortgage
payments, skating lessons, a summer garden and all that goes with that
... The difference is that as each moment of my life unfolds, I feel
full and complete. No longer am I depending upon my career or family or
material comforts as the source of my happiness. I know now something
that is constant and is always with me. More important, I know how to
tap into it and enjoy a beautiful experience at any moment. And with
time a love for the giver of that experience has also blossomed in a
real and beautiful way. This life that looks the same as many others is
now so full, so happy."
|
In Australia. Gwyn Pigott Hanssen has been
a potter for almost three decades, having painstakingly learned her art
among the traditional potters of provincial France. She exhibited and
taught and enjoyed success. In Paris, she met someone who told her of
Maharaj Ji, and has since realized "a beautiful energy inside myself,
an experience of peace that took me by surprise ... That beauty is
there, within me, so tangible, real and constant."
|
Rick and Teri Ruby (here with son
Dillion), a young couple in Los Angeles, who met in college and married
in I972, recall first hearing Maharaj Ji in I974: "(He) made the
consciousness of true love accessible to us, each in our own individual
heart, privately experienced and naturally shared"
|
14
Teresa d' Orey, of Lisbon, Portugal,
speaks of discovering "the love, the rest, the tranquillity that Ii was
so strongly looking for
She was 53 years old when she made that discovery, she says, and
yearning for a life with "something more to it." She feels free now of
"so many useless and negative ideas" and aware now that "life is
something so simple in fact."
|
"As a nutritionist, I have many people come to me with the problem of wanting to lose weight, but are unable to," says Janet Segall
in Los Angeles. "They usually know which foods to eat and which to
avoid, but when they get lonely, depressed, anxious or bored they get
'out of control' and overeat.
I understand because I did not know what to do for them or me. The
experience Maharaj Ji gives me fills me like nothing else can." |
Sandra S. Scantling is Assistant Professor and
Clinical Director of Psychiatric Nursing at the Department of
Psychiatry at a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut: "Many of us put our
attention on the outside of our bodies. We try to pretty up the wrapper
of the package with face lifts, health spas, or yoga. I have discovered
that it's fine to put ribbons and bows on the outside, but there is an
immaculate beauty inside that is unchanged by the passing of time or by
illness or poverty."
|
"I'm a spray painter in a factory, and I have experienced this Knowledge,"
says Duke Miller
of Miami, Florida. "I get up in the morning;: I go to work. Big deal.
Who wants to read about him?
"And all I can say is, sure that's how it looks. But aha! There is an
unexpected factor involved. Something's going on. It's invisible to the
outside observer. I feel like the cat that just swallowed the mouse. I
know a secret. But it's not a secret you
can just tell. But once you know it ...
"It may look like Joe Schmo punching in in the morning, but I know. I
know that what's really happening in my little life is that my heart is
opening more and more and more, and life isn't ordinary for me. It's
outrageous."
|
Maurice Powell is director of a number of
large advertising agencies, and a public relations firm in London,
England. He says: "I have some extra inner strength that helps me find
true peace in a life that
was far from peaceful previously and has just as much pressure today."
|
Dr. Jean-Paul Biberian, at 35, is a highly
respected surface science physicist at the University of Marseilles in
France. Even as a boy. he remembers, his scientific bent forced him to
keep asking himself and others
questions about "who I was, who was God ..." Nobody could answer his
questions, he says. and nothing in his religious training helped him,
either. His studies of general relativity and quantum mechanics
theories - these, too, failed to help. But then he experienced what
Maharaj Ji was offering, and he recalls: - "All at once I realized
there was another world inside
of me, nothing mysterious, but very simple, beautiful and peaceful.
Since then, my life has not changed a lot externally ... but inside it
is peace, joy and happiness.
I have found my true self, not this external envelope, but the true
consciousness. Before I wanted to help people. But I could not give
them what they really wanted. Now I know ..."
|
15
Now
you know...
... more about Maharaj Ji, and the experience he
offers. Or at least you should have a better idea of what he is all
about. The main thing is that there is no big mystery. It is all quite
plain, quite simple. You may or may not feel this is for you, although
it is difficult to think of anyone who would not profit by it. But it
is certainly worth considering.
As Maharaj Ji has said: "People from all walks of life pursue
happiness, and yet, where do we find it? I can show you a way in which
you can find that real happiness. When everything else fails, this
works. It's already there. What I have to offer is within you now."
If you would like to know more about Maharaj Ji, or how to receive the experience he offers,
please phone:
New York (212) 580- 0022
Washington D.C. (202) 745- 2921
Philadelphia (2I5) 642- 7018
Boston (617) 277- 8491
Hartford (203) 528- 3620
Providence (401) 274- 7588
Portland, ME (207) 775- 1056
© Elan Communications. 1982
© Elan Communications, 1982
|