Yes this is all so beyond parody, the drooling gurunoids, happy clapper zombies.  I must say, it's never as funny as when recounted by an Indian for some reason.  I guess it's their long tradition of grovelling before godmen that makes it all so rich. 

But I wonder, does anyone know where Rawat gets his jokes?  Does he subscribe to a joke service like lots of other public speakers?  He never credits anyone with any of them.  I dunno.  Maybe he makes them up himself.  Some are worse than others.  The odd one makes me laugh a bit.  They certainly aren't worth the price of admission though.

Anyway, this little bit below about peace --as opposed to freedom -- is quite telling.  He suggests it's either / or and that the wise premie only wants the former.  Ouch!

Peace is what we need

Saturday, 22 January 2005

A report from Gandhi Ranjitsingh

Today, the second day of the event with Maharaji in Los Angeles, we were all left falling in love with him and appreciating how much kindness and care he bestows on us.

We had a Knowledge review in the morning and this was followed by an expression event.

In the evening there was another Expression event.

Three in One Day.

Everyone was so very surprised and was enjoying every moment of it. The band played and Daya accompanied by Premlata and a couple of other performers again delighted the audience and Maharaji with some very beautiful songs.

At the expression events, those who spoke were pouring out their hearts and gratitude to him. It felt that all who were there were feeling in our hearts what they were actually saying to him.

In his comments and the short addresses at the beginning of each event, He reminded us of how important it was for us to enjoy the gift of Knowledge.

He talked about Knowledge being the umbrella and we have to open it or not to complain about being soaked if we did not open it.

People, he said, claimed that they want freedom. He mentioned that in a jail in Delhi, four prisoners received Knowledge. Then he said that they do not have freedom, but they have peace. Peace is what we need, he said.

Many of the expressions were very touching and many times he made comments that brought laughter to the audience.

Someone thanked him for the gifts and his answer was, "Keep enjoying and they will keep coming." He said that our hearts are our heroes. In our life we will never find a greater hero than out heart; we should know what we do not want and also know what we do want.

To someone else, he said that the hope that we should have is to be given the strength to have the recognition to recognize that which we need to recognize.

He made a joke to another speaker who talked about having Knowledge for 30 years.

Everyone was hysterical in their laughter. We were all having such a wonderful time with him all day long. At another point in time, Maharaji told the joke about the angels asking God what he was doing. God said that he took the earth and put time in it and made it rotate on its axis for 24 hours. The angels then asked God what he was going to do next.

God replied, "I'll call it a day."

At the end, Premlata sang "Get up! Get up! And dance to the rhythm."

All the premies stood up and danced and sang and clapped. In the end Maharaji could not resist and he got up and danced with us for a few seconds.
It was indeed so very beautiful.