1. U S 81 - 4 WHAT WOULD YOUR LAST SATSANG TELL US? GURURAJ: Good. What shall we talk about this morning? DOUG: Ben. CHELA 2: Namasté. GURURAJ: Namasté. CHELA: Beloved, gentle Guruji, as you have told us so many times, it is all so very simple. So very simple, in fact, that we have over a thousan d hours of your lecture tapes explaining just how simple it is. If for the reason of some divine plan the slate were wiped clean and this information and its recollection were no longer available to us and we as your chelas were to continue on the path of unfoldment with one last satsang to guide us, what would you tell us in that hour? [Laughter.] GURURAJ: Very good. I would tell you, "Don't fall asleep. And just be." It reminds me of this church where this priest used to give his regular sermons. F ine. Now he had a regular attender, a parishioner, an old man. And every time the pastor started his sermon, after a few minutes the old man used to fall asleep. This old man was always accompanied by a young boy. So this went on for weeks. And so the pastor calls up the young boy to him privately, and he says, "Who is that that you always come with?" "Oh, Sir, that's my grandpa." So he says, "Son, do me a favor. Every time your grandpa falls asleep, you nudge him to wake him up, and I'll give you twe nty five cents every time." Fine. Good. So for the next three Sundays it was fine, and the boy nudged the old chap whenever he fell asleep. But after three Sundays, the old man started sleeping again. This went on for two or three weeks. So the pastor calls the young boy to him. He says, "Look, I've been giving you twenty five cents to do this job to keep grandpa awake, but what's happened?" So the boy says, "You've been giving me twenty five cents to keep him awake, but Grandpa gives me fifty cents to let him sleep." [Laughter.] What would the last satsang be? I never thought of that. In other words the question means, out of a thousand, perhaps fifteen hundred satsangs, perhaps a bit more, what is the essence of my teachings, and how would I be a ble to summarize it? Do I frame your question better than you? [Laughter.]

2. U S 81 - 4 The essence of the teaching is this: is to bring man to the realization that he is Divine, and with that realization that he is Divine, he will not be trapped in the mental mise ries that surround him all the time. He creates these traps for himself where they are not necessary. So, without even denying the traps that ensnares him, he can still be aware of the underlying factor that even this trap is Divine. That even this trap is so Divine that even that very pitfall is a creation or manifestation expressed through the laws of evolution by Divinity itself. Now when man reaches this understanding, then all pitfalls ceases. He stops resisting evil. Evil would be there, but he does not resist it because by fighting against it, the evil becomes greater or if not greater, it assumes a greater proportion. Resist not evil would not mean that you repress yourself, inhibit yourself, or exercise a great measure of self... [searches fo r right word] immolation is another word for that. CHELA: Masochist? GURURAJ: Yes, he does not do that. But he sees the value of the so called evil which is but just an interpretation of the mind. So an understanding is developed. We come back onto t he original theme of this course, the attitude. How to look at things. How to view things. Now by not resisting evil you are not encouraging that so called evil, but you are flowing with the currents of nature and allowing evil to fade away by itself by becoming the observer of what is happening, things we classify as good and bad. It's raining outside so we say, "What a terrible day it is today. It's raining. It's bad." It will spoil your nice dress o r the new suit that you have bought when you want to go to a party. You see? So the thought is centered only upon yourself, your party, your suit, your dress. Yours. Where the hell do you get it from? Nothing is yours. So that is an evil to you, something wrong for you. But without the rain, without the rain the flowers and the fruits, the food we eat and even the sheep on which that wool grows would have not been there to give you that suit, to give you that garment. Without that rain cotton would not grow to give you that summer frock. So an enti rely different perspective towards life whereby recognizing the Divinity within, Divinity is recognized everywhere. Like that most famous stanza from the Upanishads, "What is there to be known and by knowing which all else is known?" And that which is t o be known is you. "Man, know thyself." Man, know thyself. What man? Who is the real man in this apparent man that you see around you? Who is that man? And therefore when we ask that question, the other question arises, "Who am I? Do I exist? And if I exist, which part of me really exists and which part of me apparently exists?" So here you come to discrimination. You see how all these qualities or aspects of man all merge a into oneness. When man

3. U S 81 - 4 can truly say I exist in actuality, I actually exi st, you refer to the man who we are seeking within ourselves, the real self, the Divine self. And when that is found and sought through spiritual practices, then only could we find some form of reality in all apparent realities. For everything around us in relative existence changes and changes and changes all the time. So that which is changing could never be actual, but yet it has its own form of reality. I could not deny the existence of this chair. I could not deny the existence of these flowers, of this board. But I know that am I going to be so attached to this flower or to this board? Because in its very own dissolution, it will become something else. The same piece of wood could become a table, could become a chair, could become anything. So let me be concerned with the essence of the wood. Let me see the wood. A piece of gold could be made into earrings or a necklace or a bracelet. How many of you, or how many in the world, would look at that ornament and say, "Ah, this is gold." No. We s ay, "This is a bracelet." We say, "These are earrings." We say, "This is a necklace." We don't say, "It is gold." That only comes as an afterthought. "Oh, that's made of gold." And why does it come as an afterthought that it is made of gold? Because now you are looking at the value of the little trinket you possess. So there insight. What is the essence of the table, the chair, the flowers and whatever you see around you, what is the essence? And when one finds the essence outside, one also finds the essence inside. Once one finds the essence inside, then all that around you is automatically found. It's a two way street. So here identification occurs: that none is separate from me. I am one with all and everything, for everything contains that ess ence. Everything not only contains the essence but is the essence. Everything is good. Everything is holy. If you would despise excrement coming from your own body... It is part of your body. Why do you despise it? Because the odor is not nice. But have you thought of it the other way: that from this body that I love so much, that has been produced. And even that production which is so despised and never looked upon makes the flowers and trees grow. It feeds. Made from the food you have eaten. M ade from the food you have eaten which the excrement has helped to grow. So what are you eating in reality? [Laughter.] So with this attitude in life everything becomes holy. Everything has within it a wholeness. And I am not only a part of tha t wholeness, but I am that wholeness. You can never be a part of a wholeness. You either are or are not. From a limited angle yo u seem to be a part. But from a different angle you are it all. None separation. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing exists. "Eternity in an hour," as Blake would have said. Yes. All in that oneness, for God is all. And there is only one God, one energy. So how can you be apart? Where is there a place for you to stand outside His omnipresence? You see. But the queer happening that people without understanding would find queer is this: that if I am of the Divine, made from the Divine, and am the Divine, how come I have a sense of individuality and not universality? For that is the path to proceed: from the unit to the whole, from the individual to the universal. Why do I have the sense of being alone, separate? Why? What has caused this? That is the ques tion. What has caused this?

4. U S 81 - 4 We also know that there is only one mind that functions, one universal mind there are no two minds one universal mind that functions. And its energies are being distributed all the time more at one end at some time and les s at the other end at some time forever fluctuating in its flow. So with the manifestation of this universe when that divine energy, that substanceless substance started concretizing itself, it first concretized itself as mind, the universal mind which, in other words, is the personal god. So the impersonal God, the energy in very subtle of the subtlest, indescribable subtlety there is from that form when it started concretizing itself, not by will, not by will, but by its own nature. Like the na t ure of the flower is to give fragrance. The nature of the fire is to give heat. And that is what we call manifestation. So when t he Impersonal became the personal god, it was first formulated as mind, one universal mind. Now as matter goes and became mo re denser and denser and denser, then came about all these atoms, atomic structures, atomic structures that could duplicate and replicate itself. That how the universe expanded. And these minute atoms became more condensed, condensed and more condensed u ntil it assumed a solid form which we call the mineral kingdom. But yet the beauty is this: it is like holography where the entire picture is contained in a little piece of the pl ate. You can take a holographic plate and break it into a million pieces. Yet each little piece, like each little atom, contains the wholeness of the picture. This modern technology has demonstrated to us in the past few years. So now with this force, with this manifestation that arose as the fragrance shoots out from this fire which we normally term the Big Bang, the creation of the universe this force was started. Now the very nature of the separation of these atoms, its very nature is to find its essence and togetherness again. So what happens in evolution is a dissipati on of the momentum that was first brought into being in the Big Bang, this terrific explosion, because when it comes to matter, when the Impersonal was condensed into the personal and the personal further personal mind, universal mind further condens ed itself into atomic matter, there would always be conflicts. There would always be combustion. Any explosion has combustion, and all combustion is created by certain forms of polarity. And that is how all these atoms became separated. And its goal is to end the momentum of this vast explosion which is the universe. But now having these atoms being... these atoms being separated and trying to find its essence again, has to proceed on its own path. For in the explosion the atomic and molecular matter c ould not proceed in one line. It proceeds in all directions as any explosion would. So it would take time in evolution for all these atoms to gather themselves again in that togetherness of the essence. So this is how individuality started, for in the e xplosion the mind condensed in atomic structures had to proceed along separately. For every atom is a separate entity, and yet it contains the wholeness of entirety. And every atom is connected to the other by its essential energy, by its essential self. And so this atom contains

5. U S 81 - 4 within itself the entirety which is also the entirety of the mind. But being now in an encapsuled form, individuality occurr ed in the universality. And yet the essence remained universal. The surface, the container, became ind ividual. So in its path of progress it started into higher forms of life: mineral, plant, animal, man. Everything has consciousness, but man has the recognition or recollection of consciousness and from the conscious mind limitedly so. So what does man do? He tries to gather the total awareness, total consciousness, of the entirety. Since time began, in the relative sense of the word, everything is in your mind. The entire history of this creation or manifestation is in your mind. So as awareness grows you come to comprehend this entirety. And when the mind reaches subtler and subtler levels, you would recognize the various planes of existences in the path of evolution. From the subtlest of the subtlest to the grossest of the grossest the whole range can be experienced. Some people get frightened by it. It becomes awesome, not fear, awesome. If you read the Gita, there is a time when Arjuna requested of Krishna to really show himself. And Krishna showed himself in the vrat form. That's the Sanskrit word, vrata, which means in his universal form. And in that universal form was seen as Arjuna saw it people dying, people coming alive, people sufferings, miseries, happinesses, joys, sorrows, all that contained in the universal form. And as the mind becomes more and more aware, you perceive all these things. But if the perception is backed by spiritual practices to a high degree, then you would see these as perceptions apart from yourself. So here you have been separate with only the co nscious mind. But now you are finding in the process the separation from the deeper layers, the deeper levels of the subconscious mind, and all planes of existences throughout this universe can be seen and observed and experienced. I know it. I have gon e through these planes in this little lifetime many, many, many times. It becomes awesome. You see? So that is how the individuality serves a purpose in the evolutionary process. From one everything came, separated, preserved, just to come together agai n. And that's the process: creation, and at the end dissolution, and preservation in the middle. Creation, preservation, dissolution. And that is the law of nature, the total law of nature, the governing law of nature, within so many other laws are invo lved. Now to give this understanding is the essence of my teaching, to give this understanding that you are Divine but deluded by your sense of separation. So what do we do? We develop this understanding that all is one by self examination, by listening to the words of sages, reading their books, by a touch, a glance; a realization occurs. So the process sometimes is difficult. That now you feel. And of course, this individualization with a limited amount of consciousness assumes the ego self. Now with the assumption of this ego self, every person thinks I am so significant. The entire universe rotates around me. And that is very true. It does. But where are you looking at it from? From the ego self? Yes, you are, and that is not true. So

6. U S 81 - 4 bringing man to the realization that from this assumed great significance to the realization of total insignificance, that is the clarification of the ego. And when man reaches that sense, that knowledge, that inner experience of total insignificance, from there h e proceeds further to say "I am all significant." Do you see the cyclical process? But the significance that one has now is far, far different from the all encompassing significance one experiences. Far, far different. At two totally different levels: o ne from the ego, relative level, one from the Absolute, Divine level. And then the question "Who am I?" is answered. Until then the answer is not there. You have a certain glimpse, a certain glimmer, sometimes the sun just peeks through from amidst th e clouded sky. That's encouraging. That's encouraging. Even if you do not see the sunshine, it is still there. Clouds are many. After all, I've said this many times, what has created the clouds? Only but the sun drawing up water as vapor, creating the clouds to obscure itself for a purpose, for rain. And yet the sun remains untouched far below the clouds, the plain creating the water wherever it is needed for the preservation of this creation or existence. And the sun is untouched. So the sun itsel f creates these clouds, creates its own obscurity. Now that is why man suffers, not realizing that it is Divinity itself that has obscured itself from you because you are too involved with that sense of great significance on the ego level. I am thee. I a m. But what "I am?" Not the ordinary "I am" with which you attach a label. I'm John. I'm Jack. I'm Jean. I am Joan. Not that "I am," but the all encompassing Jahweh. "I am that I am." That is the purpose of the journey. That is the purpose of all this. And then you would reach a stage where everything else loses its value. Everything becomes insignificant. You stand apart and say, "What is this? What is that? This is a dream. How can all this be real? What reality is there in it?" And then a longing starts in your heart, a deep longing to know the essence of all this unreality around me. Then you find that essence. Then you find that grace just descending. Create that deep longing, and you draw the entire universe in the palm of your hand. That is the essence of life. We teach of life, for there is none other than life. There is no death. There is only a transformation. There is only a change from one substance to the other. Even when this body is discarded, the atomic structure of thi s body is never destroyed. It goes back to its original elements, the water to the water, earth to earth, and the fire to fire. All the five elements go back to the original source. So everything is eternal. Everything is eternal, and therefore, you are eternal too. Your ego self, becoming so refined, is also not destroyed. When the body is cast off and the ego self is left alone, and it which we can also call the subtle body that too being so fine disintegrates and goes back into its original ele ments. So the sum totality of this universe remains the same. Not a single ounce can be taken away from it, and not a single ounce

7. U S 81 - 4 can be added to it. So by having these understandings, by having some knowledge, experience of the essence underlying this all, then you experience the "allness" of everything there is. And that is is ness. Do not sleep. Be awake. And to be awake is just to be. It's so simple. Yes. So that, in a very short, very concise form, is the essence of our teaching. It is not a gainst any religion whatsoever. It is not against any theology. For at the basis of all these religions, theologies, and philosophies we find these simple truths. They are there. And that is what our emblem portrays. Through whichever way you want to enter, do enter to the light within. That light is there within. Choose Buddhism, choose Christianity, choose Hinduism. Choose whatever you like. If you're a Christian, be a better Christian. If you're a Hindu, be a better Hindu. But do not lose the a im of finding the heaven within, the jyot burning so brightly, the jyotis burning so brightly within, the essence of yourself, the light within. And with this light always there, why do we wear these eye masks and just see darkness? And yet we are just so filled with light, children of God, children of light. And yet you talk of suffering? Why? What is suffering? There is no such damn thing. There is no suffering. Your interpretation is suffering. [Bell rings in background.] And that is the greatest illusion. Your interpretation is the suffering, and your interpretation is the greatest illusion. You are not being. You a re assuming. You are assuming truth, you are not being truth. And once you gain this inner wisdom through experience.... And th e path is not always easy. It is easy in reality, but our interpretations make things difficult. But we have to bypass them, overcome them, go straight through them. Go through the army of the foes that battle against you. Don't circumvent them; you're escaping them then. Face them. Draw your swords. March on Christian soldiers or Hindu soldiers. Onward march. For that Divinity is always there with us. Who can be against you? God is with you. Such an old saying. But how many people understand it ? They understand it with their mind. They think about it. They say, "Good concept. Yes. Yes. Yes." Experience it. So the basis of our teaching is experience. And where do you experience it? At the core, the center of your personality. Here you go beyond all these outer trappings. Here you go beyond all these outer trappings and reach the core, the heart, the heart of your self, your core. That is Divine. That heart is forever bleeding. Not bleeding in suffering, but feeding. That bleeding is a feeding for the purification to bring about purity to the outer trappings and to know what they are worth. Here today, gone tomorrow. Worth nothing. Not tuppence. Two bits. Sorry. [Laughter.] [END OF SIDE ONE.]

8. U S 81 - 4 GURURAJ: You see? That is the essence. So our teachings... we do not dwell into theologies. Those are man made ways. Man has different concepts. Different men in different times in different climes have different concepts. They formulate their own forms of worship, devotion, whatever. Nothing wrong. Our teachings are universal because we do not go for the outer trappings. I have found to my sorrow that all the religions, so called religions, of the world have just become commercial organizations i n the name of God. In the name of God. The richest institutions in the world today are churches and life insurance companies. [Laughter.] Yes. Life insurance companies, they promise you a lot of money after you are dead. [Laughter.] Who knows? So wh at's the difference between the churches and life insurance companies? Nil. [Laughter.] Yes. One promises you... [Laughs] one promises you money after you are dead and the other promises you everlasting life after you are dead. And they can prove noth ing. It's a promise, and you pay for the promises. That's the ways of the verld. Vat a stoopid verld. [Mock accent.] [Laughter.] So we have to go beyond these stupidities because all these churches teaches... You know there was a pastor and a priest. And in the same street the priest had his church, and the pastor had his church. I don't know if it was in Woodside somewhere. I don't know. [Laughter.] And they never used to agree with each other. Always at loggerheads. You know, whose churches had more people and whose had less. And they never used to really agree. So one day, being good men, they got together and says, "Look. Let the past be the past. We're not going to squabble over pettinesses. Let us be friends. You do your work. I do my work. For after all aren't we both doing the Lord's work?" So the priest had his last remark. He says, "You do your work in your way. I do my work in His way." [Laughter.] You see? So many damned liars we find in this world. Deluding. Why? And som e of them are very sincere. They don't even know they are lying. They are lying because they are just looking at the outer trappings and not basic truths. And that is what my teachings are all about: to find basic truths. And then you build your edific e around it according to your temperament. That's your business. Worship Divinity as Buddha. Worship Divinity as Christ. Worship Divinity as Krishna. Symbolize any one as Divinity. That's your business. Take any true channel, and be devoted to that c hannel. You don't even need to worship because worship is a fallacy. It's a projection of the mind. Devotion is a feeling. Do not worship, it is only a mental projection of some concept you have. But to be devoted is different. Devoted comes from the heart. It is a love that you are expressing that knows only of truth. Worship can know a lot of untruths. Churches I've seen. Temples I've seen in India. "You've got to worship this way. This flower must be put there. That must be put there at the sa me time, but please you can't put the flower alone on the altar. It must be accompanied with a coin." Do you see? So, this world thrives on these lies, lies, lies.

9. U S 81 - 4 One day in this one particular church this minister always had the habit of telling the c ongregation what he was going to speak about the following Lord's Day, the following Sunday. So he said, "Next week I'm going to give a sermon on liars. But I want you to prepare something so that you'd understand." And he said that, "I want you all to read the first ten verses of Hebrews, chapter fourteen." Fine. So the next Lord's Day came, and before he started his talk he said, "How many of you have read the first ten chapters of Hebrews fourteen?" So a lot of hands went up. Sadly the minister sai d, "There is no Hebrews fourteen. [Laughter.] So today's talk I'm going to dedicate to all my brothers and sisters who had put up their hands." [Laughter.] Do you see? Sincerity, honesty in what you do, that is the practical way of life. Spiritual pract ices, sincerity, honesty, understanding, and peace is all yours. Then you will answer the question yourself, "Who am I? What is God?" No guru, no sage, no Buddha, no Christ can answer that for you. You have to find it. We show the way. And I've said this many times before. I do not shine the light upon you, but I shine the light upon the path so that you might not stumble and fall and break your neck. You see? That is the essence of our teachings. Now, what is sincerity? What is honesty? That does n't mean that you have to be so good. No. No. That is a fallacy. Shakespeare said it very well in Julius Caesar that "The elements were so mixed in him that the world could stand up and say he was a man." Only if you can rise above the polarities of go od and bad... and that comes through sincerity. So then rising above all man made laws of good and bad, you become a law unto yourself. Yes. You become a law unto yourself because no karma can ever attach itself to you because you are non attached. Eve ry action becomes a play, a joy, and you remain forever pure within yourself, within that eternal spirit that resides there within you in all its majesty , in all its glory, in all its beauty. That is our teachings. And we have the practical ways of reach ing it. Therefore, I emphasize over and over again, come to satsangs. I know courses could be expensive for some people. A lot of these places have to be paid so much. Everything is so expensive today. Train fares and cars... [Bell rings in background .] Shut up! [Laughter.] Train fares and bus fares and plane fares, they are all so expensive. I know. Course fees. They serve us nice food. They give us nice rooms, nice surroundings. And it's a lovely opportunity, all this togetherness. "Satsang" me ans "to be in the company of truth:" "sat," truth; "sang," togetherness. Togetherness in truth. It is so important. I wish more people would come. I wish more people would come. Not for me. I'm just a rotter. I am nothing. Who am I? This bag of bon es and blood. Not worth one fourpence if brought down to its essential value. That's what these bones and blood is worth. That's all. But come. The association of truth that pours from a far deeper level than this ugly surface. You see? You must encou rage your friends to come. Even once a year. It's good. It's worth it. Something... no person leaves a course without being touched, without some change taking place in him or her. Perhaps

10. U S 81 - 4 not at that moment on a conscious level, but afterwards, later on, a month later, two months, a year later, two years later, something just sparks, flares up. Illumination. Light. Then you sit and think, "Yes, I see now how this started." I, with our teachings you asked of our teachings do not want to take you to enlightenment. I can't. You have to become enlightened yourself. But I can show you how to prepare the candle. I can show you how to make matches and make the candle. I can show you how to strike the match. But you light. Not me. I don't need to lig ht. You need it. You light. You have to realize. You have to find that Divinity. May I be a brother, a father, a friend, a beloved. Hold my hand. Let's w alk in the sunshine instead of groveling in the darkness like worms. Why, when you are Divine, why? These are the [meanings?]. This is the truth. And this is the light. This is the way. [Claps hands together.] Yes! Namasté. ***END***