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ELK has a couple
of reports about the Miami program. I was taking a
look when I realized what day it was and how I
didn't even buy him a card! Oh well ...
A celebration of life
Miami Beach, 8 December 2001
Thanks to Jo Robinson from the UK and Ivete
Belfort Mattos from Brazil for these two
reports:
From Jo:
Pink. Turquoise. White. Art Deco architecture
– Miami! Here on the South Beach, the day
starts sunny and warm, in contrast to the day
before which was overcast and rainy. Walking down
to the Miami Beach Conference Centre in the
afternoon, we share happy conspiratorial glances
with other people walking our way,
I was thinking about this, remembering all
those 'happy conspiratorial glances' we used to
share back when I was in the cult. But we were all
young, thin, unwrinkled. Those glances were rife
with the bemused, selfrighteous and downright happy
vibe of a bunch of young people who knew they
happened to be the first followers of the Lord of
the Universe, come to save us all. What about now?
How can these guys still get it up to smile at each
other in ANY way, let alone with that 'Happy
Conspiracy' feeling? I'd be embarrassed. In fact,
probably the best thing about being a PAM, I
imagine, is that you're considered too in, too
sophisticated, too something to have to indulge in
that Happy Conspiracy Glance shit. God that must
get old!
Realising we have been sitting in the wrong
seats, when their rightful owners come to claim
them, we discover that we are, in fact, nearer to
the front than we originally thought – a happy
discovery.
Do the Jehovah's Witnesses worry about
seating at that big picnic table you always see on
the cover of The Watchtower? The one where
they're all getting ready for the picnic to end all
picnics, lions and lambs over there, a couple of
Nigerians walking over here? This is premie heaven.
Heaven on earth. But excuse me, sir, I believe
you're in my seat.
This, however, prompts me to remember the first
time I ever saw Maharaji at a big event. I sat
right at the top, as far back and as far away as it
was possible to be, whilst feeling that he was
talking to me alone, and that we were the only
people there.
Of course, Maharaji had no idea who you were,
didn't give a damn and played you for decades ever
since like Forrest Gump's stupid brother.
The following is just some of what I can
remember Maharaji saying, and it's not necessarily
in the order in which he said it. No doubt when I
see a video or broadcast of this event, I'll wonder
why I forgot so much of it, but I hope it gives you
a little taste of what he said, with apologies for
the paraphrasing.
How servile! Listen, friend, don't be so hard
on yourself. You forgot so much of it because he's
not saying anything AND it's the same not saying
anything he's been doing for decades. What's to
remember?
The event started at around 5:30 pm.
Maharaji came onto the stage, and motioning
everyone to sit down, acknowledged the applause.
Then Daya came onto a side stage, looking beautiful
in a dress that looked as if it was covered in
stars, and accompanied by a pianist proceeded to
sing a jazz style song about letting the experience
be real.
I really wonder what that gig is all about.
Daya ... Dad ... all the Happy Clappers. Who's she
anyway? Why should SHE get such prominence? I mean,
either there's a magic gene in the Rawat clan or
there isn't. If there isn't, then, well, this is
sheer neoptism. I'm going to complain to the
Council of Churches.
BEING PRACTICAL
Maharaji then started talking about how much we
compromise, in the name of 'being practical'. He
talked about the meeting with the aspirants the day
before, and how he had told them that the next time
they looked at a tree, to consider all that was
right about it.
Hey, THAT's practical! Now you're
talking!
Knowledge is not about good and bad, but just
shows life as it is. Likewise, for the tree to
grow, so many things were right – not right as
in right and wrong, but right because the
possibility could manifest.There are only two
kinds of 'right' and the other one's spelled
'write'. So take your pick, guru. You use the word,
you MEAN the word. And don't think you can just
throw a wolly dumbass work like 'manifest' at it to
make it do some kind of magic. That isn't on
anymore.
The seed was good, in that it could grow, and
everything that was needed for it to grow was
there. Perhaps droughts and fires had come, but
they weren't bad enough to kill the tree, and it
could continue to grow.
To be able to look at life, simply like that,
not the rights and wrongs, but just as it is,
simple.
Yes? Finish the sentence, guru. How about 'To be
able to look at life like that, not the rights and
wrongs, but just as it is, simple, is nothing much
really.'
He talked about how birds fly without the
checklists that pilots need, and of how little baby
birds stretch their tiny wings and try to fly. Even
though they can't yet fly, they still make that
effort, and he said that effort was a noble
thing.
I'm sorry, but only a fool could still eat up
this rank and shameless anthropomorphism. And yet
it's been Maharaji's stock-in-trade all the time
we've known him. 'Oh look, how the faithful
computer key just lets you keep pounding and
pounding. And each time it keeps jumping right back
up. It never creeps off the keyboard. It doesn't
hide behind other keys. And it sure as hell doesn't
ask a lot of pesky questions! Be a little more like
that key, will 'ya?'
IS IT POSSIBLE TO REMEMBER EVERY BREATH?
A recent question he particularly liked, he said,
was 'Is it possible to remember every breath?'. And
many people laughed when he said that he felt a lot
of people were waiting for the answer.
But he wasn't saying yes, and he wasn't saying
no! It was the effort that was important – to
try to remember to make the effort.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't he
specifically resile from the 24/7 breath thing not
so long ago?
Many people, he said try to solve all their
problems. This was not a happening thing, he
reminded us! We worry about the past, and there is
something that all of us would like to go back to
and put right – however trivial. We worry
about what the future will bring, and we think that
a possible solution is to not worry. But he came up
with another solution.
Yes, yes, yes. I know the feeling. Sometimes
I worry about all the people I tricked into
thinking I was God and all the confusion that
caused. Better just drop it, huh? Thanks for the
advice.
The master he said, suggests not that you don't
worry, because that's impossible, but that you
worry about this moment, worry about this breath,
rather than worrying about the past and the
future.
In court today, I should have said something
like that. 'M' Lord, if it's all the same to you, I
must say, I'm not REALLY worried about that bit of
evidence going in. No, sire, I'm actually a bit
concerned about this breath, if you know what I
mean. It's the moment, M'Lord. The moment.'
Simplicity is profound, and when the master is
no longer there, people write books about what he
said. Yet it is more profound when it's actually
being said! It's easy to appreciate what you had,
but harder to appreciate what you have.
Oh Maharaji, please don't ever leave
us!!!!
FROM UNCERTAINTY TO CERTAINTY
What we have a lot of, is this breath, and if only
we could truly appreciate that, we would recognise
how much we have, that the fulfilment we want is
inside us. He talked about how human beings all
have that possibility of fulfilment. Someone who is
thirsty in the desert, has thirst but it comes with
an uncertainty about whether it can be fulfilled.
But to know that the water is near changes that
uncertainty. Just to know that, brings relief and
hope.
Maharaji talked about a magazine article
describing how society lacked kindness. Whilst
acknowledging that kindness was desirable, he made
the point that the lack of kindness was linked to
the frustration that people feel, and the lack of
happiness in their own lives. He used, as an
example, asking young children to smile. If they
feel a genuine reason to smile, they do,
spontaneously. But if you ask them to smile, they
grimace, or look very unnatural, with a 'cheesy
grin' as if saying 'cheese' for a photographer!
It's the same if you ask them to sleep – they
don't just relax. Their eyes are fluttering, or
they can't resist opening one eye!
The feeling has to be there before they can
respond. Adults though, learn how to smile and have
parties where all they do is try to be happy.
It was cute, I guess, when the young teenage
Lord of the Universe mugged for us all, played the
part of the cosmic Peter Pan, blowing out all the
stuffiness and pretentions of age and
responsibility. But this tired invocation of the
mythical child is getting really, really old
already. No?
He mentioned that flicking through the TV
channels, he had seen a trailer for a Clint
Eastwood movie. He then recalled the famous 'Make
my day!' line. This, Maharaji said, wasn't a
one-way conversation with his creator!
HAPPY EVER AFTER
The story of the master, Maharaji said is a very
different. He gave the example of Cinderella, and
said he had always had a hard time with it. He
could just about go along with the pumpkin turning
into a coach and the rats turning into coachmen,
but he could never understand the slipper part. Why
didn't the prince just look for Cinderella? The
shoe could have fit someone else! The 'happy ever
after' can be a reality for us, if we seek to be
happy now, in this breath.
Just once I'd like to see someone get a
chance to tear apart his stupid stories the way he
does every one else's. God, Cinderella. Is nothing
sacred?
He talked about the manifestation of grace in
our lives. Yesterday he said that one of the
aspirants had very sincerely said to him that they
were grateful and felt grace in their life, and a
manifestation of that was how other drivers let
them into the flow of traffic when they were
feeling that.
Maharaji explained that grace was in being given
this breath, not in traffic nor in rainbows.
But how he must have smiled knowing that he'd
created yet another cult member out of nothing but
smoke and mirrors. This guy doesn't even have
Knowledge yet. All he's got are some videos and
already he thinks God's controlling traffic for
him. Why, God didn't start doing that for me until
I'd moved into the ashram.
SOMETHING WE ALREADY KNOW
The master doesn't introduce you to anything new,
he said, rather he reunites you with something you
already know. He talks about what is familiar, not
strange. What is simple, yet profound.
After speaking for about an hour, Maharaji
finished, and Daya came onto the side stage again
and sang another beautiful jazz-style song about
the 'elegance' of existence, Maharaji then left the
stage and a short but moving video was played of
him talking over still shots of various
audiences.
Information on the screens told us the event
would begin at 10:30 am. tomorrow, and the hall
emptied.
The event continues!
From Ivete:
CELEBRATION OF LIFE
The event is a real celebration.
Maharaji talked about the true happiness of
existence: the joy of being alive as well as the
profound feeling of being thirsty and quenching
that thirst.
I experienced the desire to really live every
moment not just as I imagined, but aware of the
precious life each breath brings.
Good girl, Ivette. You sound like a premie
wind-up doll.
Once more Maharaji reinforced the simplicity of
being alive.
The event itself is simple and full of kindness
and beauty.
A pure demonstration of the clarity of love.
It is unique!
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Footnote: more cameras than of late were in
evidence at the event - including one mounted on a
track near the front of the hall. This could mean a
change in the quality of broadcasts...
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