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Until then I had had two models for psychic experiences. One was: “Well it happened to somebody else, and it’s very interesting and we certainly must keep an open mind about these things.” That was my social-science approach. The other one was: “Well, I’m high on LSD. Who knows how it really is?”
KK had much fear—suppression of the soul.
A man’s eight-month-old child was standing on a thirty-foot balcony. A servant and the child’s brother were there playing with a kite when the child fell to the marble floor thirty feet below. The mother tried to catch the child but couldn’t. The child didn’t move, but still there seemed to be no broken bones. Suddenly the child laughed, and the doctors could find nothing wrong at all and said that this was impossible. Some days later, Maharajji came to their house and said, “You were worried. You still didn’t realize who you have on your shoulders, protecting you. The baby didn’t fall on the
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A Frenchman was staying in Ananda Mayee Ma’s ashram and asked HRJ about this Neem Karoli Baba, wanting his darshan. HRJ said that if he were to remember Maharajji for only ten minutes, Maharajji could be there. The Frenchman closed his eyes and repeated “Neem Karoli Baba, Neem Karoli Baba,” and after ten minutes, unexpectedly, Maharajji came to Ma’s ashram. He went over to the Frenchman and asked, “Why are you remembering me? I’ve come. What do you want?”
Perhaps they served the function that the great saint Shirdi Sai Baba, who used miracles in an outrageous fashion, attributed to them: “I give them what they want, so they will want what I give.”
Miracles are only the unexpected; and in the spirit there is no expected, so there is no unexpected.
Communism comes only to those countries where there is no faith in God. In countries where there is religion and it is being observed, no Communism can come.”
There are so many classes of saints and sadhus. Maharajji was the saint of a different nature, which is called advait vad, which means, “There is only God, I myself am God and all things are my own heart and soul and God is present everywhere.” Maharajji was a follower of advait vadu. He saw his own soul in everybody. For him it was all One.
Once a beggar boy came to our hotel. We gave him some food but the boy wouldn’t leave. Finally he asked for a toy and we turned him out. Later, Maharajji said, “I came to your hotel but you turned me out.”
Once Maharajji went to a barber to have his beard shaved. As the barber was working, he told Maharajji that his son had run away some time ago and that he did not know where he was. He was missing him terribly and worried about him. Maharajji’s face was only half shaved, the other half still lathered up, but Maharajji insisted that he must go out just then and urinate. He returned shortly, the shave was finished, and Maharajji left. The next day, the barber’s son returned to his father with a strange story. He had been living in a town over one hundred miles away, and the day before, this fat
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There is no use forcing anything on anybody. No matter what I say, you’ll still do what you want to do. Yet you want me to dictate something. These teachings have got no meaning. There is no use in teaching people. It is the Almighty who teaches everybody—they all come well taught. There is one Supreme Teacher and he has taught everybody. Teachings are nothing. One who poses as a teacher does so only to satisfy his own ego.”
NONATTACHMENT FOR sense-objects is liberation; love for sense-objects is bondage. Such verily is knowledge. Now do as you please.” This quotation from an ancient Hindu text, the Ashtavakra Gita (XV: 3), most succinctly conveys Maharajji’s teachings about attachment.
I AM IN THE WORLD BUT NOT CONCERNED WITH THE WORLD. I AM GOING THROUGH THE MARKETPLACE, BUT NOT AS A PURCHASER. —MAHARAJJI QUOTING KABIR
TEMPLES ARE BUT PILES OF STONES. ATTACHMENT HOLDS YOU BACK. I DON’T WANT ANYTHING. I EXIST ONLY TO SERVE OTHERS.
In the Gita it is said that if you offer only a flower in the heart of devotion it’s like the purest gift you can give.
So I said to Maharajji, “This maya is very hard to overcome.” Maharajji said four things to me: “Maya? Kya hai? Kalian hai? Nahin hai (Maya? What is it? Where is it? It is not)!”
IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU ARE MARRIED OR NOT, IT ONLY MATTERS HOW MUCH YOU LOVE GOD.
IT’S BETTER TO SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING THAN TO TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT.
IF YOU ARE FREE OF ATTACHMENT, YOU WILL LEAD A SIMPLE LIFE IN A SIMPLE ENVIRONMENT
GOD WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT. HOLD ON TO NOTHING.
LOVE THE POOR. SERVE THEM. GIVE EVERYTHING TO THE POOR, EVEN YOUR CLOTHING. GIVE IT ALL AWAY. JESUS GAVE AWAY ALL, INCLUDING HIS BODY.
TOTAL TRUTH IS NECESSARY. YOU MUST LIVE BY WHAT YOU SAY.
TRUTH IS THE MOST DIFFICULT TAPASYA. MEN WILL HATE YOU FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. THEY WILL CALL YOU NAMES. THEY MAY EVEN KILL YOU, BUT YOU MUST TELL THE TRUTH. IF YOU LIVE IN TRUTH, GOD WILL ALWAYS STAND WITH YOU. CHRIST DIED FOR TRUTH. WHEN ASKED HOW THE HEART COULD BE PURIFIED, HE SAID, “ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH.”
Steve at the Lama Foundation
IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH FAITH YOU CAN GIVE UP MONEY AND POSSESSIONS. GOD WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.
MONEY SHOULD BE USED TO HELP OTHERS.
GIVE UP MONEY, AND ALL WEALTH IS YOURS.
CLINGING TO MONEY IS A LACK OF FAITH IN GOD.
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD IS MINE. EVEN THE MONEY IN AMERICA.
(“Food is the best intoxicant,” “love is the best medicine.”)
The experience of seeing him sitting there, looking and talking, was as if there were nobody there at all. It was nobody playing a game of being somebody!
WORLDLY PEOPLE GO OUTWARD, BUT YOU MUST GO INWARD LIKE THE TORTOISE, WITHDRAWING WITHIN YOUR SHELL. MEDITATION IS GOOD. ONE CAN ATTAIN A PURE MIND BY ONE-POINTEDNESS AND DETACHMENT. MEDITATE UPON ONE POINT AND YOU WILL KNOW GOD.
CLEAR THE MIND OF ALL WORLDLY THINGS. IF YOU CAN’T CONTROL YOUR MIND, HOW WILL YOU REALIZE GOD?
M started doing puja and meditation as instructed by Maharajji. Maharajji had given him a mantra and told him to start any way he wanted; it didn’t matter. After some time, when M and Maharajji were traveling by horse-drawn carriage, M asked Maharajji about the wandering mind during meditation: “It won’t stand on one point; but many ideas come in. What do I do?” Then suddenly a small child ran across the road and the driver pulled the reins to stop the horse just in time to save the child. Maharajji said, “Like that,” pointing to the driver holding the reins. “As the mind will travel here,
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MEDITATE TO RAISE THE KUNDALINI. THINK ABOUT GOD; IT WILL GO RIGHT UP. TO SEE GOD, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SPECIAL EYES. OTHERWISE YOU CANNOT BEAR THE SHOCK.
Once I asked Maharajji how it is possible for a man to remember God all the time. He told me the story of Narada (the celestial sage) and the butcher: Vishnu (one of the aspects of God) was always praising the butcher and Narada wondered why, since the butcher was always occupied and Narada spent twenty-four hours a day praising Vishnu. Vishnu gave Narada the task of carrying a bowl of oil, full to the brim, up to the top of a mountain, without spilling a drop. The task completed, Vishnu asked how many times Narada remembered Vishnu. Narada asked how that would be possible, since he had to
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WHOEVER WORKS FOR GOD, HIS WORK WILL BE DONE BY ITSELF. WORK IS GOD. WORK IS WORSHIP. THE MIND SHOULD ALWAYS BE ENGAGED IN WORK.
At times Maharajji’s behavior reminds me of a story Ramakrishna tells of a saint who asked a snake not to bite but to love everyone. The snake agreed. But then many people threw things at the snake. The saint found the snake all battered. “I didn’t say not to hiss,” said the saint.
Then he said, “Sometimes the most anger reflects the strongest love.”
Then Maharajji offered me a bargain: “You must polish the mirror free of anger to see God. If you give up a little anger each day, I will help you.”
FORGIVENESS IS THE GREATEST WEAPON, BECAUSE A SAINT SO ARMED IS UNPERTURBABLE. HE CAN GIVE UP ANGER IMMEDIATELY.
CLEANSE THE MIRROR OF YOUR HEART AND YOU WILL SEE GOD. EVEN IF A PERSON HURTS YOU, GIVE HIM LOVE. THE WORST PUNISHMENT IS TO THROW SOMEONE OUT OF YOUR HEART. YOU SHOULD LOVE EVERYONE AS GOD, AND LOVE EACH OTHER. IF YOU CANNOT LOVE EACH OTHER, YOU CANNOT ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. KUMBHAK (RETENTION OF BREATH) CAN BE ATTAINED THROUGH BHAKTI (DEVOTION) ALSO. WHEN THE EMOTION REACHES CLIMAX, THE BREATH STOPS AND THE MIND BECOMES FIXED.
NEVER HURT ANOTHER’S HEART. A SAINT’S HEART MELTS LIKE BUTTER. NO. IT MELTS EVEN MORE THAN BUTTER. BUTTER ONLY MELTS WHEN YOU PUT IT NEAR THE FIRE, BUT A SAINT’S HEART MELTS WHEN ANYONE ELSE’S HEART COMES NEAR THE FIRE. —MAHARAJJI QUOTING KABIR
“Why do you love me?” Maharajji asked a woman. “I don’t know, Maharajji.” Maharajji repeated his question again and again. Finally he said, “You love me because I love you.”
LOVE IS THE STRONGEST MEDICINE. IT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ELECTRICITY.
LOVE ALL MEN AS GOD, EVEN IF THEY HURT YOU OR SHAME YOU. BE LIKE GANDHI AND CHRIST.
I COULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A GREAT SAINT IF I WEREN’T SO COMPASSIONATE. KEEP ME IN YOUR HEART.
“You are angry with your wife. You do not treat your wife well. She is Lakshmi! You should not treat her so badly,” said Maharajji to a devotee.
Maharajji often repeated: “Maun! Naun! Kaun!” which translates as “Silence” (i.e., Don’t grumble or complain); “Salt” (i.e., Don’t point out faults or make judgments, such as, “there is not enough salt in the food”); and “Corner” (Don’t interfere in family life. Stay out of the world and in the corner).
About a school for girls being built, Maharajji commented, “Educate the girls and they will educate society.”
