Maharaji in Miami
"In each one of us lies the source of joy. Of fulfillment. That's reality. That's the true reality."
"Heaven? Where is that heaven? Drop the glasses of arrogance and you will see that heaven is not away from you. Heaven is in you."
"Get with it! Be alive! Live! There is something inside each one of us that says, ARISE!"
"Choose! Make that choice. Those of you who want peace inside, you have to make that choice. What do you choose?"
"We have mastered the art of provoking what is bad in people. We have not mastered the art of provoking what is good in people."
"Dignity. Peace. Prosperity. Without dignity it is hard to be in peace. Without peace, it is hard to prosper."
Excerpted from Innerlink
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March 16, 2010Be Who You Are!
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March 11, 2010It's a Wonderful World Puppet Show
Louis Armstrong...shadow puppets...and you.
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March 10, 2010PUPPET-JI: Why Are We Here?
And now a word from the most conscious puppet on planet Earth...
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March 08, 2010Maharaji in Santa Monica
"You want to know the truth? The truth resides inside of you. Where else would it be?"
"You are here. It's on! It's happening. The beautiful music you hear -- the orchestra is not just warming up."
"In my downs, I want to remember the up. And in my ups, I want to remember the up, up!"
"Everything that is necessary for you to truly enjoy yourself is here. Make the connection."
"You want to know about karma? Pinch yourself. Do you feel pain? Karma. If the person sitting next to you screams, you pinched the wrong person."
"When you don't know, even answers are questions. And when you know, even questions become answers. How cool is that?"
"I have the tickets to the best show in town. And you want them. If you want those tickets, I have them."
"Don't try to make every day the same. But see the same beauty in every day."
"Whatever you decide to do, be at peace. Experience dignity in your life. Experience peace in your life."
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March 07, 2010The Stillness After Maharaji Speaks
After great performers come to the end of a great performance, it is not uncommon for grateful audiences to give them a standing ovation. They clap, they cheer, they focus all their attention on the one who has just opened the door to magnificence. Think Pavarotti. Think Martin Luther King. Think anyone you've ever stood your ground for and loved.
What I find amazing is this is how Maharaji's presentations begin.
Before he utters a single word, audiences are on their feet, applauding. And when he's done? Pin drop silence.
Somehow, through his own unique alchemy of humor, wisdom, and delight, he finds a way to bring everyone in the room to a place of perfect stillness... back to the very beginning -- where there is nothing left to do, but be.
Continue reading "The Stillness After Maharaji Speaks"
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March 06, 2010The Entire Universe is Yours
If you knew how much you already had, you wouldn't waste a second wanting anything more. The entire universe is yours and still you are longing for something else. The world is a milkweed pod. The more you try to grab it, the further it floats away. Stop for a second. Extend your hand. Receive your inheritance. All the legal work's been done a thousand years ago. Throw a party! Invite your friends and a hundred people you don't know. Feed them. Give them something good to drink. Dance until you cannot stand.
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March 05, 2010Stand Still. Stand Very Very Still.
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March 03, 2010Dashboard Light
The sun is setting. There is precious little light to write my song of praise to you -- only the glow from the dashboard of a 1983 Toyota taking me deeper into the sudden mountains of Mexico.
Victor, the driver, sees what I'm doing and turns on the overhead light, but I prefer the glow of the dashboard.
It's softer on the eyes and my heart rejoices in the romance of needing to write in order to see.
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March 02, 2010VIDEO: The Beloved
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February 28, 2010Snow Day!
Growing up in New York, there were three things I found utterly amazing: the accents of people from other places, baseball, and snow days.
If you're from California, Mexico, or Hawaii, you probably know what the first two are all about. But the third? Allow me to explain.
A snow day, for those of you who have never experienced winter, is an unexpected day off from school granted by a benevolent universe. You go to bed at night, dreading your history test the next day, and wake up with three feet of snow outside your window -- your mother telling you (having just heard it on the radio) that school is closed.
It's a snow day!
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February 27, 2010When You Walk Into The Room
When you walk into the room,
all the poets
feel a sudden urge to praise,
all the dancers want to move,
singers ache
to raise their voices high
for all those times
they foolishly chose silence instead.
This impulse to express,
this surging forward into form,
is absolutely involuntary, tidal,
primal, pure.
The poet's fingers twitch,
the singer clears her throat,
the dancer moves inside her shoes,
already receiving roses
from the grateful choreographer of her heart.
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February 23, 2010The Great Mystery
Here is the great mystery:
My thirst is quenched
as much by my longing
to have it quenched
as it is by the waters that come.
Tell me, oh digger of the well,
which do I drink first?
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February 20, 2010There's A Lot Here For You
Dear Heart of the Matter Reader:
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. Without you, there would be no reason to do this -- so keep on logging on and spreading the word to your friends and family.
And second of all, there are a lot of postings that you probably haven't seen yet. If you have a few minutes (or a few hours or a few days) and want to dig deeper, click on any of the links below.
Video
Poetry
Reflections
Personal stories
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February 18, 2010Never Give Up
Fabulous new song by Geoff Bridgford.
"Never, never, never, never give up." -- Winston Churchill
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February 17, 2010The Inner Technology
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February 16, 2010He Tunes Me Like a Violin
He tunes me
like a violin,
orchestral
in his movements,
silent as music
still to be played.
Alone in my room,
fingers twitching slightly,
I pray
for a bow
and a sign
from the maestro
when to begin.
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Why Am I Always Waiting?
Why am I
always waiting
for you
to greet me
as if I had
just
gotten off a plane
from some
faraway place,
your eyes
opening wider,
your breath
coming faster,
your beautiful soul
moving closer
as if nothing else
in the world
really mattered.
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February 12, 2010SOS from Mexico!
If you are reading this, please help me. I need your help!
For the past eight days, I've been in Mexico, being deprogrammed. My captors are quite clever -- latino ninjas, I believe. They never show their faces. But they are definitely having an effect on me.
Two days ago, I completely lost my desire to log on to Facebook. I can't remember any of my passwords. Or the name of my insurance agent.
What in the world is happening to me?
And it's getting worse. Last night, after being fed some "fresh" guacomole, I found myself looking at the moon instead of my email.
Continue reading "SOS from Mexico!"
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February 11, 2010There Is An Infinite Amount of Poetry
There is an infinite
amount of poetry
in every drop of water,
an infinite,
always-being-written
book of psalms
in each and every breath.
There is milk and honey everywhere,
milkmaids, magic, and gypsies
who steal your heart,
then give it back
ten thousand times infused
with secrets that take
far more than a full moon
and a lifetime to decipher.
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February 10, 2010Standing in the Back of the Bus
I am standing in the back of a bus in San Miguel de Allende, just beginning to exit, when I notice a short, heavy-set woman behind me, her long grey hair tied in a bun and a smile that explained a thousand years of Mexican fiestas. How could I not let her pass?
So I take a step to the side and, with a downward sweep of my hand, indicate she should pass me -- that indeed, it would be my pleasure if she did. And so she does, her eyes opening wider, the many laugh lines around her dark eyes, deepening.
I have the impulse to follow, to exit next, especially since I had just given up my place in line, but the boy behind her is obviously on his way somewhere and his need to exit seems to be greater than mine and since I am already standing off to the side, I let the young muchacho do his young muchacho thing.
Continue reading "Standing in the Back of the Bus"
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February 08, 2010There Is a Contest I Want to Enter
There is a contest I want to enter,
but I don't know what it's for.
I want to win something,
walk down the aisle
when my name is called,
mount the stage, take the mic,
and, in a courageous attempt to speak before tears take over,
thank God and my Master
for awakening me
to this moment of pure and perfect gratitude.
I will take a breath,
words beginning to form within me
like bubbles from the bottom
of a freshly poured glass of champagne,
but I will say nothing,
stunned.
In this oasis of love,
poised in perfect silence,
long before the first impulse to express,
everyone wins,
everyone receives exactly what they came here for.
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February 07, 2010What Is This Strange Forgetting?
What is this strange forgetting
that has taken hold of me lately --
this being unable to remember
that everything is
sacred, holy, and alive?
The absence of you, my Friend,
surely has something to do with it.
Your being gone has opened
a small hole in me,
a pinprick,
the kind blood brothers make,
but you are nowhere in sight.
Where are you?
Where have you gone?
Something is leaving me slowly,
there's a leak I cannot see.
A day's worth amounts to almost nothing,
a week's would barely fill a thimble,
but it has been months now without you
and I am beginning to notice, lurking
like a stranger in my own shadow
and sleeping just a little too long.
Hey! I've got an idea!
Why don't you cross the universe to me today?
Why don't you show up unannounced at my door?
I really want to see you.
We'll both enjoy the moment
and the stunned looks on the faces of my friends
who have been so diligently reminding me
that you are already here.
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February 03, 2010ZERO
Zero
is where
the real
fun starts.
There's too much
counting
everywhere else.
-- Hafiz
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January 31, 2010HAFIZ: What Happens
What happens when your soul
begins to awaken your eyes
and your heart
and the cells of your body
to the great Journey of Love?
First there is wonderful laughter
and probably precious tears
and a hundred sweet promises
and those heroic vows
no one can ever keep.
But still God is delighted
and amused you once tried
to be a saint.
What happens when your soul begins to awake in this world
to our deep need to love and serve the Friend?
Oh, the Beloved will send you
one of his wonderful, wild companions --
Like Hafiz.
Excerpted from I Heard God Laughing
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January 28, 2010The Mask Unmasked
Here is Jim Carrey, one of the funniest dudes in history, sharing his recent revelation about the illusory nature of thought and the true definition of spirituality as being the relieving of all suffering. The times they are a 'changin.
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January 27, 2010VIDEO: The Key
We are all so lucky to be alive -- no matter what path we walk. Everywhere, there are reminders to wake up and feel the love inside.
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January 25, 2010TPRF Makes $50,000 Donation to Haitian Relief Efforts
Within days of the earthquake in Haiti, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) made a donation of $50,000 to provide immediate food aid for survivors.
TPRF teamed up with one of its ongoing partners, Friends of the World Food Program. The World Food Program (WFP) was able to begin delivering food within 24 hours of the disaster, since it has an already-established aid operation in Haiti, long ranked as the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.
With stores of ready-to-eat food and trained staff already in Haiti and in the nearby Dominican Republic, WFP has now delivered rations to over 200,000 people in and around Port-au-Prince.
Continue reading "TPRF Makes $50,000 Donation to Haitian Relief Efforts"
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January 20, 2010Finding the Miracle
A few years ago I was invited to MC an event at the Shrine Auditorium, in LA, where Maharaji would be speaking. While I was totally thrilled to be asked, I was also totally terrified -- convinced I was the wrong choice and would be a huge disappointment.
Doing my best to ignore the sorry state of my mind, I fly to LA, and make my way to the hall. Though I am clearly not at my best, I get through the dress rehearsal, review the announcements, say hello to some old friends, and figure I'll find my groove after I have time to meditate.
I don't. It gets worse.
People are wishing me well, but I am in a well -- a well on the moon -- and the air is very thin.
A few hours pass. I take my seat. I take a breath. I study the announcements one more time and wait for my cue to go back stage.
Continue reading "Finding the Miracle"
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January 17, 2010Waiting
I have been a student of Prem Rawat (AKA Maharaji) since 1971. For the past 39 years, inspired by the feeling of deep peace and gladness he has awakened in me, I have been attempting -- in various unsuccessful ways -- to describe who he is.
In the beginning, my descriptions were extremely effusive. Borderline inflated, you might say, and tinged with a hint of the zealot -- not unlike the poetry of one in love for the first time and badly in need of an editor. Charming? For sure. Engaging? You bet. Attention getting? That, too. But also confusing to anyone sincerely wanting to understand what the big deal was all about.
In time, like wine, I have mellowed, no longer ruled by the need to label, define, and explain. It's a game I choose not to play any more. What does Maharaji say when people ask him who he is? "Just a human being" -- a mirror that helps people see their true reflection at that moment in time.
This has been my experience completely. Allow me to be more specific...
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