Maharaji in Taiwan
Below are a few paraphrased highlights of Maharaji's presentation in Taiwan on November 30th. Thanks to Jan Buchalter for sharing her recollections with us.
"You are told that your lover, whom you have not seen for two years, is arriving at 4 pm. That morning, when you wake up, you will be extremely happy. When you are brushing your teeth, you will be happy, thinking of the time to come. At breakfast you will be dreaming of that time. All through the day your attention will be waiting for the moment when the two of you can be together. Three o'clock comes and you start looking at your watch every minute. The longing... the anticipation... the excitement... Finally, after so long, the time is drawing so near. By 3:55 you are floating on air. Approach Knowledge the same way."
"When a mother has a baby, where is her attention? No matter what she does, she is always thinking of her baby. Everything she goes through, her awareness is on her child's needs. Where is your awareness? If, in 20 minutes, you were told you were going to die, where would your focus be? In 10 minutes? You would not waste a minute. Make every moment count! Keep your priority of this life very, very clear."
"If you carve a chicken out of a piece of wood, does the wood become a chicken that actually lays eggs? What is our default nature that does not change regardless of what we make ourselves into, or what labels we place on our identities? One day our identity will become obsolete, so we might as well start now identifying with the timeless."
"When everything that is of the body is meant to return to the earth, to dust, can you be secure now... and then, ultimately, with your last breath, relying on the power that brought you into existence?"
"You are always so interested in knowing your friends, but there is one friend, in good times and bad, that will always be with you. When everything is good, friends are easy to come by, but when you are down and out, you will finally realize who your true friends are. Maharaji is the ultimate friend. It is time to get to know this friend within, and not be a stranger to yourself. Close the doors to all the outward, temporary show and begin to fathom the joy of the immortal."
"Though the wind may stir the surface of the pool, the ripples are from the wind. The depths below remain deep and placid."
"The warrior can battle the demons of arising conflicts and still maintain his or her stance of inner composure. This is the mark of one who has achieved some modicum of calm. Even in the face of anger or disruption one returns to the constant... for that is our underlying nature. This is possible for anyone -- from a prisoner to the most innocent human on the face of this earth."
"The relationship with the Master is beyond what we can comprehend with our understanding. It is so on another scale that there is nothing in this world that compares. One is lifted so above. The divinity there is a timeless actuality and both of you know you have never been apart. The longing to reach becomes so mutual that it raises the standard of what it means for two human beings to love. Devotion is the nature of this bond, and compares to no other relation."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:56 AM | Comments (2)
November 29, 2008Diving In Deeper
If you are new to Heart of the Matter, chances are good you've only seen a small percentage of what's available to you here -- more than 200 postings of all kinds: videos, slide shows, excerpts and reports from Maharaji's events, stories, personal reflections, poetry, humor, a talking puppet, links to cool resources, and much more.
You can always access the most recent 30 postings by logging onto the site and scrolling down. For the rest of the content, you'll need to click on the archives (in the sidebar beneath "Recent Entries"). But since you're already here right now, all you need to do is click the link below for a hot-linked list of all past postings. (If you find something you like, please feel free to forward it to friends, acquaintances, family, or neighbors. That's how word about this blog is getting out.)
Heart of the Matter Monthly Archives
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Photo by Durango99
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2008EXCERPTS: Maharaji in Kotputli
Thanks to Bhajan-ji for forwarding these excerpts of Maharaji's talk in Kotputli, India: 11/17/08
"If you weren't there, what would I do? And if I wasn't there, what would you do?"
"The well of joy is within you."
"Everyone has the treasure, but people have forgotten to open the treasure chest. That is why they feel poor."
"The Master does not only give water; he digs a well for you."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2008EXCERPTS: Maharaji in Jaipur
Thanks to Bhajan-ji for forwarding the following excerpts from Maharaji's talk on 11/15 in Jaipur, India...
"If you listen to the Master, your ability to listen from your heart
will come back."
"What does the real Master have to say? Have the experience in your life of how fortunate you are!"
"When you open your eyes, you see the illusion and more illusion. When
you close your eyes, you see the true heart. To see this you need
devotion. Love is the real devotion. Bhakti is when you love that
thing inside of you."
"Love is the only thing that doesn't change. This power is beyond the mind and the intellect. If you need to have a habit, have the habit of devotion. Trust and listen to the Master."
"The master says practice. You say that you do not have time. The day will come when you do not have time and then you will want to practice."
"The hand of the Creator is always on your head."
Photo courtesy of Inner Nomads
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2008Maharaji in India: Part 4
VIDEO: (not from India -- 3:33)
Photo courtesy of Inner Nomads
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2008Waiting for Maharaji
I have been a student of Maharaji since 1971. For the past 37 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...
The year was 1983 and I was living in Los Angeles. Although I had enjoyed some wonderfully casual moments with Maharaji throughout the years, most of my contact with him had been at big programs, him on stage, me straining to see from the mezzanine, wondering how to get a better seat. Like most of his students I wanted "special" time with him, away from the crowds.
And so when a friend asked me to be a waiter at a party Maharaji was throwing for his neighbors in Malibu I jumped at the chance. I rented the outfit. I shined my shoes. I showed up early. Nobody but my mother could have guessed I wasn't a waiter by profession.
And then, with a signal from the caterer, my adventure began -- silver tray of hors d'oeuvres in my left hand -- spreading out with the rest of the waiters among the guests, each according to our designated areas.
The first thing I saw was Maharaji. Technically speaking, he wasn't in my "area," but since none of the other waiters were approaching him, I decided to fill the void. This was my chance, I reasoned -- especially since I hadn't talked to him for three years.
"Hors d'oeuvre?" I asked, extending my tray of goodies in his direction.
Maharaji pulled his head back, looked away, and extended his hand in a slow, downward motion as if to say, "Keep that thing away from me!"
I smiled and continued on my way, wondering if his refusal had any kind of cosmic significance. Was it me or the pizza puffs? Was he seeing some deep, ancient flaw in me? Was I hopelessly uncool?
Fortunately, the day was too beautiful to obsess on my thoughts for long and so I kept moving until I located my area in the field behind his house.
From where I was now positioned, there were absolutely no sight lines to the party, no chance to see, I thought, Maharaji. The only thing interesting to look at was the ocean and the sky.
And so it was: Every 10 minutes or so a few guests would make their way back to my area, surprised to see a waiter, umbrella in one hand, tray in the other, standing in a field so far from the party.
It took about ten guests to empty my tray. After that I would head back to the waiters' shed for refills. This must have happened at least 20 times during the day and each time it did, Maharaji would somehow enter my field of vision -- standing, talking, eating, walking, and doing all the things that a person does at a party. And though I could never predict what he was going to be doing when I saw him, I could predict the feeling I would have.
"Jazzed" is how I would refer to it. Pumped. Buzzed. Blissed. I was a curious hybrid of boy seeing Santa and a Grateful Dead groupie with a lifetime back stage pass. "It's "him," I would think to myself again and again. "Him!"
This little scene played itself out several times during the day. I could have gone on like this forever. But then something curious happened.
About the 20th time I saw him, I felt nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. An unwelcome sense of normalcy began to take me over. Seeing him was suddenly no big deal. I wasn't awed. I wasn't amazed. Neither was I captivated, astounded, excited, glad, grateful, inspired, delighted, or energized. I wasn't anything.
My concept of Maharaji was being deconstructed before my eyes. My "mental model" wasn't working. Something I had counted on for years -- that seeing him would always be uplifting -- was no longer operational.
Was it him? Was it me? Was it both of us? Neither? Something else?
One conclusion I could have easily drawn was that Maharaji was nothing special -- a Wizard of Oz made great only by my own neurotic projections. Yes, if I wanted proof that he was nothing but my own self-invented hype, now I had it. But having received Knowledge from him 12 years earlier and having experienced the many benefits of his guidance in my life, I could not bail out at such a simplistic conclusion.
Something else was clearly going on.
Looking back, my 'buzzless' series of waitering moments at Maharaji's party felt like the unceremonial end of my extended honeymoon with him -- that formerly delightful time of spiritual romance in which I had been protected from (or blinded to) the moments in which one's "significant other" does not appear very extraordinary.
In marriages, this either marks the beginning or the end of the painful acceptance of the apparent mundane -- the time when the husband no longer seems heroic and the wife is no longer recognized as goddess.
It was confronting to admit it, but the part of my relationship to Maharaji that I had fabricated was becoming undone. Without knowing it, I had become a fan and a groupie in addition to being a student. Like my previous strategy in my personal life of creating short-term love affairs to keep me feeling studly, I had been orchestrating my relationship with Maharaji to provide well-timed payoffs. Did it work? Yes it did. But it went only so far.
I was not alone.
In my experience, lots of Maharaji's students have set him up in this way. Ruled by the very human need to define and categorize, we turned him into many things: a superstar, a hero, an Avatar, an anthropomorphized version of our own private God -- projecting all kinds of images on him, not unlike small children do with their parents or teachers.
Inevitably, this leads to disappointment. Which leads to doubt. Which leads to anger. And it is this anger, born from the gap between who he is and who we imagine him to be, that is often the reason why some students of Maharaji eventually reject him. "He is not who I thought he was," they claim. And of course it is true, because, in many ways, it is impossible to know Maharaji (or anyone else for that matter) through the medium of thought.
More relationships are ruined, I believe, by expectations than by anything else.
Husbands do it to their wives. Wives do it to their husbands. Parents do it to their kids. The Master/Student relationship is no exception. Somehow we get it into our heads that a Master has to be a certain way. Casting directors in our own "B" movie, we patch together our favorite stereotypes and create a picture of how the Master should be -- and then proceed to compare everything he does to that picture.
Of course, we're going to be disappointed. How could it be any other way?
The alternative? Live and let live. Be who you are and let Maharaji be who he is. Give up the addiction to having everyone and everything fit the Procrustean bed of your spiritualized imagination.
Allow the simplicity of love to be the fulcrum around which your life revolves. Appreciate each breath. Be grateful. Live and let live. Savor the opportunity to be alive and enjoy all the many blessings in your life. Take off the rose-colored glasses and those rose-colored explanations. You don't need them anymore.
PS: If you like this story, you'll probably like this one, too, one more waiter experience -- 14 years later in Amaroo.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:15 PM | Comments (2)
November 11, 200820 Ways to Introduce Maharaji to a Friend, Relative, or Neighbor
The act of introducing people to Maharaji and his gift of Knowledge is a curious challenge.
On one hand, some people are wide-open and experience his message to be very compelling. On the other hand, some find his message intriguing, but not necessarily for them. Still others are downight skeptical, believing it's too good to be true.
Clearly, there's no right way to introduce Maharaji. One size does not fit all.
For some people, seeing Maharaji, in person, is the best way to go. For others, viewing DVDs is the ticket. Still others prefer reading his words or listening to friends tell stories of their time with him. Or something else...
If YOU are interested in introducing Maharaji to somebody else and have a 15 minutes to explore a few new options, click below..
The links below will take you to a variety of introductory-type content -- most of which has been published on this blog in the past six months: youtube videos, personal stories, mini-essays, inspiring images, metaphorical bridges, and selected excerpts from Maharaji's talks.
I'm guessing that SOMETHING from this list will speak to you and, more importantly, speak to your family, friends and neighbors. All you need to do is choose... then forward the link you select, as inspired.
If nothing speaks to you, take a moment to reflect on how else you might introduce someone to Maharaji and Knowledge. After all, a while ago, SOMEONE introduced you. Right? Now it's your turn to return the favor...
"If not YOU, who? If not NOW, when?"
VIDEO: The Inner Game of Life
The Book I Wanted to Buy My Mother
VIDEO: An Interview with Maharaji
34 Reasons Why I Like Being With Maharaji
VIDEO: What Is Maharaji's Role?
The Temple of Your Heart
VIDEO: Give Peace a Chance
Being Shown the River Where the Fish Are Swimming
At the Threshold
No Word for Thesaurus
PS: There's still time to respond to the Heart of the Matter poll. If you have any input or feedback, here's a simple way to do it. Takes 4 minutes.
Photo from CatEye's photostream on Flickr
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2008Maharaji in India: Part 3
What follows are Loring Baker's reflections on the third day of Maharaji's event in New Delhi...
"The joy of service." That phrase keeps playing in my head.
Yesterday was the last day of the event. Maharaji's focus was on the people getting ready to receive Knowledge. For each of the past three days the field was full of 50,000 people, but yesterday's audience seemed younger and even more joyous. A contagion of dancing broke out after he left the stage. Although my feet weren't moving much, my happiness couldn't help but bounce along with the dancers.
All good. All very good. Big huge smiles on everyone.
Walking back from the event though the grounds, along the palm-lined boulevard, past the rose gardens, this evolving verdant citadel Maharaji has created within the chaos of Delhi spoke to the transformational power of joy.
This place has been built out of people's happiness, for people's happiness -- and for no other reason.
Dear friends, possibilities abound! What can't we do if our cup is full? Possibilities abound more than we let ourselves imagine.
"It only gets better," he says.
I have the feeling it's going to get a whole lot better.
Photo courtesy of Inner Nomads
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
Maharaji in India: Part 2
RAJ VIDYA KENDER, Delhi: 11/10/09
This just in from Loring Baker, onsite at Maharaji's events in India...
I just got back from dinner after the event this afternoon. I am staying with an American man I do business with who lives in Delhi with his wife, the Belgian Consul. They both came to the event today (the public was invited).
I could feel Maharaji winning them over (along with me and everyone else) without a fight -- just simple generosity. Like a master Maitre D' welcoming his guests, Maharaji seemed to be saying, "So happy you could come. No pretensions are needed here -- please just enjoy the meal."
And really, what a unique meal it is. You start enjoying it without even having to open your mouth!
As Maharaji spoke about nature extracting fresh water from the ocean to make clouds that, in turn, feed a seed that has waited years to sprout, I had to tilt my head back slightly to keep the tears inside the cup.
These tears weren't tears of emotion, joy, or catharsis. They were tears of pure refreshment -- a spring rain of tears, unlocking the fragrance of the earth present a moment before, but hidden.
Maharaji ended his talk with an offer, "Go look! If you can't find it, come to me. I can give you peace. No money is required, just love."
Hmmm... love for peace... a quality exchange to be sure.
Anyone at the event today could tell this wasn't a flippant offer, nor was it one to accept un-self-aware. What Maharaji is talking about is the big league market place where great rewards are waiting. Not a bad place to hang out and learn. Not a bad place to make the deal of a lifetime!
Click below for a 7-minute video of Maharaji speaking in Madras, India last year.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
Maharaji in India: Part 1
Thanks to Loring Baker for sharing his on-site observations with us.
RAJ VIDYA KENDER, Delhi, 11/08/09 --
I'm wide awake after four hours sleep. Full jet lag, for sure, awake, but un-restless and remembering Maharaji from yesterday's event.
After a video focusing on the foundations of practicing Knowledge, he comes out on stage and sits with a quiet smile, as Arti, the classic Hindi devotional song, is being sung. The audience sits, quiet, feeling the rhythm of the song as a water ballet of gratitude starts swimming in my heart.
The rest of the 50,000 people in the audience seem connected, as one, in the same dance. The collective body language softens and, without really moving, seems to raise its hands, palms upward, in praise -- head slightly bowed in admiration.
Maharaji is completely still -- just presence. Arti over, he reaches for the mic and begins to speak.
"Dear Premies, Dear lovers of life..." No segue is given. None is needed.
I don't remember too much of what he said -- nodding out a time or two as he spoke (my body clock is telling me its 5 AM, plus I'm enjoying the warm relaxation of feeling comfortably at home). The message, however, was very clear.
"You are most fortunate to have this life. And fortunate, moreover to have the gift of Knowledge. Dear friend, enjoy it to the utmost now. Your problems and your triumphs will come and go. Heed the call of your heart. Act on it. You will not be disappointed."
(Photo from a calendar, not from this recent Indian tour).
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Dear Heart of the Matter readers: Please check back soon. If Loring can get access to an internet cafe, we'll be publishing some of his other reflections from the November 9th and 10th events in Delhi and the November 15th and 16th events in Jaipur.
PS: If you haven't responded to the Heart of the Matter poll yet, click here. The whole thing will take you less than 4 minutes.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:44 AM | Comments (3)
November 04, 2008Maharaji in Johannesburg
In response to many heartfelt requests, Maharaji accepted an invitation to speak in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 31, at the OR Tambo Conference Center.
Seven hundred and fifty guests attended -- many of whom hadn't seen him since the last time he visited South Africa 15 years ago.
The mood was electrifying.
Maharaji began his talk by reflecting on his trip from Durban to Johannesburg -- noting that even though clear skies were forecasted, he was confronted with a huge thunderstorm.
"There are no certainties in our lives," he explained. "But just as a pilot navigates through a thunderstorm, so we need to navigate in our lives."
"The purpose of our existence," he went on to say, "is not pain and suffering, but enjoyment. We have been given this body as a vessel to steer us across the ocean of ignorance, so that enjoyment can be experienced while we are alive."
Maharaji spoke at length about the impact that Words of Peace Global is having -- and how people all around the world are being transformed by his message via that medium. He also talked about the importance of teamwork.
"Outreach can only happen if communities come together and work as a team. It's got to be a team effort."
Before concluding his talk, Maharaji reminded everyone to focus within.
"In your life, sow the seeds of clarity, kindness, and sincerity. Nurture them and you will be gifted with a beautiful garden, which is yours to enjoy."
Much thanks to Nitasha Barath (pictured above) for submitting her inspired field report.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2008Sweeping the Path
As a middle class American male with a healthy dose of resistance to household chores, the broom has never been one of my favorite tools. While I've certainly appreciated its timeless design and universal appeal, the act of sweeping has always felt like somebody else's job.
This belief radically changed for me one fine Spring day in 1980. That was the day I got word that my teacher, Maharaji, was coming to visit the house I was living in -- a funky old dwelling on Detroit Street in mile high Denver, Colorado.
Clearly, my housemates and I weren't ready. The kitchen was dirty. The bathrooms were a wreck. The lawn needed mowing. Mucho stuff needed to be done.
My task? To sweep.
Grabbing a broom like some kind of over-caffeinated Clint Eastwood on steroids, I pushed open the front door, surveyed the scene, and got busy.
The porch was a piece of cake. A few flicks of the wrist, a few energetic downward strokes in both directions and I was done -- leaves, twigs, and dust sailing over the edge onto the waiting lawn below.
Now it was time for the front walkway.
A sweep to the left. A sweep to the right. A sweep to the left again -- me a human metronome in tune with something beyond time. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
I paused to view my handiwork. "Not bad, not bad at all," I thought to myself.
But though the porch and walk were much cleaner than before, my increasingly perceptive sweeper's vision was seeing things it hadn't noticed just ten minutes ago: a pebble stuck between cracks, a rusty bottlecap, a flattened piece of wax.
Whoosh to the left. Whoosh to the right. Whoosh to the left again.
It felt good getting ready, good preparing the way for the man who, nine years ago, had shown me -- in a heartbeat -- what life was really all about.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Ta da! The porch was clean! The path was clear! All was right with the world! But wait! The sidewalk, in front of the house, was a complete mess. Bits of paper were everywhere. Plastic spoons. Shards of glass. And dirt, dirt, dirt.
Obviously, I had more work to do.
Whoosh to the left. Whoosh to the right. Whoosh to the left again.
I closed my eyes. I took a breath. I opened my eyes again. But wait! The road in front of the house was a wreck -- the very same road Maharaji would need to cross if he parked his car on the north side of the street. Cigarette butts, oil spots, and leaves were everywhere. My hands began to twitch. My mind began to race. Wherever I looked, nothing was ready to receive him. Nothing was good enough. The world, it seemed to me, was one gigantic mess.
I wondered how far onto Detroit Street I needed to sweep -- how far I needed to go to prepare the way. At this rate, I might never come back.
And then, like one of those moments I used to read about in Zen Buddhism books, it hit me.
It wasn't the front porch that needed sweeping. It wasn't the path... the sidewalk... or the street. It was me. I was the one that needed to be swept -- swept of my clutter, swept of my assumptions, swept of whatever junk stood in the way of being able to receive my teacher in a way that was clean.
I didn't need to sweep the porch. I didn't need to sweep the street. I didn't need to shine my shoes... or cut the grass... or buy a suit... or lose five pounds... or iron my shirt... or paint the house... or wash the car... or buy a dozen roses. I could, of course, if I wanted to. I could if these things really needed to be done. But something else -- much more central to my life -- was going on. And that something was me getting ready for Maharaji -- the one whose gift of Knowledge had, long ago, opened my eyes and my heart.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:09 AM | Comments (2)
October 21, 2008Falling in Love?
There's a phrase in the English language that makes no sense to me even though I've used it hundreds of times: "Falling in love."
Falling? Really?
Certainly there must be a better way to describe one of the sweetest feelings a human being can have. Falling isn't exactly the word we associate with great experiences.
The stock market falls. The temperature falls. Civilizations fall. Adam fell from grace. Nobody in their right mind really wants to fall.
Falling is all about coming down, descending.
Love, on the other hand, is an elevation, a rising, a being uplifted.
Then again, if you stop to think about it, the phrase "falling in love" makes some sense -- because the act of falling ends in "hitting bottom."
The phenomenon is all too recognizable. You meet someone special. Your heart opens. You're flying, you're free, you're feeling no pain -- not unlike the feeling of weightlessness that comes from falling.
Eventually, however, the falling ends. You land. Hard. The object of your devotion, proves less than unconditional. Their attentions drift. Their flaws become apparent. And so begins the painful process of falling out of love.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
There IS a love that is unconditional. There is a love that only gets better with time -- a love that neither disappoints or disillusions.
Human beings have been searching for this love from the beginning of time.
That's what Maharaji talks about. And that's what he reveals to those who are truly thirst to experience it.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:31 AM | Comments (2)
October 17, 2008The One For Whom It All Makes Sense
I have written a thousand poems for you
that have never left my room.
They fill the pages of notebooks stacked high on a shelf
no one can reach.
Orphans they are, beggars afraid
they are not noble enough for the King,
would never make it past the guards.
I make a vain attempt to dress them up,
disguise their ridiculous origins,
but still they smell bad.
There are times, late at night, however,
when they think I'm asleep,
I can almost hear them talking to each other,
conjuring ways to make it to your court.
Oh, the arguments they have! The barroom brawls!
Some of them actually think a shower and a shave
is all they need.
Others insist on practicing, all night long,
the perfect way of greeting you.
There is much to be said for these backroom bards,
these arm wrestling vagrants from another world.
Indeed, if I was dead,
my ambitious biographer, after paying his respects
and asking permission of my dear, sweet wife,
would borrow them just long enough to search for pearls
and find the perfect turn of phrase, the verse,
the sudden storm of brilliance
even my harshest critics would have to praise.
He'd think of clever titles for the tome,
describing, in his carefully written way,
the "man who left his muse too soon"
or some such thing that might make you wonder
why I never gave these poems to you --
the one for whom it all makes sense even when it doesn't.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2008Radiant Being of Light
Radiant being of light, vortex of love,
alchemist supreme, magnifier of prayer,
the one I dream about
and the one who wakes me from the dream,
why the dervish spins
and the earth.
Teacher, teaching, and the taught,
first breath, last breath,
what lovers look for in each other but rarely find,
center around which everything revolves,
endless night of love
and the ecstatic aching of a moon-howling heart
that does not want the morning to come.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:08 PM | Comments (2)
October 10, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk in Montreal, Part 2
The following excerpts are my best attempts at capturing, live, some of what Maharaji said at the Montreal event on October 7th. In some cases, I have paraphrased his words. MD
"You have the incredible ability to be fulfilled and feel joy in your heart. Not once. Not twice, but have the impossible at your command whenever you want. Experience it! Experience what? Joy! Of what? Of being alive. What does alive mean? Alive means the infinite is residing within you."
"Sit back, relax, and feel this passion, even if it is only for a few minutes. It will do you a lifetime of good."
"Gratitude is a song that is sung."
"Understand, if just for a fraction of a second that within you the immortal resides, in you is the infinite -- not was -- IS! It can't be bought or thought or created."
"People know what they don't want. The Master asks, 'What is it that you DO want?'"
"If you don't want to be separated from Knowledge, it has to be renewed everyday."
"You inherently know that which you value above everything else in this world is peace, understanding, and joy. What do you do to make sure that this joy does not waver and this understanding does not come and go?"
"The possibilities are endless. There is no end to the possibilities. Here is the most amazing magic that is taking place."
"The joy that exists here in the company of the beautiful inside of you, in the practice of this Knowledge, does not exist in heaven."
"We all have these little deflectors -- concepts that deflect the reality away from us. We say, 'Oh, Kabir was enlightened, but not me. We say, 'this experience might be true for that other person sitting next to me, but not for me. I am nothing.' Not true. We are blessed beyond belief. The most incredible wish has come true."
"Invest a little every day in this Knowledge. Your piggy bank will become huge. Massive."
"Practice. Participate. Enjoy Knowledge. Enjoy life. Enjoy this existence. Forever. Now."
"What is my message to you? There is more."
"Sometimes the words of a Master come as a storm and sometimes they come gingerly, like the rain in the middle of the desert."
"I have seen joy in the eyes and smiles on the faces of people who have been told they have less than six days to live. Can you imagine that?"
"This Knowledge is the only thing I know of that will be there to the very end. I'm asking you to make a sound investment in that."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:03 AM | Comments (1)
October 08, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk in Montreal: Part 1
"Awaken! Arise! Live this life consciously! Accept this most beautiful challenge to sing the song of gratitude. Your audience is no less than the divine itself. So sing and sing and sing and sing. Never stop singing!"
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:34 AM | Comments (1)
October 04, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk in Toronto
The following excerpts are my best attempts at capturing, live, some of what Maharaji said at the Toronto event on October 4th. It is not verbatim. And in some cases, I have paraphrased his words. MD
"I have a message of hope -- that you've been given something so precious. What you have is the most beautiful thing. But for most people that's the hardest thing to understand -- that they already have everything they could possibly want."
"A Master takes the most complicated thing and makes it simple."
"The message resides in the heart. That's God speaking to you every single day. Awaken! Understand! You have the message. I don't have to interpret it for you. The heart wants to be fulfilled. Listen to that!"
"Remember when you were young and your mother told you to study hard so you could become something? The message was you are nothing -- and that is simply not true. I'm not here to tell you your mother was wrong. Maybe she was right about everything else except this one thing. You are something -- something divine."
"Walk this life on your own feet, not somebody else's. Understand its value from the heart. Experience Knowledge from the heart. Don't try to grasp it with the mind."
"99.99% of religions say you are a sinner. The first card you are dealt? An unsaved sinner. I'm here to tell you that's not true."
"What is the reality? The blessing of breath coming and going."
"Everyone has figured out a pin around which to revolve. It might be a person. It might be something you like. It could be anything. You actually do not revolve around these things. The only thing you revolve around is the breath. Because when this breath stops coming and going all your revolving is finished."
"For those of you with Knowledge, what has been made possible to you? Only the impossible. Within you lives the infinite. Outside you is the finite. The two shall never meet. They are opposite by nature. But you, with the gift of Knowledge,...somebody has bypassed the impossible, and made it possible for the finite to experience the infinite."
"I know this feeling is true because my heart rejoices. I feel peace."
"Go beyond expectations. Go beyond your bucket being full of ideas. And whose ideas are they? They are not yours. Your bucket is full of other people's ideas. Whose definition of God do you carry around? Yours? How many of you call God a 'he'? How do you know? You don't! It's your bucket, filled with somebody else's ideas, and you're carrying it!"
"The Master is like a mirror. When you look in it, you see everything."
"The reason you cannot imagine this is beyond your imagination. Imagination doesn't go that far."
"Of all the time your mind has had your undivided attention, it has never take you to a place where you feel calm and peace. Knowledge, on the other hand, slows it down and brings you inside to feel that joy, beauty, simplicity, and clarity."
"The outcome of practicing Knowledge is gratitude."
"Knowledge is about feeling the happiness -- being grateful you exist -- even when everything on the outside is wrong."
"If you have to be worried, be worried about this breath. Being worried about anything else is like having a hangman's noose around your neck."
"Life is not about the dream castles you want to build. Those castles are doomed. What you call yours today will be someone else's tomorrow. You have a house, you decorate it, paint it, and give it your personal touch. One day, when you are gone, someone will remove all of it. What you call yours will not remain."
"What is yours? This breath that just came is really, really yours. It was made just for you from the workings of the universe. God knows where it came from, but it came exclusively for you. It's yours."
"I'm not about what's going to happen at the end. I'm about NOW. In the end, Knowledge will be there for you. Nothing else."
"What I have to say is a story about you. It is not a myth. You are here for a reason. It is not a mistake. It is not a random act. How can you ascertain what this reason is? Why am I here? What is the goal? What is the purpose of my life?"
"What does it take to turn within? Great words. Sounds good. But I am not here to merely repeat what others have said. A lot of people will say the same thing to you, but they don't know what it means. They've read it from a wise book."
"You can read Kabir's words and get great inspiration from them, but what was Kabir reading? He was illiterate! Where was his inspiration coming from?"
"The first place peace needs to be established is not the outer battlefield, but the inner battlefield. It is much easier to establish a cease fire on the outer battlefield."
"Here's something I read from Kabir that I really like: 'Yogis are drunk on discipline. Priests are drunk on scriptures. Celibates are drunk on vanity. Monks are drunk on prestige.' What are YOU drunk on?"
"What I talk about is completely different than religion. There is an answer, but it is not in any language. It cannot be spoken, written, pronounced, or uttered. The answer to this question is so close to you. It could not possibly be closer. It is inscribed on the beautiful pages of your heart. You and you alone are capable of reading and receiving this answer. You are the only one who can decide whether this answer is true or not."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:50 PM | Comments (3)
September 30, 2008Thirst Quench Thirst
Hello... You can hear nothing but the sound of my voice.
You are lovingly placing your cursor over the hotlinked phrase below, clicking once and buying at least one copy of my new book of poetry, Thirst Quench Thirst.
Do not concern yourself about whether or not you actually like poetry, read poetry, or have ever heard of me. Those concerns, while certainly understandable, are beside the point. Sometimes you just need to trust your instincts. Like now, for instance.
Some of the poems in this blog are excerpted from the book, so if you're still not sure, simply scroll around and read.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the book is only $15.00. At 72 pages, that's only $20.8 cents a page (1/18th the cost of a Starbuck's Frappucino). Such a deal!
Still need proof it's worth the money? Click below and check out the reviews:
Thirst, Quench Thirst evokes a memory of the deepest longings of the soul. Reading Mitch's poetry reminds me of what I already know, but often forget." -- Joan Apter
"This poetry has touched the deepest recesses of my heart." -- Dermott Philpott
"Mitch's poetry touches a universal human longing; the ache for internal connection to the divine. He speaks in a personal, simple, accessible way about things that are ancient and deep." -- Erika Andersen
"Most great love poetry baffles the mind, but delights the heart. And great love poetry cannot be written without great love. Mitch Ditkoff's poems are intoxicating." -- John Adorney
"This is the kind of nourishment that penetrates to the core of Divine Love, and if deeply imbibed, its sweet nectar can be savored for a lifetime." -- Jamie Delay
"Mitch mixed the most profound -- almost indescribable -- with the kind of simplicity that somehow manages to capture a feeling. Lovely stuff!" -- Candice Wilmore
"This book of poetry, delightful and charming, takes me right to the heart of the matter gently, often with wonderful humor! I read and re-read these poems just to take the ride." -- Kim Greene
"Not bad, but buy this book anyway so I can get a higher allowance." -- Jesse Pouget Ditkoff
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2008The Temple of Your Heart
I just came across these inspiring words from Maharaji on innerlink.tv. A timeless message, indeed...
"Look in you. Look in your heart. And you will find the truest essence of your existence. Look within you and you will find the most beautiful waters. Look within you and you will find your solutions. Look within you and you will find your answers. Answers to which you don't even have questions to yet.
The holiest of all scriptures that ever will be, will be in the temple of your heart."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk in Gainesville, Florida
The following excerpts are my best attempts at capturing, live, some of what Maharaji said at the Gainesville event on September 21. The following is not verbatim and, in some cases, I have paraphrased his words. MD
"A Master is a washerman and the student is the cloth. The soap is Knowledge. When, on the stone of practice, the cloth is washed again and again and again, the cloth begins to sparkle. You need to sparkle and shine bright because that is your potential."
"When there is a river flowing and the little tributaries join it, they lose themselves and become part of that big river. All the rivers that flow into the Ganges become just as holy."
"The trees that surround a sandalwood tree take on the aroma of sandalwood. Is it possible to keep such a company of that most beautiful thing that I begin to take on the qualities of it? If I keep the company of clarity, I too will take on the qualities of clarity. If I want to have that beautiful aroma of understanding, then I need to keep the company of understanding."
"Keep the company of light and you will begin to glow like that light. This is the true transformation of a human being."
"What is your truest need? To be content."
"Be simple. Be conscious. One second of being conscious will save you from a whole lifetime of trouble."
"People look out at all the things around them as their strength, but believe me -- none of those things will be there to support you. Know yourself. Practice Knowledge."
"If you practice Knowledge, you too will become timeless. And when you do, what do you care about how old you are?"
"In the realm of Knowledge it's always a new beginning."
"The only people who don't seem to respond to this message are the ones who are expired."
"This is the real deal -- the synchronous experience of being with Maharaji."
"What is the true thirst? Who are you? Are you just a puppet built of the papier mache of concept -- or are you something more than that? Pray to God that the answer is 'yes.'"
"We need someone to pay attention to human beings, not just issues. The issues will take care of themselves when we take care of human beings."
"We, as human beings, need to have the biggest faith in ourselves. It behooves everyone to become worthy of the faith of the person next to them. And this is what it means to be a good neighbor."
"Enjoy Knowledge. It just gets better and better and better."
"Enjoy yourself. Have a blast. Learn to be totally inebriated on peace."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:24 AM | Comments (3)
September 20, 2008Miami Nice
Tonight I had the good fortune of being at an event with Maharaji at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach. Here are some excerpts:
"I didn't just give you a glass of water. I talked you into digging a well in your own backyard. Any time you feel thirsty, feel free to go to that well and drink to quench your thirst. Never again will you need to be thirsty. Quench your thirst not once, but every day."
"Yogis are drunk on discipline. Priests are drunk on scriptures. Celibates are drunk on vanity. Monks are drunk on prestige. So what's left for you? What could you possibly get drunk on? I recommend being drunk on peace, being drunk on joy, being drunk on the fulfillment of the quest of a human being."
"Whoever gets touched by the magic of the heart, it's hard to ever be the same again. The next thing you know, you are at the most INCREDIBLE PARTY, inebriated not on prestige or discipline, but on peace, joy, and gratitude. For those of you who have stayed with it, the party is not abating. Welcome to the party -- the party of a lifetime."
"Enjoy yourself. It's OK. It's OK. Enjoy! You are capable of enjoying this breath. You are capable of enjoying this life."
"Everything you do externally, there is someone who does it better. But what you do internally... you are the best at that."
"A lot of people say 'I don't have time for all this stuff.' Well, make it your priority. Time is the greatest illusion. Don't be a victim to the illusion. Be clear. Stay focused."
"There are many people here who have received the gift of Knowledge and are coming to the twilight of their lives. But they are not alone. Knowledge is there. Peace! Feel it!"
"The idea is not to create, but to know the one thing inside of you. But not only to know -- to fall in love with that thing inside of you. Then... you will be rewarded. And guess what that reward will be? Peace."
"You are blessed. The hand of God is glued on top of your head. There is no greater blessing given to you. Feel that hand on your head and know you are being kissed by the infinite."
"Feel this breath. Feel this blessing and know there is a God. This is the incredible miracle."
"Every day is a beautiful day. Feel the passion from the depth of your heart. Do you know there is a passion only you can feel, an understanding only you can have, a fulfillment only you are capable of having?"
"Have fun! What is fun? Where truly the heart is entertained. Where truly you are filled with gratitude and joy."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:28 PM | Comments (2)
August 01, 2008NEWS: Maharaji's Broadcast to One Million People in India, Nepal, and Mauritius: 7/31/08
Thanks to Dagmar Zierer, Cath Carroll, Jan Buchalter, and others for forwarding their recollections and impressions of the Derby, UK broadcast.
On July 31, from The Assembly Room in Derby, England, a broadcast of an event with Maharaji went live to more than one million people in India, Nepal and Mauritius in 4,000 centers and countless other locations.
Having completed his recent European tour of Madrid, Ljubljana, Glasgow, Birmingham, Warsaw, Corleone, Palermo, Gothenberg, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Calpe, Bilbao, Torquay, Hinkley, Leicester and Tel Aviv, Maharaji was responding to an invitation for a broadcast event from people in India -- and beyond -- who hadn't yet seen him this year.
Before a local audience of about 1,200 people, mostly from Derby's Hindi speaking community, Maharaji spoke on a number of topics, including the role of the Master, recognition, and Knowledge.
The broadcast was recorded and will soon be available to Hindi speaking communities.
During his talk, Maharaji noted that when he goes to India later this year, events will be done in a different way -- something even more enjoyable than in the past:
"All I want is for you to experience the joy of Knowledge in your life," he said. "Events are not a social thing. Even if you lived on a desert island and experienced this, I would be happy. These are not just empty words. What I say, I back up. I can take you to a place within."
What follows are a selection of additional excerpts from the Derby broadcast. These excerpts are not verbatim, but are the paraphrased recollections of a few people who attended the event. Enjoy!
"That which can bring light in your darkened life is the Master --
the one who takes you out of unrest and brings you to peace."
"As soon as you get up in the morning, you remember that which preoccupies you -- be it your worries or your problems. If you worship your problems, they will increase. Instead, if you want to worry, worry about remembrance. 'May I have time today so I can practice'. But if you are really going to worship, this can only happen through the heart."
"The coming and going of my breath is my blessing."
"The true Master connects you with the inner feeling. If illusion is your Master, then the opposite happens. The consequences of devotion to the mind is a multitude of reasons which you end up using to justify any action."
"Whatever the Master says, the student should listen. Truth resides in the heart. If you want to be saved from the age of darkness, go within."
"The Master knows what you are looking for. The Master brings light into your darkened life. We have made the mind our made-up guru. Mind will have you look for God or peace everywhere -- except in the place where it is. Our nature is to get stuck in the mind, which promises joy, but never fulfills."
"The Master is the one who doesn't mind reminding you again and again. The Master reminds you to go towards your heart."
"The Master can only be recognized by one thing: not by his face, not by his physical appearance, but by what he gives: Knowledge.
This is a living Knowledge -- not bound by culture or anything at all."
"The Master sees a human being as a human being -- nothing else. The Master gives us Knowledge of the self."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:24 PM | Comments (1)
July 30, 2008A Thimble's Worth
People ask me what it was like
being with Maharaji five days in a row.
Here's what I tell them:
It was like spinning around in a monsoon, thimble in hand,
trying to catch the rain.
Every time I noticed my thimble was full,
I opened my mouth to sing,
but my mouth filled up with water.
I gulped, I drank,
I bailed my boat of joy.
Somehow,
in between the tidal waves of love
and my odd little habit of trying to understand
what in the world was going on,
I heard what he said:
"Get wet! Get wet!"
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2008VIDEO: We Are Human Beings
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:25 AM | Comments (3)
July 18, 2008The Falcon and the Falconer
NOTE: This song of praise to Maharaji is best read aloud...
I am the falcon, you are the falconer. Always I am coming back to you, my soaring skyward just a strategy to gather speed for my ultimate return.
How you have trained me is a mystery -- the way you've tamed my restless heart. It is not with fear. I do not fear you. It is not with food. There is prey enough for me everywhere I fly. It is more the way you offer me your arm, a place to land, a second skin scented with the wild musk of one who waits for me, what I would be if I would be a man.
It is a wonderful game the two of us play -- this coming and going, this circular ballet. Each time you loose the loops around my legs and signal me to fly, I remember what it is to rise for the first time. It is here I find my rest, my home. Untethered, still I do not move, needing only to be close to you, my falconer.
It is this that beats my wings, releases me to sky, rides the unseen currents of the air, and though I notice other things: the tops of trees, a cloud, a nimble rabbit on the ground, all I see is you, holding out your arm to me, even as a thousand other falcons overhead, each within your view, circle closer, spiral down, descend.
Still I know that I am next and this is the perfect moment of my return.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:26 PM | Comments (1)
July 03, 2008Maharaji in Corleone, Italy
This just in from Jule Kowarsky, Corleone, Italy: 1:43 am
"Corleone is a small town. The bus ride, from Palermo, took a little more than an hour and the route was lined with grapevines, hayfields, mountains, and a picturesque countryside. Grown men, baling and stacking hay, waved at our bus -- the way children wave to train engineers in rural areas.
The Corleone town square, named for two men, many years ago, who were shot for standing up to the Mafia, was smaller than a football field. The local organizers said the event could have been held indoors, but they wanted it in the open air so everyone in town could attend.
The dignitaries, in attendance, numbered about 50 dark-suited men. After meeting with Maharaji in a government building just up the street from the square, they followed him -- in a procession -- as he walked to the square.
The people of the town, standing on their balconies overhanging the square, cheered -- while mothers with small children waved and smiled. A glowing Maharaji smiled and waved back. The mayors of many surrounding municipalities radiated a beautiful pride as they filed into their seats.
During the event more and more people entered the square. Even the scrawny town dogs couldn't stay away! Looking at the old men sitting in front, their places of business and homes at the edge of the square, brought to mind the old photos of Italian communities in New York in the early 20th century.
Huge posters announcing the event were all over town and a car with a loud speaker drove around, inviting people to the square before the event began.
Before Maharaji spoke, local dignitaries got up and made many references to the infamy of Corleone and the Mafia. One very shy man mentioned that he was working on returning land to its rightful owners that had been confiscated years ago.
Before Maharaji began his talk, each dignitary offered a warm expression of gratitude -- mentioning how glad they were that Maharaji had come to Corleone to plant the seeds of Peace.
Here's what I remember Maharaji saying at the event...
He explained that what you practice you will get good at. If you practice kindness, you will get good at kindness. If you practice anger you will get good at anger.
He then spoke of a famous archer who would shoot an arrow high into the air and, while it flew, would split the arrow with a second one. The archer demonstrated this for a bunch of people one day and a single voice from the crowd would repeat "It is just a matter of practice."
After the demonstration, the archer approached the heckler and asked him if he knew how difficult it was to perform his arrow-halving feat.
The man replied "Yes, I do -- but it is just a matter of practice. Follow me".
He then took the archer to a place where he worked filling bottles with oil. The man placed a Chinese coin, with a hole in the center, over the top of bottle. He then took a ladle of oil and proceeded to pour the oil into the bottle without spilling a single drop on the coin!
"It's just a matter of practice," he repeated once again.
Maharaji then spoke about the fact that it is human beings who have created the problems we face and that it is human beings who will resolve them. He spoke of the equanimity of nature which does not say, "I do not like you... no fruit will grow for you".
He spoke of how clouds are created and noted that wars are not created in the same way -- that they begin in the minds of men.
Towards the end of the event, Maharaji expressed how important it was for the Coreleone residents not to dwell on their past, but to look to the future.
He went on to say that people from "tiny villages in India" to cities all around the world would soon be seeing the video of this event, and that the people of Corleone should be proud to know that everyone will be speaking of their town as a place that truly embraces peace and sows it seed.
At that point, everyone stood up and cheered.
The mayor thanked Maharaji again and, instead of referring to him as Mr. Rawat or Prem Rawat, embraced him and called him the Maestro of Peace.
PS: Here's a slide show of Maharaji's events in Palermo and Corleone...
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:04 AM | Comments (4)
June 30, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk Today in Palermo, Italy
What follows is an in-the-moment report from Jule Kowarsky, who just attended an event with Maharaji, in Palermo, Italy.
Jule notes that Maharaji addressed 1,200 people in a magnificent historic opera house. She goes on to say that several local dignitaries spoke and a book about Palermo and another award were bestowed upon Maharaji.
Click below for selected highlights of Maharaji's talk as remembered by Jule (not a verbatim transcript of his words).
"I go around this world saying that Peace is Possible, and people give me all the reasons why it's not. Some people have three reasons, or 7, or 10. Others, who are really smart and have thought about this a lot, might even have 100 reasons. Let me tell you that I have 6.7 billion reasons why there should be peace -- one for every person on the planet."
"I listen to good ideas wherever they come from. If they come from a Muslim or Hindu or a Christian or an atheist, if it is a good idea, I will listen to it."
"And this I heard and this I believe: If you are strong, you should be kind. If you are smart you should be simple and if you are wealthy you should be humble."
"I am pilot. There was a time when I was not a pilot. And there will be a time when I will be old, too old to be a pilot (God willing). But I was and I will still be, a human being.
"As I human being, I cannot bear to know that someone, somewhere in the world, goes to sleep thirsty. There are more educated people in the world now than there have ever been. Human beings can solve this problem. Human beings can solve the problem of war. They can."
"People think the skies will open up and something will come down, some angel will come down with answers to end these problems.
I am telling you that the angel is in your heart.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2008I Want to Tell You About My Master
I want to tell you about my Master, the one who teaches from within, that like a heartbeat longing to be heard becomes the twin I never knew I had.
Him! That one! He is calling me, not with music, that would be too easy, but with laughter -- that's his choir!
I cannot describe this man, my words only exclude. Better simply to say, "The one I love," answer to a prayer much too subtle for anyone else to hear. Keeper of the flame, who I am, was, and will be when there's no one left to remember my name. Why you like candlelight, want a child, dream.
The one with no other master plan but love.
I have met this man, or should I say observed, struck dumb by his simplicity and the unspeakable glory of seeing what these eyes first opened for.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2008May I Stay Here Forever
May I stay here forever
in this perfect place of peace with you --
the sacred space between in breath and out,
the final coming home,
timeless moment before the need
for anything has risen,
Buddha enjoying his late afternoon nap
with no one around
to extract any meaning from it.
First, there is a breath,
and then, there is a second.
This is how I begin my
long walk with you by the water's edge,
cool white sand beneath both our feet.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2008PASSAGES: A Video Retrospective of Maharaji's Message
Billy Fairchild just sent me this link to a fabulous series of eight online videos (repackaged for the internet from the original PASSAGES video produced by Kate McGowan and John McNelly in 2001 to celebrate Maharaji's 30th anniversary in the West). These 9-10 minute videos capture the essence of Maharaji's message, his spiritual roots, and the evolution of the way in which he's communicated his message since arriving in the West in 1971.
Includes engaging interviews with some of the people who were on the scene in the very beginning: Ron Geaves, Joan Apter, Charananand, Glen Whittaker, Peter Lee, Tim Gallwey, John Hampton, and others.
Enjoy!
(And if you haven't had a chance to respond to the recent Heart of the Matter poll click here. Will take you three minutes.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2008Rhythm of Light
Here's a new musical collaboration from Stuart Hoffman and Tara Liz Driscoll celebrating the words of Maharaji and the magnificent images of light in our universe:
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 200834 Reasons Why I Like Being with Maharaji
This past weekend I attended a two-day event with Maharaji at the Palace Theater in Albany, NY. As always, I enjoyed the experience immensely.
On the way home, I started thinking about why, specifically, I enjoy being with him as much as I do -- and how I might describe these benefits to others, especially those intrigued by Maharaji's message, but not totally sure if it's really for them.
Well... at the risk of trying to explain the unexplainable, here goes:
34 Reasons Why I Like Being with Maharaji
1. I breathe more deeply
2. It becomes very easy to savor every moment
3. I stop judging myself and everyone else
4. Time slows down
5. I listen from a still place inside me
6. I feel like I'm dancing when I walk -- or at least, gliding
7. I laugh uncontrollably
8. I cry tears of joy
9. I stop worrying
10. I like what I see when I look in the mirror
11. I have a lot more fun than usual
12. I experience timelessness
13. Everything seems perfect just the way it is
14. I let go of being self-conscious
15. I feel like I'm being massaged from the inside out
16. I move in tune with a hidden music
17. I see how peace is possible for the entire planet
18. I feel like he's talking just to me
19. I am grateful for everything
20. I want to serve
21. I feel whole and complete
22. I feel a vast spaciousness
23. I live in the present moment
24. Everything is profoundly simple
25. I rededicate myself to the practice of Knowledge
26. I stop trying to improve myself
27. I lose my need to gain anyone's approval
28. I am content
29. I come from my heart, not my head
30. Life feels like a party
31. I let things come to me -- and they do
32. I feel more authentic
33. I realize I have no problems
34. I feel like I'm totally home
PS: Feel free to add to this list by posting a comment -- your own "reasons" why it's good being with Maharaji.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:56 AM | Comments (8)
June 05, 2008Peace Is Possible
Peace Is Possible is the first complete biography of Prem Rawat. It documents his extraordinary life, from growing up with a father who was a revered master, to the day he first addressed audiences at age three, to being discovered by hippies at his home in the Himalayan foothills when he was a child, to his dramatic arrival in the West at 13 -- right up until today.
The book is very well written, cites plenty of fascinating stories about his life, and gives the reader a clear picture of who Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji) is, what his work is all about, and how he has benefited the lives of thousands of people from just about every country in the world.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2008Off the Coast of Love
My wife tells me I should pay more attention to details --
the house, the car, the lawn --
there's a thousand things, by sunset, that need to be done.
She's right, of course.
It's true.
If only I wasn't floating
three feet off the ground today,
caught in the updraft
of a single gaze from you,
spinning like a thousand cyclones
off the coast of love.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:33 AM | Comments (1)
June 03, 2008The Book I Wanted to Buy My Mother
For many years I wanted to buy a book for my mother -- a book that would explain everything... what I hadn't or couldn't explain since I had been old enough to notice my mother wasn't all that happy and, Lord knows, I wanted my mother to be happy and if not "happy" per se, then at least aware of what it was that made me, her son, happy -- the "thing" that for so many years she thought was a phase I was going through and, even worse, some kind of heartless rejection of her and her way of life.
Yes, I wanted to buy my mother a book that would explain it all -- the whole "New Age thing," the whole "Guru thing," the whole "it's OK that I don't eat your veal parmagiana any more because I'm a vegetarian thing." Somebody must have written it. Somebody must have noticed the market niche of "mothers over 60 who worry why their high performing sons have gone spiritual."
And so, I went looking for this book. Like some people look for God. And though I never found it, I did find some reasonable facsimiles. Cleverly titled books displayed by the check out counter, conceived by marketing geniuses who somehow knew my need -- the need a son has to make his mother smile and nod her head approvingly. The book that would keep my mother company during those long nights when her husband was working late and her children were asleep and there was nothing good on TV. The ultimate self-help book that would remove her worries, her doubts, and her exponentially growing fears of thinking her son had gone off the deep end for "receiving Knowledge" from that young boy from India.
I wanted my mother to know how beautiful life was and how simple it could be to experience that beauty. I wanted her to know there was something timeless within her, something beyond the stress of aging and the clipping of coupons. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to buy my mother a book that, like the tooth fairy, would deliver some proof that love was the name of the game... and that (bite your tongue and spit three times) the act of "receiving Knowledge" from Maharaji was as natural and healthy as chicken soup.
A year ago my mother died from a four-year bout with emphysema. During my six-day stay with my father after the funeral, I discovered the books I had given her all these past years. Most of them had never been opened. Like some strange mix of Stonehenge rubble, they lay in piles all around the house... on her night table, on her desk, stuffed behind cookbooks, in the garage. Some, when you opened them, still had that new book crackling sound. All of them had this fortune cookie like quality -- like no matter what page you turned to, some kind of bite sized wisdom was waiting.
I don't think I was sad she didn't read them. Just disappointed. Or maybe it was more like resignation -- the kind teenagers feel when they realize their parents just don't get it.
Looking back, I realize now that no book would have been sufficient to have given my mother -- even if she lived long enough to read the book that I will eventually write. No. I wanted her to have the experience the books were describing, not the description of the experience. As my teacher, Maharaji, has said many times, if you are thirsty, you need water to drink, not the description of water.
Ultimately, that's what Maharaji's offer is all about: helping people find the water -- the naturally occurring well of well-being inside us all. It's something my dear, sweet, canasta playing, veal parmagiana making mother would have definitely appreciated.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2008Long Before Words
Being of the Jewish persuasion, I'm not exactly the kind of person given to confession, but allow me the ecumenical luxury of confessing at least one thing in this first paragraph of what may well turn out to be the Mahabharata of blog postings:
Writing about Maharaji is not easy.
It's not easy for a few reasons. First off, what I want to say existed long before words -- long before nouns and verbs and the leaky vessels we construct to float our shaky boats of babble. Secondly, words are approximations of the real thing at best. Like menus, they indicate something's cooking in the kitchen, but they are are not the food itself. And thirdly, the dog ate my homework.
I don't know how it works, but there are decades of my life I can barely remember, but seconds with Maharaji that remain a vast eternity, indelibly impressed on my heart like some kind of rock 'n roll Rosetta stone.
I never laugh so hard or cry so long as when I'm in his company. I never feel so good.
The first time I heard about Maharaji, I was both ecstatic and afraid -- ecstatic at the thought I might finally experience what I'd been born for -- afraid that somehow, grand impostor that I was, I would be the only person on the face of the Earth not to get it.
Forget it. I got it.
Yes, that moment happened -- the moment of ooooooh -- the moment of aaaaaah -- the moment of finally coming into my own after years of imagining my own was someplace far away -- in a forest, cave, or future lifetime.
What has he taught me? How to wake up -- and stay awake. How to appreciate. How to feel.
What Maharaji offers is not so much a teaching as it is transportation to the place we've either been seeking our entire life or have given up on long ago -- the place of no judgment, the place of no doubt, the place of no worry, no fear, no problem.
Here! The place of remembering. And what we remember here is love -- plain and simple.
For love is the name of the game, no matter how we play it.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2008The Joy of Heckling
If you talk to a thousand people who are (or have been) students of Maharaji, you will get a thousand different impressions of who he is and what he does. Your guess about the accuracy of their perceptions is as good as mine. But if you really want to know the answer, you will need to have your own experience, while being mindful of the words of Anais Nin, "We don't see things as they are, but as we are." Allow me to be more specific.
ACT 1
When Maharaji was 16, he married -- not to an Indian woman chosen by his parents, but to a 24 year old American stewardess. This troubled some of his devotees -- especially those who had chosen celibacy as part of their path to enlightenment. How could Maharaji get married, they reasoned. Marriage was so mundane... such a distraction... so unspiritual. And so, when Maharaji said "I do," a bunch of these folks said "I don't" and split the scene.
Other students of Maharaji had a different response. They thought his marriage was cool -- more proof that he was totally free of concepts -- a liberated move that only deepened their love and respect for him. His actions, they concluded, were a kind of divine permission to do the same. And so they did. Got married, that is.
Still others, with no absolutely no desire to stop practicing Knowledge or settle down with a soul mate, had yet a different response. They sent wedding presents. They sent gardenias. They sent roses and cards and effusive telegrams.
Me? I was happy for Maharaji, wondered what kind of gift I should buy, figured I couldn't afford it, and did nothing -- thinking my long distance thoughts would somehow be enough.
ACT ll (three years later)
As far back as I can recall, Maharaji used to conduct "instructor conferences" -- intensive retreats for handpicked groups of his students on how to best represent him in the world. Like many of his students, I wanted to be invited -- not only for the sheer joy of being with him, but for what I imagined was undeniable proof that I was "getting somewhere" with Knowledge.
Eight years passed. My love for Maharaji and Knowledge continued to blossom. Not once, however, was I invited to attend.
And then, out of the blue, one unofficial day -- VOILA! -- I got the word. "Get down to Miami, Mitch, you've been invited to an instructor conference... but not as a candidate -- as a guest."
A guest? Now I was really confused. I mean, Maharaji was inviting me, but he was also not inviting me. Huh?
I went.
For three days I sat in the back of a large conference room and watched Maharaji, like some kind of improv laughing Pied Piper Buddha, in perfectly creased pants, bring everyone to a place of exquisite attention, learning, and relaxation at the exact same time. A magician he was. A conductor of joy. A man on a mission.
And then, before I knew it, the conference was over. Or at least I thought it was over. It wasn't. There was one more thing still to come -- a "Celebration Dinner" (something I envisioned being a kind of modern day last supper.)
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the dining room were the champagne bottles -- one on each table. "This is gonna be interesting," I thought, amused by the fact that 98% of the people in the room were abiding by the "ashram diet" and hadn't had anything stronger to drink than a smoothie in the past few years.
Someone led me to my table. It was next to Maharaji's.
Feeling suddenly mid-western, I surveyed the room in a noble attempt to figure out what I was supposed to do -- how I should act. Clearly no one had a clue. Things were just happening. There were no reference points, no sign posts, no correct courses of action -- only the sound of corks popping and a palpable wave of joy.
Good guest that I was, I raised my glass and drank, occasionally sneaking glances at Maharaji like some kind of wide-eyed tourist.
The next thing I know, he's asking if anyone has a good joke. There's the usual self consciousness... the pregnant pause... then someone stands up, mounts the stage, and begins. The joke isn't funny, but it breaks the ice. In a flash, someone else mounts the stage, only this time the joke is a lot better and X-rated, to boot. I look at Maharaji to note his reaction. He is laughing. Of course he's laughing. The joke is funny! A third person gets up. Then a fourth -- each joke raunchier than the one before -- and everybody crazy with laughter.
At the telling of the fifth joke -- fueled by the champagne and three days of being with Maharaji, I shout out a heckle like some kind of wise guy from Brooklyn. Irreverent. Unrehearsed. And way funnier than the joke itself.
"Who said that?" Maharaji asks, looking in my direction.
"I did, Maharaji," I say.
Maharaji laughs and points at me, "One point for Ditkoff!"
Now here is where all logic breaks down... where what I am about to say may seem as strange as my son's fascination for Pokemon. I got completely ecstatic. In a blink of the eye, a major concept of mine had evaporated and I felt infinitely lighter. After years of trying oh so hard -- in oh so many futile ways -- to have my "special," timeless, sacred, holy, cosmic, blissful, meaningful moment with Maharaji, I finally have one -- and it's for heckling an aspiring yogi at a dirty joke contest.
Go figure.
ACT lll (18 years later)
Just six months ago, I read an account of this very same event by someone who was also there -- someone once very close to Maharaji. This particular fellow described the contest accurately. The only thing different, from my recollection, was the conclusion he drew. For him, the contest was inappropriate, off-putting, poorly timed, and in bad taste. For me, it was perfect, divine, liberating, and transcendental -- exactly what was needed for that particular group of people on that particular night, so focused on the "path" that they had forgotten to smell the roses... or accept themselves for simply being human.
Looking back, it's fair to say that I learned more in those few moments about life -- my life -- than I did from years of meditating and reading holy books. A Red Sea parted. For me, it parted. Not for that other guy. He had a different experience. He tells a different story now. Which, of course, is his right, but does not make him right. That's just one of the amazing things about this life. We all see it differently -- based on where we're coming from at any particular moment in time.
The benefit of having a living Master? He makes it infinitely easier to be coming from the place that recognizes how absolutely beautiful this life really is -- in all its profusion of forms. And I thank Maharaji, from the bottom of my heart, for all the extraordinary ways in which he is helping me realize this miraculous experience every single day of my life.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:09 PM | Comments (1)
April 08, 2008An Interview with Maharaji
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March 20, 2008A Gift Unparalleled
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March 07, 2008The Perfect Instrument
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