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."

Some might call it dancing,
I call it stumbling closer to God,
the unrehearsed
falling forward into love
as if the world was tipped.

Operatic in my cells,
lunatic for life,
I am taken to the place
where dancing is
infinitely less about movement than being moved --
for when the world is tipped
and we, drunk to our eyes
in love's ballet,
are willing,
there is nothing not dance,
no one not dancer,
no place not stage,
no breath not a standing ovation before God.

Here's something I find odd...

Soulful, loving, conscious people often find it difficult collaborating with others.

The challenge of being on a team, somehow, pushes buttons. Patience wears thin. Judgment abounds. Trust goes out the window.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

If you're looking for a way to raise the bar for teamwork, all you need to do is click here or scroll down the page and click on TEAMWORK CARDS (in the sidebar).

When you do, a pop up window will appear -- one of 55 cards now available to you on this blog. Each one addresses a specific challenge that you and your team will need to resolve if you want to go beyond the crap that usually gets in the way of most teams performing at a high level.

I'm sure there was a time back in the Garden of Eden before the biting of fruit, naming of lizard, and placing of fig leaf, when Adam turned to Eve or Eve turned to Adam and, in the delightful absence of language, greeting cards, or text messaging, found a simple way to communicate something real about their experience of being alive.

Ever since those halcyon days, we've been trying to do the same -- to express something basic, primal, and pure. About what moves us. And why we often linger in the gaze of another who lets us in just long enough to experience the blessing of being received, no strings attached.

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.

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What moves us all to dream,
to think, to love, to act,
to give it up for some great cause
or double back to pause before our plans
of having more or getting there
or going to the country fair
is the same for everyone --

the sage, the fool, the king,
the self-appointed ministers of fun.

Einstein said it best, I think,
or maybe it was Rumi,
both of whom were missing links
from this to that, from here to there,
mystics of the unseen arts,
demystifying what it is that moves the air
and the human heart.

Still I wonder what it is I thirst for in my bones,
what will be enough to feel.

Is it what I see with these two eyes
or what I know beyond them both
is always just a bit concealed --
that which seizes me from deep within,
the mirror of my soul, my other half, my perfect twin,
the one who knows, but doesn't tell
or if he does, it's just enough
to dig my tunnel deeper to the well

where all the seekers that I am have come to drink,
long before the first parable was told.

Last night I googled longing. What I found surprised me.

Ninety percent of the images were women: Women dreaming. Women staring out windows. Women brushing their golden hair beneath the full moon.

Oh... and lots of Goddesses, too.

Where were the men?

Hunting buffalo? Watching the Superbowl? Mowing the lawn?

If you have the thirst to learn more about what Maharaji offers and know you want to receive Knowledge, there's a simple, practical way to prepare -- The Keys.

The Keys are a set of DVDs to help people, in the privacy of their own home, learn more about his method for tuning in to a deep place of inner peace. If you've already been viewing introductory DVDs or listening to introductory CDs, you may want to take your next step and view THE KEYS.

If you have friends interested in learning more about Maharaji and Knowledge, but are not yet committed to viewing The Keys,
forward them this link.

Or click below. It will take you to a set of other links, mostly from this blog, any one of which may help your friends on their way...

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."

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."

Did you know there's no synonym in the thesaurus for "thesaurus"?

And that's exactly how I feel right now as I try to describe what it was like being with Maharaji this past weekend -- once in Miami and once in Gainesville.

When I got back home, two friends asked me what it was like. Though I felt quite divine, my response was cro-magnon at best.

Um...er... uh...ah... uh....

This is precisely why dancing came into existence. Yodelling, too.

And so, in honor of Maharaji and my own inability, at this moment, to string two sentences together, here's a list of metaphors that approximate what it was like being there this weekend.

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."

Okie dokie. I'm heading to the airport in an hour to fly to Florida. Going to see Maharaji at an event in Miami on Saturday, then again in Gainesville on Sunday. If you make it to either of these events, I hope to see you there.

Next week I'll do my best to post something here from both events. Until then... count your blessings, have fun, enjoy, breathe deep, and know the only thing not subject to bank closings, stock market crashes, spin doctoring, or mortgages crises is inside you.

That "thing" is what all great teachers from the beginning of time have been talking about. You already have it. The only thing left to do is discover it... pay attention to it... and enjoy it.

Here is the paradox supreme:
What you want you have
and what you have you want.

What you call the path
is merely the way to this understanding.
Do not worry about the next step.
You have already taken it.

In days gone by, classic "seekers" had to endure a ton of trials and tribulations to find what they were looking for. They walked across deserts. They fasted. They hunted for the One in faraway places.

No more. Those days are over. The game has changed. Things have heated up, big time.

Now, that which you are looking for is looking for you. Your inner questing for something timeless, pure, and full of love has been responded to.

Really.

Click here to find out more.