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Yogi Bhajan Lecture: The Discovery of Ram Das Puri

Excerpts from a lecture given on June 21,1992 at Ram Das Puri during Summer Solstice

You have walked to this place from many walks of life. Thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, this was a civilization too. This was the place of the temple of worship of that civilization. We couldn't do anything to it; simply, we built the structure natural, free with our heart. There is no ego involved here. It's a structure which looks very little today.

I was passing that road when the history of that land started. Every year we used to have Summer Solstices and then finish it, and then recover the land to make it a natural form, and then leave. We never made anything because renting land, having land, and then returning it to normal was so costly a business.

Finally it was decided to have a permanent house. So I was sitting at the Ranch House. We got all the real estate people in Santa Fe and nearby. I was trying to find a place where we can go and let it happen. I came in the living room and I asked a young girl, "You are a baby child of mine."

She said, "What can I do for you?"

I said, "Tell me where the land is."

She said, "This way."

Now everybody thought I have gone mad by calling on a child. They are real estate people. They know it well. How can there be land this way?

I said, "Tomorrow we'll fix up the appointments. You all decide and you will show us the land. We will go and we will decide it." You might have seen that Police Station when you are coming here. It did not used to be there and this was the county road. It looked pretty and I always wanted to go there.

So we drove. I passed just now that tree where a truck was coming down from here with lot of logs, and we were going up and got stuck. A log twisted and blocked the road and we couldn't pass. So we had to stop and he had to stop. The idea was to go back or forward and fix up his logs. We stood under that tree that is still there and he said, "Why do you people want to go up?"

I said, "Why do you want to go down?"

And he said, "I have to deliver these logs."

I said, "Oh, did you get that permit?"

He said, "No, I have land here."

I said, "How can you have land in a State Forest?"

He said, "I am the only one who has a piece. You want it?"

(Student's laughter)

I said, "Well, how much is it? How much did you buy it for?"

He said, "One dollar."

"How much will you sell it for?"

He said, "Five hundred thousand."

I said, "You must be crazy."

He said, "Well, we can deal."

So we stood under the tree and we made the deal. It was a handshake and the deal was done. That's how we found this land. We never knew that there is land in this area.

We are trying to keep the ecology of this land as pure it can be. This is the same land where some Native American elders came and told me that this place used to have some very old big black stones and this is where their temple and their water supply well was.

And where you see that pump, we brought five, ten water men with sticks in their hands here to find the water. They were not very hopeful so I got mad and I said, "Why can't you guys find water? There is water in this land. This is part of an old civilization. It is not practically possible that people who lived here never had water."

They said, "Maybe they stored water here from the rain."

I said, "No, there was water here."

So that guy got very upset with me and said, "Well, tell me, what should I do?"

I said, "Dig right in the center of both my feet."

He said, "What do you mean by that?"

I said, "There is water."

He said, "You are frustrated."

I said, "I am not. The rate is ten dollars a foot. You go eight hundred feet and if you don't find water, I'll give you twenty dollars a foot. A deal is a deal."

So he said, "Stay where you are.” And he put a stick underneath.

And I said, "Guru Ram Das, if you want this land to be your land, bring water right here. Otherwise you are in trouble. I am already." (Student's laughter) "As far as I am concerned I am done."

Eight hundred twenty dollars a foot—I couldn’t afford it. Ten dollars a foot was fine, provided he found water.

He started digging. Finally, I got a telephone call when I was back in Los Angeles. They said I had to come in so I flew in very fast. I came here and he said, "Deal is off."

I said, "What do you mean, deal is off?"

He said, "I have dug seven hundred and fifty feet right now and look at the sand. I want to show you. You want me to go fifty more feet?

I said, "Eight hundred feet is eight hundred feet, seven hundred fifty is seven hundred fifty.”

He said, "But one thing more I want to show you. Look at all my broken equipment. At that rate, if you pay me twenty dollars per foot, I am losing money."

I said, "That I don't know. We never made that deal. But if you go fifty feet down and you don't find water, hallelujah. I'll pay you twenty dollars a foot."

He said, "Okay man, you wait here."

So they got another shaft and put it in and started doing what they were doing. We took the jeep to go around and find out what this land is all about. Five minutes later there was a jubilation. We didn't know what it was. They broke a rock underneath and water came up like oil comes out of the oil pump. There was water and since then there is water.

So this is that miracle land. Circumstances guided us.

Today we have gathered here for one reason: to celebrate Summer Solstice as usual. We are here from all walks of life, from many beliefs and with many, many vibrations. Some of you are logical, some of you are rational, some of you are irrational, some of you are committed, some of you are uncommitted, but all of us together have entered the Age of Aquarius.

© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan