Series

Educating the Heart Event

Prem spoke to students at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Prem Rawat:

Did you ever ask the question, “What is the heart?” Did you? Is it this thing that pumps the blood, “Thum-thum, phum-phum, phum-phum?” Is that the heart? Is that where peace lives?

Nothing lives there except blood—and valves, “tou-ku-tou-ku, tou-ku-tou-ku, tou-ku-tou-ka....” Sometimes it stops; they give it, you know—the paramedics come and give it an electric shock, “Dzunk,” and it starts up again. Sometimes it stops; they put stents into the arteries. Is that the heart?

No. Let me tell you what a heart is. The good in you is the heart. The courageous in you is the heart. The place where the clarity dwells is the heart. The place which is the spring of understanding is the heart. The place where the thirst to feel the Divine comes from is the heart. That is the heart. And its address is you. Is you!

Every human being is fifty percent good, fifty percent bad—exactly. Not forty-nine/fifty-one. Exactly fifty percent good, fifty percent bad. Always.

If you are in touch with your good, the good is what will shine. If you are in touch with your bad, then bad is what will shine. There are no favors. If I don’t use this arm, and only use this arm every day, what will happen? This arm will become weak; this arm will become strong.

So, I ask you again, which arm in you is strong, and which arm in you is weak? Which fifty percent is strong and which fifty percent is weak?

Let that fifty percent that is darkness.... You have to remember one thing—darkness is never away from light. When you light a lamp, right underneath it—you know where the wick comes out and it burns and gives the light? Right underneath it is darkness.

It’s never far. It’s never far. But what’s going to effect, has to be the light, because the light removes the darkness. You, if you allow in your life, welcome in your life the good, the conscious, the reality—what is the reality? Is reality...?

In one sense, it’s very simple. One day you were born—and you had no control over that day—you had no control over that day. You did not decide, “Uhm, I would like to be born on a certain time, certain date....”

No. And one day you have to go. Young people don’t like to hear that. “Aah-aaaah, don’t talk about going.” One day you have to go—and you have no control over that day either.

You have no control over the day you came and you have no control over the day you’re going to go—but you have control over every single day in the middle of the day you’re going to come and go. That’s all.

Do you know that? Do you know that? Do you understand that? That every...? And how many days is that, by the way?

Even if you live to be a hundred years old, you know how many days that is? Thirty-six thousand five hundred, that’s all. Not three hundred and sixty-five thousand, nah-nah-nah-nah, nah. Just thirty-six thousand five hundred. A hundred years, two zeroes? Just add it to 365; what do you get? Thirty-six thousand five hundred—not three hundred and sixty-five thousand.

You wish it was three hundred and sixty-five thousand. And you have been living your life like you’re going to live forever—but you’re not. Thirty-six thousand five hundred is not that many days. But you have control over every single one of those days.

Are you dependent for your happiness on you—or somebody else? It’s a good question. Because most of us work on our friends; we would like to have certain kinds of friends for our happiness. We would like to go to party for something like that. That we, our happiness depends on that. Our happiness depends on success.

But it doesn’t. Your happiness depends on you. And unless you understand that your happiness depends on you, not on other people, you will never truly be happy.

We can give up everything—but what really matters is what we have given up, here. If we have given up the anger, then that matters. If we have given up ignorance, then that matters. If we have given up anger, then that matters. But if we have not given up those things, then we haven’t given up anything. If we haven’t given up ignorance, then we haven’t surrendered anything.

Today there is a possibility. When you woke up this morning—when you woke up this morning, what was the first thought that came to your head?

How many of you woke up to an alarm clock this morning: “Drrrrdrdrdrrring, drrrring-aring-aring-aring-aring-aring-aring”? How many? Quite a few. So, I know exactly what your first thought was. “Not already!?”

I know how that works. If you wake up before your alarm clock, you turn it off. [Audience: Yeah, we do that.] You don’t want to hear that stupid sound. This is how you start your day? And you want peace? And you want life to grab you and embrace you? And you want to be conscious? You want to be aware? You want to celebrate your existence?

And you want “Five more minutes, ahaaaarrrr’huuuhhhh....” [Audience: Yeah.]

What if the sun did that: “Oh, give me five more minutes”? The world would be in chaos. Nature works methodically—in harmony.

I went; I was—very, very recently I was in Japan. And when I was in Japan, I went to this most beautiful garden, very beautiful garden. And I was with a professor, and he was also in charge of that garden.

So he said, “It’s very peaceful here.” And I started thinking about that. And I listened—and it wasn’t quiet. There were crickets; there was a waterfall; there was rustling of the wind. There were a lot of noises! There were birds chirping. There were crickets going at it; there was a waterfall; there were the trees in the winds....

And I realized, it wasn’t that it was quiet—but it was harmonious. The sound of the crickets chirping went with the sound that the birds were singing—and the sound of the birds went with the water falling, and the sound of the water falling went beautifully with the leaves rustling in the wind. It was harmonious.

So, have you been to a concert, or have you seen on television, people playing music? Somebody playing drums, somebody playing flute, somebody playing guitar, somebody playing cymbals, somebody playing, you know, piano?

You know that all that could sound really absurd—you know that, right? If the drummer was playing to some other song; the guitar was playing some other song; the piano was playing some other song, how would it sound? Would it sound good? No. The same instruments playing to the same song—sounds harmonious.

How harmonious is your life? How harmonious is your life? Do you feel that your life is a symphony—or do you feel like your life is, every day, somebody is playing another song on the piano; somebody is playing another song on the flute; somebody is doing something; somebody’s doing something, and there you are going, “Oh my God, I feel so tired....”

How many of you ultimately end up saying, “Oh, God help me; please, help me; help me”?

Consider one thing: when you were born, what allowed you to come home? If you were born in a hospital, what allowed you to come home? If you were born at home, what allowed you to stay home? Do you know? Do you know? You don’t know? I’ll tell you. That’s why I’m here; that’s why I’m asking the questions. This is not a quiz.

“Your breathing, your breath.” When you were born, everybody in that room was only paying attention to one thing. Not what your lines were on your hands, not if you were a boy or a girl. They were paying attention to only one thing: “Are you breathing or not?”

And as soon as they found out you were breathing, “H’eaah, aaaah. Okay—is it a boy; is it a girl?” And because you were breathing, you could come home. Because you were breathing, you could stay home. If you were not breathing, you’re not going to come home. And if you are not breathing and you are home, you’re not going to stay home—you’re going to go away.

That’s how powerful this breath coming into you is. So far this breath is coming into you, you are somebody’s daughter; you are somebody’s mother; you are somebody’s aunt; you are somebody’s uncle; you are somebody’s friend. And if this breath is not coming into you, you are nobody. Nobody wants you.

Do you understand the power of this breath? Do you understand the power of this breath? Would you say that the coming and the going of this breath is a blessing? What do you think? Is it a blessing? A blessing?

Do you recognize the blessing? Do you? Right now. Right now! Just now! Just now, the breath came. And there comes another one. And there comes another one! And don’t you find it remarkable that the first breath you ever take begins with you taking the breath in? And the last breath you will ever take will be the breath going out.

This blessing—in your bad times it comes; in your good times, it comes. And if you have, ever you have a doubt—ever, whether you are blessed or not, there is your proof. There is your proof!

And that’s what you need to be thankful for: “I am alive. I have a choice. Because I am alive I have a choice! And the choice I have is either I can live in ignorance or I can live with knowledge.” Make the choice. Make the choice. And every day, you have to make the choice.

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Finding the Balance

Hear Yourself Author Event

Madrid, Spain

Prem Rawat:

I know you have problems, troubles, challenges—and sometimes these challenges, these issues weaken you.

And I always remember that when we are faced with this big mountain, we look at the mountain; we look at the sheer size of the mountain; we look at the height of the mountain—and we’re overwhelmed: “What’s going to happen? How am I going to survive this? How am I going to be able to take care of the challenges that I have?”—whatever the challenge may be.

And in that moment, I want you to remember that nowhere, going on top of the mountain is the challenge. That’s not the objective. To get to the other side of the mountain is the objective. And to get to the other side of the mountain, you don’t have to go through the mountain, and you don’t have to go over the mountain. You can go around the mountain.

Because at the end of the day, the story becomes very simple, (even though it seems like it becomes very complicated). You, as a human being, need to understand what every day is. I know; I know it’s, that doesn’t sound right: “Every day?”

Well, wait till you hear what I really have to say. I go way beyond every day—I go down to every moment! Because every moment that you are alive, that you exist, is the most amazing possibility, most amazing occurrence that’s happening, most amazing thing that’s taking place.

What a blast; what a—what a trip to have come through that one wall and to be here—and then it goes on and on, every day, every moment....

You want to extend your life? You want to live longer? [Audience: Yes.] Yeah, there is a way. Cut it down to size, as many little pieces as you can, called “moment.” Get it as every moment—it’s going to seem a lot more. It just is!—because you’ve been enjoying every single moment.

To understand in your life that this gift of breath is unparalleled. And the wisdom to enjoy it, you have been given that too. Like I said earlier, you look at one mirror, but learn to look at another mirror that’s there. And in that mirror, you will see a lot more of who you truly are.

That you’re not without wisdom; you have incredible wisdom inside of you. You’re not without the thirst; you have incredible thirst inside of you. You are not without courage; you have incredible courage inside of you.

Why am I using the word “courage”? What has courage got to do with anything? Well, to accept wisdom, it takes courage—it takes courage. To love takes courage! To understand takes courage. To be kind, it takes courage. To be free takes courage. To choose peace takes courage.

None of this stuff is for the weaklings, no, no, no. This takes the real human being, that super-human that you are. That’s what it takes. It’s a reality. Your reality isn’t the pain and sorrow and the suffering. But on the other side of the coin of that pain and sorrow and suffering is the joy, is the clarity, is the understanding, is the wisdom—beckoning you, calling you.

This is why you have a heart! “What heart are you talking about?” Oh, you know that little thing—that says, “Yeah, be kind,” that says, “I love you,” that says, “It’ll be all right,” that says, “Don’t worry”—that’s called a heart. You have it.

And all you need to do.... I’m not saying to shut down the mind. I’m not saying that. That would be nice, but you can’t do it.

I used to say that when I was ten years, eleven years old; people used to come to me and every morning, you know, the setup—but I, but actually, I was thirteen then when I came to England—every morning, we would have a session; I would sit down; people would sit down. And they would ask questions every day.

And the questions were, “I can’t shut down my mind.” So but why are you trying? You don’t need to shut down your mind. You need your heart to come out and balance your life! If your life does not seem balanced, it’s because it’s all mind, no heart.

And what does the mind do? “You’d, you blew it. You didn’t do that right. Oh, you could have done it better. Oh, you are going to get it. Oh, you are not going to succeed. Oh, you will never make it. Oh, you are useless. Yeah, oh, and nothing good will come of you.” Already the tape is playing.

What do you think is that thing? You haven’t taken the test yet, right? You’re sitting there to take the test—and are you nervous? And why are you nervous? Because something has already introduced the idea of failure in you. “Failure. Failure.” And you have bought it; you have accepted it.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to adjust to the light that was inside of you—so you could see the courage; you could see the clarity; you could see the understanding; you could see the wisdom that you have in you?

But we do get bored—because we don’t have the patience to let these eyes adjust to the sight within. If you could have just that much patience, oh, so little patience, you will be the king of your universe for the rest of your life.

Just that’s all it takes. Then joy will be yours; understanding will be yours—and gratitude will be yours. To be thankful every single day—every single day, nay, every single moment will be yours. “Thank you. Thank you for this life. Thank you for this existence. Thank you for this breath. Thank you for joy. Thank you for clarity. Thank you”—for all that is good in your life.

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The Three Pillars of Peace

Barcelona, Spain

Prem Rawat:

So, I’m here; you are here—I’m glad we could make it. And what I have to talk about, in a way, is really, really simple. And if I can remind you of something, if I can tell you something new, they would be the same.

And what I want to tell you that is new, and what I want to tell you again that you have already heard—that what you’re looking for, you already have inside of you.

Inside of you, you have amazing assets that you need in this war of life. Yes, it is a war. Who are you fighting; who is your enemy? Ignorance. Who are you fighting? Doubt. Who are you fighting—fear. These are just some of the enemies that you have—that for you to win this war, you’re going to have to overcome.

Now, what do you have for soldiers; what do you have for an army; what do you have that you’re going to fight this war with? And what you’re going to fight this war with is clarity.

So, the question now is this: “Why is this war going to even play out—why?” When clarity, understanding, joy, wisdom, serenity, these powerful elements are on your side, (that’s what you’re going to fight this war with), well, what is this war all about? Why, why is there going to be a war?

Why don’t the elements of doubt, of pain, suffering, understand that you have joy on your side—and they should just merely surrender; that there’s no contest. It’s like somebody in a game of chess has managed to move four pawns into the last row, and has four queens. And it—and the game is over!

So, it doesn’t make any sense to me that this war should ever happen. When such strong adversaries are going to face off—and the ones that are on your side are so much stronger than the other adversaries, why this war? I mean, I don’t get it; I just don’t get it—do you? It just doesn’t make any sense.

If serenity is on your side, what ails you? Why are you bothered? If clarity is on your side, if courage is on your side, why do you fear fear? Why are you afraid? How could this be?

So, there must be a problem somewhere. Somebody is very misinformed of what’s going on—right? That’s the only way. Somehow you have been told—or you are convinced, or you have managed to convince yourself—that fear is stronger than courage. And I am here to tell you “It’s not.” The courage that you have is, fortunately, incredibly strong.

If I were you, I would be talking “mercy”—“We need to be merciful to these elements called ‘anger’ and ‘fear’”—and I mean, we’d just destroy! Instead, we are—we feel victimized by them. So, we are not, we’re not aware. We don’t understand how powerful clarity is, how powerful joy is, how powerful serenity is.

Indeed, how powerful the divine is—who happens to be on your side. How do you know that? Because the divine is within you.

And now, don’t get carried away by what your definition of “divine” is. When I say “divine,” I’m talking about that power, that beauty that is the maker of this whole universe. I’m talking about that divine that—and the only divine that I know of—that can’t go from there to there.

You know the divine can’t go from there to there? You know why? Because the divine is there and there at the same time. Can’t come; can’t go—there is no place without the divine. There is no place where all that goodness does not exist.

You happen to be a field—not a field like a field of magnetic energy, but a field like a battlefield, a place where you have consciousness. And you being conscious, you can choose; if you are conscious, you can choose.

You can choose to solicit the power, the energy, the wisdom that you have inside of you—if you want to, if this war means something to you, if being alive every day means something to you.

I know there are people here who have heard me many, many times—and there are people here who are hearing me for the very first time. I’ve simplified things. I say to all of you, “Do three things—this is all you have to do.” You want peace? Do three things. You want clarity? Do three things. You want joy in your life? Do three things. You want to win this war? Do three things.

Three—just only three. One: Know yourself. Two: Live your life consciously. Three: Have a heart full of gratitude. It’s all you have to do.

That’s all you have to do. It’s all you have to do—nothing much. Everything, everything you have ever heard is covered in these three things. Knowing yourself—that’s the Knowledge of the self: “Know yourself.” “Live your life consciously”—bring on the clarity.

To be aware! To be aware that I have in me that beautiful serenity, that I have in me that beautiful joy, that I have in me that courage. That I have in me the wisdom, the wisdom of a billion books that have been written. I have in me the wisdom of thousands and thousands of saints that have blessed this earth. All in me; all in you. You have that.

And when you begin to live your life in that clarity, when you begin to live your life in that joy, when you begin to live your life—when you begin to simply live your life, not fulfilling the expectations, not trying to do this, not trying to do that.... If you can live your life consciously—see, live your life—finally begin to live your life, then your heart will be full of gratitude.

And then the gifts you receive from the heart—oh! Too much. Too much. You may not get a chocolate truffle, but the satisfaction and the sweetness in your mouth of that chocolate truffle—the satisfaction, true satisfaction—that, you will get. That, you will get.

Three things: “Know yourself. Live your life consciously. And have a heart full of gratitude.” It’s all you need to do. It’s all you need to do.

Practice peace; change your world. Change this world. Take it from pain and suffering—to joy. Change yourself. Don’t be afraid; no need for fear. You don’t need to be afraid to change yourself. Why? If you don’t like it? You can always go back.

If you don’t like.... If you don’t like fear, you can try to change. If you don’t like the courage, you can always go back to fear. It’s not gone; fear will never leave you; don’t worry. Confusion will never leave you—they will always be there.

Harness? Then harness clarity. And this is all you have to do. This is all you have to do.

In this life, truly, every single day that you have, this life that you have is a gift, is a possibility to be fulfilled. Fulfill it. Win the war. It’s a walk in the park. Believe me, once you know what you’ve got, it’s a walk in the park. That’s how I began—and that’s how it should be.

Logos on children’s clothing:

Speak Out

End violence against children

I am the voice of children too afraid to speak

#endviolenceZA

Ending Violence Against Women and Children

Onscreen text:

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM

VIOLENCE FREE

Individual 1: [male]

To me, violence is basically hurting someone, whether it be physically or emotionally.

Individual 2: [female]

Violence is when you oppress someone—and it’s not only physically and emotionally, but like, psychologically and otherwise.

Onscreen text:

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM IS AN INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN

IT TAKES PLACE EVERY YEAR FROM NOV 25TH TO DEC 10TH

Prem Rawat:

When I say to people, “You need peace in your life,” don’t think of it as a luxury—but there is no other option. Without it, the very fabric of society is falling apart; the very fabric of humanity is falling apart.

Onscreen text:

PREM RAWAT

FOUNDER OF THE PREM RAWAT FOUNDATION AND THE PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAM

Prem Rawat:

This is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Onscreen text:

ONE IN THREE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN WILL BE RAPED IN HER LIFETIME

Lumka Ngxoli:

Can you explain the importance of, you know, peace, especially over the period of 16 Days of Activism in South Africa?

Onscreen text:

LUMKA NGXOLI

JOURNALIST

SOUTH AFRICA

Prem Rawat:

See, we have all these symbologies. So, symbolically we come in and say, “Okay, we have sixteen days and we’re going to talk about this,” or “we’re going to make an effort.”

No, no, these kinds of efforts, whether it is violence against children, violence against women, violence against each other, this is a continuous effort and it requires a continuous effort. It cannot just happen for one day, sixteen days, thirty days; it’s an effort that has to happen all the time.

Onscreen text:

IN 1948, EXISTING POLICIES OF RACIAL SEGREGATION BECAME OFFICIALLY ENFORCED

Individual: [male, voiceover]

I cannot get used to it. I must reject it.

Onscreen text: apartheid

UNDER A SYSTEM CALLED APARTHEID, MEANING “SEPARATENESS”

DESPITE STRONG RESISTANCE AND OPPOSITION TO APARTHEID, THESE LAWS REMAINED IN EFFECT FOR 50 YEARS

Onscreen, newspaper headline:

The WORLD

4 DEAD, 11 HURT AS KIDS RIOT Police clash with protest marchers

THE SOWETO UPRISING

Tumi Mahasha: [MC]

This is not just a Catholic Church but it’s also the church of the people.

Visible onscreen, sign:

BURY APARTHEID

Onscreen text:

THE SOWETO UPRISING WAS A SERIES OF PROTESTS LED BY BLACK SCHOOLCHILDREN WHO FELT THEY DESERVED TO BE TAUGHT EQUALLY TO WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS

IN 1976, 10,000 TO 20,000 BLACK STUDENTS PROTESTED AT ORLANDO STADIUM THE POLICE BEGAN TO SHOOT DIRECTLY AT THE CHILDREN

Visible onscreen, inscription:

TO HONOUR THE YOUTH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY

Sign: REGINA MUNDI

Tumi Mahasha: [MC]

Regina Mundi Catholic Church played a major role during the apartheid regime. The children gathered inside this church, hiding from police, police that were shooting, shooting inside the windows through the roof, telling the children to “leave this place.” At that time in life, they were fighting for their freedom.

Onscreen:

Joburg a world class African city, Soweto

Onscreen text:

TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE APARTHEID VOILENT CRIME HAS NOT BEEN TAMED

Prem Rawat:

Open your heart to yourself. Only then will you be able to open it to others.

Onscreen text:

PREM SPEAKS AT REGINA MUNDI CHURCH

Prem Rawat:

When you cannot love you, you cannot love another person. We try to educate people, “Domestic violence is not good,” but who are you talking to? First, people need to discover their own love, their own courage. Then and only then can they offer courage and hope to others.

Father Bonkis: [onscreen]

First things first, I would like to thank you for giving me this clarity that you have given me.

Individual: [female]

I’m very hopeful because of the transformation that you have brought into my life. I was a young woman living with anger. I was aggressive. I was short-tempered. But since I was introduced to this program, my life has begun to change.

Prem Rawat:

There is bad in us; there is good in us. And it is incumbent upon, not only the individuals but the society, as much as they can, to promote that good in everyone, so that that good will prevail. This is the only way.

What is forgiveness? What is forgiveness? Is forgiveness to accept the mistake of a person? Think about it—is a mistake this person makes—you, and most people think that forgiveness is to accept his mistake and forgive him for his mistake.

And that’s not forgiveness. Forgiveness is the day you realize you no longer want to be affected by that person’s mistake. Forgiveness is not setting the perpetrator free, but forgiveness is setting yourself free [Audience: Yeah, right, yes!] from the perpetrator.

And that’s the reason people have such a hard time forgiving. Because, to me, people ask me, “Somebody did that to your daughter; somebody did that to your wife; somebody did to that to your sister, would you forgive them?” And I, answer is “No.”

But I have to forgive myself because I want to be free. I don’t want this person who has already done harm to my family to continue doing harm to me. So I set myself free of him—and that’s what forgiveness is.

What is needed, not only in South Africa but in the world today? There are—just recently when I was in Japan, I had a meeting with a professor, and the professor’s specialty is “peace, happiness, betterment of people.” So, when he read one of my books, he wanted to meet me.

So, I went and I sat down and we talked for a long time—and a lot of fun. And the conclusion of that meeting—“We, as human beings, need four things in our lives.” Four things. One, we need hope. If we don’t have hope, it’s no good. We need hope.

Two, we need gratitude—we need to be thankful. We need to be thankful to be alive; we need to be thankful for our friends; we need to be thankful for people we love; we need to be thankful for the sun; we need to be thankful for the earth; we need to be thankful for the river; we need to be thankful for the wheat; we need to be thankful for the seasons.

We need to be thankful for this breath that we receive every day; it’s a gift! We need gratitude. What is gratitude? You accept. You accept. When you accept something, you have gratitude. When you don’t accept—when you don’t accept the sun; when you don’t accept the seasons; when you don’t accept this life; when you don’t accept this breath, you cannot have gratitude.

So, this gratitude is important. Self-reliance is important—if you want to be whole; if you want to be happy? What do I mean by “self-reliance”? People care about other people, of what those people think about you. Am I right? [Individuals: Yeah. Yes.]

Not good—drive you crazy. [Individuals: Uh-huh! Yes.] Completely drive you crazy. “What does he think about me? What does he think about me? What does he think about me? What does he think of—does he like me? Does he like me; doesn’t he like me?” You know?

What do you think about yourself? Do you like you? No, because you don’t know you. Sorry! You know everybody else. You wear the green dress—because you know your aunt loves the color green. But what color do you love? Do you know?

And the most important thing is to have peace in your life. So, what is peace? What is peace—is it something that is created? Or does it already exist?

If we have to create peace, (and this is what everybody thinks has to happen: “We have to create peace”). No! This is how it works, my friends. First, you find peace in you. And because you have found peace in you, you make peace with yourself. Then you make peace with this world—and then you get “world peace.” But it begins with you. It begins with you!

And what we have lost is our civility. Now, all the little fish want to be like the big fish—and that’s all they care about: “I want to be a big fish. I want to be a big fish.” And when they cannot be a big fish, even for a moment they are willing to take a gun; they are willing to take a knife so that, in those few minutes, they can be the big fish. They can have what they want. This is erosion of civilization.

If you want civility, to be civilized, then you must decide you don’t want to play the game of the jungle rule—ever. And this is a decision that every human being on the face of this earth has to make. There, the civilizations will be preserved where the civilized rule will also be preserved.

Then we can begin to focus on hope! Then we can begin to focus on gratitude! Then we can focus on self-reliance. Then we can focus in knowing ourselves. And when this will manifest, you will feel peace in your own heart. This is hope—this is about hope.

Do you know, all of you, at one time in your life, failed many times—but you did not accept the failure. You know when that was? When you were learning how to walk. When you were learning how to walk, your legs were not strong enough; your muscle was not strong enough yet. You got up—and you went like this and bonk—you fell. Did you accept failure?

You failed—but you did not accept failure. You did not need a motivational speaker—did you? [Individual: No, I never did.] You did not go read books. You did not climb on top of a monastery? No. What did you do? You tried again.

And when you tried, you failed. And when you failed, you still did not accept failure—and you kept going, and you kept going, only because you did not accept failure. You kept failing but you did not accept failure.

And one day you got up—and you walked! And when you walked, what did you accomplish—walking? No, you unlocked the whole world for yourself. Now you could go wherever you wanted to go!

This is how you need to be today—“Fail but don’t accept the failure. Get up again—and take another step.” Your mother could not lecture you: “Oh, you should get up, you know; don’t be—because it’s okay; it’s okay; we all fall.” You wouldn’t understand. You just did it.

I see so many young people who have lost hope! Don’t they remember when they were learning how to walk? They had a sense of purpose; they had a power; they had a feeling. And they had wisdom of all the sages and wise men of this universe: “Fail but do not accept failure.”

And that strategy of “Okay to fail, but not okay to accept failure” saw success, because you could walk—and only because of that reason.

People should not, in their lives, accept failure. You have so much hope, not out there, but in here! Your heart is full of hope; open it. Open it. Open your heart to yourself. Only then will you be able to open it to others.

View all released episodes of "Lockdown" under the Series tab.

Prem Rawat:

It’s been a while, but here I am again. And doing a lot of things, as you can see; this is all a new setup getting ready for the PEP. And, you know, taking care of things, and as slowly, things start opening up, the possibilities of starting off and going different places are looking better and better, whenever that happens....

The most important thing, of course, is to stay safe—for you, for me, for all of us. You know, and if it’s two more weeks or four more weeks, or whatever it happens to be, it’s okay. You know, just stay fluid like water. Remember that tree that knows how to bend, how to flex in the wind—and by that flexibility, it is actually assuring itself a long life—so that’s really wonderful.

Anyways, so what inspired me to come out here and talk to you? Well, I was saving the questions—but there was one question that came up that got me thinking. And let me begin with a little story. So, I hope you’re not bored with this, but this could be, you know, your mouth could start salivating—but let me talk to you about a samosa. And so, what is a samosa?

So, it’s a thin dough—and it’s whole wheat dough, but it’s thin. And you make a filling. And one of the very popular fillings in India is potato. And you add, you know—everybody has their own version of samosa filling.

So, why am I talking about a samosa? Well, so it hit me that there was a time when I was a little boy—and I remember this particular day, because what happened was all my brothers and my mother and some other relatives, they all decided to go to the movies. And they weren’t going to take me; I was too young, I guess.

So I stayed home—but I was devastated. I remember I was absolutely devastated that I wasn’t going to get to go. And I was crying and it was terrible.

 So, my father happened to be at home—which was rather rare, because he would always be traveling somewhere—but he happened to be home that day. And he was, you know, a little concerned that I was crying. And so he said, “Why are you crying?” And I said, “Well, you know, they didn’t take me. So, I’m, I’m”—I was heartbroken. (I didn’t tell him that, but I was.)

And he says, “Okay, you and I will go and have a good time.” So I said, “All right.” It wasn’t going to be the good time that I had imagined—because it was a real suffering from my idea of how it should be—they didn’t take me and I was, you know, I was devastated....

So, he took me, and we ended up going to this restaurant—and I was a little boy—and I remember this. And I remember he ordered—he looked at me and he says, “Would you like to eat something?” And I said “Yes,” and he said, “Okay, how about a samosa?” And I said, “Oh, that sounds good.” And I said, “I’m also going to have some ice cream.”

So, believe me, I have had a lot of samosas and I do have ice cream—but that day, that particular day, that samosa and that ice cream, I remember.

Do I remember the filling of that samosa? Absolutely not. Do I remember what kind of ice cream was it that I had that day? Absolutely not. I don’t know if it was vanilla, it was strawberry or it was chocolate. But, boy, I tell you, it was the best samosa and it was the best ice cream that I have ever had in my life.

Now, I had—another time I had samosa, and it was really delicious. And, you know, samosa having that thin dough and then it’s deep-fried, the caramelization happens and it gets crispy. And it’s just, the aroma, the—you know, it’s just amazing. Umami is just amazing.

And this particular day, I was traveling—I was older—I was traveling. And the people where I was, where I had started from had forgotten to pack the lunch—they had packed the lunch but they had forgotten to give it to us.

So I was really, really hungry and so we pulled over, and there was a little place on the side of the road. And this samosa filling I remember—and it was this, just the simplest samosa filling—it was the potato, a little bit of black pepper, salt, little bit of chilies, (chopped green chilies and a little bit of red chilies), and coriander.

And so it was just, when you bit into it, that umami of the fried bread was there; the dough—and the potato, you could taste it, the coriander, the pepper—and the salt and the chilies. And all of these flavors and the smells were there. So, anyways, my mouth is watering; I don’t know about yours.... But it was just something that really hit the spot.

So, now, why am I telling you about samosas? Well, you see, that other one, that other samosa I had that was the best samosa I’ve ever had—and the best ice cream I have ever had—had nothing to do with the flavor, had nothing to do with that particular stuffing. It had to do with the company that I had—and how much it meant to me.

And so, sometimes we don’t understand what “good” is. So, anyways, now let me come back to what caused me to, you know, what—this question that I saw and it really got me going....

So, the question was, “What if the bad wolf ate the good wolf?” So for, (if some of you don’t know this story), I’ll just very quickly reiterate the story. A little boy traveling with the tribe came to the chief and said, “Chief, I have a question.” Chief said, “What?” He goes, “Well, why is it that some people who are good sometimes are bad the other times?”

And the chief said, “Because there is a good wolf in us and there is a bad wolf in us, and they fight.” And so the boy thought about it, and then a few minutes later he said to the chief; he says, “Which one wins?” And he said, “Well, the one you feed. So if you feed the bad wolf, it gets strong; if you feed the good wolf, it gets strong.”

So, when I first read the question, I giggled—I mean, I’m sorry but I giggled, because it’s like, well, you know, here I talk about these stories; I give these analogies—and here is somebody giving this analogy back to me, “What if the bad wolf ate the good wolf?” I mean, “Ate the good wolf?” And then I started thinking about it—“Is that even possible—the good and the bad?”

So, that’s where the samosa example comes in—and by the way, samosa is not from India; it’s from Persia, and it was developed at the court. A lot of people used to come and they would be standing all day long to hear the verdict of the king, you know, and in different cases, and so there was nothing for them to eat....

Somebody came up with the idea, “A little bit of bread, fry it; stuff it with something,” and it became samosa. And of course, when—anything that makes it to India becomes Indian very quickly. And Indians have made it their own—and done a fabulous job of it.

So, good is much bigger than you realize. And the bad is much bigger than you realize—it is more than the sum of your life—it’s huge; it’s massive. This unsettled war of the good and the bad has played out on the face of this earth as far back as stories go—they are about the good and the bad. It is all about the good winning over the bad.

And how far does that go? (Not in terms of time), but how big is that good? Because if that good wasn’t good—and that good wasn’t big, then in this life, things become uncertain. If truly it was possible for the bad wolf to ever eat the good wolf, we’re in trouble; we’re in serious, serious trouble.

But then, if you remember what Krishna says, “That even in your darkest moment, I will not abandon you.” There—that’s about the good: “You will not be abandoned,” even if it seemed to you that the bad wolf is eating the good wolf or has eaten the good wolf—as dark as it gets!

Because for me, that day when I didn’t get to go with my family, (my brothers, my mother), I was devastated. You know, there wasn’t the good wolf coming along and saying, “No, it’s, you know, it’s all right; you don’t need to worry about it; you don’t need to be bothered.” I was very bothered; I was crying.

And it had such an impact on me, the bad—and then, going to the good, the most wonderful samosa and the most wonderful ice cream; I mean, my goodness, you know, that flavor.... That you’ve got that hot samosa, the crispy samosa, the salty samosa, and then you take a bite of that cold ice cream. I mean....

You know, and of course, the temperature of the ice cream has to be right. Because if it’s too liquidy, it won’t taste good. And if it’s too cold and it’s like a brick, it won’t taste good—so, everything was just right. But more than that—it was the company.

So there is something that is good that goes beyond the scope of everyday activity that you’re involved with. That everything that happens in your life, for whatever the period is, five years, six years, two years, one day, one minute, one second, whatever, there is a good that prevails. And it’s much, much, much, much bigger than you realize.

Never underestimate the value of darkness; it’s huge. It is very powerful; it’s very potent. But for us human beings on the face of this earth, whatever our challenges may be, there is a good—and that good is more powerful, is backed up by more. There is a power behind it. There is a strength behind it. And this is the strength that we have to, in our lives, latch onto—the strength of the good.

To remember that even in my darkest hour, I am not abandoned. I may feel abandoned, but I’m not abandoned. Because I haven’t latched on; I haven’t made it my home, the goodness that is in me. I haven’t made that good wolf my companion. Not just something that I feed, but that that goodness becomes my companion.

And that that other wolf is something that I stay away from. Not only is a question of feeding it, but I stay away from it—because that’s something that I don’t want a relationship.... I want my relationship with the good, with what is powerful. Because this is who I am.

You know, what is the difference between day and night? Not much. There are the stars; there is the planet Earth, still going around and round and round. But there is a huge difference. And that difference is that during that day, there is the light of the sun and I can see. And that seeing makes all the difference—that I can be, now, awake. It’s not just that I can see, but I am awake too.

And that I have a fundamental need to sleep—and it works very well when the darkness comes because I need that darkness to be able to fall asleep in.

So, one great disadvantage is that when it is dark, I don’t know what’s out there. I need to know that. If somebody is challenged visually, they use a stick to figure out what’s out there. But we need to know what is out there.

And the same thing about the good in our life. That is the beautiful, truly the beautiful, amazingly the beautiful that resides in the heart of every single person that is alive.

Now, you know, of course, there are people—I’m sure they’re going off on this tangent of, “And this could have happened, and that could have happened and, you know, there are people out there that have done horrible things, that have done terrible things.”

True. I’m not saying that that’s not true. But as a human being, we always carry in us the possibility of a change—that we can go from darkness to light. That this war that we engage in can be won. That it isn’t about winning every single battle, but it is about winning the war. And we can win that war. We can win.

I mean, I know that we’re faced with this challenge—and, you know, seeing this, how governments are reacting to it—absolutely unbelievable.

I mean, here is a moment in which humanity needs to come first, not politics. Humanity needs to come first—that those people who are going off and harping on these politics and politics and making this a game and making this a terrible thing, really need in their lives to understand that they are, first of all, they are human beings.

And their decisions of how they handle things affect so many other human beings. So many people that die—and now, I read, so, and they want to manipulate the data! I mean, okay, they’ve been manipulating the data ever since, so it’s not going to be a big shock to anybody.

Because, you know, one of the things is—and this is true, that not all politicians are like this—but I think they all take an oath, or most of them who are just, have got their head buried somewhere else, take an oath that—they take an oath of telling the truth all the time, that they will always lie. (And something like that.)

Because it seems to be so confusing, with “Do this and don’t do this; do this; don’t do this.” And it’s all about ego....

But here is a chance to do something good. And if—and here is my point of it. If they can’t do it, you can—because you find the goodness in you. And you keep safe—and you keep your neighbors safe. And you keep the people around you safe—because the good is in you.

And what are you doing to do when this coronavirus is no more, and everything goes back to, quote-unquote, “being normal”? Are you going to remember this period? Are you going to bring out your best? Again, not measuring how much, but bringing out your best—because it is in you? Are you going to let that shine? Are you going to let that manifest?

Or are you going to be like, “Well, I don’t have the time for it”—another excuse. You have time to make excuses—and as human beings, we are very good at excuses: “I don’t have the time; I’m too busy; I’m this; I’m that.” And yet, your life; you make the decision.

So, going back to my samosas and ice cream and everything else, just to remember how powerful this possibility is. And one thing that I have to say—and my father used to say this; I’m saying it—that the seed is never destroyed; the seed is always there.

So, yes, the seed of bad is never destroyed—but the seed of good is never destroyed. You can hold your head and go, “Oi, you know, it’s all over,” or “the seed of bad is never going be destroyed,” but the good news here is not that—the good news here is that the seed of the good will never be destroyed. And you carry that good inside of you.

And it’s much bigger. However long you’re going to live, however, whatever is going on in your life, the seed and the cycle of the goodness is more, is bigger than you. It’s huge; it’s massive.

So, I don’t know—I thought that there were so many questions being asked that are actually connected to this question. So, answering this particular question, (which, at first, I thought it was hilarious)—but then when I started thinking about it, I saw the depth of what it means.

This is the drama that’s been playing out—again and again and again and again; this is what Mahabharat was all about; this is what Ramayan was all about—that the good won. The good was victorious.

And at the end of the day, we always, all of us, have to make that effort to make the good win in our lives every day. And if it can be boiled down to that, sure.

Now, when pain comes, when trouble comes, you know, that flattens us. It’s like, pegged against the wall, “What are you going to do? Oh my God, oh, this is terrible; this is horrible.”

But—there is something else too—and that “something else” is bigger than the sum of all the problems that are on the face of this earth. And there are a lot of problems on the face of this earth, a lot; I mean, from small problems to huge problems....

And just imagine what’s happening in this world today. You know, whatever is happening in your little life is happening in your life, but imagine what is happening. Somebody was just born—just born. Another person was just born. Somebody just died. They’re gone—they’re gone forever. They’re never going to come back.

Somebody just became really rich. Somebody just became really poor. Somebody just lost their way. Somebody just found their way. The dramas that are going on all the time out there, they’re not trivial. They affect human beings deeply.

But the way that the good affects the human being is also very unique. And that goes back to “I don’t remember the filling of the samosa but it was the most delicious samosa; I remember that. I don’t know what kind of ice cream it was—but it was the most delicious ice cream I have ever had, bar none.” And I have had some good ones, but nothing as delicious as that.

So, stay safe; be well. Stay fluid. This thing hasn’t played out yet. You know, God knows—it’s, what some of the politicians are doing just to make a name for themselves—they have no interest, human interest in sight. That it’s just about their name, their fame, their two minutes of glory—at your expense. At your expense.

I don’t want to talk about that so much—because I can talk about the good that is in you. And that is much bigger than all those trivial little things that still have to play out with this coronavirus thing—this coronavirus thing has got everybody—it’s got everybody’s attention like you wouldn’t believe.

Now, if we give the attention to the good inside of us, we will have a different world, a beautiful world. So, again, be well; be safe. Take care of yourself. And I’ll talk to you soon. Thank you.

View all released episodes of "Lockdown" under the Series tab.

Prem Rawat: [voiceover]

What you’re looking for is inside of you. The joy that you need in your life is inside of you.

You have not been put on this earth without the tools that you need to get the most out of this life.

This time that you have begins with you; your understanding begins with you; your use of the tools that you have been provided begins with you.

You find yourself. You understand, finally, in your life that perhaps, “There is a self that I do not know.” My thing is, take it in! Chill with it.

Onscreen text:

FOR YOUR LIFE

Peace Is Possible Event

Pasadena, U.S.A.

Prem Rawat:

People come to me, “Oh, I want to be happy.” You want to be happy? Do you want to be happy? Do you want to be happy? You want to be happy? [Audience: Yes.] Get eight hours of sleep.

“So, if you are not offering happiness, what are you offering?” I am offering peace. “What, happiness is, peace is separate?” No, peace can make you happy too—but so can eight hours of sleep make you happy as well! But eight hours of sleep can bring you happiness but not peace. And what I am offering is the peace that already is in you.

Understand, see. Don’t look at this world, don’t look at your life as all these other criteria—they’re not; there are no criteria. This is the stage you’ve got. You’ve got to work with it and dance and dance the most magnificent dance you can.

And dance every day of those 36,500 days. Dance from your heart; dance because you’re celebrating your existence.

Celebrate being alive. People—“Oh, my birthday today.” Only once a year? And what is the bad part of celebrating a birthday every day? You would get really old really quick. But celebrate your existence every single day. Feel the life.

Not your issues. This is real stuff. I’m faced with issues: “What do you want—what do you want, Prem? Problems?”

Just because you have life doesn’t mean you know how to live it. Because if you want to live your life, you need wisdom. You have to garner wisdom. Knowledge is great to acquire, but if you don’t acquire wisdom, you will not be able to do what that knowledge can allow you to do.

A simple example that I give—that “pilots know they have a checklist in the cockpit; wisdom is to use it.”

So, you gather knowledge—but you don’t gather wisdom. If you don’t gather the wisdom to use, to be wise: “Wow, my priorities—what are my priorities today? What do I want to live for? What is my focus; what should be my focus?”

I want, every day, to be in touch with who I truly am. Because when I get in touch with myself, I also get in touch with the divinity that exists inside of me, the simplicity that exists inside of me, the joy that exists inside of me.

There is something within you that is constant, and there is something that is always changing. What is changing is in the outside; what is constant is on the inside—what do you want?

On the outside everything will change. Will you look the same? I wish I had a time-lapse camera, “Chook, chook,” on, right here: “Chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk....”

What does it all look like now? I started at nine years; I started talking about peace when I was four—started sitting on the stage and talking behind a microphone, thousands of people.

There was a time, I was the youngest. Of course, in my family, I was the youngest—and pretty much, wherever I went I was the youngest.

It’s not like that anymore. These eyes have seen change. And this heart has experienced the timeless. And the changeable is fascinating—is fascinating. The timeless is magnificent.

The changeable: “Wow. Boy, look. Oh my God, did you see that person; you see that person; you see that person?” And the heart, opening the eyes and seeing, “I also see the timeless in each one of you.” That’s the recognition. When you recognize the one in you, you recognize the one in each one. Because so it is. So it is.

The way this world is, where greed can have so much power, so quickly.... And this world is being run by greed. Everywhere you look, greed-greed-greed-greed, greed-greed-greed-greed, greed.

If we human beings do not bring the formula of the human back in—and replace greed—we’re all doomed. The stakes are very high now, where we won’t even have a planet to be on. We punish, through our actions, polar bears—who have done us no wrong. We punish the penguins—who have done us no wrong.

The other day I saw somebody who had gone to Africa and shot a beautiful lion. And I was like, “Hey, you know what? If this guy really wants to go hunting, he should be allowed to. But without a gun.” Even keel.

It’s not fair. The poor lion doesn’t have a gun. He doesn’t know how to use a gun—you do. And where is that little wisdom, “The strong shall protect the weak”?

No. The stakes are much, much higher. The world is becoming enslaved to a device that, it is still called a “smartphone.” It should not be called a “smartphone”—because the least amount of thing that thing does is phone. And it’s not smart. There’s nothing smart about it—all the people who you don’t want to receive calls from, call it. How can it be smart?

So, make every step you take on this stage of life count. Make it count. You owe this to life. And one day, you will be rewarded with the most beautiful gift called clarity, called gratitude, called understanding—and your life will never be the same again.

Life is this stage. Play, play this symphony; play this dance every day. Your heart yearns for it.