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Essential Peace

Bunya International Seminar, Part II

Hiroshima, Japan

Prem Rawat:

There are three things in your existence: Birth. You’re alive. And one day you have to go—death. I’m simplifying, okay? I know there are a lot more things, but so I’m simplifying: you were born; you are alive, and one day you have to go, (“ptschou”).

You had no control over when you were born. You really don’t have much control over when you’re going to go. But between those two, (the coming and the going), you do have control. Question is, “Are you?” No, but it—and the only reason why I say this is because if you are not, you should be.

Because that’s the only way you’re going to be able to say, “Ah, excuse me; I don’t want frustration in my life. Excuse me; I don’t want anger in my life. Excuse me; I want joy in my life. Excuse me; I want peace in my life. Excuse me; I want to feel good every day.”

Because if it is incumbent on other people, then I am at their mercy. Their approval makes me feel good—then I am at their mercy. And I have to do what I have to do to please them.... So that, so that they can say, “You’re doing good; you’re doing good.”

What’s really difficult about life? What’s really difficult about life? Do you know? Like a tape recorder, it doesn’t have buttons: “Pause. Stop. Rewind.”

I mean, if I missed yesterday, then I would like to pause, rewind: “Let me try this again. Please, let me try this again.” If in a moment I feel really angry, really angry, really angry—I know what’s going to happen after my anger; I’m going to feel bad. I could just pause, rewind: “Let me try this again.”

So, because there are no buttons, you are forced to live your life consciously every day—and that’s really difficult. That is really, really, really difficult. And the reason why it’s difficult—because you’re not set up for it.

Two minutes you live from your heart; two minutes and you live from here. Two minutes here; two minutes here. Two minutes here; two minutes here. Two minutes here; two minutes here. Two minutes here; two minutes here.

One minute, you have to be practical. One minute, “Ah....” One minute, “Oh my God; I’m late.” One minute, “I am so happy I’m alive.” Third minute, “Am I happy I’m late...?” 


Confusion. Confusion, confusion.... And then that’s where everybody goes; everybody goes, “Oh yes, we cannot be confused. So, let’s go to a training; let’s—let’s go and read a book and let’s find one of these people like me.”

But what I will tell you is straight. I will tell you, “You don’t need to be looking at me for peace; you should be looking at you for peace.” Because your peace resides in you. My peace resides in me. I cannot give you my peace; you cannot give me your peace.

I cannot give you my breath; you cannot give me your breath. And from that time, from that one wall to the other wall, not one moment can be exchanged. It’s yours. It’s mine.

You understanding you. You understanding you! This is what Socrates said, “Know thyself,” understanding the self.

So, what I have to say is very simple: “What you are looking for is within you.” The question is, you say, “How do I look inside?” Same way you see your face. How do you see your face? If you want to see yourself, how do you see? With your eyes, you see the world. You see everybody’s face, right, with these eyes? You see everybody’s face except?—yours.

Now, if you want to see your face, what do you need? [Audience: You need a mirror.] (You got that one right.) You need a mirror! Not dependence; independence.

I am about freedom! I’m talking about independence. That’s where my message is so different. It so happens, I do come sit down in a chair, (or sometimes I’m standing by a podium); I do talk in a microphone. And that’s it—the message is entirely different. Message is about freedom. Message is about “Know thyself!” Message is, “You have the power to free you.”

When I say, “You know your world; now, know your breath,” why do I say that? Because in that life, there’s something so beautiful.

I will leave you with one last thought. And, (hmm), wisdom doesn’t all come at the same time—believe me, it sometimes comes in little pieces. So, one day I have this thought—and I’ll share it with you.

If I’m looking for Buddha.... Now, I have seen pictures of Buddha; I have seen statues of Buddha. And if I’m looking for Buddha in this world today, how should I do it? How should I do it?

Because should I be looking for somebody that looks like the statues that I have seen, the pictures that I have seen? Because if I am, I won’t find a Buddha.

But if I am looking for someone who carries the wisdom, who carries the benevolence, who carries the kindness, who carries the caring, then do you have any idea how many Buddhas I will find? Millions. Millions—because Buddha wasn’t about this; Buddha was about this. What made Buddha Buddha was not his face, but his benevolence, his caring, his sharing, his wisdom.

And that always lives. It never dies. It always lives.

A lot of people—somebody very close to them passes away; they feel sorrow—they should. But because you’ve seen that person you would know, you’re attached to a face. Stop looking for the face. Start looking for the kindness; start looking for the joy of that person; start looking for the caring of that person—and you will realize they’re still here.

Not in one, but in many—and many and many and many. This is the wisdom of life—not the wisdom of the world but the wisdom of life.

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Born to Feel

Miami, USA

Prem Rawat:

Is there a trick to this life? Is there a way to live this life and not be slain by the problems?

So, now I give you my experience, fifty years.... (Fifty-one, almost approaching fifty-one in just a few days—thirty-first of July, fifty-one.) So, here it is.

And how have I come to this conclusion? Because I too have problems. And I too have tried to overcome my problems. And I too have fundamentally not succeeded in overcoming my problems. The same problem—and if you barely get over it, it changes, it morphs and becomes something else—with a totally different appearance but you know it’s exactly the same problem.

So you’re, fundamentally, you are trying to be victorious over your problems—without being victorious over the self. So you’re not victorious; you are losing—with you! You’re losing with you, but you’re trying to win everywhere else. And you’re going to fail—you’re going to fail. Why? Because the first victory you have to gain is not your problems—is you.

So, what does that look like; I mean, what...? Gaining victory over yourself, what does that look like?

It looks like this—where you understand that wall. And not the back side of that wall, but the front side of the wall. Because if you’re wondering about the back side of the wall, you will—you’ll lose, believe me.

Because people have been trying to figure that out for hundreds of thousands of years: “Where did I come from?” And then they have come to the conclusion that—you, somehow the whole world has concluded that they don’t come from here; they come from somewhere else: “Tshhhhou....”

So, this is what it looks like. You begin to realize that between this side of that wall, (the first one, the birth wall), and this side of the other wall, (the death wall), is heaven.

That’s what it looks like when you’re victorious over yourself. That is heaven—that you can feel. And that’s not what makes it heaven, (that you can feel). But what can you feel? You can feel joy. That’s what makes it heaven.

And when I came up with this title, “Born to feel”.... They asked me, you know, “What are you going to call that event?” I didn’t answer. “Aagh, we, we need, we need, we need to announce the event and we need a title. We need a theme.” “Born to feel.”

Born to feel clarity. Born to feel joy. Born to feel the Divine. Born to feel the true happiness. That’s why you went through this wall and you came onto this stage, onto this platform. And what did you do? You allowed yourself to be contaminated, “No-no-no, destiny, destiny. Oh, yeah, you know, I’m just a little puppet.”

So, where are the strings? Do you feel little strings? You want to be a puppet; you can be a puppet.

So, what is destiny? I have a definition for destiny too. Every one of you sitting in this hall, every one of those people who are not in this hall, (the 6.6-some billion people on the face of this earth), every one of them has a gift. And destiny is.... When you find your gift and pursue that gift to no end, it becomes your destiny.

That’s what destiny is. Not pre-ordained—because that would include taking away choice. And what you have, at the crux of this entire universe, on this planet Earth.... I don’t know if the sun has a choice; I don’t know. I don’t know if the moon has a choice. I don’t know if all the stars have a choice. I don’t know if rivers have a choice.

But I know you do. You as a human being, you have a choice. And you can choose. You can choose to gain victory over yourself—or you can choose to try to pursue, for the rest of your life, trying to gain victory over your problems. In one, you will never win—in one you’ve got a fair shot.

Nobody—nobody has won over their problems. And now, there are many people who think they have. Many people would like to; many people would imagine they would. But nobody has yet conquered their problems.

And it is only when you begin to understand that that is the nature of the problems—they’re not to be conquered. If they get conquered, they’re no more problems. That is their nature. They will morph to something else, to something else, to something....

Just when you get everything settled, your cat will run away. Just when you find your cat, your dog will run away. Just as you find your dog, your wife will run away. Just as you find your wife, you will run away.

On this earth, if we don’t understand what this life, what this existence is all about—if this breath is not precious to us, if you are not precious to yourself, your existence means nothing to you—then truly, believe me, my friends, this drama between the two walls is lost.

This drama is not going to be a drama; this is going to be a nightmare. (“Nightmare.” Hmm. Hmm. Gee, that could describe a lot of people’s lives: nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare.)

One of the incredible programs I have, it’s called the “Peace Education Program.” It’s spreading like wildfire; it’s everywhere. I mean, I just got a picture of the war veterans all in their army suits, you know, with a big sign in the back, “Peace Education Program.”

So, a lot of war veterans are going through. It’s in so many prisons now. So many of the ex-guerilla members in Colombia—and so, these people are put in the, incarcerated. And what happens to them?

Well, of course, they’re very bitter. But here’s what happens. They sit there, (huh), and they blame everybody for their problems. “I’m here because of him, and because of him, because of him, because of him, because of him, because of him, because of him.”

And then when they go through the Peace Education Program, they start looking at themselves—and when they start looking at themselves, they go, “No-no-no-no-no, I’m not here because of anybody else; I’m here because of me!”

And of course, then the beautiful thing is, (this is what my message is all about), you can fix that. You can’t fix other people—but you can fix yourself. You can’t be victorious over your problems, but you can be victorious over yourself.

So then they go, “Aha! I know how to fix this—I need to change.” And then they start changing, and there is a genuine transformation. So this is how that happens.

And again, what does that look like? That looks like heaven—on earth. “Ah, uh, yeah. Somebody mentioned that a long time ago, ‘Heaven on earth.’” Where a human being is real—that you are real, real to yourself. That your life is not about lamenting your mistakes—but you see every day as powerful as the sunrise.

And do you know something about the sunrise? That on this planet Earth, the sun never stops rising—did you know that? It’s constant—and I know you know that. But doesn’t it give you goose bumps, just thinking that there is a sunrise at every single second on this earth? And there is a sunset every single second on this earth?

And there is light, and there is darkness—and it’s all here. And as powerful as that sunrise is, that you acknowledge every moment to be that powerful—the bringer of light, to be able to fill your life with light, to be able to fill your life with joy, to be able to fill your life with clarity, to be able to fill your life with those things that mean so much to you as a human being.

And that you are the source of those things, not me—not somebody sitting 60,000 feet up there, not something on the other side of the wall, but here’s the stage; here’s the drama; here’s where it plays; you are that actor. And you have to do what you have to do. And you will do it from inspiration. And do you feel inspired to be alive?

And that’s what knowing yourself is all about. That’s what knowing yourself is all about. If you don’t know yourself, you can never be thankful for anything!

And if you find yourself, (and use it backwards, okay; you can reverse-engineer this). So, if you find yourself not thankful for anything, that’s because you don’t know yourself. So, get on with the business of knowing yourself, so that you can be thankful, because gratitude feels good.

So, gratitude feels good—and you were born to? Feel. This is how you connect the two lines of “born to feel” and “feel the good.”

Being human works. To be alive works. So, that’s all we need to be. And every day, to understand that we are here, that we were born to feel, and feel we must. And what we are capable of feeling is that infinite clarity, is that joy, is that understanding.

And we have a choice. We can either feel and do those things that bring us misery—or we can choose to feel the beauty, the simplicity that lies in the heart of every single human being. This is what is real. And only accept what I am saying if it makes sense to you.

Be alive. This is your time on the stage. There is that wall; there is that wall. That’s happened—that’s due. And every step, you need to remember you were born to feel—but not just anything.

You were born to feel the ultimate. You were born to feel the Divine. Feel—feel because you were born to feel.

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Life on Your Terms

Interview with Tony Wrighton

Zestology Podcast

Tony Wrighton:

When you meet someone at a dinner party and they say, “What do you do,” how do you answer?

Prem Rawat:

Well, I talk about peace—and that’s been my endeavor since I was nine years of age; I’ve been talking to people about peace. Because I think that’s an important ingredient that we’re missing.

You know, there’s nothing in the world that sets us up to really recognize ourselves, who we are. Socrates talked about this, “Know thyself.” And yet, what is in this world...? Once in a while, you might come across Socrates, and by—only by mistake.

And then, what is the value of that? You know, what reflects in our social media; what reflects in our world that we go about every single day—that says, “Oh, by the way, did you, today, know yourself? Do you know yourself today; do you understand who you are? Do you...?”

You see the whole world in a way that you have been trained to see. “Yeah, I’ve got to wear clothes; I’ve got to wear this kind of clothing; I’ve got to do this; I’ve got to do that; I’ve got to take this with me; I’ve got to do this; I’ve got to contact this person....” But what about contacting you, you as a human being?

And a lot of times we say, “Okay, why is my world so strange sometimes?” Well, could it be that you’re looking at a map, and you’re saying, “Well, the map is good. [Tony: Ummm.] I love the map. And I’ve got where I want to be on this map marked in a big X.”

But the big question is, “Where are you on the map?” Because if you don’t know where you are in the map, that map is useless to you—because how are you going to plan your navigation to where you want to be?

So, everybody is going around on their map marking the X’s, “I want to be here; I want to be here; I want to be here!” But where are you? And who are you?

And so this is the message. Because I think that that can profoundly change the world. Because I see that change happen in people’s lives who are in prisons! Just imagine the viewpoint that they have; they’re seeing the worst of the worst of the worst of the worst, every day, every day.

And yet there is some goodness in this humanity, and each one of us. And we have to do something to bring it out. We have created a society in which, literally, the worst of us comes out without a problem—but we haven’t really created a society in which the best of us comes out.

Tony Wrighton:

You meet someone at a dinner party and you say, “I talk about peace.” [Prem: Yes.] And they say, “Well, well, how? And how did you arrive at this place when you talk about peace,” yeah?

Prem Rawat:

Well, it’s been going on for a really long time. My first speech that I gave was when I was four. And I felt that—okay, there was a huge gathering of people... [Tony: And you were four years old?]

I was four years of age—and it was an event that my father had pulled together. And I realized that everybody was just really fragmented. Everybody was going about their own business and nobody was there. And I felt that my father’s message, (again, about peace), was very important.

So, I went out there—and I just said, “Listen, guys, you know, but we need to be all focused, because here is an opportunity that we have. We have—we are alive. And we don’t see our life....” (And I’m paraphrasing.)

“We don’t see our life from the context of birth and death, that there’s a limited amount of time that we have on the face of this earth—but there is peace inside of each one of us, and aren’t you interested in that peace; don’t you want that peace in your life?”

And then it began—so I would address a lot of audiences. And then, people got very interested. This is—and it worked for them. You know, and this is the thing; it’s building upon what works, not what doesn’t work.

So, it just has been doing that. And people have been coming—and there are no strings attached. There are no strings attached—you like it, fine; you don’t like it, fine. Even peace in your life, you don’t like it, fine. You know, you want to be out there in the war, and that’s how you see yourself, fine.

But then people do recognize—and realize. And it builds and it builds, and more people get interested, and more people get interested.

Tony Wrighton:

And then, I know you spoke at the first—as you started to become more established, the first Glastonbury Faire. [Prem: Yes!] Didn’t you—that was—was that 1971?

Prem Rawat:

Yes, that’s—but that, that was an amazing thing. Because I—you don’t know the story behind that—I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to go, because I felt, “You know, they already have their agenda all set.”

But people just kept saying, you know, “Please go; please go; please go.” So, I started going for a drive—I just asked the person; I said, “Take me for a drive.” [Tony: Hmm.]

And I’m thinking, and I’m thinking and I’m going, “Well, you know, what am I going to say to them? They’re there to listen to music. I can’t sing—and I’m not going to play a guitar; I can’t play a guitar—so, what do I do?”

And then I realized, “Well, what you’ve always done. Put your message out—maybe somebody’s life will change. Maybe you will never know them, but their life will change. Isn’t that why you do it?”

So, I arrived there, and everybody was there: “Okay, the next song”—and all of a sudden, there was no next song. [Tony: Ah.] They brought out a chair; I sat down on it and I started addressing these people. And amazingly enough, pin-drop silence; people were actually listening.

And I am like, “Oh, okay. I’ll keep this brief. I know you want your music, but here it is. That, one, what you’re looking for is inside of you. Then there is peace, possible; peace is possible.”

And I spoke for a few minutes—I don’t even remember how long I spoke for—I was off the stage; things could begin. And for me, (and I know, for a lot of people), everything changed.

Everything—for me, it changed; it’s like, “Well, listen. You don’t have to have only those people in the audience that have absolutely said, ‘Okay, I want to listen about peace.’ [Tony: Yeah.] You know, you can have anybody.” And it’s a message that really, truly can touch people in a very beautiful way: “Keep it simple; keep it real.”

Tony Wrighton:

My instinct is, it’s quite hard to argue with the message—yeah, we all want more peace. It’d be quite nice, wouldn’t it? [Prem: Yeah.] So, why don’t we have more?

Prem Rawat:

Well, because we are, again, we’ve got our map—and it takes a long time to come up with that map. Because everybody gives you an input, “This is what you want on this map, and this is where you want to go visit.”

And of course, once you start traversing, you realize, “Well, I’m not getting to where I’m going.” I mean, do you realize how real that is for people? You know, they go and they do this, and they do this, and they graduate, and then they find a job and everything else, and all of a sudden they’re realizing, “Is this it?”

You know, and in everything. I mean, like, dieting, for instance—I mean, I guess a lot of people can relate to the dieting. So, you start with your dieting, and you, you know, things are going really good. And then all of a sudden, the next thing you know, one, it’s not working for you—or two, you’re losing interest in it.

And you’re not following it exactly the way you should be—and somebody else is having an ice cream cone and you want one too. And things just fall apart. And so people go on one diet, to another diet, to another diet, to another diet.

Well, it’s very easy to understand it in the relationship to diets—but if that’s happening to diets, guess what else is happening in our life that’s very much like that? That we have set out, you know, made our resolution for the first of New Year and here we go.... [Tony: Umm-hmm.] And, arrrrrut, it falls apart, and it falls apart, and it falls apart.

The quest for peace also falls apart. And a lot of people start then saying.... And it’s kind of like the sour grapes, the story of the fox, you know, that couldn’t reach those grapes as the.... For a lot of people, it’s like, “Well, peace is not going to happen.” And this is the first reaction I get. [Tony: Umm.]

When I say—oh, I, you know, I was going through customs once and the guy asked me; he says, “What do you do?” I said, “I talk about peace.” He goes, “That’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen. [Tony: Hah.] There’s so much problems in this world, there’s so much greed in this world—that the peace isn’t going to happen.”

And so I really started thinking about that. And it’s like, “Well, how did greed come about? Does it grow on trees? Does it—you know, is it naturally found in rivers or icebergs, or what?” And it’s human-created. Greed is a, very much a thing that is exercised by human beings.

So, if human beings can do it, that means they can reverse it too. And maybe there is an incentive that needs to be given.

And that’s where this message comes in. “Look, in the midst of all of your war that you are fighting (at any given time), there is something else that’s going on. There is a clock ticking—and you can do nothing about it; you can’t rewind it; you can’t pause it. And there’s a quest for peace from your heart—but you need to know yourself to find that.”

Tony Wrighton:

When you do big events (like you’re doing this weekend, for example), how do you encourage people to find their purpose more? Or maybe they know their purpose but it’s not actually happening for them. Are there—I mean, is there a—what format is there to the day, that you help people to kind of find that inner purpose and kind of, live their best lives?

Prem Rawat:

It’s very simple, really. We just need to be reminded. Our power to forget is exceptional—and we forget. We get so caught up in this world that we forget, “Hey, by the way, you’re alive! You know?” And the being alive becomes a second-grade thing; it’s like, “Yeah, so what—and well, what have you told me, by the way, that I didn’t already know?”

Yeah, and go tell that same statement to a person who’s lying on the hospital bed taking their last breath. And they will have a totally different appreciation. I’ve done it. I’ve seen it. They’ll have a totally different appreciation—than that person, you know, whose agenda is to go to this fancy football game or fancy dinner game, or fancy something, or fancy dress party. [Tony: Umm.]

And it’s like, “Wait a minute. We do need to be reminded—especially in this world which is so confusing.” And just so much attraction out there that it’s distracting us from these fundamental things—that we need to be reminded, need to be reminded.

You know, and that’s so important. That’s so important that “peace is possible”—we need to be told every single day. [Tony: Ummm.] Whatever you practice most, you get good at it. And if that’s the way things are.... Because that’s how it happens. We, whatever we practice the most, we get good at it.

And so, look around your life—how long does it take you to get upset? So, is that what you’re practicing, getting upset? You know, and how long does it take you to just relax? Well, it’s like, “Huh-eah, ‘breathe deeply, sit down....’”

But getting anger? Getting mad? You don’t need to sit down to get mad. [Tony: Umm-hmm.] You don’t need to breathe deeply to get mad. You can get mad just like that. So, we’re practicing that. You’ve got to break the bad habits. If you don’t break the bad habits in your life, those will perpetuate, and they will shape your life and your future.

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Begin Again

Wolston Correctional Centre, Wacol, Queensland, Australia

Prem Rawat:

I have been to quite a few prisons—and I’m here, not to judge you; that’s already been done; that’s not my job. I’m here to point out something to you. And that something that I want to point out to you is you.

Because in this whole equation of life, sometimes we are not included. There are issues; there are governments; there’s this; there’s that—but what about you as a human being? What does it mean to you to be alive?

In life, it’s one thing. At the end of the day, (and that’s meaning, “end of life”), you can always look back—and say, “Oh, I could have done that differently. I could have done that better.” But what if you could do that at the beginning—and say, “How would I shape my existence? How would I be? What would I be?”

In India, (where, obviously, I was born), there is a story—and the story is a very fascinating story, because the story unfolds—and the result of the story is very clear. The result of the story is going to be that there will be a huge war, huge. Four million people will be involved in this war.

And it is playing out, how this war is going to happen. This war is for the good to win over the bad, the good to win over the evil. There is a princess involved in this story—and she is the reason, one of the reasons, in fact, why this war will be fought.

So, you can see that the war hasn’t happened yet but it’s going to; it’s imminent. And there are reasons for this war.

And one day, while she’s still quite young, she hears that a very wise man has come to her town. So everybody encourages her to go and see him, see if she can learn something from him. She goes to see this wise man—in fact, this wise man is the man who happens to be writing this story—very, very convoluted in that sense but very simple.

And he looks at her and he says, “I know who you are. You are the reason why there is going to be a calamity; you are the reason why there is going to be a war. And millions of people will be killed.” And she goes, “I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to be the reason why so many people would die. Can’t I do something to change this?”

And he says, “Yes. There is.” (And this is why I am telling you this little story. This is what he says. This is how she can prevent this war from happening.) And he says, “One, don’t be offended. When somebody offends you, don’t be offended.” She goes, “That’s really easy; I can do that.”

“Don’t try to offend anybody else.” So, “One, don’t be offended yourself. And don’t offend other people. And if you are offended by other people, don’t think of revenge.” So, “Don’t get offended; don’t offend other people—and if you do get offended, don’t try to take revenge.” She goes, “Done. I can do this.”

Actually, what happened in the story—is she offended somebody. That person she offended, offended her. And when she got offended, she wanted nothing more than revenge—and that led to four million people losing their lives on that battlefield.

Why did I tell you this story? What has it got to do with you? This is it. The battlefield—the battlefield is you! Your life, your existence. And in this battlefield, either you come out as a victor or you will be slain.

And for this war not to happen, you cannot be offended; don’t offend anyone else. And if you are offended, don’t take revenge. Because that is the start of that war.

You are more than you realize. You are the gift. You have been told, “No, the gift will come from somewhere else. Somebody else is going to come and save you.”

You heard that—you didn’t question it; you agreed with it. You memorized it—and in your life, you went along, “Somebody is going to come and save me; somebody’s going to come and save me, come....” And in that time, more confused, and more confused, and more confused a human being becomes.

Because this is a battlefield—remember now, this is a battlefield. And what you are battling with is not only your ideas but other people’s ideas, not only your expectations but other people’s expectations of you.

We need to know ourselves. Why? And what does it mean to know yourself? Your name—no. Your likes, your dislikes, no. What you need to know about yourself is your strength: courage.

Have you heard about the heart—what the heart is, what does it mean? What is a heart? Then, heart is the place where the courage of a human being resides. Heart is the place where the clarity of the human being resides. Heart is the place, indeed, where the Divine resides—and I don’t mean that religiously.

That power that pulses through everything—is also pulsing through you. That which is making the earth suspend in this universe.... That has got this earth spinning—no poles, no nets, no fishing lines, no strings—suspended. With a universe that goes beyond ten billion light-years....

We don’t know the edge of the universe, and the reason why we don’t know the edge of the universe is because the light is still traveling, still coming.

There is no “up”; there is no “down.” It’s everywhere. Everywhere. And there, that same energy is pulsing through you. Life, that’s who you are. Your understanding, that’s who you are. And that’s about knowing yourself—your strengths. And that’s what constitutes this life.

What did you hear when you first came to this facility? (Not here. Between these two): “It’s over.” Who said it’s over? Where did that come from? From you?! You’re still alive! Not only are you alive, but hopefully, through Peace Education Program, you have learnt that you still have a life and you still get to forge it.

Is it the fences? Is it the wall? Or is it you? You are the player, not these fences. You are the player. The biggest fence that you have to overcome is not this one. This one is barbed—but this fence that is between here?—has killed many. Destroyed civilizations, destroyed lives.

You have life—you still have life. And you’re going to have it till that day when you don’t anymore. And till that day, you get to shape it; you get to change it, and what goes through this head is up to you.

Who’s ultimately responsible for making your life a pleasant experience? You are. And you always were. But who did you look for? You looked for friends. Friends were going to make it very enjoyable for you. Probably, for so many people, that’s where they pick up the wrong influence.

You are responsible. And that’s your courage. Walk the walk. Walk the walk that’ll take you to peace. Talk the talk that reflects wisdom.

You must remember one thing. If I take a lit candle—and I take an unlit candle.... Okay? So one candle is lit; one candle is unlit—and I take the unlit candle next to the lit candle; I touch the wick with that one. What do you think is going to happen? Will the unlit candle put out the lit candle?

Or the lit candle will turn on the unlit candle: “The law.” This is the law that has prevailed. This rule.... This rule, if you understand this rule—that a lit candle has the power to light an unlit candle—but an unlit candle does not have the power to put out a lit candle, (quite the reverse). Because it could be the other way, right? But it isn’t. This is how it is.

Learn to take advantage of that. Light the candle—and you will be able to light many unlit candles. But light the candle for yourself first. This is—it’s a great law! It’s it a great rule. This is—this is what gives you hope. That means that if you have a lit candle, you never have to be an unlit candle, ever. Ever. Ever.

Ever. But find the lit candle within you.

Somebody said to me when I was in Colombia, “Mr. Rawat, I feel really good; you’re here; everything is good. But you will leave and what will happen?” I said, “By the way, what you feel, good—is coming from you, not from me. That goodness, you always had in you. And learn to access that goodness 24/7, seven days a week, 365, and then for the rest of this life.”

You have everything you need. You have everything you need. Begin with your strength; begin with your clarity; begin with your courage. Fly.

I’m not here to entertain you. I’m talking about you finding in you, your peace, your joy. It’s possible; believe me, it’s possible—even regardless of the circumstance.

If there was a baby born here—a baby, born here, would it be affected by the fences, the bars? No. All it would need is the mama, the milk—and the baby would be quite happy. It’d happily be cooing and cawing, so far it is content.

Find that contentment in yourself. Don’t let anything distract you from who you are. This is what I tell everybody. This is nothing special that I’m telling you this.

This is what I tell everybody. A hundred and twenty million people in 2016 heard that message. This year, already it’s been over 120 million people, and hopefully, by the time the year has ended, maybe it’ll be around 240 million people who would have heard the message. But that’s what I tell everybody.

Don’t let that make you think you’re unfortunate. No, so far this breath is coming into you, you are fortunate; you are blessed, regardless of the circumstances.

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Treasures Within

Barcelona, Spain

Prem Rawat:

We are here to try to understand something—because life is not a static thing. And what’s happening in your life matters to you. And it’s your life, your existence.

And of all the things that happen and will happen in your life, (all the dramas and all the traumas), there will always be one possibility that will remain—and that possibility is that you can be in peace, that you can have that joy, that you can feel this incredible gift called “life.”

Because here I am. I’m alive—and the way I explain it, that there are two walls. And there’s a wall. I went through that wall—I don’t know where I was, but I went through that wall—and now I am between the two walls. And between the two walls, I’m marching.

There’s nothing I can do about it; there’s no pause button; there is no stop button. There isn’t even a rheostat that says, “Slow down.”

It’s just marching at a rate—and it’s marching, and it’s marching, and I know where it’s going. I know exactly where it’s going. And it’s not going left or right or up or down; it’s going from wall A, (or I should call it “wall B”)—to “wall D!”

To me, it’s very straightforward—there is a power that runs through this entire universe—that was there before, is, and will be. It’s absolute; it permeates everything. And that power has allowed this thing called “nature,” (heard of that? It’s called “nature”), to exist. And all things that we see, touch, hear, smell—feel—are compliments of nature.

So, some people call that power “God.” Some people call that power, not God. What difference does it make? What, I mean, what difference does it make?

I’m just talking about an audit of life. Since you are going from this wall to that wall—we’ve already established that, right? And it’s afoot, right? And you’re all alive, right? Wouldn’t it be nice to know—and take an audit of what you’ve got? “Where are you at?” So, what do you got? What have you got?

You have your pain and you have your suffering, right? You have some bad memories too, don’t you? Oh, by the way, here’s another one. Sometimes it feels like you’re a pressure cooker, right? (You know what a pressure cooker is, right?) “Powkhkhkhkh...!” And sometimes it feels like this pressure cooker isn’t just a pressure cooker—it’s going to blow. Like, “Pouchkhkhouw!”

And you always think it’s the big things in life, the big hurdles that must be really making this pressure cooker go. But it’s not. It’s the little things. Just pay attention to those little things. Start looking around, “So, what, what in the world are these things? What is this load that I am carrying? What is, what is this pressure that I create for myself?”

And this is what we were talking about: the audit. So, where are you? Now, let’s see what you have. You have in you an ocean of joy—immense, immense, endless, endless joy.

You have in you, endless tranquility. You have in you, endless peace. You have in you, lake after lake after lake of serenity. You have in you the most profound wisdom. Indeed, you have in you the most exquisite lit burning lamp—that holds in it the power to remove any darkness.

You have in you the might and the strength (not through your muscles, but through your wisdom) that is capable of single-handedly winning the greatest war that you will ever fight. Single-handedly, you have the capacity—this is how much strength you have—you have the capacity to win, unquestionably, win the war over ignorance.

So.... Now, we’re back to audit time—I want to ask you a question. And my question to you is this: “How much of all that beautiful stuff I just talked about is reflected in your life in every single day in every single moment?” Or if somebody preemptively takes up your parking space, do you go bonkers?

A person with such a might—that holds in them the promise to be able to conquer ignorance—loses their cool because somebody stole their parking space? Because your dog ran away? Because your husband said, “I don’t like you anymore”? Your wife said, “Goodbye. I found something better”?

(No, I mean, just, just, just asking.... That’s the point of the audit, right? You’ve got to ask some questions here. Just asking.)

So, time for audit again. For the human being that has this ocean, this ocean of peace, how much of that ocean is reflected in your existence? For this human being who, in them, has these, lake after lake of serenity, how much of that serenity is actually accounted for in your life?

This strength that you have to win the war.... Everybody, every human being on the face of this earth is born with that exceptional strength—no imagination here; just pure, simple—that special strength needed to overcome ignorance in your life, (not somebody else’s life, in your life), how much of that is accounted for in your existence?

And all I’m saying is, “Can you include these things you already have?” That’s all you have to do—you have to just include them in your life, every day. “Serenity? Cct, come on over. Peace? This-a-way. Here we go! Joy? Ah, yup, come on. Let’s go.” That’s all. Just have to include it. Like, “Whoa.”

You know, a lot of people say—they come to an event like this, and they go, “What—you didn’t give us anything.” And I want to tell you something. What I give you when you come to my event is priceless. I give you a new way of thinking—a new way of thinking that can change the rest of your life. That’s what I give you.

The good news is that that power, that beauty, that joy, that peace, all of these things are the witnesses to that power being in you. And so far it is, you are between the walls.... And when you go through that wall, that won’t be the case.

And so whilst you are in between these walls, you have a mission to accomplish. Each one of you on the face of this earth, you have a mission to accomplish—and the mission you need to accomplish is to flood your life with joy, is to flood your life with the peace.

It’s time, isn’t it?—to take that audit and say, “Well, enough is enough! Good God, it has—all this junk I’ve been carrying all my life, it hasn’t helped me. So, now is a good time....” Because anytime is a good time, (so far you haven’t hit that wall). Even if you are one-one-millionth of an inch, centimeter, millimeter away from that wall, it’s still a good time; you haven’t hit it.

And then, once you’ve hit it—I mean, but forget about this “old and young” stuff—really do; it’s okay. Your heart is timeless. Be a part of that timeless heart. That space in which there is that serenity, that space in which there is that peace, in that space where there is that joy, the boundless space that exists inside of you, that is timeless. More you use it, it will not go down.

So, take an audit—and whatever you see in your audit.... You have to perform the audit; I’m not going to make the audit; you have to make the audit of your life, and whatever you’re missing, dig in and get it—before you hit that wall.

Because that’s the day you will begin to live. That is the day you will actually, really begin to live. Not in this molasses, not in this goo of ideas and imagination—I mean, and don’t, don’t get me wrong; I’m not, I’m not saying imagination is bad. We all need imagination; that’s really good!

In this life, in this existence, one, you have everything you need. Two, it’s within you. Three, it’s yours. Four, all you have to do—is without any fear of failure, let the river of peace run through you. That’s all. That’s all. Don’t fight with it; let it run; be who you are—and enjoy.

In one way, we’re all strangers going on this ocean, this voyage, this voyage that has something to do with time, something to do with those six elements of oxygen and carbon and nitrogen and all of that stuff. Here we are, something to do with millions of years of evolution, something to do with all of that.

But at the end of the day, here you are. And you have to look at what’s possible now. Not the journey of imagination, but the journey of experience, to have made it possible to have peace in your life—the greatest achievement. The greatest, the greatest achievement a human being can achieve.

You will get the ultimate recognition for it. The award is peace. The award is joy, your joy, your peace, your life fulfilled.

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The Unchangeable

Long Beach, USA

Prem Rawat:

The message about peace is such a beautiful message. Because the message isn’t, “Oh, you have to do this to get peace. Oh, we have to do this to get peace,” but the message is, “Peace is inside of you.” How incredibly simple is that message?

Every single day, to awaken to the possibility of being fulfilled, not by things from the outside, but by the very elements that are embedded in every single human being—and therefore it doesn’t matter who you are, where you are, what your circumstances are—you can be fulfilled.

And fulfilled! We live in a world that’s very different, believe me. The other day, (actually it was not just the other day; it was a few months back), I was reading—I came across this idea: “What is the definition of happiness?” So I started researching it—and I come to a United Nations page.

Very interesting. “Happiness” is defined. (I would have thought happiness is subjective—just, you know, from experience.) You can be happy when everything is going wrong—everything, everything is going wrong, everything is going wrong—and you can be happy. And everything is going right—and you’re ticked off.

But no. They defined it as “You have shelter; you have food; you have access to water. You have healthcare—and then you’re happy.”

And I said, “Wait a minute. This sounds like ‘prosperity.’ This should not be called ‘happiness’—this should be called, ‘How to be prosperous.’ To be prosperous, you need a future; you need a shelter; you need healthcare; you need food; you need what....”

So, they’ve got—and I know they’re intelligent people. So, who am I to tell them, “Hey, you misspelled ‘happiness.’ That should be prosperity, not happiness.” Happiness doesn’t require anything. Just you. Just your being. Just you in touch with you.

But our fundamental belief is we are incomplete. Not our fault. This is what is drilled into our heads. This is not information we came up with; this is the information we have been given by people, which we simply have accepted without ever questioning it.

And this is what we need to question: “Why am I incomplete?” I have thirst. I need water—I’m seventy percent water; I need water. I happen to be living in a planet where there is water.

Can you imagine being a human being—goes through the process of evolution—and ends up wanting, requiring, needing something, and it’s missing? You think the evolution would have allowed you—if you needed water and there was no water, you think you would have evolved? Absolutely not! Absolutely not.

You need oxygen—and there is oxygen. You think you would have been allowed to evolve? No. Absolutely not. But you are here—and all that you need is here with you too. But you need to look at it; you need to feel it.

This is what blows people’s minds. When I say—and I’m not talking about some fanciful peace. I’m talking about real peace, some peace that you can feel in your life. “Huuh? Ah-what?! There is a peace that you can actually feel in your life?”

So, you’ve heard the word “harmony” before, right? Now, here is the practical proof of what harmony actually means to us—we find it not objectionable. The same way as the harmony, there are feelings inside of us—feelings—that we do not find objectionable.

Then there are feelings inside of us that we do find objectionable. And anger—because it’s sugar-coated.... (And that’s why we go for it). Just, we know we don’t like anger. We know that—but because of the sugar-coating, we don’t realize “This is a bitter pill I’m about to swallow”—till you have swallowed it.

The same way in our lives, we see something—there’s no difference. (Eyes see the way they see—the same.) We see something beautiful and we like it; we see something ugly, we don’t like it.

Where am I going with this? There is a feeling inside of you that your heart finds not objectionable—finds it very nice, very harmonious. And this feeling is called “peace.” This feeling is called “clarity.” This feeling is the light. The light.

When you hear the word “light,” it does not refer to that. It refers.... (Not that light; that’s a filament burning; there are no filaments inside of you.) The light that removes the darkness—what is the darkness? The darkness is all that that you find objectionable. It is in that context that your light is. (I know you have never heard that one before.)

Because whenever you hear about light, you see Jacob’s ladder. You know what a Jacob’s ladder is, right? Those beams of light coming from a cloud—and it’s like, “Ta-dah, light!”

No. For that light—that kind of light to be inside of you, it would require fusion of some kind—burning, electricity—fire, fusion. And do you really want fusion?!

But it acts just like a light—because it removes the ambiguity; it removes the darkness. The darkness? Not the “not-seeable darkness” but the darkness that does not allow you to be in that place where you want to be. The chasm.

So bring, in your life that light where you can be in the harmony with your own being! That’s the gist of it.

You were born. You are alive, and one day you have to die. Nobody wants to talk about that—neither me. It’s pointless. It’s an appointment already made; it’s a sealed deal. But today is a sealed deal too.

I was in the millions and millions of years in the making, for me to be alive today. It’s not just any accident. Millions and millions of years in the making for you to be alive today—for you, you! I mean, I mean, you! I mean you! As that person....

So the question is, why is anybody suffering on the face of this earth? Food is not the issue; water is not the issue. Why? Because it ultimately comes down to us not understanding ourselves.

When Socrates says, “Know thyself”—man, that is a loaded statement; there is more to that statement than you can ever imagine. Because the consequence of not knowing yourself is being at the verge of utter destruction—and definitely, definitely misery. Nobody feels safe anymore. What price to pay? What price to pay?

I mean, here we are. Recognize what life truly means. Life is this well that is inside of you. Open up to the possibility of being fulfilled. Because when you find out who you are, you will realize—you will truly realize that it’s way beyond any expectation you ever had of yourself.

Now is the time to embrace what you have been given in this magnificent moment that you have—and it is a moment. It is a moment. You think this earth is going to be around? No. It’ll be gone; one day all traces of human beings will disappear.

This is nothing new; this is not a catastrophe to the universe. This is normal—and this is what happens. Entire suns, entire galaxies, entire stars are just, pbbt-pbbbbt, gone.

Two black holes collided billions of years ago when earth was not even around—and they sent a wave, a gravitational wave throughout the universe. Last September 2015, that wave manifested itself on planet Earth. It started—the whole thing started when the earth wasn’t even there.

This is huge. You are on just a little speck—truly a little speck on a fairly calm neighborhood of the galaxy of this universe. And one little rock can decimate (flying around) what happens here. This is how fragile you are. And on this planet, there’s life—life.

Time has truly come to awaken and to take cognizance of what is going on here—and to bring peace. It has always been said, you know, “There’s going to be somebody who’s going to be a messiah or prophet who’s going to bring peace.” Who said that? Who? Who?! Who? Who? See, you don’t even know the guy’s name.

Because nobody actually said it. It’s like a telephone. You know, when somebody says one thing to you in your one ear, and you say something else, and you say something else, and you say—nobody knows.

No. There’s a messiah in each one of you; there’s a prophet in each one of you. Establish peace now. The time has come. Not some fantasy, not some great idea—but for the reality, for the practicality of it—because we can’t go on like this. It’s not going to work. It’s not going to work. It’s non-sustainable; it’s not reversible.

And so, peace begins, of course, with each one of you. Don’t give up hope. Move forward—move forward; find your strength. You have it.

You know, this is what happens when you lean on something and that thing is removed—you’re bound to fall. Don’t lean. Stand on your own feet. And then, whatever happens, happens. People will come and go. Everything moves; everything changes. But there is also an unchangeable “something” that is residing inside of you.