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Feeling Peace

Wild Wise Women Radio Show

Cape Town, South Africa

Lumka Ngxoli:

Ummm-hmm, umm-hmm, umm-hmm, umm-hmm, umm-hmm! Monday it is, and we are in a beautiful country called South Africa, even in the best city, Cape Town. And today we decided to bring you an extraordinary treat. (Extra treats?) Peace Ambassador, chef, (hopefully for me one day), inya-nah, [sp] just the good side of the dish....

Pilot! What else do you say about someone like this? A father-figure? [Fluffy: Yes.]

Onscreen text:

Lumka Ngxoli

Host, Wild Wise Women Show

Fluffy O’Panda

Host, Wild Wise Women Show

Lumka Ngxoli:

Spreading peace? [Fluffy: Peace Ambassador and inspirational speaker....] He travels more than a rock star? [Fluffy: Yes.] [Robyn: Going to countries?] Country to countries? I fly but....

Onscreen text:

Robyn-Lee Pretorius

Host, Wild Wise Women Show

Fluffy O’Panda:

Flies himself more than most rock stars.

Lumka Ngxoli:

Dude! I feel like we should just howl for him, just, bon-vom-sin-nyah, nah, [sp] just be like, “Hello and welcome to Africa, Prem Rawat, see? Hello-hello-hello-hello!” [Robyn: Howl?] [Fluffy: Yes.]

One-two, one-two, one-two....

All three interviewers:

“Owou, owou, ouwwwwwwww!”

Lumka Ngxoli:

Prem, welcome!

Prem Rawat:

Okay, that’s enough howling.

Lumka Ngxoli:

Damn! Okay, okay-okay-okay, ee-kay-eee-kay-eee-kay. Got it, got it, got it.

Prem, welcome to Wild Wise Women Show, man. How ya doin’?

Prem Rawat:

I am good, and thank you for having me on the show. I look forward to watching all this wild stuff happen....

Lumka Ngxoli:

Ah! Prem, you said you would participate with us, so I’m being wild. Oh, man. So, first time.... [Robyn: On our show.] This is the first time on our show. [Robyn: That you have.] Like, you’re sitting with three crazy ladies. [Fluffy: Umm-hmm.] And....

Fluffy O’Panda:

Wild and wise ladies. [Lumka: Wild and wise ladies.] Let’s not throw the word “crazy” around too much, please.

Prem Rawat:

That’s right.

Lumka Ngxoli:

And are you excited?

Prem Rawat:

Yeah! I’m here; I hope I can say something today that’ll make a difference in someone’s life. [Lumka: Yeah?] And that’s always my hope when I go out and talk about my message of peace.

Lumka Ngxoli:

And yeah, for people who have never seen Prem before, it’s like, cct, it’s poetry to your ears, but it’s all about self, and self-understanding—[Fluffy: Umm] and things like that. So, for all of you that don’t know, where did this journey begin, of spreading the message of peace?

Prem Rawat:

Oh, India, that’s where I was born. [Lumka: And yeah.] That’s where I started. I started speaking when I was four years old. And....

Lumka Ngxoli:

You know what; now, this is—just, just puts pressure on every other person who has a kid. Because everyone is just going to be like “You’re just eating sweets?”

Prem Rawat:

No, well, I mean, that’s something I wanted to do. And I got up—you know, there was a big gathering. And my father was going to come and speak. But people were just scattered, you know, just scattered all over the place, and I felt, “This is not good. You know, it’s, he’s going to come and everybody’s all the place.”

So I got up and I sat where he sits on his chair and I started speaking. And when I did, everybody started to go, “Whoa, who’s talking right now? You know, sounds like a little kid!” And they all wanted to come and see, and they all gathered....

And then I sent the message to my father that “Okay, everybody’s here; you want to come out and talk to them?” So, that’s when it started for me, just speaking about peace.

Lumka Ngxoli:

So it’s, from the age of four, you had the gift of the gab?

Prem Rawat:

Ahh, I don’t know, “a gift of the gab.” I think it’s just something my heart wanted to do. It just came naturally to me—I just wanted to talk about the possibility that what they’re looking for is inside of them. That whatever they think their human status is, they’re much better off than that—but they don’t know it; they don’t understand it.

This isn’t, like, coming from my head—I hope; I really hope. I pray that I never walk on any stage behind a microphone and start talking from my head. [Lumka: Yeah.]

It really needs to come from my heart. You know, it really, really needs to come from my heart. Because that’s my.... If the message doesn’t come from my heart, it’s coming from my head—I’m going to be confused and I’m going to confuse a lot of people.

You know, the subject of peace, the subject of being human, the subject of being alive—is something that you really have to feel inside; [Lumka: Yeah.] you have to feel it in your heart. And it’s not about the head.

Robyn-Lee Pretorius:

Tell us a little bit about why you’re in SA. You designed a program called the “Peace Education Program”—and you’re here to promote that, and the book and your message. Do you want to tell us a bit more about that?

Prem Rawat:

I’ve been coming to South Africa since the seventies. And it’s been on and off—because in the seventies when I first came, you know, they didn’t want me to do mixed meetings and so on and so forth. And I said, “Look, that’s just, I’m not going to do that. You know, anybody is welcome to come.”

And so, everybody would come—and that was against the law at that time. And I got blacklisted, so I couldn’t come for quite a while to South Africa. But then the situation changed and I started coming back.

And I’m here to talk to people about the same message, same message. And a few years back, we started this Peace Education Program. And the Peace Education Program really started in a very simple way—it was just a way to be able to reach people who really needed help.

So, in fact, its beginnings were in incarceration institutions, you know, (prisons, or whatever you want to call them), and reaching those people. Because there they were. And really not much hope. You know, every day, you see the bars—and there’s the sunset but there are the bars.

You’re in there—some of them are there for five years, ten years, fifteen years, twenty years—and it’s a tough life. You know, it really, really is a tough life.

So, the idea wasn’t to entertain them. That wasn’t the idea; it wasn’t like, “Society has said you should be incarcerated, and we’re coming along and making sure that everything is fine for you.”

No, the idea was this: “That if there isn’t a fundamental change in these people, they’re going to come back.” Because when you look at the rate of return, it’s just amazing. “And so, what can we do to have a profound impact in their lives, so they really just get out of this rut? How can a profound impact be made?”

So, the Peace Education Program started—and the University of San Antonio Texas took notice that people who were going through this program had the least rate of return—of all the programs that were in this one institution, the people going through the Peace Education Program had the lowest rate of return.

So, that—obviously, that, for him, it was like, “bing-bing-bing-bing, bing-bing,” all the alarm bells went off—“What’s going on here? What is so interesting about this program?”

Well, in fact, I went and I saw the inmates and I talked to them. And there was a really, a profound change in people’s life. And so, since then it has just been spreading.

But now it’s not just limited to prisons—yeah, it’s, veterans are going through it; hospice are going through it; hospitals are going through it; police are going through it; the army—I mean, just about every facet of society is being touched by the Peace Education Program.

And people really—the most important thing, most important—people just really enjoy it. Just, really, really enjoy it. And, it is, in fact, in some of these other programs where—but, you know, alcoholics and drug addicts, and they’re going through these programs and just really finding a change in themselves.

Because we, as human beings, need to be empowered. If we’re not empowered.... And we feel that we have—there’s nothing we can do. I mean, you go out there and you talk to people. You talk to people about the problems of this world, and the first thing they will tell you is, “What can I do?”

Because nobody feels empowered. And this is a problem in our society. People should feel empowered—“That, yes, whatever you do does make a difference. Whatever you do will make a difference.”

And so, that’s what Peace Education Program is. It’s really empowering people, empowering individuals, on a very individual level in where they participate; they talk about peace—what peace means to them; how they feel about peace; where peace is inside of them.

Because of the human being not being in peace, there’s no understanding of human dignity; there’s no understanding of human beings. People are dying hungry in this world—why!? Is there a shortage of food? [Lumka: No.]

Absolutely not. There’s no shortage of food; the amount of food that is thrown away is simply staggering—staggering, how much food is actually thrown away. But why is it that these people who are dying of hunger cannot get that food?

What happened to clean water? I mean, what happened to clean water? Everywhere you go: “Bottled water, bottled water, bottled water.” Well, you know, I was born in a generation in India where you didn’t have bottled water. You had water from your tap or a well—and it was sweet and it was wonderful and it was clear; it was....

And all of a sudden, it’s like, “Oh, no, the water has gotten contaminated.” Who contaminated it? You know, who contaminated this water—so that we can start buying bottled water?

And I’m just, I just want people to wake up a little bit—instead of saying, “Well, that’s normal now. You know, this is how, just, things, the way things are....”

There are certain things that we need as human beings. One of them—that we need right away—is air. We won’t last very long without air. Maybe about three minutes? There’s a rule of threes with these things.

And so, that needs to be clean—because it is incredibly essential and important for our body to have that air. The second thing is the warmth. Three hours—and you could go into hypothermia. So, the shelter that we need, needs to be good—that’ll keep us out of those elements; [Fluffy: And yeah.] that’s very, very important.

Then, we’ve got three days without food—you know, or three days without water. And then, you know, maybe three weeks or so without food—people have survived.

So, and taking a look at these things, it is so important that our food, our water, our air and our environment is there for us—because these things are important for us. We—and this is not a luxury! We need these to survive; we need these to live.

And people are not paying attention to those things—and we’re looking for prosperity, “prosperity.” What is the definition of prosperity? What is the definition of peace? Well, peace is something that needs to be felt. And prosperity, is it truly objective—or is it subjective: “I feel prosperous. I have water; I have food; I have a place to stay? I feel prosperous.”

Because there are people who have everything and they don’t feel prosperous. So, is it objective, or is it subjective? And the same thing with peace, “Is it objective, or is it subjective?”

I mean, okay, so you live on top of a mountain and you’re wearing a certain, you know, color of clothes—and your name is a certain way, and your hair is a certain way. And so, “Oh, you must be in peace.” [Lumka: Uh-uh.] Come on, that’s it?

That’s not peace. You know, peace is when you feel it. And peace is not objective, but it is subjective. And you have to feel it; you have to feel peace in your life, not just one day but every single day. [Robyn: Yeah.] Every single day.

Lumka Ngxoli:

Okay, this—it must be like, this must be one of your worst interviews.

But how do you expect people to actually have a conversation with you, when you like, do mike bombs, like mike drops everywhere? Those are like—you keep having these profound and powerful speeches. And like, we end up having the same facial expression, like, “What do you say next?” And you go, “Who am I?” Yeah, like....

Prem Rawat:

But, but the thing is, these things are just simple. [Lumka: Yeah.] They’re not, you know, out of some slab that fell off of the skies. These are, see—well, this is just the need of a human being—and which—but that’s all we’re talking about, [Lumka: Yeah.] you know?

I mean it’s, this is nothing fancy—it’s, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. We are here; there’s one planet Earth. Well, this is the planet Earth that we inhabit; we are here.

I mean, things are pretty straightforward, so far I’m concerned. Because they have been looking for life on other planets—and they haven’t really found it yet, you know?

Lumka Ngxoli:

And yeah! At all.

Prem Rawat:

You know, they keep going, “Oh, there might have been life here; there might have been life here.” And I’m just like, “Okay. I know why they need to do that. They need to do that because one day this planet Earth is going to go away. And so, then there is a quest for human beings to live in other planets, other surfaces, other places.”

But are the foundations of that future good or bad—fundamentally, good or bad? If we cannot have peace and prosperity and human dignity on this planet right now—looking for other ones, we’re going to take the same disease and supplant it in other places.

At least, as a simple experiment—and you know, and this is what I say: “Peace will be mankind’s finest achievement”—finest! And we need to have it here! We need to have it here, so that we can say to ourselves, “Yes, we can all live in peace,” not blowing each other up.

Robyn Pretorius:

As you know, like, in SA at the moment, there’s a lot of distrust between [Lumka: Yeah.] people, a lot of anger, a lot of frustration. How do we begin to move past that?

Prem Rawat:

This is something that—people are really going to have to ask themselves one simple question. And the question is, “When you say ‘move past it,’ that means ‘move on.’ Not just past it, but move on—move forward towards something positive, to something good.” [Robyn: Yes.] Do you want to do that? [Robyn: Yes.] Do you truly want to do that?

Robyn Pretorius:

I do. And I’m hoping that everyone else does as well.

Lumka Ngxoli:

And most people don’t; they’re not ready to, though.

Prem Rawat:

Look, to come up with an idea that “I need to move forward. I need to go; I cannot stay in this situation; I cannot stay in this position. Because, so far I stay in this position, I’m still being victimized—by all that that has taken place in the past.”

South Africa has one thing that is incredible—really incredible. And that asset, I see, is the people of South Africa. Because what they have endured is absolutely amazing. I mean, it is a testament to endurance of a human being.

And if they put their mind to it, they can—they can do anything they want—with that kind of endurance, with that kind of power that they have.... But I don’t think that anybody is looking at empowering each other. You know, it’s just, distrust, distrust, distrust.

You know, there is a lot of bad in this world—but there is a lot of good in this world. There is a lot of hatred in this world, and there is a lot of kindness in this world. And what we have to do is to perpetuate the kindness; what we have to do is perpetuate the good in people.

You have this life. The day you were born, you have no control over it; the day you’re going to die, you have no control over it. But every single day in the middle, it’s yours. Make it happen, people, make it happen.

So, I’m here talking about peace and all this stuff—so, am I in peace all the time—no! No! Is everything perfect for me every single day—no! But you know what? Every day, I try. I try.

And what’s going to happen? Well, habit is something that makes something happen easily. That’s what bad habits do; that’s what good habits do. And if I can just form a habit to be conscious, not to waste my time, not to squander away my time—that my life, my life—this is my time. I can’t give it to anybody. [Lumka: Yeah.] I can’t.

And so, it’s yours—and you get to keep it—you get to do whatever with it. You can do whatever you want. You know, and I say; I say to people, I say, “Look, you want to die; you want to go to heaven. I understand that. But what is wrong with making heaven right here—for us? Making heaven right here?”

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

What Makes Us Human

Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, USA

Prem Rawat:

What I have to say is, you are so fortunate to be alive—incredibly fortunate, unparalleled. That within you is this incredible ocean of peace, of joy. That within you are the beautiful, cool shades, the cool waters. And when it gets confusing, you have to know that wherever you go, you always carry in you this incredible peace, this incredible joy. It’s always there, always.

And that’s what makes you so fortunate—not the accomplishments outside. Because they will come and go; they will become useless at one point.

I talk about the two walls—one wall where you came through and you were born—and the other wall that you are moving towards. And you will go through that wall and you will disappear. Now, I’m sure nobody likes to hear that. Because it’s a very strange relationship with life that we have. On one hand, we really can’t do without it.

I mean, it’s one of those things. It’s like, you need it; you absolutely need this thing called “life.” And secretly, you actually love it. And it’s one of those love affairs that is not obvious.

But at the same time that you love this life, that—you want things to be a certain way. And that’s your fight. You want things to be according to your imagination, according to your dreams, according to your ideas. You want this thing to be this way; you want this thing to be this way; you want this person to be this way, you want that person to be that way.

And all your life, you actually love that very thing—but you ignore it. So, you love life—but you ignore it—why? Because, because you are alive you have the capacity to be able to try, (or you think you could), try to change everybody—and everything.

And if you could change everybody and if you could change everything—it’s a ridiculous idea, but this is your road map—your road map is, “I’m not going to change myself. (I don’t want to change.) But I want to change everybody else—and I want to change everything else.” And that’s your road map.

And the amazing thing is, you have no idea how common that road map is. Everybody has the same exact road map. Everybody figures, “If people weren’t the way they are....” If everybody just listened to you, all the time—because you’re always right. Even when you are dead wrong, you’re right.

And so that’s your effort: “Let’s change the world.” Of course, you realize the comedy in this. Everybody is trying to change everybody. And nobody wants to change. So you’re trying to change the person that is next to you, and that person is trying to change you—and that person, the other person on the other side is also trying to change you....

And change, change, change, and nobody wants to change—because we don’t understand what a change is. “The universe is about changes; life is about understanding.” (Aristotle.)

Look. The gift that I have come to give you this evening—and I have a gift for you, I’m in the process of giving it to you––it is not an object. But it is the most beautiful gift because it is a gift to be able to think differently. That’s the gift that I give people.

Because in your thinking, peace is not in you; somebody’s going to bring it. “Dennnh! Wrong.” It’s in you.

The world doesn’t need to change; people don’t need to change; you need to change. And how will you change? By unchanging. “Heh?!” Yes, you are no longer who you really are. You are no longer who you really are, and all you have to do is become who you really are, and the change is finished. That’s the change!

That’s what Socrates said; “Know thyself!” Because if you actually knew who you were, you wouldn’t be chasing all this other stuff. You would be going into that beautiful pond of serenity, of clarity, and diving in and going, “Wow....” Because you have it in you. You have it in you.

And to be able to understand that, to be able to think differently, this can change this life from struggle to enjoyment.

I can only give you what I understand. What I don’t understand, I will not give you. I’m not here to fire up your imagination, start telling you how incredible heaven is. No, I want to tell you that if there is a heaven, it’s here. And I want to tell you, “Before you hit that wall, find it. Find it; enjoy it”—because you don’t know what’s on the other side of the wall. (It’s the honest truth.)

I could tell you things. Oh, people will listen to me; I’ll have a much bigger audience than this. But that’s not what I’m going to tell you. I’m going to tell you—that if there is a hell, it’s not created by Satan; it’s created by us. And we’re the ones who are creating a hell. Not discovering the heaven that is here.

You are here. You are alive. And I think it’s a good time—to find out in your life how much of that, most incredible treasures that you have in you—that you dug up, that you brought out. Did you dive in and dig at the mines of clarity? To dig like you have never dug before? To enjoy the riches, the wealth of clarity?

Did you find your Divine in you? Did you find compassion? Did you find your peace? Did you find your joy? Did you find your love? Did you find your wisdom? Because that’s what makes you human. Not fighting—monkeys fight too. Fish can fight—I saw them today, fighting. Snakes fight.

Fighting doesn’t make you human. Your errors don’t make you human. What makes you human, (not sapiens)—what makes you human are these incredible gifts that have been given to you, that you encompass in your life—clarity. Wisdom. Joy. Peace. “Wow! Wow! Wow!”

What else could you ask for? What else could you ask for? Whatever clarity exists, (wherever it comes from, wherever, whatever, whatever, whatever), in this being called “human,” it can dance—it’s a stage; it can dance.

Wherever peace comes from, (where, wherever, wherever, wherever, wherever in this universe, world, bla-bla-bla, whatever), in this stage called a “human,” it can dance; it can, it can just scream; it can just, “Yes!”

What’s so special about being alive is that you are the stage on which the peace can dance. And there you are—and what is dancing on your stage? Hello? Confusion? Disappointment? When you start to become disappointed with yourself—listen to me. When you start to become disappointed with yourself, nobody can help you after that. And you do.

Because this thing called “imagination” came along and painted a picture—and it painted a wild picture. And you bought that picture; you didn’t edit that picture; you didn’t clean that picture up; you bought it, hook, line and sinker. And you went, “That’s what I want.”

And that first hour you realized you didn’t quite make it there, the disappointment starts to set in, and it’s a very weird disappointment. Because you know you are disappointed with yourself—but you don’t know how to express it to yourself.

When you’re disappointed with somebody else, you know how to express it to them. But when you’re disappointed with yourself, you don’t know how to express it to yourself. And that’s the day you start fighting yourself. And the day—that is the day you need to listen to what I am saying: “Know thyself. Don’t fight yourself; know yourself.”

You are not the instrument to fulfill your wishes; you are not Aladdin’s lamp; (your name isn’t even “Aladdin”). It’s not your job—to go around fantasizing how your life should be and then trying to make that a reality; that’s not what life is about. It’s about this heaven—this heaven—and this heaven that is in you.

Peace is good news. You know, and you come from fear and nothing gets done. Take away the fear and something wonderful happens. And you need to do that to your life, in your life. Celebrate peace; celebrate this existence because (like I started with this), you are so fortunate.

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Seeds of Peace

Lambeth College, London, UK

Prem Rawat:

It’s an honor to be here this evening. And, you know, you have heard a lot, and what we are here to talk about is not particularly a pleasant subject that’s at the root of it, all this violence that’s going on. So let me just spend a few minutes here telling you about a human being.

A human being is someone who carries in their heart an ocean of kindness. A human being is someone who has in them a tremendous amount of strength. A human being is someone who carries within them an amazing amount of wisdom.

Now, I know some of you are sitting here; it’s like, “What are you talking about? What, what aliens are you talking about?” No, no, I’m not talking about aliens; I’m talking about human beings. This is who we are.

The question is, “If we have this tremendous amount of wisdom in us, if we have this tremendous amount of kindness in us, if we have this tremendous amount of joy in us, why are we not expressing it; why are we not sharing it; why are we here today talking about these heinous crimes that are taking place?”

Lying and cheating? Where does a child learn lying from? Did they go to a school? No, from their own parents. The child is sitting there; the mother was speeding; a police officer pulls her over: “You were speeding.” “No, I wasn’t.” (And this is after the child has already warned the mother, “Mom, are you speeding?”) And what’s the solution—“Shhhh! Shhhh!” What has happened?

We are willing—we are willing to throw away fifty percent of good food—but not share anything. What happened? What happened? And there are people going, “You know, the world’s going hungry.” And here we are in the First World countries just throwing the food away—and going “Oh yeah, that’s a real problem.” That’s not the problem. We are the problem.

Now when we say, “We are the problem,” consider this to be really good news. “We are the problem, by the way”—that’s good news! You know why that’s good news? Because if it’s us, we can change it. But if this is coming from Mars, we’ve got a problem. If this is coming from Venus, we’ve got a problem.

But this is actually coming from right here, on this earth, created by us—and if we want to change, we can change it. That’s why it’s good news. And what is it going to take? It’s going to take collective effort—nobody excluded. Nobody excluded.

I’m not here to point fingers. Because I still hold this to be true, that there is an ocean of kindness in each one of us. I still hold this to be true, that there is an ocean of wisdom in each one of us. And all it is waiting for is to be brought out.

When I see in this world, this despair.... What is despair? It is the opposite of hope. When there is no hope, there’s desperation—desperation. And this desperation, we all see it. But what is on the other side of the coin? If one side is desperation, the other side of the coin is hope. If one side is anger, then the other side is forgiveness.

And we, we just have to understand—that in the darkness, the light is never far away. (I can prove that.) How long does it take, after you turn off the light, for darkness to take over? In a pitch dark room, you turn off the light. How long does it take—it’s instant. It was just waiting! The light goes out; darkness comes in. Light comes; darkness flees. It’s how simple it is.

We live in the most dynamic, in the most amazing place there is—and yet we don’t acknowledge that. But we’re too busy concocting how we can hurt each other, concocting all these wars.

The same mind, believe me, that can create these wars is quite capable of pursuing peace. The same person who can carry a knife and plunge it into another human being, is quite capable of not only stopping it, but giving kindness and attention, and preventing it. What do we want? What do we want? That’s the question; “What do we want?”

Do we want these wars? And I know there are people right now, going, “Well, what can I do about it? I, ah-yeah, I don’t know.... And I don’t; I don’t; I don’t; I don’t....”

The time to “I don’t, I,” and “I, I”—stop it. The time to “I’m, I,” and “why, why” is finished! The time has come, and rightfully so, to acknowledge the possibility of a human being, what it means.

We live in this world—and I was reading a book—and in this book it said, “Oh, yeah! The economy of Greece is not doing so well. The Syrians are at war; Jordan is filling up with refugees. Iran is getting ready for the big war. And Egypt has high instability.”

And then the book went on to say, “Oh, this isn’t from 2012, 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18—this is news from 1177 BC.” And I’m like, “Whaat? This has happened before?” And the answer is, “Yup! This has happened before.” And will it happen again? Yes, it’ll happen again. And will it happen again? Yes, it’ll happen again—unless we, we, we intervene.

Peace isn’t the problem. Why is peace possible—how dare I, do I say peace is possible? How dare do I say that? Should I not acknowledge the condition of the world and say, “This is a pathetic world—and we are warmongers”? No! Yes, we are warmongers—but by the same token, we carry in us an ocean of peace.

Peace doesn’t have to be created, my friends. Peace doesn’t have to be brought from Mars; peace doesn’t have to be generated. Peace is already within inside of us. It has to be discovered. We have discovered how to make wars—now it is time to discover how to make peace. And this is what has to happen.

Don’t do it for patting your back—because you won’t be able to. Do it because your heart will applaud for you. Not for your mind—but your heart will applaud for you, again and again and again and again. Make a difference—because you can. Make a difference in your little environment.

A mother says, “What can I do?” A mother says, “What can I do?” Love your child. You’ve made a difference. Love your child! Give that child the attention. Talk to that child; engage that child. When you don’t engage that child, then you are basically saying your child is dumb and stupid. Engage that child; talk to them. Talk to them.

We live in a society that is incredibly vulnerable. Why? Just go.... (And I don’t want to sit here and really point a finger at the problem.) But “entertainment” today is when you can pick up a virtual gun and shoot as many people as you can—it’s called “game.”

And I am always like, “Whaat? Whaat!? That’s not what it should be about!” Make a game—in which you get to express your kindness! Make a game in which you get to express your joy; make a game that’s not boring....

Because everybody thinks the subject of peace is boring, and the subject of kindness is boring, subject of wisdom is boring. And when people have already surrendered to that fact, I’ll tell you what will happen in this world. What will happen is what is happening right now. People will be slaughtered; people will be massacred; people will be displaced.... Civilizations will be in peril....

I was just—last year I was in Colombia. And some of these kids were kidnapped and taken to the jungle, in the forest. They were handed guns—they didn’t play with toys; they played with guns! And all their lives, all they did was kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. And when finally, repatriation came up, they didn’t know how—till they went through the Peace Education Program.

Be a part of your own life. Be a part of your own life. Be a part of your own world. Be a part of your own family. Be a part of who you really are. Most importantly, know thyself. Know who you are. That’s all.

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The Gift of Life

Denver, USA

Prem Rawat:

In this life, you try to make a picture. And we have no understanding of what life is—none. Zero. Because whatever little piece of information that we do have about life, it doesn’t come from us—it comes from other people. Because we’re in the middle of it, right? We don’t know what it’s like. We don’t know what really happens.

All we know is that we have a desire, a want to be happy—because when we’re happy it feels good! So now, we find ourselves in this life. We know “it’s nice to be happy. It’s nice when things are good.” But our version of happiness? We don’t even know what that is—because it’s usually just this—so far things go our way, “Everything is good.” If things are going our way....

What is “your way?” You’re doing eighty miles an hour in a fifty-mile-an-hour zone. The police officer pulls you over. And he says, “You know you were speeding?” And you say, “Oh, I didn’t know I was speeding.” You’re absolutely, blatantly lying.

But then the police officer says, “Oh, I’m so sorry; I didn’t realize you didn’t realize how fast you were going—pardon me. Please be on your way. A thousand, thousand pardons to have delayed you on your way to something obviously very important.” (“My way.”)

So what is “my way”—your way, our way? Unnatural. Unnatural. And you’re running a little late? The sun rises a little late. If you’re running a little late and it’s getting too dark, (especially like in winter, it gets dark too early), the sun slows down. “Wow!”

And this little, funny little act keeps on going all the way till you hit the other wall. And what do I mean by “the other wall”—it’s where I have this, my two walls, right? The one that I came through—and the one that I’m going to disappear through.

Anywhere else it would be called “procrastination.” Because what’s inevitable is going to happen anyways, and you’re just trying to delay it. It’s like, “Heeah, haah, my God....” So, when that wall comes, “H’eah, one more day, two more days? Three more days, four more days, five more days?”

I’m sure Death sits there laughing his head off. Because you don’t realize, you are the one with the limited time, not Death. Death has all the time in the world. Time doesn’t matter to Death at all. “Whenever! I’m ready. I’ve got your number the day you were born!” The only one who doesn’t have your number the day you were born is, you know who? You.

And this is what I talk about. It is—this message of mine is entwined with peace. Yes, it is not faith-based—no. It is not, you know, you have to have a certain “set of beliefs” and then everything falls in place. This is all about experiencing it for yourself. Understanding it for yourself. Living this life every day with understanding, for yourself.

Not some formula. Not somebody’s interpretation. Not a quote from a book. But you, you as a human being. That’s what it’s all about, folks.

You see this earth? You see those mountains out there? You see those rivers? You see that sun? You see those stars? You see the Milky Way? You see the snow, see the deserts? You know what that’s all about? It’s about you. You. You get to exist; you get to witness; you get to admire. You get to fall in love. You get to be in awe. It’s about you.

But you don’t think it’s about you. (It’s about everything else—not you.) But it’s about you. And you’ll be gone! And for you—for you—all that you were in awe of will also be gone. And then there’ll be somebody else. And it’s, it’ll be about them—and about them, and about them, and about them, and about them, and about them. But right now, it’s about you.

The divinity? This is your chance, your only chance to understand what divinity is. This is the only chance you’ve got to experience what is fundamentally called “joy.” That’s it. It’s about you!

This is the only time you will be able to experience clarity. And it’ll touch you. And serenity, and it’ll touch you. And joy, and it’ll touch you. And when they do, you know what will emerge?—is the sweetest, most profound gratitude—which is not about manners. It’s not that stuff that your mother told you to say for every piece of candy you received.

It’s about you! Because you can connect with it. You can connect with this universe. You can sit. You can look at your hand—and you can admire that skin. Because the material that it is made from is no different than what this entire universe is made with. How powerful is that? How incredible is that? How joyful is that?

So, when I talk about peace, “peace” is talking about what you should be truly attracted to. So, let me tell you what you should be attracted to. You should be attracted to this breath. As it comes into you, it brings you the gift of life. The gift of life. Life—without which you have nothing! You are nothing.

Your most incredible brain that can solve problems—only works because you’re alive. It doesn’t work on its own. (Wish it did—but it doesn’t.) It only works because you’re alive. And the bringer of that gift of life is this breath.

Your ability to love someone is only possible because you’re alive. Your ability to have relationships, (have somebody be your uncle, be your brother, be your sister, be your father, your mother, your son, your, whatever), is only possible because you are alive.

So, you need to be alive to be able to enjoy yourself—and what brings you the gift of life? The breath. All the things that you want to do and you want to do well, you fundamentally have to be alive to be able to do those things—and guess what brings you the gift of that life? It is your breath. And what do you know about it? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

We’re about the coming and going of this breath, and we have no understanding of it and this is a catastrophe! And I want to avert it. I want to avert it for everyone on the face of this earth who will listen to me—I want to avert it because this is a catastrophe.

You know everybody else but you don’t know you. This is a catastrophe. You need to know who you are. You need to know your being. You need to understand your existence. Do you know it? Before it’s too late, before it’s gone! Believe me, this goes by all too fast.

And the lamp—nothing sadder than to see a lamp that was unlit—thrown away, cast away. This lamp needs to be lit! So you can be and feel and understand who you are.

Sometimes we suffer. Some of us have gotten really good at accepting the suffering, have we not? Our excuses: “Oh, God wants me to suffer. He wants me to learn something. I haven’t learnt anything in my whole life. But, you know....”

There is a song in Hindi. And it goes (the other day I was listening to it), and it’s like, “The pain and sorrow are our friends. So, why bother; why are you worried about sorrow and pain—because they are our friends.” And I’m like, “Really?” No. No!

Life that you have, your existence? That’s what it’s all about. A lot of people are like, “But isn’t that a very egoistical way of looking at it?” No. It is the humblest way of looking at it.

Because you look at reality—reality is humble, and it is profound at the same time. As you look at the sun, you realize its beauty; you realize its power. You’re humbled in front of it—and yet you are so glad it’s there. It’s not like “one or the other.”

Things will change in your life—of course they will. Why? Because that’s their nature. You try to hang on; it won’t let you. But do you know, with all those changes, you can still be happy? This is what I mean by “knowing yourself.” When you know yourself, you can say, “Oh, and by the way, all this can change—and I can still feel contentment.”

So, do you know what you need? Do you know what the difference is between a want and a need? Uh-uh. You don’t. Knowing yourself, that’s what it’s all about—figuring out what is just merely a want, and what is a need. Knowing yourself: “Know thyself.”

That no matter what happens in your life, you need, (not want), need to know the value of this breath, the value of being alive, the value of this time that you have.

Because we’re celebrating life; we’re celebrating existence as it is, as it has played out for so many thousands of years on the face of this earth—and a message that has always honed in, regardless of all the things that were going around, “That you are alive, and you are very fortunate.”

See, I talk about breath. There was an inmate in South Africa. And he kept hearing me talk about breath and breath and breath, so one day he went back in his cell.... (And this is what he told this fellow who was bringing him Peace Education videos and so on.)

And he said he’d just lay down—and he started to focus on his breath, feel his breath. And he said, “All of a sudden, the same bed that I had lain on many days, tormented—I begin to fill with peace. And the more I felt my breath, the more I filled with peace.” And he goes, “After a little while, I felt peace like I have never experienced in my life.”

It’s really worth knowing yourself, believe me—because it’s a wonderful thing.

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A Process of Discovery

Conference on Multiculturalism, Tolerance & Peace

Lisbon, Portugal

Prem Rawat:

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to just say, it’s a great honor to be here. And it is great to be in the company of those people who are interested in peace.

Because when things happen in this world that are not conducive for us to go on, (wars, the refugee problems, the destruction of natural resources), we have to ask one question. “Why?” I know that I read in the newspapers, “We have a problem; we have a problem; we have a problem; we have a problem.”

But of course, I have to ask, “Why do we have this problem?” What’s wrong here? What’s wrong in this picture; why do we have these people who are called “refugees”—who have left their home where they were raised, their families, their assets—and they have to go somewhere else to a new land, to a new place, to be able to survive. Why? Why do we have these wars? Why do we fight?

And I know, around the world, everybody has an explanation: “Oh, we’ve been fighting for a long time, so it’s okay.” Really? That’s good enough?

I mean, can you—just do it someday when you have some time—sit down and make a list of how many things we have that just divide us. This is how we see each other—“division, division, division, division. You are from India; you are from Australia; you are from England!” Come on.

The truth of the matter is, all of us, ninety percent, ninety-nine percent of us are made out of the same thing. It’s oxygen, carbon, calcium, hydrogen, nitrogen, and phosphorus—all of us. Man, women, child, educated, non-educated, rich, poor, we’re all made out of the same thing. These are the elements we are made out of.

And as human beings, we have a desire for peace. Why? That’s very simple too. We’re very vulnerable. Peace is something we actually need. Why are we vulnerable? We don’t have claws. We don’t have claws like lions do. We don’t have those big fangs like the lions do. We are not well suited to fight—you know why?

Because our most vulnerable area (that all the other animals protect) is completely wide open. We are an open invitation, “Come and kill me.” And not only one way—“Ah, let me show you quite a few different ways that you can do it. You can try here; you can try here; you can try here; you can try here, you....”

I mean, we’re vulnerable. Peace is something we have sought out in our situation. But we have fallen victim to greed. We have forgotten our passion. We have abandoned our passion for compassion—and we have adopted a very strange logic.

When I say “peace,” people ask, (I’m sure, and they don’t say it. But I know this is going on in their head), “How do you propose—how do you propose, Mr. Rawat, to bring peace to this world? And how do you propose this? With the world in disarray, with the problems in this world, how do you propose...!”

Ah, so let me explain something to you. This is how I “propose....” Peace—is already inside every single human being. And because it is inside every single human being, nothing actually needs to be done. Nothing needs to be created—nothing! It is a process of discovery, people discovering peace within.

To have a war, (because of our vulnerability, not being very good at fighting at anything).... I mean, if we punch too hard, we’ll break our hand—I mean, this is how bad we are at fighting.

So, what do we need, to fight? Do you know what we need, to fight? We need trillions of dollars to fight. We can’t fight! We need trillions of dollars to fight; we need armies to fight; we need machine guns to fight. And you know that to fight, everyone has to be trained? (Even if you’re going to punch somebody, you really have to be trained?)

This is how bad you are. All this idea, the logic of fighting, the logic of actually declaring a war, you have to be taught! But peace is inside of you. Always was. No teaching is required. No teaching is required. All you have to do—it’s like Socrates said: “Know thy self.” And when you get to know yourself, you understand that this peace that you are looking for is inside of you.

We are not understanding the potential of the human being. We are saying, “Oh, human beings make mistakes.” But human beings, for other human beings, have the biggest heart. They can love—and when they decide to share kindness, it’s unparalleled. Unparalleled.

In the past three interviews now, people have asked me, “You have met a lot of dignitaries. Who do you remember?” And then I tell them a little story.

The one I actually remember wasn’t a dignitary. It was this person.... And one day I was in India; I was driving in my car. And they had packed a lunch but they forgot the water. And so we had lunch—and go, “We’re very thirsty.”

So, we saw a farmer pulling water from the well in a musk. So we stopped the car; went over to him. And he asked—we asked him, “Could you please give us some water?”

I remember this man as clearly as I’m looking at you today. (This happened quite a few years ago.) He said to me—he said, “I don’t have much. But my hut is right over there. And I have some bread from yesterday and a few pieces of pickle. If you are hungry, it would be my honor to offer you this.”

Generosity—yes! This is all he had. We took the water; we had the water. We thanked him. And to this day, that has made a mark on me. And I will never forget. I’ve traveled the world many, many times; I have met a lot of people—but I don’t forget him ever. Why? Because of his kindness.

This is the level of humankindness that there can be. This is the level of a human achievement, to walk with peace. These are all possibilities—and demonstrated in this world.

This is our possibility. This is our possibility. This is our understanding; this is our moment; this is our chance. But as mankind looks at its achievement, then all I can say is that “Man’s, human being’s finest achievement will be peace.”

And that the humanity looks back—and say to each other, to say to their children, to tell them a little story, not about the three bears. But you know, to be able to say this: “Do you know, we established peace.” In perhaps the most impossible odds, “We established peace.”

The thirst for peace unquestionably crosses every single barrier there is. I have seen that. It crosses language; it crosses religion. It crosses all that long list of differences we have—it completely bypasses them. And the thirst for peace is in every human being.

Could we understand the dynamics of that effort that that baby makes, that each one of you made, by the way, by the way...? That baby once was you. And you got up, you got up and you fell! You fell—and the kindness to give you encouragement was there.

This is about us. This is about us understanding—and us making the effort, and us making it possible to have peace in our lifetimes.

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Experience versus Beliefs

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Prem Rawat:

You have chosen, today, to be here to hear about peace, to further your understanding of what it is to be alive. To take one more step. And what I want to talk about today, really is more to do with “Who are we? Who are we? What is a human being?”

On one hand, very simple—we’re made out of six things, six elements: oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus. That’s what you are.

Logically, this is what you look at. When you see another person, this is what you look at. And there’s no difference who you look at—this is what you see.

But that’s not true. We look at our mother—and we are not just looking at carbon, calcium, oxygen, and all these things; we’re looking at something else. We look at our father; we’re not just looking at carbon and calcium and nitrogen and phosphorus and hydrogen and oxygen. We’re seeing a father.

We see somebody we love—we don’t just say, “Oh, this is all you are.” We see somebody we love. So obviously, even though, technically speaking, this is what we’re made out of, that’s not the whole story. There’s something else.

And then there is another thing that is also involved—and that is our desires, our wants. We desire to be happy. We have an incredible tolerance for happiness. We can take two billion tons of happiness any given day—and it’s not a problem. We can consume all the happiness, and it does not give us a problem.

And all our dreams, our road maps that we make in our mind to achieve happiness, we draw little maps: “If I have this, I have this, I want this, I have this, I have this, then I can be happy.” These are our road maps to happiness.

It doesn’t matter. Whether you’re educated or you’re not educated, whether you have a job; you don’t have a job—you do, every day, you aspire to be happy. This is who you are.

Now the question becomes, “If this is who you are, this is what you aspire, this is what you want, why doesn’t mankind succeed? What happens?” The more we try to be happy, the sadder we get. The more we try to be free, the more frustrated we become.

Because we’re caught in the web like a fish—we’re caught in a net of definitions. And we believe in these definitions even when they don’t work. Even when they don’t work, we keep on believing. We have become believers.

You have heard of Leonardo da Vinci, no? Have you? [Audience: Yes.] Good. So, they found these notes of Leonardo da Vinci. And on one of the notes, he writes—and at the bottom, he signs it. And this is how he signs it; signs it, “Disciple of experience, Leonardo da Vinci.”

And when I read that, I had to ask myself, “Are you a disciple of experience? Is this what you follow—experience? Or do you follow beliefs?” Now, and this is a big difference, huge difference. Because one says, “I follow what I know.” And the other one says, “I follow anything.”

What questions do you ask? What questions should you be asking? Do you ask the question, “Am I blessed? And if I am blessed, do I feel it every single day? Every single day. Am I alive? Do I feel alive every single day? Or do I feel, in my emotions, jealousy, anger, fear, doubt?”

If you don’t feel jealousy and fear and anger and doubt, you should be put in a museum. You should be stuffed and put in a museum to say, “Here is a person who doesn’t feel anger, fear, doubt, confusion....”

But the thing is that if there is fear in you, there is freedom in you. If there is anger in you, there is compassion in you. If there is confusion in you, then there is clarity in you. If there is pain in you, there is joy in you.

In you! Do you understand what that means, “In you”? Most people hear what I am saying, but it doesn’t compute: “In you!” Because for most people who are the believers—for them, this comes from up there.

What does fear do to you? What does fear do to you? It destroys you; it can destroy you. What does confusion do to you? It can destroy you; it can destroy your moment; it can destroy a whole day just like that.

So, heaven is here. (What do you think? You believe? Or you know? Know or believe?) [Audience: Know!] Know? [Audience: Know! Yes!] Yes? No? And, yes? Yes! [Individual: Yes, because of you.] And do you know? Not because of me. No-no-no-no-no. I disagree.

I am a mirror. Does the mirror make up the face? [Individual: No.] I am a mirror! I don’t make up your face. You can experience heaven, not because of me, but because you are alive. If you are not alive, there can be nine million of me—and we cannot help anyone.

Because it’s you. You have in you the Divine. What could you ask for, more, in your life than the Divine being in you? Closer than any friend, closer than your wife or your husband, in you? The one that will accompany you wherever you go.

In the darkest place, the Divine is with you. On top of the mountain, the Divine will go with you. In confusion, the Divine is with you. In your troubles, in your sorrow, in every emotion that you consider hell, the Divine is with you. Do you celebrate this? Do you thank? Do you thank the Divine for being with you?

Your friend—if you do not acknowledge your friend, your friend won’t be your friend for very long. At some point in time, you have to tell your friend, “I like you. Thank you for being my friend.” What do you say to the Divine?

These are the paradoxes that we should be working on. Because when we do, the resolution of these paradoxes—knowing—this is truly, truly knowing the self. “Know thyself?” But here’s a very good reason why you should know yourself. Because this is who you are.

You have a mind—and you have a heart. You’re balanced. You’re balanced. If you learn how to use both of them equally, not only will you be in peace but you will prosper in this world.

But most people only know how to use one—the heart, they don’t understand. I say “the heart”—and people go, “What is a heart? What are you talking about?” I’ll tell you what a heart is.

Heart is the place where the human courage resides. Heart is the home of your clarity. Heart is the place where the Divine in you belongs and exists. Heart is the place from where you seek the truest gratitude of your existence. Heart is the place where the love because of reasons—no reason, that love resides.

Heart is the place where, in you, the thirst to be fulfilled is. That place that contains all this that is good is called “the heart.” That’s what a heart is. The courage. The courage to seek clarity in the midst of confusion. When everything is going wrong, the courage to say, “No. No. I want clarity; I want to be fulfilled.”

Have you experienced this courage? Have you felt this courage? Have you understood this courage? This is your power—it’s your power! It’s your power to thrive in this world—to thrive! To shine! To be!