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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope, again, you’re doing well. And, you know, I know that the announcements are coming; the lockdown will be delayed—but that’s nothing to lose heart over or to get concerned about, a few more days. After all, the objective is to be safe, to be well. And take the opportunity to learn something, to understand something, something that is very, very important.

Because time is time; not a question of what’s happening in that time, but time is time; that’s one way to look at it. And you can either waste it—and that has nothing to do with coronavirus; that has nothing to do with any of the global events—or you can do something that will truly help you in this course of life.

Now, there are two things that I want to talk about. And one thing is, (which I mentioned earlier in one of these broadcasts), you know, we’re so busy solving the problem; we’ve got our head shoved into this sand—and I want to just explain that a little bit.

So, you have two things. And one thing is essentially, your actions. You did something; (you did something unconsciously or you did something deliberately, it doesn’t matter). But whatever you do in this world, it’s going to have consequences. So you have the action and you have the reaction, the consequence.

Now, when I say “live your life consciously,” I mean that you would take those actions that will have a very positive consequence. The result will be something you would like, something you would enjoy—that has something to do with peace, has something to do with fulfillment, has something to do with understanding, with clarity.

But what happens, (and this is what I’ve been thinking about), is that we get so obsessed with the consequence that we actually forget about the action. And therefore, if that action repeats itself, it’s going to bear the same consequence again and again and again and again.

Now, how far does this stretch out—my goodness, in every realm you can possibly imagine. You can imagine this in family situations, in problems that families have, in domestic violence, (which is a huge thing), bullying, (that’s a huge thing).

And so many more, murders, crimes, petty crimes to severe crimes, to everything. It’s, again, you have the action and then you have the consequence. And everybody is so busy negating the consequences—the negative consequences—that they actually forget about the action.

Unless you change that action, repeatedly it’s going to produce the same result again and again and again and again and again. And you’re going to wonder, “Why in my life am I being punished? What have I done wrong?”

It’s not that you did something wrong in your last lifetime or you’re going to do something wrong or that you are cursed or somebody gave you the evil eye or this happened or that happened, you know, ten million excuses—or you happened to go under a ladder or whatever. But what are you doing? Whatever you do unconsciously, whatever you do....

Let me put it this way, whatever you do will produce a result. No question about it. Every action will produce a reaction. And of course, if it is unpleasant, you want to negate it; you want to get out of it; you want to.... You know, it’s like the person who gets locked up and then, the only thing they’re thinking about is “How do I get out of this? How do I get out of this consequence?”

If there is a person who is going to school and they get, the child gets really bad marks—and he’s like, “Oh my God, you know, what do I do now; do I show this report card to my parents? Don’t I? What excuse do I make? Oh....”

Instead of working on the action, which is, “I need to study—and I can do that. I need to study harder.” To fundamentally look at what is causing me to repeat my actions—because I am not paying attention to those actions. And it is those actions which are causing the problem.

So it’s very, very interesting. And we, in our lives, we live our lives; we go about our business all day long—and we’re only paying attention to the consequences; we’re not paying attention to what is causing this problem.

You know, it’s like when you were young; you kept getting tickets. (I know what that’s like. I know what that’s like.) And why was I getting tickets? And I have told this story before; it’s like, one day I was pulled over—and I realized that it was humiliating; it was not fun. And at that moment, whatever, you know, great time I was having driving fast, getting pulled over had negated all of that.

And of course, I didn’t want to lie to the police officer; I was speeding. And so, right then and there I decided, “No more. I’m not going to speed.”

So I drive with my cruise control wherever I can. And I set it, you know, three, four miles an hour over the speed limit. And it maintains it—and not that it’s going to get me there quicker. It doesn’t. I would have to drive like, insane.

And, you know, but you can always take a flight, if that’s what the importance of getting there really quick is. But, give yourself enough time so you don’t have to.

So, the whole thing is, yeah, when you’re getting pulled over and it’s like, “Oh my God, this is terrible,” and, yeah, you know, ears turn red; your face turns red; your blood pressure goes up. You know, you’re embarrassed and everybody’s looking at you on the freeway....

And you want to get out of it. “Oh, ah, yes, officer, you know, I’m sorry; I won’t do this again,” and all that. But you’re not paying attention to your actions. What you need to do in life is start paying attention to your actions, not just the reactions. Because reactions will just follow suit of whatever those actions are.

If you’re not spending any time to sow the seeds of peace in your life—and then you will wonder, “Why don’t I have peace,” well, that’s because you never did sow any seeds of peace. You never did anything to bring peace about. You just ran into this world, you know, like a dodo, just running and running and running and running and running and running and running.

You know, it’s just like, I saw this quote in a newspaper once and it was very interesting. And the way the quote went is like, “You earn all this money—and then you work so hard for it. And then at the end of the day, what happens is you get old, get sick, and you take all that money that you have earned and you hand it over to a hospital,” because you are now sick—instead of taking some of that time and doing something positive.

And this is—you know, again, I’m not trying to make any excuse for anybody; I’m not trying to, you know, point fingers at anybody or anything like that. It’s very straightforward; there are leaders who are doing their job who are doing a great job.

And then there are the leaders that shouldn’t—yeah, the “l” shouldn’t even be a part of their, you know, title anywhere concerned. I mean, just, they have lost it; they have truly, truly lost it. And, okay, that’s enough said.

But what about you? You are the leader of this domain of your life. How are you running the show? Forget about the world leaders; forget about the big organizations; forget about all that—how are you running your show? Are you being conscious? Are you trying to make an effort to understand yourself? Is your heart full of gratitude?

Or are you just pulling your hair out: “When is this, you know, lockdown going to be over? When is this going to be over; when, that’s going to be, why is this happening; you know, I had plans; I had ideas of how I was going to spend, you know...?”

I’m sure there are people who had booked cruises, to go cruising. Not a smart idea at this point in time. What do you do? If you don’t know who you are, what do you do?

And everywhere I turn, (and you watch this channel or you watch that channel), these are the issues. And there are some, you know, “fun-hearted” people, I would call them, with a good sense of humor, and they’re trying to make something happen that may be funny or something like that.

Great, fine. But it’s not just a question of something that will occupy your time. You should be occupying your time. Thoughts that matter to you are the ones you should be entertaining.

Do those things at this point in time that will bring about happiness and joy for you—this is what’s important. This is what’s important; not that you have to find a way to occupy your time. No, you are the one who should occupy your time, not something else and not somebody else—but you should occupy your time.

So that’s one thing that I was thinking about. And the second thing is, you know, I keep saying that “This is the printer and it keeps printing these pictures.” So, there’s a story and I’ve told this story before.

So, there was a terrible flood—and this lady had this house and the floodwaters started coming and next thing you know, she moved a little bit higher. She was standing on her kitchen table—and floodwaters started coming to that point. So she went up the staircase and the floodwaters just kept following her; the waters just kept rising and rising and rising.

This kept on happening till she found herself on the roof. Now there’s no place higher to go. And the floodwaters were rising. So, earnestly, she prayed to God. And she said, “God, come down and help me. I’ve been—I followed you; I have loved you. I think you’re the greatest. And I am in trouble—and I would certainly appreciate if you could come down and help me.”

So, the next thing you know, a boat comes by. And they’re the rescue workers and they say, “Lady, come on; you know, the floodwaters are rising; we’d better get you out of here.” And she goes, “No. No, I am waiting for my God to come and save me.”

Well, the waters rose a little bit more. Now her feet are wet and she can’t get any higher and she prays again and says, “Lord, save me. You know, I’m your greatest fan; I love you. I have prayed to you; I have been faithful to you—and I’m in trouble. And please come and save me.”

A few minutes later, another boat comes by—the rescue workers, “Lady, come on; you know, it’s time to go! It’s, really, this is not a joke; come on.” And she goes, “No. My God is going to save me.”

A few minutes later, same thing again. Now the water is quite full; it’s come up to, you know, her chest. And she prays again and says, “Lord, you know, this is the last chance. I mean, please, save me, you know, help me.” Another boat zings by.

They say, “Come on, lady, this is it! This is it; this is it. You’re not going to be able to stay here much longer.” She goes, “No. My God is going to come and he’s going to save me.”

The next thing you know, the water rises high enough and she’s swept away. She dies; she is in heaven. Peter is there; St. Peter is there to welcome her and she is furious. And she goes, “I want to talk to God.”

And St. Peter says, “Well, can I help you in any way?” And she goes, “Help me? I want to talk to God!” St. Peter goes to God and says, “You know, there’s somebody who’s just come in who is really angry with you and wants to talk to you.” And he says, “Okay, call her in.”

She comes in and she says, “What kind of God are you? You know, three times I prayed to you. And—to save me, and not once did you come down and save me.” And God said, “Lady, give me a break. I sent three boats to save you. And not once did you take one of those boats.”

Printer—printed a picture of what she thought, how she would be saved. But that’s not what was going to happen. Three boats did come—but she didn’t take a single one and she ended up drowning.

Hmm! Well, it’s a funny story—but it does deserve some attention about this printer. Because we follow this printer very closely. And it sits there all day long and prints more pictures and more pictures and more pictures.

Living your life consciously would definitely mean you really have to yank yourself away, pull yourself away when you find yourself chasing one of those pictures. You should be chasing your heart; you should be chasing that thirst in your life to be fulfilled, to be clear, to be in that serenity. That’s what the thirst of your heart is.

Not the quest of the mind that just goes, “I want this; I want this; I want this.” I mean, okay, you know, it’s no big deal, you follow it once in a while. But if you’re following it all the time and not following the heart all the time, that’s going to be a little bit problematic.

So, be well. Be safe. Most importantly, be. Enjoy yourself; make the most of this time. I’ll talk to you later. Thank you.

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

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all doing well, safe and well.

So, today I get to answer some questions—and the first one is from Carme Montlleo. The question is, “You started talking about the authentic nature of the human being. You interrupted the explanation”—I probably got carried away and got into something else. “Since then, the longing in my heart remains to know what you would tell us. Would you tell us about it?”

So, the authentic nature of the human being—it’s a very interesting question because, you know, we come across so much of what we consider, what we would consider “the nature” to be—mean, selfish, anger, you know, and all these things that taint what, how you see a human being.

But what if all that was to be removed and the only thing that remained was truly what the nature of a human being is? Now, am I talking in terms of “hypothetical” or “realistic?”

So, what is the possibility here; let’s first understand that. Well, yes, there is anger—but then there is the opposite of anger. And does that reside in a human being? Compassion, love, understanding—and the answer to that is “yes, that resides in a human being too.” And then, so what about fear? Well, the opposite of that also resides in the human being—which is courage.

And seeing—when you see a baby, a child that is uncontaminated, that hasn’t learnt all these other behaviors, then that child is very much focused and very much in that beautiful space of wanting to be happy, of wanting to be content. And it only cries out when something isn’t right. And when something is right, the child stops.

When the child wants to explore, when they come to that age where they will be exploring, they explore. And they show their delight in a tremendous amount of energy that they have to expend to try to grab something, to try to hold onto something. But yet, a joy in having accomplished it.

So, to me, when we start to look at those traits that naturally would be—then the behavior, you know, the nature, the authentic nature of a human being would very much be those things.

That a human being would strive, every moment that the human being could, to be fulfilled, to be in that simple place. To see, to admire everything. Because when you admire something, it gives you something in return.

When you sit down on a beach and you watch those waves rhythmically coming, going, coming, going.... the sets of them, too, and then it’s kind of taking a break and then the next set comes. And then the dance of the sandpipers, that as they just come along, run with the wave, the timing of everything that exists....

And every time I get an opportunity to see this, I find it extremely hypnotic. Because it’s like, “Wow, everything understands everything else’s timing and yields to it.” So then, this would be the human nature, yielding to what it cannot conquer. What it doesn’t want to conquer, it yields, gives, lets it be—and it’s fine.

You see the huge waves coming—especially in Northern California, huge sets of these waves come—and they’re unimpeded; they’ve been traveling unimpeded and they slam across these sheer cliffs. And you’re flying, you know, sometimes, two, three hundred feet high—and those waves want to touch you.

And it’s like, wow, this incredible force—one unrelenting, very, very much so—and the water, the force of the water. And both just having a tussle. Eventually, the water will win. And we can see that in many places. But till it’s there, it is there.

So, the authentic nature of a human being would be kindness, would be the search for joy. For a human being to recognize the beauty and the timing of everything else and yield to that which it cannot change. To know when to bend, and yet, know when to stay stiff—just like a tree.

It is there. But it also knows that when the wind starts to blow, it must yield to that wind if it is to stay there, if it wants to be there.

And this becomes an art; this becomes a real art in all of nature—in all of nature. Nothing overpowers anything.

You know, it goes back, this whole idea of conservation goes back—and even at the time of Mahabharat, where Arjun has a dream and all the creatures of the jungle come to say, “Listen, you’re too good of a, you know, a hunter and you’re wiping us out—please leave. Go somewhere else.”

And this whole idea that “Yeah, human beings could wipe something out....” That’s not in our nature; that wouldn’t benefit us. What would benefit us is to take care of those things and make sure that those things keep on perpetuating.

So, basically, the authentic nature of a human being would be, one, very natural, full of kindness, full of understanding. And full of helping all that that could use the help—and yielding to that that doesn’t need any help.

So I hope, (I have tried to put it as briefly as I can), I hope that helps. That that’s the way I see the nature of a human being. Yes, I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, not acknowledging the bad nature of the human being; that’s there too. But what I am doing is, while I acknowledge the bad nature, I also acknowledge the good nature of a human being. And that is there.

And that needs to be accepted and that is the one that needs to be perpetuated, not the bad one. We know how to perpetuate the bad one. We’re masters at it. We’ve been doing it for so many years, we’ve actually become very, very efficient and very, very good at taking the bad and perpetuating the bad. And we sometimes forget about the good.

And how is that good brought forth? It’s really simple, you know—but how do you bring something good out in a child? Let that child participate with you in the process of discovery, rather than sitting there and trying to tell the child what it is that they should or should not be doing. Let them come up with the solutions; let them come up with the answers.

If you give them enough trust—it takes a little time—but once they understand that you do trust them, that their input is valuable, then they come up with valuable input for you, for themselves, a clearer understanding. So I hope—I hope that helps you.

Another question from Kala in New Zealand—and this is, “How do I stay in the present in my day-to-day activities? Is it something I have to work at or does it come naturally?” Well, here is the beauty of it.

If you would have made living consciously—and exercised it a long time ago, it would be coming to you naturally. But instead, what we have worked on—and maybe, maybe our world is such that we don’t have a choice—but what we have actually worked on is to live unconsciously. And what comes as second nature is to live unconsciously.

If we want to live consciously, then we have to make it our second nature by practice, practice, practice, practice, and practice. It took us a long time, years and years of practice, of exercising unconsciousness. It’s going to take some practice to live life consciously.

But obviously, to live life consciously there is a reward. And, you know, this is what it means. It’s not like.... Every, every day, I think everybody has this target thing of, it’s like, “I want to hit that level; I want to hit that threshold.”

But there are certain things in life that don’t have that threshold. You practice living consciously every day of your life, little, by little, by little and by little. You accept the success and you accept the failure. That is living consciously. It’s not just about all success and no failure; it is about accepting both success and failure. And then that conscious living makes sense.

If somebody is trying to achieve this, you know, the “printer” thing, printing a picture saying, “Yeah, okay, you know, one day you will be perfect.” No, you understand that you are perfect. And it is not some definition of perfectness that has been painted by somebody else that makes you perfect.

What makes you perfect is, with your shortcomings and with your fundamental desire to want to do good, to want to be happy, to want to be in peace, this is what makes you complete; this is what makes you perfect—with your imperfection. Not without your imperfection, but with your imperfection. And so, I hope that that helps, because that’s just how it is in my experience.

Another one from Ana Rosales, “How to keep the peace within us if we are seeing how a few benefit from the destruction of others—we are the united ones that are destroyed.”

Well, that’s an interesting question—because it is true. A system has been created in which few have the power over many. This did not happen overnight; this happened slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly—we let people be empowered; we gave them that empowerment.

We gave officials that power. Then they used that power to want to get reelected again, so whoever could get them, could help them get reelected—a little more powerful than them, see?

So, there are those ones who are powerful because they are in the government; then there are those who are more powerful than them—and they help those people who want to come into power and they help those who want to be more powerful.

And so, all of a sudden, it’s just like a race—and in that, you know, you have all these contestants who will be dropped out. And the only ones remaining at the very end are the ones that can help each other out. The rest of the population, forget it; they get dropped.

But—why not look at it, “How did it get to be that way?” Very easy. How did it get to be that way? Because we relinquished—we relinquished that power that we had and we gave it to them.

We said, “Run with it. I don’t want to be bothered; I want to have my little life—I am too busy. I’m too busy, you know, taking care of my little family, taking care of my little situation; I don’t want to be bothered with it—so you run with it; you go with it; you do whatever you want to do with it.” Well, all that backfires. And when it backfires, you see what happens. Here is the world.

There are—you know, there are shows—and they show people; they become hoarders; they hoard. They just collect; they collect, collect, and it gets to be to the point where you can’t even walk into their house, because it’s just, they have collected so much junk and never got rid of it, just collected it and collected and collected and collected and collected.

Well, this is what some of the people do, except they do it with money; they hoard it. Every time there is graft, there is bribery, what is that bribery doing? That is taking money from a poor person’s purse, (mouth), and giving it to somebody who doesn’t need it, who doesn’t even probably appreciate it.

So, what we see in this world.... You know, you cannot—I mean, especially now, if you look around in your city and you see clear blue skies and you see everything wonderful.... And next time, when things kind of go back to being normal, (if they ever do), and the sky is full of pollution, don’t blame God for it. Okay, it’s our doing. It’s absolutely our doing.

You think that the earth produces too little food? No, the earth produces more than enough food to feed every person on the face of this earth. If anybody goes hungry, you know whose fault it is? It is our fault. I’m—and mind you, I’m saying “our.” It is not their fault or their fault or their fault; it is our fault.

So, yes, what you’re talking about is absolutely accurate. And we allowed this to happen. We allowed this to happen.

So, next time an opportunity raises itself, brings itself forward, think about it; think twice. How do we relinquish this? We sit down like idiots in front of a television—and consuming everything.... And I call them “brain diggers.” So, they’re brain diggers; they dig into your brain every single day—and they try to tell you, “This is this way; this is this way; this is this way; this is this way.”

A long time ago there used to be one channel—and it was a channel that was used by news agencies and they were just transmitting over it—and there were no comments. And you just saw the drama, whatever the drama was. And it was the most boring thing you could watch.

The next thing you know, you’re watching the same footage; it has been edited; it has been changed; it has been polished; it’s been editorialized....

You know, every morning they sit down and they actually decide what’s, what they consider to be news and what they don’t consider to be news. If it has an element of tragedy, that will get you. So all of a sudden, you’re sitting there and what are you being bombarded by—tragedy, tragedy, tragedy, tragedy.

Somebody actually sent me a link to somebody who has started a channel on YouTube or somewhere, where it’s just all positive news. Well, positive news or negative news—I mean, you know, there are going to be tragedies. (That’s because we make them.)

So you want true, honest opinion; you want to know the truth—and you look to a television and you say, “That’s the truth.” Well, that’s a sad day. You’re not going to get truth out of the tube. You’re not going to get truth on some piece of paper that you are holding in front of you. It’s been highly polished; it’s been highly opinionized.

And more opinion there is and more digging there is and more, you know, taking the screws and doing things with it—makes for a better story, makes for better listening, makes for better watching.

And face it, you know, all that that is there is there to make money. That is their first criteria. And they do; they make money.

So, you know, again, it just really comes down to that the world that we live in, if you don’t like something about it, it’s not like it was handed to you. We have created that situation; we have created that situation. So, I hope that helps. (I don’t know how), but, yeah, and I’m just telling you how I see it, so....

Here is one from Shubham, India, from Delhi, “Sometimes due to this lockdown, I get irritated and furious in small things. How should I manage it?”

I wonder if you get irritated when there wasn’t a lockdown—because I have a sneaky suspicion that this irritation has been going on for a long time—now you’re noticing it more, that you’re in the lockdown because you’re in the same situation again and again and again.

And managing irritation—you can be irritated. And this is living consciously; this is what that’s all about—yes, you can be very irritated. And there are things that can irritate you. Except, what you have to ask yourself is, “Do you, do you want to be irritated?”

So if the things are irritating you, the things are in control, not you. You are not in control; the things are in control. If you don’t want to be irritated, then you will have to be in control, not the things. So, you’re going to have to take control of your life. And that’s what it’s going to take—take control of your life.

So, I hope you all will be safe, be healthy, be well—and most importantly, be. Thank you.

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

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone; I hope you’re all well, healthy—and trying to enjoy yourself under these situations of the lockdown.

So again, continuing with the questions, “I can see where my children are in their lives; my ‘picture’ has been ripped apart by them.” (Hmm.) “I have responsibility as their father to ensure they’re on good tracks. How do I do this? Mukesh.”

All right, interesting question. You are with your children in this lockdown and you’re seeing that they’re not what you thought you were raising. Okay, so let me just try to answer this question. Are your children a product of you telling them how they should be—or do you include them in the decisions that you make for them?

Do you solicit their help by posing what it is that should happen—and explaining to them why that should happen? And asking them for their solutions, for their help to accomplish it. And not only ask them for their solutions, but help them accomplish this; take their advice in stride; accept their advice.

So, so with your children, you tell them what to do—and you expect them to do it. With your friends, however, you do exactly what I told you before, which is you sit down with them; you explain your problem—and then ask them for advice of how you could possibly do it. And then you listen to them—of course, you listen to them, especially if it’s good advice.

Now, it’s going to take a little time. Your children are not going to come up with perfect answers the first day—because they don’t know. They have to trust you. But do not underestimate your children. Don’t think of them as idiots, because you are the father.

So, give them the respect—and they will give you the respect. It takes to give respect to get respect. It takes two to come to the same conclusion for something to move forward.

So, ask them for their advice: “How would this happen; how could this happen?” That’s exactly what you do when you go to the hospital. You go to the doctor and you say, “Doctor, my arm is hurting. What could I do to help it?” And then the doctor gives you the advice and you accept the advice.

If the doctor tells you, “I’m going to cut off your arm,” and you go, “Well, no, it’s just a little scratch. And you know, why do you want to cut off my arm?” And he goes, “Well, I like cutting arms off; thank you,” you would say, “No, I don’t like you as a doctor; I’m going to go find somebody else.”

It takes that trust that you have to form with your family, with your wife, with your children. You want to be the dictator of your family. But believe me, your empire is going to backfire.

You, right now, (I don’t know how old your children are), but if you’re talking about just ripping down the pictures, listen, your entire empire is going to get ripped apart—if you don’t do things in a way where they’re included in coming up with the solution....

I have seen kids come up with solutions, that cannot even talk properly yet, that young. You just have to ask them, “So, what do you think; how do you think we should do it?” And they will come up with it, you know, “What can we do.”

Even if the child is not doing well in school, it’s like, “Well, you know, what would it take to start helping you get better at school?” And take their advisement; they’ll think about it. Are they not capable of thinking? They are absolutely capable of thinking—and believe me, you’ll be surprised; you will be very, very surprised.

So, please, first of all, give some respect to your children—if you want some respect from them—and include them in your decision-making process.

You know, don’t become like this, you know—not all politicians are bad but some politicians, you know, they show up—they’ll bend over backwards when they want your vote. And then after that, they’ll slap you (for I don’t know, for whatever the reason is). So, don’t become that; don’t become that. Be a father. That’s what a father means, fathering.

You’re a father; you’re not a dictator; you’re not a slave-owner. You’re not there to produce slaves for yourself. You’re a father—and fathering means to help your children understand the process of decision-making, of all those things that it takes to be.

And I just see that so many people have created, you know, an impossible task in front of them—because they don’t want to, you know, “include, include”—because when you do, then you have a team. When your family—not only then you have a family, but you have a family team.

And when you have that team, then you have teamwork that’s going on. And it is wonderful; it’s just great. And that teamwork can be so lovely, can be so beautiful. So, that’s what you have to work on. So I hope this makes sense.

Here is one from Raffaele, “I would like nothing more than ‘being there’ in every moment of my life. Can we not exercise our roles by remaining with that love, even during the most banal daily actions of our existence? Is it possible to make them live together constantly, self-action and experience? Is it within our reach to become so capable?”

Yes, we can exercise our roles—but it all has to come with consciousness, not just.... You know, first of all, let me ask you one question: “Do you have a picture of this in your mind, of what this looks like?” Because if you do, you’re setting yourself up; you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Many people have that, you know, just like, “Well, but this is what’s going to happen, you know, and everybody will be liberated and this and that,” and there are plenty in this world that create these pictures. But these pictures are what trips us and makes these very simple, very simple things virtually impossible.

So, you know, please, first, get rid of that picture. And then, then whatever happens will happen, in that sense....

So, another question, “I came into this life with or learned to have a high level of anxiety,” this is from Celeste; “I wonder if I can change my nature and leave it behind.” Yes, you don’t need to become anxious. I think the more you are in control of your life and what happens in this life, the more there would be less of a reason to be anxious.

You know, and of course, sometimes getting overanxious is a very physical thing and for that, you need to see a doctor or you need to see a psychologist who can help you. But definitely, more you are in control of your life, the less reason there is to be anxious. So, I hope that helps.

“Have you any words of inspiration”—this is from Victoria—“Have you any words of inspiration to help me take control of my day please?” Yes. Be confident. Understand what this control is.

It’s not like, all of a sudden, you will become that Mickey Mouse, you know, wizard that just waves his finger and the broom comes out of the closet and starts washing the floor, and the bucket starts pouring water and all of that stuff; that’s not what it’s about.

It’s you, you being full, you being—understanding of yourself, of saying, “Okay, if this doesn’t work, I’m fine with it. I am fine. I am fine.” Not, “If this doesn’t work, that’s it for me.” No. “If this doesn’t work, I’m still fine. I will be okay. I will be okay.”

If you’re boiling your beans; it’s a disaster; the beans are all over the place—you know, don’t freak; order a pizza. After all, what you need is food. It doesn’t have to be beans that day; maybe you can cook beans the next day. Take what you have learned and apply it and make better beans the next day, not making it a disaster.

Sometimes it is as simple as that. Sometimes, of course, it’s not as simple as that—but each day, understand its preciousness—and what you have control over. You must know what you have control over and what you don’t have control over.

And a lot of people don’t know what they don’t have control over and they try to gain control over those things; it’s going to be a disaster. You know, it is going to be a disaster.

What do you have control over? How you feel. It’s not the situation; it is how you react to it. This is abundantly clear. So, in your life, each day, make that effort, be conscious and move forward.

“I realized recently that I’m stuck in my life, not because of COVID virus—because I work in the middle of it; I had the virus and I’m cured—a few symptoms left, but nothing serious. My trouble is I can’t seem to digest what is happening.

“Courage I do have. That’s why I wake up and go to work. But the old people dying alone and not given a fighting chance, being refused intensive care just because of a freaking number, their age—honestly, I know some people who are fresher at eighty-six or ninety-two years old than some fifty-year-olds.

“Plus, being a doctor, it’s my responsibility to give the news, not only to the sick, but also to the family. It’s really horrible. How do I deal with the guilt? I know it’s out of my hands; but then why the guilt?”

No, you don’t need to feel guilty. You do not need to feel guilty. You are in this precarious position, very much so.

Arjun says, in the middle of the battlefield—this is exactly what Arjun says; he says, “I’m not fighting. I know these people. You know, I don’t want to be the one responsible for killing them. You know, that would be too much, so I’m not going to do it.”

Krishna says, “Do—do what you have to do; do your duty. Don’t worry about the consequences; do your duty.” This is.... And this is a big thing in India—and the Gita opens up this whole chapter of “Duty, do it; don’t worry about the consequences.”

You’re a doctor; you can help people. You have helped so many people. You can continue to help the people. Guilt does not need to come.

What is happening? Bad decisions. Maybe history will reflect itself, reflect on this, bad decisions that are being taken by some leaders, weird things, weird conclusions. And I think this is going to play out for a really, really, really long time.

Because people didn’t have the resources to be able to express their anger or express their fear or express whatever they express—but now they do. And so I think this is going to play out for a really, really long time.

But I would encourage you not to feel guilty; you don’t need to feel guilty. What you need to feel is the courage to move forward—and take that courage, shake it off; that’s what I call it, “shake it off.” This guilt is coming from here. It’s not coming from the heart; it’s coming from here. It’s coming from reasonings.

But in the middle of this fire, it is not the right time to figure out how the fire got started; the best thing is to fight the fire. So, my, what I can say to you—you’re a doctor—is, “Don’t feel guilty; shake it off; move forward and help people, help people like you can. Give them the love; give them the care; give them that—give them that care that you alone can give.” So, good luck to you.

This is from Malaysia, from Yashotha, “My question is, people who get this virus land up in a hospital ward and if they’re bad they’re moved to ICU. If they don’t make it, they die. No family is allowed to visit or be with them.

“Is it really the case of you come alone and you die alone and are sent off or buried by the hospital staff? So sad, I feel for the patient; they want to see their loved ones before they go but are unable to. What is your take on this? If the heart is full, then they won’t feel sad?”

Well, let me put this in some context. I’m not the one who came up with this rule, that they shouldn’t see each other—but I know one thing; that love knows no boundaries; love knows no walls; love knows no distance; love knows no height; love knows no depth. There’s nothing impossible for love. Love knows no barriers. You can love those who you love and you will always love them.

What happens—you are left here to feel the sadness of their loss. At least, they, who have moved on, they’re not feeling the sadness. They don’t know; they’re gone. This is what “gone” means; they have left. They have left that brain behind that made all the reasonings, the eyes that recognized you, the eyes that saw you, the ears that heard you....

And so it’s a different world, in that regard, in that sense. And you need to love them; this is your hope of what their legacy is going to be about. They live in you. Your parents, your grandparents, they live in you.

And yes, it is a terrible, terrible tragedy. But that is the nature of this beast. And the best thing is to love. What you can do—you always have to remember this: “In any situation, what is it that I can do?” Not, “What is it that I cannot do.” That is a waste of time.

But in this situation, every day that this is happening, you must remember what you can do. What you can do is to love: love, love, and love.

So, be safe; be well. Be.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone; I hope you’re all well, feeling well and doing well.

So, I was reading a question that had come up to me from a very close friend of mine—and one of the things that he wanted to know is like, “What would be the most appropriate story that would relate to this coronavirus thing, these current circumstances?”

So I started thinking about that, and one of the things that became very obvious to me, at least, was that we can make a big thing out of this and—we do. We.... You know, it’s not like I’m trying to make this trivial; it’s, I’m not. It’s historic; it’s huge; it’s....

When you see some of the animations of how this spread and everything else, it’s just this race, you know; it’s like a train wreck—and you could see the train coming for a mile, you know.

But, nonetheless, you have to focus on what your needs are. And you have to understand what you are all about, because that hasn’t changed. The circumstances have changed; the external circumstances have changed, but who you are and what you need hasn’t changed by any stretch of the imagination.

And of course, it is our nature that when we are deprived of something, when something is taken away from us, we miss it more; we like it more; we want it more.

And so, you know, the fact that there are a lot of people I know that would rather sit in their living room and watch television—or, you know, play a video game or listen to music or read a book.... But now that you can’t go outside, it’s like we all want to go outside; we all want to be out on the beach; we all want to be doing these kinds of things. So, that’s very, very interesting.

So, coming back to it, the main thing hasn’t changed—which is your needs, your want, your day—to exist, to survive, to live. And that hasn’t changed.

So, what would be the most appropriate story? Well, after giving it quite a bit of thought, this is a—you know, and I had to pull this one out of the hat, pretty deep. But it’s a story that I used to tell a really long time ago. And I haven’t told this story in a long, long time.

But the story is very short; it’s very brief. And there was a king and one day he got drunk—and he got on top of his drunk elephant. And they were both going—wherever he wanted to go, wherever the elephant wanted to take him—and the elephant wanted to go wherever he wanted to go.

And they were in pretty bad shape; they were drunk and nobody was in control; nobody was really in charge, sort of to say; nobody knew what to do. And as they were going, the elephant tripped on something and the king, who was sitting on the back of the elephant, (on top of the elephant), fell from the elephant into a well.

And as he is falling, you know, for a moment he gets sober and he grabs this vine, this very strong vine—he grabs it—and he’s alive; he’s okay. And so, you know, in that moment, he definitely is thinking about “What’s going on here” and he’s getting—he’s getting sober real quick. And all of a sudden, he wants to assess his situation.

So he’s in the middle of this well; he holding on with this vine. And he looks up—and he sees two rats, (one is a black rat; one is a white rat), and they’re very busy cutting this vine. And so he looks down to see what’s there, and down below are all these snakes and scorpions hissing, deadly poisonous things—and it’s not a pretty picture.

So, here he is; he’s holding onto this vine; he is in this well. He looks up—and there are two rats that are just going at it, trying to cut the vine down, cut the vine off. He looks down, of where he’s obviously going to fall when the vine is cut, and it’s nothing but poisonous snakes and scorpions and dangerous things.

So, let’s just stop there for a minute—and pretty much, the story ends right there. Because this is something to get you to reflect on, for you to think about. So, you are the king, obviously; you are the king—and everything you ride on, your little world, is the elephant. And the elephant is drunk—and so are you.

What are you drunk on? Well, unconsciousness. You’re living—but you’re not in charge of anything. Except you have no problem complaining about things, looking at things, going “Oh, I wonder why this is like that,” blaming God, blaming this person, blaming that person. I mean, on and on and on and on and on it goes.

So, it’s very—it’s very metaphoric. The metaphor here really would be that, in this story, you’re the king. Unconsciousness is what you are inebriated on.

We live every day—and we want to make it the same, pretty much: “I go; I get up at this time....” I mean, you know, how many people in the United States do you think have got their alarm clocks set to a particular time and that’s where it stays? And the status is that on Saturday and Sunday, (if that’s the day that they have off), they just turn it off, the alarm—but then starting Monday, same routine.

Some people have their coffee set up with the timer—because they know they have to get up every single day, the same time.

So, here we are; we’re living in this pattern—and I’m not trying to be judgmental of whether that’s right or whether that’s wrong; I’m just presenting it parallel to the story—so, try to make some sense of it.

And then our little world that we have created—and that’s got a lot of unconsciousness. It’s not our decisions; the world presents us these pretty phones, these pretty things—and we look at those and we go, “Yeah, yeah, I want one of those; I want one of those; I want one of those.”

We’re driving along and we see, you know, a beautiful house on a billboard for sale or something like that—and it’s like, “Yeah, I want that too.” And we see a car and that’s just really, really nice and it’s like, “Yeah, I want that too....”

And so it’s like this whole world that’s just pushing us, pushing us, pushing us every day, “Want, want, want, want, want, you want this; you want this; you want this, want this.”

Though again, a tremendous amount of unconsciousness on our part. Because those people, you know, they sit down in board rooms—believe me, and they sit down and they work out “How can we crack the code, that people will go for this? That what we’re going to tell them...?”

I mean, they literally have to sit down and say, “Okay, we’re going to tell them that this is the greatest car.” It doesn’t matter if the car is good. Right? It doesn’t matter if “this soft drink that we’re going to advertise to them is good.” Even it could be harmful to them, but that’s not the point of it.

The point of it is, “How can we crack the code? How can we get inside their head”—brain diggers—“How can we get inside their head and plant this idea that they really want this?” Not need—“want this?”

So, again, a tremendous amount of unconsciousness on our part, that we accept this and we say, “Oh, yeah, right, that’s what I want.”

So, we’ve got the elephant that’s drunk; we’ve got the king that’s sitting on the back of the elephant that’s drunk. And nobody knows where they’re going, very inebriated in unconsciousness, both of them. The elephant couldn’t care less and the king could care less.

And the next thing you know, something happens, something takes place and the elephant trips; (coronavirus, COVID-19 happens) and the elephant trips. And all of a sudden, the king finds himself being de-seated from the elephant and going into the well, (the well of this world that we live in).

And hanging on. And there is a vine—and we hang onto that vine. We—he looks up and he sees two rats, (night and day; that’s the black and the white rat), they’re busy cutting that vine. What’s underneath on the floor of that well? Snakes, (consequences of our decisions that we have made).

It goes on and on and on and on. And there he is in limbo. If he does nothing, he’s going to fall because those two rats are definitely going to cut through that vine. If he does nothing, that is his fate; he is going to fall and he will succumb to the consequences, to the result of the consequences of his unconsciousness, his or her unconsciousness throughout their lives.

Because what’s at the bottom of the well isn’t one day’s consequences; it is the consequences of every single day of living this life unconsciously, unconsciously, unconsciously, unconsciously, unconsciously, unconsciously. Bizarre scene.

The only hope really is if somebody can throw a rope—and you can switch. Because the game is set. Those rats are busy; they could care less. Day and night, the time is passing, (that’s what the symbology there is). The symbology is of the time that is just nonstop, day and night....

You know, you buy a watch—you buy a watch to tell what? Well, to figure out “when I’m going to do this; when I’m going to do this; when I’m going to do this.” But you haven’t really sat down and looked at that watch and go, “Oh my God, this thing is telling me that I have this much less time to exist on the face of this earth.”

So now, it’s not a question of, you know, I’m painting a doomsday scenario. Because there is a possibility, at any given time, we realize that “Here I am; that I am so busy wanting to take care of not having the consequences that I have forgotten what it is that caused me to have these consequences in my life.”

And I think there is another question from a person who could be, (I don’t know), but who could be an inmate in prison. And basically what he’s saying is that “Look, I did what I did, but I’m suffering the consequences every single day.”

And what I would like to say to you is, “Right, you are suffering the consequences every day. But what is it that is making it so bad? Is it everybody else? Or is it you?”

How you perceive it? Because you can change that. You can look at this as another opportunity in your life to really make a transformation from deep within. So, not only do you take the best, wonderful advantage of that situation....

And see, this is the point—I deal with a lot of inmates and I go and I frequently visit prison. And prison is this thing—it’s a lockdown. You know, you—“You’re not going there; you’re not going there; you’re going to be in these confines and that’s it.”

Well, that’s what coronavirus is doing, you know, with all this lockdown; that’s what happening: “You can’t go here; can’t go there; can’t go do this; can’t do this.” Your liberties are being taken away.

And so, because of that.... You know, and yesterday I saw people who were protesting against the lockdown. And I realized that a lot of those people, (not all of them), but a lot of those people, they just don’t want to be told what to do. It’s not what it is that they do or don’t do—they just don’t want to be told what not to do.

And so somebody comes along and tells them, “Oh, you have to stay in this room”—they hate that. They don’t want to do that.

But in reality, to use a little bit of common sense and say, “Okay, according to the circumstances, it is really good not to give....” Until when? Well, you know, you hear a lot of things; you hear, “Oh, it might take two years to develop a vaccine; it might take twelve months to develop a vaccine.” They’re working on it.

They are working on it and let’s hope that they can come up with a vaccine or some kind of a medication. It’s not like people are sitting, you know, and doing absolutely nothing. There’s a tremendous amount of very good people working on finding a cure for this thing, or some kind of a relief from this thing. Because economically it’s a huge toll—but this is how it is.

So, getting back to the story, the only way out for this king really is for somebody to come along and rescue by providing another means of him being able to get out—and to understand the value of every single day that the king has.

And to understand that those consequences are going to be waiting for him unless he actually changes his ways—and one of the ways he has to change is not to become unconscious, not to become inebriated in the first place. And to make sure that his elephant also is not inebriated.

So, I think that I’m trying to put this thing together—and it is really all about how we are perceiving this. And what we need to see is the reality. The reality is simple—and the reality is beautiful. Because that’s the nature, that’s the nature of that reality.

It may seem like it’s cruel; it may seem like it’s odd; it may “seem like it, seem like it”—but in reality, it is beautiful. You are alive. The breath is coming into you. You exist. Listen to your needs. Your needs are to be fulfilled, to be in peace, very, very simple. And when you can be in sync with that, you will have a different life. And what I am talking about will make a lot more sense then.

Because, you know, what we consider to be normal—and yeah, just do all those things and waste our time. That’s the only thing we cannot afford to waste, is time. Because that is one commodity that’s not coming back. Girlfriends, you can get a new one. Wives, you can get a new one; children, well, you could try. But time, no way.

One job, two jobs, you could try this job; you could try that job. If this doesn’t work out, you could try that. But time, nothing you can do about it. No rewind button, no stop button.

So, anyway, I hope that it puts it in some context for you. And the most important thing is to have a sense of relief, have a sense of comfort: “You’re okay; you’re okay.” Go inside; understand who you are. See with your eyes yourself, not with the world’s eyes—but see from your eyes what this is all about. And I think you’ll find a pleasant surprise.

So, be safe; be well. Be. Thank you; I’ll talk to you later.

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Prem Rawat:

Well, hello, everyone. I hope you’re doing well under the circumstances—and keeping well, keeping safe. So, today I’d like to talk to you a little bit about just this one thing that came to me. A long time ago I had come across this statement, (or quote or whatever you want to call it), and it went something like, “Question everything.”

And so I started thinking like, “Well, that’s very interesting: ‘Question everything.’ And do I agree with that?” And I do—I do agree that we should question. But at the same time, we do need the answers—because it would be pointless to keep on questioning without receiving any answer. And in which field, in which spectrum would you question?

So, here’s the gist of it for me—that yes, we question everything. Now, even for some questions, even if I do get an answer, do I care? I mean, I may look up; I might see an airplane flying across the skies. And it is, it would be quite normal to say, “I wonder where that airplane is going?”

Somebody comes up to me and says, “Oh, that’s, that airplane is going to Singapore.” Well, it’s like, “Okay, you know, what’s the big deal? I mean”—yeah, or it’s going to Delhi: “What’s the big deal?”—or it’s going to Mumbai; it’s, “What’s the big deal?”

But then there are those questions that, obviously, we need to ask, and need to get answers for—those questions: “Why am I here? Who am I? What am I?” I’m a human being. I need that answer; I need that answer again and again and again in my life: “I’m a human being.”

What do I want? I have needs. My needs are very basic; my needs are very fundamental. “And what about this world?” I need to question everything in this world.

And the amazing thing is that most of the time we don’t question the world; we question ourselves. We don’t get any answer from the world; we don’t even question it, but we don’t even get any answer from the world. We have assumptions: “This is what this is for; this is what this is for; this is what this is for.”

And all of a sudden, there is this disparity; there is this imbalance—of where the questions are being asked.... And is it good to ask questions; I think it’s wonderful to ask questions. But you have to ask those questions so you can get an answer, especially when those questions relate to you, to your existence, to your fundamental being here on this earth.

I was born; I came out of one wall. I exist in this world; I exist in this time. I do not understand how little that time is. I don’t understand my possibilities, how great those possibilities are for me.

One day I do know that I have to go—but I don’t understand what that means, “go.” Go where? Where am I going? Because that’s already presupposed. “If you have been a good person, you’re going to go to heaven.” And it, you know, it completely depends on the religion that you are following.

The thing about religion is that a lot of times you’re born into a religion. You don’t choose a religion; you’re born into a religion. And once you are born into a religion, off you go. What may seem different to somebody else will seem completely normal to you.

When a Christian looks at somebody following the rites of the Hindu religion, that looks very different to them. But for a Hindu, that’s completely normal; it’s completely correct; it’s completely right.

And this is how it is. And they see the Christians following their religion—and it’s like, “This is odd; this is odd; this is odd.” But to a Christian who’s been born in that, who has seen it from a very young age, everything seems normal.

So, off we go in our beliefs, in our ideas, in our thoughts—but we’re truly not questioning.

And I’m not talking about questioning religion; I’m not talking about questioning those things. I’m talking about questioning, “Who am I? Why am I here? What are my needs? What is my understanding? What do I want in my life? What is important to me—today? What is the value of today for me? What is the value of tomorrow for me; what is the value of yesterday for me?”

Because if the value of tomorrow is greater than the value of today, then I truly don’t understand what today, tomorrow and yesterday are all about. If the value of yesterday is greater than the value of today for me, then I really don’t understand these three things, which are “today, yesterday and tomorrow.” I don’t get it; I don’t understand the value of it.

Today is the most important for me—because I can do something today. Today is where my actions take place. Yesterday is memory, thinking thoughts. Tomorrow is contemplations, thoughts, ideas—but no action can actually take place in tomorrow, or no action can take place in yesterday. For the actions to happen—for the actions to happen it has to be today.

So, are my actions that I take the culmination of a well-processed thought? Or they’re at random? (Some days are good; some days are not; some hours are good; some hours are not. Some minutes are good; some minutes are not.) Because if I haven’t thought out what it is that I should do....

And I say the word “clarity”—but that’s what clarity takes. Clarity takes to completely understand all ins and outs of what it means.

When I was flying from Recife to Miami, there was an area, (and it was indicated on the charts), of some thunderstorms. Of course, you realize, when you fly an airplane you have all this information—and you have your radar—but most importantly, you have your eyes.

So, you have your radar; you’re looking at your radar. You’re looking at the satellite picture on your instruments. On your display, you’re looking at the satellite picture and it’s, you’re looking at how current it is. Of course, I had my iPad too, and I’m looking at that—and that’s giving me a more current picture.

But then I have my eyes. And if, you know, everything says, “Oh, no, don’t worry about it; everything is clear,” and I am looking out the window and I’m heading into something that I know is a thunderstorm, that’s it. That takes precedence.

So I made a deviation—and I deviated and I deviated quite a bit. But I didn’t want to get into it, into those thunderstorms. And we had a nice smooth ride; got back. The whole thing, the deviation, probably didn’t take more than twenty, twenty-five minutes—and we were back on route. And by the way, some of the directs we got, we made up some time as well.

So, when you fly, you look at all aspects of things; it’s not just, you get in the airplane, crank the engines and go. No, you take a look at “Where am I going to be when this happens; where am I going to be when this happens? If I was to lose an engine, where am I going to be and where am I going to go? How much fuel will I have; will I make it? How much reserves will I have?”

So, you take a look at all of that information. And so the information is taken; it is processed. A picture is derived. And then it becomes a plan that you concur with. Whatever information has been sent, “Okay, yes, we can do this. This is the amount of fuel we need.”

And I, when I order my fuel, I always look at the route—and if there are too many thunderstorms, a lot of deviation or turbulence or whatever and we may have to go lower, you order a little bit extra. It’s always good to have a little bit extra. And of course, the rule of thumb in aviation is that “Runway behind you, fuel in the truck and the altitude above you, don’t do you any good”—in an emergency.

You need as much altitude as you can have. You need that fuel that you left in the truck and you would rather have it in your wings. And the runway, the more you have, the better it is for whatever it is that you’re doing.

So, does that not apply in life? Well, it should. Those principles are sound—that “Yes, be ready for any eventuality, any possibility.”

But at the same time, we don’t do that. Off we go. Off we go. We are launching, even before the rocket has taken off its pedestal. We are going. The idea is already there; you get up in the morning and “Off I go.”

So, off you go—and you’re waiting for the bus; you have left your house; you’re doing this—and it’s just like you’re caught up in this storm. And you don’t know what to do.

Now, why am I saying all this to you? It’s because this is a grand time; this is a great time to start questioning some of those things—and most importantly, some of those important questions that you need to ask yourself, get the answers to them. Not just take somebody’s word for it.

If people just asked those questions and have an answer that is satisfactory—not the answer that “Oh, yeah, God just works in mysterious ways and I accept that.” No, no, “What’s going on here?” Because here I am; this is my life! I am the one who has been given options, either to do or not to do.

I am that warrior that was at that great war in India, Mahabharat. And a choice has been made—and Krishna is saying, “Look, you have to look at everything—and then and then only should you make that choice.” And when Arjun finally sees the whole side of it, he is then ready to fight.

So, you know, at first, I would have to say that there was one point in time in my life, I absolutely agreed with Arjun’s choice: “I am not going to fight; I know all these people.... I ain’t fighting.” It’s like, “Hey, that’s a good choice; don’t fight.”

But look at the whole thing. Look at what the reasons are—that these people have taken upon themselves to go against what is correct, what is right.

Anyway, that was Mahabharat; that’s yesterday. Tomorrow will be what will be. But today is what you have to work with, work with. This is where your actions will take place.

And because today is where the actions will take place, “now” is where the actions will take place, that’s the importance of now. Two minutes before, only thoughts can take place. That’s as far as you can go with your thoughts. But for actions, you’re locked in the position of now.

So if you’re locked in the position of now, shouldn’t all your thinking be focused or take part and understand what now is all about—because that’s where you’re going to act. And the consequences of what you do in the now, (where you act), you will have to face in the future—and that will become your past. And more and more and more this process keeps happening, the more “today” is going to get muddled.

So, question everything; absolutely; no problem. Some questions you will never get answers to; who cares about those questions; maybe they’re too trivial. But then there are those important questions that you must ask of yourself—and you must receive the answers. It’s not a question of options; you must receive those answers.

And those answers have to be clear, have to be succinct, have to be correct. And it has to feel right, from your heart, accepting the answer to those questions.

Because inside of you there is an ocean, an ocean of answers. This is what I say: “Inside of you is an ocean of answers.” And that answer that’s going to feel right to you is going to come from that ocean that is within you.

So, I hope that, you know, things keep improving for you. Take it one day at a time. Don’t look at, you know, “What’s going to happen down the road; what’s going to happen up the road,” whatever the road is. But one day at a time, feel good. Be well; be safe. Understand the importance of now. That has not changed.

Coronavirus or not, lockdown or not, that doesn’t mean anything in regards to that day that you were born and that day that you’re going to go. In regards to that, this means nothing. That is still valid. And every moment that this breath comes into you is a celebration for you that you need to start celebrating every single day.

So, be well; be safe. And most importantly, be. Thank you—and I’ll talk to you later.

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

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone; I hope you’re all doing well, keeping fit, keeping healthy. I’d just like to take a little, few minutes and welcome everybody who is listening to these broadcasts and has been listening to these broadcasts.

There are 173 countries that are listening to these broadcasts—so, India and United States, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Italy, Canada, Australia, Colombia. Germany, Brazil, Nepal, Switzerland, South Africa, Malaysia. Chile, Portugal, Greece, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru.

Uruguay, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Ecuador, Austria, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Venezuela, Israel, (shalom), Japan, Slovenia, Côte d’Ivoire, Belgium, Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Morocco, Benin, Trinidad and Tobago, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Bolivia, Thailand, Ghana, Nicaragua.

South Korea, Réunion, Croatia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Ukraine, Guatemala, Philippines, Fiji, Poland, French Polynesia, Jersey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon.

Panama, Vietnam, Cyprus, Laos, Madagascar, Guadalupe, Russia, Lithuania, Qatar, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, Uganda, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Senegal, El Salvador, Nigeria, Tunisia, China, Hungary, Kenya.

Cambodia, Romania, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Bahamas, Egypt, Montenegro, Malta, Niger, Togo, Andorra, Congo, Kinshasa, Jordan, Angola, Luxembourg, Bahrain, Iraq, Cook Islands, Gabon, Zambia, Barbados, Mali, Burkina Faso.

Cuba, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Malawi, Tanzania, New Caledonia, Cape Verde, Faroe Islands, San Marino, Kosovo, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Bhutan, Algeria, Honduras, Iran, Cayman Islands, Moldova, Martinique, Albania, Grenada, Gambia—a lot of countries.

North Macedonia, Slovakia, Timor-Leste, Aruba, Belarus, Curaçao, Georgia, French Guiana, Guernsey, Guinea, Sint Maarten, Maldives, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Palestine, Seychelles, Somalia, Syria, Samoa.

Saint Barthélemy, Belize, Congo, Brazil, Ethiopia, Guam. And Guyana, Kazakhstan, St. Kitts and Nevis, Liberia, Myanmar, Namibia, Rwanda and Sudan.

So, like to welcome—and South Sudan—and like to welcome all of you to these broadcasts. I hope you have been enjoying them as we continue forward in this situation of coronavirus, where I think a lot of the people are just, you know—it’s too much for them.

And it’s one thing, you know, somebody says “You’re in lockdown”—and you actually feel locked down. So, that’s, I think, the big disparity here—and just because somebody says it’s a lockdown, do you feel locked down? Somebody says, you know, “We are unfortunate,” and so do you feel unfortunate? And that’s the main thing.

Because, you know, I know a lot of doctors and I talk to them. And I say, “You know, there’s an obviousness. Somebody comes to you—and they’re not sick; they don’t feel sick; they are not sick....”

And I said, “You know, I know your job is to find out if there is anything wrong with them.” But you have to look at the obviousness of the person, too. If they are sick, tell them they are sick. But if they’re not sick, at least, begin from there. And vice-versa; if somebody comes to you and you think they’re not sick but they are sick, then you have to begin from that point.

And sometimes we just forget the obviousness of something. The obvious thing is that we are alive; that whatever is very fortunate about being here on this face of this earth, every single day that this breath comes, it’s beautiful. And it’s important to accept that, to understand that. That every day, to make a little effort to be conscious.

Because, you know, when you look at this world.... And I’ve been working on the training, (which I hope I’ll be able to, soon, delve into). Yeah, and it is—it is a bit of a watered-down, you know, Peace Education Program, is what I’ll be bringing forth.

And because we have our limitations and, you know, one of the things that it requires in the Peace Education Program is that those people who are going to participate, send in their learnings, (what they have learnt or what they have understood), so we can share that....

I mean, I don’t have to—you know, if you don’t want, I won’t say the name; you don’t have to write the name—but at least, what it is that you have learnt. Because that is what then provides other people, so like, “Oh! That person got this out of this,” or “this person got this out of this,” and it’s like, “Oh, maybe I should, I should try that; I should adapt that,” so it really provides a wonderful pool.

But one of the main things is that we—we are trying to get away from the consequences. You know, whether the consequences are made by, from the actions that we do or from somebody else’s actions, but we want—but we don’t like consequences that are bad. We like consequences that are good.

So, everything—and so when bad comes, when terrible times come, when sad times come, we look at everything and we go, “Well, who’s doing this, you know; why is this happening to me?” And I know a lot of people really feel that way; it’s like they’ve been singled out.

And, you know, you haven’t been singled out; nobody’s trying to punish you. But what you have to realize is that other people’s actions and the consequences of that are not in your control—but certainly, those actions that you take, you have to be in control. And those consequences, you can do something to mitigate.

And this is what it’s all about. Living life to the fullest truly is living life consciously, being aware of what it is that you do. Because it is very action-oriented, whatever it is you do—not what you think.

See, thinking is different. And of course, we’re going to, I’m going to talk about this in one of the trainings, (I don’t know which one it’s going to be). But it is, you know, it’s an epiphany that I had which is like, “What is the importance of now?”

Because so many people talk about “now,” you know: “This is important; that’s important; now is important.” But “today,” the importance of today is, today is a carrier for a bunch of “nows,” a whole bunch of nows. And what is the importance of now?

Now is the time when you act, when you do something. As soon as you do something, as soon as there is an action taken, it is out of the realm of thoughts. Thoughts, you can have as many as you want. With thoughts, you can visit tomorrow. With thoughts, you can visit yesterday. But with actions you cannot visit tomorrow—and with actions you cannot visit yesterday.

So, the importance of now really is that this is where your actions will take place—and that what you do will be directly responsible, which will create the consequences. And they can be negative consequences, (which you are not going to like; you’re going to suffer). I’m not talking about karma; I’m not going there, you know—I’m talking about actions that we do now.

What kind of actions and how complex is that—it’s huge! It’s how you even look at somebody. You could look at your wife the wrong way—or your wife could look at you the wrong way, at the wrong time. And, you know, it’s over. It’s just like, it’s no good.

So, you are responsible for your actions. Now you’re responsible for your actions bringing good for you, good consequences—as well as bad consequences. You want, as much as possible, to do those things that would ultimately, (not at the expense of other people), bring you good consequences, bring you fulfillment, bring you joy, bring you understanding.

I mean, I see a lot of people—and some people I don’t know; I see them on television, maybe it’s an interview; maybe they’re talking or whatever. And then you read about them, you know, “They’re so-and-so and they are, you know, somebody very important and way up there.”

But one thing that is uncanny is, some of these people, they’re not very happy. I mean, certainly, there’s one person who, people see a lot of this person on television—and he’s a very powerful person, yeah, because he’s, you know, associated with a very powerful country.

But he—he is not a happy camper. I mean, whenever you see him, he’s just not a happy camper—even though, status-wise, he is on the top of the top of the top of the top of the top.

So, it has nothing to do with the formula that some people draw up, “That, you know, if you have this; if you have this; if you have this, then you’re automatically happy—you’re content; you’re successful.”

No, success is something that is felt. Somebody can’t come and tell you you are successful if you are not feeling successful. Somebody cannot come along and tell you you are happy if you are not feeling happy. (“Oh, no, no, you are happy; you’re happy.”) So, these things are subjective; they’re up to you! Not objective.

When society takes something that is very subjective and tries to turn it into something very objective, a whole bunch of stuff happens that is no good whatsoever.

So, this whole learning of the formula begins: “Oh, yeah, you have to learn this formula; you have to learn this formula; you know, this is what this is about. And this is what this is about. And if you want to be successful you have to do this, this, this, and this, and then you will be successful.”

Well, in the United States, people have to take out a loan to finish college, to finish a certain school that they can then try to make money from. And right there, they haven’t even yet started and they’re already in debt. And for the rest of their life, they’re going to stay in debt, and stay in debt, and stay in debt.

And the whole economy is based so that you can be in debt—so far you just keep working like a slave, just working like a slave and try to pay off that. And the thing is, you’re never going to be able to pay it off because it just keeps getting more compounded and more compounded and more compounded. And this is what happens.

So, you’re trying to take something that’s very subjective, make it very objective—“And do this, this, this, this and this.”

People come to me—and they want peace in their life; they want harmony; they want fulfillment; they want clarity; they want hope; they want all of this stuff. But they think that’s objective: “That we will turn on a button; we will push a button and it’ll happen.” No, it’s subjective. It’s totally what you feel.

If you don’t feel that joy in your life, you don’t have that joy. That’s it. You have to feel it; you have to understand it. That’s what peace is. Peace is something you have to feel—not something you have to think about, “Do I have peace now? I have this; I have this; I have this; do I have peace now?”

And, you know, Kabir’s sayings are full of this, that, you know, somebody tells you “This is it,” and you just go, “Yeah, this is it; this is it; this is it; this is it”—that’s not it. Unless you have that true realization, unless you have that true understanding in your life, nothing is going to make any difference. You’re going to try—but it’s not going to make any difference.

So, this is—the three things that I always talk about, you know, “Know yourself; live your life consciously.” Because that is the only barrier you have—consciousness—between your actions and those consequences that you don’t want.

To mitigate those actions, those consequences, the only way you can do it is if you start practicing consciousness, to be aware of what is happening: “What are you about to do; what are you about to say; what is going to be”—to give it a little thought, “What is going to be?”

“What is going to be the consequence of you telling your child ‘You are late’?” Fine, this is what happened to you; that’s how you got it. You see, you actually got it because that’s exactly what happened to you; “You’re late; you’re late; you’re late; you’re late; you’re late; you’re late.”

At some point in time, you have to ask yourself the question, “Who’s in charge here?” Your parents might have gone; they may not be on this planet Earth—but they have certainly left a legacy in you. And you are just sitting there and perpetuating this. And people think that that’s perfectly okay—because there’s nothing wrong in that.

Well, think about it: “Is that what you want to do? Is that what you want to do?” What do you want to do? You know, and there are—it’s true—there are the actions you have taken, and you may be, you know, going through the bad consequences of those actions.

But what do you want to do now? Do you want to change or do you want to keep repeating that? And repeating the sadness of those negative consequences? So, it’s up to you. It’s up to you—and it always will be up to you. And it is very subjective of what you feel, of what you understand in your life.

So, continue to be safe. Feel well; be well. And most importantly, be.