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 Journey to the Self

 Prem Rawat:

 What is “journey to the self”? Who is the self? What is the self? And why a journey to the self? I mean, aren’t you with you all the time? So, what do you mean, “journey to the self”?

 And in here lies a lot of little issues that we deal with every single day. Because whoever we may be, we don’t like confusion. We just don’t—and it’s fairly universal, right across the board.

 And we don’t like anger—well, we don’t actually know when we’re getting angry, because it’s a surprise—but then what happens afterwards, we don’t like it. We don’t like to be sad. We don’t like to be in fear. Pain is really—we’re just not very well suited to take on pain. (Joy, we don’t have a problem with.)

 So, what is the self, and why the journey? Because “journey” here, (verb), implies travel.

 And here is the issue. Because when you look around you in this world, the situation of this world.... And I may say that I may have a fairly unique perspective on this—because, one, I have been doing this for fifty years—some of you weren’t even born then; some of you weren’t even a twinkle in your mom and dad’s eye.

 And when I started—actually, when I started speaking about peace to large gatherings, I was four, as you might have heard in that documentary—and then I started taking this message out when I was nine. So, I’ve seen the world; I travel the world quite a bit. And I see something—and what I see is that people have moved away from themselves.

 You hear Socrates saying “Know thyself”—very common. But do you know that Socrates also said, “You won’t be happy”—this is paraphrasing—“you won’t be happy if you don’t get what you want.” (Because we’re not.)

 So, here you are—you’re alive—and here is the situation, and this is an analogy. One day you receive this lottery ticket. And you have won. And the ticket allows you, entitles you to go to this shopping mall.

 And there are beautiful shops in this shopping mall; there is a grocery store in this shopping mall; there is clothing in the shopping mall; there is everything you could possibly imagine in this shopping mall.

 And you are excited: “Wow, I get to go there?” And not only do you get to go there; you can have anything you desire. If Bentley is your thing, they have them. If Rolls Royce is your thing, they have them; if Mercedes is your thing, they have them—and you get to have it!

 And you flip the ticket over; there’s a caveat. And the caveat is, “You can have anything you want—but when you leave the shopping center, you cannot take anything with you.”

 “Wow, aaagh!” Would you be disappointed? I see some people shaking their heads. I mean, my God, beautiful things, incredible things.... And you can have them—all yours! But you, when you leave the shopping center, (which you must; there’s a time); you must leave the shopping center and when you do, you don’t get to take anything with you.

 What am I talking about? Ta-dah, here you are—in this most amazing, incredible shopping center. There are the oceans, the mountains. And you can have anything. And one day, you have to leave the shopping center—but when you do, you don’t get to take anything with you.

 Now, the issue is strategy, simply that. “What are you going to do? What is your strategy going to be?” Are you going to stay home—and get angry at this ticket? “How stupid; how weird. I get to go; I can have everything I want but I don’t get to take it out with me? I mean, that’s really stupid!” Or are you going to say, “This is the divine joke, (hah-hah-hah)”?

 What is your strategy? What do you do? And it is precisely the strategy that you must have; you must have a plan—and you must not only have a plan but you must execute it perfectly—perfectly.

 And in this plan, it is not about lamenting, and it not about “I wish it was this way; I wish it was that way.” No, it is afoot: here is your ticket; there is the shopping center.... This is the time you get in—and this is the time you get out—and there are no “ands, ands, buts” about it. That is it.

 So, I’m not here to preach to you. I’m not here to tell you I am better than you. I’m not here to tell you, “I have a plan; copy my plan.” I’m not here to sell you a plan.

 But I am here to share with you, fifty-plus years of experience—and that’s it. Because I have seen plenty of people who go, “This is stupid. This is weird. This is strange. Why me?! This is a torture.” And I am here to say, “But, look—one, you have no limit for enjoyment....”

 Right, just simple stuff, right? Simple stuff? You have no limit. Because nobody has temples or churches or any of the holy places where you go to say, “Dear Lord, please remove some of this happiness; I can’t stand it.” It’s always about sadness: “Please remove the sadness,” but happiness, that was like, “Bring it on!”

 Some of us, we are here: “Is it afoot? Do I want to be a part of it? Don’t I want to be a part of it? What is it all about; where do I go; where did I come from?” But that’s not what it’s about, folks. You got a ticket—and the ticket says “that’s the shopping center,” and you are in the shopping center now, by the way—by the way, you’re in the shopping center.

 And it’s an opportunity of a lifetime—and you have no strategy, no plan. And so I say, “Keep it simple. You’re in. This is what’s been given; this is the opportunity you’ve been given. Have a blast.”

 Why not? Why not? You feel hungry? Go to the supermarket—and eat! Feel thirsty? Go to the supermarket, drink. Feel like sleeping? Go to the bed section, find a comfortable bed and rest well. Feel like exercising? Go to where all the cardio equipment is, find a treadmill and go at it. Because you get to do it all.

 No, never lose the self—so you don’t have to go look at those signs that say “You are here.” Always be in touch with who you are. Why? Because when you know yourself, you are your best friend. And when you are not with yourself, you are your worst enemy; you don’t need enemies.

 You will never have a friend like you—and you won’t have an enemy like you, enemy that is completely capable of destroying you—you. And friend who’s completely capable of being there for you in thick or thin, in the most wonderful moments and in the most darkest moments.

 This is the opportunity—and may I say, an opportunity of a lifetime, because this is the possibility that exists. And who holds the ticket? The self. It was the self who was given the ticket to come. Not your ideas. Your ideas weren’t given a ticket to go enjoy; you were given the ticket.

 You look at the condition of the world, where the world is destroying itself, war after war after war after war after war after war? Mini-war, mega-war, big war, little war.... Somebody asked me that: “Well, how come there are so many wars? We seem not to be close to peace at all.” It’s true.

 My strategy is very simple—and my strategy isn’t to have world peace. (I said it. “Ehaaagh,” pin-drop silence.) Because that’s not possible. But this is what’s possible: “You be, first, in peace with yourself.”

 It’s just you. Nobody else is involved. You be in peace with yourself—and how can you be in peace with yourself? One, (and that’s why we are here tonight), “journey to the self”—you must know yourself. And once you know yourself, you then must gain victory over the self.

 Not victory over your neighbor, not victory over that person and that person and that person and that person, but victory over the self. And when you are victorious over yourself, then you can be in peace with yourself. And when you are in peace with yourself, then you make peace with the world.

 And when enough, enough people make peace with the world, (because they have made peace with themselves), then, vaguely, the idea of world peace starts to come into view.

 When every war happens and the innocent die—the same way, when you are at war with yourself, the innocent moments of your life are being slaughtered. Because they’re innocent. They can be anything.

 Never have I seen more innocence than in a moment of existence. It’s totally, as it comes to you, it’s innocent—just brings you possibility, anything you want. Like a baby, like a baby.... You can mold it; you can fold it; you can destroy it; you can create a monster out of it if you wish.

 Or you can have it as the most tender-est, gentle time, the time with you, listening to that feeling which fills this heart and causes the gratitude to emerge.

 The journey to the self, then, is truly a journey to you. It’s called, “Come home. Come home.” Come home—and you will see the world change, for you. Because, remember, you have to make peace with the world; the world isn’t going to make peace with you. You have to make peace with the world.

 And when you understand that, you understand, “nothing is wrong; nothing is wrong. You journeyed away from home—and you need to come back home.” Because there, your thirst will be quenched, hunger satisfied, tiredness removed—and a sense of familiarity in life, not alienation, but a sense of familiarity will be restored where you can rest.

 The answers you look for in this world, they’re not there—they’re not there. The answers are in you. Come home to your self. Journey to the self.

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Feeling of Belonging

Prem Rawat:

We are here—and an incredible subject matter to talk about. Because when it comes to belonging, this is amazingly important for us as human beings.

When we are in this world, even when we are children, we have a need to belong to the family that we are in, that we are with. Because without feeling that we belong, all the little skirmishes that might happen with the rest of the family members will never make sense.

But then when we grow up and we have a bigger circle, perhaps a circle of our friends, we still need that feeling of belonging—because if we don’t, we feel alienated. Then if we get a job, we need to feel like we belong, we belong in that environment, we belong with the circle of our colleagues.

So, what exactly is this belonging? Why do we have a need to belong? And as a human being, what should we really belong to—that will help us be who we are? What would that environment look like?

Yesterday, I had just arrived from the mainland—and I immediately looked at my phone; I got this call—“There are ten questions, you know, this reporter wants to ask you—and do you want to answer them?”

And I looked at the questions—and the questions dealt with the symptoms: “Why is it this is this way? Why is it this is this way? What’s going to happen with this; what might happen with this?” And I answered them, but then I started thinking about them—and it’s like, “Why is it that we look at what has happened but not ‘Why did it happen?’”

We look at a war and we say, “Oh, that’s terrible; that is terrible; that’s terrible”—but we don’t look at, “Why did that happen; why is it that we failed, repeatedly, to learn from history? Why is it that we failed repeatedly to understand that these things that we do....?”

Because you look at it, 16.5 million people displaced—I read one of the headlines. And it’s certainly very sad, and of grave concern.

And I know the pineapples weren’t responsible for that. (They may be responsible for some other things, but they weren’t responsible for that.) Tomatoes were not responsible for that. In fact, I can say with great certainty, neither were the dolphins, whales, and even the rather mean crocodile was not responsible for the displacement of 16.5 million people.

“Hmm. It wasn’t the grapes, wasn’t the pineapple, wasn’t the whales, wasn’t the dolphin—I wonder who it was? A vampire?” I mean, it, this reminds me of the joke....

Two nuns were walking along a very dark road one night and a vampire jumped out—and proceeded to show his fangs and you know, his red eyes and.... And one of the nuns turned to the nun next to her and said, “Sister Margaret, Sister Margaret, show him your cross; show him your cross.” And Sister Margaret said, “Get out of here!”

So, one intent and something else comes out, and it’s like, everybody is bewildered—everybody—I mean, it’s like the world is bewildered. It’s like, “Huuh, how did that happen?”

Well, make a list: who do you think is responsible? Pineapples? Grapes? Sparrows? Hawks, eagles? Little green men? I mean, who? And, you might be really surprised at the answer: “Us! We’re responsible. We did it.”

And a lot of people sitting here are going, “No, I, I had nothing to do with it.” And a lot of people take that attitude—and I understand why. Because there is a great need in us to feel vindicated—regardless of the circumstances, we want to feel vindicated. When the police officer pulls us over and says, “You were speeding,” our first reaction is to say, “No....”

I got pulled over once, a long time ago—and the officer said, “You were speeding.” And I said, “I know.” Because I was. And he was shocked; he just looked at me like.... And the good part of it is, I didn’t get a ticket.

But we want to be vindicated. We don’t want to take the responsibility, all that’s happening in this world, “But how can—and how is it mine? What can I do?”

So, let’s stop. Now let me ask you this question: “Who are you?”

In a dark room, a very dark room, I say, “God, it’s really dark here. I can’t see a thing; it’s really, really dark,” and a bulb answers, “Nothing to do with me.”

What am I insinuating here? Are you a bulb? And that perhaps you do have the power to repel the darkness—and you don’t realize it? That all you need to do is shine a little bit...? And you might say, “Well, but what’s that going to do?” All right—I’ve got an analogy for you.

If you have a lamp—you know, remember the old lamps with the wick and oil—if you have one of those lamps.... Or a candle, (much easier to imagine), a candle, one of those long candles—and one candle is extinguished and one candle is lit.

And, okay? So there’s one candle; it’s extinguished; one candle is lit. Now, you take the lit candle and put it next to the extinguished candle, right where the two wicks meet. What will happen? Will the extinguished wick also extinguish the lit candle?

No? Are you sure? [Individual: Yes, that’s right.] Or it’ll be the other way around, where even the extinguished candle would get lit with virtually no change to the lit candle.

Note both things: when the lit candle lights the extinguished candle, nothing diminished. It wasn’t like it went to fifty percent brightness because I gave fifty percent to the extinguished candle. No, but that one lit up too!

How can that be? Why is this rule there? I mean, in our opinion, doesn’t “negative” take over? Haven’t we believed for a really long time that the negativity of this world would influence us and make us more negative? (That’s why those people go sit on top of the mountains, about as far away from anybody as you can possibly imagine, because they don’t want to have anything to do with you.)

But is it the other way around? That you, if you are lit, there is no limit to how many candles you can light. The only limit is the day you are not lit anymore—then all your power of being able to light another candle is terminated. Finished. Now you can’t. But till you are lit, regardless of how many candles you light....

Oh, yeah, there’s the other word called “sacrifice,” isn’t there? But the analogy that I just gave of the candles, there’s no sacrifice involved. “Oh my God, no sacrifice? This candle just simply lights that one? Now that has the same power as this?” And they can light two, and four, and sixteen. And if you keep doing this on a calculator, it’ll basically just run out of digits very quickly.

And people wonder how peace is possible. Do the calculation. It’s very, it’s mathematically possible. But it’s dependent on one thing—that you are lit, not unlit. And the only way you can be lit is if you understand who you are.

And that you belong. You belong! On the face of this earth, you belong, not because of what you do. You belong, not because of what you think. You belong, not because of your ideology, not because of your philosophy.... But you’re here. You exist.

That one moment when the universe began, (not just our universe, all of them—and it’d be just where it began), did not the possibility of life exist in that moment—has to. Maybe oxygen did not exist but the possibility of being able to have oxygen existed. Maybe hydrogen didn’t exist but the possibility of having hydrogen existed.

And so, from even that moment, your cards were set—okay? Do you feel like you belong? You being here alive on the face of this earth is made possible by the same possibility that put the moon where it is—not any different, put the sun where it is, put all the stars in our universe, known and unknown.... That’s the same force; that’s the same possibility that has put you here: “cct.”

The same one that has put all the ants on this earth, that has put all the termites on this earth, (by the way, which, there are tons of termites for every living human being), but has put termites on this earth, the blades of grass, the sand on the beaches, the water in the ocean, the stars that you see that are and are not there...

Has made—the same, exactly the same force has made it possible for you to be alive right now. Do you belong?

So far this breath is coming into you, so far you are alive, that should be your marker that everything is going your way. I’ll be honest too, then—I should be. Is it like that for me all the time—absolutely no way. Do things tick me off? Absolutely.

And that’s when I have to remember, “I have to make the effort”—and I’ve been doing this for fifty years, telling people about the possibility. But even I have to remember (and make the effort to remember) that even when things don’t look like they’re going my way, the fact is they are.

That when everything is dark and it seems meaningless, and you feel abandoned, have the candles switched their role? No, the lit candle will still light the unlit candle.

Understand your nature; understand that you belong. You belong on this earth. Understand that you belong—when you take this breath, you belong. When you light yourself up, you belong. When you’re happy, you belong. When your heart is full of joy, you belong. When you are full of clarity, you belong.

And if these things even remotely intrigue you, then you need to look no further than your own self to find the source.

Where we need to belong, to understand—that this is the precious time. It will not be repeated—but you’re alive, and you have the possibility of seeing. Right now, you have the possibility—that same power that allows the lit candle to light the unlit candle, this transfer is afoot. This is what life means. This is what belonging means. You recognize; you grab it—and you take advantage of it.

Glow in that light—and you will be surprised how many other candles you end up lighting during your time on this earth.

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One Day Would Be Enough

Prem Rawat:

Here we are on this magnificent planet Earth, on which millions and millions of years of evolution have taken shape; millions and millions and millions of creatures have played a role in allowing us to be who we are: the great nature’s experiment.

And those creatures are gone! They no longer exist; they’ve gone extinct. But what they were able to adapt to, gave us that little edge, of all those creatures coming together that we could be who we are.

You’re alive; this is your time—you exist. You can feel; you can see. What do you think, you think is the possibility for you? The grind? All that we deal with? Or is there something more?

Is there such a thing as “content human being”? Is there such a thing as a human being full of gratitude? Is there such a thing as a human full of clarity? Is there such a thing as a human being full of joy? Is there such a thing as a human being full of understanding? Is there such a thing as a human being full of light? Is there such a thing as a human being full of answers?

Is there such a thing? Because if there was, then to experience this, one day would be enough. To experience that, one day would be enough.

Does this possibility, does this sweetness of being a human being, of being content exist every single day or not? Period. No arguments, no this, no that. I’m not saying we achieve it; we achieve this—and that’s not the point. That’s not the point—don’t get trapped by that. That’s silly logic.

Why is it silly logic? Because if it is not clear to you where it is that you want to go—and then, trying to work out a clear route to a place that you don’t know where it is, that you want to go to—do you want to go to the restaurant; do you want to go to the zoo; do you want to go there—but you don’t know.

And now you’re saying, “But I need a routing.” A routing to where? The restaurant, the zoo? See, that comes later. First, we’ve got to work out—you have to work out....

I’m here to just inspire you to think; get the cogs rolling, the other ones that we don’t use too often—because there are ones that we don’t use. Because the other ones that we do use, they are almost worn smooth because they are just used and used and used and used and used and used....

And the noise, the noise. (You know what I’m talking about, “the noise”?) From the morning till the evening, and any waking second of the night, the noise, the noise, the noise: “You’d better do that; you’d better do that; you should have done that, and oh my God, and what’s going to happen now?!”

The noise. When you’re driving, the noise. When you go to the shopping center, the noise.... The noise. The noise, the noise, the noise, the noise, the noise, the noise.

Is that the human being, full of noise, full of pain, sorrow? Cynical: “Eeagh. Naah. Peace, naaah. Joy, naaah, not in my life. Happiness? And oh, come on, get off it.”

These are serious issues. Serious issues—because if we don’t understand the possibility of our life, who is going to? Who is? You cannot understand the possibility of someone else’s life—no matter how hard you try.

And so, under this circumstance in which there is so much greed; there’s so much pain—and the pain isn’t created by anyone else but people around us and us—to understand the idea of “one day would be enough” for anything is hard to imagine. “What would be where one day would be enough,” when a lifetime isn’t enough?

But you haven’t given your life a chance to show you the possibility it has. You have given the world a chance. You’ve given this world many, many chances: “You’re fired.” “Eww!”

“You’re hired,” “Aaah, ah-ah-ah!” “You’re fired,” “Euuh-yeuh.” You’re hired again, “Aaaah, ah-ah-ah.” You’re fired again, “And, euwww.”

But have you given your life a chance to show you what it has? What does the world of joy look like? What does the world of understanding look like; what does the world of answers look like? What does the world of clarity look like?

Where you can rest and fade away your tiredness, to become excited about, indeed, every breath that comes into you: “Wow, what a gift.” To embrace reality that is not born of ideas or discussions, but a reality that you feel, that is tactile. Not just empty promises. Don’t you see the difference between empty promises—and what your life wants to show you is not empty promises.

What your life wants to show you, what your existence wants to show you, give you, offer you is tactile; it’s real. Not a bunch of empty promises. Clarity does not make empty promises; oh, never. Joy does not make empty promises; never. The ocean of answers never makes empty promises, ever. The flower of gratitude never makes empty promises, ever. It’s real. It’s real!

The world does. The world does. And we’re so good at closing our eyes to reality and saying, “All right, that’s, that’s, yeah-what, that’s just how it is. I’m miserable—and I don’t know why I am miserable—and I accept my misery. And let me see if I can make more who are around me just as miserable as me, so I will have good company.”

See, misery begets misery. Sadness begets sadness. Clarity begets clarity. It gives birth to more clarity. As sadness gives birth to more sadness, clarity gives birth to more clarity—that’s why one day is enough. Because in that one day you could start a farm of clarity. In that one day you could start an ocean of understanding; one day, one day where it has clicked: “Ah, that’s my life.”

Life is the most amazing gift that you have. My friends, this is the most amazing thing that will ever happen to you. Don’t you know? It’s the most amazing thing that will ever happen to you.

You’ve been transformed from just being dirt—to dirt that can smile, can see, can appreciate. This did not happen so you could be miserable; that’s pointless. That’s pointless! Pointless, illogical....

So, you know, to me, it’s all these beliefs that we have—and we hang onto them. They produce nothing. They don’t even cluck; they don’t even lay an egg—but we keep them. And we keep them; we keep them and keep them.

And when do we take that challenge of knowing? Because first in that list of that challenge of knowing would be to “know thyself.” And when you do know yourself, one day would be enough to then unfold what needs to unfold to know yourself.

It is the most amazing thing to point to a person and to say, “Do you know yourself; do you know who you are; do you know your strength?” I know you know your weaknesses; I know you do. But do you know your strength? Do you know your strength?

Do you know—I know you know what you don’t have. I know you know what you don’t have, but do you know what you do have?

Have you found your gift? Every human being on the face of this earth has a gift. And when you find that gift and pursue that gift to no end, then you have just created your destiny. But you will never know what that gift is till you know yourself. And the day you know yourself, then one day would be enough. And that’s what I mean by, “One day would be enough.”

Where is the integrity of the human being? Where is the integrity of the human being? Where is the integrity of that being that has been in the making for millions and millions of years—and unknowingly or knowingly, (mostly unknowingly), so many creatures sacrificed themselves so you could be just like you are.

This world today does not reflect that. The tragedies that we see happening where there is no respect of human life—this is what happens.

You’re a human being—be a human being. That’s who you are. You are a human being. Be a human being. That’s all you have to be. And you don’t need to live a thousand years to be a human being, because one day would be enough.

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Unlocking Hope

Prem Answers Questions

Cape Town, South Africa

Graeme Richards, Host

MC:

You talk about being attractive, and us generating this energy that is attractive to other people—but it has to start within oneself.

And this next question, I think, (as we were discussing which to take out of the multitude that came through), I think hit everyone backstage, and I think it’s going to hit all of you. And I hope that the person who wrote it really does light up now and take note of the response.

But the question read as such: “How can you love yourself when you’ve started to believe that you’re ugly and a failure?”

Prem Rawat:

Well, fortunately, it is not a fact; it’s only your belief. Beliefs can change. So, you know, really, you can believe anything you want—but what is the reality? What is the reality? The reality is that darkness is never far from light.

Last time you flipped on a switch and turned on a light in a dark room, how long did it take for that darkness to disappear? You turned on the light bulb, and it’s just like, djjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj, like, you know, a drain—or like a toilet flushing, schhhhhhhhh? No! Boom?—boomf.

Darkness is never far away from light; light is never far away from darkness. Joy is never far away from sadness and sadness is never far away from joy. They ride together.

When you go into a bathroom and you lock the door for privacy, do you think it’s private? No. Your anger, your fear, your doubt have come with you. Even though you book only one seat for yourself on a bus or an airplane, your anger, your fear, your doubt, they’re always there—always, always!

But so is kindness. So is understanding; so is gratitude; these things are also there because they are the other side of the coin.

You need to know this—that if you have only experienced your ugliness, then you haven’t flipped the coin. You need to flip the coin—because the other side of that coin is incredible beauty.

And what is the beauty? What is the beauty? Somebody who is symmetrically shaped? A star? What is the beauty? Because you know the reality of it is, how many movie stars that are drop-dead gorgeous, spend hours sometimes looking at themselves in the mirror, going, “Oh my God, am I? Am I?”

You are the beholder. If you feel, in you—and see, I keep going back to this—and this is a great question, because this gives me more ammunition for my book. That’s why you need to know yourself!

Socrates said “Know thyself”; you need to know yourself. Why do you need to know yourself—because that is when you will be able to experience the true beauty that you are. That’s why you need to know yourself.

There are a billion reasons, I think, 7.5 billion reasons on the face of this earth of why you should know yourself. Because if each one did, I think we would have a very different situation in this world—if the beauty that you conceive in your mind is beauty that is different than you truly are. And you have that beauty.

Whatever other people tell you, you are worse than them. Because you constantly sit there and tell yourself, “I’m not beautiful; I’m not beautiful; I’m not....”

This beauty will be gone one day. The same thing that people come and kiss, they’ll be like, “Huh-hah, no way.” So, it’s not here; this is not the “beauty” part. The beauty part is here, in your heart, in yourself.

MC:

I think a big part of that journey to self and that getting to that point of seeing the beauty within you, a part of that has to be about forgiving yourself.

And one of the questions that was posed is, “If forgiveness is difficult for you to begin with, (forgiving someone else is hard enough), turning it inward to the person that you know better than anyone else, the person that you probably judge more than anyone else—how do you forgive yourself?”

Prem Rawat:

Well, that’s a wonderful question—because that is so important, to be able to forgive yourself. And let’s just not even bring “you and somebody else” into the picture; let’s just talk about forgiveness, what forgiveness is.

And a lot of people think, “Forgiveness is granting license to mediocrity, granting license to somebody’s mistake.” That is not forgiveness. Forgiveness is to sever the relationship with that action that is dragging you down.

So, now, whatever—and, you know, somebody did something to you that was terrible. And that happened a long time ago, but that person still has a clutch on you. They still have a clutch on you. Because every day that you wake up, perhaps, and in a solitary moment, you curse that person; you think of that person; that person is still connected to you.

And forgiveness is saying, “No more. You will not have control over me. I want my life back. I want my life back and I do not authorize you any more to haunt me.” That’s what forgiveness is.

That’s what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is very powerful. It’s really saying, “No! I’ve got my life. Thank you very much.” Regaining—it’s regaining. Because if you don’t, then the clutches will still be there.

And it—and what it does to you; what this clutching does to you, these claws that are buried inside of you, it causes anger; it causes fear; it causes you to shut down; it causes you to stop moving forward; it stops appreciation....

And you cannot allow yourself to be a victim; you would—some of the things, you will never be able to say, “Oh, yeah, I’m fine with that.” But it’s up to you, whether you allow the talons of that person and that activity still to be gripping you. Because if you don’t, then use the sword of forgiveness and free yourself. You move on.

You know, and I understand. I mean, sometimes these stories are easier said than actually translated into your life. But at least, if you begin to chisel away....

I mean, maybe the rope is so thick that you won’t be able to cut it in one day. But at least, you start severing it, start understanding the dynamics that you have the power to sever that rope, that this is what forgiveness means—that ultimately one day you will weaken that rope; that it will, it’ll be severed. But you need to begin. You need to start understanding that.

Because whatever you practice the most, that’s what you get good at. You know, and practice, practice being yourself. But, then there is a problem with that, that if you don’t know yourself, how do you practice being yourself?

So, now it’s back to that “point one”.... [MC: Giggle. You go back to giggles; you’ve got giggles.] And, yeah, know yourself.

MC:

I’m so glad that you’ve honed in on—you mentioned a couple of words there, but the word “victim” came up so many times in so many questions: “And how we move beyond feeling like a victim,” which is very much a South African context, and as you’ve explained, I think, an energy that’s shared across the globe....

Prem Rawat:

Somebody has to keep trying—and be it the citizens of this country, that in the face of what is absolutely, absolutely, impossibly cruel and horrible—but the good has to keep trying. That’s the victory.

And there are two kinds of victory. In one victory, you win but somebody has to lose. But when the victory is of yourself, then you win and nobody has to lose. Nobody has to lose.

And so, yes, in the face of all this horrible stuff, there is hope. And if we humans can dip so low as to do things like that, then we humans can also climb so high as to make the difference to not let it happen.

So, it’s up to us. At the end of the day, it’s going to always come down—we play a part in it. We play a part in it. And we wait....

How many—I mean, I shouldn’t ask this question, because I know what the answer is going to be. But I sincerely, sincerely—because my platform is humanity, I sincerely ask you to ask yourself one question. “How many of you are waiting for the others to change?”

And that is the biggest disease worldwide—everybody is waiting for others to change. No, you have to change. With the others change or not, you change. And then they will see “the change is good.”

The time has come to take ownership, find peace in your life, know yourself. That’s the time. You want these things to stop; they can stop. They’re not.... This is not God at work. You know, this is not, “Oh, yeah, it was his karma....” Stupid explanations! (This is the fifty-year-old talking.)

How many of you disagree with that—“That it’s somebody else up there who controls the destiny; you are just a puppet”?

Because this is what we are taught; we didn’t know this—we’re taught this. Because it gives an explanation to all the unfortunate things: “Oh, yeah, God works in mysterious ways.” And we go, “God works in mysterious ways.” And I say, “That’s it? That’s your explanation? ‘He’s mysterious’?” I mean, why is God mysterious?

There is only one way you can take away darkness. You cannot get an empty bucket to take away darkness. An empty bucket, to fill it with darkness and throw it out the window won’t work—sorry. There is only one way to take away the darkness—and that is, bring on the light.

Do I see hope? I see hope. And I saw hope when I went to that school. And they were little kids—so cute—little kids. And I saw hope in them. And you need to find some too. And you need to find the end of uncertainty, end of that fear, so you can find the end of anger.

MC:

You’ve helped me to unlock hope tonight; you have—I can feel off this audience, helped them to unlock hope tonight. And so I hope you’ve received some of that love from us as well. What an absolute pleasure and a privilege.

Prem Rawat:

Thank you.

MC:

Thank you so, so much.

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

Individual: [male]

Your message of peace, since your early childhood, has taken you all around the world, into your adulthood—which brings you here today in the Los Angeles County Jail Twin Towers.

Onscreen text:

INMATE SPEAKING

TWIN TOWERS JAIL

Individual: [continuing]

And on that note, thank you, Los Angeles County Jail Sherriff’s Department.

Onscreen text:

DR. HELLMAN

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADMIN

Dr. Hellman:

This is the largest, actually, mental health jail probably in the world. So, almost everyone in here has some kind of mental health issues. We have, in Los Angeles County, in our jails—we’re larger than most prisons....

Onscreen text:

PEACE EDUCATION

Twin Towers Jail is the largest in the world with 18,000 in any one day incarcerated.

Dr. Yael Hellman:

It really is that self-discovery and hopes, having a fulfilled life, that is so important, within or outside of the jail walls.

Individual: [male]

It’s just so good to have you here with us today in the City of Angels. And thank you for coming—and I just want to say that you come to my mind as a modern-day hero, giving flowers to people all around the world saying, “Have a nice day.” But your flowers are of words of peace. Thank you.

Prem Rawat:

You’re welcome.

Onscreen text:

PREM RAWAT

GLOBAL PEACE AMBASSADOR & AUTHOR

Prem Rawat:

I, I have to say, because that word that you used, “hero”.... There is only one hero in your life—and there will always be just one hero in your life—and that’s not me, and that’s not Superman, and that’s not Wonder Woman. It’s you.

Onscreen text:

Your Story Unbound

Prem Rawat speaks to inmates at Twin Towers

Prem Rawat:

I want to tell you something—one of the key messages is about knowing yourself, and why is that important.

And if you have a map, amazing map, most detailed map, most incredible map—and it’s got all of this stuff; it’s got all the details of where everything is, where this is, where that is—and you have some idea of where you want to go, and you want to use this map. And it’s a very good map; it’s a very detailed map.

What is the most important thing you need to know when you look at that map, to be able to navigate? And that is, “Where are you on that map?” If you don’t know where you are on that map, that map is useless—with all its detail, with everything on it. You can look at it, but you don’t know where you are? Then how are you going to figure out where to go?

That’s what I’m talking about: knowing your self. If you don’t know who you are, what do you do? What do we all do? We look at other people to identify us, who we are: “Am I a good person? Am I a bad person? Who am I?”

We create our friends; we create our social circles; we create all these people and we look at them—we want to appease them. We want their approval. Because we don’t know the possibility that lies here.

Life is like a book. The first cover was moved when you were born; it opened. Every day you get a new page—every single day you get a new page—there’s nothing written on that page; you write what you want on that page.

And that page will turn automatically—and it’ll present a new page every single day till the book is finished and you will have the last page close the whole book.

You are writing chapters of life. Are you ready for the day when you wake up in the morning—or are you just full of expectations of what you would like to happen? Are you ready for that day; are you ready for the possibilities?

Because when this breath comes into you and gives you the gift of life, that is a very powerful thing. It is more powerful than all the stuff that is going on around this world.

You find yourself here—how you got here, everybody has their story. Everybody has their—see, I go to a lot of places where there are people who are incarcerated. And they look around them and they go, “That’s wrong, and that’s wrong, and that’s wrong, and that’s wrong”—all their life.

Easy to do that, right? Hard to look at the three other fingers, isn’t it? Because that’s saying, “What about you?”

The day you make that transition—that this book isn’t about other people; that this book is about you, your life will turn. Your life will change—I’ve seen it—your life will change. Because it isn’t about other people. You don’t have to look for the approval or the disapproval. You find that satisfaction of being alive in you.

Now I know you’re all thinking, “Eh-beh-but-but, but-dah-dah-dah, is it, but-but-but-but, but-but-but-but.” Listen to what I’m saying; it’s very, very simple. It’s a fact; it’s not fiction: “You are alive.” You are alive. What were you yesterday? What can you be tomorrow?

Who does that depend on, your fate? The society? The world? Or you? We are told, “Oh, yeah, the world, society has to change.” When I go to people and I say, “Peace is possible,” they look at me and they go, “Are you crazy? What are you talking about; how is peace going to be possible?” I said, “One lamp at a time, lighting one lamp at a time, that’s how peace is going to happen.”

Then I asked them, “Why do you think peace is impossible?” “Oh, there’s so much greed in this world.” I said, “Excuse me, did human beings create greed—or is there a mountain somewhere where ‘greed rain’ falls and then it goes around the whole world?”

No, these greeds are created by human beings. What is the good news? What human beings do can also be undone. That’s how peace is possible. Human beings make war? Human beings can also undo war.

This is a fact; this is not fiction; this is not a philosophy. My whole premise of the Peace Education Program is to really shed the light that you are alive! And every day that you are alive is the most incredible hope there is, is the most incredible possibility there is!

It may not look like it, but this book, the pages are being flipped every single day—and one day that last page will go “bdoomp” and that’s it. That’s it! That’s it! No more.

Is that good? Is that bad? Is that terrible? No, that’s how it is. And it is like that for everybody on the face of this earth, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, powerful, weak—male, female—everybody; this is the law!

So what have you got? What you’ve got is today. Because tomorrow is going to come as—today. It’ll never come as tomorrow; it’ll come as today. At midnight, that “tomorrow” turns and becomes today, and you will have today.

And the next day you will have today, and the next day you will have today, and the next day you will have today, and the next day you will have today, till one day you won’t have that today anymore.

The urgency, if there is one, is to recognize the preciousness of each day, the gravity of time—that there is no rewind button on time. It doesn’t matter; there is no rewind button. You must take the next step, and you must take the next step consciously, with full awareness, with full understanding of its gravity, and full understanding of its potential.

You don’t have to be a victim of all that goes on. You can be the victor within. You can be free—not on the outside, but free within.

Everybody is imprisoned by something. Everybody—even those people who are walking out there, they’re imprisoned too—by their ideas, by their dreams, by their effort, by their work, by their boss, by all the drama that plays out every single day in their lives, as well.

You want freedom? Then you will have to turn within. You are the source of that freedom.

You are your worst enemy, and you are your best friend. Who have you kept company with, your enemy or your friend? Find that friend—and you will find yourself. Find yourself, and you will find that friend.

Arguments, revenge, anger, fear, doubt—they don’t come from outside; they’re in you all the time. When you’re locked in your cell, guess who’s there with you? Your anger is there; your fear is there; your doubt is there; your sorrow is there. Do you know who else is there? Your joy is there. Your clarity is there; your understanding is there.

What if I told you that the darkness and light are two sides of the same coin? Darkness is never far from light and light is never far from darkness.

How long does it take for darkness to come when you turn off the light? It’s not like you turn it off and it goes, “Uhaah, dah, dah-heaah-dah”—no, it’s not coming from anywhere. It’s always there; turn off the light—and it gets dark. And how long does it take for the darkness to be removed when the light is turned on?

Both are in you. Joy is in you; sadness is in you. When you are sad next time, think about that—think about that—that immeasurable joy is also within you. When you’re confused.... Things don’t look clear; things don’t make sense—stop—and understand that incredible, unlimited clarity is also within you.

Learn to garner, to collect what is good. Little understandings, (it doesn’t matter how little they are), go a long way in making this life good—in making this life good, in making this life enjoyable, an enjoyment that is centered within you. If you can understand that? If you can grasp what I’m trying to say, (which is very simple). Believe me, it’s incredibly simple.

You know, one of the things I’m sure you have noticed—the Peace Education Program is not complicated. It’s not complicated. It’s not like, “Oh, well let’s figure out how many stars there are....” No, it’s just about you, you, and you.

And to me, that’s your strength. You need strength. But you don’t need the strength of revenge. You don’t need the strength of show. You need the strength that comes from within you, for you. For you!

You have another life, another page coming. Your book doesn’t begin and end here. Hopefully, one day you will be out—what then? What then? Those pages will still be coming—and you’ve got to write on them. And what are you going to write?

Is this book going to be a book of memoirs? Or hopes and aspirations? Or successes? Or about your understanding, the understanding of the self? This is up to you. It’s totally up to you. This isn’t about anything; this is about you.

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

What Do You Choose?

Peace is Possible Event

Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

Prem Rawat:

What is this thing called “life?” What is this thing called “being here,” what is this thing called “peace,” what is this thing called “existence”?

And like I say many times, you’ve got two walls. And I’m going to put this as simple, as simply as I can put it—you’ve got two walls. You came through one wall—that was when you were born. And there is a lot of stuff going to happen between the two walls—a lot.

And then, you hit the other wall—and it’s all gone; it’s all done; it’s finished. No more. No more drama. No more paying the credit cards. No more wondering about what life is about. No more wondering, “Is there really a Satan? Is there really a God?” No more wondering, no more philosophizing, no more—nothing! As quiet as a quiet, a person can be. And that’s it; it’s over.

You exist—but you don’t understand what existence is. You live—but you don’t understand what life is. You know certain things, but you don’t know what wisdom is. And all that you do in your life sooner or later comes back and haunts you, tortures you, bothers you—and you wonder.

Birth and death that encompasses the start to the end—has been going on on the face of this earth for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And it doesn’t seem to matter what happens in between, whether you drive a Chrysler or you drive an Italian chariot—something has you figured out.

You were born; one day you have to go. Whatever you do in between, it’s up to you. And what have you chosen to do? What have you chosen to do?

Have you chosen in your life to experience joy, joy? Joy. Have you chosen in your life to experience peace? Have you chosen in your life to experience the serenity? Have you chosen in your life to swim the beautiful waters of tranquility? Have you chosen to sit in the shade of the tree of understanding, to bask in that simplicity of life, of existence, of who you are?

Elation, clarity. Not desperation. Not confusion. Not revenge. Not misunderstanding. Not anger, not fear. Not hate! Not judgment. (Don’t you love judgment?)

We love to be unconscious—but we don’t like the consequences of being unconscious, so we look for people who can give us a way out of the consequences that happen when we are unconscious. And I am saying, “That is not possible.” You want to avoid the consequences of being unconscious, then you will have to be conscious.

Is there a shortcut for clarity?—no. Can you have clarity in your life? Of course. Is there a shortcut for love?—no. Can you have love in your life, of course. Is there a shortcut for joy? No. Can you have joy in your life? Of course.

And what will it take? It will take that you will have to pay attention to yourself. You will have to learn how to go within you—and feel. And feel; feel the magnificence that dwells in you; feel the knowledge that you’re filled with; feel the simplicity of the child that you are; feel the gratitude of this heart that you are. Feel all that that is so good, that is so wonderful, that is so beautiful!

And that is the way to live this life—not burdened by problems. I say to you, this, not because I am sitting on this chair—but I have been burdened by problems, and I know what it is like, as it pushes on your shoulders, as it pushes on your body, on your being. And what does it do? Drives you so far from you, into another world, dark, dingy, weird, absurd. No hope. No hope.

And then you realize, “It’s not me. That’s not who I am. That’s not how I want my life to be.”

And you look, and you turn inside—and it’s like coming home; you come home. And everything that is the most familiar begins to greet you. There’s a welcoming that you have never experienced—and it’s to come home: “Welcome. Come on in. Come on in. Be, exist, flourish, nurture, rest, relax, understand, see, feel, think, experience, joy, love, understanding.” And it’s like, “Yes. Yes.”

And this welcoming is the most profound. And then my focus shifts from my problems to my life, to my existence. And now I know what is valuable. The valuable that I have is the day today.

The moment that I have been given—and the value of this moment is not the moment itself, but the fact that I can do anything in that moment—including being miserable, or being elated. That’s why a moment is powerful, my friends.

You want a ticket out of your problems? You have one: it’s called “now.” Because now holds the power. And you can have it either way—you can make yourself as miserable as you want, no holds barred—or as elated as you can be, no holds barred.

The power of now is so powerful that if you want to connect with the divine that is in you, you can. (Wow.) So powerful, if you want to understand the oneness that you have with this universe.... (Universe? Yes, universe.)

In this whole game between the two walls, coming from this wall you had no choice, and when you hit that wall you won’t have a choice—granted. But everything else in between these two walls, you have a choice. What do you want?

Easy to say “I want to be happy.” Easy to say “I want to be happy”—hard to say, “I wonder how I can be happy.” And the day you can—easy to say, “I want to be clear,” but hard to say “I wonder how I can be clear.” And the day you say that: “I wonder how I can be happy; I wonder how I can be clear,” look me up—because that’s the day I can help you.

How do I do it? Very simple—very simple. I put the focus on you—not your problems.

There’s one journey that, all the things that are happening in your life—that is one journey—and then there is another journey that is happening in you. And it is the coming and going of your breath. That’s a journey too. Each breath comes in; what does it bring you? Oh, it brings you this thing called “life, existence, being alive”—brings you that.

There are a lot of people in this world—but there’s no one like you. You’re alone. Your journey, that’s what matters—and that’s what should matter to you, your life, your existence, your now, your now—and what did you ask your now to bring you? What did you choose in that now? When that now said, “Your wish is my command,” what did you choose?

Did you choose clarity; did you choose joy; did you choose understanding in your life? Because if you did, you would understand, then, exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m here to tell you about the power you have, the power of being alive, the power of all that is so good that dwells in your heart. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that. Will you come across hard times? Absolutely. Will things look difficult, yes. Will there be darkness, yes. Does it have to continue like that? No.

Awaken; open your eyes; look around; see—and most importantly, see who you are. See the light that is in you—and the darkness will be gone.

Because the day you hit that wall, not everybody else is going to hit that wall. There’ll be other ones coming out of the other wall as you hit that wall. This is your story. The world’s trying to make it its story. You have to refrain from that happening; you have to make sure that it stays your story and yours alone.

No mixing, no meddling—that it remains your story. That’s what it has to be. Anything else is a compromise, not fit for existence, not fit for life.

There’s your heart: feel it, understand it, accept it—and you will then be so filled with gratitude, thankful, thankful to be alive, thankful to have this breath, thankful to have had this time on the face of this earth. Then it’s not about the two walls anymore. Then it all becomes about you, about the good, about the life, about the real, about the divine, about the universe that you are. That you are.