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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone; Prem Rawat here. I just thought I’d take this time and address everyone.

We’re in the midst of coronavirus. And it’s very hard and very trying times for a lot of people. And if, some way, I can alleviate the load, the burden, the concern—of course, we all need to be concerned, but if I can somehow alleviate the burden that people feel on their shoulders, then it would be wonderful.

So, what’s going on? Well, it’s a little, little virus that’s taking over. And there are so many commentaries; there are so many ideas that people have; there is so much misinformation. There is good information; there is bad information. And somehow, there is very little clarity. There is very little understanding of what really it’s all about.

Now, has anything changed? Well, in one way, everything has changed. But every human being wants to feel secure; everyone wants to feel good; everyone wants to feel free. So, in that sense, nothing has really changed because this is, when everything was fine, when coronavirus was not an issue, people wanted to feel that too.

But today, because this burden is upon us and it’s like, the fear—the fear comes in. And of course, you can let the fear take over, and fear would love to take over. But let me just remind you of something.

There is something really wonderful inside of you, and it’s called “courage.” In these dark times, in these very concerning times, we need to be using courage, not fear, to live through this. We need the light that shines from within our hearts to illuminate this very dark jungle out there.

We need to live every day with a sense of purpose, a sense of clarity, a sense of understanding, a sense of just, not doubt, but clarity—and this is what I talk about all the time. But in these times, these elements that we have inside of us really need to shine—every day!

It’s not a question of, you know, “Today is not important.” No, today is important. All of a sudden, the world being in pretty much, a lockdown, just locked down everywhere, just about—what do you do? What do you think about?

And there’s just so much misinformation—on television, on social media and so on and so forth. But there is a truth inside of you—and you need to let that truth come out. There is a reality inside of you and you need to let that reality come out.

So, the contrast, I would say, is immense right now because there is so much that is, well, real concerning stuff that is going on, this coronavirus—that we need to isolate ourselves. And that we need to make sure that we are healthy. But we have to be healthy, not only physically, but we have to be healthy here too, in our minds.

So, all of these issues really come into play; it’s like, “Okay, how do we do this? How do we take the good and make the good really come out? How do we enjoy ourselves in these dire circumstances?”

So, sometimes, you know, you really have to just step back and say to yourself, “Well, what is this all about? I am here; I am a little part in this puzzle.” Of course, you don’t want to hurt other people, so you don’t want to go and become a person who contaminates more people. And the best way to do that is to isolate; the guidelines are being provided. And some of it makes complete sense.

What do you rely on? Well, for once, you also have to look at inside of you. You have to rely on yourself too, your heart, your understanding, your desire for clarity, your desire to be happy. You have to—you have to rely on that. You have to accept that, that this is a very basic thing.

Not just be drowned in fear, drowning in, like, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen to me?” Now, you should be concerned, but by the same token, there is something very beautiful that is being said from your heart, from yourself.

And you need to include yourself in this one. Don’t exclude yourself; you need to include yourself in this one. You need to include that beauty that you have inside of your heart on this one.

Because, what’s going to happen? Well, you know, we saw, we see the numbers from China—and this is where the epidemic started. But by the same token, they clamped down and were able to manage it to the point where, at this moment, anyways, the numbers of people dying and new cases have significantly dropped down!

“Can we do this; can we win this war?” Yes, we can win this war. The only thing is, it would be nice if we didn’t have such high numbers or, you know, these enormous numbers were not there for people dying.

But we human beings have to bind together; we have to come together, and we have to come together in a very funny way—and we have to come together by being together ourselves. Even in isolation, we have to be complete; we have to be whole and not do silly and stupid things.

But at the same time, will human beings win this race, win this war? And, yes, you know, yes, we have to; we have to. We have to go on. And the way we can win it is to be sensible, to be clear, not be in doubt, not be anger, not be in frustration, not be finger-pointing at each other. It is time.

This little virus—which is not a living thing; it’s just some RNA wrapped around in some fat—it has done, for this world, something really amazing. 

It is calling upon us, in its very unfortunate and harmful way, to come together—all of us, helping each other around the world, spreading good news, not rumors, not wrong information, but spreading the news that “Use courage! Use clarity. Use that good stuff that you have in you.”

And then and only then, I really feel that not only can we win this, but we can really win this war, really, really win—and not be shortchanged by it, not be smacked by it, not be hurt by it, but come together.

And it is time to rely on yourself to do not silly things. As the guidelines are, you know, “Isolate; stay home. Don’t spread this to other people; maintain your distance”—to follow these simple guidelines.

But by the same token, also be visiting our heart, visiting ourselves, visiting our understanding—and just, from clarity, coming out from clarity, to be able to see that, “Yes! I’m still alive and my aspirations have not changed.”

So, whatever it may be. And people, you know, have their ideas of “how this is going to happen and how that should happen.” And doctors are coming together; medical staff is coming together to help people. And we need to be helpful towards them; we need to be helpful towards each other.

It is time for humanity to really kick in—and for us humans to really take on those super-nice attributes that we have as human beings and offer that to each other, offer each other kindness, offer each other understanding. This is the time for empathy. This is the time for clear thinking; this is the time for courage.

And if we can have that, then I think we can make a huge difference for ourselves, for every single day that we are alive, even without the coronavirus. Because our world needs to be—with or without coronavirus, we need to be in that clarity.

So, I hope, of all the things that I have said, something makes sense to you. And you take that to heart. And no reason for fear because fear doesn’t do anything, you know, except just clamps you down.

What you need is courage. Understand the complexity of the problem; understand the severity of the problem, but instead of giving fear the rise, give clarity the rise; give courage the rise; give understanding the rise, not the doubt. And these are the things that can make a difference in every single day that we have.

Now, I’m going to try to communicate with you as much as I can—and this is the first attempt at it. I’m doing this, you know, in a very simple, very simple way. I set up my little tripod; I set up my little iPhone—and this is what it’s recorded on. I don’t have extra lights; I’m just in this room—and it’s a pretty plain background.

So, to me, background doesn’t matter. You know, the lighting doesn’t matter—just so far I can reach and give you some comfort, give you some understanding, give you some clarity so that you can have a better time of this, you know, because these are trying times. There’s no question about that.

And not have to be living in fear, but come from courage, come from clarity, come from understanding. And yes, we will win; we will win. We will win.

I have been affected by this, very much, just like everyone else. I had gone to Europe. I had done a few events. And then, Europe was coming into a lockdown, so I decided, well, I’ve got some time and may as well go to South America. Because, not much, in terms of coronavirus, was happening there.

So I flew to Brazil. And then when I was in Brazil, amazingly, the next day or so I was supposed to go to Argentina–and Argentina went into lockdown.

No more meetings, no more this. So, okay. And I really didn’t want to go to Uruguay, because, again, I didn’t want to be doing meetings and spread this thing.

So, lot of these things have been happening. And finally, not too long ago, I got to the United States. I haven’t yet been home. So, I’m still a few thousand miles from home. But I am in America and I hope I can get home soon.

And–of course, of course–I’m going to isolate myself. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t talk to you. That doesn’t mean that I can’t send this message out to you, wherever you are.

And maybe, maybe I can make a difference. And I will certainly make as much time as I can available to you. And I hope that these broadcasts get to you, and you can enjoy them, like them, and have a good time with them.

So, thank you. I’ll see you later.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. Prem Rawat here. So, you know, the whole idea of these videos is really to just help you out in any whichway I can. Because of the lockdowns, the coronavirus virtually all over the world, I thought it would be a great opportunity just to exchange some ideas, some thoughts that I have had.

And when you look at the situation—I mean, to say that it’s a calamity, I don’t think that would be too far-fetched. And this coronavirus just rising and rising and rising and rising—well, where it started from in China, they’ve got it more or less under control. But in the other places, it’s still making a beeline for its peak. And where that is going to be, nobody knows.

In a sense, what can I say, that would help? So, I was thinking about it last night—and the only thing that comes to mind, (at first, anyways), is that, this isn’t the first time. And calamities have hit mankind before. And when you think about it, things have happened that are just amazingly bad, but somehow we gather, we gather our strength.

And so, this is the point that I want to make. It is not what we are faced with, but how we handle it that makes the difference—whether it is something good that we are given as a gift or it’s something terrible like now, this coronavirus.

So, in a way, you’ve got two things happening. One is your life, your existence—and that’s a gift that you have been given. And of course, the second thing is, (whatever, why-ever, I’m not going to get into that), but you’ve got this virus that, you know, whatever people talk about it and however they put it, it really scares people. And in a way, it’s justified that yes, they are scared.

But it’s not what you have in front of you, but “how do you react to it, how do you handle it?” So, just off the top of my head comes this story of Ram. And on the day of his coronation.... And everybody is very excited; he’s excited; his wife is excited; his father is excited; his mother is excited—and it’s going to be this coronation.

And all the citizens of Ayodhya, (this place in India), they’re all extremely excited that Ram is going to be the king. He’s going to be a just king; he is very learned; he’s young—he’s got everything!

And that very day that he is going to be crowned the king, his second mother, his stepmother, who had gotten some boons that she hadn’t used—so she, (more or less; I’m paraphrasing this), she goes over to the king and says, “Look, remember those boons I had asked you for? Well, what I want you to do is, I want you to stop this coronation. I want you to have, not Ram be the king, but my son, Baharat, be the king. And I want you to exile Ram for fourteen years in the jungle—just exile him!”

And you can just imagine, you know, everybody’s so excited; everybody’s so like, “Yes, this is going to happen”—and then all of a sudden, instead of all that excitement and all that anticipation, something totally different is going to take place.

And the father didn’t take it well because he really wanted Ram to be the king. Ram’s mother didn’t take it very well. But how did Ram take it? How did Sita take it? How did Lakshman take it? That was another brother from the third wife; Lakshman and Shatrughan, the twins, Bharat from Kaykeyi, and then Ram, the eldest son.

So, Lakshman just told Ram; he said, “Look, you know, we’re inseparable. I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.” Sita said, “I’m your wife. I don’t care, you know, my place is with you, not particularly in a palace. I didn’t marry a palace; I married you so I’m coming with you.”

And for just even a minute, if you can think like, “Oh my God, you know, here is everybody so excited about something so wonderful”—and then this entire calamity happens, this really weird thing happens.

So, the king calls Ram and says, “Look, you know, this is what you’ve got to do.” And Ram says, “No problem. Not an issue. It’s okay. I was going to be king because you wanted me to be king. And now you want me to go to exile and not be king, fine! I’ll be okay, you know, whatever you want.”

So, without getting into the nitty-gritty of the story, (because the story is very beautiful), the whole issue really becomes not what you’re handed but “How you take it; what do you do with it?” What do you do with your life? What do you do with this human existence that you have?

What do you do with this earth that you have; what do you do with the trees; what do you do with the rivers; what do you do with the oceans; what do you do with the air; what do you do with the nature; what do you do with all that we have access to, that we have been given—what do we do with it?

We can destroy it—we can destroy our time. Because, you know, one of the big things becomes the boredom! The boredom of not—you know, people who are so into socializing and this and that and “go out there and party and do all that.” Now you can’t do that. You can’t go out and you’re basically in your room, in your apartment, in your house, in wherever you live.

So, a long time ago I used to talk about solitary confinement—and I used to say, you know, “Why is that like the worst punishment you can have?” Because people really don’t know themselves. You know, here is this incredible opportunity. And this is what I talk about, the three things that we need to do—and the three things that we need to do, is one: “Know yourself.”

Because if you don’t know yourself, don’t understand who you are, what you are about, all the other trappings that you get used to, you know, “go out there and do this and do that and my job and my this and my that,” and, you know, everyday grind—and all of a sudden it’s like, well, you get a holiday in a way. You get a holiday—but it’s with yourself!

Now, can you take that? Can you actually say, “Hey, I can actually enjoy this—because I do know who I am. And what a wonderful time for me to really get in touch with me, with who I am—try to understand, try to have sympathy for myself, empathy for myself, understanding of myself....”

So, one thing you’ve got to do is know yourself. Without knowing yourself, it’s basically, you are a stranger, a stranger that you don’t know who you are.

And then, all of a sudden, with some virus from somewhere comes along and it’s affecting the world. I mean, this is like, you know, a horror movie, in a way. And then, next thing you know, it’s really affecting the whole world and the world has to, really, the governments are coming down, saying, “Well, you’ve got to isolate; you’ve got to lockdown and you can’t go out there and you can’t do all this....”

And when you look at all the lists of everything you cannot do, amazingly enough, in that list there is one thing you can do—and that is that you end up with yourself—and you can get in touch with yourself; you can know yourself a little bit better; you can understand yourself. Because those are the basics!

And other things I’d like to talk about, (the two other things I’d like to talk about in future videos). And since we are in a lockdown, I may as well talk about that in great detail! But here is the one about you.

And so, given this situation, given this set of circumstances in which, there you are and you have to be with yourself, what are you going to do with it; how are you going to spend that time? Are you going to be frustrated; are you going to be saying, “Oh, this is terrible,” and blame somebody, play the blame game? You know, that’s what people love to do, play the blame game.

The thing is that, on one side, the internet is a wonderful thing—can be. But on the other side, there’s so much misinformation out there. So, a lot of people are just like, “Well, should we do this; should we do this; should we do this; should we do this?”

So, very, very interesting times. But you could definitely make it worth your while by trying to understand yourself, by trying to say, “Okay, it’s not the situation; it’s what I do with it.” Do I come with courage? Do I come with clarity?

When you read Ramayana—or when you hear Ramayana, you know, everything is like, perfect! The day that has been chosen for him to be crowned, it’s like the perfect day—and all the stars all line up and everything else. And there’s quite a bit of talk about that.

And to me, well, you know, when I was listening to this it was just like, “Well, the stars said that this was great, but it didn’t quite pan out that way,” because on that very day that he was supposed to be crowned, he’s being exiled for—not for one year or two years or three years. This is fourteen years he’s going to be out.

He’s not going to be a prince; he’s not going to be, you know, someone that somebody looks up to but he is going to be in the jungle! He is in exile. He is eating whatever he can find! It’s not like he’s got a chef and he just says, “Okay, I want this for dinner tonight.” Very difficult!

And he’s got a wife, (he’s got a beautiful wife), and he’s just gotten married to her—and this is a killer. And he realizes he can’t have sex with her. Because if he does and she gets pregnant, and there they are for fourteen years; he’s going to take that baby and the baby will also be in exile for fourteen years. So, it wouldn’t be in a very comfortable situation. And it would be so much more difficult for Sita.

So, there they are; they love each other—but they haven’t consummated their marriage. And it’s like, unbelievable. But what does he do with it? He comes with courage; he goes forward—and he actually ends up slaying so many people that are bad, that interfere. And he goes forward and he protects Sita; he protects the good.

And of course, he is the incarnation of Vishnu, so in that sense, he’s there for a purpose. And so, one way or the other way, you can, of course, legitimize everything and say, “Well, yeah, this happened; this was preordained; this is this way; this is this way.”

But not so much that, but to look at him as a human being, because he is. He’s got a wife; he has a brother that dearly loves him. And he loves his father and he is very much duty-bound to whatever his father wants.

So, anyways, this is what I thought would be worth thinking about, at least, for a day—not think about your calamity, not thinking about your problem, but how you are going to react to the problem.

So, I hope this helps in some way—and I will see you again. Have a good day—have a good evening; have a good night; have a good day. And again, whatever you can do to make it worth your while, do it.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone; it’s Prem Rawat again. And today I’d like to talk to you about being conscious, having that consciousness—and this is what I had talked about yesterday, the three points, “Know yourself,” “Live this life consciously,” and “Have gratitude.” And of course, I’ll talk about gratitude later.

But to live this life consciously, to know that what you have been given is something very, very precious. I’m not talking about your problems. I’m talking about this life, this breath that you have—that means so much!

And look around you. You know, sometimes we forget what we have been given. This life is so powerful; this life is so good; this life is so real. And it’s not going to be there all the time.

Interestingly enough, in these days, whilst we are in lockdown with this coronavirus, it’s very interesting. Because you look around you—and always the world has been this, you know, bubbling and going-going-going-going-going and all of a sudden it’s not going anywhere!

And everybody is being asked to just go home and, you know, isolate themselves and not contaminate other people—good advice. But what does that mean for you?

So, all of a sudden you find yourself at home—and maybe your home is what it is; you have your family; maybe you don’t have too many people. But all of a sudden you find yourself in this situation—what do you do? It’s a very interesting question: “What do you do?”

Because more than ever, now that you are at home and you are kind of in a quote-unquote, “lockdown,” you need to be more conscious, not less! You need to be actually more conscious of what’s going on.

What’s going on in here? What’s brewing here? What’s being cooked; what’s being concocted here? Are you getting bored?

You have no reason to get bored. Know yourself—and you will understand that this is not about boredom; this is not about that; this is about truly opening your eyes and looking at things the way they really are.

And to me, that’s all it takes. Living your life consciously isn’t some, you know, journey onto the top of a mountain, as people would have you believe, and, you know, or to the bottom of the ocean or whatever it is.

But it’s really quite simple. It is to open your eyes—and realize that what you have been given is incredibly, incredibly precious. What you have been given is incredibly, incredibly beautiful.

Do you know the value of this breath? You know, you have to realize one thing; you’re in the middle of making history here. This is a very historic time.

I mean, here we are; we’re in 2020. I mean, we’re at the, such a bleeding, leading edge of technology and we have our phones and we have our this and we have our airplanes and we have our fast trains–super-fast trains; we have our cruise ships and I mean, my God, we, you know, we live in technology you wouldn’t believe!

I mean, when Titanic first came out, it was like an incredible wonder because of how big it was. Well, the new cruise ships are much, much bigger than Titanic.

And yet, here we are. And this little virus has got the whole world clamped. It’s got the whole world in its fear; it’s got the whole world in like, well, lockdown! And there’s nothing you can do about it.

And the leaders, some of the leaders are not so leader-y. Pardon the pun, but, you know, that’s just the way it is. You can see what they’re doing with it; it’s just, everything is a knee-jerk reaction—some leaders are very good, and they’re taking the precautions—and truly leading people.

But otherwise, it’s just like, you know, “You’re on your own. And sorry, we don’t have any advice for you; just go home and you know, just do whatever it is!”

And of course, people have expectations! And people have expectations that in these times of trouble, somebody will come up and say, “Hey, you know, this is what you should do.” And that’s leadership—to help people, channel people towards a positive–a good goal.

But what about you and your leadership? Because you’re a leader too. You lead your life. Nobody else leads your life; you lead your life!

And so, in you leading your life, in you managing your life, how are you going to do this?

Are you going to take yourself and bore yourself? Are you going to take yourself and make yourself be afraid? Are you going to allow all the misinformation to come in and scare you? You’re the leader; you are the doorkeeper of your doors, your doors of sanity, your doors of understanding, your doors of clarity.

And so this is where really, really, you have to begin to understand how important it is to live your life consciously, with eyes open! Look around; appreciate what you can appreciate. What you don’t like, what you don’t want, make sure it doesn’t come in. Because you are the doorkeeper. And you have to understand that.

The value, in these moments when you have that quiet time—because there’s one part of you that doesn’t want anything else except joy, except to be happy, except to be content, except to be (if I may say so) blissed out. Well, that’s good! That’s good.

And then there’s another part of you that wants to rip you apart, that wants to weaken you, that wants to take away your serenity, that wants to take away your clarity, that wants to take away your understanding.

Well, one will win. And here is the big important part of it. Who will win? Who will win? The one you allow to win, the one you feed.

I’d like to tell you that story again—where once this kid in this camp comes up to the chief—and he says, “Chief, I have a question.” And the chief said, “What?”

He said, “Well, I see that in people, in the same people there is good—and there is bad! How can that be?” And the chief said, “Well, it’s very simple! In each one of us, there is a good wolf—and there is a bad wolf. And they fight.”

The kid thought for a little while. And he said, “So, chief, which one wins? Which wolf wins?” and the chief looked at the little boy and said, “The one you feed. That’s the one that gets strong. That’s the wolf that wins.”

Now, some of you have heard this story. It’s the same thing. Who wins? Well, who wins? The one you feed.

Are you feeding the bad wolf—or are you feeding the good wolf? What does it mean if the bad wolf wins? Well, you would have wasted your time, an incredible opportunity—because this is what I talked about yesterday.

It’s not what’s thrown at you; it’s how you react to it. So, this could be a fantastic opportunity to quieten down, to understand the value of how things should be.

Not how things you find yourself in, all the noise and all the crazy stuff—but it’s like, “No, this is how it should be. This is good! And I need to focus on myself; I need to focus on my heart; I need to focus on the good that I have in me. I need to focus on all that is beautiful about this life. I need to focus on the consciousness that I have, to be aware!

“I need to focus on the beauty that I carry; I need to focus on that light that I carry inside of me. I need to focus—and bring my attention to it, that beauty that dwells in me.” And if I can do that, then the good wolf wins. It’s as simple as that. Then the good wolf wins.

Otherwise? Torn apart, scared: “Oh my God, you know, this is this way; this is this way.” Because there’s a very big difference in being concerned—and being scared.

“Concerned” means you take the appropriate steps. “Scared” means you just go hide, close your eyes and go, “Baa-whaa-whaa-whaa-whaa-whaa, you know, I’m scared; I’m scared; I’m scared.” Up to you—but what do you want it to be?

And living this life consciously is more important now—because now you are with yourself. Not with other people—now you’re less distracted. So, before, you know, “This distraction, that distraction, this is happening; that’s happening; this is wrong; that’s wrong.”

Now you’re with yourself! And think, understand, clarify—beautiful time to do that. Take it in! Take in life! My God, take in life! Take in the value of each breath. Take in what it means to be, to exist. Take in what it means.

You know, it’s like a cloud, a beautiful cloud. You see it—and it’s like, “Oh, yeah, it’s a cloud.” But look at it! It’s moving! It’s changing. It’s never the same! And appreciate that.

And your life, in a sense, is a cloud. You came through one wall and you’re going to hit the other wall and you’ll be gone! And you think everything is so slow sometimes—because between these two walls, the time that is there is relative.

When you’re bored it’s like, it’s moving ever so slow and when you’re having fun, it’s moving ever too fast! Well, it shouldn’t be ever too fast—and it should never be too slow. It should be what it is, and that’s appreciation.

Not manipulation. Not manipulation of life, not manipulation of beauty—“Let me manipulate the beauty to fit my ideas.” But acceptance, seeing it, understanding it. That’s what life is all about.

And what a beautiful time—to go inside and really feel, feel the joy, feel the beauty, feel the heart that is still bubbling in the middle of all this that is going on.

There is a lamp in the middle of all this darkness—there is a lamp that is lit inside your heart. Look at it; see! From its illumination, illuminate your world. And enjoy what’s there.

So, today, this is what I wanted to talk about: “Live your life consciously.” Well, make the most of this time.

If you, by the way, have any questions that you would like to ask me, please send them to PremRawat.com—and they’ll get to me.

So, thank you and stay healthy; stay well.

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

Prem Rawat:

Hello everyone; Prem Rawat here again. And I can’t believe it, it’s already Day Four of these broadcasts. And I really hope everybody’s enjoying them for whatever they’re worth.

So, today I’d like to talk to you about “gratitude.”

So, you know, I can imagine people going, “What? What are you talking about gratitude for? I mean, look at this, you know, the world, the uncertainty, the economics of it, you know—don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, the leaders in turmoil. The country is in turmoil; society is in turmoil. So, what possibly could there be to be thankful about?”

Well, let’s begin with this. First of all, yesterday, you may have noticed that yesterday’s broadcast had no video of me, just pictures, stills. So what happened?

Well, I thought, you know, I’d try doing something better. And so, (I don’t know if you know this, but), I’m just using my phone to do this—and really don’t have a big setup or anything like that; I’ve just got a little tripod, my phone—cleared the picture behind me and I’m just standing there; there are no lights; this is the morning light that you see.

So, what happened? Well, this is what happened, is that, to use the better lenses which are on the back side of the phone, I flipped the phone around so I couldn’t see myself—and of course, you know, whatever software they’ve got in there, it doesn’t recognize a face and say, “Okay, I’ll focus on that.”

So, after I’d finished, I looked at the footage and it was like, “Whoa! What happened?!” And it was all out of focus, didn’t look good. But what I was saying, (and it was very spontaneous) was good.

So, at first, it was just that same thing. It was just like, “Oh my God, this is terrible! And how’s that, da-da-da....” Something wants to come and rip you apart. You know, it’s like, “How could you do that?” You know, “That was the dumbest thing” and da-da-da-da, dah.

And then I thought about it. And it’s like, “Look, it’s already done. And you said something that was very good; it came from your heart. And you know, make the most of it.”

So I sent it anyways—and I said, you know, “Just put some stills on it and send it out.” Because I couldn’t repeat it; it’s not like I’m reading from a script; it’s all very spontaneous.

And it always reminds me of that story that, after the Mahabharat, the great war of Mahabharat was over, Krishna went to say “Hi” to Arjun—and said, “You know, how is it going?” And he said, “Ah, yeah, it’s going pretty good—it sure beats being in exile, you know, living in the jungle and all of that. Now I’m living in this palace and everything is good.”

And Krishna said, “Well, is there anything I can do for you?” And Arjun says, “Well, actually, you know, all that wisdom you imparted to me on the battlefield, I’ve pretty much forgotten what that was. You know, it was a pretty intense time. So, could you just run that by me again?”

And Krishna said, “Geez, you know, that was spontaneous! I don’t know if I remember what it is, but”—anyways, he did run a very small and compressed version of it for Arjun, and it’s called “Anugita,” “little Gita.”

So, it was one of those things; it was like, “Do I throw away this footage? Or, what I did say was good; it came from my heart; it was very genuine; it was very spontaneous. Do I save it, some way?”

And I’m very thankful that that happened. I’m not particularly thankful that I goofed and, you know, the camera goofed and the phone goofed and this happened, that happened, but I’m very thankful that—not for what should have happened and it didn’t happen; I’m not thankful for that. I’m thankful for what came out of my heart, of what I felt—and talked to you about “living consciously.”

Because that’s what living consciously is about—is to see, to look around, to have some cognizance of what’s going on in this world—as it relates to you, as it relates to your existence.

Because what you see, you see from your eyes. What you see, you see from your perspective. From everything that’s happened to you, the sum of all those things tunes in your vision.

Now, somebody who sees mountains all the time, they see a mountain and it’s no big deal. Somebody who doesn’t see mountains, who lives by the ocean, they see a mountain and it’s a big deal. It’s like, “Whoa! Look, there is a mountain there.”

And vice versa; somebody who lives by the ocean looks at the ocean and it’s like, “Well, there is the ocean.” And somebody who doesn’t live by the ocean, maybe lives by the desert and they see the ocean, it’s like, “Wow! There is the ocean.”

So, everybody has a different perspective; everybody is slightly different in the way they take in. And so, this life is not objective; it’s very, very subjective. How you perceive it, how you look at it.

So, you know, easy enough—it’s like, one time I went to the prison. And it was in Australia, the Wolston prison. And the inmate there, one of the inmates, when the time came for questions and answers, he goes, “Well, how do you know what it’s like? You know, you don’t live here; you’re not in the jail.”

And I think about that quite a bit. And it’s like, “Yeah, his perspective of what life is, what freedom is, what all these things are is totally different than mine.” But that’s the way it is—and I’m not trying to make everything objective. I’m not saying, “You know, it should be, the experience that you can have of your life should be the same for everybody.” No. It’s different.

And therefore, because that is different, gratitude will be different—for everybody. Every single person will express their thanks in a different way—because your experience is different.

So, if you live your life consciously, you will recognize the need for knowing yourself. And then when you get to know yourself and you then live your life consciously, it’ll be different. And your gratitude would be different. Because you’re looking at it from a different perspective; you’re not looking at it from the same way.

And that gratitude is like a fruit that you, as a healthy tree, put forth. Living life consciously is like a flower—and this existence is this magnificent tree. And it flowers—and then, when you live your life consciously, there is a quest to be fulfilled, to want to know yourself.

And then when you know yourself, most amazing gratitude swells forth. And that’s the fruit. And you can share that fruit; you can share that gratitude–what you are thankful for.

So, can you be thankful for coronavirus—I don’t think so. I don’t think anybody can be thankful for coronavirus. But you can be thankful for something else—and that is that you have this chance, that you have this opportunity to think, to contemplate, to understand, to express, to feel, to see.

And this—see, that’s what’s important, that you can do that. And how important is that gratitude? Because, you look at what “gratitude” means—and gratitude means that you are putting out that fruit; your heart is full. You can express that. You can feel that; you can understand that.

And, that is why gratitude is so important. Because without that gratitude—gratitude is almost the scale of health, if you will. If you’re putting out that fruit, “Wow, good! Good!” And you’re healthy.

And if you’re not, maybe something is amiss; something is not quite right; maybe there isn’t the appreciation; maybe you don’t understand what it means to know yourself. Maybe you don’t know yourself—and the value of knowing yourself.

Because I can see how being locked up at home, you know, and you’re not going out; you’re trying to minimize contact, you know, and the “social beings, social beings....” And okay, you can watch television, but you could only watch so much of it. And sooner or later, it’s going to be you and you and—just you! You know?

And I was looking at the television and somebody said, “Oh, there was this guy in this one particular country and he was locked up for three days with his wife and child—and fourth day, he ran away.” He just couldn’t stand it anymore.

But when you can’t stand that, really, what you can’t stand is something inside of you. Otherwise, if you are comfortable with yourself, you can be comfortable, pretty much, in any situation. But when you’re not comfortable with yourself, it doesn’t matter what situation you’re in—you are going to be uncomfortable.

And knowing yourself is just that. Living this life consciously is because it is important–to see, to perceive, to acknowledge the gifts, to receive the gifts that you have been given. That’s what consciousness is all about––the way I speak of it, anyways—is, yeah, to take in all that you have, so you maximize this existence, this “being alive.”

And if you can do that, then, “Wow,” you really have captured what it is all about, you know? You see that—sometimes it’s like, “Oh, this is a wonderful photographer,” and why is this person a wonderful photographer? Because they can capture what really happens; they can really capture the story.

Have you captured your story? Have you captured your existence; have you captured you being here? And, maybe, in day-to-day activities, all the things that go around in our lives, we don’t get all that, you know—because we’re too busy to even think like that.

But here you have this opportunity to just not do be those busy things that, you know, you’re constantly doing—and instead, give it some time to think, to contemplate, to meditate. To understand.

To reflect on the importance of existence, on the importance of having joy in your life, the importance of having clarity in your life, the importance of having a heart that is full, the importance of having serenity in your life, the importance of having that feeling that you are complete, that every moment that you are living, you’re taking and making the most of it, the most of this gift.

And that’s—when all that comes together, when all those puzzles, little pieces all over the place, when they click, then gratitude comes forth.

And for you to be thankful for your existence, for you to be thankful for your life––wow, what can be greater than that? For you to be thankful for every day that comes by, what can be greater than that? For you to be thankful for every hour that comes by, what can be greater than that?

For you to be feeling that completeness with every breath, fulfilled––what can be greater than that? Well, I can’t think of anything else that can be greater than that.

Because the magnificence, appreciated, becomes more magnificent. Magnificence, unappreciated, remains hidden, remains unfulfilled—even though it’s beautiful, even though it’s incredible; it always will be.

Every star, every grain of sand, everything in this world, every day, the sun shines; the clouds come. The rain comes, sunshine happens; the summer comes; the winter goes; the winter comes; fall comes. All the seasons, everything—and then your seasons, that you understand the microcosm, that you understand that there is a universe in you too.

And you appreciate that universe; you look at that universe; you look at the stars; you look at the moon; you look at the sun—and you look at your sun, the light in your heart. You see your moon; you see your stars; you see your universe.

You see the joy that dances in your heart, the symphony that plays within you. The dance that goes on in you, the play that goes on in you, the movie that is you, in which you are the star—wow!

Just like it is outside, and we’ve got these cameras and we’ve got, you know, stereo equipment and we want to capture everything and “Wow, this is an incredible recording” and we want to hear it again and again and again....

And yet, you are your camera; you are the only camera of your inner universe. And if you capture it, if you appreciate it, then gratitude will come.

Just like when you listen to a beautiful music and you want to dance to it and you like it and you smile and you get lost in it and you, it feels so good—well, when you capture your inner universe, then that’s what happens; that’s what gratitude is all about; that’s—oh! That’s, then it all comes alive.

And I can ramble on, I guess, but the point is, if you have experienced it, if you have ever, ever experienced it, even the tiniest bit, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, it’s not going to make much sense—and it’s just a rambling.

Anyways, I hope you sent some questions to PremRawat.com—and of course, if you want to send questions to TimelessToday, that’s perfectly okay too. They will get to me.

I’m looking forward to those questions. I have a lot of questions that have already been sent to me, but I thought, you know, again, this is a unique circumstance. And in these circumstances, people may have a different set of questions, so I want to answer those questions to the best of my ability.

And the most important thing is, folks, be healthy—and be well and be safe. And most importantly, be.

So, thank you very much—and I’ll see you soon.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re doing well in this whole drama and trauma. This is Prem Rawat here.

And another day, another opportunity to talk to you about, in this strange situation, where indecision and ideas and fear and everything else is being just kicked around and kicked around and kicked around and kicked around. What I would like to talk about, in the midst of all this, is that clarity—you having this gift of breath in your life, you being alive, you being here on this beautiful planet.

You know, the sun hasn’t changed; it’s there. Of course, we hear about the news, “coronavirus,” concentrated news, focused news: “This is wrong; that’s wrong; this isn’t happening this way; that’s not happening that way.” Every day the amount of cases just increasing and increasing and increasing in the world.

And then I was reading this whole little bit about New Orleans, where they had this Mardi Gras and all the people came out. And now a lot people are getting sick.

There are a lot of people out there, young ones, who are like, “I don’t care if I get coronavirus; I just want to have a good time.” And the demographics of people who are getting sick in the United States is very, very different, believe me. There are a lot more younger people getting sick in the United States than other regions.

So, you sometimes wonder, “What exactly are we capable of?” It’s a simple thing; you have to isolate. If you isolate, don’t get contamination, sooner or later this thing will move along. You don’t have to get sick; you just have to have your social distance, keep your distance.

That’s so difficult for people. That is so difficult for people, to try to keep their social distance. They want to just be, you know, “We’ve got to do this and we’ve got to do this” and this is what they’re used to. But this is what they’re used to.

And all of a sudden, something happens and all, what you think is “normal” is no longer normal and you can’t do it—and in fact, if you do it, it’s detrimental to you.

So, it reminds me of this story: “Which one is real?” So, there was, once upon a time, there was a king—and he was quite well-off and he had a beautiful kingdom and things were good.

And one day he has this dream—and in this dream, he dreams that he was fighting with his neighbor. And they’re having a war—it’s a frantic war—and all of a sudden he loses the war, and he has to flee the battleground and he has to get away, as far away as he can, to save his life.

And he’s running and he’s running and he’s running and he’s running and he finally goes to the jungle. And in the midst of the jungle, there he finds himself. And he’s really tired; he’s wounded; he’s been running for a really long time; he’s hungry. It’s just not a good scene.

All of a sudden he sees a little hut. He goes over to that hut. And in there, in that hut is an old woman. He goes to her and he says, “Could you give me something to eat, please?” And she says, “Look, I don’t have any food to give you, that’s already prepared. But here is a little bit of rice and here are a little bit of lentils; you can cook them together, make a kitcheri and satisfy your hunger.”

So the king says “thank you,” takes the rice, takes the lentils, gets a little pot. He has to get the wood. It’s raining and so the wood is all wet, smoky and he tries to start a fire; it takes him a long time—but he finally gets the fire going.

And he’s really hungry; he’s really tired; he’s devastated; he’s lost his kingdom—I mean, everything is just, you know, piling up on him. And then he finally gets the rice done, the lentils done. But they’re too hot for him to eat, so he finds a leaf and he spreads the lentils and the rice on the leaf, just to cool it down.

And meanwhile, there are these two bulls and they’re fighting with each other. And they come towards where he’s cooling his food. And the next thing you know, they take what he has made with great difficulty and just mix it into the mud, just destroy it.

This is like, too much for him. So, finally, he just ends up crying, tears rolling down his eyes—and he wakes up. The wetness on his face, the tears on his face wakes him up.

And he wakes up. And he’s like, looks around—and all of a sudden he sees he is in his bedroom! And he’s got his beautiful velvet bed and beautiful ornate pillars and lamp and the bodyguards there and—and he’s bewildered! This dream was so real for him; he’s really bewildered.

And he finally gets up and he goes, “Oh my God. Which one is a dream? That, losing the war, being in the jungle, cooking that food, was that the dream? And this is real? Or is it the other way; this is all a dream, (that I am a king, that everything is fine), and that was real? Me losing the war, me being nobody, me, you know, being in that dire situation, that was real?”

And this just puzzles him to no end. So, the next day he gets up and gets in his court—and he immediately makes an announcement; he says, “I want to know—I had this dream and I want to know, ‘Which one is real? This is real? Or that is real? That I am in dire straits, that’s real? Or that I am a king, that’s real?’”

And of course, a lot of people, (and I’m going to cut this story short), that a lot of people are like, “Oh, yes, sire, you know, that was a dream; this is real; you’re a king; you’re a good king; everything is good.” But somehow he’s not satisfied.

Finally, this kid—his name was Ashtabakr, (which literally means he was all, you know, twisted and everything and his body was all twisted), he, he sets it straight for him. And this is what he says to him.

Because I guess it’s a little bit of a drama. He comes—and when he comes, everybody sees him walking into the court, that he has the answer—and everybody just starts laughing! It’s like, “How could this person who is all, you know, twisted and everything, how is he going to answer the question?”

And all of a sudden he turns to the king and he says, “King, why have you called me in the company of these people who only can tell me, or about me, from looking at leather,” (leather meaning the skin). “That’s all they look at—and they have already made up their mind who I am. They haven’t even talked to me; they haven’t even looked at what is inside of me—and they’re judging me from what they see.”

Anyways, the king realizes that this is somebody not, you know, ordinary—extraordinary—and he gives him the throne and he says, “Please sit here” and welcomes him.

And then he begins; after the king asks the question, then he begins. And then he says, “King, that, that where you lost your war and you were in the jungle, that was a dream. And your question, that you see your kingdom; you see your palace; you see your bed: ‘Is that a dream?’”

And he said, “That’s a dream too, king. The reality is beyond those two. The reality is the reality that is in you. Not in what you see, what you perceive—all this will change.”

And so, in these times, I can’t help but think about that story—that all that that we perceive to be, it’s a dream! (It’s a very realistic dream.) And it’s a dream because of the two walls, the wall we came through and the wall we’re going to hit and disappear on the other side of it. That makes all of this a dream, a very realistic dream....

But many, many saints over the period of their time have said, “This is just a dream! Because one day you’ll wake up—and this won’t be like this. This will be something else.” Everything keeps changing. Everything keeps changing and the nightmares keep coming and this keeps happening and that keeps happening and....

So, what do you do? Well, you must somehow get in touch with that real reality. And that real reality happens to be the reality that is inside of you. Not some concept, not some idea.

And maybe, maybe during this time, because of the circumstances, this story rings a little bit truer than on a wonderful, normal, “everything going your way” kind of day.

Where everything isn’t so “going your way”—but you just have to say, “Okay! I’m here! The most important thing, this breath is coming and going inside of me. I am. I exist. The miracle of miracles is taking place; I am here. And because I am here—and because I want to know who I am, I will enjoy that process of going inside and feeling who truly I am.”

This will all change. Things will go back to being “the routine.” And when life becomes a routine, when life becomes drab like that, you’re not in touch with your life anymore.

Because there’s something exciting about every single day. There is something exciting about every single moment; there is something exciting about every breath that comes into you. And that’s your reality. That’s your reality.

All this that you see, all this that you perceive, it wasn’t. It is—and it won’t be. That is its reality. And then there is something that was, that is, and that will be.

I mean, after all, the creation of earth and all of this isn’t that old. We haven’t been—relatively speaking, we haven’t been on this earth for that long of a time. Yes, we have made huge advances. But those advances, what do they do for us?

All of a sudden, we find the basic human needs and necessities have to kick in—the basics, the basics, the absolutely, fundamentally the basics! And where are you with those basics? Do you like it? Can you live with it? Can you enjoy your day today? Can you be? Can you exist? Can you still court clarity? Can you still feel gratitude for today?

Or it’s like, bewildered and “Oh my God, you know, we’ve got this problem and we’ve got this problem and did you hear that news and did...?” It’s a buzz; you know, everybody’s like a buzz! You know, one negative news, one negative this, one negative that.

vAnd you realize that, “It’s okay.” It’s okay; you exist. Be thankful! Be positive. Be real! Understand the reality.

And you are a part; you are a component of all that is around you; you are a part of it. And when you can shine, then you keep darkness at bay. And that’s so important!

And that’s important every single day, with or without this coronavirus—every single day, to keep that darkness at bay, to keep the confusion at bay, to allow clarity to come in—and feel the thankfulness every single day, for being alive.

Is that simple? My God, that’s simple. You know, of course it is simple; that is incredibly simple. And yet, I know that it is incredibly difficult. It’s profound—but it is difficult, every moment, to be able to be with that reality.

So, not like that king who gets confused—but with that clarity, move forward, every day, and be in that beautiful place.

So, I’ll talk to you soon. Take care; be well; be healthy; be safe—and be.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, hello, hello, everyone. I hope all of you are well. And I know these are very trying times. And, even though I have addressed some of these issues, as the questions are starting to come in; they’re getting compiled—but people are still a little bit afraid of whatever is going on.

And I would like to just take this time to just say, “Look. You know, the rules are very simple: ‘Don’t give the virus; don’t get the virus.’ Simple as that, however you need to do it. Isolation is the best.”

But then the question comes, “What do you do in this isolation?” Well, it’s very unfortunate, first of all, that we have to even address this issue. Because being with yourself should be second nature; being with yourself should be great, should be wonderful, should be not an issue.

But unfortunately, that’s not the way it is. It’s like, “Oh my God, what am I going to do, you know?” People are going stir-crazy, “And this is happening and that’s happening....”

But believe me, the issue really is about, first of all, “What do you need to do with this time?” Very simple: “Come with courage, not with fear.” Not with, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen; what’s going to happen; what’s going to happen; what’s going to happen?” Not with that. Come with courage.

Two things you need. If you want to make this time go by nicely, quickly, whatever, two things you need—patience. You thought you had it, right? Here is your test: patience. Second one? Courage. That’s all you need. And this time will fly by.

Clarity is always in you; reach in for it. Not reach out; reach in for it. Joy is in you; reach in for joy. Your beautiful treasures that are buried, now you need them. See, now you need them.

Before, you know, I would come; I would sit down; I would talk to people: “You know, you have this in you,” and people would go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Now you need them! Because without this, what do you do? What do you do? This can be crazy.

And so, reach in; reach in for that patience; reach in for that courage. The joy is still in you and you can make this a wonderful time. In isolation, yes, you can make this a wonderful time.

It always reminds me of this one thing where there was this person and he was incarcerated in prison. And he had been listening and doing the Peace Education Program and, “Yeah, I keep talking about the breath—and that how the peace, you know, and breath is so beautiful.”

And so one day he went and he lay down in his cell on his bed. And he was describing this experience to somebody. And he said, “Prem keeps talking about the breath, so I started focusing on my breath. And as I focused more and more and more on my breath, I started to fill with peace.” How beautiful, how wonderful, how incredible.

And he said, “All of a sudden, so much peace.... I started feeling so much peace I have never felt before.” And to me, it’s always like, “My God, this person can experience peace, incarcerated in a prison? What about those people who are not incarcerated; can they?” Of course they can.

I’m looking forward to doing something, and we are looking at the possibility of this, that all those people who are in lockdown, maybe we could all just go through Peace Education Program with me. And I could be the facilitator and we could all do the Peace Education Program. I mean, I think that that just would be brilliant.

Because it works so well for people who are incarcerated—and in a way, we are all incarcerated; it just happens to be, we are incarcerated at home! But we are incarcerated. So, we’re looking at the possibility of doing that. I mean, that would just be great. That would be wonderful.

But until that time, please, don’t be scared; don’t be afraid. Come from courage. Have patience. Have understanding. This too will pass—of course, it’ll pass.

And so far your family members are concerned and spending time with them and, you know, whether you like it or not, understand they’re a part of you. And it’s okay. It’s okay to accept them, to love them.

You don’t have to try to have a sense of responsibility towards them, “Oh, I have to do this; I have to do this; I have to, you know, greet them this way; I have to greet them that way.” No. Just be. Just be who you are. And let them be who they are.

Many, many wonderful ways to engage. What do you think people used to do in old days? I mean, you know, we have forgotten those things, “Come, gather around; let’s hear a story. Let’s read a story; let’s talk about a story. Let’s be fascinated by that.”

I was fortunate enough, I feel, that when I was growing up there was no television. It is not like that it hadn’t been invented; it just didn’t get to India. And what did I do? Listen to stories! I was fascinated by stories. Anybody I could find who would tell me a story, they had my undivided attention. How wonderful is that?

There was a time, no television—and in India at that time, when the radio came on, it came on sporadically; it came on from just, you know, maybe one hour or an hour and a half or two hours and then it would go off; nothing.

So, what do you do in that time? You understand something; you discover. There’s so much constant bombardment now, that we have forgotten how to be. Without the use of all this technology and without the use of that phone and without the use of that social media, we have forgotten what it is like. And once upon a time, this is the way people were.

And they lived fine. I mean, you know, some un-pleasantries, because maybe there wasn’t a sewage system and everything stank a little bit. But regardless of that, my God! You know, people are like, “Oh, I’m going stir-crazy.” How can you go stir-crazy; you’re alive! There’s something incredible taking place.

And then there are people who are completely locked up in expectations, of what their expectations are and the expectations of each other—and then they can’t come together because these expectations get in the way. This is not time for expectations. This is time to just be.

Can you be? Of course you can; you’re a human being. The first thing you are is, you are a human being. (And now, having to say that sounds ridiculous.) But I have to. Because that’s what you’ve forgotten, that you are a human being. And if we forget that we are a human being, then what have we become?

You know, yeah, there are all these companies and they keep, you know, making all the technology and more technology and more technology. In fact, one of the....

This is the thing—we don’t know the difference between “need” and “want.” We have become such slaves to want—that we have forgotten what we need.

And there is a company and it’s huge; it’s one of the biggest companies in the world. And they manufacture a lot of things. And not one single thing that they manufacture do we need. And they are huge! They’re big—I mean, I’m talking about financially. And people just like, go crazy over them. And not one single thing that they make, do you need. It’s mind-boggling.

And so many things that we are completely attracted by—you see, we don’t understand that those things that we call “attractions” are really distractions. Because if they take you away from you, that’s a distraction. That should be the definition of a distraction: “That which takes you away from you.”

You need to come back home to yourself. You need to start feeling that goodness that is in your heart, the joy that is in your heart, the clarity that dances in you, the serenity that is in you. The patience that is in you, the courage that is in you. You need to get in touch with those things. And this is the opportunity to do it. This is the opportunity to do it.

You know, when I look at it, it’s like, “Oh my God, how can this coronavirus be good?” It’s not good; believe me, it’s not good.

But then I saw this footage of these porpoises in Venice, Italy. The pollution has gone down so much that these porpoises are there. You can see the bottom of the water. You can see the bottom of the ocean, the bay. You can see fish; you can see swans. And it’s like, “Hmm.” Then I saw, like, all the pollution in China disappear. It’s like, “Hmm.”

What have we done? What have we created? We have created a monster out of our wants. And it is destroying this planet; it is destroying us.

And if nothing else—and, you know, when you look at some of the numbers of even this coronavirus, thousands and thousands and thousands of people have recovered without a problem. And some of the people report very mild symptoms.

Some of the places where people are dying, they’re dying because of the lack of hospitalization and the lack of, you know, even the medical equipment that they need.

But whatever is happening, maybe it’s an incredible reminder that we, as human beings, need to get back to this wonderful thing called “humanity.” We need to become human again. We need to understand who we are and what our needs (not wants), needs are.

Maybe this can be an incredible reset to get back to the basics, to get back to that that we already have inside of us.

So, my friends, you know, whatever happens, just remember, “Be patient. Come with courage.” You have amazing stuff inside of you—the joy, the serenity. Time to share it, time to bring it out, time to dig into the treasures. And this is that possibility.

So, be well; be safe; be healthy—and most importantly, be. Be in joy.