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You have a choice now – and this is where consciousness comes in. You can either form a pact with that which was, is, and will be, for your joy, for your happiness (that you require). Unquestionably, you need that; you need fulfillment. You need to be stimulated. Or you can try to get that from that which isn’t – wasn’t, isn’t, and won’t be. So, you’ve got a choice.

If you try to get it from that which wasn’t, isn’t, and won’t be, you’ll be constantly trying to chase the happiness. And it’ll be like, “I think I’ve got it. Oops, no I don’t. I think I’ve got it. Oops, no, I don’t. Oops. Oops!”

A bit like this. You’re trying to catch a mosquito. Right? (You’ve done this, right?) You’re trying to catch a mosquito and you go like this! And you think you got it. Right? And you look. And guess what? You don’t got it. You don’t have it. And you try it again! And you try it again.

And to be able to catch that mosquito, you have to have really good eyes. And if you don’t have good eyes, there’s no way you’re going to catch that thing. And the thing is, that mosquito is so small that when you actually move your hand, the air pressure you cause in front of your hand moves it away from you.

So, you have to be very careful. Same thing with flies – if you’re trying to catch a fly, the first thing a fly is going to do is move backwards. So, you have to come in from the back to be able to catch it or kill it. Because that’s how a fly takes off. It can’t take off forward, has to take off backwards.

So, when you are going for the joy that you need – you need joy; you need to be happy; you need to be content; you need to be in peace – there’s no question about it. But when you try to get it from that which wasn’t, isn’t, and won’t be, it’s a bit like trying to catch the mosquitoes, and you keep looking at your hand to see if you caught it. And unfortunately, you don’t have it. You just think you have it.

Or you could hedge your bets on that was, is, and will be. And those same people, (let’s see), those same people who out of the goodness of their heart, said “This isn’t” to the finite – also said that “If you make that connection to the infinite, you will be fulfilled, that you will have, you will have the joy. You will have the peace. You will have the fulfillment that you cannot even imagine.”

When you’re connected to the right source, having your heart filled with gratitude is “no action required.” It is automatic.

Prem Rawat: Collectively, as human beings on the face of this earth, appreciating what you have is more important than appreciating what you don’t have.

The truth is, (and I may be a little strong, so I ask for your forgiveness if you’re offended by it, but I have to say it). And what I have to say is, “Why do you appreciate those things that you don’t have, rather than appreciate those things that you do have?”

All those things that you don’t have, you think about them. “Oh, I wish I could have this. I wish I could have this. I wish I could have this.” And what has this bad habit eventually done to us as mankind, as human beings? We no longer appreciate the planet we have.

This is a unique place! Trillions and trillions and trillions of trees live here. When I first saw the pictures of Mars, I was just as intrigued as anyone else. (Weren’t you?) But then I realized, not one single tree. Nowhere to be found. I, all of a sudden, became very proud of my earth, my earth that I live on. Because it is magnificent.

Mars may be intriguing; earth is beautiful. But we have lost the appreciation for where we are. This blue marble is unlike anything out there, and what do we sit there and think about? “Well, are we alone?”

Seven-point-nine billion people on the face of this earth and you get lonely? You have been given an incredible opportunity. To be alive, not on Mars, not on Mars, but on the face of this most magnificent planet. And if all those gifts were not enough, there is another gift that you have been given, and it is the gift of peace.

And here’s the killer. And all you have to do is want it. Wow. All you have to do is want it. You don’t have to go create stars. You don’t have to create planets; you don’t have to create rivers; you don’t have to create lakes; you don’t have to lay an egg. All you have to do ... is say “yeah,” acknowledge the need you have for peace. It’s all it takes.

Prem Rawat: You know, to me, it’s very much like you come on a stage. So, there is a door, and you walk through the door and you find yourself on a stage. And maybe you have to take a few steps to actually get onto the stage. And then you look around and you go, “Hmm, what am I doing on this stage?”

00:00:41 And there are people in this world who go, “Oh, there’s going to be a show! So, I will wait for the show to start.” They don’t understand — they are the show. They are the show. Not somebody else that’s going to come and dance on that stage; you begin your dance. It’s you! And then one day, you have to walk off that stage.

Prem Rawat: So, that’s, to me, you know, this is what it is! I am not obsessed by death, by the way. Whether it is 36,500, whether it is 25,550, (that’s if you live to be about seventy-five), what matters? Because you don’t have to make an appointment. It’s going to happen.

So it’s like, if you missed the appointment, (hah-hah-hah), you would live a few extra days; no, it’s not going to happen like that. (That would be nice. But it’s not going to happen like that.) So, what you’ve got to do is make every day that you are alive, you have to make it count. It has to mean something to you.

And you have to choose to make that day mean something. Rather than be the victim of everything else, you have to choose; you have to become proactive in your life.

So, what I’m saying is you are not. You are proactive in your job. You’re proactive in your relationships. But you are not proactive in your life. And you should be proactive in your life.

Should you be proactive with your relationships, yeah, of course. Where did I say you shouldn’t? Why do you assume that? People already assume! “You’re not being practical.” When did I say you shouldn’t have a job? Did I say that? No. Have a job. But people automatically assume, “He’s talking about peace so he doesn’t like a job.”

The question is, (the more interesting question is), “In the middle of my job, can I have peace?” And the answer to that is “yes.” That’s what we were talking about, but it’s not one way or the other way. Can there be peace in your life, in the midst of your job and your responsibilities? Why not? Peace happens on the inside; job happens on the outside.

The day the job happens on the inside and the peace happens on the outside, you’ve got a problem. And I would have nothing to say. But I know peace happens on the inside, and job happens on the outside; it’s perfectly compatible.

In our lives, one of the things we do is we accept failure very easily, very quickly. Because there is one thing which is failing, and then there is the failure.

So, failing will happen.

There was a time in your life where failing didn’t mean anything. It was acceptable; it was normal. And the part of your life where this happened was when you were learning to walk. So there you were, coming from a place, from a time in which language didn’t mean a whole lot.

So, nobody indoctrinated you into this; nobody gave you a lecture about this; nobody —do you know—you didn’t go out and read some scripture, but you had an urge to walk. And this came from inside of you, and there was no question about it—you wanted to walk!

But you were extremely ill-equipped to walk. You had two legs, but the muscles in that leg that needed to carry you were not developed. You needed a sense of balance. And you didn’t really understand it. And so, a day came in which you made this attempt to get up. And anybody could have told you what was going to happen.

It was not a happening thing. You were going to fall—and you did! And you failed! You…you actually failed—because the first, first part is just getting up. But you kept going—and you would fail! And you would fail, and you would fail....

And finally you got to the point where you could actually get up. And as soon as you got up [demonstrating, wobbling] there was still going to be failure! You were going to fail again. Because now the whole sense of balance starts to kick in, and stabilization, and you know, the nerves are telling the muscles, “Do this, do....”

Because everything is an overreaction, underreaction. Nothing is used to anything—and you are doomed to failure.

But you weren’t a failure because you never accepted failure.

And so you took that one little step, and boomf! You failed—bam! And sometimes the kids even look at the mother, “Should I cry?” You know…you…you—they get to, right to that point of where their bottom lip is quivering and everything, and they’re like... And the mother looks like, “Oh, it’s okay, it’s okay”—it’s like, “Oh, it’s okay.” Brainwashing!

But you just kept failing and failing and failing and failing and failing and failing. Till one day, because you did not accept failure, you did the impossible, and you took that step. And then the next step. And all of a sudden the most incredible transformation took place. And what you just accomplished wasn’t walking. You unlocked the world to yourself. Krrrract! Now you could go wherever you wanted to go. You were free.

So, “fail” and “failure” meant two different things.

Then as you grew up, you started to associate the two; you merged the two. “Failure is always painful—demeaning and painful.” And all your life, your energy turned into “not failing.” So that no failing happens in your life, you would have to become non-human. Not going to happen! You’re human! But there is a way out of this pickle. And the way out is, “Don’t associate failure with failing.”

-Prem Rawat

Everybody gets caught up in "This is wrong, and this is wrong, and this is wrong."

And of course, things are always going to be wrong. Always.

You cannot destroy wrongness. That would be wrong.

It's always there.

And that's not the point. The point is, so is that which is good. And if you can in your life embrace that which is good, then that's all you need to do.

You don't need to go chase the wrongness to say "Get out of here." You don't need to do that.

A lot of people think, "Oh yeah, I have to remove all the darkness in my life, all the things that are wrong in my life." You can't do it. It's not possible. It's not physically possible. You can't push it out.

You look at people, and what do they get affected... What do you get affected by? What do you get affected by? Most trivial thing; somebody said something bad about you so you get affected by it. Don't you? "Oh, how can he say that!"

So have you been affected? No. But do you feel affected? Yes.

And how long does that game go on? It goes on forever. Forever.

How do you win? How do you win? How do you teach somebody to win in this world? Because the winning is losing in this world. And if you want to win, you have to turn inside. That's the only way. You can't go anywhere else. You've got to turn inside.

Everyday to live this life consciously, to be real.

- Prem Rawat