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MC and host: [Sara Powell]
What is the antidote to fear, especially the fear of making mistakes and being judged for it?

Prem Rawat:
Uncertainty creates fear; fear creates anger. Anger creates harm—harm to yourself, to others; it could be anything; harm is harm. Harm creates uncertainty; uncertainty creates fear; fear creates anger; anger creates harm.... “Arrrr-rrrraaaagh!” And off it goes!

So, you don’t want fear. What should you do? What is fear? Is it a presence, or is it an absence?

[Individual: Absence.]

Thank you! You see—and you guys learned too quickly.

MC:
There was certainty there, wasn’t there?

Prem Rawat:
Yes, there was certainty there. And the day you start living your life with certainty, then the ambiguities go away. And even if the ambiguities come, you have a weapon to say, "No, this is uncertain. I want to be certain. I want this life to be real."

It’s not that you will remove every single obstacle—because the obstacles will have a tendency to plunk in your way. But whenever you come across that obstacle, you have the power to be able to remove it. That’s what’s so beautiful! That’s life! It has the power to remove those obstacles; you have the power. And you’ve always had that power.

But again, you’re a believer, because believing is so much easier than knowing. It abdicates—we love to abdicate responsibility. So, “You show me.” And why? Why aren’t you doing it? Are you incapable of doing it? No, you’re not! You’re a human. And as a human, you have that power to be able to move the mountains.

And so, how to get rid of fear? Because it is an absence, bring the light of knowledge—not darkness of fear. Because that uncertainty will be removed by certainty. And there is nothing more certain than the knowledge. And there is nothing more certain than the Knowledge of the self.

- Prem Rawat

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

So, heaven is here. What do you think? You believe or you know? Know or believe? Know? Yes? No? Yes? Yes! And do you know? Not because of me! No, no, no, no, no. I disagree

I am a mirror. Does the mirror make up the face? I am a mirror. I don’t make up your face. You can experience heaven, not because of me, but because you are alive. If you are not alive, there can be nine million of me, and we cannot help anyone. Because it’s you. You have in you the Divine.

What is this quietness? Do you? Or don’t you? You do? You believe this or you know this? You do know this? You know this? Wow. So I have another question for you.

Do you celebrate this? Every day? What could you ask for more in your life, than the Divine being in you? Closer than any friend, closer than your wife or your husband, in you?

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

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

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

– Prem Rawat

There are certain things which we don’t accept—and they don’t change, whether we accept or we don’t accept.

If we don’t accept, it isn’t like, “Well, no, I have four kidneys; only two bad. I have two more.” Fine. You can believe that all day long. But you only have two. And maybe they’re both bad.

We don’t understand—this is a formula. “We weren’t. We are. We won’t be.” This is it! This has been playing out on the face of this earth ever since it all began.

In fact, the scientists say that this earth is not going to be around; the moon is not going to be around; the sun is already devouring itself—it’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and hotter, and bigger. And pretty soon it’ll get so hot that life on earth will not be able to sustain itself. This is our future.

“Should we get happy? I mean, what’s the point!? Well, why should people get married? I mean, it’s not going to last....”

Ah, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about understanding that joy can be experienced not only every day, but every moment of that day. But your moment of making it exceptional is to accept every moment that you have, and to be in peace with yourself—not in peace with your wishes, but in peace with yourself.

– Prem Rawat

Without peace, this world is going to come apart—there’s nothing, there’s no glue. When a human being starts to hate another human being, you know that it is the beginning of the end.

When one human being gives more reasons of why he does not want to see another human being on the face of this earth, the reasons become more important than the fundamental reality that you are a human being, that the other person is a human being. And eliminating that person is anti-life. It’s not good for life.

Gandhi said, “If everybody took an eye for an eye, the whole world would be blind.” And that’s exactly what’s happening today. The world’s going blind. The terror that is being struck....

When you go in a room, and it’s your house, or it’s your apartment, or it’s your room and you close that door and you sit down on your bed, you feel a certain sense of comfort—that, when you close that door, you shut the world out—and that you sit on that bed, and maybe you are alone, maybe you are with somebody, but there is a certain sense that you’re okay.

When that very sense is taken away from you, and you sit on that bed wondering if you’re going to wake up tomorrow, wondering if you’re going to be able to sleep tonight, then such a fundamental part of a human being has been taken away.

– Prem Rawat

Don’t worry—I am not a politician. I’m not going to be in…I’m not in politics; I’m not going to run for politics; politics is not my thing. I want to bring people together; I don’t want to divide them.

And that’s why I don’t put any labels…I don’t want to use any labels. People would love to give me a label. I don’t want any labels.

People say, “Oh, you are Ambassador of Peace.” I want everybody to be Ambassador of Peace—everyone! Because that’s what your possibility is; that’s what your potential is. This is what you can achieve in this life. You should be an Ambassador of Peace. You should be.

One little…one little act of kindness goes a long way—one little act of kindness. But what do we believe in? “Thank you.” So, this is what the mother teaches the little boy: “Say thank you.”

He doesn’t know what ‘thank you’ means—so he looks up and he goes, “Thank you.” And what are you teaching that little kid? Do you know what you’re teaching that little kid? “Say something you don’t understand.”

Instead of teaching the kid, “Did you feel good when somebody gave you this? Did you like it?” The child will say, “Yes!” “Then, take that liking that you have, and share a little bit of it back.” That’s what gratitude is. That’s all gratitude is.

If somebody did something for you, and it felt good, then give them a little bit of that goodness back.

– Prem Rawat

It’s about you—it’s about your story. Fulfillment is a feeling, not the quantity of food. It is not about how many glasses of water you drank, but is your thirst quenched or not? It is not whether you were in bed for twelve hours or not, but how much sleep did you get? You’ll understand that one, right?

It is not about the lectures that tell you, “You are free; you are free; you are free,” that will set you free. How free do you feel?

And this is what I say to the inmates: “It’s up to you! It’s up to you!” Everybody is behind some wall; everybody is behind some bar. The only difference is the color of the bars, the shape of the bars, and the material that they are made out of.

Some are made out of metal; some are made out of concepts, ideas, right here. But they’re bars—and they hold you back. They will not let you be free.

Do you want to be free? Good question—“Do you want to be free?” [Individual, male.: Yes!] First understand. Before you set off on a journey to be free, understand what’s holding you back! Why are you not free? All these ideas you have about things that are not yours—that were just, cct, ppbt! Poukh, chu-chu-chu, boomf! And you went, “Thank you.”

Somebody came, opened the head, poured it in, “Dah, dah, you’re good.”

Some apes, they look at themselves—they can’t recognize. So, dogs are like that too! They look at themselves in the mirror and they go, “What’s that!? Arrrrrrrgh!”

You have the ability to go, “Ah! That’s, that’s me!” And the scientists say, that is one of the human attributes! Why stop there? Know the self! This is what Socrates was talking about, “Know the self!” If that’s you, looking in the mirror, you can say, “That is me,” then knowing yourself, that is the human attribute that makes you who you are.

– Prem Rawat