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Kabir is referring to all of us, not the renunciates, not the fellows with the long braided hair—no, no, all of us because we are all seekers of that truth, of that peace: “That your lord, your Divine is also within you.”
So, don’t underestimate me when I say “an unopened gift.” Don’t underestimate me. I am talking about the gift of all the gifts.
The peace that you seek is within you. The Divine that you seek is within you. The truth that you seek is within you. The clarity that you seek is within you.
- Prem Rawat
You see—ha ha—in Australia it was the first time I talked about these two walls—and they’re like the big-time walls, right? The one wall you come out of, and then there is another wall you go through—and you’re gone!
So, you come out of one wall and then you’re here, and then there is the other wall. And then you hit that wall and you’re gone. Where you go, nobody knows. You’d like to know because you’re so curious about everything. You’d like to know.
Why are you not curious about the force—the force that keeps these two walls separated? They could have been like this, one after another, “whhit, whhit, gone!” And they do! Sometimes that happens! But for you, this was pried open.
And people, I know, in certain stories—there are stories like this in India, and of course, in the West as well, where the ocean was parted. This is more than the ocean parting. This is the two walls that would love to be just together—and they’ve been forced open. And the amount of force that it takes, amount of force that it takes to pry these two walls apart is immense!
And what is that force? It is expressed to you—that force that is so powerful, so powerful that it can separate those two walls—expresses itself to you in the most gentlest of ways you can imagine, as a breath coming in and going out. And so far that keeps happening, my friends, those two walls cannot touch each other. And that’s it.
- Prem Rawat
You have a mind ... and you have a heart. You’re balanced! You’re balanced. If you learn how to use both of them equally ... not only will you be in peace, but you will prosper ... in this world.
Most people only know how to use one. The heart, they don’t understand. I say “the heart” ... and people go, “What is a heart? What are you talking about?” I’ll tell you what a heart is.
Heart ... is the place ... where the human courage resides. Heart is the home of your clarity. Heart ... is the place where the Divine in you belongs and exists. Heart is the place from where you seek the truest gratitude of your existence. Heart is the place where the love, because of reasons—no reason, that love resides.
Heart is the place ... where, in you, the thirst to be fulfilled ... is. That place ... that contains all this that is good ... is called “the heart.” That’s what a heart is. The courage ... the courage ... to seek clarity in the midst of confusion. When every thing is going wrong ... the courage ... to say, “No. No. I want ... clarity. I want ... to be fulfilled.”
Have you ... experienced this courage? Have you felt this courage? Have you understood this courage? Because ... this is your power! It’s your power! It’s your power ... to thrive in this world ... to thrive! To shine! To be! Not the stupid little road maps ... that you have created.
“Oh, yes, please-please-please-please, give me a promotion.” You want a promotion? Work hard for a promotion.
You have something to say to the Divine? Then make it real. And what is it? Only one thing: “Thank you.”
How many times have you heard me say "the Divine is in you"? And why can't you understand and totally accept that the Divine is in you? Because of your idea of what the Divine is. That's why. Your idea has no idea of what the Divine is! But you have given that idea a shape! "How can this be in you?"
So, your ideas are the very thing that is keeping you from that Divine that is in you. And the day you can drop your idea of the Divine, you’ll find the Divine.
One day Guru Nanak goes to this river, and everybody is taking their vessel, this lota—or, you know, metal vessel—and they’re offering water to the sun god, to God. And so Nanak turns around and starts going like this. And everybody looks at him and says, "Hey! That’s the wrong direction."
He goes, "No, no, this is the right direction." "No, no, no, that’s the wrong direction; the sun is over that way. You need to be making your offering to the sun.” And he goes, "Well, if your water can reach the sun, I’m just trying to water my fields; they’re just a few miles that way."
Show me a place where there isn’t a Divine. And it is not of the physical presence that you think has to be. Wherever you go, whatever happens in your life, once you even go on the other side of that wall, the Divine will be with you.
But you see, you have to let go of your concepts of the Divine to understand that. “With me? Like, 'Hello, Divine.'" No! Because this won’t be there. This won’t be there. This won’t be there—but you will be. How? How is that possible? Because you are dust. And when you hit that wall, you’ll become dust again. And when you do, that’s it.
"Oh, oh. Oh, that sounds terrible." Well, what the whole universe is made out of, and the universes beyond that, and the universes beyond that, and the universes beyond that, and the universes beyond that, and the universes beyond that, and the universes beyond that! And the universes beyond that.
It's all dust, and dust, and dust, and dust, and dust, and dust, and dust. And you thought what made you you was your name, your personality. Your sunglasses, your reading glasses, your mustache, your lipstick, your eye shadow. You’ve got it all wrong! You’ve got it all, all, all-all-all-all-all-allwrong.
This is who you were, and this is what you will be. You really want to know about your tomorrow? That’s your tomorrow. You want to really know about your yesterday? That’s your yesterday: dust, dust, dust, really not any different than your tomorrow.
You want to know about your past? It’s really not any different than your future. And that is your future—guaranteed. Nothingis more guaranteed than that.
This is your now. This is not your future; this is not your past; this is your now. Are you riding it? Because this ride is called "life." Ride it. Ride it. Ride it.
You know, I’ve never said this before, not in these words. "That’s your past. It’s not any different than your future. And the only thing that’s different between your past and your future is ‘now.’ This is different. This’ll never be again."
That has happened before! That which is about to happen, you being dust? Oh yeah, that’s the way it was. But this, this force that’s prying these two open in the midst of everything—you have life, your life—not my life, your life, your existence. And this is now!
Does that make any sense? I hope it defines a little bit more of what "now" is—and up till now it was like, it was this tiny fragment. I don’t know; like I have said, it’s like, "And this is now." All of a sudden, it’s like, "Well, wait a minute. This is now, too. This is my now."
Give away, take away what my ideas are. Start living, start existing, start feeling—and you become free. You have heard that saying, "To fly, you don’t need to sprout wings; you just need to cutthe ropes that bind you back." Well, guess what binds us back? Ideas about everything.
And so, understand: the Divine is in every atom of that dust. And that’s how that Divine will be with you. Because there’s nothing in this world where that Divine isn’t. And even now, in this change, the Divine is with you.
- Prem Rawat
My Version of Divine
I don't know what concept you have if I use the word "Divine." I don't know what it will conjure up in your mind. I don't know. A 65-year-old man with gray hair, maybe older. 100-year-old man, gray hair. Long white beard, long flowing robes.
I mean, you know, don't let all your imagination come from just one painting. I asked somebody the other day. I said, "You know if you had to be an age for the rest of existence— I mean for the rest of existence for everything—what age would that be?" 70? 80? 90? 100? And the conclusion was 25.
I mean, that's young. You can see things; you can hear things, you can actually go for a walk and come back. You can actually remember things.
You know, when it starts to get to like the 50s, forget it. Memory goes south—I mean it's like "huh?" And you say to yourself, "I will remember that. That's important, I will remember that." Fifteen minutes later, "What was it that I was supposed to remember?"
This is 50. You remember that you were supposed to remember. A little bit further down the line, you don't even remember what it is that you forgot. All you remember is, you forgot. What? You don't know. And once you get close to 70, you don't really care what you forgot, what you remember, what it is, what it isn't. It doesn't matter.
So somebody in their imagination portrays the divine as 100 years old. Wshh! I mean in one way that would explain a lot of things. "Gee! I forgot I was supposed to save those people down there. Ugh! Well, anyways. You know, at a 100 I don't even know what I was supposed to remember."
You go up there, and it's like, "But God, you know, I was calling you." "You were?"
But here, my version of the divine is very different: that it is that power that creates. And it is that power that destroys and it is that power that makes sure that everything happens—not just here on earth, but in the entire universe. It is the power that makes the sunshine. It is the power that contains everything.
Undefinable? Absolutely. Un-comprehensible? Absolutely. And within you? Absolutely.
- 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