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So, here you are. You’re alive—and here is the situation—and this is an analogy. One day you receive this lottery ticket. And you have won! And the ticket allows you, entitles you to go to this shopping mall. And there are beautiful shops in this shopping mall; there is a grocery store in this shopping mall; there’s clothing in the shopping mall; there is everything you could possibly imagine in this shopping mall.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, I’m not here to preach to you. I’m not here to tell you I am better than you. I’m not here to tell you, “I have a plan; copy my plan.” I’m not here to sell you a plan. But I am here to share with you fifty-plus years of experience, and that’s it.

Because I have seen plenty of people who go, "This is stupid. This is weird. This is strange. Why me? This is a torture!"

And I’m here to say, "But, look. One, you have no limit for enjoyment." Right? Just simple stuff, right? Simple stuff? You have no limit. Because nobody has temples or churches or any of the holy places where you go to say, "Dear Lord, please remove some of this happiness; I just can’t stand it." It’s always about sadness, "Please remove the sadness." But happiness? That was like, "Bring it on!"

We are here. "Is it afoot? Do I want to be a part of it; don't I want to be a part of it? What is it all about; where do I go; where did I come from?" But that’s not what it’s about, folks. You’ve got a ticket. And the ticket says, that’s the shopping center—and you are in the shopping center now, by the way.

By the way, you’re in the shopping center, and it's an opportunity of a lifetime, and you have no strategy, no plan! And so I say, "Keep it simple; you’re in. This is what’s been given; this is the opportunity you’ve been given. Have a blast."

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

- Prem Rawat

You have something exceptional going on; something amazing is happening. What is it? For approximately 4.5 billion years you were dirt. That’s the age of the earth, 4.5 billion years. So for 4.5 billion years you were dirt.

Now, some scientists figure that it will be about fifteen billion years, twenty billion years the earth is going to be around; after that it’ll disappear. So, for the next fifteen billion years, what are you going to be? Dust! You were dust; you’re going to be dust. What are you now?

You are alive. The dust talks. The dust smiles; the dust dances. The dust cures other dust of ailments. The dust thinks about going to Mars; the dust wants to discover the universe.

You being alive is the exception to the dust—dust you were; dust you will be—being alive, you are an exception! The question is, “Is this exception exceptional?”

Is it exceptional? Or do you have the same excuses as everybody else on the face of this earth, “I don’t have time.” That’s the best excuse that we have been able to come up with: “I don’t have time.”

Listen. Next time you say, “I don’t have time,” you are forecasting your own future. Be very careful. Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Once you become dust again, time doesn’t matter.

Time only matters when you are alive. As dust, it doesn’t matter. It does what it does; it blows around. It is the ultimate state. Of all things that came from it, they all go back to it. All the stones were made from it—and they go back to being dust.

Don’t forecast your future that way. Think! Be awakened. Be awakened. Do you have the desire to look at yourself? Do you have the desire for peace? Or is peace just a word to you?

For most people in this world, “peace” just means another word. And the foregone conclusion is—what I come up against all the time—“Impossible!” The diagnosis that the doctors of this world—not the medical doctors—the doctors of this world have made for peace—“It’s dead.” And the only place where it comes into play is on a headstone at a graveyard: “Rest in peace.”

If that’s the only time we’re going to find peace, we’re in big trouble. We are in big trouble. Peace has to be in our hearts, dancing in our hearts, now. Today! Not when we’re dead.

To feel. To feel! And not just the word. But when somebody says to you, “peace,” you go, “I understand what you mean by ‘peace’—because I too understand my thirst for peace, and that I want peace in my life. Not just a hood ornament, but something real. I want that feeling of being fulfilled every single day.”

– 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

This is it—this is my day! How many of you know about tomorrow and believe in tomorrow? Not one? Gee, how are you going to make your flight back home? No, no, we’re all believers in tomorrow. But look at it. You can wait for tomorrow all day long. And just when you will be the closest to tomorrow, at 23:59:59...

That’ll be as close as you can get to tomorrow, 23:59:59, twenty-three, (or, eleven ... fifty-nine ... fifty-nine.) You know what it’ll become? Today. So you’re actually stuck in one long “today.”

And the most disgusting thing is, you have a strategy for tomorrow, but you have no strategy for today. So you’re reading the wrong map. You’re in Australia. You’re…you’re in Australia near Peak’s Crossing, looking at a map to go to the Brisbane International Airport ... and the map you have is of Los Angeles.

And you cannot find Brisbane International Airport. YBBN doesn’t show up on your map! And so now you question, “Is there actually a country called Australia? Is there really an airport called Brisbane? If it is, why don’t I see it?” This is what people ask me. “If there is peace, then how come I don’t already know? If it is in me, how come I don’t really already know?”

But that’s how it is. What you’re looking for is inside of you. But in your map, that’s not the map you’re looking for. So you find it’s not inside of you. So now, the whole thing of “believe” and disbelief begins. “Is there a God? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell?”

Yes, there is a heaven, but it’s here. It’s here, in your being. And yes, there is a hell! If you’re not in heaven, then guess where you are. There are no neutral territories.

So, what’s your strategy? How are you going to tackle this? You know, I… to me, it’s not a question that - “Should you be happy? Should you be sad? Should you be this, should you be that?” No. You should achieve your fullest potential. Fullest potential. And in that potential, you will realize that that requires for you to have peace. Without peace, a human being cannot achieve their potential.

And there is a desire, just like there was that desire, that thirst, the want to…to get up and to walk. It’s the same thirst to be fulfilled. But you cannot be fulfilled if you don’t have peace. Prosperity requires that you have peace.

- Prem Rawat

This gift of breath is an incredibly powerful gift that you have been given—incredibly powerful, that you have been given. Do you understand its value? Do you understand that this is one gift that all the money in the world cannot buy?

You cannot write it in the will—in a will, in an agreement—that, “All my breath will go to this person.” No. It’s only for you! Accept it, understand it. Cherish life, cherish consciousness, cherish your strength, cherish your heart, cherish knowledge, cherish peace—and you will understand the kindness of the Divine on every human being.

– Prem Rawat

When you were born, in the whole room they were only focusing on one thing—not if you are a boy or a girl, not your palm of your hands, of what your fortune is going to be. Only one thing: “Are you breathing or not?” This is how it is. If you’re not breathing, the doctor slaps you, “Breathe!” Again, “Breathe!” You go, “Aaaaa!” Doctor is happy; you are breathing.

All your life you’re going to breathe! Do you know how they will figure out you’re gone? “Are you breathing or not?”

In the hospital, if they have a machine and the machine says you are dead, but you’re still breathing, what do you think the doctor is going to hit? You or the machine? The doctor is not going to come to you and say, “Hey! The machine says you are dead!” No, the doctor is going to hit the machine! “You are broken.”

– Prem Rawat