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In this life, you have an opportunity. You have a chance to do right; and first of all, you have to do right by yourself, and there are not too many people in this world who do that. They’re not fair to themselves. They don’t look at the opportunity as an opportunity.

They look at opportunity as something outside of themselves. Not that, I am an opportunity! I’m alive! I exist! And this means something.

But you wonder, where is the sense of purpose? When people wake up in the morning, what do they think of? What is the sense of purpose? What do you do? In each one of our lives, there may be these little variances up and down, or whatever it is, but what is the overall sense of purpose?

And a lot of people who are aged, they go, “Well, you know…” They’re busy hanging up. I see that, and it’s like, why are you busy hanging up? The breath isn’t hanging up on you. You’re hanging up on yourself.

The concept of retirement, the concept of aging, the concept of getting old… because the reality of getting old is this. You’re only as old as you really feel.

There was a time when you, even though maybe you were ten, eleven years old, there were things you could not do a certain day because you felt bad – right? Because maybe you had sprained your leg, or you broke your arm, and you couldn’t do something.

So, not being able to do something was always there, because it hurt to do it, or just, something wasn’t right. So that’s that part of it.

But, how old do you feel? And the reality there is very, very interesting. Because you don’t feel any older here [indicating his head] than when you were young. Because the brain actually doesn’t age the same way as people think. You know, your skin might not be renewing so easily or quickly…

So, what changes? The only thing that changes is other people’s perception of you, which only changes as you think the other people perceive you. “Oh, but the other people think I am old. Oh, well look what they said.” Or, “That young girl isn’t going to like me anymore”, that’s what it becomes.

We don’t look at our wisdom. We don’t look at our opportunity. We don’t understand that we had such a good life, and it is still the opportunity to move forward and to go forward.

But I see a lot of people and it’s like, “Oh, I’m getting old.” You cannot ever lose the fervor of being alive! That would not be fair to life, or to the breath. Your vibrancy, your existence, your need to be alive, respect it. Respect your life. Wherever you go, whatever you’re going to do…

And, don’t live your life by the perception that you have of what other people see you as. This is really, really unfair. Because you are who you are. Good, bad, right, wrong – you’re alive! The significance of everything that has been said up to this point is relative to that.

Do right because you are alive. This is your opportunity. Your opportunity. And how long does this opportunity last? It lasts till the last breath.

-Prem Rawat

The six things that we are made out of—oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, calcium, nitrogen, and phosphorus—this is what we’re made out of. This composition was possible because it was available here.

How ordinary do you think oxygen is? It’s everywhere; you’re sitting on it. Carbon? It’s everywhere! All over the place. Calcium? Everywhere. Hydrogen? Abundant! All of these things that you are actually made out of, they are all over the place!

So, the composition is you—of the same exact stuff, the composition is, you-you-you-you, you-you-you, you.

I’m telling you, “Hey, know about being alive—know about being alive, because you’re the only one who can know about being alive whilst you are alive. Because it is a most beautiful thing that there is. And if you do know, you will enjoy being alive. You will be in peace.”

The “simple” word, in your vocabulary, actually denotes something inferior—“Ah, that’s too simple”—when it should be, “Wow! That is so simple. It’s elegant!” And just that would make it, not just a life, but something extraordinary.

Play on words: “Extra, ordinary”? Extraordinary. Because there’s nothing wrong in the ordinary, and there’s nothing wrong in the extraordinary—because that dirt that you don’t like so much is what you’re made out of.

– Prem Rawat

There was a man, and he was on his way to his fields. And as he was walking along, he came across an object. Now, this village that he was from was very, very remote, and hardly anybody ever visited. This village was also very isolated from any technology, any new things.

So when this man came across this object, he picked it up and he looked at it. And he was very surprised! And he said, “Wow, what a beautiful painting of this beautiful person! How beautiful is this painting; how beautiful is this face. How incredible.”

So he took that, and he put it in his bag. That day he came home; he pulled out the so-called “painting” and he put it on his dresser, and he just sat there and watched and watched. He was mesmerized at how beautiful this painting was. This was so gorgeous!

The wife saw him sitting and gazing at this object, and she was very confused. So when the man went to get some dinner, she snuck into his room, and went and looked at this so-called “beautiful painting.” And she was shocked.

She was shocked because she saw in this object the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. And immediately, being of a suspicious nature, she said, “Ah-hah! Now I understand why he’s been sitting here and watching. He is in love with this woman, and indeed, he would be in love with this woman because she is so beautiful!”

She became furious—started fighting with her husband. “What is the matter of this? You know, why are you not faithful to me? I mean, what is wrong with me, and why…why do you…why do you fall in love with this other woman?”

The father, the owner of the house, the elder, he came, and he said, “Why are you two fighting?” She said, “Well, because! He has this painting of this incredibly beautiful woman on his dresser.” And the man said, “No, you’re lying.” So, the elder, the father, decided to go see for himself

And when he looked at this painting (so-called painting), what he saw is this man, beautiful gray hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful flowing beard. He said, “Oh, my God! This is a picture of God himself!”

And now, all three of them are fighting. And they’re fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting. Finally, a wise man happened to be passing by; he peeped in, and he said, “Why are you guys fighting?”

The man said, “Listen. You’re looking in a mirror. This is no painting. This is called a ‘mirror.’ All it does is simply reflect. What you saw was not any other man but you yourself! And what you saw—as he turned to the wife—it was you. You don’t have to be suspicious—that was you!”

And he turned to the old man and he said, “Old man, that’s no picture of God. That’s you.”

Why the war? Because they didn’t know who they were. When they saw that reflection, they didn’t understand. And then, once it made sense: “That’s me!”

But what makes you, you are these attributes of knowing, of wanting peace, and recognizing the peace you have within you.

– Prem Rawat