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I travel a lot and talk to people about peace. People have so many different interpretations of peace. Using the analogy of a lamp, we want to see lit lamps of peace on the borders of India and Pakistan, Beirut, Israel, Palestine—wherever it may be. But peace is a little more than lit lamps. And that's what we have to consider.
The body of an oil lamp is made of clay. In the lamp is a cotton wick, and in the bowl is oil. If you light the wick, it will burn for only a few minutes before going out. If you want the lamp to stay lit for a long time, you need oil. You may not actually see it, yet it is the oil that is helping the wick to stay lit and give light.
There is a peace that is not just a surface peace—not just a peace of ideas or conditions, but a peace that goes far beyond those things. The peace that we need to get in touch with and that we should be discussing around the world today is the peace we would like to see reflected on the borders of nations.
People not fighting each other is just a reflection, a consequence of something else that happened. Not the real thing.
A mother or father would like to see their child smile. It's a wonderful feeling. So how should they go about that? Pull their cheeks? Put a piece of wood between their lips?
This is what we try to do. We have created a qualification for peace, and that is: no wars. But "no wars" is a consequence of something, just like war is a consequence of something. Peace will happen when every one of us can feel that feeling of peace within us.
If you want to light a room, you light the lamps. Each lamp is a human being. If you want peace on this earth, you will have to light these lamps called human beings.
We have fundamental needs, and unless they are fulfilled, it really doesn't matter what we do. We have traded today for tomorrow. Today was spent planning for tomorrow. But tomorrow will never come because tomorrow always comes as today. How will tomorrow be spent? Planning for the next day.
The world is in a rut. We have traded peace for prosperity when the formula has always been peace first, then prosperity. Not prosperity, then peace. We think that all we need is prosperity. If everybody had food, everything would be fine. But even when people have food, they still have needs.
There is something that has been the quest of every civilization on the face of this earth. The thirst for peace. The thirst for peace lies within you, and peace is also within you. Begin with yourself. Begin with respecting what today means to you, instead of trading it for tomorrow. What does this moment that you are alive mean to you? Your life is like a necklace—one moment, another moment, another moment, another moment.
You are the first step. Peace begins with you, not somebody else. All our lives, things have come from somewhere else. But the process of peace begins with you. It begins with you understanding the possibility that being alive brings.
So much happens that attracts our attention. Maybe one other thing should attract our attention, and that's the possibility of peace. So much happens that distracts us. Maybe there is one thing we should never be distracted from, and that is the possibility brought by life itself.
I present people with the possibility of themselves. I remind them to pour the oil in the lamp. It's fine to decorate the clay, and you need the wick, but don't forget the oil. There are many priorities and demands, many things that have to be done. But begin with the very simple formula of peace and prosperity. That formula was laid out a long, long time ago. And peace begins with you.
Maharaji
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in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
Not too long ago, I had an interview with a magazine. The interviewer was saying that people have so many explanations. I agree. Who is considered good? The one who can come up with the best explanation. People want to explain God. People want to explain life. People want to explain what is good, what is truth, what is salvation. And these are things that can only be felt but not explained.
You cannot explain what life is. You need to feel it. You cannot explain breath. You need to breathe it. You cannot explain water. If you are thirsty, you need to drink it. You cannot explain food. If you are hungry, you need to eat it.
You cannot explain what this existence means. It can only be felt. If you understand that, an entirely different door opens up to you. You begin to understand by feeling — not through explanations. You begin to understand the preciousness of life, the joy, and the truest responsibility to be in gratitude to the most magnificent power that has made it possible for you to be alive. That's what it means to be alive. Not doubt. Not confusion. Not pain, not suffering, not misery, not darkness. Not sorrow and lamenting and wishing. Being alive means to be crystal clear.
You have imagined this entire existence and what it means. Day after day after day, this monster that you have created could never survive except that you keep feeding it with explanations. Every day, you have to explain what happened, what it means to be alive. Every day, you have excuses for why you were unable to feel gratitude, why you lived another day unconsciously. And before you know it, you run out of days. And then you finally know without a doubt all that you should have done. But now you don't have the means to do it! People have explanations for that, too: "Life is cruel."
When you live in the world of explanations, what will you hear? More explanations. And what I am telling you is that more explanations is not what you need. What you need is real water to quench your thirst, not another explanation of water. What you need is real food to satisfy your hunger. Otherwise, you're going to go hungry from here on out. Satisfying your hunger is not about explanations or ideas or being close to food. If that were the case, hungry people would lean on restaurant walls and be satisfied.
If it won't work with food, why would it work in the inner realm? Is the hunger for peace an illusion? Or is it real? Is the hunger to be content an illusion? Or is it real? A very good question. And the answer is: It's not an illusion! It touches every single human being on the face of this earth, and it has been an issue since time immemorial. What people have done is to learn how to evade the issue — not tackle it but evade it.
I tell everyone who will listen to me that you don't need to evade it. Peace is real, joy is real, contentment is real, and there is a way to get to it. I know. I've been talking to people about it for a long time. Don't take my word for it. Find out for yourself.
Somebody told me, "Here is a person who is very independent." I said, "He is dependent on being independent." We would all like to be "independent" because we are so dependent on being independent. Another explanation.
We're drowning in our own explanations. Why do you have so many explanations? You cannot explain it. Who can? Everybody has an explanation. Why are there people dying? People have explanations. Why are there people hungry in this world? People have explanations. But why do you have so many explanations for these things? Nobody knows.
Feel at home in peace, not in confusion. Feel at home in the feeling, not in explanations. Feel at home in your true self.
If you want to be independent, then be independent of confusion. Be independent of doubt. Be independent of all that is not yours. And feel. Feel reality in its magnificence. Not from fear. Because fear is not yours, either. You were made to behold joy. This is what belongs in this vessel, in this human body. This is what it was made for. Not all the other stuff.
Who you listen to is up to you. That's always your choice. You can listen to the voice inside of you that says, "Everything is wrong." Or you can listen to the voice that says, "Be. Be free. Be clear. Enjoy this life."
Many people will tell you that you don't have a choice. I know you have a choice. Every day that you hear the two voices, you have a choice which one to listen to. You won't be able to stop hearing them. But which one you pay attention to is up to you. Know. Understand. And be fulfilled. Every day. No excuses. No explanations. Be fulfilled every single day.
When I talk, people say, "I have never heard that explanation before!" I tell them, "This is not an explanation. I'm offering you the real thing." Feel it. Feel that peace in your life. This is the real thing. The magazine interviewer asked me, "So, do you just go around showing people pictures of wells?" I said, "No, I make sure that their thirst is quenched. This is the possibility that I present."
Prem Rawat
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