ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, July 24, 2020 - May 7,2021
Following on from his Covid Lockdown internet broadcasts, Rawat began a series of One To One internet broadcasts which is typical of Rawat. He is the One but the talks are to anyone who wants to go the website link. So they're really One to Not As Many As Rawat Would Like. There were 22 broadcast starting on July 24, 2020 to May 7, 2021, one every 2 weeks
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT - NO. 1, Jul 24, 2020: Back to Perfection
"This moment called "now" is where my breath is happening, where I am, where what I need to be aware of - is. This is not only easy - it's incredibly enjoyable. Then, all the wisdom of the world - all the wisdom of the world becomes related to me." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing well, healthy, safe.
So, a lot's been going on. And I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk to you and update you a little bit. As you may already know by now - if you don't, I am in Barcelona, in Europe - and I got here; I've done an event.
And of course, we made sure that it was very safe. Everybody was seated with a distance of six feet; everybody had masks on. Everybody had been interviewed, the temperature taken. And the event was very good, very successful.
And I, what I wanted to talk to you about is something that I said at that event. And what I - one of the things that I had said was about perfection. So, to just give you a little bit of a background on that.
When I first came to the West, (forty-nine years ago, forty-nine years and a few days ago), a lot of people were really captured by this idea of being perfect - they wanted to be perfect. And they wanted to achieve perfection.
And I would try to explain to them that, you know, "The perfection is inside of you - and you can experience it - but we live in rather an imperfect world." And of course, there, you can take that on many different levels.
One day, even this body is not going to be around. The population of earth isn't going to be around; human beings as we know them won't be around - the earth, as we know it, won't be around. The oceans, the rivers, the mountains, the sun, the moon - nothing. Everything will be destroyed. Everything will begin (as it began from dust), will go back to being dust.
Yeah, don't get overexcited; it's going to take billions and billions of years for that to happen - even though we're very much trying to accelerate that process somehow. But, again, it's going to take billions of years.
So, how, I mean, how can you get close to perfection? Well, there is a way. But you totally have to change your definition of what "perfect" is. And so, if you have a concept of perfection as the infinite - but that's not going to happen. But there is another way to look at it, and that is that you can be perfectly human - perfectly human. This is possible.
Because that is a journey going back, backwards. Because in your ideas, you want to be "perfect this, perfect that. Really good at this, really good at that." But what is it like to be human? So then, yes, you have your flaws; you have things that always need improvement. And once you get to one threshold, then there is the next threshold. If you get to one platform, then there is the next platform.
But what does it mean to be human? So, in very simple terms, it means to experience something. That's the capability that we have; that is the possibility that we have - that we have been given a vessel that can experience, that can think, that can (most incredibly) understand.
Now, there is a problem with our understanding. And what is the problem with our understanding? The problem - the biggest problem with our understanding is that we have already got a format for everything! So, you know, if you are a Hindu, (and you're born into a Hindu family or household, and everybody tells you about God), then you've already got a format of what that is.
And it goes like that with everything. When somebody mentions the word "bread," well, an Indian might think of a phulka - that's the little puffy bread. If you are from the Middle East, maybe somebody says "bread" and you might think of pita.
If you are from another part, you know, somewhere in there, the same area, you might think of rumali roti - which is a roti that's as thin as a handkerchief, (and that's literally, its name). You go to America and you talk about bread, and you might think of a, you know, white Wonder Bread. And you go to France and maybe somebody says "bread" and you think of a loaf - I mean, a baguette.
So, these little concepts, (harmless of course; no problem). But they have defined for you, your understanding. And it is only when you can step out of that format, can you begin to recognize what truly something is and appreciate something for what it is - not what it can do for you or how it relates to you.
And this is extremely important to have in this life. Otherwise, you're closed off. There is an example that is given in India quite often - and what they do is they sometimes have the oxen going around a well, driving this long arm, (that is then driving the gear, and that is helping the water from the well come out and go into the fields).
And what they do is they tie their eyes. They put a blindfold on their eyes. And the oxen, they go round and round and round and round and round.
And the saying goes that when they are - "When they're walking, they're walking for quite a few hours at a time, and they must think that they have gone so far! But when the blindfold is taken out, they find themselves exactly in the same place" - because they've been going around and round and round and round in circles.
So, I try to look at it this way, that we have this idea of, "I see everything in relation to me. This is my this; this is my that. This person is this; this person is that." But do I see the person for who they are, regardless of what my relationship to them is? Can I do that? Can I let go of the format? Can I let go of what is there that has been preconceived?
It's like a cookie-cutter. Everything I look at all day long: "I like this; I like that. I have this; I have that. This person looks nice; this person doesn't look nice." Well, all of these things as it relates to me. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. But then there is the quality that one can have to see something for what it is. Not how it should be, but what it is.
So, you could always look at the moon - "Oh, it should be like this; it should be like this." But to see the moon for what it is. To see that river for what it is. To see this whole nature for what it is - non-judgmental - for what it is. Whether it benefits you or not, that's not the issue. For what it is.
And when you can begin to also see the people in your life for who they are - not in relationship to you, but who they are, then you can - only then and then only can you begin to have true appreciation for them, who they truly are.
And this goes one step more. That when you turn and look at yourself - not the fulfiller of your own expectations - but to see yourself for who you are, this human being on the face of this earth who has the possibility of being fulfilled, who desires peace over turmoil, who wants to be happy, wants to be fulfilled, wants to know, wants to be in that clarity, only then can you begin to appreciate what you have.
Because so far - if you look at yourself just as the fulfiller of your own wishes, then if you happen to fulfill those wishes - and this is what happens every day to people. That if you fulfill the wishes, everything is good; you're on top of the world - then if you don't fulfill your wishes, then you are disappointed with your own self.
But to have the ability to see yourself for who you are. From the time that you were born, and the time that you will go, that time that defines your life (in terms of time, anyways; not accomplishments, but time), to see that as a gift can only happen if you can truly see it for what it is - what it is. What is that time? - the most precious of precious times that you have been given, that you have been granted?
Now, of course, that sounds like somebody, you know, approved it and so on and so forth; that's not what I meant - it's somehow made possible. And how precious that is.
Without attaching all the things to it, "Oh, I didn't accomplish this; I didn't accomplish this; I should have been this; I should have been that; I should have achieved this; I should have achieved that. You know, I only have this much money; I only have that much money. And then if the" - off it goes.
So you have become the fulfiller of your wishes, fulfiller of your ideas of who you should be. And you did not look at yourself or truly who you are, as you are. Then, how can there be any appreciation?
A person who only judges themselves, only looks at themselves through that template that they have created in which "Yeah, you accomplished this; you accomplished this; you accomplished this; you accomplished this" - ah, if you didn't? You're going to have disappointment.
But is that why you have been given this life? What do you suppose is the reason that this breath comes into you - and brings you the gift of life? That you exist? That you can see, that you can think, you can feel?
If you're just going to be a robot and do, all day long, what you do, why do you need to feel? Why do you need to feel good about something; why do you need to feel bad about something? Because if the objective is just to be that robot: "Do, do, do" all day long, without knowing why I am doing it, without thinking why I am doing it - and deriving no joy from it but a tireless day…?
And you're just happy to come home. Yes. And then all of a sudden, this twist happens - where it's, all of a sudden, "Ah, lockdown! You've got to stay at home." And then nobody wants it; nobody wants to be home. "Want to go out"; they want to do this; they want to do that….
Because people are really not taking a look at their life as it is - what has been given, every day that is - something is given; something is made possible. Every day of your life means something. Every moment of your life means something. You're not here just aimlessly.
That those millions and millions and millions of species that came - and little experiments all the way across, and success - so you could be who you are, the two eyes, the nose, the ears, the teeth, the skin, the hair? I mean, who appreciates all that, all that grand orchestration to "what will work and what will not work" that this nature put forth to make sure you could be how you are?
But I know people say, you know, "Family is number one." And every - oh, and I'd, so many times I have seen, it's like, everybody's like…. And I know that as soon as they leave the venue and they're off to, onto their direction, it's like, "And no, I don't have time for my family."
Because again, you're not - you are looking at your family and you look at your family and it's, "And well, do they fulfill my expectations?" Not looking at each one of the members of the family for who they are. But how they relate to you.
And only then, when you can begin to have that vision, that view, to see all that is around you for what it is - for what it is - will you even begin to approach the "perfect human being" who can enjoy, who can appreciate like no one else.
Your appreciation is unique to you - the way you can appreciate, the way you…. And you know, it's not like…. So, so, there - well, how come, all of a sudden there is a song and it's number one - but not everybody likes it. How can that be?
And not everybody likes chocolate. How can that be, right? Not everybody likes vanilla - how can that be? Not everybody likes ice cream; how can that be? But it is.
And of course, that question very much says, "I, I see the whole world relative to me. I like it, so everybody else must like it." But that's not the way it is.
On the contrary - on the contrary, to just look, look around, be. And that's the only way you can have empathy towards others. Not "how they should be in relation to you" - but who they are, what they are - your friends, your family, the nature, all of it. And then you can be in that position to appreciate something - to appreciate that these things exist.
Do we appreciate, every day, the rising of that sun? What if, one day, that sun didn't rise? What would that day be like? It'd be chaos - chaos!
I mean, you know, of course, there are times when, six months, the sun doesn't shine up in the North, in the winter - and then, the winter in the South, it doesn't shine. But that was it; I mean it - but around the equator, it's pretty much every day it shines.
But what if one day it disappeared? It would be chaos; it would be fiasco, that everything would be so cold; everything would be so dark….
And people say, "Oh, yeah, I" - but then, that's a joke, right? "The moon will still be there." And well, no, no, no, the light from the moon that you see actually comes from the sun.
It's like that joke, you know; somebody said, "Well, which one is more important, the sun or the moon?" And the people decided that the moon was more important, "Because what is the point of the sun coming out during the day? There's so much light. But at least, the moon shines at night when the light is needed."
But that just shows that they don't know that the light that the moon reflects is the light of the sun. It would be a chaos; it would be a disaster.
And, you know, do we appreciate? Then we would! Then we would, when it's like, "Oh my God, what happened to the sun? What happened to the sun? What happened to the sun" - and I can just see social media would be going, "What happened to the sun; what happened to the sun?"
But right now we're just too busy - "But that's wrong. And that's wrong; that's wrong." Everybody's nice and judgmental about everything. No empathy…. And not appreciating something for what it is.
This is a complex world that we live in. Everybody has their debates: "Wrong! Right! Right, wrong." And we, "No, no, you're wrong because it should be like this. That, no, you're wrong because it should be like this."
Make a better world for yourself, of course! In which everybody is included, everybody is treated well. But that can only happen when you can have an appreciation for who they are - not in relation to you, but who they are; they're another human being.
This is nature. It needs to be looked after. Trees do a lot of things. In fact, I once watched this documentary and I was shocked, how intelligent the trees are. But one thing they don't do is walk, go for a walk. I can.
Should I see that tree as inferior to me because it cannot walk, because I can? Or can I see that tree for what it is? And it is a superb, superb example of something that went through the different experiments and emerged victorious; it's there.
That grass that you see that doesn't mean anything to you, went through so much experimenting - and emerged as victorious. That bird went through so much evolution to get to that stage - and emerged victorious. Every wave of the ocean, traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling, reaching the shore. You see it - it's done. It did what it was supposed to do.
How important is that perfection, that viewpoint, that way to be able to see something? Incredibly important. Incredibly important. It makes such a difference for all of us - for you, me, all of us on the face of this earth.
So, anyways, I hope that you stay safe, take care of yourself. Again, remember, "Don't give it; don't get it." Simple things: wash your hands; maintain your distance - your mask.
And you know, we have seen that those people that we always looked forward to, "will solve our problems," are incapable of solving our problems. Some countries have done really well; some countries can't get their act together.
Again, I look at those countries, and those little countries that have done really well, it's not like they're superpowers. They were never called "superpowers." But in relation to this coronavirus thing, they are superpowers because they've done really well. And what, in my opinion, is the "really well" is, least amount of deaths. And one death is too many.
They were really able to help each other. As human beings, they came together and helped each other so innocent people did not have to die. Keep that in mind. Keep that in mind.
Enjoy yourself; be healthy; be well. I'll see you soon. Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 2, Jul 25, 2020: Life is a gift
"In my life, in your life, it's not any different. We, too, desire that joy, that happiness, that kindness from the heart. That's our thirst. It is in the light that we function well. It is in the light that we can see our obstacles. It is because of the light we can circumnavigate those obstacles and proceed towards that destination of being content." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone. I just want to take a few minutes and say a few things to you, few things that could encourage you, help you towards that beauty that lies inside of you - encourage you to look towards that, to move towards that, to understand that, to accept that.
You know, in our lives we will accept many things. And we will be told to accept them; we will be told, "Oh, yeah, this is how it is" - and we will go, "Right, this is how it is," and we just merely accept it.
And I'm not asking you to merely accept it because I say so or somebody says so or it's written in a book. That's the difference. Because I want you to accept only that that you feel, that you understand, that you can see the benefit. I'm not telling you to pursue happiness blindly. And I want you to experience that happiness that lies inside of you!
I mean, they have created a standard of happiness, of what happiness is, and it's like, "Oh, you have to have your bank account and you have to have your this, and how, if you have…."
And excuse me; excuse me. If you look at all the standards of "happiness" as defined by the world - not as defined by me - and you've got all of that. And you've got this; you've got this; you've got this; you've got this; you've got everything!
And all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you start sneezing - and you sneeze and you sneeze and you sneeze and you sneeze. And you develop a little bit of a cough - and now, you've got your bank account.
You've - you've got this and you've got that and you've got security and you own your house and you own your car and you, you own this and you own that and you own your donkey and you own your dog and you own your cat! But you're sneezing. And it's not bad - it's not that bad.
And then, let's take it one step more. And then all of a sudden, you stop sneezing; everything is fine - you stop coughing. But this thing, this little thing comes into your brain, your thoughts, that you just might have coronavirus.
Now, in reality, you don't - you were only sneezing because there was something in the air; you were coughing because something was in the air…. And that's all gone and you're fine and you don't have coronavirus but you haven't gotten tested - and this thing has come in your head.
So, in reality, everything is fine - and you should be happy! (Because you've got your bank account and you've got your dog and you've got your donkey and you've got everything!) But a thought has come, a doubt has come - and you're doubtful. A doubt has come - that you might, just might have that coronavirus.
Now, where is your happiness now? It's gone. It's gone! What kind of happiness - what kind of happiness relies on a totally fake situation? In reality, everything is fine; you're fine; you're fine; you're fine; you're fine. But a doubt sneaks in - and destroys that happiness; is that happiness? Is that happiness?
Because if that's happiness, then I would say, happiness is overrated. (Hmm-hmm, hah-hah.) True happiness is yours. And true happiness, nobody can take it away from you - no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the doubt. Regardless of what happens in your life, that happiness is still lying inside of you - that's the true happiness.
That's the true joy - that's the nature of the true joy. How is that possible? Example: light, darkness. Pile on the darkness. Pile it on; pile it on; pile it on; bring on more darkness and more darkness and more darkness and do you think the light will get any less? No. Because it's the nature of the light. It is the nature of the light.
Bring on more light, more light, more light, will the darkness start to disappear? Absolutely. That's the nature of light. That's the nature of joy. That is the nature of this beauty that is life.
These are the gifts that we have been given - simply, the most astounding gifts that we have been given, the most incredible gifts that we have been given are such gifts of joy, of clarity - of peace! Of serenity! That even in the midst of the greatest turmoil, they do not abandon us. And that infinite, that power, even in our darkest moment, it does not abandon us.
Because what would the human state be, if in that time of the greatest need, we get abandoned? We are left to our own vices? Left to our own condition? Our nature to forget, our nature not to remember, our nature to get confused? This is all we would end up with.
There would be no light. There would only be darkness. And that would be hideous. That this - then this life would not be a gift.
But it is a gift. And what makes it a gift? And a beautiful gift, an incredible gift. This joy is a gift, most incredible gift. That when we would need it the most, it would be there. That clarity, when we need it the most, that that clarity would be there.
That when we need it the most, that joy would be there. That when we need it the most, the understanding would be there. When we need it the most, that serenity would be there.
Otherwise, the mountain of doubt would undoubtedly overtake this existence. And when this life is filled with doubt - un-clarity, darkness, misunderstanding, anger, fear - believe me, for somebody to come along and say "This life is a gift" sounds a bit audacious. ("What do you mean, 'This life is a gift,' doesn't feel like a gift.")
When I go and visit some prisons - and I say to the inmates that this life is a gift, every time this happens, believe me, there's a stark change, a stark difference that you can see in the audience.
There are those people who have been coming to the Peace Education Program, have been with the Peace Education Program and have heard, have experienced, have felt. And they, when they hear that, just that statement - when they hear that, a smile breaks out on their lips. Their eyes shine a bit.
And those who have just come to see "what this is all about," for them it's like, "What are you talking about?" In fact, one of - one of the persons in the prison said to me; he said, "How do you know?" (Huh-hah, huh-hah. How do I know? I know.)
Pain is pain. You can have more of it - you will feel more of it - or you can have less of it but it's still pain. And in the stark reality of things, yeah, there are moments when those two wolves, (the good wolf and the bad wolf that is inside of you) fight - and this fierce fight. And there are times - my God, there are times when it feels like the bad wolf is going to win.
And that is, believe me, the scariest thing - to know that that bad wolf might win. In the midst of that, there is the goodness. There is, in that darkest, darkest, darkest of nights - and it's always called "a glimmer of hope" - and that glimmer of hope can outshine all that darkness. That's the power. Indeed, that is the power.
And time and time and time and time and time again, that's the tussle. And every time - every time, the light wins. No matter how dark that night might be - and in the morning, the horizon turns pink and the heralding of the sunrise is imminent. And then it breaks; everywhere is filled with light. And when that light comes, there's no question; the darkness is gone.
In my life, in your life, it's not any different. We too desire that joy, that happiness, that kindness from our heart, because that's our thirst. It is in the light that we function well. It is in the light we can see our obstacles well. It is because of the light we can circumnavigate those obstacles - and proceed towards that destination that is the same for every one of us, to be content.
Look at the lot. It doesn't matter who we are, what we believe in. It's all going to be the same. Eventually, it's going to be the same. And one day, everybody, everybody has to go. And it's not about going. But it's every day that you have, that this breath comes into you, what do you do with it, what do you make of it? How you allow the good wolf to win.
And that is how, my friends, you celebrate life. No other way to celebrate life. No other way to celebrate existence, not a candle, not a cake, not a this, not a that, not a balloon, not a party hat, not party favors.
But when you feel that tranquility, when you feel that joy, when you feel that clarity, when you feel that understanding - when you feel that peace dance inside your heart, be busy celebrating life.
Thank you very much - and I'll see you soon. Stay safe; stay well. Take care.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT - NO. 3, Jul 26, 2020: Your true needs
"When somebody is asking, "What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here?" Then of course there's a question behind that question. And that question is, "Why are you asking this question? What is inspiring you to ask this question? What is not hitting home? Why does this question even crop up?" - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. I hope you're all doing good. So, again, just to take a few minutes and say a few things that somehow could help you in this life. Sometimes I really feel that every little bit of help that we can get really makes a big difference.
Because somehow when we get lost, one of the things about getting lost is you have no idea when you're in the process of getting lost. Everything seems fine; everything seems great - till something comes along and it's like, "Well, jeez, ah, all this looks a little unfamiliar" - or "I should have been at my destination, and I'm not. Ah, where am I going; what is happening?"
And then, of course, that's a big, big realization: "Where am I?" And then that question turns - and that question turns to "Who am I? What is the purpose of my life?" When I first came to the West, that was, that was big! "Well, what is the purpose of life?" People would ask.
And one thing that I learned (answering a lot of questions, especially when I was very young) is that it's not so much that you try to answer the particular question - but what you have to ascertain is, "Why the question? Why is that question being asked?"
If somebody asks you, "Is this, you know, Number One Street?" Well, you can obviously say "No!" or "Yes," depending on if it is or it isn't.
But a more relevant question would be - "Obviously, you don't know that this is First Street or it's not First Street; you're asking that question - are you lost?" And if you don't even want to put it that way ("are you lost"), you can put it this way: "Where would you like to go?"
So, this is my approach (and has been) towards the questions, the question behind the question: "What is the question behind the question?"
So, when somebody's asking, "Well, what is the purpose of my life; why am I here?" - then, of course, there is another question behind that question. And that question is, "Why are you asking this question? What is inspiring you to ask this question? What is not hitting home? Why does this question even crop up?"
When you know what your home looks like and you are at home - and there's no question about "you are at home," it would be very rare for somebody to sit there and go, "I wonder if I am at home. Where is my home?"
Because you look around and yup, there's your dog and there is the carpet you purchased and there is your sofa and there is your, you know, picture and there is the, your wife's picture or your children's picture or whatever - and it's obvious.
But what has happened where you are looking at it, but it isn't so obvious? It doesn't feel like it is obvious? So, this is the big question: "What happens?"
So, we get involved in this world; we - we hear all the definitions of everything. And don't you think it's a little curious that everybody wants to sit there and give us definitions, definitions after definitions after definitions, knowing full well that those definitions are wrong.
The world actually is really, really, really terrible at defining things. Because whatever knowledge they have is only up to that certain point - then science discovers something more, and those answers change.
So, what is the need for these definitions? "Well, so that I can build my map!" Well, that's a great idea! But do you want to build your own map? Or do you want a map that actually reflects the reality?
So, if you're in a boat, would you like to just build your own map? Or would you like to have a map that truly lets you know where the rocks are, where the shallows are, where the deep is? And all those details that would be pertinent to you?
Or do you just want to go along with a little knife and a little pen, and just draw things up and say, "Oh, yeah, this is fine; this is fine; this is fine"? Because I think that would be a useless map. What would be the point of that map?
So, before we can even go towards what kind of a map it should be, and what does that "reality map" really look like…? Because of course, I would like my map to very clearly say, "Okay, when I get to this intersection, I become successful. I become rich. I become wise. When I get to this intersection, I become content." But there will never be a map like that.
But what I have to find out is, "What does my map really look like?" So, it's a funny map - because it reflects what I need - not what I think I need, but what I need - truly, what I need.
So, I need joy. And this map reflects, "You, because you need joy, that joy is within you." Funny map - "in you. You need this; this is important."
I mean, you know, there are many kinds of maps. So, if you're - if you're on a boat, and you're, you know, trying to navigate a stretch of water - and there are rocks there, and there are mountains and islands and different things like that, would you not like to have those depicted?
Because what the boat needs is deep water. And by depicting all the obstacles that are there, you can then navigate and stay in that deep water and be okay.
I mean, what would be the point, on a marine map, to have all the shopping centers that are way inland? I mean, how are you going to get to the shopping center with your boat? You can't. It's irrelevant. What's relevant is the rocks, the shallows - and where the dark is. And that is usually the deep water.
So, the same thing. What do you really need in your life? You need joy. And where is that joy? That joy is in you. Your map would have so much more to do with your existence, with your life, than just ideas. And that is the map that you need - a map that truly reflects the needs that I have.
If I am navigating and I'm flying from point A to point B, I would like to have all the high points, so I don't run into them. The low ones, I don't care about so much - the high ones I do. I would like those depicted.
I would like those hazards depicted that would cause harm. And I would also like that area depicted where I can be, and I'll be fine. So then, the heading changes that I have to make, I can very clearly see, "Yes, this is keeping me away from that obstacle."
Same thing in my own map. I need clarity. And where is that clarity? It's not on top of some mountain. It is not a list of requirements. It's not a shopping list. It's not in a shopping center - but it is inside of me.
What you are looking for is inside of you. Your map would be very different - because it would say, "Inside: safe harbor. Outside: be careful - obstacles, problems. Issues!" And that's the way it is.
A friend of mine, through the expressions, sent me this message. And it was - you know, I like reading what people have to say. People sometimes send me questions; sometimes just, you know, "thank you" and - I like reading it. It's been very sweet.
And he said, "Well, I've been, you know, with this person for a really, really long time. And this person doesn't want to be with me anymore - you got any advice?"
So, I've been thinking about it. And all that time, you can - I mean, there are two things here - all that time you were with that person, you didn't know it, but it wasn't going to happen; it wasn't going to pan out. And that person, ultimately, at the end of the day, wasn't going to be with you, didn't want to be with you - and that person told you so.
So, now you can look at it as a total waste of time - it's up to you. Or you can say, "I had a great time. That was wonderful." I'm not the one to make that judgment; you're the one to make that judgment. And "Thank you. Thank you" to that other person for giving you that wonderful time. "Understood! You go your way; I go my way. Not a problem."
But this can only happen if you have found your strength. If you haven't found your strength, you are - but you have been leaning on that other person, and now, really, what you're saying to me is, "That other person has decided to leave - and as that person is leaving, I am falling. What do you have to say?"
What do I have to say? I want to say to you, "If you had a good time, be thankful! And if you haven't yet learnt how to stand on your own feet, it's a good time, a good time to learn to stand on your own feet."
Will somebody else come along? I don't know; maybe they will; maybe they won't. If they do, I hope you will stand on your feet, not on their shoulders, because that is the fundamental requirement of the relationship.
What is your relationship - and now, that's it; that's it; that's my answer to that person. (He's a friend of mine, so, you know, I hope he takes it in stride.) But what is your relationship to this world? Are you leaning on this world? Standing on your feet?
Or you're totally dependent on this world? And if this world - something happens to this world, (ah, uh-huh, uh-huh, something happens to this world), and it gets shaken up, then so do you. Which one is it?
Are you all shook up? The world got pretty shaken up. The world leaders, nobody was prepared for this thing; nobody was prepared for this thing. And when it hit, it was like, "Eeee-yikes!" People didn't even know what the extent of this thing is.
There's been a massive amount of education going on, believe me. "Virus, what is a virus?" God! It's been over-defined what a virus is. I think everybody knows now what a virus is - not that they can help themselves with it - but they all know what a virus is.
And all the names, "COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2." (Wow.) A lot of "James Bond-ing," every…. And, and oh my God, everybody, full of some good information, but mostly wrong information.
Because they're not the source of the information; they just, they're going onto these social media sites; they're going onto all these YouTube's and this and that and getting all their information from somebody else and "pray to God that they got it right." Because if they didn't, you got it wrong too.
And what is it? Oh, yes, people are protesting because of people…. Enough is enough! Enough is enough. And of course, people are going to protest; what do you expect!? They're still human beings! They have dreams; they have aspirations….
They want to be free. They want to be successful - not just five people in the world, successful, not ten people, not twenty people, not thirty people - everybody, everybody wants to be successful.
You know, and there are all the nomenclatures: "world leaders!" You know, there is a trip that I take, and I do it in a helicopter - and I'm, most of the time, I'm flying the helicopter. And it's from this place that I take it in UP, and then it is over to Ranchi.
And you fly over this section of India - and I tell you, it is incredibly gorgeous. I mean, you see villages that are pristine, not an iota of garbage. You know, no traffic jams, no pollution, just really beautiful. And you're flying, and you're flying, and you're flying and just absorbing this beauty, this amazing beauty.
And then, on that particular route, there is this rock - so, this river goes by, and so it's carved out - then there's this rock. And the rock is approximately, maybe, acre and a half, two acres big. And it's about seven, eight hundred feet high. And it's a flat rock on the top, plateau.
And the first time I flew over it, (and I was like, it, nothing made sense about that rock) because I couldn't see any pathway going up; there were no elevators; (there's nothing, hmm). And at the very top, there were a few huts. There was a little hut and a, a little lake, and - and it's like, "My God, somebody lives here. And this person who lives here…."
I mean, there was no satellite dish; there was nothing. And so it's like, "How does this person survive?" There are no electrical wires coming up there….
And I'm sure that, you know, it's not every day that he goes shopping; there's no shopping market nearby. And he has to make his trek - he has to trek down from this seven-, eight-hundred-feet rock, go somewhere…. And I'm sure he does it, you know, maybe once every three months or something like that. But he has what he needs, and he's okay.
And I can tell you one thing - he has no idea what a world leader is. He has no idea about any of these presidents or prime ministers around the world. He probably doesn't even know the names of most of the countries in this world.
But he is a human being, and he is very alive. Who is his leader? He doesn't know. He doesn't know when a government change happens in Delhi - no idea - he doesn't care! And he could care less! And this is what happens.
So, you have a need - and it goes beyond what the demands and the wants of this world are. And that need that you have is to feel fulfilled, feel content, feel real, feel the joy. And here's the good news, and here's the beautiful news - you can. Even in this most awkward of times, it is very possible, very possible to feel content.
This is what your heart wants. Time has come to listen, to listen to the heart. It's not about this whole world, but it is about your world. It's not about the seven-and-a-half billion people, but it's about this one person who makes up the one person in the seven-and-a-half billion people.
Because of all those seven-and-a-half billion people: just one person. One person, one person, one person, seven-and-a-half billion times. Same aspirations, same wants, same needs, same map. Simple, profound, beautiful.
Stay safe; stay well - and I'll see you soon. Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT NO. 4: Loyalty, a Core Value
"As a human being, be loyal to all humanity… As a human being, be loyal to that power that allows you to be alive." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you're all doing well - and things are going smoothly for you. And in the midst of all this, my little message to just, some, my thoughts, some of my understandings.
And you know, when you - when you look at this world, (and you can, right now, of course, there is that whole ridiculous situation going on with the coronavirus). And you look at that, and, you know, it's not good in many, many places - too many people. One - I mean, one person dying of this thing is too many.
And people are sick, and that, you know, governments weren't prepared for this or prepared for that. And however you look at it, we want for things to be better. We want for things to improve.
And whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever we are involved in, so much of our viewpoint (that we have in our heads, how we look at this world, how we view this world) has to do with the indoctrination that we have received. Those are the pink-colored, blue-colored, green-colored, yellow-colored glasses that we wear.
And sometimes our debates are just as ridiculous as somebody standing up and saying, "The world is yellow," and somebody saying, "No, no, no, the world is pink," and then somebody saying, "No, the world is blue," and then somebody saying, "The world is green." And it comes down to, "Well, what color glasses are you wearing?"
But certainly, I feel that in the midst of all the viewpoints, (all the formulas, all the definitions, all the ideas that we have), there is something that is going on.
And that one thing that is going on certainly has an incredible amount of relevance to us as a human being, regardless of our viewpoints, regardless of our external situation, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our ideas. Just, all these thoughts that we get involved in, we sometimes stop to see the reality. And what is the reality like?
And the reality is quite simple - it's not as complicated, because the reality doesn't wear blue-color glasses and green-color glasses and pink-color glasses. It is not tainted. It is - it is! And it has been there all along. And it'll stay that way.
And people will come, and people will go, and ideas will come, and ideas will go, and definitions will come, and definitions will go - but there is a reality that will remain unchanged. And the reality is that you are alive.
And now, it's very easy to say that. And you can go, "Yeah, well, I knew that." No, but wait a minute. Let's just really take a look at this thing called "you are alive" - what does that mean? Well, actually there's a lot of stuff that is being said without being said, that one takes or assumes that you know what that means: "You are alive."
It means that once you weren't; now you are - and then you won't be. That there was a point on this earth that the idea of something like a human being existing on the surface of this planet Earth would be impossible - not feasible, not possible.
Why? Because this surface of this earth was so hostile, so incredibly hostile - with all the volcanoes, no oceans, no oxygen - that to even consider anything living could be? Impossible. And of course, there was nobody to even make that judgment, nobody to even say, "Well, ahh, that's a little too hot." We weren't around; none of us were around.
But somehow, the cooling was going to happen - species of life, different species of life were going to begin, some in incredibly simple format - taking different tacks, taking different ways of life. (There were the plants; there were the living things.) And an incredible amount of experiment went into it, experimenting, experimenting, experimenting, and what could survive went on.
At some point in time, the human beings arrived - they were here. They had to evolve - a lot had to happen - and then all of a sudden, cut to the scene now, and there we are. And we have acquired an incredible amount of power, incredible amount of power. We want, we can - we can kill each other - in quantities that would be unimaginable, unimaginable. But we can do it.
What has that done for us? Does that make us more happy?! Does that make us more sad?! No, people tell us, "Oh, you know, there is a possibility these people might attack you - so we have to have," (and it's called "mutually assured destruction"), that if they try to kill us, we'll kill them. And that, hopefully, would be enough of a fear in both parties not to annihilate each other.
I completely understand that. I completely understand that. But what I don't understand is, "How did it get to that point where I cannot, as one human being, talk to another human being - as a human being talking to another human being - another human being, not another species of human being but another human being…?
"And be able to say things to him or her that would actually help that person, not threaten that person, "That if I destroy you, and you have the capability to destroy me, then maybe we won't be friends, (and we will be enemies), but we won't try to destroy each other."
So, last night I was thinking - and this idea came to my head, "loyalty." So, you know, (huh), nowadays, even what loyalty means is dramatically changing. Because now it's like, "Oh, do you, did you get loyalty points?" (The airlines will give you loyalty points, or this bakery will give you loyalty points, or this company will give you loyalty points.)
Well, you don't get points for loyalty. Loyalty is loyalty - being loyal. So, of course, the first question that came to my head was, "What should I be loyal to?" And there was a time that loyalty meant everything. And I think, still, today, loyalty has a huge role to play.
And first of all, this is what - I'm just, I'm just sharing with you what came to my head - and first of all, the first loyalty, (in my opinion - in my opinion), is or has to be to that power that allows me to be, that allows me to exist, that allows this breath to come in - and go out, and come back in.
So, my first loyalty - well, that was straightforward. That was straightforward - my loyalty needs to be to that power, that power that cannot be created, cannot be destroyed, according to Einstein. That power that was, is, and will be.
Far beyond me. It was there when I wasn't there; it was there when the earth wasn't there. It is there now - and "it will not be there," such a time will never be! (And the earth will not be there but that power will still be there.)
This is incredibly powerful. So, my first thought was, "Yes, I have to be loyal to that power." And then it switched and it was like, "Well, what else do I be loyal to? What, what would that be?"
So, a lot of different ideas, "and I should be loyal to this person or that person or this thing or that thing, and" - and then it was like, "Wait a minute. But I'm a human being! So, as a human being, what should I be loyal to? And as a human being, I should be loyal to human beings."
And as soon as that idea clicked in, it was like, "Yes! That makes absolutely perfect sense! As a human being, first, my loyalty to that power that created me - that allowed me to be, that brings that gift of breath. And my second loyalty? To human beings."
If human beings were loyal to human beings, would the silly wars ever have happened? No. Would - would people have ever been put in concentration camps? No! Human beings have not been loyal. And there have been leaders on the face of this earth that have done horrible things. But only because there was somebody there to help them accomplish what they wanted done.
And if those people who made that possible were loyal to human beings, they would have simply said, "Nope. I'm not doing it." Would there have been consequences? Yes. But of course, I'm not talking about just one or two people being loyal; I'm talking about "All of us need to be loyal to human beings." And we're not.
Everybody tries to have a solution to the problems. So much of our time - you know, families come together; people come together and they start getting into the discussion, "Oh, they should do this; oh, they should do this; oh, they should do this." And then everybody shuts up. And nothing happens; nothing changes.
It's almost like, "Save your breath - for something else. Because your discussions, your ideas, they're not going to make any difference." But the thing is, there are a lot of good ideas - but they don't come forward.
What are people loyal to? They're loyal to money! What are they loyal to? They're loyal to everything else. But they're not loyal to human beings. They're not loyal to that power that allows them to exist.
And this, I find - this imbalance: this is an imbalance. It's an imbalance in thought, imbalance in feeling, imbalance in execution, imbalance in all that we represent as human beings on the face of this earth.
Because if somebody was to come right now - and then make an inspection of, "See what's going on here," they would see an absolutely hideous, hideous-hideous-hideous amount of imbalance.
So, what is the solution? And the solution - and I know I say this, that the solution begins with you. And people are like, "No. Change the world out there. There's not a problem with me" - no, no, no, no, no. Don't, don't look at it that way, that "there is a problem with you and it has to be fixed." That's not the issue.
That's not the issue - your car is perfectly okay. Your car is just fine; the tires are fine; there's plenty of gas; the engine is running perfectly; the windows are clean - everything is good. It's just on the wrong road - that's all. Turn it around; put it in the right direction - and all is good.
Yeah, because people - always, whenever I'm talking about these things, people just say, "Oh, yeah, but how are you going to change that many people?" And it's, yeah, but, and well, what, what!? I don't have to change them. They're fine! What has to change is this viewpoint that we have got.
And that viewpoint changes all the time! That viewpoint changes all the time. You see all these incredible tricks you can do while you're cooking food, and maybe one day you're cooking food and you realize that if you let the bread sit, you know, for another five minutes, that it's lighter, that it's fluffier.
Well, from then on you have changed it. You've - you're, not changed yourself; you just changed the methodology of how you accomplish it. The method has changed.
That's all that it would take. For us to understand that "my value, my value, my core value here is to give my best, not only to myself but to all those people who are around me." Not the worst - but the best.
But instead, what we give to each other is anger, fear - and all those other things that are absolutely ridiculous. That's what we give. Not, "Let me give you compassion; let me give you something that is an incredible gift that I can make possible in your life."
So, I hope that, you know, what I said just gives you something to think about - rather than the right and wrong and all the games that - because that's not the purpose that I have here. My purpose really, here, is to just cause you to think a little bit, to understand a little bit, to move forward a little bit in your life, to make things easy.
Because if it can certainly make things easy for ourselves, maybe we'll do it; maybe something will happen. Right now, the world is beckoning for a change - and all I see is people just wanting to get back to the way it was. But the problem I see in the way it was - is that that's what got us here where we don't like it. And there's nothing to stop it from happening again.
So, we need to take care of ourselves. And just remember, "the loyalty, the loyalty to that power - and the loyalty to the human beings." We need that. We need that.
Of course, we need to be loyal to our family; we need to be loyal to ourselves; we need to be loyal - but top two, (hmm) - as a human being, be loyal to all the humanity, the human beings. As a human being, be loyal to that power that allows you to be alive.
Take care of yourselves - and I'll see you soon. Thanks.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT NO. 5: The Unchangeable Reality
"Is there something that doesn't change? Is there something that is so good, so evolved that it doesn't need to evolve anymore - so good, so perfect that it doesn't need to change?" - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone. I hope you're all well, healthy, safe. And another opportunity for this One 2 One broadcast. Really, the story that I want to tell is a story of us, (you, me), being alive on the face of this earth.
I know there are a lot of judgments that come into it, you know, "How is this; how is that? Am I well; am I not well? Are things going my way; are things not going my way?" I mean, every single day we are bombarded by these ideas. And it's very important to us that things go "our way," whatever that happens to be.
But give this a thought - there is something, on a very fundamental level, that is taking place. And that happens to be you're alive.
To a lot of people, they don't know what to make of that. "You're alive - and then that means you can do this and you can do this, and are you doing this, and are you not doing this? And have you done those cool things that are the 'cool things to do'?" - whatever they happen to be.
I have seen things change in my life. I have seen those things that were once considered really cool, abandoned. Nobody cares about them anymore; people have moved on.
I remember when I first came, the way the cars looked - they don't look like that anymore. And I suppose they wouldn't even try to make one look like that, because I don't think it would sell too well. The way the houses are made - the way everything is, it changes and it changes, the fashion, the suits, haircuts. Everything changes.
But some reason, for some reason, we don't look at these changes and reflect upon them, "What does that mean when that change happens? What does that mean that that's not the cool thing anymore - that this is the cool thing now?"
Well, what it's telling you is that all those things that change, they change because they are changeable. They can change. (And I know that's very obvious, but let me, let me come to the point.)
But there is something that doesn't change. And that's here too. So when you see all these changes, one of the things that it needs to inspire in you is that very question, "Is there something that doesn't change? Is there something that stays the same?"
I mean, when you look at what can change, there are so many things that change - families change. You know, maybe there is a father; there is a mother - and they have a child; that child grows up - he has children; now the original mother and father are grandparents.
And then, of course, you know, maybe there is the family structure; there's the grandfather; there's the grandmother; there is the father; there is the mother - and then there are the children - and then maybe the grandfather leaves. And the whole structure of the family starts to change.
Then maybe the grandmother leaves - and then that structure starts to change again. Then the father becomes a grandfather - and that structure starts to change. Everything changes.
Houses change; people come in. They don't like the way the house looks; they get it painted; they change this; they change that; they update it. These are all things that change.
And we try so hard, so incredibly hard - because we don't want to change. We don't want to change - we don't want to look old; we want to look young. We want good things to stay that way.
But in this whole process of discovering, did you ever ask the question, "Is there something that doesn't change? Is there something that is so good, so evolved that it doesn't need to evolve anymore? So good, so perfect that it doesn't need to change - it works?"
And that your existence, that power that allows for this existence to take place, that energy, that reality, it doesn't change. What was keeping people alive in the twelve hundreds, was keeping them alive in the thirteen hundreds, fourteen hundreds, fifteen hundreds - sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen hundreds? And here we are, two thousand? Two thousand twenty? Same thing is keeping us alive.
We exist - and then there are the quests that are so fundamental, so incredibly fundamental - thirsts embedded inside of each human being that are so incredibly fundamental - that they don't change either.
Year after year, generation after generation, century after century, decade after decade - indeed, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, (indeed, second after second), there is a thirst, a want that also doesn't change. And it is a want to be fulfilled, a cup that remains empty - and when you fill it, it gets bigger.
Fill it more; fill it more. And "more" is relative, because what is your capacity? What is your capacity to know? What is your capacity to be fulfilled? What is your capacity to face reality? What is your capacity to be in the joy? Well, no limits - infinite.
That's what we're talking about here. This is that story. And does it get fulfilled? Is it complex; yes, it's incredibly complex. Why is it complex? - is because we have wandered so far off that centerline. We have gone so far in the search to be happy!
To be happy, we have gone and we have decimated this planet - so that we could be happy. We have made the lives of all the animals on the face of this earth miserable - elephants, alligators, sharks, fish, whales. Lions, tigers, birds - so we could be happy. This is how strong that desire to be happy is. Oh, it's, and believe me, it's….
When people say, "Oh, yeah, you know, you need to have a good job and you need to have a good home and you need to have a good family, and you need to have a good this and a good that, and then you can be happy," I say, "Come on; take a look around."
Would you really go to that extent to have a good house and to have a good family and a good this and a good that? Because to have a good family takes you, not the decimation of this planet Earth! All it takes is you, sharing your love, caring.
To have a beautiful home - a home is not defined by its beauty that is on the outside; it is defined by the beauty of those people who live in it. Job security is not defined by your job - but it is defined by how secure you feel being alive every single day.
Having money? It is not how much money you have - it's what you do with it. These are the definitions for people, of happiness. Oh, no, there's - listen, it may not seem like it, but there is something else going on. There is definitely something else going on.
For human beings to be at the stage where they are perfectly, perfectly - they have got their explanation; they have perfectly defined "instant death" to anybody that infringes upon their circle. Oh, so much so, it is preemptive: "It might happen."
That is a mark of a coward. That's a mark of a coward, somebody who's not prepared - who doesn't understand. In the name of God, in the name of religion, we're ready to destroy each other - and have been destroying each other for a really long time. Something else going on in this story - that does not seem obvious - but it's going on.
And this story had better start turning towards those realities that truly affect the human condition. To find that contentment, not outside, but inside. To find that reality, not on the outside, but to find it inside.
To find that peace on the inside, to find that joy on the inside, to find that beauty on the inside - where it is, where it has existed, not as a fashion trend - but has existed for thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and indeed, millions of years.
To where those many, many, many, many, many, many before us have said, "What you are looking for is inside of you." They left us the mark: "You're going to need this." They could see - they could see what was afoot, the changes. That these changes were no small changes. These were thirsts for power - of which a human being could not ever have enough.
And in their wisdom, they saw that we would be ready to destroy anything that we felt was coming in our way of our happiness, of our joy. And out of that incredible kindness, what did they say? They left us the biggest clue so that this story goes well, that your story goes well. And what they said was "What you're looking for is inside of you. That's where you'll find it - not outside."
Of course, where have we looked for it? Always on the outside. Always on the outside, always on the outside, always on the outside, always on the outside. That's where the attention goes - always on the outside, always on the outside - "Where is the happiness? On the outside."
You feel lonely. What do you need? Not to find the friend on the inside. No. Give your friend a call: "Let's meet there; let's do this; let's do that." Instead of sitting down with yourself and spending a little time and contemplating and meditating! Looking around. Telling yourself, understanding how fortunate you are that you are alive.
Do you take that time? Do you take that time to contemplate on just the fact that you're alive? Not immediately jump to, "What does it mean, I am alive? What do I do!?" You're not a doing machine; you're a feeling machine.
Yes, you can do - but you can also feel. And you can feel like - you wouldn't believe how much you can feel. You have intricate emotions. Oh, you can - of course, you can smell. Ah! Amazing. And perfumes people have created, amazing!
You can see colors! Paintings that people have created, amazing! So, yes, you are a "do" machine, but you are a feeling machine too. That so many of those beautiful feelings are expressed in that painting. Yes, that was a "do," but first there was a "feel."
And what do you feel? What can you feel? So, of all the things in this world that one can feel, you can also feel that divine that is inside of you. What you're looking for, you will find inside of you.
You are not abandoned. You're never alone. Wherever you go, that divine goes with you. Wherever you go, wherever you are, no matter how bad the situation is, no matter how dark it gets, there's a light inside of you.
No matter how bad it may be, how hopeless it may be, there is a hope that is inside of you. For you! Not for somebody else, but for you to experience, for you to understand, to make sense of it. To put things in perspective.
You know, we have two eyes - and what is the purpose of having the two eyes? In these eyes, using both these eyes, we can judge distance. One, slightly out of focus - then the other one, and we can see - when we see something, we can see how far it is. If you don't have that, you may not be able to judge the distance properly.
You have two ears - and what do they give you? They give you direction, from where the sound is coming from.
So, what if we were to take that - and understand that we also have been given this ability to feel - not something particular, but feel something that is incredibly beautiful. That there is a yearning inside of us to feel that beauty; there's a yearning inside of us to feel that joy. Feel. Turn within - and feel; feel that goodness that is inside of you; feel that hope that is inside of you.
And when you are filled with that - those, then, are your true riches. Then you are rich. Not the money that changes - today it's yours; tomorrow it'll be somebody else's. Your house, today it's yours; tomorrow it'll be somebody else's. Your car, today it's yours; tomorrow it'll be somebody else's.
All of these things. You live in your apartment? Well, there are other people who have lived in your apartment before you - and after you, somebody else will live in that apartment.
But here in your heart, there is something that is just for you - in this time, in this moment, just for you. Fulfill this story. That's the only story that remains unfulfilled. Fulfill this story. And if you do, your life will never be boring. The wisdom of the ages will be yours to enjoy.
Well, that's what I want to say. So, stay well; stay healthy - and enjoy the One 2 Ones. If you do, please subscribe. And, you know, feel free to write to me - any expressions, any questions that you have, I do read them. And when I get an opportunity, I will put those out, the answers to them.
Oh, yes, and I am working on the Peace Education Program. That will be coming. I'm glad I didn't do it when I was going to do it. I said, "Just, I think we should have a little patience" - I said to myself, anyways. Because, you know, lockdowns are coming, more and more and more. So, maybe a more appropriate time is coming and is here to do those Peace Education Programs.
But until then, whatever I can say to you that can help you enjoy this life; fulfill your story, I will try.
Thank you very much.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 6: A Choice
"To have devotion to this breath. To have devotion to this existence. To have devotion to this thing called "life." To have devotion - to that incredible power that we all have - called "choice." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. I hope that you're doing well. So, what is it that I want to tell you today? Very simply, that a simple message expressed in the simplest, simplest ways would truly be that "you're so fortunate that you're alive, that you exist."
Because this opens up (for you, the fact that you are alive), a whole range of possibilities. You want to be miserable? No problem; you can be miserable. You want to be content? No problem whatsoever. You can be content. Whatever you want, whatever you want to accomplish, because you are alive, this is possible.
So, having said that, I'm sure that there are some people in the audience listening to me, going "Yeah, that's true," or "No, that's not true" - I mean, let's face it, it's two possibilities; either it is true or it's not true. If it is true - if it is true - then why don't we take advantage of that?
There are still plenty of voices, plenty of ideas that keep coming, "Cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep, this isn't right; this isn't right; this is wrong; this is this way; this is that way." And I know so many people suffer from that. They are weighed down by their concerns, by their thoughts, by their ideas, by, you know, negative views, positive views, whatever views come your way.
And what if it isn't true? What if it is all about a predetermined destiny: "You're here - and you know, you are here to just play out whatever that destiny is"? Then you're wasting your time even watching this. All you need to do is just crawl back in your bed, pull your sheets over, close your eyes.
And that's it! I mean, and whatever is supposed to happen will happen - because it's already preordained. You don't have to worry about it. What do you care? In fact, if those are the sequence of items that have to happen, how do you figure into it, anyways? Well, what are you going to do about it? I mean, why you, right?
So, which one is it? That we have a choice? That we can accept; we can understand; we can open up our horizons? Or we can close our eyes, pull the sheet over our head and go, "Well, you know, it's all preordained and I just watch the show!"
Either it's like a movie theater - and you can go and you can sit down in this life - and the movie has already been shot. You - you're, you're coming in way too late. The movie's already been shot; it's been already edited; it's already been cut.
And you're just there; you paid your, you know, whatever you paid for your movie; you're sitting down - and you may as well just watch it. And if you fall asleep, that's not going to affect the movie; it's not like it's going to go in pause. It isn't.
But the thing is, is this a live play? And you're on the stage? And there is a role that you have to play? Or is it like that movie theater; you just sit down, plop back, grab a big bucket of popcorn - and the movie has already been made. So, it's got to be one or the other.
Well, people who say, you know, "It's already been shot; it's already been played; it's already been done" - then it doesn't matter if I go and watch the movie. Nothing is going to happen.
And what if I'm watching this movie and it's supposed to be entertaining but I'm hating it? I'm hating every single minute of it. I hate the actors. I hate the plot. I hate the music. I hate the editing! (Oh my God, the editing.)
And so, what am I supposed to do? Just sit there - and bear it out, you know, and grunt my teeth and just, "Okay, this is how it is"? Be miserable? Seems to me like even if I don't have a choice, I do have a choice whether I go in the movie theater or not.
And so, there are a lot of people who have actually said things from their experience - and they seem to be alluding to the fact that it isn't a pre-shot movie; that it is more like a live play. And you are on the stage. And it is time for you to act.
And whether it is an interesting show - or it is a boring show - it's up to you how you act, how well you play your part, how well you understand what your role truly is.
So, what defines you as a human being? Is it all preordained? Or is it that you have a choice in the matter? That there is the good; there is the bad?
And the bad is very bad! Pick up the newspapers - here we are in July twenty-twenty - and things are not so good. And they don't seem to be turning towards becoming any better. And here is a choice - do you have a choice in this situation?
Horrible things have been done on the face of this earth. Some of them started as far back as, you know, sixteen hundreds, seventeen hundreds - and they have gone on and on and on and on and on and - the consequences, the consequences of those things have been off the scale!
It always reminds me that when that tsunami came in Japan - and so much got destroyed, so much got destroyed - I was reading about it; I was very fascinated. (I am very fascinated with Japan. I like their culture; I like how the country is. And they have done a lot of things. But there they are, and trying to go forward - make amends, go forward.)
And that tsunami came and it did an unbelievable amount of damage - a lot of damage. So, I was reading about it, reading about it, and then I came across this one article where it said that somebody actually, a long time ago, had written on a stone, way up high up on the mountain. And it said, "Do not build below this point."
And I was like, "Wow. Somebody was kind enough…." And you know, somehow they must have been affected by that tsunami, to leave behind a little note carved on a piece of rock for all to see, "Do not build below this point." I mean, I could be wrong; that's not, maybe, exactly what it said, but close enough.
So, why write that? I mean, if it's a preordained thing, "this is what's going to happen to people," why write it, right? "Let them bear it out; let them grunt through it and that's that."
But it is avoidable; there is a choice - it is avoidable. And hence the rock, and hence the little note. And hence Socrates saying, "Know thyself." And hence Kabir saying "What you are looking for is within you."
That you don't have to take this on. That truly, you can filter out all this that is the garbage - and take on, take in the good, the beautiful, the joy - which suits you so well, which suits you as a human being so well.
I mean, a lot of people say, you know, "Human beings are not born with an instruction manual." Well, we don't need an instruction manual; it's automatic: "Joy, I like. Pain, I don't like." I mean, if I buy a TV, it tells me, you know, "Please take care of it; clean it like this; do this; do this." It doesn't tell me all the different ways I can destroy it. It doesn't.
And the same thing with me. As a human being, there are certain things that I adore, and I like. And those things that I like, that I adore, are precious to me - are precious to me. This is all about devotion to life.
You know, I was looking up that word, "devotion" - and it's very interesting. Of course, it has religious connotations, spiritual connotations, but it's also very straight.
There are people who are devoted to their wives. There are people who are devoted to their dogs; there are people who are devoted to their house; there are people who are devoted to their cars. So, we all are devoted in some way - some people are devoted to their jobs.
And then, I was reading - I was reading; I came across this "Pandav Gita." So, and I, all this time, I hadn't heard of it. Here I am, sixty-two - I hadn't heard of it. And I came across it.
And in that, there is this beautiful thing - and you know, this is, of course, the Mahabharat, the continuation of Mahabharat, in a way - and Ghandari (and she is this lady), and she has to marry this king. And when she came and saw her husband, she realized he was blind. And this was a cruel joke on her.
And many, many cruel jokes - and she was also the mother of the Kauravs, who fought the Pandavs. And Krishna conveniently arranged that war to be, so that the good could win - so that "good" could win.
And there are many stories, many, and many, many different versions of stories throughout India. And maybe it's one story somewhere, and it has a little bit, you know, slightly different interpretation somewhere else, in another place, in another place, in another place.
And the way I had heard it, is Ghandari realizes that her children are going to be decimated in this war, (the great war of Mahabharat) - they're going to be destroyed. And she goes to Krishna - because if there was somebody that was very, very powerful in this whole thing, who could have changed something, it was Krishna.
And she goes and she says to him - and this is, (if you can not be judgmental about it, but listen to what she says), it is so beautiful. And it's very easy to be judgmental. But what she says is, "You are my mother. And you are my father. You are my brother. And you are my friend."
So, usually in our lives, everybody has a separate category for all of these. But hear her devotion. And maybe her devotion is genuine, or maybe she wants to save her children - it's besides the point.
But she says this. And what is that feeling that would evoke something like this in a person - "That you are my mother; you are my father." This is the feeling that I'm talking about. "You are my brother; you are my friend. You are wisdom - you are wisdom; you are riches. You are my all, my lord, to me."
So, what is it that causes this to well? I cannot possibly see a person who is just sitting and going, "Okay, I'm just watching the show; this is all preordained and thank you very much."
And because if it is already preordained, everything, (the film is cut; the film is on; the film), that you don't decide when the film comes on. You don't decide when the film goes off. You just sit there; you can open your eyes and look towards the screen and hope all goes well. And you just hope, hope that the team put together a movie that's interesting, not boring.
But I have a feeling that for somebody to have this devotion in their lives - in their life, in Ghandari's life, to be able to say that - it isn't a person who's just sitting there and going, "Okay, roll the film." No, they are proactive.
It's a - it's a very funny thing for her. When she realizes her husband is blind, she blindfolds herself. A lot of people think she wanted to punish herself or whatever, but she really wanted to punish the person who had arranged that marriage.
And then she has children. And while she is alive, her children are going to be slaughtered - because she didn't raise them…. (Well, now, of course, hindsight's twenty-twenty), but she didn't raise them the way she should have raised them.
And in that incredible cruelty, she realizes that she still has a choice. And she goes to Krishna - and she praises him to show her devotion.
How powerful is that? And indeed, how beautiful is that - to have devotion to this breath? To have devotion to this existence? To have devotion to this thing called "life"?
To have devotion of that incredible power that we all have - it's called "choice" - that we can go forward. And be in that joy, be in that beauty, be in that serenity, be in that, (umm!), just that experience, most amazing, amazing experience of being alive.
Not the experience of our problems. Because you're not here to just solve your problems. You are here, not to even, to step in the field which is so charged….
And those problems come - you don't have to be affected by them. Like I say, "You can't stop the rain. You can't. But you can carry an umbrella - and you can open that umbrella, and you don't have to get wet."
So it is. So it is. Enjoy this existence; enjoy this choice - and use this choice. Carefully, take those steps that are real, and be fulfilled.
So, take care of yourselves. I'll see you soon, I hope. And take care. Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, NO. 7 - What Defines You
"You're a human being. It is your existence and your life, your joy, your understanding, your knowledge that defines you - that defines you as a human being." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you're doing well. So, it's been a few days. In fact, I went to England - and I did two events there. And that was nice - they weren't large events, as usually they are in England. These were relatively small because of this coronavirus thing - and, ta-dah, look at the background.
So, a lot of people had (not a lot), but a few people had said to me, you know, "Your lenses are dirty." And I actually have full 4K footage - so I looked at the footage and it looked pretty clean to me. So it's like, "What are they looking at?"
So then when I looked at it, this is a cement block wall behind me and it had those holes. And these are very shallow depth-of-field lenses, and so they throw everything out of focus in the background, and so they look like gobs. But they actually weren't; the lenses are clean.
So, anyways, I got - when I was in England, I picked up this background, (easy to set up, easy to put up). But I do have a request - and my request to you is, "Don't look at the background. Listen to what I'm saying." Because that's why I'm doing it. It is not to show off the background.
And a lot of people are like, "Well, what's wrong with that?" Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but what's right with it either? Because what is my intent here?
And a long time ago, Burt Wolf and I were doing an interview. And in that interview, this came up - and it was just like, you know, people were futzing around with the background.
And Burt Wolf said to me, (and which, I agreed with him), it's like, "I hope people are going to pay more attention to what we have to talk about than the background," than the little nuances that we get caught in. And what is the intent, we forget.
This happens too many times in life. All the other things start to take priority, except for what's really happening. And distractions are many - not one, not two, not three - but distractions are many. And clarity is one. It's one thing that you can focus on that will be the source of your enjoyment in your life.
And you've got to get that; you've got to focus in on that. Because this is really what it all boils down to: "How focused are you in your existence?" Most of us, we're all over the place - and you know, "This is important; that's important, we've got to get to this. We've got to get to that; we've got to do this; we've got to do that." And all the sense of responsibilities that we create for ourselves.
And I have to put this in context. Because what is the context? And the context is what I was talking about in England at one of the events. And I said, "There are these three things, these three elements."
And I know the definition of the infinite - or as I would describe the infinite, because I'm not the only one; there are many, many, many before me, have actually described what that infinite is like.
And one very simple way of looking it - of course, the infinite is beyond description, beyond definition. (That's one of its definitions, I guess.) But most importantly, that that infinite was - is - and will be.
That whenever this universe began and however this universe began, that that energy was there to make this universe. And while this universe is there, that that energy is sustaining it, making things happen. And it is entirely possible that the whole thing might fold. And if it does, that that energy will still be there; it cannot be created; it cannot be destroyed (as Einstein put it).
So, there is this one element you have, or this one thing you have which was, is, and will be. Then there is you. You weren't - that's obvious that at one point, we weren't; I wasn't. Now I am. And it is also imminent that one day I won't be.
So, my bit is now, "I wasn't; I am, and I won't be." Now it comes to this third thing - and this is where everything goes crazy. I mean, the first two, easy enough. Right?
Those who defined the first one, (was, is, and will be), they also defined this third element, this third thing. And it's this world that we have created. The world that we have created, the systems, the…. Another word for it which you might have heard: "maya, maya, the great illusion, the world" that we have created.
And what they're saying is, is "It wasn't" - which is obvious. And here is where it goes nuts - "It isn't." And everybody is like, "Yikes, what are you talking about? How can that be? It's, this is reality." You know, if you own a Ford, "That that's reality; that's my car; that's a reality. What are you talking about? This house that I live in - is a reality!"
And that's very, very interesting. And why is it interesting? Because something happens and boof! The house is gone. You know, there are sinkholes and cars disappear. And sinkholes - houses disappear. So, they're saying, "Wasn't, isn't, and won't be." That that's why it is an illusion. It looks like it's there - but it isn't.
And so, we've created a world for ourselves. In this, we have the technologies, the conveniences - and I'm, you know, I'm not being judgmental about this. I'm just saying "perspective"; it's perspective. It's really all about perspective.
If you're sitting on a flight; you're sitting in a chair, on the airplane, and the flight is only forty-five minutes. Maybe you won't arrange anything. And well, however it is, you will accept it, because you know that very soon it's going to be all "climb-climb-climb," very short cruise, then "descend-descend-descend" and "landing-landing-landing."
So, there's no point to, you know, "get this sorted out; put a blanket here; get a pillow here; get a this here; get a that here." But if the flight is eleven hours long, twelve hours long, thirteen hours long, then you may want to get as comfortable as possible.
So, how is it that we try to "become as comfortable" - because we think, you know, "This all goes on for a really, really long time."
So, imagine that you are in a forty-five-minute flight, but somewhere in your imagination it's really a fourteen-hour flight, and so you're asking for blankets, and you're asking for pillows, and everybody is trying to bring you those pillows, and you're trying to make yourself as comfortable as possible….
And you're like, "Well, this is going to be okay because now I'm really comfortable and," you know, and you want to know what the food service is going to be, and you're - you know, it's almost kind of getting to the edge of excitement.
So, you finally get all comfortable and everything is good - and the plane starts to descend. And you're like, "Wait a minute; this is all too short!" That vaguely sounds familiar - you know, we finally get everything right, and "everything is this way and everything is that way, and we're all really nice and comfortable" and it's like, "Well, it's time to go. It's time to pack up."
And that's like, "Well, how can that be?" Oh, and the - you know, and what people say is like, "Oh, that person died way too young." You want to try it; you want to talk to Death about it? Because this Death doesn't care if it's young; it's old; it's - whatever! When the time is up, the time is up.
So, anyways, it really becomes very, very important that we pay attention to that one thing that can put this equation right for us. So, and that necessarily doesn't mean that, just because it isn't, we can't extract some good things out of it - we can. This illusion may be very enjoyable: enjoy it! But don't forget your own vulnerability - and don't forget the vastness.
You're going to - who are you going to - in which state are you going to spend the most of your time? If there is most of your time…. I mean, one, if you can be on the side of that infinite, it'll be forever. You're on the side of the world? And like some have said, "It wasn't; it isn't, and it won't be." And everything comes to a grinding halt because of that.
And you've got to turn around; you've got to look at the reality. You know, people are fine; they're just like, "Okay, you know, I'm mad at that person and I'm mad at that person and I'm mad at that person and I'm mad at that person," and sometimes in different situations, truly, we are mad at this; we are mad at that; we're not happy with this; we're not happy with that.
Somebody takes our parking spot - and we're like, "Uuughah!" But there's the earth; you're on planet Earth. And it's huge. (For you, it's huge.) So, if somebody takes your parking spot, find another one. It's up to you what you make of it. You can get angry; you can get mad - and what, will that affect anything in your life? No, absolutely none.
And if you did show that generosity to someone - in some positive way, that's going to touch you. That, "Yeah, I did that. And that felt good." That that felt good. And that's what I'm talking about.
So, let me, let me introduce to you that there's this thing - and I came across it, and so I thought it would be appropriate. And it's called "Dunning-Kruger Effect." So, how did this actually start? Well, it started like this. There was a guy - and he wanted to rob a bank. Of course, the problem with robbing a bank - is if you get caught, you're in trouble.
So, he didn't want to be caught - but he still wanted to rob a bank. So he had to figure out, "What is it that I can do to rob a bank and not get caught?" So he had a brilliant epiphany - and his brilliant epiphany was, "If I could be invisible, then nobody will see me doing it and I can get away with it." Then the question, of course, was, "How do you become invisible?"
So he came across this thing where people in the old days used to write sometimes, (when they wanted to send a secret message; they didn't want anybody to see it), they'd write it with lemon juice. And so they wrote a message with lemon juice - and nobody could see it; it would be invisible. And the person who wanted to read it could use, you know, a candle and heat it up and look at it.
So, he was like, "That's it." So, he took lemon juice and he put it all over his face, all over his body. And he just wanted to make sure that that actually worked - so he set up a camera, (his mobile phone camera), and he took a little shot, took a little footage of it - except the camera was pointing in a direction where he wasn't standing.
So when he looked at it, it really confirmed exactly what he wanted to see - which was, he's invisible. He proceeded to go to the bank, and rob the bank. Well, he is even looking at the camera - and flaunting the camera because he knows he's invisible. (In his mind, this is what he believes, that he is invisible. He's not invisible, but he believes he's invisible.)
So, they, of course, looked at the footage and caught him. And when they showed him the footage, he said, "It is fake." Because there's no way this camera could have picked up his reflection - because he was invisible.
Now, I know this is hilarious, right? But then Dunning and Kruger started looking at it and they came up with this, that it's like a - it's a, it's like a cognitive bias - in which people believe they are smarter and more capable than they really are.
So, the way it works is that people who are in this thing have very little knowledge, and the amount of confidence…. So, if you were to look at one axis - the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, and have a graph - and the bottom is knowledge, and the other axis is confidence, their confidence is really…. As, because they have very little knowledge, their confidence is really high.
So it's a cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are! And in fact, Charles Darwin once wrote, "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
So, when I came across this, it was like, "Whoa, this is interesting. So, the combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their own capabilities." And I started thinking about this - it's like, "Wow! This is - I mean, not only is it hilarious - but this is really, really dangerous."
So, I just started thinking and thinking and thinking. And I had a really scary thought. And the scary thought that I had was of "This world has been created by people who were incapable, (and still are incapable) of realizing their incompetence - because they have very little knowledge of what they're actually doing…. And we are all going along for the ride."
And it becomes even more imperative that we understand what it means to know yourself. That we understand what it means to live this life consciously. That we actually understand to have this heart full of gratitude.
It's more imperative now than ever before - where it is obvious that, that if somebody says to us, "Okay, you know, just stay in your room. Don't - or in your home; don't go out" - and it drives us crazy. It drives us crazy.
Where there is no recognition of the self; there's no companionship value of the self. There is no mode; there is no way for people to be able to extract companionship just from themselves.
To be in the company of that that was, is, and will be - how wonderful, how beautiful, that that that wasn't, now is, and won't be, is experiencing that which was, is, and will be. Because if that which wasn't, is, and won't be, is only plugged into that that wasn't, isn't and won't be, then that that wasn't, is, and won't be, is wasting his or her time.
So, either side, you have two. And one: nothing - and the other one: forever. And that is your choice - is your choice, how much you extract from this, and how much you extract from this. And to me, somewhere where most of the extracting is happening from that which was, is, and will be - and sufficient extracting happening from that that wasn't, isn't, and won't be….
And this that wasn't, is, and won't be, is filling him or herself to the brim with reality, with simplicity, with beauty, with contentment, with joy, with understanding - then I think it works - it works! It actually works. But it doesn't work if you miss the point - and the point is a very powerful point.
And these relationships that you have? You have them; now you have them. Will they happen again? No! "So, what does that mean?" Well, it means you get with it, and get with those relationships. Make them count; make them really count. Extract everything you can out of them.
Not be frayed by all these ideas of "Oh, I don't like that in that person; I don't like that in that person."
I mean, this is what I say to people. And I get it all the time; you know, it's like, I've got some people saying, "Oh no, but that person didn't treat me right; that person didn't treat me right; that person didn't treat me right."
And all I can say to you - "My friends, shake it. Just shake it off." It's like these claws that come and just dig into your shoulders - and produce a tremendous amount of pain, tremendous amount of concern, tremendous amount of anguish. And then fear and everything else.
But it doesn't need to be like that. It's like a dog - and it comes out from being wet; it just gives it a shake. And back and forth and back and forth, and all that water just goes flying off.
Shake it; shake it off - and look at the reality. Look at the beauty. Look at the understanding. Nothing is simple in this world - but nothing is complicated either. And if something is complicated, it's because we have made it complicated. And if something is simple, then most likely we left it alone - and so it is.
You know, I think about it sometimes, and it's like, I think about a strawberry. I think about wheat growing, or rice growing, or sugarcane growing.
When I was a little boy, we used to have a farm and I used to go there quite frequently - and watch, watch and help out with planting and - and sugarcane is very labor-intensive; so is rice. Because for sugarcane, you know, you throw the little pieces, and then you have to straighten them out so that the sugarcane grows straight and not crooked.
And you look at how complicated this world is. If you want, if you want to go…. If you want a strawberry, I mean, you've got to go to the supermarket; you've got to go down one of the aisles where you can find where the fresh fruits and vegetables are - and then look at the strawberry, and they all look the same. And you, of course, want to get the best one, and….
But the way strawberries actually come forth has not changed. You need to sow a seed; you need to water them; you need to take care of them. And out of the ground, "Ah, for free?" Yeah, for free, they come up. Same thing with the rice, same thing with the corn, same thing with wheat, same thing with all the vegetables.
That nature that had been supplying all of that all along is still the grand manufacturer - of that okra, that avocado, that carrot, that onion, that celery…. And it hasn't changed - the trucks that it is transported in, they have changed. And the watch that the Farmer John wears has changed. And now he has his cell phone; he doesn't need to go running to his house to make a phone call.
All that has changed. And the flowers that come - that grow in India, grow in Pakistan, grow in Africa, that are brought over in 747s, in cargo airplanes - they're flown so that the freshness can be preserved. All that has changed.
But the way a rose grows has not changed. The way a river flows from a drop - to a drop, to a drop, has not changed. How it is dammed, and what the electricity is used for, perhaps has changed. But the properties of water remain the same. Ten thousand years ago, if you were thirsty, water could quench your thirst. Here we are, twenty-twenty and the water still can quench our thirst.
And you're a human being. You're a human being. It is your existence and your life, your joy, your understanding, your knowledge that defines you - that defines you as a human being.
This is a message - and I don't know how many times this message has echoed in this world, generation after generation after generation after generation. A few, very few pay heed to it. Because most of us are too busy trying to extract something from that which wasn't, isn't, and won't be.
When on the other side of us, very much so in the inside of us, resides that which was, is, and will be - and that's a powerful thing. And why should you do it? Because you weren't; you are, and one day you won't be. Is that sad; is that bad? No, it's neither sad nor is it bad. Be an opportunist and grab as much as you can.
Going around walking on a road, it pays to know what a diamond looks like. Hone in that skill; hone in that skill because someday, someday it may come in use. And that would be certainly your lucky day. Because that is the day you will realize that every day is that diamond; every moment is that diamond; every breath is that diamond. You can do something with it.
One day it won't be. All that will be gone. But it's not about that day. It is about the day you discover yourself. It is about the day you discover joy in your heart. It is about the day you discover that goodness that is inside of you.
So, I hope you stay well, stay healthy. Pretty soon - in fact, I have events happening in Germany. And then - I'm, I mean, I'm trying to do as much as I can under the circumstances. So, traveling, I know it's not easy. And doing these events, and you know, making sure that everybody is safe, I am safe, people around me are safe, participants who are coming are safe; everybody's safe.
And it's a monumental task, and there are a lot of people who are really wanting to help out, and have been helping out, and have been doing a great job. I mean, all those people who make these videos, then, possible for you to see….
My role in it is, of course, to talk to you about this and get this recorded. I set up these cameras; I set up the light; I set up the background….
Anyways, the possibilities are beautiful - regardless of how ugly the situations can be in this world; I know. But you have that one tool: "Shake it off; shake it off; shake it off." Bring a smile to your heart; bring a smile to your face. And enjoy this existence. Because remember, it wasn't; it is - and one day it won't be.
Thank you very much; stay healthy; stay safe. I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, NO. 8 - The Grand Illusion (Part 1)
"Besides this acting, besides this stage, besides the audience, the lights, the orchestra, the director, there is something else going on - you're alive. And that's your reality. That is why you need to know yourself." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you're all doing well. I have returned; had a really nice event, two days in Munich, Germany. And I'd just wanted to say a few things. As you may have heard from some of the other broadcasts that I put together, (One 2 One), that I've been talking about the three things.
And this power, this energy that is everywhere, a very nice way to describe it, (a very beautiful way, indeed) is that "it was; it is, and it will be." It has no end. Nobody can trace back its beginning; it's been there. From that everything comes - and to that everything goes.
And in a way, it is the quintessential merging of the three powers, the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer. Everything is within that.
And then there is the little old "us." Not so little and maybe not so old, but there we are. And I guess the most appropriate way to describe us in that context is that we weren't. Now we are. And there'll be a time where we won't be. So, "Wasn't, is, won't be." It's simple. It's beautiful. And it's always putting everything in the context of "Was, is, and will be."
So, there is that that was - is - will be. Then us: "Wasn't, is, won't be." And this is, for us, everything.
Now, let's switch to the third thing - that what is the third thing? The third thing is that one thing that we dramatically engage with - this world. And now, but what is this world?
I mean, if I started going through the list, it would be simply a very, very, very long list. All the things that we have created. All the things that we have made possible for ourselves. The bridges that we have built, the roads that we have built. The systems that we have created, the farming systems that we have created. So many things that we have made, that we have created.
Those things that this whole world is all about, our lives in this time of "is," everything that we have generated - this world that we have created for ourselves because we exist; we are - the relationships, giving a name to relationships, defining relationships. Who's dear to us, who is this way, who is that way? What we do; what we don't do; who does what? Level of importance….
I mean, you know, the whole gamut - the cars that we have created, the bicycles we have created, the motorcycles we have created. Trains we have created, the ships we have created, the tugs we have created, the airplanes we have created, the gliders we have created, the helicopters we have created. I mean, on and on and on and on.
And other things too, that we have created in our minds, (maybe not physically) and we're working very hard to create them. I mean, incredible fantasies - I mean, it's, if you look at it, in a way, we are this genie that tries to make fantasies come true. So, whatever we fantasize about, we try to make it happen.
And there have been people, very wise people, who have said that the nature of this world that we heavily engage with, that heavily influences us - the world that we have created, "It wasn't. And it isn't!"
Now I know that this is where the big debates begin; everybody wants to go their own ways. It's like, you know, there are people who absolutely will agree with me, "Yes, that you're right. There wasn't, isn't, and won't be."
And the other people, it's like, "What are you talking about; this is the only reality there is. And you know, this infinite that you talk about, that's not a reality. This is the reality; this is what we can touch; this is how we interact."
So, here it is, this world that we have created. Whether it addresses our needs…? And I can certainly say there are some things in this world that we have created; perhaps they address our needs - but most of it addresses our wants, our desires. And one of the things that this world does produce is a very high level of anxiety for us, one way or the other way.
So, today I was thinking about this. And I had, well, an epiphany of sorts, so I'd like to share that with you. And here is the epiphany that I had. That imagine you as a human being are doing a play. And many times I have said this; it's like "You're here - and you're an actor. You're on a stage, a stage called 'earth.' The time is your time, your lifeline, your life."
Now, here's the issue with this play. You have to remember it's a play. You have to remember it's a play. It's acting. If you die in this play, you don't really die. If somebody wounds you in this play, you don't really get wounded. If somebody insults you in this play, you don't really get insulted. If somebody makes you angry in this play, you don't need to get angry.
If in this play you lose everything, you don't actually lose everything. That those people you hate, (or those people who cause you to hate them) are also in this play, and they're playing their part; you play your part. And when the play is over, you go back to being who you truly are.
Hence, the importance of knowing who you are becomes quintessential because if you do not know who you are, it will be very easy for you to get confused with your role-playing as an actor. And when you get confused between that role and the real you, life is going to be a bit problematic.
Because it is just a play. It's not real! It is just a play. In this play, you may become rich - and you may become poor. And if you know who you are, you are who you are, and it does not affect your real riches. Because it is not the sense of what is going on in the play - but you understand the reality. And the reality is who you, as a human being, are.
So, there is that that was, is, and will be. There is that that is you - that wasn't. But is. See, that "is" is that same "is," as that "was, is, and will be." And you don't share the first one (which is "were," that you were). But you are; you, the "is" is still there; "is" is still there. And as that infinite is - and so are you for this moment - the only difference is, the infinite will be; you won't be.
But the play, aha, see? And now it makes sense, right? That it wasn't, isn't, and won't be? Because it's just a play. So, but it's just a play? Then "Wasn't; isn't!" It is not the reality. And it won't be. The play will be over; the curtain will be drawn; you will take your bow - and done!
But the sense of understanding and knowing yourself then becomes so important - so that you don't get dragged into this other thing, into this other sphere which is all about what people have called "the grand illusion" - because it's just a play.
I'm putting it as "a play" - and that perhaps makes it very simple to understand. In this play, you may be a king. In this play, you may be a pauper. And in this play, one day you may be a king and the next day you may be a pauper. And the reality of it is that you are neither a king nor a pauper - only in the play. When the play is over, you are who you are.
That your sense of relationships is not the relationships that are in the play, but the relationships that truly are yours, the connections that you have that have something to do with you. You can only know this; you can only understand this if you know yourself. If you don't know yourself, it's going to be very, very easy to get confused.
Now, what got me thinking about this, that it's just a play? It is the questions - a lot of questions that I received, and I wanted to answer them. So, how do you answer them? And now look; here is the issue that I have.
A lot of the questions…. Some of the questions, yes, I can just answer very simply: "Yes, no, whatever." But most of the questions require a dialogue. I need to talk to you; I need to ask you some questions.
Because simply saying, simply stating "Oh, my car is broken" - I can't help you. I need to know what is broken. If you in your life don't see any hope, and I'm trying to show you hope, question is, "Do you want to see hope, or do you want to see despair?"
Hence, the play. In this play, you're going through this. And this, there is that story - that I think it's a beautiful story; it's a wonderful story.
That there is this king. And this king has this incredibly vivid dream, vivid - that he is preparing for this battle. And he goes; he goes onto this battle. And the battle is horrendous. I mean, he has to fight and fight and fight and fight and - amazingly enough he loses the battle. And when he loses the battle, he has to flee for his life.
See, it's taking on the nightmares - and nobody likes the nightmares. And he's running and running and running and running and running and he goes into this really dense jungle, and he realizes he's really hungry…. And it's drizzling rain and it's cold and it's miserable and he's really, really hungry and he would like something to eat. But what does he eat? There's nothing there.
And he sees a hut; he goes over to the hut; he knocks - and he says to this old woman that lives there, it's like, "Do you have something to eat?" And she goes, "No, I just finished cooking and I ate it - but I have some rice; I have some lentils. Here is some salt. Maybe you can make yourself a dish with this and eat and be satisfied."
The king is very thankful; he takes these. He gets a little pot together; he gets a little fire together. And it's very difficult for him; you know, he's blowing, and the smoke, all the wood is wet.
Anyways, he finally manages to get some water, put the rice; put the lentils, put the spices in and he has made a dish. And you know, he's looking forward to having it - it smells nice. He's looking forward to having it. He gets a big banana leaf; he puts it down and he's waiting for this to cool off so he can have it.
And at this point, two bulls come fighting with each other and take everything that he has made and completely, with their hoofs, trample it into the mud.
And at seeing this, he is so heartbroken; he's so broken that he starts to cry - except he's now crying in real life. He's - even though he's asleep on his bed, he's crying. And as the tears roll down his eyes, he wakes up.
And when he wakes up, he looks around. And everything is there; he's the king; no doubt about it. He's lying on his beautiful bed with silk covers, beautiful curtains; there are guards waiting for him. You know, he's got a beautiful lamp, gold this, that, the works.
So, immediately he has a question, "Which one is it; which one is real? Me being a king - or me having lost the battle?" Knowing yourself becomes more important now, doesn't it?
I have taken that battle scene out; I have taken all of that out and I have made you an actor - because this is what I feel I am too; I am an actor. And yes, I have relationships; I have people around me; I have to do this; I have to do that; I do this; I do that; I go here; I go there; I talk about this; I talk about that.
Sometimes things go well in my life; sometimes things don't go well in my life. But you know something? I do understand one thing that I have to do - is I have to keep the acting part separate from the reality that I am, that reality that is inside of me, that divine that is inside of me that was, is, and will be.
An opportunity has opened up for me in that "is" - because I wasn't; I am, and I won't be. That opportunity that has opened up in "is" is to understand, recognize, feel that infinite that is within me.
I am too busy playing my part? If I don't know myself, then I cannot distinguish the role from the reality? There's a role that I am playing? The role will end - and I don't know who I am? And all of a sudden, this role becomes real.
And one day I am playing a pauper; I am a pauper! (Oh my God, I have nothing.) And one day I have everything; I'm a king! One day I have this; one day I have that.
Isn't this play kind of like that? Isn't that what happens in this play? Sometimes you have pain? Sometimes you have joy? Sometimes things are really wonderful?
Sometimes things are horrible? And when they are horrible, we get shaken - to our core? And so many of the questions that I get, they're rooted in that - and they're rooted in that. Because there is little or no understanding of what the self really is.
Somebody even asked, "You know, you talk about feeling that, experiencing that infinite that's inside of you" - or the, "Who you are? Feeling that? Experiencing who you are? And conquering…?"
Yeah, but when you get to know yourself, there are things, there are parts of you, you have to conquer. This habit that you have of confusing yourself with your role-playing, with being an actor, has to be conquered. It has to be controlled.
You always, always need to know, "That's just my acting bit. And the reality, who I am, what I am, what I - how I exist. This opportunity that I have, what this is, and what it means to me."
Why am I fascinated with which is all about "I wasn't"? I'm fascinated by that - when I won't be, and I'm fascinated by that too! But I'm not nearly as fascinated with the "is," when this is, all I have is the "is."
So, yes, I am an actor, and there is a drama afoot. But I am more than an actor. And that is who I truly am. This actor playing the roles - scripts will keep changing, my friends; scripts will keep changing. We just saw the script change. Wasn't everything kind of set up to go a certain way - and then somebody just rewrote the script?
And the script changed - and nobody saw it coming. I mean, people who supposedly, you know, can foretell the future - could not foretell the future. So the scripts will change! Sometimes this will happen; sometimes that will happen. Sometimes a doctor will hand you a script: "And you have six months." And there are doctors who tell that to people.
Then I know and I respect these doctors who say, "It's not written at the bottom of your foot, 'You're going to expire in one month or two months or' - there is no expiration date. Let's work with it!" I admire them. I admire them because they're right!
Hallmark of a very good doctor: "You are not just your script. You are beyond that script. You are alive - and that's everything." And it's powerful. And it should be attracting all your attention; you should be fascinated by that.
But what are you fascinated with - "Oh, what's happening here; what's happening…?" But those are all scripts. "So-and-so is doing this; so-and-so has become this; so-and-so is this; so-and-so is this. And now so-and-so is going to do this, and so-and-so is…." And we're all fascinated.
But it's just acting and acting and this is another script. And, you know, some people play their role very well. Some people are very good at playing their role. What about you?
What I am saying, though - it's not about your role, (but and you, how well you want to play it, that's up to you). But there is a distinction between your role and yourself. That all the ups and downs of your script that you read, the words that you memorize - they're just a play. Sometimes people will applaud because you have done well. Sometimes people won't.
Sometimes you'll become a better actor; sometimes you'll become a worse actor. Should you become a better actor; should you become a bad actor? It's up to you, whatever you want, whatever you choose.
But - I want to remind you, and I want you to know - that besides this acting, besides this stage, besides the audience, besides the lights, besides the orchestra, besides the director, there is something else going on - and you're alive.
And that's your reality. That is your reality. That is why you need to know yourself. That is why you need to live this life consciously, always knowing the difference between the reality and the play.
And then there is the gratitude. Not the applause of the audience, but the applause of a singular heart, your heart filling up with gratitude, applauding you, applauding your existence, applauding your remembrance, applauding your clarity, applauding your simplicity, applauding your fulfillment again and again and again.
I wanted to share that with you. I hope that answers some of your questions. I hope that somehow it makes your life easier, understanding, going forward. I know these are difficult times. But it's up to you. It's up to you how you look at it.
You know, you can make it enjoyable - because still, the breath comes into you and goes out of you. You exist - and you are very real. You won't be. But so far you are, you are very real. The rest is a play; scripts will change - always do, always have. It's not about that. It really isn't about that.
So anyways, I hope you feel good. Take care of yourselves - and I'll talk to you soon. Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 9 - The Grand Illusion (Part 2)
"Connect, connect in your heart, in your being with that that was, is, and will be. How wonderful, how beautiful that journey of life can be for each one of us." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone - Prem Rawat here. So, this is the second part of the, one of the presentations that I had done yesterday. And a question was brought up, and I'd like to answer it.
And the question that was brought up was "So, because all this - we talk about the permanent and we talk about the temporary. So there is this temporary. What does that really mean? I mean, does that mean that we don't enjoy it; that we stay away from it, and…?"
And, you know, I have to say that, from a very long time ago, I would say things - and people automatically assumed what it might be, or the consequences might be.
So if I say to somebody that "You need peace," they automatically assume (because I think they heard it somewhere) that they'll become a vegetable. (Well, I, I don't know where that comes from.) Or about the temporary, that that means we shouldn't enjoy the temporary. It makes no difference.
The example that I would like to give is, say you arrive in a city - and you have business there; you're going to be there for two or three days. So you check into a hotel. Now, they make hotels quite nice - but everybody coming into that hotel, more or less - I mean, I guess there are some guests that are permanent. But most of the people coming to that hotel are there, and their visit is very temporary in nature.
So they come; they come; they stay for a few days, maybe a week, maybe overnight - and then they move on.
What happens when they come there? Well, they might go to their room. If they're particularly tired, they might take a shower - should they enjoy that shower? Yeah, of course they can enjoy that shower; that's not a problem. That's not going to take away the enjoyment of the shower that you have at home.
And then, maybe after you've taken a shower and you're nice and relaxed, you decide to take a five-minute nap, so you lie down on the bed. Well, that's very relaxing; that's very enjoyable, but that doesn't mean that now when you arrive home, your bed will be missing - no.
What is in that hotel is in that hotel. You might turn on the television, might enjoy a movie - you might order in. (Room service is very popular in hotels.) And you might, you know, enjoy a decadent meal, you know, some French fries and cakes and pancakes and hot maple syrup and ice cream and, you know - the kid's menu is really, usually very good in regards to that.
So, why do we automatically assume that because this is temporary in nature, that it cannot be enjoyed? It can be enjoyed - but you have to remember what its nature is. That one day, all of this won't be. That there is a difference.
Now, this room that I am using, I have used this before, this room. And right now, where I am, it's very, very hot. So, you know, it's a good thing that these videos don't go on for too long, because the air conditioning is running. And then just before I start to do these videos, I turn the air conditioning off, so that you won't have to put up with the noise.
But I know that that's not the way it's always going to be - that winter will come. And when the winter comes, it'll be very cold. The air conditioning won't be on; it'll be the heater. And that works out fine for making videos because you wear a jacket or some warm clothes and it all works out.
So, as we go, as we live our lives, there is our relationship with the permanent, because the permanent resides inside of us. This is this very peculiar thing that existence really is. Because here, the two most unlikely things have come together. And what are the two most unlikely things?
The finite, (extremely finite in nature), and the infinite, (extremely infinite in nature), have come together - and allow and present a possibility to experience…. That the finite gets to experience the infinite - that is remarkably enjoyable, that is remarkably good, that's remarkably beautiful.
A few days ago I was in Germany. And something happened there; I was at this house - the house was okay; it was a nice house. And it was like a bed and breakfast. And the - you know, it didn't have air conditioning, so that didn't make it - and those particular days that I was there, it was pretty hot in Munich.
Then one day I came - and I see there are three people standing in the living room and they're looking out the window. And I look out the window and there's this machine, and it's going back and forth over the grass.
And to me, it was pretty obvious what it was; it was a lawnmower, one of those automatic lawnmowers - it uses a GPS and it uses a wire, and that's its intelligence; it knows not to cross that wire.
And so you can set up a perimeter. And it goes and it cuts the grass. And then when it's running out of battery, it goes and it knows where its spot is, where it needs to charge, and it'll go and charge itself - and then once it has charged it'll go and cut some more grass.
So, I'm looking at them, and they're like, they are really looking at this thing. And I say, "What are you looking at?" And they go, "That machine!" I said, "That machine, yeah. Do you know what that is?" And one person answered, "Yes, it is a dew vacuum." (So, dew, d-e-w, dew vacuum.)
And I said, "How…? What?" You know, it's like, "Well, what, what brought you to that conclusion?" And of course, this person had never seen one of these machines - and certainly hadn't seen one of these machines in action.
And so I'm sure that when he saw this thing going around and around and round and doing its thing, it's like, "Well, what is it doing?" And it does not look like a lawnmower; it looks very different than the lawnmower that this person was used to.
And so he, I am sure, stood there and probably scrambled his head quite a bit trying to figure out what this thing is, and came to the conclusion that it was a "dew vacuum."
And the explanation that this person proceeded to give me was, "In case you want to take a walk on the grass early in the morning, this machine will come and suck up the dew; then the grass will be dry and you won't get your feet wet." I started laughing. I laughed, and we all had a good laugh about it, and I explained to them what it was, and….
So I really started thinking about that. And it's like, we come up against something - and we can't figure it out; I mean, there is no common frame of reference - we've never seen that before.
A lot of people, then, they first walk into a cockpit, they haven't seen - if they haven't seen the circuit-breakers (with the particular kinds that they use in airplanes, which are almost like buttons; they look like buttons), they think they're buttons - because they look like buttons.
But they are circuit-breakers; they're like fuses. And they think, "Oh my God, so many buttons." It's not the buttons - there are quite a few of the circuit-breakers - but that's what they are.
And so when we come across something that we have no common reference for, we have no experience, no understanding of what it is - we automatically assume. And when it comes to the infinite, that is certainly the case. Then, no common frame of reference. Not too many people talk about it - certainly not when we're growing up.
When we're growing up, it's very particular, the things that we are taught - depends where you come from. You know, and that there is a joke about that.
This young girl went to her mom and said, "Mommy, you know, where do human beings come from?" And the mother said, "Well, you know, there was Adam; there was Eve. And God created them and then they went on and here we have the whole human race that came from that."
So, she thought about it; it didn't make too much sense to her - so she went to her dad. Says, "Dad, dad, how did human beings come about? How'd they come to be?" And the father said, "Well, there were these monkeys, and the monkeys, do you know, going through the evolutions, slowly - and from the monkeys we have all derived, and this is how we all came to be."
Now the girl was thoroughly confused. So she went to her mother - and said, "Mom, mom, mom. Dad said that we all came from monkeys." And the mother looked at the little girl and said, "Well, I just told you about my side of the family, where we came from. Maybe his side of the family, they all came from monkeys."
And I read this joke; it was funny. And it's funny - but the thing is, there are people who believe one way; there are people who believe the other way. And they are, you know, very, very staunch about it; "This is, this is how it is," and, do you know, because this is what they have been taught.
And most of the things that we talk about, or the way we look at things, are the things that have been put inside of us, not by us, but by other people. "And therefore, something that is temporary, what is the point of enjoying it?" Well, but the cake that's on your plate is temporary too; you're going to eat it! And you're going to thoroughly enjoy it, right?
I mean, the ice cream in the bowl, that's temporary for sure, especially when it's hot outside - it's going to melt; it's not going to stay ice cream. And whilst it still is ice cream, you're going to want to eat it; you're going to want to enjoy it.
But you understand the nature - you understand the nature of the ice cream; you understand the nature of that cake; you understand the nature of all those things that are temporary. And those things that are temporary, you would like to eat them quickly so they don't spoil.
Well, because you understand that temporary nature, and you understand, (if you can), the nature of the permanent. That all this that we get all excited about, "Oh, this is this way; oh, look, this has been invented." Should - should we not be excited about those inventions that are truly incredible? We should be; we should be excited. Sure, that's fine.
But by the same token, understand that that is not the permanent. That somewhere you have to have a connection with the permanent. What is temporary is temporary - it is here; it may not be here. But by the same token, you also have to understand the nature of the infinite, of the permanent - that which cannot be created, which cannot be destroyed - that is.
And you know, in all of us as human beings, we yearn every day to be fulfilled. Now, when we want to be fulfilled, it isn't about anything in particular; we just want, we like to feel fulfilled.
One day, the grandfather turned to his granddaughter and said, "Honey, do you have a newspaper? Can I borrow a newspaper?" And she went, "Dad, grandad, grandad, we don't use newspapers anymore. That was a long time ago; now it's all about iPads, and it's about iPhones, and it's about all these tablets that you can have. Here, here is my iPad. And, you know, this is what we use; we don't use newspapers anymore."
And the guy took the iPad - and I can tell you one thing; that fly had no idea what had hit. And the next thing you know, the iPad is in pieces, but so is the fly! He wanted to kill a fly; she assumed he wanted to read news, and she said, "Well, no, use the iPad." But it's completely wrong if you're going to start using an iPad to kill flies!
These assumptions go on. There's no limit to these assumptions. The doctor says something - and we assume automatically the worst. Somebody says something? We assume automatically the worst.
I mean, it was so wonderful - it was so wonderful to just, to watch some of the police officers who came to the, you know, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that they were having, and they actually joined them! It was such a breath of fresh air, and it was so wonderful - that they actually joined them.
They just wanted everything to be peaceful - and it stayed that way. Of course, where there was confrontation, things didn't go so well.
So, we have the capacity in us to really take a look and be able to say, "Okay, this is what I'm going to get out of this - and this is what I'm going to get out of this. I should not expect permanence from the fulfillment that I will receive from this temporary - it will be also temporary by its nature.
"And the permanent will give me that fulfillment that will be so much more permanent" - or I should say, "that will be permanent in my life, in my existence." Because remember, I wasn't; I am, and I won't be. And people will automatically jump to, "What does that mean, 'I wasn't'?" Well, you weren't.
But you are! Would you please focus on that you are? I know people will immediately jump to, "Well, we won't be. Well, what do you mean? And that's not what I was told. (You know, 'We're going to go through this, and we're going to go through that.')"
I mean, pick a religion. And they will tell you, "You will go through this; you'll go through this, and then you'll arrive here and you've got heaven; you've got" - you know, in India, you have the paradise….
The Hindu religion, you have the paradise; then you have the Vaikunth, which is, you know, total liberation; you don't come back from there into this cycle of birth and death and birth and death and birth and death.
But my point is, "Are you paying any attention to where you are?" Because if you aren't, then something is going to be wrong. You are more busy contemplating about that which isn't - than that which is - is! And it becomes, this life should not be a comedy of errors, otherwise, it will become a comedy of errors.
And it'll be one error after another error, after another error, after another error. And people become disappointed because they're looking for their fulfillment from this temporary. When they don't get that fulfillment, or they're, they'd - they get disappointed. Disappointment.
A very high level of anxiety is produced from this world, in this world. Human beings - they get disappointed and they will kill themselves. Well, what's that all about? Because you're not paying attention to how things are.
That in this veil of everything that is so temporary, there is something that is permanent - and that is there in your life, in your existence. And this thing called "life" is the confluence, is the joining, is the meeting of the two, the infinite and the finite.
And what have you been created as? As the ultimate experiencing machine. One of the things that you can do; you can experience! You can have joy in your life. You can have fulfillment in your life. You can have these wonderful, wonderful gifts - and they can be ours to have!
And this, we can take with us wherever we go, whatever happens to us. And you know, existence is not a matter of convenience - of "what is convenient to think about, and how will, you know; it'd be so great if we, yeah, we don't actually die. We just move; we go somewhere else."
But, I know; I know. I know, it sounds great; sounds like a wonderful thing. It just doesn't sound realistic for all this to end one day and "ta-dah, gone." But like I said, you know, you've got that obituary column in the newspaper: "So-and-so went; so-and-so went; so-and-so went."
How come you don't have another one, "So-and-so came back; so-and-so came back; so-and-so came back; so-and-so came back"? Is it obvious? Is it that obvious? Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Is it nice to accept that? Umm, tough. So, when somebody says "Don't waste your time" - that the present is called "the present" because it is a present.
Do you really see the present as a present? A gift that has been given to you? Or do you see it as something else? Do you see it as challenges? Are you trying to extract from this temporary, some form of permanence - which this temporary can never give? Because it has none to give.
And for that, you're going to have to look within you - within you where that beauty resides, where that simplicity resides. And then, when you put away, put aside your assumptions…? I mean, should you have assumptions about all this world? Go right ahead; I don't care. See, it's all temporary; it's just a play.
You're playing a play; in this, you can get angry - and your, you know, co-actor can get angry, and that co-actor can pretend to take a knife and stab you with it. And you can pretend to fall down - only to get right back up again when the curtain falls. But it's only a play; it's only a play; it's only a play; it's only a play. It's only a play.
Should you be a good actor? Why not? Be a great actor. Should you really get into this role? Absolutely, get into the role. But know that you return back when the curtain falls. You're done.
Kind of like the Cinderella story, isn't it? Yes, the pumpkin has been turned into a chariot, and everything is wonderful, and - but the midnight strikes. And everything goes back to the way it was.
Well, that's what happens. It's happened before; it will happen again. And nobody's exempt from it. People have tried to make themselves exempt. Houdini said to his wife; he said, "I, any which way I will try, I will try to get hold of you." He was such a great artist, escape artist - "I can always escape from even wherever I end up." He didn't; he couldn't.
So, when somebody says, "You're made out of dirt" - should we, should you be shocked? Is that belittling you? No, that's just stating a fact.
You should give some thought to it: "My God, what's going on here - and dirt talks? Dirt walks? Dirt has learnt how to fly airplanes, fly gliders, fly helicopters? Swim deep underwater? Create rockets? Reach for the moon? Reach for the planets?" Sure. Sure. Fantastic, great, amazing. But don't forget, dirt is dirt. And one day it will try to join the big dirt where it came from.
This is true of the pharaohs; they believed that, you know, there was a lot going on after they died; they will go there, there, there, there, there, and they're going to need all these people - then they would bury the people live, and they would bury the animals alive, and the chariot and the horses and…. They're still here. They're never - they never went anywhere.
So it is! So it is. Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, it is what it is. But you can extract something wonderful - that "Yes, my mission here is to gather joy, is to gather clarity, is to gather understanding - is to be fulfilled."
How wonderful if it can be that way for us, not assumptions but clarity. That that which was, is, and will be - versus us, who wasn't, is, and won't be - versus what isn't; wasn't, isn't, and won't be. Connect, connect in your heart, in your being with that that was, is, and will be. How wonderful, how beautiful that journey of life can be for each one of us.
I'll talk to you soon; take care of yourselves. Stay healthy; stay well.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 10 - Embrace Perfection
"The first effort has to be in your understanding - that you don't want to be perfect, but you want to experience the perfect that is inside of you." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everybody; I hope you're all doing well. And so I've been traveling quite a bit, just got back from Greece. And I thought that, before I have to pack up all this stuff, (because 'going to another country), I'd just take this time and talk to you about some of the things that I have been saying at different events.
And one of the things that I have been talking about, and I think it's pretty powerful - it's a very personal thing but it's very powerful. And a lot of it just really comes from years and years of experience talking to people.
And it begins with this, you know, the story of Ramayan, even though…. Let me just put it in the context of that story, to begin with. And of course, that would be that there's Ram - and there are two other people. And one is Ravan, who - he's a demon; he's a rakshas. He steals Ram's wife. And ultimately, he has to fight Ram. And Ram wins and he dies.
On the other hand, there's another character, another person - and that person is Hanuman. He is a monkey, but he's very powerful; he's very learned. And so is Ravan; Ravan is also very powerful and he's also learned.
And what do these two chase? So, in a way, you being alive on the face of this earth, (your life, your existence), you are a person who has two possibilities. And this is what I want to talk about, and so I'm going to take it more or less out of the context of Ramayan.
That so many people that I met when I was a teenager - and they would ask me questions. And those questions were really all about wanting to be perfect.
So, in fact, that's exactly what Ravan wants to be - he wants to be perfect. He wants to live forever. He doesn't want to die. He wants to be victorious over whoever he fights. He wants to have knowledge of things in the future, things in the past, things in the present. And whatever he conjures up, that he has the power to make it a reality.
You know, however you look at it, it's almost like today's human being - that they want to fulfill their dreams, whatever their dreams may be. And everybody wants to be, in a way, perfect. I mean, when it comes to makeup, everybody wants to have perfect makeup on, perfect dress, perfect haircut, perfect lipstick, perfect eye shadow, perfect everything.
And for men, of course, you know, if they have a mustache it has to be perfectly groomed; if they have a beard it has to be perfectly groomed. Their haircut has to be perfect. And if they decide not to have the groomed look, it has to be perfect too - it has to be "non-groomed."
So, that is very, very interesting to me, that there is this incredible desire that Ravan has to be perfect - and his city should be perfect; his town should be perfect; his country should be perfect - and of course, he should be perfect.
And then there is this other character, and that's Hanuman. Of course, he's very learned too. He's very powerful. So what does he want?
And Hanuman, he doesn't want to be perfect. Instead, he wants to embrace the perfect; he wants to experience the perfect. He wants to serve the perfect. So, both want to be associated with perfection - but entirely different ways. One wants to be perfect - and one wants to experience the perfect.
This is very interesting to me. Because there is a desire in us for that perfect family, for that perfect job, for that perfect reward, for that perfect house, for that perfect vacation, for that perfect wedding, for that perfect birthday, for the perfect-perfect-perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect!
And the issue is that for Ravan, certainly, in the pursuit of perfection, he decimates himself. He destroys himself. And every time he thinks he's closer to perfection, he's actually not closer to perfection; he's actually further away from perfection.
One of the boons that he asks of Brahma is that no demon, no monster, no animal, you know, will be able to kill him. He does not for a minute think that human beings pose a challenge to him - so he doesn't ask for "human beings" specifically, that they cannot kill him - he asks for everything else.
And that's his downfall. Whatever is in his head is this idea - and so this is the second part of what I want to talk about, the idea of what is perfect. Because whatever this idea of perfection is, that's what we pursue. That's what we are pursuing. "What would the perfect society look like? What would the perfect justice system look like?"
And more we try to push ourselves towards that, for some strange reason, the further away we get from it. And this is exactly what is happening with Ravan.
Because you see, perfection isn't something that you just concoct in your head. Perfection is far more dynamic than any one thing.
So you can take a video of a person; you can take a picture of a person; you can record the person's audio. And none of those things will truly reflect who that person is - because that person in their real life is far more dynamic than any one of those reflections that has been captured.
Whether it is audio, whether it is video, whether it is a photograph - that a human being is far more dynamic. A lot more is going on; there's a lot more…. To, the dimensions that you would see would limit the scope. So when we start, through our imagination - try to figure out what perfection is, that perfection is far from perfection. That has nothing to do with perfection.
And so we have set up a goal in the name of perfection. Because we create, concoct…. And that's the best word to use here, "concoct."
Because we make up our definition; we don't know what the definition is - like the definition of "peace." So we make up this word called "peace" - there is a feeling of peace inside, but it's a feeling. There's an experience of peace, but it's an experience. And it's dynamic. It's not static; it's dynamic. And it is not dependent on outer circumstances.
But the concoction that we have created called "peace" - is very static. It's "This, this, this has to be there. And if you have this much, this much and this much of this, then you are happy and because you're happy, you are in peace." Wrong, sorry. Sorry, but that's not the way it works - that's not the way it works.
It is like trying to get into the description…. When somebody says "I'm thirsty; can I have some water?" - and you say, "Yes, and water is this liquid which is, you know, H2O. And it is usually put in a glass, and then it is offered - and then you, when you drink it, it quenches your thirst." Of course that person wants something more. That person actually wants water.
So, at what point do you actually look at these things that we concoct, that we create - the definitions: "The goal end of this is 'When I get to this point, I am there'?" When do we start looking at these as arbitrary? That they're not real.
The first effort has to be in your understanding - that you don't want to be perfect, but you want to experience the perfect that is inside of you.
There is a perfect. And it is perfect not because of any thing that makes it perfect. It is. It was, it is, and it will be. And it, if it wants to evolve, it will evolve. If it doesn't want to evolve, it won't evolve. It is perfect in any state that it is in. It does not cater to anybody's concept of what "perfect" is.
In this universe there is great light - and there's great darkness! And both exist. And it's very simple; where is the darkness? Where there isn't light - there is darkness. And where is the light? Where there is the light. Where there is a body, a star that's giving the light.
And so, you know, you could get very complicated - because we're talking about life - but that's it. We concoct all these ideas - and then we pursue these ideas.
And all our energy, instead of going and experiencing what the perfect is, embracing what the perfect is, (that is the way it is), and experiencing great joy because of feeling that perfect inside of you, feeling that feeling of peace that is inside of you, because you have embraced the perfect. Not by definition, but by feeling. Not by description, (definition/description), not by description, but by feeling.
Water, the process of drinking water and the thirst being quenched could be described - very easily, in fact. But that's not going to quench your thirst. There is a process that you could go into description - or you could actually have the water and experience that water in your mouth, in your parched mouth, on your lips - and going down the throat, cool beautiful water, and quenching your thirst.
And feeling satisfied! Feeling satisfied. No amount of description…. And what I'm about to say is also very powerful - "No amount of description should satisfy you. The only thing that should take away your thirst is actually drinking the water."
Now, people might go, "Yeah, you could have a soft drink; you could have a, you know, coffee; you could have tea." Yeah, but that's, they're basically water. So that's what's quenching your thirst.
And again, if you could be satisfied by description alone, we've got a problem here. Truly, there's a problem here. Because that's not how we are.
So, to set up goals, and then to accomplish those goals: "I will do this; I will do this; I will do this; I will do this" - and none of those goals are about your existence, you embracing that perfection - then you've got an issue. Because now you can be satisfied just by a description.
You have your wife; you have your girlfriend. You have your husband; you have your boyfriend. Do you want to be with them - do you have your child? You want to be with them, or the description would be satisfactory?
So, is that how you work? I mean, then why would you ever need to take a vacation? Just get a description of a vacation. "You are now lying on the lounge chair and the sun is beating down upon you, and you've just put on some suntan lotion and everything is wonderful. And here comes your cool refreshing drink." And that's it.
But you know you will not be satisfied with that. That - and that description may actually cause you more to go on a vacation; this is possible. But to be satisfied and say "That's enough," that won't happen. That's not going to happen.
But somehow when it comes to peace, to the real joy in our lives - well, to the real situation of actually being alive…. And there's a lot of people; I'm telling you, there's a lot of people who are not happy. Because now, and especially with this coronavirus thing, it's just like the boredom that has hit is unbelievable. Unbelievable.
But unbeknown to you - unbeknown to you - even before the coronavirus, something had been quarantined inside of you. That feeling of wanting to be free had been quarantined: "No. I am in the midst of pursuing my concept, my idea of what is perfect. Everything else, hang on." The love, the simple love, love for peace. Your heart - your heart, quarantined, locked up: "Can't go out."
You know, some of the events that I have done - I mean, I always asked that I could look into people's eyes. And then in one of the events I was looking at the audience - and that's all you can see is the eyes, because the mouth and nose are covered. And so I was like, "Well, you asked for it. You asked to look into their eyes; now that's all you can see!"
And I mean, when it really comes down to it, there's the whole thing, the whole package of the nose, the mouth, the smile. The eyes - everything is precious, of us human beings. Our expression.
And this, this has been locked away, thrown away. Our need to be fulfilled from our heart - "No, just to be satisfied with when the mind says 'You are satisfied'" - which it never does! Never has, never will, never can.
So, Hanuman wants to embrace perfection. Hanuman wants to experience perfection. Ravan wants to be perfection; he wants to be perfect. And the way the story goes, (hah-hah!), Ravan is no more. He's slayed on the battlefield. He's killed on the battlefield.
And when he's lying there, Ram says to his brother Lakshman - he says, "Go and get some good advice from Ravan. He is, after all, very knowledgeable. And he's a good king, and when we go back, we will be, you know - I'll be the king and so it'd be really great."
And Lakshman goes over to Ravan, stands by his head and he goes, "Hey, Ravan! You know, before you die or kind of like, kick the bucket, ah, tell me, tell me some good pointers." And Ravan says nothing! He's lying there dying - he says nothing.
And so he goes back to Ram and says - his brother goes back to Ram and says "The rope has burned but the twists in the rope are still there." (So, this guy is dead, he's dying - but his ego is not dead; he won't answer me.) And Ram said, "Well, how did you ask him?" And so he explained to him. He says, "No, no, no, no, no, Lakshman, that's not the way you ask."
So Ram goes and sits by the feet of Ravan - and he folds both of his hands. And he praises him for who he is. He praises him. And Ravan is delighted to answer. And he says, "I always had these great ideas; I wanted to make all the water in the ocean sweet. But I put it off till tomorrow. What is good, don't put it off till tomorrow." That's one of his advices.
And I mean - okay, so, you know, I'm not going to get into the semantics of "did this story happen or this story didn't happen," but when somebody sits down and writes a story like that, there's so much incredible knowledge to be gained from what this story is all about.
That in your life, in my life, embracing - embracing the perfect, embracing that joy, embracing that peace, that is what it is all about. Not trying to become perfect. You can become the champion; you can win a race. Tomorrow, somebody will break your record - happens every time. Somebody will do a little better.
So, it is not so much of all the accomplishments, but what you accomplish within you, your strength. Not chasing little dream-clouds that you create through your imagination - but the reality that is ever-present, that was, is, and will be - to embrace that, to embrace peace, to embrace that perfection in your life. This is what it needs to be about! This is what it needs to be about.
I have so many wonderful things to talk to you about. I mean, I know that I talked about empathy - and how important empathy is - and in one of my broadcasts, I'll talk about empathy.
So, as simple as it can be - is there something wrong in being Ravan? And you can say "no." But at the end of the day, he gets nothing. He gets nothing! His Lanka, his city, the capital city, (made out of gold, supposedly), is burnt down. He cannot take his wives with him; he cannot take his money with him.
And empty-handed he had come, and empty-handed he is leaving. Even though he has had so many boons granted to him; he's so powerful - so incredibly strong. But as he lies on that battlefield, he's nobody. He's nobody. And ultimately, a funeral pyre is made and all the, all his soldiers and all of those people are put together and boomf, they're burnt, and that's it.
Hanuman, on the other hand, is having a great time. He loves it! And he - he gets to experience bliss, joy, peace, every day, every single day. Because he wants to embrace it, wants to hug it. He wants to accept it.
He is not curious. He knows; he's certain. The step after curiosity is certainty. And if you never get to certainty in your life and stay stuck with curiosity, it has its disadvantages. You'll be curious about everything - and certain about nothing.
There are certain things you need to be certain about - the coming and going of this breath, you need to be certain about how beautiful it is. That the peace resides in your heart, you need to be certain about that. You need to experience that. And that's what Hanuman does. And - very happy, very much in peace, very much in joy - because he wants to accept that perfection.
So, you know, you may not believe in this story; you may believe in this story, whatever. But at least, take away the knowledge - and the knowledge that Valmiki put forth. And there are so many renditions of Ramayana, so many Ramanayas; there, the stories have changed a little bit, and changed a little bit, and changed a little bit, and changed a little bit.
But it is about the two - one, wanting to be perfect, (and I say "wanting"). And the other one just embracing that perfection, embracing that peace, embracing that joy. Certainly, something incredible to think about - something very beautiful to think about.
Yes, I would like to talk about the empathy - because that's so important. And then there is another little story when Bharat asks Hanuman "Why do you follow Ram?" The answer is so elegant, so simple, so incredible - and Hanuman says, "Because he makes me a better person." So I'd like to talk about that at some point in time.
So, anyways, I hope you continue to take care of yourselves; feel good - and I will see you soon, I hope.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 11 - The Experience Machine
"Every human being on the face of this earth has this incredible thirst to be a better person." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. So, I'm here in a new country and I had to take everything down, set everything back up. And, you know, that took a few days just because, very hard to get parts, you know, a little part here, little part there.
Anyways, I'm here - and I want to talk to you about being a better person, (because that's a lot of the requests that have come in); it's, "Could you talk a little bit more about being a better person?"
So, I'd like to put it in a particular context, and the context is this: that, of course, I'm not going to tell you what it is to be a better person; you know, what exactly you need to be: "You need to have this, that, that, that" - I'm not going to do that. And the reason why I'm not going to do that is because….
And maybe the analogy that I will give you will explain why it is - that we need to have an understanding of what that means, rather than definitions and what specific things are.
So, here is the analogy - that you have a car. And of course, the car has headlights, has indicator lights, has wipers - and has a lot of these accessories, has horns, has radio. Has maybe, heater, heater fan, electric windows - a lot of these things.
So, one of the most important things that a car has is an engine - and that engine runs because of fuel. So, let's say it's a gasoline engine and it runs because of petrol or gas, gasoline. The car also has a battery. And the battery holds enough electrical charge for you to get in and crank the engine, try to start the engine. And provided that there is fuel, the engine will start.
And when the engine starts, it runs an alternator or a generator. And that generator has sufficient power in it to be able to power your headlights, to be able to power your wipers, to be able to power all those specific accessories - and to be able to charge the battery.
And so, after a few minutes of driving, that electricity that was taken out of the battery to start the car is then charged back up and now the car is ready to go again.
So, here's the point of it. Say, you run out of gas; you run out of petrol, and the engine won't start. So, of course, the consequences of that are going to be that - no headlights! If you ran the headlights, after a little while it will deplete the battery and there's nothing there to charge that battery up.
So, eventually, well, the headlights will go away. Eventually, the indicator lights won't work. The radio won't work. The wiper won't work. So all these things - the horns won't work.
So all these things that were happening because the engine would run, (because there was gasoline) - and now that the engine doesn't run, the battery doesn't get charged. And there is a limited time that these particular devices will work, and far, far shorter time, provided that there was gasoline available to run the engine.
So, how does that actually apply to being a better person? So let me also take a sidetrack here, and for some of you, maybe listening to this particular broadcast, One 2 One broadcast, you may not even understand why, "Why am I talking about being a better person?"
Well, this is a story from Ramayan. And Lakshman has been wounded. Indrajit, who is one of Ravan's sons, has wounded Lakshman. And the doctors have said that "unless there's a specific medication, an herb, sanjivany - that unless that sanjivany is found and brought and administered to Lakshman before the sunrise, that Lakshman will die."
Now, Ram is, of course, in dire straits over this because he's feeling like he couldn't protect Sita - and now, Lakshman, it looks like he might die - and this is terrible. Well, Hanuman to the rescue; always, Hanuman to the rescue. So Hanuman says, "Okay, I'll go, I'll go fetch it."
So he gets a pretty good description of what this medicine is, what this herb looks like - and he takes off. And he's there in the South - and it is in the mountains, up in the Himalayas where he will find this herb.
So he starts looking. And he can't find it - you know, it's just, he's, he's flustered too, because Lakshman is waiting for him and so on. So, he just picks up the entire mountain - and he's going to take the whole mountain back.
And he realizes that, you know, he only has till the morning time, the sunrise - so, so that the sun won't rise, he takes the sun and he sticks the sun under his arm. So it's quite a sight. And there is Hanuman flying through the skies with this mountain, and chanting "Ram, Ram, Ram."
It just so happens that he is overflying the place where Bharat has made his little cottage. (And Bharat is one of Ram's brothers.) And this is what Bharat's mother wanted, was Bharat to become the king and Ram to have the exile - well, Ram has been in exile - and Bharat really hasn't seen him in a long, long time.
But he sees somebody carrying a mountain, flying through the sky and chanting "Ram, Ram, Ram," so Bharat gets like, a little concerned - "Is this person going to hurt Ram? I mean, what's going on here?" So he shoots an arrow and it hits Hanuman, and Hanuman, with the mountain, descends down.
So, Bharat asks him, you know, "And what, what are you doing? What is this, well…?" And so, Hanuman then explains that "This is what has happened; that Sita got stolen; that Ram has had to go to Lanka and rescue her, and this is the process that they're in and they're fighting. And Lakshman has gotten wounded."
And so Bharat then realizes and he says - he introduces himself and he says, "I am, I'm his brother! I haven't seen him, and I'm so sorry I shot you down. But tell me something; why do you follow Ram?"
And it's a very beautiful answer, a straightforward, I think, very elegant, very to-the-point answer. And the answer is "Because," Hanuman says, "he makes me a better person."
And to me, that's very elegant, very beautiful. That's all. You know, not that "He does this, or he does this, or, or, you know, he takes away my…." Because, look - as human beings, we're going to get confused. And if somebody undoes our confusion, we'll then again get confused.
So, there are no guarantees of stability - that's what Marcus Aurelius said; that, you know, "the change is inevitable; change is going to happen." And we, we don't like change; we don't want change.
So, here's the issue. And when Bharat hears this, he says, "Okay, be on your way." And Hanuman says, you know, "You've wasted so much of my time; now I don't think I'll be able to get there in time to save Lakshman." Bharat says, "Don't worry - and get on my arrow and I'll shoot an arrow and this will get you there really quickly."
And so, just, this happens and, you know, Lakshman gets the medicine; he wakes up; everything is good. He, in fact, ends up killing Indrajit….
So, there, the idea of "being a better person." So then, the analogy - so you can say that a car, when everything is working; the headlights work. But now that there is no engine, then there is no charge in the battery; it's, the headlights don't work.
Well, you could - you could take two flashlights and put them where the headlights are. I mean, what would be the point, I don't know. Because the car isn't going to run. The basic objective of a car - to be able to take you from point A to point B - has temporarily been defeated. It's not going to happen.
So you could take a radio - somebody, borrow somebody's radio, transistor radio and put it in the car: "So, well, that, look, the radio works now. The lights work! - because I have taken two flashlights and I have taped them to where the headlights are." You could get a blinking light and you could put that where the indicator lights are.
So, you could break down the function which happens automatically when the engine runs, when the car is healthy, when there is gasoline - and as a consequence of that, all these things work…. You could break being a better person or being a good car or being a healthy car into these specific functions: "That a healthy car will have headlights working."
If you break the functions of the car into these particular things - and then try to take away the deficit that the lack of gasoline and the engine not running has produced - then it still doesn't really work.
So, how does that apply to a human being? Somebody can say that "I want to be a better father. I want to be a better brother; I want to be a better mother; I want to be a better friend. I want to be a better employee; I want to be a better employer; I want to be a better government, you know, minister; I, I want to be a better citizen; I want to be a better this and a better that.
"I want to be a better cook; I want to be a better" - so we can take and break a human life down to these chunks - and say "These are the betterments that we are looking for."
And a lot of people do that. There's no shortage of it; there are so many quote-unquote "gurus" out there that that's exactly what they do - "We'll make you a better communicator. You will be able to communicate better; that'll make you a better person."
And then if that's what you're going to do, then I think you missed the point. Because what does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be content; what does it mean to be in peace? What does it mean to have the joy in your heart?
That you have been given an experiencing machine - and that if you experience the most beautiful, that you experience the infinite that is within you - that all of those aspects on the outside will have some affect, some change.
A lot of people are like, "Oh, yeah, anger management - I don't want to get angry." And yet, so much of that anger comes from fear. And so nobody is fixing the fear - but they want to fix the anger.
So then, you know, the trick becomes, every time you feel that anger coming, (which happens all too quickly) - and then it's like, "Oh, count to two; count to three; count to four; take a sip of water; take, you know, take a gulp; take, think of this or think of the…."
So, all of a sudden, it just becomes - your life, your existence itself becomes this piecemeal. And it's like your - you know, there's a whole another way that these headlights should be working. And they're meant to be working that way; that's how the car was engineered!
But you didn't recognize the lack of gasoline; you didn't recognize that the engine isn't working - and you just want the headlights to work. And so, of course, they're not going to work, so you take two flashlights and you stick them where the headlights are and say, "Look, now we have headlights, so we're making progress."
That's not progress. You have to look at what the root is. If a tree is dead and you go and staple mangoes to its branches - if a plant is dead and you take some flowers and you staple them to that plant and you say, "Well, look, it's working. It's happening - look, and look, look, there are flowers on the plant." Well, flowers on the plant, yeah. But they're stapled, not naturally there!
So, being a better person then really is an issue that you understand what this is all about, what life is all about, what existence is all about. That you, somewhere out there as a speck of dust - and it wasn't you; you had no personality; you did not have a name and you didn't have a this and you didn't have a that.
And one of the examples that I give…. And I know that at home when I read a newspaper, (and sometimes when I am traveling I read a newspaper, but most of the time, I do this electronically, so you don't exactly come to that one page or two pages), but when you're reading a real newspaper and you look, and there's a whole obituary column.
And it's like, "So-and-so is gone; so-and-so is gone; so-and-so passed away; so-and-so died." But there is none of "So-and-so came back; so-and-so is back; so-and-so is back; so-and-so is back; so-and-so is back."
I know - I, look, I know the idea that "That's it" is too much! It is very, very hard to swallow that. And it's like, always, "There's got to be more. You know, there's got to be more; I'm going to get another chance at this. I'm going to get another chance at it."
Because otherwise, life will start feeling like you have wasted so much time. And so much of it goes into pacifying other people…. That you really didn't get that one thing that you could have gotten from this life, so something was missing.
So on one hand, there is a design. And the design is exquisitely beautiful. That from that infinite, you come. So, you come from the infinite - but you're not the infinite. But the infinite is inside of you.
And then? You're going to go back and join the infinite again - but not as you. Everything dismantled. And why, why this little exceptional time - that you are placed in a machine, in this body - to experience? That this can experience? It can experience joy; it can experience pain.
You know, it is so easy for all of us - if painting was all about "paint by numbers." You know, you've got a list: "Okay, eight, eight is purple; purple goes here; blue goes here; green goes here." And, wow! You could paint.
And that's the way the world describes this life: "Paint by numbers; do this; do this. You're, now you are here. Now you are here, and now you are this; now you are that." And off we go - trying to accumulate the list of those paints in our life, and then go, "Okay, yeah, I'm going to very accurately paint by numbers."
And at the end of the day, if that's all you keep doing - that after a little while, you will have a dotting of some information or some knowledge - and what that will be is that "This is no way to paint! This is no way to even learn how to paint."
And if that is the realization of a person, that "What did I do here? I mean, okay, here I was, and - I did this and I did that, and…." But, you, you're there; you - it's just you!
And the understanding. The understanding - that even, where does this desire come from to be a better person? That this isn't just a fancy that was flying across the air. That this isn't a subtle message that somebody put out. No, every human being on the face of this earth has this incredible thirst to be a better person.
That whatever scriptures that have been written - that whatever - these beautiful people on the face of this earth put out a message. And all of these have been so that you can be a better person.
I mean, I know people kill each other over, you know, "He said this and he said this and he said this and he said that." But it's really all so that you can be a better person.
And to begin to have that is going to require that you take a look - of what's really going on, have some understanding and acceptance.
I hear people saying, you know, "And, and oh, yeah, that person is gone, and, and they're going to meet their loved ones." The thing that recognizes the loved ones, the eyes, are here! And so, can you really take a look at what a person is without their body and recognize them? Because the body is here!
And I don't want to make a big point of it; I know it brings a lot of people a lot of comfort. But the true comfort will come when you take a look at this realistically and realize how beautiful this is - "That I will go back to that from where I came from. And then, so far I am here in this experiencing machine, that I can experience the infinite."
And in that process, in that process of experiencing, this is when the whole plan comes to fruition. No need to be stapling the flowers on the plant. No need to be stapling the fruit on the tree. That as a natural consequence of something being correct, of something being right, it happens. And what happens is beautiful. Because this is, this is the story of a human being. This is the story of you and me.
What do societies want? You know, are societies supposed to serve us, or are we supposed to serve the societies - I don't think that has even been clarified yet. And sometimes the society says "No, no, no, serve us. Serve me" - the society. And sometimes people say, "No, no, no, I want to be served by the society."
And here we live! And today, it is very, very obvious. One thing that is very obvious is that this whole structure can very quickly break down - of what we think is our foundation, what we think is so ultra-important, so quickly can break down.
So, understanding that being that "better person" is in fact, a very beautiful, simple, and a profound thing. That that betterment that you're actually looking for is inside of you. That indeed, if those headlights are not working; if the wipers are not working; if the indicator lights are not working; if the horn is not working, that this a consequence of something not being right.
And all this will be correct; all this will be right when that one fundamental thing is happening - when that gasoline is present; that engine is working; the alternator is doing its job; the electricity is present; the electricity is being supplied - you lay your hand on the steering wheel in the middle or in the corners and the horn goes off and it all works.
That all of these things, the compartmentalization of "a better human being" is not the way to even become a better human being. Because these are just the consequences of the things.
And every mother knows that. That when the child, when the baby is hungry, the baby might cry. You want to satisfy that baby; you want that baby not to cry? Very simple: feed it. Don't give it a lecture. Feed it. And when the baby is full, when the baby is satisfied, baby will automatically stop crying.
If something ails the baby - I, I know, well, I have seen mothers looking for, you know, "What's wrong; what's wrong?"
And, you know, they go - they will sometimes, will look at, "Under the diaper; is that okay, and there's, the socks okay, and the clothes are okay and everything is okay?" And then, "Oh, maybe you're still hungry." Because they know that when whatever ails that baby has been satisfied, that it will go to its state of being content.
And that's, to me, in a nutshell, what it is about. And you have to really backtrack on this; you have to look at the whole picture, not just one part of the picture.
Because so many people, you know, they would, they'll call me up or they'll send me a question, "You know, my boss doesn't like me, yeah…." I had that question one time. And the issue really becomes, it's not about the boss; it's about you; do you like yourself? Because you liking yourself - with humility, with humility - then the boss has no option except to like you.
But when you feel that you are missing something, that something is wrong, then that's going to propagate; that's going to go out. And it isn't just, you know, that "You've got to fix this and you've got to fix this, and you've got to fix this, and you've got to fix this." It isn't just about that. But it really is about something within you.
And when that is full, when you have that contentment…. When, (hah-hah), when you are doing what you are meant to be doing - experiencing the joy, experiencing the beauty, experiencing the peace in your life - then all that is put together right. And life takes on a different meaning.
And there are people who are like, "I don't want to have anything to do with this world, and I'm going to go and become a monastic," and they go and find a remote place and live there; there are people who live in caves….
So, but the thing that has the problem is in you! The solution is in you and the problem is in you. And unless you put it together, put it, put it right, it's not going to change. It's not going to change.
So, you really want that to happen - that you become a better person…. Not the best person. Interesting, right? Not the best person but "better person." To always take that next step, and always take that next step, and always take that next step. The deeper that understanding gets, more gratitude that is in this heart, the yearning for all this will be there.
So, what does it mean to be a better person, I'm not going to tell you that. But I can tell you, very simply, that when all is well, being a better person will happen naturally, automatically.
So, take care of yourselves. And I will see you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 12 - The Priceless You
"Your existence is unique, irreplaceable. Nobody can compete with it; nobody can put a price on it. Because every breath that comes into you cannot be replaced." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you're all well. I want to talk to you about something. And I was thinking about this last night. We have covered, actually, quite a few topics; there are, I'm sure, quite a few more to cover.
But I know that at this time of this whole coronavirus pandemic, and all kinds of problems that I'm sure people are facing - and, you know, it can be disheartening; it can be a little bit gloomy; it can be, you know, "What is it going to be like?"
And then, people are afraid of a lot of things. So, it would be, I think, appropriate to call it like a big cauldron of emotions. And a lot of them are negative emotions, and they're just being stirred at this time. A lot of people haven't seen their friends or their relatives in a really long time.
So then I was thinking; it's like, "Wouldn't it be nice just to talk about something that is incredibly pleasant?" And not that that's going to change anything out there. It's still going to go on and whatever is going to happen is going to happen.
But sometimes when a light can hit something, an object, a path, a certain way - and it can illuminate in a particular way, maybe you will see something that you didn't see before. And this is what I'm talking about.
So, what is the most pleasant thing to talk about? I mean, is it - is it about heaven? Because that's - that's just people's ideas. And in many ways, it's exactly opposite of what people don't like on planet Earth.
And what difficulties they may have had in their lives, what they don't like, then they have created a place in their imagination, and this place is void of all those problems, all those issues.
Why should paradise, why should heaven be like that? I don't know! I mean, why should the temperature always be a perfect seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit? Why not some days a little warmer, some days a little cooler? But people imagine that "Yeah, no, no temperature variance. Everybody is fine; everybody gets good food…." (Food can be incredible here too!)
But we create this paradise; we create this place - in our desperation, in our dislike of what we see around us: "I wish I was somewhere where everything would be a certain way, a perfect way," whatever. And so we've created this. And hell is exactly opposite of that. So everything we don't like, that's what that is all about.
But then, the most pleasant thing that I can think of is the coming and going of this breath, of this existence. That when you, as a human being, in your life, accept this gift of life, of what you are being given every single day, (without fail, without bias), that the day you begin to accept those things, that that's incredibly pleasant. That's incredibly beautiful.
Because that fills the heart with this gratitude. Then you begin to live your life consciously, being aware of what you have. And appreciate its beauty, appreciate its joy. Appreciate what it means to have those little things that are around you.
Not - you know, we get so caught up in the fulfilment of our dreams. So, it's like, "Okay, you need to dream." Should you dream; of course you should dream. That's besides the point.
But then we get so caught up in trying to fulfill those dreams - that we neglect to see those dreams that have come true. We stop appreciating those dreams that have materialized - in the most fundamental sense of it, that you exist, that you are alive.
And this isn't a mental game; this isn't a social game. I'm talking about you as a human being, even without the society around you.
And now, of course, the question is going to be, "Are you going to be able to survive - without this society?" Well, the reality is, for thousands and thousands and thousands of years, you did! You didn't have this kind of society. You didn't have supermarkets. You had trees giving fruit. You had rivers that were clean. You had air. You had sun.
And this is the human dream, of like, "Yeah-oh, yeah, and you know, and I wish I could just go in one place and I don't have to go gathering food from the ten different places, twenty different places." Of course, that kept you in shape….
And so, we have blindly taken our dreams and tried to fulfill them, and we try to fulfill them every single day, these ideas that we get, these dreams that we get.
And we forget about those dreams that have come true. They're very simple; they're very fundamental. They're about you. They're about you being in the face of this earth. They're about you having this dream, a dream to be fulfilled, a dream to be in peace, a dream to be in joy, a dream to be in clarity, a dream to be able to understand what is important to you.
And when those things come true, it is so beautiful, so incredible. And they're so simple. You don't have to climb mountains for it. You don't have to try to become a billionaire for it. You don't have to have recognition for it. But those are the things that you already have inside of you.
That at any given moment, you can look around you. And if it's daytime, the sun, the clouds, the flowers. The sky. And if it's at nighttime, the stars, the moon. And however it is, just to look around you in the most simplest of ways. And know that "This is irreplaceable." That your existence, your existence is irreplaceable, cannot be replaced.
You know, there's, (uh-huh), the world's becoming more and more full of bean counters. And they look at - they measure everything; they weigh everything, "You know, what's, and this is important; this is worth this much money; this is worth this much money; this is worth this much money."
And I suppose that's a very practical way of looking at things - but that's not the way a human being is. It's fine, if you are trying to run a society, that you do, and you measure everything's worth in some form. But that's not what a human being is.
Before a war, I'm sure the generals sit down and come up with some statistical number of what the casualties would be, based on the past. But you're not a statistic. You're not a statistic. And once you are gone, there'll be nobody like you.
And how beautiful it is, not to cry over this or to feel sorry but to feel so fortunate - that your existence is unique, irreplaceable. Nobody can compete with it; nobody can put a price on it; nobody can tag it; nobody can put a statistic on it; nobody can put a value on it. Because every breath that comes into you cannot be, cannot be replaced.
That when you are in that joy, you are priceless! That every human being is priceless. That the potential that they have inside of them to feel peace, that is priceless.
We can try to put a number on everything - and we do! We do. You know, it's like, they give - oh, they always give this statistic, you know, "It's safer to fly than anything. That you're more - well, you could be hit by lightning more times than have an accident in an airplane."
Well, so, when that happens, (because it has happened in the past), what do you say? It's like, "This isn't happening"?
Because you feel what you feel! When you're in sadness, you're in sadness, but when you're in joy, you're in joy. And no matter what happens to you and where you go and what transforms around your existence, the joy, the beauty is always inside of you.
What wavers is to accept its preciousness, to accept its importance. And to say and to know for yourself that "I cannot let anything come between this, of who I am."
Because one day, all this won't be here; all this will be gone. But that is not the impetus that I need to remember to enjoy it. I need to enjoy it for the way it makes me feel right now. That having my heart full, it isn't about me leaving this world; it is me experiencing this moment that I have right now - and how it fills me, how it brings me joy, how it brings me that beauty.
Because I do have a lot of beauty around me; so do you! And all you need is to open the eyes of this heart and to look - and listen. And know that this moment, it may appear that it has come again, but doesn't. It is another one.
You look at your watch - and you see the second-hand glide by. But every time it does, it is another second. And it is of the hour - which is part of the day, which is part of the month, which is part of the year that will never come again.
And when my heart sees the simplicity; when your heart sees the simplicity of being alive - that it is no mistake to be in this experiencing machine - and it is no mistake; it is not by chance that there is the experience of the infinite that is inside of you.
In you! And that here you are, this experiencing machine. The three things. That which was, is, and will be. Beautiful. (Is that spiritual; no. Is that religious; no.) "Was, is, and will be." Beautiful, beautiful description.
You, (beautiful description): "Weren't. You are. And you won't be." You weren't; you are; you won't be.
And then our fascination of this world - and what is the definition of this thing that we have created? In which we fight, in which we have anger, in which we have fear, where people are made to feel fear if they don't feel fear? And I mean, just the most absurd things! Most absurd things, as human beings, that we do.
Our societies. And our focus is all about that. Not where the answers are. Our focus is not to dig up where the answers are; our focus is to somehow fix it by somebody's imagination of what, how, and how a society should be, how a country should be. And this is what everybody is busy trying to do.
And here's the big question: "Are they succeeding?" Oh, no, no, please, none of this stuff: it's like, "Well, it's not perfect but that's about as perfect as we can get it."
But can you imagine, if you are born - if your child is born - and they're "almost perfect but not quite." The outside perfection? Inside perfection - which one are you looking at? Maybe outside, they're not perfect. But inside, they are who they are.
And so many times, people will just look at the silliness of this world, and what they will say? "Oh, but this is as close as we can get it." Well, then it isn't right - that that's, and that is not how perfection works.
Here on this planet Earth, we, the human beings, have the possibility of being fulfilled, of being in that joy. And when that rain of clarity begins to bounce, (the drops bounce off of us), there's a dance, and the dance begins. And it's a beautiful dance. It's a dance of life.
And every day, the thirst, the understanding, the clarity, the joy that just wants to express itself every day, wants to be thankful for being alive every single day, needs to be unleashed! Not for other people; then, just for you! Every single day, to feel that gratitude - and feel the priceless that you truly are.
Everybody has their ideas: "This is not what we are here to achieve" - fine. But this can be achieved. It is not about making statements of "This can't be done and that can't be done and that can't be done and that can't be done."
But this is a possibility. That you, like Kabir said - "That a drop is in the ocean, everyone knows. But that there is an ocean in the drop, very few know."
And what if that drop, one day, took the step of feeling the ocean that's in the drop? What, what would happen? Wow! When that drop was in the ocean, it wasn't a drop; it was the ocean. And now that it is not in the ocean, it is a drop. And in the drop is the ocean - and very few know about it.
Well, you know, I want to know about it. I do. And I want to experience that ocean - because I can. This is my opportunity! This is my opportunity - to see.
I am engrossed, 24/7, preoccupied by the world, the illusion! There's a word for it, (and I was thinking about this), and the word for it is "maya. Maya." So if you broke that up in English, it would be "my, yeah?" Like, "This is mine, yeah? That's my, yeah? My, yeah?!" Yeah for "yes?" And ma, "mine? My, yeah? Mine, yeah?"
And that's exactly what maya is defined to be: "This is yours; this is mine." The division happens.
But there is a place inside of you which has nothing to do with this division. And no matter how times this division takes place - there is a place inside of you that is all about joy, that is all about rejoicing, that is all about being fulfilled, that is all about being happy, that is all about being in that beautiful place.
And regardless of what is going on on the outside, regardless of what is happening on the outside, regardless of how dark it gets, how bad it gets - the celebration of life is afoot. And it needs to be joined by you. You're the guest. And all those beautiful things are waiting to dance with you, to celebrate with you, your being a drop.
That's what life is. All too short? All too long? No need to compare. But it is! It is not the infinite - and you're not the infinite, but the infinite is in you. And one day you will go join the infinite. And when you do, you will be gone - and the infinite, who is always infinite, will be there.
So far you are you, there is a possibility of this celebration. And who are the other participants? The clarity, the understanding, peace, joy - are waiting, waiting for you, to celebrate with you this most magnificent of moments called "life."
So, instead of being depressed, maybe this will uplift you a little bit, give you a little hope. Maybe you'll join a party - and enjoy, enjoy the self - and most importantly, enjoy the divine, the infinite in the self.
So, take care of yourselves, and I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 13 - Your Own Story
"This time that you are going through, that you are living, has this incredible story unfolding, and it's the story of you." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you are well. A lot of things have happened - got to go to a lot of cities in Europe, do some events - keeping it, you know, strictly within the rules and making sure that it was absolutely safe for all the participants all over the place. So, yeah, masks and, you know, everybody who came had to be "part of the pod" or not travel by other means.
And so, it has been very, very successful. And then, of course, I did the last event which was the Rome Senate event. And that was about the Peace Education Program, and trying to get that rolled out in more prisons in Italy. And of course, the book launch in Italian, Hear Yourself. And that's been received very well, as well.
And of course, now I'm going to be moving on to different countries, different cities, and trying to just take this message of peace to people. Because it's a very simple message; it's a very profound message.
However, I did have this question sent to me which I think is valid, so I will give the answer to it. And that is that, you know, "Why does it have to be the wolves inside of us? Why can't it be other kinds of creatures?"
So, what I'd like to, first of all, say is like, you know, that's just an example; the wolf: "good, bad," the wolves are pretty powerful. And that you have something that is very powerful that is good inside and you have something very powerful that is not so good inside.
And there is always a tussle. I mean, so many of the stories, so many of the epic stories that have been told, it is always that struggle of good and bad. And in a way, in our lives, this goes on too - the struggle between the good and the bad.
And so, to then get into the semantics of it and say, "Well, why is it a wolf?" So, it's not literally a wolf. It's just you, a very powerful part of you that has a lot to do with what is good and what is bad.
Now, in our society, we concentrate on the negative. This is - okay, so this is another part of it. And nothing to do with the wolves. So I hope that clarifies the "wolves" business.
So it's not literally; you cannot take it literally and say "Well, you know, there are two wolves inside of us." And believe me, there's no two wolves inside of us. But there is the good and there is the bad. So, moving on….
There is the story of Ramayan - you know, about Ram that came, and he had to go to the exile. His wife got stolen; he had to fight the monster, the demon. He did. He brought her back home. And, you know, the story kind of unfolds like that.
But in this story, there is this one part. And the part is that Hanuman, who is extremely powerful - he's, he is very, very powerful. But he's also very dedicated to Ram. And he is the one who actually then ends up going - and he jumps from India to Sri Lanka; he goes to Sri Lanka and delivers the message of Ram to Sita.
And when everything is done, and everything is - you know, the war is finished; they're all back. And I'm sure that a lot of people would have gathered around Hanuman; it's, "Hanuman, tell us, you know, what really happened and how was it," and so on.
And Hanuman is, I'm sure, describing - and somebody asked Hanuman this question: "That you're powerful enough; you could have taken care of Ravan all by yourself. You could have destroyed his city all by yourself. You could have destroyed all the monsters that were there, all the demons that were there, all by yourself.
"So, why didn't you? Why did you have Ram do it? And you could have brought Sita back to Ram and, you know, it would have been just fine." And you have to hear the answer that Hanuman gives - and it's very, very interesting. And the answer is, he says, "It's not my story."
So, when I heard that, "It's not my story," it was like, "Wow. Wow." It is, in our lives, our story. So, every human being on the face of this earth has a story. And it is their story; being alive, being on this earth is their story.
And how profound to acknowledge that - and say "I did not want to interfere with that story. However that story was going to unfold, I had to allow it to unfold that particular way, without influencing that story."
Now, do we do that? Well, the sad part is, we're not even aware that everybody has a story. And when you, of course, think about it or you hear that, it makes complete sense, "Yeah, everybody does have a story."
And what do we do? Well, we try to influence other people's story with our, what we think is right, what we think is wrong. What we think, how it should be. And so we go along, all day long, almost, and we're influencing people: "Oh, that, your story should be like this; your story should be like this."
But it can't be! To acknowledge, to first of all, just begin with that simplicity. To begin with that premise that everybody has a story. And it is the decisions that they make that will influence how the story unfolds.
You know, I talk about "Why is this moment called 'now' so powerful?" I mean, why? And yeah, just because it's never going to come back? Well, it seems like, you know, so far we're alive, there's another one; there's another one; there is another one; there is another one. So why is this now so powerful?
And I was thinking about that one day and it just, you know, the light bulb went off and it was "Because this - in this moment called now, thoughts that we have had turn into action."
Thoughts can be backtracked; thoughts can be erased; thoughts can be taken back - but once those thoughts convert into action, this is no longer possible. Something has been committed, that the pliability of this moment called now, through our actions, is now no longer pliable; it becomes fixed.
And then there are consequences to - the good consequences; there are bad consequences, but there are consequences to everything, ultimately, that we end up doing. Unconsciousness leads us to not acknowledging those things, not knowing those things.
Unconsciousness is like somebody being inebriated - and all of a sudden they're not seeing everything that is there; they're not acknowledging everything that is there. Their reactions are becoming more and more, slower and slower and slower - up to the point that they're not reacting at all. They're just trying to live.
Now, maybe, you know, there is somebody who hasn't gone through all of that - drinking and this and that and being inebriated, so he could say, "Well, I'm not inebriated." But unconsciousness is inebriation. And you cannot - you're not aware of what's around you. And once you are not aware of what's around you, (what is happening, what is taking place), the situation becomes very dire.
So, the fact that every human being has a story - and it is their choices that will determine which way they will go. Now, a lot of people might say "Well, you know, shouldn't I caution somebody if I see them going towards a ditch?" You can caution them. But I have also seen that you can caution a person, but that doesn't mean that they'll listen to you.
It's still up to them how they react to that, how they choose…. Whether they understand it, where they acknowledge it - or they don't acknowledge it and just go on. And there are a lot of people who do.
Look at our situation in our world today. There are people who are saying, "Hey, do something about the environment." Because look, everything has an equal and opposite reaction. So, you don't even have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that "Here we go; we are putting all this pollution in this world; we're doing all of these things to our environment…."
And anybody who thinks that there will not be a consequence to that - well, you've got another thing coming! There is going to be a consequence. And unfortunately, all the things that we do bring about negative consequences.
This world, at this moment, is not particularly well-equipped, as the tolls from coronavirus reach beyond one million - we're not well-equipped to do any of this, not well-equipped at all. We create our enemy and we prepare for that enemy. And, God forbid, the enemy that actually comes has nothing to do with any of that. Then we're not prepared.
So, we have to make choices - and we're always making choices. By sometimes not making choices, you have made a choice to be oblivious to it.
And you cannot be oblivious to it. This is our planet, and we exist on this planet - of course, because of nature. But there was that nature allowing human beings to ultimately exist - all these creatures that we share this planet with, nature allowed all of them, not just human beings but all of them to exist. And you cannot just come in.
You know, say if you buy an apartment building - or just one apartment in that building - and you move into your apartment and you throw everybody else out. Well, that doesn't, isn't going to be right! You have one apartment - and you're going to move into that apartment and you're going to live in that apartment whilst everybody else lives in all the other apartments.
So you - and yeah, and maybe that, you know, somebody's this and somebody is that and somebody is, looks this way and somebody looks that way. And you're going to have to learn to live with all of them. What can you do?
And this is the same thing. You know, we get so much into, "Oh, but this is different and that's different." Well, it is different - good! Not, it's the same, same, same, what if everybody looked exactly like you? It would be - it would be terrible!
So, we have differences. And that's good; that needs to be celebrated. You know, there are orange flowers and there are green flowers and there are blue flowers and there are purple flowers - this needs to be celebrated. We definitely celebrate that - by, in our garden, we don't just plant one kind of flower but we have variety. And the same way, we have to make those decisions.
So, the question becomes then, "What is your story?" Is your story of hate? Is your story of anger; is your story of fear? Because you have to understand one thing. If you are to choose - or if you are to wish - and somebody comes to you and says, "Okay, whatever you wish will come true," what will you wish?
Will you wish for "I don't want to be angry," so, that's a negative. That's a negative. You are wishing, not for something, but you're wishing for the absence of something. So, what will you wish for?
You have to wish for the positive. So you have to wish for peace; you have to wish for joy. You have to wish for understanding; you have to wish for clarity because these are things that are positive.
"I don't want to be confused" or "I wish that confusion would go away" - but confusion cannot go away if there isn't clarity. So, you have to wish for clarity. In your life, you have to make a habit of starting to wish for the positive, not the negative. This is a change in your thinking that has to begin.
Of course, this is your story. You have to choose, "How do you want it to be? How do you want this life to be?"
Will it repeat itself? There are no indications that it will. I know when I say, you know, "You will never - those family members, those people, you will never see them again," people don't like that. Because we would like to see them again and again and again and again and again.
Somebody - somebody's wife passed away. And he said, "Oh, at least she's gone, you know, where she's going to be with her relatives." Ah, that's really a far stretch. That's really, really a far stretch. And somewhere you've got to know that that's not true.
That those things that see are still here! The eyes are still here - eyes got buried with the body. The thing that recognizes "That's my brother; that's my uncle; that's," that's all here. That got buried. All of those things that we use, all those tools we use to recognize with are buried.
Now, how do I know? There are people who go in a coma; they come out of a coma sometimes and they have lost their memory. And they don't recognize their own kin; they don't recognize their own wife; they don't recognize their own children. It happens! And it happens all too often.
So, that which does the recognizing, that which says "Okay, yeah, you are my mother or you are my this, or you are my aunt," it's still here!
But anyways - I mean, I totally understand how, too challenging to say, "Yeah, you know, I'll never see those again," but consider it. And live your life like that: "That this will never be again, as you are."
This little story of yours - and you are a storyteller. And this time that you are going through, that you are living, has this incredible story unfolding. And it's the story of you. And yes! In this drama, there is the good and there is the bad. And what do you focus on? Do you focus on the good in your life, the peace, the joy, the understanding? Or do you focus on something else?
What will make you unique? What will be different? How will it be? How will it play out? What is going to be the final outcome of your existence? Will you leave behind a story that will inspire others - if they choose to hear that story? The choice will be theirs. Because 'got to remember that it is everyone's story.
So, as Hanuman says, "I will only do what is asked of me. And I will do it - because it isn't my story; I'm not in it. I play a part in it. And I got to play my part well."
This is what it's about. You play a part in many, many stories. But you have to always remember that those stories in which you play a part are not your stories. You have your own story. And you have to make sure that your story plays out well - with understanding, with joy, with a message, a real story.
I know that in this day and age, everybody wants a story. You know, "What is the story?" Every little product has to have a story; people want to read a story. And when I see that, it's like, you know, "great intention, wrong object." Because it should be about you - what is your story? Tell me your story.
And I need to know my story. You need to know your story. And it cannot be a confusing story. It has to be a story in which the good wins. It has to be a story in which joy prevails. It has to be a story in which the positive finally takes the center stage - the good in you takes the center stage. That you find that lost treasure. And why is it lost? It's lost because of all the noise.
So easy to get rid of the noise that's coming from the outside, but what about the noise that comes from the inside; how do you get rid of that? Earplugs won't help. And boy, some people have got noise like you wouldn't believe.
And the story cannot be that "There was, once upon a time, a human being and they were inundated with noise. And - period," that's the end of the story. More noise and more noise and more noise and more noise and more noise. I see, I see this, just so much that happens that's like that. Don't let - don't let that be your story.
Again, this is, this is the moment that needs to be captured. Because you need to be aware of what thoughts are becoming actions. You need to be aware of what you're saying. You need to be aware of what you are doing. And do that that you truly want to do. Say that that you truly want to say. Be that that you truly want to be.
And maybe it takes a lot of effort to do all that. That's possible. That's entirely possible. And even if your life's story is about the effort, (that you tried and tried and tried and tried), well, that's a - that's a lot better - that, never tried. Never put forth the effort to realize the possibility that existed for this human being.
Understanding that that was, is, and will be? Very difficult - because you are only in "is." You aren't in "were" and "will be." You don't exist in those two spheres - so it's very hard to understand something that always does: "Was, is, and will be." But you can understand the "is."
And that's the effort that you have to make, to understand the "is." What does exist all around you - the people, your neighbors, your countrymen. And the neighbors of your country.
And there's so much pain and sorrow that gets dealt out by people's unconsciousness. Everything that we do, we do it. We human beings do it. And there are - frankly, there are adults who totally dismiss this.
They can dismiss as much as they want! You know, by having an incredible belief that you will float in water - that you can walk on water, having this incredible belief - you can have the belief as much as you want; that isn't going to make it happen. In the fresh water, you will probably just sink! And you wouldn't be the first one. You wouldn't, definitely, would not be the first one.
So, it's so important, so important to remember what this is, this little story of yours. You need to make sure that it's a good, beautiful story - if, for no one else, at least for you.
And I think that if more people can start to look at this - by, of course, beginning with yourself, (not others but yourself), that there would be a difference - in your life, you living this life consciously, you living this life with contentment, with peace, with joy.
Well, I know it's been a while since I have gotten back and done this. But I'll be doing more and more of it, and of course, it'll take a few days because I have to - I'm switching countries. But as soon as I get established in the new place, I'll set up my setup and try to bring you some more messages.
So, take care of yourself. Please, stay healthy. And enjoy your life. Thank you
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 13 - Your Own Story
"This time that you are going through, that you are living, has this incredible story unfolding, and it's the story of you." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; I hope you are well. A lot of things have happened - got to go to a lot of cities in Europe, do some events - keeping it, you know, strictly within the rules and making sure that it was absolutely safe for all the participants all over the place. So, yeah, masks and, you know, everybody who came had to be "part of the pod" or not travel by other means.
And so, it has been very, very successful. And then, of course, I did the last event which was the Rome Senate event. And that was about the Peace Education Program, and trying to get that rolled out in more prisons in Italy. And of course, the book launch in Italian, Hear Yourself. And that's been received very well, as well.
And of course, now I'm going to be moving on to different countries, different cities, and trying to just take this message of peace to people. Because it's a very simple message; it's a very profound message.
However, I did have this question sent to me which I think is valid, so I will give the answer to it. And that is that, you know, "Why does it have to be the wolves inside of us? Why can't it be other kinds of creatures?"
So, what I'd like to, first of all, say is like, you know, that's just an example; the wolf: "good, bad," the wolves are pretty powerful. And that you have something that is very powerful that is good inside and you have something very powerful that is not so good inside.
And there is always a tussle. I mean, so many of the stories, so many of the epic stories that have been told, it is always that struggle of good and bad. And in a way, in our lives, this goes on too - the struggle between the good and the bad.
And so, to then get into the semantics of it and say, "Well, why is it a wolf?" So, it's not literally a wolf. It's just you, a very powerful part of you that has a lot to do with what is good and what is bad.
Now, in our society, we concentrate on the negative. This is - okay, so this is another part of it. And nothing to do with the wolves. So I hope that clarifies the "wolves" business.
So it's not literally; you cannot take it literally and say "Well, you know, there are two wolves inside of us." And believe me, there's no two wolves inside of us. But there is the good and there is the bad. So, moving on….
There is the story of Ramayan - you know, about Ram that came, and he had to go to the exile. His wife got stolen; he had to fight the monster, the demon. He did. He brought her back home. And, you know, the story kind of unfolds like that.
But in this story, there is this one part. And the part is that Hanuman, who is extremely powerful - he's, he is very, very powerful. But he's also very dedicated to Ram. And he is the one who actually then ends up going - and he jumps from India to Sri Lanka; he goes to Sri Lanka and delivers the message of Ram to Sita.
And when everything is done, and everything is - you know, the war is finished; they're all back. And I'm sure that a lot of people would have gathered around Hanuman; it's, "Hanuman, tell us, you know, what really happened and how was it," and so on.
And Hanuman is, I'm sure, describing - and somebody asked Hanuman this question: "That you're powerful enough; you could have taken care of Ravan all by yourself. You could have destroyed his city all by yourself. You could have destroyed all the monsters that were there, all the demons that were there, all by yourself.
"So, why didn't you? Why did you have Ram do it? And you could have brought Sita back to Ram and, you know, it would have been just fine." And you have to hear the answer that Hanuman gives - and it's very, very interesting. And the answer is, he says, "It's not my story."
So, when I heard that, "It's not my story," it was like, "Wow. Wow." It is, in our lives, our story. So, every human being on the face of this earth has a story. And it is their story; being alive, being on this earth is their story.
And how profound to acknowledge that - and say "I did not want to interfere with that story. However that story was going to unfold, I had to allow it to unfold that particular way, without influencing that story."
Now, do we do that? Well, the sad part is, we're not even aware that everybody has a story. And when you, of course, think about it or you hear that, it makes complete sense, "Yeah, everybody does have a story."
And what do we do? Well, we try to influence other people's story with our, what we think is right, what we think is wrong. What we think, how it should be. And so we go along, all day long, almost, and we're influencing people: "Oh, that, your story should be like this; your story should be like this."
But it can't be! To acknowledge, to first of all, just begin with that simplicity. To begin with that premise that everybody has a story. And it is the decisions that they make that will influence how the story unfolds.
You know, I talk about "Why is this moment called 'now' so powerful?" I mean, why? And yeah, just because it's never going to come back? Well, it seems like, you know, so far we're alive, there's another one; there's another one; there is another one; there is another one. So why is this now so powerful?
And I was thinking about that one day and it just, you know, the light bulb went off and it was "Because this - in this moment called now, thoughts that we have had turn into action."
Thoughts can be backtracked; thoughts can be erased; thoughts can be taken back - but once those thoughts convert into action, this is no longer possible. Something has been committed, that the pliability of this moment called now, through our actions, is now no longer pliable; it becomes fixed.
And then there are consequences to - the good consequences; there are bad consequences, but there are consequences to everything, ultimately, that we end up doing. Unconsciousness leads us to not acknowledging those things, not knowing those things.
Unconsciousness is like somebody being inebriated - and all of a sudden they're not seeing everything that is there; they're not acknowledging everything that is there. Their reactions are becoming more and more, slower and slower and slower - up to the point that they're not reacting at all. They're just trying to live.
Now, maybe, you know, there is somebody who hasn't gone through all of that - drinking and this and that and being inebriated, so he could say, "Well, I'm not inebriated." But unconsciousness is inebriation. And you cannot - you're not aware of what's around you. And once you are not aware of what's around you, (what is happening, what is taking place), the situation becomes very dire.
So, the fact that every human being has a story - and it is their choices that will determine which way they will go. Now, a lot of people might say "Well, you know, shouldn't I caution somebody if I see them going towards a ditch?" You can caution them. But I have also seen that you can caution a person, but that doesn't mean that they'll listen to you.
It's still up to them how they react to that, how they choose…. Whether they understand it, where they acknowledge it - or they don't acknowledge it and just go on. And there are a lot of people who do.
Look at our situation in our world today. There are people who are saying, "Hey, do something about the environment." Because look, everything has an equal and opposite reaction. So, you don't even have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that "Here we go; we are putting all this pollution in this world; we're doing all of these things to our environment…."
And anybody who thinks that there will not be a consequence to that - well, you've got another thing coming! There is going to be a consequence. And unfortunately, all the things that we do bring about negative consequences.
This world, at this moment, is not particularly well-equipped, as the tolls from coronavirus reach beyond one million - we're not well-equipped to do any of this, not well-equipped at all. We create our enemy and we prepare for that enemy. And, God forbid, the enemy that actually comes has nothing to do with any of that. Then we're not prepared.
So, we have to make choices - and we're always making choices. By sometimes not making choices, you have made a choice to be oblivious to it.
And you cannot be oblivious to it. This is our planet, and we exist on this planet - of course, because of nature. But there was that nature allowing human beings to ultimately exist - all these creatures that we share this planet with, nature allowed all of them, not just human beings but all of them to exist. And you cannot just come in.
You know, say if you buy an apartment building - or just one apartment in that building - and you move into your apartment and you throw everybody else out. Well, that doesn't, isn't going to be right! You have one apartment - and you're going to move into that apartment and you're going to live in that apartment whilst everybody else lives in all the other apartments.
So you - and yeah, and maybe that, you know, somebody's this and somebody is that and somebody is, looks this way and somebody looks that way. And you're going to have to learn to live with all of them. What can you do?
And this is the same thing. You know, we get so much into, "Oh, but this is different and that's different." Well, it is different - good! Not, it's the same, same, same, what if everybody looked exactly like you? It would be - it would be terrible!
So, we have differences. And that's good; that needs to be celebrated. You know, there are orange flowers and there are green flowers and there are blue flowers and there are purple flowers - this needs to be celebrated. We definitely celebrate that - by, in our garden, we don't just plant one kind of flower but we have variety. And the same way, we have to make those decisions.
So, the question becomes then, "What is your story?" Is your story of hate? Is your story of anger; is your story of fear? Because you have to understand one thing. If you are to choose - or if you are to wish - and somebody comes to you and says, "Okay, whatever you wish will come true," what will you wish?
Will you wish for "I don't want to be angry," so, that's a negative. That's a negative. You are wishing, not for something, but you're wishing for the absence of something. So, what will you wish for?
You have to wish for the positive. So you have to wish for peace; you have to wish for joy. You have to wish for understanding; you have to wish for clarity because these are things that are positive.
"I don't want to be confused" or "I wish that confusion would go away" - but confusion cannot go away if there isn't clarity. So, you have to wish for clarity. In your life, you have to make a habit of starting to wish for the positive, not the negative. This is a change in your thinking that has to begin.
Of course, this is your story. You have to choose, "How do you want it to be? How do you want this life to be?"
Will it repeat itself? There are no indications that it will. I know when I say, you know, "You will never - those family members, those people, you will never see them again," people don't like that. Because we would like to see them again and again and again and again and again.
Somebody - somebody's wife passed away. And he said, "Oh, at least she's gone, you know, where she's going to be with her relatives." Ah, that's really a far stretch. That's really, really a far stretch. And somewhere you've got to know that that's not true.
That those things that see are still here! The eyes are still here - eyes got buried with the body. The thing that recognizes "That's my brother; that's my uncle; that's," that's all here. That got buried. All of those things that we use, all those tools we use to recognize with are buried.
Now, how do I know? There are people who go in a coma; they come out of a coma sometimes and they have lost their memory. And they don't recognize their own kin; they don't recognize their own wife; they don't recognize their own children. It happens! And it happens all too often.
So, that which does the recognizing, that which says "Okay, yeah, you are my mother or you are my this, or you are my aunt," it's still here!
But anyways - I mean, I totally understand how, too challenging to say, "Yeah, you know, I'll never see those again," but consider it. And live your life like that: "That this will never be again, as you are."
This little story of yours - and you are a storyteller. And this time that you are going through, that you are living, has this incredible story unfolding. And it's the story of you. And yes! In this drama, there is the good and there is the bad. And what do you focus on? Do you focus on the good in your life, the peace, the joy, the understanding? Or do you focus on something else?
What will make you unique? What will be different? How will it be? How will it play out? What is going to be the final outcome of your existence? Will you leave behind a story that will inspire others - if they choose to hear that story? The choice will be theirs. Because 'got to remember that it is everyone's story.
So, as Hanuman says, "I will only do what is asked of me. And I will do it - because it isn't my story; I'm not in it. I play a part in it. And I got to play my part well."
This is what it's about. You play a part in many, many stories. But you have to always remember that those stories in which you play a part are not your stories. You have your own story. And you have to make sure that your story plays out well - with understanding, with joy, with a message, a real story.
I know that in this day and age, everybody wants a story. You know, "What is the story?" Every little product has to have a story; people want to read a story. And when I see that, it's like, you know, "great intention, wrong object." Because it should be about you - what is your story? Tell me your story.
And I need to know my story. You need to know your story. And it cannot be a confusing story. It has to be a story in which the good wins. It has to be a story in which joy prevails. It has to be a story in which the positive finally takes the center stage - the good in you takes the center stage. That you find that lost treasure. And why is it lost? It's lost because of all the noise.
So easy to get rid of the noise that's coming from the outside, but what about the noise that comes from the inside; how do you get rid of that? Earplugs won't help. And boy, some people have got noise like you wouldn't believe.
And the story cannot be that "There was, once upon a time, a human being and they were inundated with noise. And - period," that's the end of the story. More noise and more noise and more noise and more noise and more noise. I see, I see this, just so much that happens that's like that. Don't let - don't let that be your story.
Again, this is, this is the moment that needs to be captured. Because you need to be aware of what thoughts are becoming actions. You need to be aware of what you're saying. You need to be aware of what you are doing. And do that that you truly want to do. Say that that you truly want to say. Be that that you truly want to be.
And maybe it takes a lot of effort to do all that. That's possible. That's entirely possible. And even if your life's story is about the effort, (that you tried and tried and tried and tried), well, that's a - that's a lot better - that, never tried. Never put forth the effort to realize the possibility that existed for this human being.
Understanding that that was, is, and will be? Very difficult - because you are only in "is." You aren't in "were" and "will be." You don't exist in those two spheres - so it's very hard to understand something that always does: "Was, is, and will be." But you can understand the "is."
And that's the effort that you have to make, to understand the "is." What does exist all around you - the people, your neighbors, your countrymen. And the neighbors of your country.
And there's so much pain and sorrow that gets dealt out by people's unconsciousness. Everything that we do, we do it. We human beings do it. And there are - frankly, there are adults who totally dismiss this.
They can dismiss as much as they want! You know, by having an incredible belief that you will float in water - that you can walk on water, having this incredible belief - you can have the belief as much as you want; that isn't going to make it happen. In the fresh water, you will probably just sink! And you wouldn't be the first one. You wouldn't, definitely, would not be the first one.
So, it's so important, so important to remember what this is, this little story of yours. You need to make sure that it's a good, beautiful story - if, for no one else, at least for you.
And I think that if more people can start to look at this - by, of course, beginning with yourself, (not others but yourself), that there would be a difference - in your life, you living this life consciously, you living this life with contentment, with peace, with joy.
Well, I know it's been a while since I have gotten back and done this. But I'll be doing more and more of it, and of course, it'll take a few days because I have to - I'm switching countries. But as soon as I get established in the new place, I'll set up my setup and try to bring you some more messages.
So, take care of yourself. Please, stay healthy. And enjoy your life. Thank you
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 14 - The Human Niche
"Anyone can experience the joy that peace brings." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. Prem Rawat here. So, it's been awhile since I've had this opportunity to put this video together. I just came in, not too long ago, from Europe - and then stopped off on the East Coast of the United States, and finally, I'm back on the West Coast.
So, you know, a lot happened during the trip - visited many places within Europe. And, as much as I could do under the circumstances, I tried to get it done.
Of course, it would be lovely to just continue this and help people just understand what this is all about - your life and whatever the circumstances may be. It doesn't really matter; it could be something else. (It could be something else; it could be something else.) You're alive - and that should mean the most to you.
And so, today's video, I'm going to focus in on being human. Because in our understanding, being a human is like nothing. And yet being human is everything. To a human, naturally, it should be everything.
But why do we look at ourselves as, "Ah, we're no good." We, you know - if somebody has something extraordinary that they do, then - then that's good. Then they're good. But otherwise, just the normal simple human being, what are they? "Nothing." Nothing, the way we see them.
And that's what I want to address. And the reason why I want to talk about this is because, just recently, somebody wrote a question - said, "Well, there is this person and through their," you know, whatever they went through, "they, they can now sit on rocks and thoroughly enjoy it," sharp rocks or whatever it is.
And when I first read that I was pretty impressed. It was like, "That's pretty cool - you know, you can sit on rocks - and not feel the pain." But then I started thinking about it. And I realized that I've done that many times. And what I have used is not years and years and years of some isolated practice or some meditation or some of this - and I, this was a pillow.
So, if you are sitting on a surface that is not friendly to your butt, ah, get a pillow - that human beings have already invented!
As soon as I thought of that, it was like, "My goodness." You know, there are people who try to walk on water. So they, they want to walk on water because they want to show people how extraordinary they are, how incredible they are.
But water bugs walk on water all the time. It's not a problem for them. So, are we trying to prove then, that we as human beings can also do what water bugs can do? Because to me, that's pointless. What's the point of trying to prove that you can also, as a human being, do what a water bug can do?
After all, you're a human being and not a water bug. A water bug can do what a water bug needs to do - you, as a human, do what you need to do. But if there isn't a true sense of what it is that you need to do - and if there isn't a true sense of what it means to be human, then all of these things are going to happen.
So, the imagination takes over and human beings have some pretty dramatic, incredible imagination here - that's to say the least. And then the next thing you know, there is Superman, and then there is this person, and they are that person and they can do this, and they can go around the world, you know, buzzing around, and then they can do this; they can do that, and….
But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're a human being. And what is your forte as a human being? What can you do that is so human - that nothing else can do it? And that is what you have to understand is truly your strength.
It doesn't matter what you accomplish. You can read this; you can read that; you can memorize this; you can memorize that, but ultimately, one day everybody has to go. And that's very human - that we are born one day. And then one day we have to go - that's human. (Of course, everything else does it too, but we do it too.)
We don't certainly live as long as trees - but we live for as long as we do. And in this, we can see things. We have eyes; we can see things. We don't see everything. We don't see the total spectrum, total frequency of light - but we see what helps us in this world.
We can hear. We don't hear everything, not the whole frequency spectrum. But we hear what is relevant to us. We can smell; we can't smell everything - but we can smell what is relevant to us. We can produce sound. We can't produce the whole spectrum but we can certainly produce the sound that we need to produce.
And so, being human then becomes very relevant to you being alive, you understanding your role in this nature, in this existence. And you know, somehow, human beings very much jumped to this conclusion that "We're the kings; we're, we're the top. There's nobody better than us!"
Well, that's certainly not true. Because human beings cannot dive as deep as whales - and that's without scuba tanks and all that good stuff - can't hold their breath as long as the whales can. There are hawks that can fly faster - we can't even fly without equipment.
So, we can do something that gives us the niche to be in the midst of this nature, in the midst of everything! In the midst of everything, you know, you have trees. There is this particular line; trees don't grow above that. There are places that you won't find too many trees, like a desert. But where they have that niche, where they can make it work, they're there.
There are different oceans - and different kinds of fish live in different regions. Not all fishes can live everywhere in the ocean. But everything has a niche; everything has a very proper and prim place.
There are lions; there are cheetahs. There are leopards; there are snow leopards. And each one of them has found their niche of where they do exist - and one role that they fulfill.
So, what is the human role? What can a human do? Can a human being have compassion like no other? Can a human being have an understanding like no other? Can a human being communicate with each other like no other?
We have perfected language; we have perfected so much! Do we communicate? Well, sometimes we do - and most of the time that we do communicate, it's lies. Well, that's no good - if we cannot even speak the truth.
What is the level of transparency in this world? (And transparency is very good!) But do the - are the governments transparent? "No, no, no, this is top secret. You, you…. You, you, you as a citizen," (who pays for everything in your, through your taxes; you take care of all these things) - "But no," you are not privy to any of the information. It doesn't make sense to me.
So what have we created; we have created societies; we have created cultures. And these societies and these cultures do not even respect the basics of what it means to be human!
All of a sudden, you have issues - citizens divide amongst themselves. People divide amongst themselves. There is, you know, "And you're a woman. You're a man." I mean, this is the basics, right? And even today, (this is 2020), women don't get the same pay grade, pay scale as men.
And you have to wonder, "Who came up with this? Who came up with this idea that women are inferior?" Well, put it bluntly, we did. The societies did. For some reason, they - there is a fear! A dramatic fear of what might happen.
But those are the things that are incredibly human to do - to accept, to understand. To say "Yes, you're a part of this. You're not away from this but you're a part of this." And most importantly, (in my opinion, anyways), to understand yourself, to understand the self - this is the capacity, this is the capability of the human being. To know who you are.
One of the tests that they do is they put a mirror, sometimes, in front of the animals, and see if the animals actually, looking at their reflection, connect that "That's them." And, you know, there are animals that absolutely do not connect, don't have the level of intelligence - just to realize that "That's really me."
Well, we as human beings, are looking at this mirror. And this is the world around us. And we're looking at ourselves - and we're not recognizing that all that is going around in this world that is not good is also something that is brought on by us.
And the key point here is "also," because human beings have done some incredible things - I mean, some powerful things. So, it's not like everything that we have done is wrong. No, we have done some pretty remarkable things. We have helped to eradicate many diseases. We have created medicine that can help people - of course, we have also created medicine that doesn't help people.
So, we have created these things. So, as human beings, are we recognizing our role - our role as human? Are we recognizing ourselves - that we have this potential, that we have this possibility? And that we are capable of achieving something that is far more superior than being comfortable on an edgy rock. And it's called "peace."
Anybody can experience that peace. Anybody can experience the joy that peace brings. The joy that peace brings is very unique. It's actually incredible. Because this life is a celebration. You being here needs to be celebrated every day. You being here needs to be recognized every single day.
And what is the importance of it? The importance of it, if nothing else, would be - at least, if nothing else, it would be that one day it won't be like this. And that makes it unique. That makes it unique.
And we get caught, you know, we get caught in our problems, our troubles, our this and that and "This isn't right and that's not right. And that person said that to me and that person said that to me."
And all I can say is that "We really have to get down to the art of shaking it off!" It's like when you look at a dog that's got water all over its coat, and it sits there and just shakes it and shakes it and shakes it and shakes it.
And it's remarkable, if you can catch it, you know, in slow motion. Because it's shaking that water off. It cannot use its paws and use a towel to dry itself. But it has come up with a similar effect - a similar result will be achieved. And it knows how to do that.
You, as a human being, also need to learn how to shake it off. Because if you don't, and you - and you have learnt how to bring it on! - but not learnt how to shake it off, you're going to have an issue. And it, it's going to be too much.
And there are so many people, it's too much for them. It's like, "Oh my God, you know, this is this; this is this; this is this! I've got this problem; I've got that problem." Yeah! Because you haven't learned how to shake it off; you've got to learn how to shake it off.
It always reminds me of that story, you know, where this old man is walking and a young man who has just graduated from the university and he's now going to start his life, he comes up to him and he says, "Old man, you know, you've been around for a really long time - and seen a lot in this life. And I'm just starting off. Could you give me some advice?"
And the old man has got a big bundle of wood on his shoulders. And the man, the old man, puts that burden down, puts those sticks down - stands up straight. And then puts the load back on his shoulders, hunches over because of the load, and continues to walk.
Now, that's amazing. I mean, you know, so a lot of people are like, "Well, I don't get that." And but I do. And what I get - is that we carry these loads on our shoulders. And that hunches us over, bends us over, makes us uncomfortable - every day, makes us uncomfortable.
And if we put that load down, we can then stand up straight - as we are meant to stand up straight. And then continue.
Somebody said to me in one of the expressions - was like, "I want to fall in love with my breath as I am in love with my thoughts." And yeah, I think it's - it's nice! It, it's, you know, it's a nice gesture. And all I can say is, "You have had so much practice following your thoughts - and you have had no practice following this breath."
So, you have become very good at "That's wrong; that's wrong; that's wrong; that's wrong; that's wrong, and I wish it wasn't that way, and I wish it wasn't that way, and I wish it wasn't that way." But you have not become good at seeing the obvious - and the obvious is that this breath comes into you, brings you the gift of life. Brings you the gift of life.
Should it bring you rules? Should it bring you regulations? Should it bring you, you know, a scolding: "You did this; you did that"? And maybe we'd be more attracted to life if that's what happened all the time. But that's not what happens all the time.
What happens all the time is - the sun rises; our day begins; we wake up. And there is no agenda in the sky. If there is an agenda, it is an agenda that was created by us - on some paper or some app or something! And we look at it - and the things that we remember that we have to do.
We don't remember that "Today is a gift" - but we look at today with the sense of responsibility of all the things that have to be accomplished. This may be really great for a society. This may be really great for a functioning society.
But if that society does not recognize the need for the simple elements that it is composed of, the human beings that make that society - if it doesn't look towards their happiness, if it does not guarantee their happiness, if it does not guarantee their fullness of life, then that society is going to have problems.
And the problems it's going to have are very obvious. People are not going to be able to get along with each other. More and more people are going to end up in jail, hmm? Jails are being made. Most of the jails are overcrowded.
People don't have food to eat - when then there's plenty of food that is grown, but people don't have food to eat. People who are poor are really poor. People who are rich are getting richer and richer and richer - and they don't even have to do anything. There are more people homeless now than, than ever!
So, when a society cannot guarantee the simple elements, simple things that the society itself needs - of those people who are the members of that society, then that society is going to be doomed.
And as that society becomes and deteriorates, things happen - people start to lie. And lies become truth - not because they are truth. But they are repeated enough times - and people think that is the truth.
You know what the truth is. Do you? Don't you? The truth is that you exist. That's your truth. One day you won't be. The amazing thing? The amazing truth? - that already places you beyond anything that Superman can be - is that you, encompassing you, that which will always be.
"Always be" is in you. "Was, is, and will be." "Wasn't, is, won't be," that's you. But you have in you that which was, is, and will be. And it's not for a long time that you will have that in you. But so far you do, you're alive. You exist.
Not what you do. Because this is the first question we want to know, right? We meet somebody, "Hey, who are you? What do you do?" What do I do?! I do what you do - breathe. I exist. I am.
I know that there are a lot of people; it's like, "That's too simplistic." Well, when that time comes and you struggle for that last one, you realize it's not that simple. That it came freely to you, that was truly a gift. And this gift, you, in your existence, must accept, must understand.
And pursue then, those things that'll bring you joy, that'll bring you peace, that'll bring you that sense of being, the sense of belonging. Not the dreams of becoming a Superman. Not the dreams of sitting on some rock and enjoying it, finding it comfortable when it isn't - and a pillow can easily do that.
As a human being, in my imagination, I can do many things. But as a human being, in reality, I can also recognize all the things that are happening that I don't have to imagine - that my breath comes into me, and that's beautiful.
So, being a human being is incredible! It's, it's the most powerful thing - and it should never be demeaned. It should never be looked at as like, "Oh, that's nothing. Let's see what we can have; let's, what, what can be better?"
No. Being a human being - is so much. And so much to be thankful for, to be alive. And know that one day it won't be like this. But so far it is, you are amazingly powerful. You are alive.
So, thank you. Take care of yourselves. I'll see you soon. Thanks.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 15 - Figure out the Reality
"What really makes you human is that, in the diversity of pain, you can also feel joy." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
So, hello everyone. Prem Rawat here and I hope you're doing wonderfully well. I know this whole coronavirus thing is kind of going on and on and on and - it's kind of very different to just sit back and watch the show take place.
And you would have thought that this would have been, in year 2020, just a breeze. But it's not. And on many levels, I think a lot of people are experiencing a lot of difficulties.
So I thought I'd talk to you about something today that - it came up - I was thinking about this. And it's particularly, Ramayan. And again, you know, I think that that story has been used again and again when people have been experiencing difficulties - because the very nature of everything.
In India, astrology is very much so, used and it's an everyday thing and nobody thinks twice about it. And in fact, a lot of the holidays that they have been celebrating for thousands of years are actually based upon knowing the constellation of the stars that was when that event took place.
So, when - there is an official calendar that is published by the government. And in that, like, for instance, they have the, Ram's coming back from the exile (and that's Diwali). It, it's not on a particular date but the constellation of the stars, that's what it's set at. So when those, that constellation repeats again, that will be the date for Diwali. And there are many, many like that.
So, in India, this is, again, a society, a culture that's very, very old. And, you know, in modern days, well, they can predict a monsoon within two days, one day, back and forth. So they're - it's quite precise.
So, why am I talking about astrology? This is the reason. So, when Ram is born, the astrologers declare that it is the most auspicious time. So Ram is born under a most incredibly auspicious time. In fact, when he gets married, that is an incredibly auspicious moment. All the dates, all the, everything is just lined up.
But then when you read the story, it doesn't quite match up. I mean, having been born in the most auspicious time - and then what unfolds, it seems like, "Wait a minute." If he was born under such an auspicious time, an auspicious moment, then why did he have to go through the hardships that he did?
And if his wedding was at this most auspicious time and they were perfect for each other, then that marriage didn't actually work out for too long! And they had to go and be in exile and so on and so forth.
So here is my take on it. I'm not trying to, you know, give my own take on it, but this is what I just observed. There are two things. And one is the difficulties that Ram had to go through, that Sita had to go through.
And so, if we look at just those difficulties that Ram had to go through - but that was pretty severe. But if we look at, "Okay, even though he went through all these difficulties - but was he able to accomplish what he had set out to accomplish? Did he succeed?" And the answer to that is absolutely yes.
So now we're talking about two different things. We're talking about setting out, setting forth in this world with some objectives - it doesn't matter how simple they may be, but there they are; they're the objectives.
They could be that, at the end of the day, you just want to be content. That, the end of the day, you want to feel love in your heart. That in the end of the day, you want to feel peace; you want to feel joy.
But to maybe - if you take a look at all the things that take place in your life, things aren't easy. So, "easy and difficult" has nothing to do with it. Whatever you are trying to accomplish, it may be extremely difficult to accomplish it - but it gets accomplished. And if it gets accomplished, that's good!
There is that saying, you know, that somebody - and then, especially in India, there's that saying, "That if somebody has been lost all day long but by the evening time he comes back home, all is good; all is fine."
So, what my whole point is, is that in our lives we pray and we try to do things - is it so that we will succeed at the end of the day, or is it about making it easy?
So, when the difficulties come, what happens to us? Do we lose focus? Do we lose the sight of "what it is that I'm trying to do, what it is that I'm trying to accomplish"? And get so lost in the difficulty, in how difficult it is that the focus is gone from what you're trying to accomplish.
For a lot of people, then it becomes that, whatever it is that they go through in their life, they just want it to be easy. But having it easy and having the goal fulfilled are two different things! And we're just trying to make it easy. And that's so much our focus: "Oh, but let's make it easy; let's make it easy; let's make it easy; let's make it easy!"
When it comes to peace, "Oh, let's make it easy." When it comes to, you know, finding that joy inside of you, "Let's make it easy!"
And you know, did Ram actually accomplish everything he set out to do? And the answer to that is "Yes, of course he did." In the way of being in that exile, he lost his wife - but he brought her back home. His brother, who he loved very much, got hurt. But he got him taken care of, healed - and brought him back home as well, all intact, all good.
He is able to forgive one of his stepmothers who had been behind the plot to have him exiled. He loves the people of Ayodhya, of the city where he's from. He comes back to them - they are all very happy.
And you can take a look at the story from one very simple perspective - here is a person who is born. He is divine. But he has to be born as a human for what he wants to fulfill, what he wants to accomplish. On the very day that he is to be crowned, he is exiled. He upholds his father's promise and he goes to the jungle to exile.
There, they are going from place to place to place to place, and they finally find one place that would be really wonderful for them to be able to set up their hut; there is water there; there are fruits there; there is - everything is there; it's protected; it's good. And of course, Sita gets stolen.
Ram goes looking, finds Sita, finds where she is. The person who had kidnapped her, he slays him. In the process, Lakshman, his brother, gets hurt. And then, once the bad guy has been slain, he comes back home and everything is okay.
But okay, you could look at it that way. But there's a lot of difficulties. Personally, Ram is having a lot of self-doubt. And the self-doubt is that "I could not protect my Sita." I mean, that's got, that's got to weigh on him heavily. "Here I am. I am powerful because, all these weapons that I have, all the things that I have."
And that's a very interesting one, because sometimes we don't realize that it isn't what we have - but what we have here within us - that's going to allow us to see, our focus, our purpose in life. And move forward accordingly.
Whether it is a disease, whether it is pain, whether it is sorrow, whether it is loss, whether it is whatever! And these are the situations that don't make it easy - makes life rather difficult.
And Ram goes through the same thing. In fact, when he is fighting Ravan, he is like, "Oh my God, you know, I'm not going to be able to do this. I mean, that these guys are trained; these guys are vicious; they…. They, they" - that, you know, Ravan's son, he was, you know, very much trained in illusions.
And he could do things, and he was powerful and - all of those things. In fact, his, one of his names was "Indrajit." Indrajit means "Indra." Indra is like, yeah, the head of all the gods.
And there he is! And Ram is like, "You know, how am I going to do this; how am I going to pull it off?" And people have to remind him, when he starts to lose heart; it's like, "Look, it's okay! You are the divine. And you'll do it. This is why you have come here - and you're doing it. It's happening."
Now, as a human being, what could somebody say to you? When the time comes and you start to lose heart, and you start to see that the problems that you are faced with are bigger in size than you? (And they always are, more or less.)
And just remember that within you is that divine. You may not be the divine but within you is the divine. That when all seems lost, it doesn't have to be all is lost.
That to dig deep down and pull the courage that you have, the clarity, the understanding - that you are; you are here; you exist. And as this most powerful thing that you have - it's called "life," it's called "breath" that comes into you - and it allows you to go and perpetuate this, this existence.
That whatever the difficulties may be, whatever the issues may be, and however big they may be, don't confuse "easy" and the fulfillment of the objective. It may not be easy to find peace. But to have found peace is a fulfillment, is a success unparalleled.
It's not easy to give up things, concepts, ideas in our life. We hold onto them; we hold onto them very, very dearly. This is who - this is - our whole training is based upon that.
Whoever you are, there are things that you didn't come up with, that have been poured, literally, in your cranium. And it gets to a point where you can't even distinguish that which is from your own experience and that which has been poured into your cranium.
And so, to undo, you know, and then these are the things you hear in a lot of the Zen stories. And one of the ones that I use is, this man comes to this Master and the Master says, "Okay, well, can I offer you some tea?" And so he gets some tea; he asks his servant, "Bring some tea." He's pouring the tea and the cup is full.
And the tea starts to overflow - and the man is looking at the Master going, "Well, what are you doing? Don't you see that the cup is full? It will take no more! And you must empty the cup if you want tea to go in there." And the Master says, "Exactly. Your cup is already full; whatever I pour in it, it's not going to go in there. Empty it first."
And so this is what it means - to see things from a very simple perspective, not contaminated. When you see another human being, what do you see? Do you see the color of their skin; do you see their scars; do you see their face; do you see their eyes; do you - what do you see?
Do you have a recognition that what you're looking at is a human being? Not a "client," not a this, not a that. But just a human being, just like you. And who are you? And what do you associate yourself with? Your accomplishments? ("I'm a doctor; I am a lawyer; I am a this; I am a that"?) Your name? The face that you see in the mirror? "Mother of, father of? Uncle of, aunt of?"
And what about just the simple, simple recognition that you're a human being? Unquestionably. It doesn't matter what posts you hold, what you have accomplished, where have you been - you're still a human being.
There was a group of people; they went to the moon; they came back. And then - so they had accomplished something very, very unusual, very, very unique. But what happened to them? Just like any other human being, death got hold of them. And they had to go.
You think that they did not feel pain? You think they did not feel anger? You think they did not feel disappointment? Of course they did.
And that's not what makes you human. What makes you human is, yes, those things that you can experience. But what really makes you human is that, even though in the diversity of pain that you feel, you can also feel joy. You can also have hope. In the midst of the despair, you are still capable of feeling hope. In the midst of confusion….
That's, see, that's what makes you human. In my opinion, that's what - that contrast is what it's all about. Not just one thing. Not just one thing.
It's like a rock. And I'm not a rock, so all I can do is just, you know, what I have observed of a rock. And this rock can be in the water for a thousand years. And bring it out, put it out of the water and it'll dry up like it had never even touched the water. This is its nature.
What's your nature? Your nature is - it's like I was saying - that in the midst of that confusion, you are also capable of feeling clarity. In the midst of all that hate, you are capable of feeling love.
So, if all you feel is hate, that's not human. That's un-human. But in the middle of the hate, you also feel the love, then it's complete. Then it's complete! And this is what makes you who you are.
So, it's not about things being easy - it is about what you set out to do to fulfill yourself. This is the opportunity you have.
You know, right now, so many people in this world are completely lost in technology. And it's, everything is "technology, technology, technology"; they - it's their phone, it's their social media; it's their this, and they have to interact and they have to go on there and "Who's saying what," and "What's said? What are they saying about you," and "What are they saying about you?"
And I mean, it's just like, "Whoa!" And, you know, people call it "noise" - it's way over the noise threshold. It's like, it's just this nonstop streaming thing.
You know, and phones go off in the middle of the night! And it's like, "Brring-brring," you know, it's like, somebody's sending you a message - it's just, you know, and junk mail but there it comes. And it's just like a nonstop thing, nonstop thing, nonstop thing, nonstop….
And so, now, you know, if you accidentally go and get tracked (because you went somewhere on a particular website and you got tracked), and now you don't want that - you don't want that information, you think you can just opt out of it? No!
Because it's another one, another one, another one, and so even if you sit there and go "unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe," there's another one that's going to come up. Because the, just - it's not for your benefit.
The amount of burden, when it gets greater than the benefit that is being derived - you've got an issue. You're putting in more energy in what you don't want, than putting in energy in what you do want - then you've got an issue.
And the maintenance that is required is above and beyond! You come; you sit down; you open your mail and it's garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage - just like your mailbox full of all the garbage - now your electronic mailbox, full of all the garbage.
So, in the midst of all of this stuff that goes on, you've got to figure out the reality. And the reality is that there is a possibility that you can be fulfilled.
You see, if I'm thirsty - if I'm thirsty and I need some liquid; I'm thirsty - I can go to a hundredth floor. And that's not going to fulfill my thirst; that's not going to quench my thirst. I can go a hundred floors towards the basement. That's not going to fulfill my thirst.
I can make a journey around the earth five times and that's not going to fulfill my thirst. I can try to memorize the Encyclopedia Britannica and that's not going to quench my thirst. I can go to the moon and back and that's not going to quench my thirst. I can go to the Space Station and back, and that's not going to quench my thirst.
What's going to quench my thirst? My thirst is going to get quenched when I drink water, when I drink that liquid.
What are you all about? Are you about this world; are you about this technology? Because if you are, right now it's pretty confused - it's very confused. It's like a whole - people had built this whole system of protection. But it was, first, they had - before they built the protection they said "Okay, this is the danger; this is the enemy that's going to come."
And once they had made up their enemy, they built the protection against that particular enemy. It just so happens that the world was wrong! That was not the enemy - against whom we have created this protection. We needed protection from something else!
And, you know, a solution? Incredibly simple: "Wear a mask."
So, this all comes down to understanding what your objectives are - that are governed by your heart, (not by your mind, but governed by your heart), that have been the same for every single human being that has come on the face of this earth. And hasn't changed, technology or no technology.
To be fulfilled, to be in peace. To understand clarity. To exercise both those things that truly make me human.
So I hope it helps to look at it from the perspective that "Things may not be easy - but the objectives need to be fulfilled."
Well, stay healthy. I'll see you soon! Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 16 - In Charge of Your Time
"Between birth and death, this is the time that you have. And you should be the first person to dictate what happens with this time." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. I hope you're all well, healthy, and most importantly, thriving instead of surviving. And that's what, you know, in one of the last videos that I did, I was talking about. That a lot of times, (and I just want to clarify this too), that a lot of times we look at a situation, and whatever our situation is, we look at the difficulty. And not the objective but the difficulty.
So, let's just talk a little bit about being human, and what does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things, and it means a lot of things to a lot of people. I mean, there are scientists who have looked at it and it means something else to them. They have a different viewpoint.
There are people who are farmers, and they have a different viewpoint. There are people who work with wood; they have a different viewpoint. There are people who work with statues; they have a different viewpoint. There are cooks; they have a different viewpoint. There are pilots; they have a different viewpoint. There are politicians; they have a different viewpoint.
So, trying to narrow it down to one thing would require that a lot of things that happen in our lives have to be excluded. And then you narrow down to just who or what a human being really is. So, you get down to the fundamentals - you need to breathe; you have an innate desire in you.
And a long time ago I had seen this documentary and it was about the Albertine rift. And when that took place, the monkeys were basically divided into two. And those monkeys that ended up with the gorillas, (because the gorillas needed to eat a lot), ended up always fighting for food, always competing for food.
And then those monkeys that did not end up with the gorillas had plenty of food and they would share food - and scientists named that "the peace gene." And apparently, we as human beings have this peace gene! So, something very deep inside of us is calling - and calling all the time towards peace, towards being content.
Now, again, peace, the word "peace," it means so many things to so many people. But then to find out what really peace is, you have to disregard all those other things - and come down to what really peace means.
And to understand that there is an innate desire in every human being to be in peace - and this is extremely important. That you can try to distract yourself - and people do! You know, you have technology; you have communication; you have this; the, yeah, all the stuff….
And, "Distract me, distract me, distract me." And one of the things that has become so obvious in this time of pandemic - that people just cannot be with themselves! They want to socialize; they want to be with somebody else - but not with themselves.
And there would have been a time that human beings would have rather been just with themselves. You know, and a lot of the change of language and written language and all of that, this is relatively all new. This is not old stuff; we've been around for a really long time - and in very hard, very difficult circumstances. And something drove us; something moved us forward.
And that, that one thing that - the betterment, to be better. To be better at so many things. Not just one thing, but to be better as being a human being: "How can I be a good human being?" Not looking at it from the rules of the society - but my innate thirst that I have as a human being, (that peace gene in action), is it fully able to manifest its self?
So, peace, then, is not fulfillment of wishes - but it is something much more fundamental. It is to be content; it is to be in clarity. It is to feel that joy inside; it is to be happy. It is to be clear. All these things are the same facets of peace.
These are - maybe they sound all different but they're not. They're just - it's, peace is like a beautiful, beautiful diamond - and it has many sides; it has many facets. And this is what makes it shine.
And there's clarity - there's understanding; there's compassion; there is joy. There is empathy. There's forgiveness. These all start to become different facets of that diamond. And it's not like you can just say, "I just want one facet"; no, it's part of the whole package.
So, if that's peace - and you as a human being are going to have, always, a desire to feel that - now, mind you, I'm not saying that you're not going to want to feel other things! Yes, you're going to want to feel this world; you're going to want to try this; you're going to try that. And you have become very good at that.
I mean, just imagine, a few thousand years ago, that if somebody wanted to go from London to Los Angeles, what that would entail. If they wanted to go from London to New Delhi, what that would entail. I mean, it would be a journey that you took once. And you would be extremely lucky if you got to Los Angeles from London in one piece.
I mean, before there trains, before there were ships, how would you even go? And, well, you know, the kind part of that is, you probably didn't even know that there was any place called "Los Angeles" because there wasn't!
But to travel meant like, everything that you had to do! And yet, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing - today, no sweat; no problem. We can fly from Los Angeles to London, (eleven hours, twelve hours) and we can fly from London to Los Angeles, (maybe thirteen hours, twelve hours, fourteen hours, something like that, depending on the headwinds).
So, all this has been accomplished - and we have become very good at that. But what about that other part of us, that gene that is waiting to also be fulfilled? The curiosity gene in us is one hundred percent. The discovery gene in us is going overtime; the communication gene in us is going at it. The socializing gene is full force ahead - but what about the peace gene?
And unless all of these things…. And that peace gene is - that request that it has - is accepted and fulfilled, life is going to feel like something is missing. And indeed, something is missing. That clarity about who you truly are is missing!
So, there are people - and they look at themselves, "And I am so-and-so." But they're not "so-and-so"; they're a human being. So let me, let me just put it in perspective and maybe this is a bad example - you know, because I'm not trying to play down anybody for, for any reason. And that's not the point of my example.
But my point is basics. So, say, I have a friend. And he has never been to any college; he's never been to any school; he, he knows very little about, so far the world is concerned - but he's a farmer. He grows food; he keeps cattle. He's a simple man - and we're friends. We talk to each other and - and he grows - you know, he has his farm and he does quite well.
And in our community, in our neighborhood there are professors; there are scientists; there are, you know, people who are artists. There are musicians - at top of their game.
And then one day there's a horrific earthquake. And all of a sudden, all the communication is dead; electricity is gone. Everything - no schools, no universities, no restaurants, no nothing - I mean, everything is finished - finished.
But as a human being, you're still going to feel hungry - if you are still alive, you're going to feel hungry; you're going to thirsty; you're going to need sustenance; you're going to need something.
And maybe when everything was thriving, when everything was incredible, everybody else had some part to play. The musicians had some part to play. They could entertain us. There were actors; they could, they could entertain us. If we wanted to know something, we could be taught!
But now that all, everything is shut down, who, all of a sudden, has become incredibly important? And I - for me, at least, from my viewpoint, that farmer. Because he continues to grow his vegetables. For him, he was never plugging in his plants into electricity for them to grow. Everything came from nature. And this is what he had learnt!
And his learning, at this point in time, becomes extremely crucial - and I wouldn't be surprised if everybody from the community beats a road to his house, his hut. Because he has, at this point in time, in the very basics, that which the community and the individuals in the community need.
So, all of a sudden, his level, when everything was "a certain way," quote-unquote, was very low, relatively speaking - and everybody else, very high. And now that the society isn't the same way, it has switched. So, somebody who may not fulfill all those "quote-unquotes" of the society - but he has something to offer which is incredibly important - sustenance, becomes extremely important.
The same way, when the world is a certain way, maybe we get distracted and we see "This is important; that's important; that's important; that's important." But we really cannot lose, and we cannot afford to lose the focus of what truly is important.
It is like a mother who may be watching a movie on television and very distracted by that. And her baby is crying. And she wants to focus on the movie, not on the baby. How long is that going to go on? It is an imbalance! Because the first priority needs to be for that mother to be with that baby.
Why? This is not a rule that was written by society; this was a rule that was written by nature. A long time ago, nature made - not that nature made babies cute. But nature made sure that when we look at a baby, we think the baby is cute. We think - we immediately sympathize with that baby. We become compassionate when we see that face. We become compassionate.
I mean, even - and this not only goes to baby human babies but also to other animals! And you look at the kitties - and they're so cute! You look at puppies and they're so cute! And, you know, you have to ask yourself, "Well, why do they look so cute?" It's because we have in us this natural tendency to view it that way - because it's important.
And so, yeah, but you know, we live in this world today and we're like, "Oh my God, you know, we're so different." But we're not - all this just is very recent.
And the way it has been going on for a very, very long time is that the human beings have really tried to better themselves and better themselves and better the societies and better the countries and "better and better and better and better," and we cannot lose that focus.
It is not just the responsibility of a few - to make the society better. It is the responsibility of all of us to make the society better. And this needs to be understood; this needs to be remembered.
So now, coming back to my original point, you as a human being have this desire to be in peace, to be fulfilled, to be in joy. And this is so innate, so fundamental.
I'm not talking about a "designer human being," by the way. Because these days, it's like, "Oh, yeah, do this and you will become this, and do this and you'll become this, and this is trending. And this is important, and this is this way and this is that way." I'm not talking about a designer human being; I'm talking about fulfilling the fundamental part of you as a human being.
So, what, in my opinion, is a designer human being? It's like, "Oh, yeah, you wear clothes a certain way; you have your hair a certain way; your beard is a certain way; you talk a certain way." And people are like, "Okay, that means this, and that means this, and that means this, and I have achieved this, and I have achieved this" - that this is what we get into.
So, as a normal human being, we're nobodies. Basic? "Nobody. Yeah, you have to do this; you have to do this; you have to…."
I mean, you know, and when I was little, I had a bicycle. And I would decorate that bicycle. I wanted that bicycle to be beautiful! I wanted that bicycle to have everything! And I bought a horn for it, an electric horn, and then I modified it so that every time you put on the brake, the horn would go off.
I bought a light for it - and it was one of those generators that, you know, when the tire went around, the generator produced the electricity and the light came on. And then, of course, I would put balloons on it so that it would make the noise of a motorcycle.
So, having the basic bicycle was not acceptable. That was nothing! Something, some improvement had to be made on it. And somewhere, we have gotten on that tangent of "improvement, improvement, improvement, improvement, improvement" - to, what is original, what is basic means nothing to us.
So what is that basic human being? What are that basic human being's needs? (Not wishes and wants but needs?)
If you were there in the 1960s - and you just, you know, having come from this time and you said, "Where is my phone?" Everybody would look at you; it's like, "What do you mean, 'And where is your phone?' Your house has a phone; you have a landline. It's not your phone."
It's, whoever is living in that house or household, however many members, they all share that phone. You're talking about your cell phone - and there were no cell phones at that time. Not - at least, people didn't have them.
So, all these wishes that we have, change with the time, change with the inventions. There was a time that you couldn't - you couldn't buy a car with an automatic transmission. And now, you know, most of the cars have automatic transmission. So, our wishes, our wants change with the time.
But as fundamental as we are as a human being, the needs haven't really changed - and they won't. So we need to put nutrition into our bodies, yes! And that should be not harmful to us, yes. And we should - we need to drink water and that water should satisfy our thirst, yes. And it shouldn't be harmful to us. Yes!
And should we be aware of what's around us? Yes! And should we do things that are harmful to the nature around us? No! No.
And so, all these things then also come and march very slowly and very beautifully to that one thing which is peace. Should we have peace in our life - is that a wish? Is that a want? Or is that a need? This is where everything changes. Because there are people who, through the years, have said, "It's not a wish; it's not a want; it's a need."
Today our attention is so distracted - you know, we're thinking about this, thinking about that. We're just, we're not even focused anymore. And we need to be focused. And it takes a very little bit of that time to focus in ourselves, within ourselves - and feel that feeling that is in us.
And that little bit of time spent with yourself is so powerful, is so incredibly powerful - that wandering all day - and it's balanced. "Wow." Just a little bit of time spent - it's like, of twelve hours, one hour spent with yourself can balance out the eleven hours of just completely being out there. That's quite a deal, I think. That's an incredible deal.
And people - even then, you know, and then I've been a part of it for such a long time, listening to this: "Oh, but I don't the time; I don't have the time; I don't have the time." Yes, you do. It's your time.
You should be the first person to dictate what you do with your time. You're the one who was born and you're the one who's going to die. And between the birth and the death, this is the time that you have - and you should be the first person to dictate what happens with this time.
There are other people who would like to dictate! And they should not be allowed to dictate. And your boss wants to dictate how that time should be used? Well, do whatever it takes to make the boss believe that he is dictating your time. But you be clearly, in your life, be in charge of the time that is yours.
Maybe the story sounds very complex; maybe the story sounds very complicated to some people - but it isn't. It's really simple. And even if, in the midst of this pandemic, there is a simplicity and a want to be fulfilled, to be filled with joy, to be content, to be filled with clarity - and it needs to be addressed.
And if I can remind you of that? Wonderful. Great. That's how it should be. If I can remind you of that which makes sense to you - if I can remind you of that which you know to be true, then that's a very good reminder. That's a very, very good reminder.
You know, pilots have to follow checklists. And it's a good idea to follow checklists. But what is a checklist? The thing is, the pilot knows that he has to do these things. But the checklist is just to make sure that they happen. That's what a reminder is. Because it is the habit of human beings to forget. To forget. And it's no reflection….
There was a bomber and it was being tested by these pilots, and they were all crack, top-top-top pilots - but they didn't follow a checklist. And they did not remove the control locks, and they went barreling down the runway, tried to take off, and the plane didn't take off; they all crashed; they all died.
So, there were people at that time saying, "Oh, the airplanes have become so complicated that, you know, normal human beings can't fly them." And then when they really sat down and studied the whole thing, what they realized was that "There needs to be a checklist." Wow. You know?
Kabir was writing checklists. And he was writing checklists in forms that people could remember! There were no airplanes at Kabir's time. But Kabir was writing checklists. Guru Nanak was writing checklists for mankind - to remember those things that are important.
So, be reminded - and accept that reminding as a wonderful gift. And enjoy it; enjoy being reminded. Enjoy that feeling of certainty - because that's what happens. When you follow a checklist, you know you have done what needs to get done.
Stay safe; stay healthy; I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 17 - The Ultimate Game
"The ultimate game really becomes that you make the most of every day that you have." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone. I hope you're all doing well, healthy - healthy, not only in the heart but body and mind. And it's, you know, there are so many things to say, in a way.
But try to keep things simple. Because simple is good. Simple is what we really want! You know, and things get so complicated.
I mean, I was thinking that a human being comes into this world - and what a journey, what a process it truly is. Being born - I mean, we certainly don't remember it and maybe that's why we don't talk about it much.
But the effort that that baby, that infant puts out to actually emerge into this world, to come into this world is absolutely amazing. It's like, so many rockets have to go off to equal what it takes to be born.
And then we come - and it's a totally alien world. A transition has to happen in mere minutes - to go from lungs being totally filled with liquid, to breathing air. To be totally dependent upon the mother supplying everything, to where you have to become independent. It's truly, truly, truly amazing. I mean, talk about a miracle - and it is a miracle that this takes place, this happens.
And so much, over the millions and millions of years of evolution, brought us to this point where we could be, we could be alive. And then, truly, what is it like?
Well, you're tired; you want to sleep. Quiet environment. And if that all can be, then naturally the baby just wants to sleep - and sleep and recoup some of that energy that it needs. So many things have to be in place for this to be able to happen.
And that baby has come out and baby is sleeping - and it's, it, you know, if all things are equal, it should be a nice, loving environment. But everything that awaits that baby - so much that is going to happen in that baby's life, some of it's going to be good; some of it's going to be bad - and, you know, I think it's a good idea to, once in a while, just reflect on that.
Because we are that baby going through our journey. Every minute, every second, every hour, every day that goes by, it's really going by; it's gone! It's not going to come back. And we're inching - inching, inching, inching, inching towards a finality that is unbelievable.
There's no escaping it - and when it comes, it comes. And then you're gone. The body becomes lifeless. It becomes nothing. And the processes begin to consume that body, to be done with that body.
And you really have to give it some thought, of what this time, for you, means. You know, what do you really need - yeah, and I was reflecting on that. And I need food; I need water. I need shelter. This is something that I have to constantly work towards.
And at one point in our civilization, in our society, people, from the morning till evening - and there are people like that today, tribes that are out there - and from the morning till the evening they are busy, absolutely busy gathering, taking care of their crops, gathering food, whatever it takes.
And it wasn't that long ago that we were all doing that. And we had this thought, "Wouldn't that be wonderful that we could go to one place and everything would be there?"
But you know, being a farmer, it's very different - because when you are a farmer there's no Saturday off; there's no Sunday off. Those animals that you take care of, you have to feed them every day. The crops are there every day. There is no point at which the farmer can say, "I'm done with this." No! Even when the crop comes up….
I remember in our farm, they would build these little shacks up high, so that you could see the birds. And one of the things that they used to have is this device which had a little cup - and then, metal rod, and then a hinge - and then another metal rod and a pin. And you put a little bit of powder, gunpowder in there and banged it, and it made a loud noise and it scared the birds away.
And so it's like, constantly taking care of that crop, taking care of that crop. It's, so much energy goes in taking care of that, so that you can sustain yourself.
Today, easy enough for us to walk into a supermarket and not have to think twice about food! (I mean, the food is just coming out from everywhere.) And yet, we don't give it the time; we don't give it the thought of what it takes.
The water that has to be pure. Civilizations were built around rivers where there was accessibility to water. Without water, people knew that they could not survive. They could not be.
And from there, so many different tangents have begun. So many human follies - that you can look at that. And sometimes it is very hard to see these things that we get involved with - because we're so involved with them, we're not looking at another picture in which you are far removed and you're looking at this, "a human being, being born…."
And that even if they're alive for 36,500, days, it's not that much. And they exist - and then one day they're gone. And it doesn't matter what they do; it's not like you can do something that will prevent you, ultimately, from leaving.
Now, there are people who think that, you know, "If you exercise and if you do this, you could delay it a little bit." I think that's dubious, but - anyways, I'm not going to get into that part of it.
So, you can try to delay it - but it is still inevitable; it's going to happen. And it doesn't matter if we have lived our lives, you know, incredibly - or if we have lived our lives in, totally in an unconscious state. This is going to happen; this is the setup: "You were born and one day, you have to go."
Do we like talking about this? No. Should it be talked about? I think so. Because it reflects on what the possibilities are - and how we, as human beings, should be viewing each day - and indeed, each moment that we have. That we need to be a lot more cognizant of what is really happening around us, rather than be completely lost somewhere else.
You know, I know there are people - and there are people who have completely dedicated themselves to playing games. And one thing I was watching on some channel, where these people, they just live in this basement, basically, and they're just playing games all day long. All day long, they eat there; they even do every other business there. And it's a mess!
And in, and then, what is the game that is being played? What, whatever their choice, but they play; they're into it!
So, what should we be into? There is another game that is afoot - and this game is going on! And it is the game of "The time is being spent, time is passing." And there's nothing you can do about it.
And in this, I see the ultimate game. The ultimate game really becomes that "You make the most of every day that you have." That you try to achieve something that is incredibly beautiful, incredibly wonderful - and that is peace. That is joy. That is understanding.
Oh, you can have a lot of misunderstanding; you can have confusion. That's still not going to change what's going to happen at the end; that's not going to change it. But having lived this life with a heart that is full - is like accomplishing the real goal of being here on the face of this earth.
I mean, when you look at it, you know, like I was saying, we need food; we need water; we need shelter. Of course, we need air, but air is, there is plenty of.
And when you start to look at our - how fragile we are. All of a sudden, if you look at all the places we could exist - all of a sudden, it becomes - the earth actually becomes smaller because we can't exist on the ocean. We need land. Because there we can grow our crops, there we can do whatever we have to.
And all that land that has no water - again, very hard to make do, very hard to live. So, all of a sudden, the earth, the usable part for human beings shrinks even more.
Not too high - we can't go up too high. We can't get too cold. We can't get too hot. And all of a sudden, you look, and it's like just relatively, even on the face of this earth, there's just a small space where we can actually be - where we can thrive.
And then, whatever this is - and for millions and millions of miles in every single direction, we wouldn't exist for more than even half a second. I mean, it's just wild out there. But here in this place, a human being with a desire in their heart to be content, to be in peace, to be in joy.
I mean, yeah, you know, everything else comes in, "Oh, then there is a heaven there, and there is a hell there." Well, I know there's a heaven here - and there is a hell here. And what kind of a hell is it? Well, if you're not in heaven, guess where you are?
And it's as simple as that! You, me, all of us, are we addressing that desire to be content? Are we addressing that desire to feel peace in our lives? Or here we have got these ideas of the "designer human being." (I mean, that's - I haven't really talked about "designer human being" too much, except in one of the earlier videos.) And this is what it's becoming!
You know, I could put on saffron clothes and I could put on wreaths and I could put on a wig with long hair and - yeah, you know, all of that stuff - and would that make me a saint? No! What goes on here? There is no red light; there is no meter.
You can put on saffron clothes; you can put on white clothes; you can put on green clothes; you can put on blue clothes; you can put on gray clothes - but what's going on here? Who knows? There's no meter; there is no, you know, tickertape coming out, one in, going "Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, you know, this person is having bad thoughts."
Then there are people; it's like, "Oh, I will completely capture - I will never get mad again." Well, come on. You're a human being.
Will you ever become sad; of course, you'll become sad. If something happens that is a tragedy, you will become sad. But your sadness should not be so extreme - that it stops you from functioning properly.
Will you get angry; of course you'll get angry. But your anger should never be that it stops you from functioning the way you want to function. Will you be overjoyed, yes! But you should never be so overjoyed that it stops you from functioning. None of these attributes, none of these qualities should be so extreme as to stop you from functioning.
Peace? It's really wonderful. You can have a lot of it - and it will never stop you from functioning. And contentment is like that. A lot of people think, "Oh, once you get content you'll become a vegetable" - no, you won't. In fact, being content is very dynamic.
It's not like, okay, there is a gauge and it says "You're full. This is all you can take." No! "More, more, more!" More joy, more good stuff in your life. And all for what? To satisfy the basics that are in you, that you are all about.
Not the drama of "Oh, this is going to happen to me, and if I do this, I'll end up over there, and that's going to happen, and that's going to happen and that's going to happen." And so, you know, so much that comes out of the human mind is based upon what they see, what they know. And well, how it is? It could be any which way.
And so this is all about knowing; this is why knowing is so important. Not coming up with an imagination. And you - and you know, imagination is imagination.
So, little kids come to you and they say, "Tell us a story; tell us a story," so I have to tell them a story - right? I can't tell them a story, you know, "You're, we're sitting in a room and there is a chair over there and there's a table over there" - or, and that story wouldn't fly very well. So you have to use a story where they can jump into their imagination.
And so I started telling this story - "And you can imagine, you know, that okay, there is this island, and on this island live the seven fairies and they ride the rainbow. And they're the rainbow fairies and there are seven of them. Because each one rides a particular color of the rainbow." And I mean, I made up this story.
But it's all imagination! It's not like there are seven fairies that live on an island - or ride a rainbow. So, what's the reality? Is it not fascinating? Of course it's fascinating. If we allow ourselves to be fascinated by it, it is incredibly fascinating. And it is this desire for peace that you have in you. To be content.
In confusion, you seek clarity. Like in darkness, you immediately are looking for light. What is that? You know! Not think, not believe. You know!
You know that there is that example that I give, is you walk into a room. And somebody has made this room for you and it's really wonderful, it's really beautiful. And they say to you, "Please, as you go into this room, on your left is a light switch. Please turn on the light before you enter the room or go any further."
So, you come into the room. And you have heard how incredible this room is, how beautiful this room is, that there is this bed that has been put in just for you, and it's brand new and it's got the most amazing mattress, amazing duvet on it. It's the most comfortable bed you can imagine.
All this food has been placed there for you, and there are just gorgeous bowls that were made specifically for you. And your food has been custom-made for you the way you like it, all the dishes that you like - and you can't wait; you're hungry; you're tired; you're all of those things and you just want to have this. You want to see it; you want to enjoy it; you, you know, everything!
And in your enthusiasm, you forget to turn on the light. And you walk into the room. And all of a sudden, all this food that is on these bowls on bowl-holders starts to fall - and shatter! Glasses start to shatter on the floor.
And it's a very painful situation because you took your shoes out, and now all that glass is going into your foot and it's starting to cut you and it's, it's a horrible, it's a horrible experience.
So instead of, as you had walked into the room, (and it was going to be just amazing; it was going to be just incredible), it is a torture; it is a painful thing. And all, why? Because you forgot to turn on the light.
And if that light could be there, you could see where you could go - and not hurt yourself. You could see the color of the bed. You could see the bed; you could see the nice shiny coverings. You could see the food. You could see all the water that is there, all the drinks that are there. You could see! And you didn't have to bump into these things.
Things that should have brought you an immense amount of pleasure are actually bringing you an immense amount of pain, all because you didn't turn on the light.
What is the human equivalent of turning on the light? I'll tell you - it's knowing yourself. When you know yourself, you don't have to suffer. You don't have to go bumping into things. Your focus then isn't about difficulty.
And this is - I'm astonished, you know? As human beings, we give such a high degree of importance to difficulties! "Oh, this is - I find this difficult; I find that difficult; I find that difficult." If it's difficult, it's not impossible. It means you have to try extra hard! This is something that can be done.
So far the objective - and you know, I might say "goal," but that's not really what I mean by "goal," but the objective, what your focus is, what you want to accomplish. Like, having peace in your life would be an objective that you'd want to accomplish. This is a thirst that you have from within you and you want to accomplish.
So, this is how it goes. If you don't know yourself, in this world, the time is passing. You're going to go from being born - and to one day you will be gone.
Right now, you lie on the bed all curled up, having just come in this world. Sleep; sleep well. Restore your energy. You have incredible challenges to yet face as you grow up. You're going to be learning; you're going to be recognizing; you're going to be understanding what you don't understand right now.
Slowly, there will - these eyes that cannot focus will slowly start focusing. The ears will hear the voice repeated again and again and you will begin to understand who that person is. You will be able to express yourself but you would not be able to use the language to express yourself.
You have some amazing challenges yet to come. And yet before you know it, you'll be learning how to walk. You will fail many, many times - but you will never give up. You're going to learn; you're going to learn not giving up.
Will you remember? Because if you could remember just that, it would make things so much better - but we forget. We forget what monumental effort it took to even come on the face of this earth.
Then, bit by bit, learning to walk - first, of course, learning to crawl, then learning to walk. Running, falling, getting up. Slowly, learning how to eat - and when babies eat, half the food goes in; half the food goes out.
You will learn, learn, learn, learn, learn. You will start learning things that are not good for you. And you have to then somehow figure out what is good and what is bad. Some people will successfully do that; some people won't successfully do that.
And on it'll go. And then there will come that time that you will reflect on your life. As you see, closer and closer, as you can smell, closer and closer, your own mortality - you will look at your life; you would look at what you have. And either you will be pleased with it. Or you'll make some excuse, "Ah, I didn't know. I, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah."
But it'll happen. And before you know it, all that time would have gone, just like a river. And then that day will come where you will breathe your last. No matter what you have accumulated, none of that will go with you. You came alone - and you're going to go alone. You came empty-handed - and you will go empty-handed.
Save - that if you could find that light switch. Save - that you could find that peace and contentment within inside of you. Then yes, you came empty-handed - but you don't have to go empty-handed; you can go with a heart full of joy, of clarity, of understanding, of gratitude to have been alive, to have been part of the most amazing show anywhere in this universe.
Be well; be healthy. I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 18 - Come Out of the Box
"You can take full advantage of this thing called life, this thing called the heart, this thing called the breath, this thing called the knowledge." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone; Prem Rawat here. I want to take this chance that we have - and I want to talk about something. And I hope that it maybe clarifies something for you.
Now, what I want to talk about is, you have heard this many, many times, "Think outside the box. Oh, so-and-so did really well; he's, he really likes to think outside the box. Oh, those people have really succeeded because they think outside the box."
So, we hear this quite a bit - and you know, "And so-and-so is very successful today because he really thinks outside the box." So what is this box? And if we were to think outside this box, there is a tremendous amount of success; there is a lot to be gained.
So, one of the problems, I think, for a lot of people - is that they live inside this box. But they don't identify that this is a box. But it is a box. And so, bear with me but you're going to have to take a little journey with me - and the journey is, "Let's both go outside this box. And then, let's take a look at how things really are outside the box. Let's just think outside the box."
So, what is this box? Well, this box is composed of so many ideas that we didn't participate in; we didn't say, "Oh, yeah, you know, that's a really good idea; I'd like to - I'd like to remember that; I'd like to keep that." But they're ideas that come from other people - and we have simply accepted it.
Now, how far does this run? Well, it really runs a huge gamut. It runs from people, to countries, to cultures, to civilizations - and indeed, even to the divine.
"What's going to happen to you? What are you all about? Where does the divine actually live? What is the divine really like? What are the reasons why your life has so many difficulties? What is auspicious; what is not auspicious? What is it that you should eat; what is it that you should not eat? If you eat this - and this is not any good. If you eat this, this is not any good."
I mean, virtually, every facet! "How should your child be? How should they be behaving?" And, you know, I've been through that. I've been through that, "Oh, this person should behave, this child should behave like this; this person should behave like this. This is what's important; this is not what's important."
Everything that happens during a day, I am dictating these things - because there is a tape recorder that is playing that is already dictating, "This is how this should be; this is how this should be; this is mine; that's yours; this is this; this is that." And it goes on, not only during the day - but it goes on for weeks, for months - and indeed a lifetime.
And what is it like when we can step outside that box? What is it like? Not trying to make a "designer me." Because, you know, we like to copy things. And look at the jeans, for instance, the jeans.
Now, the invention of jeans happened because they were utilitarian trousers; people who worked really hard needed clothes that could take the beating. And people wore those jeans.
But there was a distinct difference between people who would wear - oh, this is not now; this is a long time ago - there was a distinct difference between people who wore jeans, who didn't wear jeans.
And then slowly and slowly and slowly and slowly, those jeans became part of a fashion statement. "You're cool. You're okay. You're this; you're that." And everybody is trying to make a statement.
It's almost like if you could look at a dollhouse - and it has these little squares or rectangles. And each rectangle is that box that a person is in - and then there is the person inside, a little person. And they're saying "I am this and I am this, and this is what I believe in, and this is how things should be, and this is how this…." And but it's - and if you could hear everybody, it'd be too much!
And everybody has something to say. It's like, you look at the pandemic and yeah, you know, it's like all the people, they want to go to the bar. They want to socialize. They want to - they want to have a drink. And then they want to sit there and talk about things - that obviously, in that noisy environment, are not going to be worth really talking about too much.
What about you as a human being? Where do you fit into this? Where does this box allow you to be? What exactly is the reason for this box? And for a lot of people, this box offers a tremendous amount of security. But those are the people who just want to be "normal." "Normal" is it. "Normal" is in fashion: "I want to be like that other person."
So, all of a sudden, you've got all sorts of people wearing jeans. And not only that - but then comes in fashion, torn jeans. And they are wearing those torn jeans like they work really hard - like an ironsmith might, you know, taking a big hammer every day and banging, banging, banging. And they may not have ever even lifted a hammer like that.
But once it becomes a fashion statement, this is how it's going to be. There are people - and I have known a lot of people like that since a very long time, you know, and it's like, they've got to wear their saffron.
In fact, there was a guy - and this is a long time ago, in India - and he would always wear saffron, have long hair. And I, one day, just turned to him and I said, "Who are you? Because, you know, in the organization, we don't have people like that wearing saffron anymore."
And he just said, "Well, I'm just a normal bloke. But wearing saffron and having long hair and wearing these garlands and carrying this stuff, it allows me to travel on the train free." So, I just, I just - I mean, I think that was hilarious.
Because everything starts to become this box, and box, and box - and so now, the guard who is supposed to check peoples' tickets sees this person - and he immediately draws a box around him, saying, "Oh, he is some spiritual guru or something like that. And therefore, I won't charge him the money to travel."
For this person, he realizes that if he does this, he'll get a free ticket. Not that he has to be disseminating any knowledge or any depth of anything to anyone! Not changing anyone's life.
And all the topics that people talk about: "Oh, this is happening and that's happening and you shouldn't do this, and if you did this, this will happen…." Come on. You know, this is not what human beings need!
What human beings need is freedom. We all like that word "freedom." And I really like that quote that says, you know, "We don't need wings to fly. All we need is for those ropes that tie us down to be cut - and we will automatically fly."
People are very concerned about "Who's going to save us?" Well, guess what? We have to be our saviors. We have to save ourselves. And who best at saving ourselves except us, because we are the ones who keep putting ourselves in trouble, in peril, in confusion, in doubt, in agony.
I mean, you know, all those problems around the world - that you pick up a newspaper; you pick up, (nowadays it's not a newspaper; it's an app) - and very quickly, you can go around the world.
And all the problems? "There are floods happening there; there are people drowning there; there are people killing themselves there. The soldiers are doing this, and somebody said 'This is this way,' and somebody said, 'This is fake news….'"
Where does that come from? You know, is it mice? Is it guinea pigs going around in a little wheel, creating electricity - and there is one guinea pig sitting behind a keyboard going, "Okay, boys, go faster, I've got to - I've got to get this information out. I've got to get this stuff out; I've got to create this confusion in this world" - no!
It's not the guinea pigs, (cute little things). It's human beings - that are creating this incredible confusion. I was listening to this debate and this one guy kept saying, you know, "Black lives matter." And the other guy kept saying, "All lives matter." And they both wouldn't say what the other one wanted them to say - and it was very obvious!
And it's also very obvious that "Yes, all lives matter" - but in all lives mattering, black lives haven't mattered. So, "Black lives matter." And all lives matter.
And there has been such an injustice that has been done. I mean, you know, our society is all about "justice, justice, justice, justice!" But it's actually unbelievable, the tyranny that people have caused on the face of this earth - all because of that box! That box says "You are this," and you buy it. You buy it.
And this is how it goes. You cannot buy it. You cannot be in this box. There's something inside of you that doesn't want to submit to this box - that wants to be free, that wants to embrace the true joy, that wants to embrace the true wisdom. Not somebody's belief - but true knowing, true understanding.
That's the difference between somebody who is free and who is not free - that those people who are not free, they have to keep repeating the same thing again and again and again and again, and believing in somebody else's beliefs.
And those who are free, they experience. They don't pass on beliefs. They're not talking about, "Oh yeah, we should believe this; we should believe this," but they're talking about "No, you should know this."
How exquisite is that - to invite a person to know! To "Know thyself." To know yourself. Not to believe who you are - but to know!
You know, I come from a culture that very much believes in past lifetimes: "You were this, or you were this, or you were this." And one time I was talking to this person - and they were from the East. And they said, "Oh, in your last lifetime, you were an emperor."
And when I heard that, you know, it - listen, it stroked my ego, absolutely! It's like, "Whoa! I was an emperor; that's cool!" And he says, "Yeah, I can see that through your ears - with the way your ears are formed, you were an emperor." And I'm like, "Wow!"
So, after the stroking of the ego subsided a little bit - and I was like, "What does that mean? I mean, what does that mean? Should I go to my bank and say, 'Hey! I am so rich. Because I used to be an emperor!' Well, and well, what?!"
You know, and it's not like I could just turn to my wife and say, "Now, you've got to obey everything I say because I used to be an emperor." Can't do that.
But somebody said it - somebody could hear it - and take it and put it in their box. This box is full of all these little things. And I called it "little things." I didn't call it "wisdom." I wish everybody's box was full of wisdom, full of clarity. But it isn't.
It's the same thing that those people, they believed what they believed - it didn't see them through. But somehow people feel that something has changed and "Somehow it'll go through; somehow it'll be all okay." It won't!
You know, that's what silliness is. "To keep doing the same thing - and expect a different result." And we keep doing the same thing. In this "doing the same thing," we have become very good at hating - when, in us, compassion also exists.
The question is, "What are you doing; why, why isn't the good in you more prevalent? Why is it that you have latched onto all those things that do not help you in life?"
You know, some people are like, "Oh, yeah, I wish I was a millionaire!" Then, what? Would you - would it be acceptable to you to be a millionaire and be really sad - and I know there are people sitting there going "Yeah. Yeah-yeah-yeah. I don't care about the sadness. I just want to be a millionaire."
There are people who become millionaires; they win a lottery and then the next thing you know, they've got nothing left. And they end up even killing themselves. Is that what you want? There are people who become so sad - and they take their own life.
To me, that's pointless. Everybody has to go one day - everybody has to go one day. But what can you do before you go? Could you fill your life with something that's beautiful - that matters to you, that matters to you!
Not to other people. When, when are you going to stop living your life for other people? - and begin with yourself? And people will say, "Well, that's very selfish." It's not! It's not! It's not selfish.
When the flower blooms, it does not bloom for somebody else; it blooms for itself, but everybody else takes advantage of it. The bee comes to it, gets honey from it. People come and they take a look at it and they'll just go, "How beautiful this flower is." And people smell that flower, and they look at it and they admire. And all? And why is the flower doing what it's doing? For itself.
That's what light does. When the light is lit, anybody who comes along will benefit from that light. Because your heart is full, you will then know truly how to give. Because you have wisdom, what you will share with other people, what you will give to them will be the most exquisite gift of wisdom.
What is wisdom? It doesn't have to be this huge preface and, you know, "I learnt this and I learnt…." No, just "Be careful. That is sharp." That's it, you - to me, that's incredibly wise.
You know that when the tsunami happened in Japan - and I was going through the different articles, there was this one article where it said that a long time ago, somebody took a little stone and wrote on that stone, "Do not build below this point."
That's what they wrote. And in that, there was so much wisdom. And there was so much compassion. And indeed, I could say that there was so much love, not specifically to one person, but love for all those who would come after this person: "Do not build below this point."
You in your life, wanting, searching - but what are you searching for? Do you want to be free? This box may pretend to give you security. But it robs so much of who you are. It's, it stymies your potential for growth, for understanding - for freedom, to express yourself.
And it is true - that those who think outside the box succeed. They're clever. They're wise. And knowing that, why do we keep submitting to that box again and again and again and again? Fashionable things become, "Oh, yeah, we should, you know, we should be like this! And we should be like this, and we should be like this."
All the good that is in you should be given the opportunity to flourish, to express itself. There is anger in you - but there is compassion in you. If you have more compassion than the anger, you're good! You're good. You're good.
I saw that. I saw that with my granddaughter. And, you know, she's getting to the point of teething. And so, this - obviously, she's, everything has to be just right. And actually, most of the time, she's incredibly pacified, incredibly calm, cool and collected.
But when that pain begins, it agitates her. She's both. So, she is pacified, content. She loves to smile at people - and she has this agitation too. Both are in her. And she exercises more of the compassion, of the acceptance, of the smile. She's very young - but she knows that. She feels that. She is true to herself.
These things, being true to yourself, what does that mean, "True to yourself"? Be real. Be real! Not like, "Oh, but what will other people think of me? I want other people to think I'm really cool!"
Disease - because that's exactly what they are thinking too, "I want everybody to think I am cool." So, again, that dollhouse with little rectangle bits and little people in them, all going, "I'm cool; I'm cool; I'm cool; look at me; look at me; look at me; look at me; I'm cool; I'm cool; I'm cool; I'm cool; I'm cool."
And isn't about being cool or uncool. It is about you being you. You are a human being! To understand your potential, your goodness. To understand what you embody in you - it's, it's so beautiful. It's the process of coming out of that box.
And experience what's good, what's real. Because one day, all this will pack up. It won't be here.
But whilst it is, whilst the show goes on, whilst this is happening, you can take full advantage of this thing called life, this thing called the heart, this thing called the breath, this thing called the knowledge, this thing called the self, this thing called the divine that is in you - take full advantage whilst you can.
That's all it takes. To come out of that box and take that journey to the self. Because you can't reach the self, so far the box is there - it just won't let you. It's like glass. Every time you try to reach…? You know, it's, you see that in that, they have those in the zoos. And they have thick, thick glass, and the animal tries to reach but can't reach because of the glass.
And it's the same thing - this barrier. And you need to be free to understand that there is a lot to be said when one talks about thinking outside the box. I hope you think outside the box - and that it brings you wonderful benefits.
Be healthy; take care of yourself; I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 19 - Are You Paying Attention
"You need to be conscious all the time, as much as you can - so the preciousness of these moments is recognized." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Hello, everyone; Prem Rawat here. And I'd like to talk to you about a very simple thing. You know, in this life, things are happening. And indeed, sometimes it is every second, something is happening; something is happening; something is happening, and there we are, trying to make sense out of it: "What does that mean; what does that mean; what does that mean?"
Last night I was thinking that there is this long tube - and it's a clear tube; it's like a glass tube - it's long. And in this tube, there are these marbles, randomly, that come. You don't know when it's going to happen; it's, they just come. And you're at the edge of this tube and you have a glass. And hopefully, it's an empty glass. This is how you begin.
And these marbles come - and they are two colors. There is a clear marble - and then there is a blue marble. And that blue marble comes and your job is not to take on the blue marble. The clear marbles are beautiful marbles, beautiful moments. "Blue" represents all that pain and suffering and whatever you go through!
And so, you don't know - you hear the noise; okay, here comes the marble and you get your glass all ready. And at the very end, as soon as you see that marble, as soon as you see that it's not a good marble, you would remove the glass, so it won't fall in the glass. And if it is a beautiful marble, you allow it to go in the glass and capture it.
Now what if that was a game? And how good would you be at playing that game? Would you have the sharpness that would be required to, as soon as you see that that is not a clear marble or is not a white marble, you remove your glass - and if it is a white marble, you make sure that you capture, capture that beautiful marble?
Well, you know, so what's the point of this story, or point of this analogy or this example? Well, that's what's happening. All these moments are coming down this tube, in this tube of time. And they're at random. And some are good - and some are bad. Some will bring you pain; some will bring you joy.
It's not like, you know - and people will like to get into "What dictates that?" Nothing! It's at random. But the question is, "Do you have the sharpness - do you have what it takes to avoid taking on the blue marbles, and filling your glass with the white marbles or the clear marbles?"
Because if you can store the good - and this is a capacity and a capability that every human being has. And, you know, sometimes it's bad and bad and bad and bad and bad. And immediately when that starts to happen, there is the question, "Oh. Why was it like that?"
There are a lot of people who do not consider themselves to be as lucky as some other people. But that doesn't mean that the good marbles don't roll down the tube for them. Still, the good comes for them. The question is, are they able to collect it? Are they able to capture it?
I mean, some people, you know, they get into this whole "karma" thing, "Oh, this is bad and that's bad" and, you know, then there's the "karma" thing; then there's the auspicious time: "This needs to happen at this time; this needs to happen at this time for it to be auspicious. Then when everything is auspicious, it's good."
You know, because we don't like difficulty. We like things to be a certain way - and things aren't that way.
Say, if somebody, one morning, gets up - has their coffee, has their juice, picks up their surfboard and goes out to the beach - and they want to surf. But the waves are just flat. No waves - it's just like a big pond. But they're going to be disappointed. Because they want that wave to be there that they can ride.
And I see that. So, we want things to be a certain way. And things want to be their way, whatever that way is. And, you know, we want explanations for everything!
And, you know, a lot of times, I see this happens, and they're digging up a site - and it's, you know, some important site where they have discovered things. And a part of that site, they leave it alone. Because they know that in the future, the technology will improve - and they may be able to get more out of that site than what people can, today.
So they excavate, of course. Technology is much better today than it was fifty years ago, a hundred years ago. And much more can be extracted - but at the same time, keeping an eye towards the future, knowing that it'll get better, too. And I like that. You don't have the answer right now - but maybe there will be things that will be answered in the future.
Today, there are people who get cancer and it's like, "Oh, my." And then I just, I heard this doctor - and he just said, "You know, we know more about cancer now than when you entered the building." Because constantly, new discoveries are being made.
So, we don't like difficulties. We want all our questions answered. We don't want to live in some, you know, uncertainty. But there are things in this life which don't need an answer.
You know, certainly, if you're walking on the street and you all of a sudden got a question in your head - that, you know, "What, well, what date is it that I'm going - what date and what hour is it going to be when I die?" And of course, there's going to be nobody to tell you that.
But if you happen to be at the, you know, a camp or a prison camp, prisoner of war - you don't, certainly don't want to ask the guard, "Well, what date is it that, you know, I'm going to die?" Because he might give you an answer. And if he gives you that answer and he holds it true, God, you know, you're in trouble.
You know it's going to happen - but you don't need to know when. You don't need to be ready for it; you don't need to be unready for it. You become ready for it by enjoying every moment that you have, by accepting every moment that you have.
So, people get into this whole thing of, you know, "Is this happening to me because of my karma in the last lifetime?"
And I've - you know, I've thought about it and thought about it and I know there are people - and look, hey, I was raised in a culture; I was raised in a religion that very much believed that: "Everything that happens to you that, you know, is good or bad is because of your karma."
So when something good happens to me, it's like, I, you know - if I'm eating ice cream - and I would like to know why I was given this ice cream. I mean, what did I do; did I do something good, because I'd like to do that again. And if something bad happens to me, I would certainly like to know what that is, so that I don't do it again.
So by giving, just, somebody, the fruit - and nothing else, no other information, how does that shape that person? And what is good?
There is that story - that one time this king was going with his entourage. And all of a sudden, the king drew out his sword, just to look at it - and he cut his thumb. And one of his companions, he turned to him and he said, "Look, I cut my thumb."
And his companion, minister said, "Sire, whatever happens, happens for a good reason." (And I - this is like, you know - so many people would be like, "That, right!")
And the king got upset! He said, "I've cut my thumb - and you're saying that that's for a good reason." He said, "Yes, sire, whatever happens, happens for a good reason." So the king said, "Okay. I'm going to throw you in this ditch - because you think whatever happens, happens for a good reason? I'm going to throw you in this ditch," so he throws him in this ditch.
They go further and further into the jungle. And sure enough, there is a tribe that has been following them for a while with their spears and everything else, and they get them. And they take the king as a prisoner. And the chief comes out and says, "Yep, we're going to chop off his head; we're going to sacrifice him to our gods."
And the king is like, "Whoa! Wow, whoa-whoa-whoa, this is terrible! I, you know, I mean, I really didn't want this to happen." And they are getting ready to chop off his head; they've got him bent over this block and they're just about getting ready - to where somebody looks at the king's thumb and it has got a bandage on it.
And he says, "Wait-wait-wait-wait, wait-wait-wait. We can't sacrifice this guy." "So, why not?" "Because he's got a cut on his thumb! And we can only give a sacrifice of something that is absolutely perfect." So they let the king go.
The king then thought as he was going away, running away, "Maybe that minister, what he said was, ah, you know - he was right. Because certainly, if I hadn't cut my thumb, I'd be executed right now; I'd be dead."
So he went and got the minister. And he explained the whole story to him - and he said, "I'm so glad you threw me in the ditch! Because I don't have a cut. And I certainly would be sacrificed instead of you."
So, you know, things happen - and it's up to our viewpoint of how we take them to be. What is it? It is life - and every moment is this pliable thing. What you shape it to be, how you shape it to be, that's what it will be.
You can make it profound. Or you can make it inconsequential. You can make it important. You can make it beautiful. Or you can make it horrible.
And unfortunately, most of these moments, we don't recognize their value - that they can be shaped into anything you want. And you can shape it as you desire; you want this moment to be a moment of angriness? You can shape it into that. You want this moment to be a beautiful moment? You can shape it into that.
Whatever you want. But what is going to dictate what you want? And this is where you need to be conscious. You need to be aware; you need to know. And this is why you hear that "You need to be conscious all the time, as much as you can - so the preciousness of these moments is recognized and they are accepted, not just thrown away, not just discarded."
Because what is this life? It's a chunk of time - but not only is it a chunk of time, but it can be divided up. And it's these days - that accumulate into weeks, that accumulate into months, that accumulate into years! How old are you?
We don't - we certainly don't look at each other and say, "How wise are you?" We don't have a scale for wisdom. "How happy are you?" We don't have a scale for happiness. We don't have a scale for joy. We have a scale for time.
And a lot of people walk around in their life, wondering, wondering, "What's this? How is this going to be; how is that going to be; how is that going to be accomplished; how is that…?" Because they've already got a plan; they've already got a map in their head of "Well, what it's all supposed to be." And what dictates that? "Being normal." Being "normal" dictates that.
People come up - and they say, "Okay, this is what happiness means. By the way, happiness means you have a good job." So now the pandemic has hit; people are losing their job - can't go to their job. So, what job?
Can you be happy - the question is, "Can you be happy in the midst of this pandemic?" Not according to that formula. "That your future somehow is secure." Well, you may have a lot of money in the bank. But that is not going to, anymore, secure your future.
You could - you could catch this coronavirus, and then if you do? You know, maybe you'll be okay; maybe you won't be okay. So, what? So, and that that - obviously, if you look at that formula, there's no way that you can be happy.
But being in the midst of this, I face the same things. At first, I, you know, I wasn't traveling. At first, I was just at home. And every day I was trying, you know, putting out these videos. And then? I took some time off. And that was really nice; it was really, really nice.
And then I started doing the Lockdown series again. Then I went to Europe; I did some events. That was really nice - to be able to see people, to talk to them about, about this life. And, you know, in some way, bring a little bit of happiness, a joy in their lives.
Because, very easy for people to be scared - I mean, who prepared you for this one? You know, who prepared anybody for this one? Nobody!
I mean, this one came like you wouldn't believe it. I mean, all of a sudden, all - and because, the way we have shaped the world to be…. It is entirely possible - it is entirely possible that this coronavirus, if people weren't traveling as much as they were at that time, would have stayed isolated.
But man, people were just going - all of a sudden, people are going to Milano; people are going to America; people are going all over the world, and - "Boom," there you have it. Who figured that that would be a severe consequence of deregulation?
And so, is the happiness impossible? Is peace impossible in the midst of this pandemic? And I have to say that it's very possible to be happy. It's very possible to be in joy. It is very possible to feel and shape those moments into something beautiful, into something good. And be cognizant of the gift that I am being given.
Even in the midst of all this craziness that you've really got to filter out what's real - and what's not real.
You know, I mean, even with this pandemic, even with this coronavirus thing, the amount of misinformation that is there is just unbelievable. People just, you know - it's like somebody was saying nasty things - and then you give them a PA. And they're still saying the nasty things but they're just saying it so much louder.
And this is what technology has done; technology doesn't filter this out. People are saying what they're saying, and so now it is up to every single individual to filter out what is true and what is not true - the consequences of technology; it's up to you!
So, your responsibility has gone way up, way up. Because now, not only you need to shape every moment, to store what is good, to let go of what is bad - but initially, only let in what is good; only let in what is true. Because the bad is going to affect you negatively. And it's not true.
You know, when we get scared, we pay attention. (This is crazy. You'd think you should pay attention when you are not scared - but when people are scared, they pay attention.)
All of a sudden, you know, you - the airplane is on the ground and the flight attendant is trying to make an announcement about the oxygen masks, about the exits, about the life vests, about, you know, all the little things - and people are like, "Yehm-yem-yem-yem, dem-dem-dem-dem," you know, paying attention here, paying attention there, but nobody's paying attention to that.
And once they're in the air and a big "boomf" happens, everybody's like, "H'eah!" This has become our habit - and we need to change it. We need to pay attention - we need to pay attention every single day. Not when everything is going bad - but we need to be aware every single day, of that joy, of that beauty that is within us.
So, anyways, take care of yourselves; stay healthy. And hopefully, I'll talk to you soon.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 20 - Sweet Reality, Nov 18, 2020
"The sweet reality is that I have been given a time to be on the face of this earth. And it's a gift! I don't know how it happened. I certainly didn't push any buttons - but I'm here." - Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat:
Something very fundamentally is always changing. And little by little, this incredible amount of time that you had on this earth is being chiseled away. Now, this is not - I know this is not a pleasant topic to talk about. But it's a realistic topic to talk about.
Because what is the reality? And sometimes when that word "reality" is said, it's very confronting. It's like "What do you mean - what, what reality? This is reality, isn't it?" You exist every day like you're going to live forever, but you're not! So what, what exactly is that all about? So, what is reality, then?
And at first, it may be that, you know, you think about it or you look at it and it's like, very confronting. But then when you start to just settle down, (yes, yeah, you've got to settle down) - and go "Wait a minute. Maybe that reality is very sweet; maybe that reality is very beautiful. Not abrupt and harsh as I take it to be."
But it is a sweet reality that I have been given a time to be on the face of this earth. And it's a gift! I don't know how it happened. I didn't - I certainly didn't push any buttons - but I'm here. One day I will be gone.
And my focus isn't about going. I know there are people who absolutely do not want to concentrate on one second of being alive. They want to concentrate on the departure: "Are we going to end up in heaven, or are we going to end up in hell?"
This amazing earth, we do not consider it to be a heaven. But I have heard no description of heaven, ever, that surpasses what this earth is. So, what have you experienced; what do you feel; what do you see? What is that joy like in your life when you love? What is that joy like in your existence when you feel that contentment?
Yeah, we pursue happiness. But we don't understand the nature of happiness; it keeps changing. What made you happy two weeks ago isn't what's going to make you happy today. But contentment is different. Contentment is all about you being in that place where you feel that tranquility.
Can you afford in your life to slow down enough to feel what this existence is all about? Can you slow down enough in your life to feel what this breath is all about? Can you take your ambitions and focus them on wanting to feel, not happiness, but contentment?
Can you take this energy that you're constantly putting towards the outside, into the world - and take that focus and put it on the inside? And be prepared to feel the simplicity, the simplicity of the entire universe as it permeates everything that is there.
Ask it. Ask the question. And if you do ask that question, you will find out that inside of you, within you is that pot that yearns to be filled. You can call it a pot; you can call it a heart. You can - you can call it "you," for that matter. It's sweet! It's beautiful. And that's the way the kindness of this universe is.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, No. 21 - The Vast Ocean Within, Nov 28, 2020
"There are those things that can change…if they can, they will. And then there are those things that don't change…that won't change." - Prem Rawat
A note regarding a reference in the following video: A character named Ravan, considered to be a demon, battled an Indian prince named Rama, in the ancient, epic poem known as the Ramayana.
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone; Prem Rawat here. So, I have been here in India and doing a lot of interviews, did a couple of events - virtual, of course, and it was very interesting. (And it's always fun to come to India, whatever the circumstances.)
And I would just like to say a few things. And one of them is that, you know, there are a lot of changes that we notice around us. And the world isn't the same place anymore. Maybe you got up in one of the mornings in 2017, 2018 - and even the earlier part of 2019, and the world was a different place.
And all of a sudden, you find yourself in this, caught up in this thing of the pandemic - and so many changes due to that, yeah, restrictions and…. You know, we were all moving in a particular direction, and then all of a sudden, it's just like, "No, that's not going to happen, and no, that's not going to happen, and no, that's not going to happen."
So, it comes down to this. That those things that change, they change because they can. And if they can, they will. And then there are those things that don't change. And those things that don't change, won't change. And the question really becomes, "In what do you invest?"
Being here, being on the face of this earth for as long as you are - here, the whole idea of death kind of floats, hovers in so many places, in so many countries that had made themselves the "idyllic land of milk and honey" and "free of disease" and, you know, so many things. And yet even those have been victimized.
And all of a sudden, it's like, "Well, what is safe?" Those countries in which there was no safety, to them it's like, "Okay, you know?" They don't sit there and think about death - it's, there, this is "situation normal"; this is just how it's always been.
But then, all those places where people have taken so much effort to make sure that everybody is safe, and all of a sudden, you're not. But that is because it is changeable. It did change - because it can change. And it is changeable - and it will change.
But then there is something that doesn't change. And that thing that doesn't change is what is your reality, what you need to invest in, what you need to be a part of, what you need to court in your life - and allow yourself to be filled with that, with that understanding that you want to attach yourself to that which is real.
So, that's definitely one thing that we have to remember. The other thing - and I just had this Hindi broadcast from India. And one thing that I was talking about was, "Is Ravan a person or an infection of society?"
And it can be both. Ravan could have been a person. But it definitely can be looked at as an infection of a society - and an infection of an individual, where all they start to do is try to make things unchangeable for themselves.
This is one of the things Ravan worked on - boon after boon that he wanted, to become the most powerful person. Boon after boon that he would live forever. Boon after boon that he could destroy anything!
And it's a fascinating story. Valmiki wrote it back when. But it is completely - amazingly enough, it's relevant today. What's going on is relevant today. And in those days, it was the innocent people who got killed, who got victimized. And today, after all these years, it is the innocent people who get victimized.
So I guess, things change and change and change and change and change and change and change. And yet the bowl that they are in doesn't change - so they go back to being that shape. And you'd think that, you know, all the advances that humanity has made, (and they have made quite a few), that this would be really a different world.
But you look at that time? And every opportunity that Ravan got…. But you know, but it's like, "Oh, can I have that weapon of yours? Can I have that weapon; can I have that weapon?" And he had numerous weapons. Because again, this burning desire that he had to be the most powerful person.
Ultimately, nothing worked for him. And I guess, in this world of changes, that doesn't change. The result that, at the end of the day it doesn't work, doesn't change.
So, very interesting - but still, you have to invest, you have to court that one thing that is real in your life, not all the other things. They may be distracting. And you might get distracted. There's no harm in getting distracted if you can find your way back. And that's what's important.
Somebody wrote to me this, quite a long letter about "weeds and plants and trees." And it's explaining that "You know, weeds were also plants." Yeah, but when I speak about weeds, I don't mean weeds that grow out of the garden or in grass, or out of the soil. What I mean is in a garden, those things that you do not want to be there. In your life, things that you don't want to be there.
So it's a metaphor. When I say that there is an ocean inside of you, I don't mean that there is an "ocean" inside of you - with sharks and snails and slugs and seaweed and, you know, whales and…. But an ocean is a vast body - say, it's something very beautiful, very vast inside of you. So, that's just, you know, that's metaphors. And just to explain what really is going on.
So, I hope that you stay all well. I will be contacting you soon; I'm going to be traveling again. And then as soon as I can set up again, I will be getting in touch with you soon. Take care of yourselves; stay safe; please stay safe. This thing, yeah, and this thing is something else. And take care of yourselves.
Thank you.
ONE 2 ONE WITH PREM RAWAT, NO. 22, May 7, 2021
Prem Rawat:
Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing well, healthy, safe.
So, a lot's been going on. And I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk to you and update you a little bit. As you may already know by now - if you don't, I am in Barcelona, in Europe - and I got here; I've done an event.
And of course, we made sure that it was very safe. Everybody was seated with a distance of six feet; everybody had masks on. Everybody had been interviewed, the temperature taken. And the event was very good, very successful.
And I, what I wanted to talk to you about is something that I said at that event. And what I - one of the things that I had said was about perfection. So, to just give you a little bit of a background on that.
When I first came to the West, (forty-nine years ago, forty-nine years and a few days ago), a lot of people were really captured by this idea of being perfect - they wanted to be perfect. And they wanted to achieve perfection.
And I would try to explain to them that, you know, "The perfection is inside of you - and you can experience it - but we live in rather an imperfect world." And of course, there, you can take that on many different levels.
One day, even this body is not going to be around. The population of earth isn't going to be around; human beings as we know them won't be around - the earth, as we know it, won't be around. The oceans, the rivers, the mountains, the sun, the moon - nothing. Everything will be destroyed. Everything will begin (as it began from dust), will go back to being dust.
Yeah, don't get overexcited; it's going to take billions and billions of years for that to happen - even though we're very much trying to accelerate that process somehow. But, again, it's going to take billions of years.
So, how, I mean, how can you get close to perfection? Well, there is a way. But you totally have to change your definition of what "perfect" is. And so, if you have a concept of perfection as the infinite - but that's not going to happen. But there is another way to look at it, and that is that you can be perfectly human - perfectly human. This is possible.
Because that is a journey going back, backwards. Because in your ideas, you want to be "perfect this, perfect that. Really good at this, really good at that." But what is it like to be human? So then, yes, you have your flaws; you have things that always need improvement. And once you get to one threshold, then there is the next threshold. If you get to one platform, then there is the next platform.
But what does it mean to be human? So, in very simple terms, it means to experience something. That's the capability that we have; that is the possibility that we have - that we have been given a vessel that can experience, that can think, that can (most incredibly) understand.
Now, there is a problem with our understanding. And what is the problem with our understanding? The problem - the biggest problem with our understanding is that we have already got a format for everything! So, you know, if you are a Hindu, (and you're born into a Hindu family or household, and everybody tells you about God), then you've already got a format of what that is.
And it goes like that with everything. When somebody mentions the word "bread," well, an Indian might think of a phulka - that's the little puffy bread. If you are from the Middle East, maybe somebody says "bread" and you might think of pita.
If you are from another part, you know, somewhere in there, the same area, you might think of rumali roti - which is a roti that's as thin as a handkerchief, (and that's literally, its name). You go to America and you talk about bread, and you might think of a, you know, white Wonder Bread. And you go to France and maybe somebody says "bread" and you think of a loaf - I mean, a baguette.
So, these little concepts, (harmless of course; no problem). But they have defined for you, your understanding. And it is only when you can step out of that format, can you begin to recognize what truly something is and appreciate something for what it is - not what it can do for you or how it relates to you.
And this is extremely important to have in this life. Otherwise, you're closed off. There is an example that is given in India quite often - and what they do is they sometimes have the oxen going around a well, driving this long arm, (that is then driving the gear, and that is helping the water from the well come out and go into the fields).
And what they do is they tie their eyes. They put a blindfold on their eyes. And the oxen, they go round and round and round and round and round.
And the saying goes that when they are - "When they're walking, they're walking for quite a few hours at a time, and they must think that they have gone so far! But when the blindfold is taken out, they find themselves exactly in the same place" - because they've been going around and round and round and round in circles.
So, I try to look at it this way, that we have this idea of, "I see everything in relation to me. This is my this; this is my that. This person is this; this person is that." But do I see the person for who they are, regardless of what my relationship to them is? Can I do that? Can I let go of the format? Can I let go of what is there that has been preconceived?
It's like a cookie-cutter. Everything I look at all day long: "I like this; I like that. I have this; I have that. This person looks nice; this person doesn't look nice." Well, all of these things as it relates to me. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. But then there is the quality that one can have to see something for what it is. Not how it should be, but what it is.
So, you could always look at the moon - "Oh, it should be like this; it should be like this." But to see the moon for what it is. To see that river for what it is. To see this whole nature for what it is - non-judgmental - for what it is. Whether it benefits you or not, that's not the issue. For what it is.
And when you can begin to also see the people in your life for who they are - not in relationship to you, but who they are, then you can - only then and then only can you begin to have true appreciation for them, who they truly are.
And this goes one step more. That when you turn and look at yourself - not the fulfiller of your own expectations - but to see yourself for who you are, this human being on the face of this earth who has the possibility of being fulfilled, who desires peace over turmoil, who wants to be happy, wants to be fulfilled, wants to know, wants to be in that clarity, only then can you begin to appreciate what you have.
Because so far - if you look at yourself just as the fulfiller of your own wishes, then if you happen to fulfill those wishes - and this is what happens every day to people. That if you fulfill the wishes, everything is good; you're on top of the world - then if you don't fulfill your wishes, then you are disappointed with your own self.
But to have the ability to see yourself for who you are. From the time that you were born, and the time that you will go, that time that defines your life (in terms of time, anyways; not accomplishments, but time), to see that as a gift can only happen if you can truly see it for what it is - what it is. What is that time? - the most precious of precious times that you have been given, that you have been granted?
Now, of course, that sounds like somebody, you know, approved it and so on and so forth; that's not what I meant - it's somehow made possible. And how precious that is.
Without attaching all the things to it, "Oh, I didn't accomplish this; I didn't accomplish this; I should have been this; I should have been that; I should have achieved this; I should have achieved that. You know, I only have this much money; I only have that much money. And then if the" - off it goes.
So you have become the fulfiller of your wishes, fulfiller of your ideas of who you should be. And you did not look at yourself or truly who you are, as you are. Then, how can there be any appreciation?
A person who only judges themselves, only looks at themselves through that template that they have created in which "Yeah, you accomplished this; you accomplished this; you accomplished this; you accomplished this" - ah, if you didn't? You're going to have disappointment.
But is that why you have been given this life? What do you suppose is the reason that this breath comes into you - and brings you the gift of life? That you exist? That you can see, that you can think, you can feel?
If you're just going to be a robot and do, all day long, what you do, why do you need to feel? Why do you need to feel good about something; why do you need to feel bad about something? Because if the objective is just to be that robot: "Do, do, do" all day long, without knowing why I am doing it, without thinking why I am doing it - and deriving no joy from it but a tireless day…?
And you're just happy to come home. Yes. And then all of a sudden, this twist happens - where it's, all of a sudden, "Ah, lockdown! You've got to stay at home." And then nobody wants it; nobody wants to be home. "Want to go out"; they want to do this; they want to do that….
Because people are really not taking a look at their life as it is - what has been given, every day that is - something is given; something is made possible. Every day of your life means something. Every moment of your life means something. You're not here just aimlessly.
That those millions and millions and millions of species that came - and little experiments all the way across, and success - so you could be who you are, the two eyes, the nose, the ears, the teeth, the skin, the hair? I mean, who appreciates all that, all that grand orchestration to "what will work and what will not work" that this nature put forth to make sure you could be how you are?
But I know people say, you know, "Family is number one." And every - oh, and I'd, so many times I have seen, it's like, everybody's like…. And I know that as soon as they leave the venue and they're off to, onto their direction, it's like, "And no, I don't have time for my family."
Because again, you're not - you are looking at your family and you look at your family and it's, "And well, do they fulfill my expectations?" Not looking at each one of the members of the family for who they are. But how they relate to you.
And only then, when you can begin to have that vision, that view, to see all that is around you for what it is - for what it is - will you even begin to approach the "perfect human being" who can enjoy, who can appreciate like no one else.
Your appreciation is unique to you - the way you can appreciate, the way you…. And you know, it's not like…. So, so, there - well, how come, all of a sudden there is a song and it's number one - but not everybody likes it. How can that be?
And not everybody likes chocolate. How can that be, right? Not everybody likes vanilla - how can that be? Not everybody likes ice cream; how can that be? But it is.
And of course, that question very much says, "I, I see the whole world relative to me. I like it, so everybody else must like it." But that's not the way it is.
On the contrary - on the contrary, to just look, look around, be. And that's the only way you can have empathy towards others. Not "how they should be in relation to you" - but who they are, what they are - your friends, your family, the nature, all of it. And then you can be in that position to appreciate something - to appreciate that these things exist.
Do we appreciate, every day, the rising of that sun? What if, one day, that sun didn't rise? What would that day be like? It'd be chaos - chaos!
I mean, you know, of course, there are times when, six months, the sun doesn't shine up in the North, in the winter - and then, the winter in the South, it doesn't shine. But that was it; I mean it - but around the equator, it's pretty much every day it shines.
But what if one day it disappeared? It would be chaos; it would be fiasco, that everything would be so cold; everything would be so dark….
And people say, "Oh, yeah, I" - but then, that's a joke, right? "The moon will still be there." And well, no, no, no, the light from the moon that you see actually comes from the sun.
It's like that joke, you know; somebody said, "Well, which one is more important, the sun or the moon?" And the people decided that the moon was more important, "Because what is the point of the sun coming out during the day? There's so much light. But at least, the moon shines at night when the light is needed."
But that just shows that they don't know that the light that the moon reflects is the light of the sun. It would be a chaos; it would be a disaster.
And, you know, do we appreciate? Then we would! Then we would, when it's like, "Oh my God, what happened to the sun? What happened to the sun? What happened to the sun" - and I can just see social media would be going, "What happened to the sun; what happened to the sun?"
But right now we're just too busy - "But that's wrong. And that's wrong; that's wrong." Everybody's nice and judgmental about everything. No empathy…. And not appreciating something for what it is.
This is a complex world that we live in. Everybody has their debates: "Wrong! Right! Right, wrong." And we, "No, no, you're wrong because it should be like this. That, no, you're wrong because it should be like this."
Make a better world for yourself, of course! In which everybody is included, everybody is treated well. But that can only happen when you can have an appreciation for who they are - not in relation to you, but who they are; they're another human being.
This is nature. It needs to be looked after. Trees do a lot of things. In fact, I once watched this documentary and I was shocked, how intelligent the trees are. But one thing they don't do is walk, go for a walk. I can.
Should I see that tree as inferior to me because it cannot walk, because I can? Or can I see that tree for what it is? And it is a superb, superb example of something that went through the different experiments and emerged victorious; it's there.
That grass that you see that doesn't mean anything to you, went through so much experimenting - and emerged as victorious. That bird went through so much evolution to get to that stage - and emerged victorious. Every wave of the ocean, traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling, reaching the shore. You see it - it's done. It did what it was supposed to do.
How important is that perfection, that viewpoint, that way to be able to see something? Incredibly important. Incredibly important. It makes such a difference for all of us - for you, me, all of us on the face of this earth.
So, anyways, I hope that you stay safe, take care of yourself. Again, remember, "Don't give it; don't get it." Simple things: wash your hands; maintain your distance - your mask.
And you know, we have seen that those people that we always looked forward to, "will solve our problems," are incapable of solving our problems. Some countries have done really well; some countries can't get their act together.
Again, I look at those countries, and those little countries that have done really well, it's not like they're superpowers. They were never called "superpowers." But in relation to this coronavirus thing, they are superpowers because they've done really well. And what, in my opinion, is the "really well" is, least amount of deaths. And one death is too many.
They were really able to help each other. As human beings, they came together and helped each other so innocent people did not have to die. Keep that in mind. Keep that in mind.
Enjoy yourself; be healthy; be well. I'll see you soon. Thank you.