In order to appreciate the inner garden, knowing the self is the first step.
Venetia Stanley-Smith was born into aristocracy in the United Kingdom. Now she lives in an old farmhouse in Ohara village near Kyoto, where she tends her award-winning herb garden.
At the age of 19 Venetia travelled across Europe and Asia in search of a deeper meaning to her life. It was on this trip that she first met the renowned speaker Prem Rawat. For over 50 years Prem has been traveling the world and sharing his simple message ‘The peace and happiness you are looking for is already within you. You only need to slow down and connect with it, to connect within yourself.’
Prem visited Venetia’s garden, and they shared insights on what it means to live a beautiful life and experience true abundance.
Venetia Stanley-Smith in conversation with her lifelong friend and teacher Prem Rawat.
The abundance of life
-When the flowers of life bloom in the heart-
“In order to appreciate the inner garden, knowing the self is the first step.”
- Prem Rawat
Venetia: Prem, you often liken the heart to a garden. I’d like to hear more about the similarities between a garden and the human heart.
Prem: A garden is a very interesting place. Like your garden here, it wasn’t pre-determined what would grow here.
If you don’t do anything, weeds will grow; if you look after it, beautiful flowers will grow.
Thorns could grow or herbs could grow. The garden holds the potential for both.
Venetia: This example of the garden can also be applied to the heart or what you might call the inner garden?
Prem: Absolutely. The starting point is to understand how your own inner garden looks right now. In other words, to know the self. From that foundation of knowing the self, next you need to realize that just like the external garden, what will flourish in the garden of the heart is not pre-determined. It is an open book.
Understand that you have been given a gift of time to be alive, that you have a heart and it needs to be cared for. Then you can start to make your inner garden beautiful.
With self-awareness, understanding the potential that the garden of the heart holds, you will be able to sow the seeds that will benefit you the most. Then you will have a garden you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
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