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Your Peace
Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Prem Rawat:
People talk about world peace; people look at me like, “Okay, tell us about world peace, and fix all the problems.” And I’m like, “No, I can’t fix any problems—because the way it works is, at first, you find your peace. First, you find your peace—and then, make peace with the world—and then you will have world peace.”
And whether or not there is world peace, at least you need to make peace with yourself. Because that’s the fundamental step.
So, before you can even begin to tackle the job of making peace with yourself, the question is, “Who are you? What are you?” What are we all about? What are our fundamental basics? And one thing that we all share in common—that we all want to be content. We want to be happy; we want to feel good.
It doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s this state of being in which we find ourselves to be us, and we are happy with it. It isn’t built upon ideas and theories and philosophies and all of this stuff—but just that you feel good. You feel good! Because you feel good and you feel good from the inside, not psychologically.
That you indeed have a strength—and, talk about emotion.... When do we become emotionally strong? We can only become emotionally strong when we’re strong within ourselves.
Otherwise, emotions eat us apart: “Does my friend like me; does my dad like me; does my mom like me?” And then we just run the game of seeking approval—approval from this world, approval from our friends, approval from our parents, approval, approval, approval, approval, approval—and in this process of finding approval we uproot ourselves.
And then? We’re lost. Having everything, and we’re lost. The goodness that resides in us becomes dormant.
It’s very simple. If you take a field—if you take a field and leave it be, don’t do anything to it, what do you suppose is going to happen? Things will grow—but what will grow is weeds. And maybe somebody, seeing that there are weeds growing; nobody is using the land, they will start to throw trash in there too. And the situation of the land will deteriorate.
However, even going through this whole process of being dumped on, weeds growing, has that land ever lost its potential for growing beautiful flowers, pure beautiful vegetables, or a beautiful crop? No, that potential is still there—and how does the potential return? The potential returns as soon as somebody starts to take care of it, take out the weeds.
People don’t want to know themselves. People don’t want to understand who they are. And when I say “who you are,” it’s not about your personality. It’s not about your likes and dislikes. It’s not about your ideas—it’s not even about your dreams.
You see, because your dreams are going to change. Your dreams are going to change! Your ideas are going to change; your circumstances are going to change—but who truly you are, you are not going to change.
Your body is going to change. The way you look at your body is going to change. Your stamina is going to change. Your friends are going to change. What you think is hip is going to change—your fashion is going to change. But who you truly are is not going to change.
So I say to you, that “Who are you?” Fifty percent bad. (Sorry.) Exactly fifty percent—not forty-nine/fifty-one—exactly fifty percent, you’re really bad. That’s the bad news. The good news is, fifty percent? Good. Very good. Amazingly good, incredibly good.
What do you think of that? “Fifty percent bad; fifty percent good.” Because the fear is in you, and that’s the bad—and courage is in you; that’s the good. Confusion is in you, and that is the bad, and clarity is in you, and that is the good. War is in you; that is the bad, and peace is in you; that is the good.
In you. Your fear comes wherever you go. Your disappointment comes wherever you go—it’s just always there. You book one seat on the airplane? They’re all over you.
But—knowing yourself is understanding not only the bad, but understanding the good. Because most people, when they would talk to me sometimes, they say, “You know, I get angry very easily.” They have understood their bad—but they have not understood their good.
Because I have to point out to them that “If you can get angry, that means you have something else too—and that is, forgiveness, joy, is also there.” When I say, “Know yourself,” that’s exactly what I mean—you know your bad; you haven’t felt your good yet—but it’s there.
I want you to understand that it is there. And you can get in touch with it. You don’t need to get in touch with your bad—because you are very familiar with it, right? But are you familiar with the good?
Whenever a circumstance needs it, you can summon the bad just like this, right? How long does it take you to get disappointed? Just like that!
Let me tell you something. In this life, understanding and knowing that the good is in you—and not accepting the failure.... This is the core; this is the foundation of emotional strength, physical strength, mental strength. Clarity—that’s what clarity is: “The good in you and the bad in you, both are there wherever you go.”
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, has to be in life, to perpetuate the good, the kindness, the generosity. The clarity.
Generosity isn’t giving money out to people. Generosity existed before money was invented. Generosity begins with being generous with the kindness that you have. Kindness. Understanding that every human being on the face of this earth is just like you—nobody is better and nobody is worse.
There is a possibility here in this life—and this is the real possibility. And the possibility is—like against all odds, you learnt how to walk, failed, but never accepted a failure....
It’s up to you. That’s my suggestion. That’s what living this life without accepting the failures is about—to consciously make a choice. To understand that the possibility of peace is here with you—always has been, always will be—that the peace is inside of you, even as you walk this world.
Whatever you do and wherever you go and whatever happens and how dire the circumstances are, the peace is still inside of you.
