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The Timeless Breath
Brighton, UK
Prem Rawat:
So, I’m here to talk to you, and today’s topic, a very interesting topic, “the timeless breath.” So, the question then becomes, is, “Like, well, does that make any sense? Is breath really timeless?”
To understand this, we have to back up—and to understand this, we have to understand, “What does breath represent to us? What does it mean?”
Breath comes into you—and you’re alive—you! And so what I want to say here is that, “Breath really represents not just exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, but it actually represents life, existence.” Now, most people cannot separate what happens in their life and existence. And maybe for a very small period of time, they get to understand it.
But it’s always quite unfortunate, because you may be lying in a hospital bed counting your last—you realized you can’t do anything—and it looks fairly imminent you’re going to go.... So now, finally, you get to separate all the things that are happening in your life, and with simply, this thing called “existence.”
And the more you understand the power of this existence, the more you will be able to shape everything around it—that that is the nucleus. Not the things that are happening around you, because those will constantly be changing; that is their nature.
What you like today, you may not like tomorrow—and that is the nature of desire. If desire does not change, it’s pointless. But it constantly changes. You buy a new TV—by the time you bring it home, plug it in, turn it on, it’s advertising a new TV—and you will desire that.
As Marcus Aurelius said, “The universe is about change; life is about understanding.”
“The most noble pleasure—the most noble pleasure is the joy of understanding”—Leonardo da Vinci. And when we can understand us.... When we can understand: “What is this breath?”
The whole universe, the existence has made it possible for you to exist. And this is more or less an exception. It’s not like, you know, every 200 light-years, there’s another system and another bunch of people or.... No, it goes on and on and on and there’s nobody around that they have found. They’ve been looking for a really, really—I mean, really long time.
This is an exception—not the rule out there. That you exist, that you are alive, that you breathe, that you think—and that you have in you the possibility of being fulfilled, what does that mean?
Do you know what is the biggest block to understanding? The biggest hurdle to understanding is the preconceived picture of satisfaction, clarity, understanding, that you carry in your head.
And so far in this life, we don’t take responsibility for “How do I feel...?” How do I feel? Right now, how do I feel? Today, how do I feel? Do I feel appreciation in my life or not—what, what in the world ever happened to a thing called “appreciation”? Pbbt, gone.
And without appreciation, there can be no gratitude. And what will take place when there is no appreciation—greed, because appreciation is the only antidote to greed. People who are greedy—that’s one thing they cannot do, is appreciate. If they start appreciating they wouldn’t be greedy.
Oh, are you familiar with the human nature? When you appreciate something, something you do, it’s really peculiar—if you’re listening to a song that you like on the radio of your car, what do you do? Turn it up. You want to share! You want to show; you want to share.
Have you gotten in touch with that part of you that wants to appreciate; have you gotten in touch with that part of you that wants to enjoy clarity in life? Have you gotten in touch with that part of you?
Have you gotten in—listen to what I’m saying—have you gotten in touch with that part of you that likes peace? Have you gotten in touch with that part of you that wants to be content? Have you gotten in touch with that part of you that deeply respects knowledge? Have you gotten in touch with that part of you that wants to express the sincerest kindness?
Have you gotten in touch with the part of you that wants to celebrate this existence? Have you gotten in touch with the part of you that wants to feel that gratitude? Have you gotten in touch with the part of you that holds these as the highest achievement of your existence?
How many human beings do you think there have been on this earth before you—and here you are. You are. What makes you different? What? Your kidneys? Your pancreas? Your knees, your ankles? What makes you different?
It’s one thing that makes you different—your understanding: “What do you understand?” That’s the only thing.
This breath is the manifestation of life for you. That power that ripples through the whole universe, comes through you in the form of breath—and it makes it possible for you to be. To be—so that you can understand.
And only then and then alone, does this breath become timeless—because your understanding, your understanding is timeless. That you have understood that this “being here” is not simply about the passage of time.
But you have reached out of this and dare to touch the timeless. The finite, (which you are), has dared to reach for the infinite. And that’s when this breath becomes timeless. That’s when this existence becomes timeless.
Embrace the one in your heart! Not in your mind—embrace the one in your heart.
You can have a modern iPhone; you can have a modern Android phone—but what you write in the SMS section or the email section or on your Twitter or on your Facebook can still come from kindness and humility. There’s not a conflict.
That in this world of paradoxes you can still have joy—but you will have to find that joy, not out there, but the joy in you; that’s it. Are you looking for kindness from the others—then look for the kindness in yourself. And if you don’t find the kindness in yourself, don’t even try looking at “in the others.”
Your potential is the potential of understanding. Understand. Understand that timeless; understand this life; understand the joy; understand this divinity that dances inside of you. Understand what it is to be human; understand what it is to be alive. Understand what it is to be in clarity; understand what it is to be swimming in the ocean of answers.
Understand—and every day, awaken to the possibility of your heart being full. That is when you begin to understand the timeless breath.
