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SABC RBF
Umhlobo Wenene FM Radio
Johannesburg, South Africa
Zizo and KCi Interview Prem Rawat
Zizo Beda:
I’d like to know, when you go around and you teach the principles of having peace, do you think it’s important that the leaders of nations buy into the idea, so that it can filter through to the people? Or you speak more to individuals?
Prem Rawat:
Well, let me just clarify one thing. [Zizo: Right.] I don’t teach and I don’t preach. [Zizo: Okay.] And that’s absolutely out of the question for me. [Zizo: Right.]
All I want to do, at most, is to say things to people that will cause them, that will evoke something in them to start thinking for themselves. [Zizo: Right.] To start understanding, “Yes, peace has always been inside of me. If I don’t feel that peace, it is because of the obstacles that I have created—not somebody else has created, [Zizo and KCi: Yeah.] I have created for myself.”
You know, distraction—you have to be attracted to a distraction. [Zizo: Ummm, umm.] Because the distraction might be doing something—but then you get attracted to that distraction. And that attraction takes you away from where you want to be attracted to. [Zizo: Umm-hmm.]
To be fundamentally sound, a building is built on a foundation. [Zizo: Right.] You don’t see the foundation; nobody decorates a foundation, because it’s buried. But the integral structure of that building—actually, the integrity of that building depends not on what you actually see—but what is that, what is [Zizo: Hidden.] the foundation.
So, what is the foundation of a human being? You know, do you want to be happy? I don’t see anybody going to any church, any temple, any God and saying, “God, I’ve had too much fun; I’m too happy. Please do something to reduce this happiness.” When we get sad, [Zizo: Right.] we do do that—we say, “This is too much sadness; I want to get rid of sadness.”
What does that tell you? That tells you that we like to be content, that we like to be happy, that we like to be in peace. We like to be in joy; we like to be in clarity. [Zizo: Right.] And we don’t like confusion. We don’t like anger; we don’t like fear; we don’t like these things. But they’re both in us, absolutely. I mean, if I may, I can tell you a little story, if that’s okay.
Zizo Beda:
Sure, yeah.
Prem Rawat:
Once upon a time, there was a settlement, and in this settlement a lot of people were living, and there was a chief. [KCi: Umm-hmm.] And one day the chief was approached by a young kid—and he said, “Chief, I have a question. I’m confused; I have a question.” And the chief said, “What?”
He says, “Well, sometimes I see that people are good. And sometimes I see the same people who are good, they are bad. [KCi: Umm!] How can this be? I mean, either the person is good—or the person is bad. [KCi: Bad, umm-hmm.] But this is, no, well, sometimes people are good—and then, sometimes they’re bad.”
And the chief said, “That’s because there are two wolves in us, a good wolf and a bad wolf. And they’re fighting each other.” [KCi: Ummm!] So the boy thinks about it—and said, “Why do they fight?” So the chief says, “So they can have control over you; they can have supremacy over you.”
So the boy thinks about it and he says, “So, chief, tell me—which wolf is going to win?” [Zizo: Umm-hmm?] And the chief said, “The one you feed.” [Zizo: Ummm, umm.] So, we feed the bad wolf...? [KCi: Wow.] [Zizo: All the time....] The bad wolf will get strong.
And a lot of people think, “We should beat the bad wolf.” Beating the bad wolf is not going to help the good wolf. The good wolf has to be fed. Doing things to the bad wolf is not going to help anything. [Zizo: Yeah.]
And sometimes we just get caught up and it’s like, “If we could just remove the darkness from the room, there will be light, right?” [KCi: I know.] No, you know, you cannot take a bucket and try to remove the darkness—[KCi: Umm.] and then hope that there’ll be light. No, bring in the light, and the darkness will automatically go away.
Zizo Beda:
Vanish, yes.
KCi: [male]
So, how do I get there? Somehow, obviously, there’ll be sacrifices along the way...?
Prem Rawat:
No, no sacrifices. [KCi: Umm-hmm.] Because you already have it. [KCi: Okay.]
See, there is a huge difference in trying to create peace in your life, [KCi: Umm, so?] and trying to discover peace in your life. [KCi: Okay.] And I’m talking about discovery, not creation. [KCi: Umm-hmm.] Anything that we have to create, that means that it’s not in us already. [Zizo: Umm.] But peace is in us already.
Zizo Beda:
Wow, this is deep. Wow.
KCi:
It’s more like finding, yes, and something that is already there.
Prem Rawat:
Exactly; it’s discovery. [KCi: Okay, wow.] It is discovery, not creation.
Onscreen text:
The Happiness Factor
Prem Rawat speaking to an audience of children in Sebokeng, South Africa
Prem Rawat:
I want to present to you a very simple idea—and it’s not an idea; it’s a fact. And the fact is, “From thought comes action.” When the thought is good, the action is good. When the thought is confused, the action is confused. When the thought is bad, the action is bad.
Now, bad action will not only hurt people around you, but also hurt you. That is why it is so important to have thought that is good, that is clear, that is simple, that is beautiful—so the action that is born from the thought is also beautiful, also simple, also profound.
So, what do you need to be happy? One, you need hope. Every day that you wake up in the morning, you should be excited about being alive. Are you? [Audience: Yes, yes.] Really? [Audience: Yes!] Are you sure? [Audience: Yes!] Now, really? [Individuals: Yes.] Really? [Audience: Yes!]
You are never disappointed? [Individuals: No. Yes! No. No.] Hah-hah-hah.... [Individual: That’s the problem.] That’s the problem. We are saying “yes”—(remember what I just talked about, “First, thought, then action”?) You are saying “yes,” but you’re not thinking. [Individuals: That’s right.] Because most people are buried with responsibility.
When you haven’t done your homework, do you look forward to going to school? [Individuals: No. No.] And don’t you have to wake up before you go to school? [Individual: You’re right; we do.] And so that day that you have to go to school and you haven’t done your homework, you are looking forward to going to school? [Individuals: No!]
So, how can you be hopeful? How can you be happy? You’re not. It’s like, “Eeeh-eeh-eeh, no....”
When we grow up, we don’t have homework; we have responsibilities. And when we remind ourselves of those responsibilities, we too start to lose hope.
Because we are fighting those responsibilities, fighting those responsibilities, fighting those responsibilities and they never stop—something new comes up; something new comes up; something different comes up, and it bashes us, and it beats us, and we too don’t want to get up. And so, there goes our hope.
But hope is important! Hope is important. Because without the hope, the person cannot thrive, cannot shine, cannot be happy.
We have to feel like we belong. The youth of this country and of the whole world is losing hope—they don’t feel like they belong. And when they don’t feel like they belong, sadness, fear, anger, disappointment, take the place of hope.
It isn’t just prosperity—it isn’t just fulfillment of our ideas that should bring us hope. But the reality, the reality of being alive, that is what should bring us hope. The reality of having peace in us, that should bring us hope. The courage that resides in our heart should bring us hope and understanding, every single day.
So, you need hope—and you need gratitude to be happy. [Individual: We have that.] What kind of gratitude?
Parents teach their children to say, “Thank you.” Somebody gives them something—they say, “Say ‘thank you.’” Is that right? [Audience: Yes.] And sometimes when you see a little child say “Thank you,” the child will go, “Thank-you!” You see, they are being taught manners, not the feeling of gratitude.
What is gratitude? Gratitude is when somebody does something nice for you—when somebody does something nice for you—and you feel good. And you take a little bit of that “good” that you feel, and you give it back to the person who gave you that which made you feel good; that is gratitude. That is true gratitude.
So, we teach manners, and there is nothing wrong in manners; we need to learn manners—but we need to understand what really, that “thank you” means.
And so, the heart full of gratitude, of understanding, of hope, this is what takes us closer to being happy in our lives. What else do we need to be happy? We need to know ourselves. If we don’t know who we are, how will we know what is our need? How will we know what makes us happy?
This, this is what I have come to tell you. You live with your problems every single day. [Individual: You’re right about that, yeah.] You grow up with your problems—and when you grow up, you begin to believe you too are a problem. [Individuals: You’re right about that!] But you are not a problem. You may have problems, but you are not a problem.
You are a human being, the gift of all the possible gifts—amazing gift that you receive, the gift of being alive every day. This is who you are, not your problems, not your ideas, not your disappointments. But you are a gift. And the peace that you seek is not on some mountain. But the peace that you seek is already in you, already in you.
People say—people say, “If peace is in me, how come I don’t know? If peace is in me, how come I don’t know?”
So, I ask you, do I have a handkerchief or not? [Individual: We don’t really know.] I’m asking you a simple question. I do. Do you see it? [Individuals: No, we don’t.] So, how do you know? Are you guessing? [Individual: That’s what we have to do about it.]
Watch—watch. You’re thinking now, right? “Does he have a handkerchief; doesn’t he have a handkerchief? Where is the handkerchief? What color is the handkerchief?” Right? Thinking?
Thinking-thinking, thinking-thinking, thinking-thinking, thinking, right? And you can think all night long. And you can think all day tomorrow. And you can think, and think, and think, and think, and think and you will never know.
You want to know the power of knowing? You want to see the power of knowing? Yes or no? [Audience: Yes!] This is knowing. Now you know. [Audience: Yes.] It’s white—and it’s in this pocket, right here! And, yes, I have a handkerchief. And now are you still thinking? [Audience: No.] Finished! That’s knowing.
So, everybody—“And what is peace? Where is peace? How come I don’t know?” Because you haven’t felt peace. You have to feel peace—just like this! Not think about peace. The world thinks about peace; that’s why they’ll never have peace. Because peace is not about thinking. Peace is about seeing, knowing, feeling! That’s what peace is.
So, why don’t you know? Because it is hidden. Why is it hidden? Who is hiding it? Your ignorance, your ideas—your ideas are hiding it.
Remove that, and be the human that knows. Feel, understand yourself—and you will feel peace within you. So, that is what it takes to be truly happy, to have hope, to have gratitude, to know yourself—and to not be reliant on others. To stand on your own feet.
