An Excerpt -
Question from a student:
Could you just define peace? What is peace? Could you give a simple definition of peace, so that we know what peace actually is?
Prem:
Certainly. I’d love to.
Can you define mango? Mango. What is mango?
Student:
It’s kind of fruit, and it has liquid in it, and…It has a lot of sugar in it. And it tastes good.
Prem:
Ok, I can define…if that’s your definition of mango, then I can define peace very easily. It’s very nice. It feels really good. You see, there are some things that need to be felt, need to be understood what they are, by you, by me—not just talking about it.
The problem right now also is people are talking about peace, but not feeling it. You can go anywhere in the world— Peace? Peace, peace, peace (gestures the peace symbol with 2 fingers). The upside-down Mercedes sign, you know Peace, peace peace.
Oh my God, there are people who every morning they start off… “and peace.” And they end with “peace”. Peace… peace. But that’s not going to make peace. There are fundamental things that need to be in place. And one of them is a simple understanding of your own self.
If you do not recognize the thirst for peace in you, a hundred definitions, what difference does it make? How many restaurants can you pass by when you’re not hungry? They don’t mean a thing! When you’re hungry, “Ah, let's pull over there. Lets’ pull over there.” Even the smell of food sounds good. And you know, they do that on purpose. They take that and disperse it so that you could smell it and if you’re hungry, it’s like, “Yes! I need that.”
I am a realist about peace. I’m a realist. I’m not here to just throw another definition. “Peace is a state when you become a vegetable.” This is what most people define it as. “You have no more desires, you sit on top of a mountain with your eyes closed.” And a lot of people think you’re a vegetable at that point.
No. Know. Peace is within you. Right now, right now, right now peace is within you. Did you know that? Right now it’s within you. Right now it’s within you. So you tell me what the definition of peace is. It’s within you right now. All of you. All of you have peace in you.
So why don’t you define it for me? Feel it and you will realize that there are no words adequate for that description. Peace is when this heart is filled with the gratitude for what you have been given, without wanting more. Gratitude. Peace is about being in the presence of life. Peace is: understand simplicity in the simplest most profoundly possible way. Peace is when you understand the value of this blessing called the breath that you have been given. Peace is when there is a profound thirst and an understanding of how to quench it. Peace is to admire that one beautiful lifetime every single day. Peace is to be the most human that you can be. Peace is to feel the joy of being alive.
So I haven’t defined it, but I’ve told you what I feel peace is. It’s a smile, it’s a tear, it’s a feeling. And when you know it, there is no mistaking it—none whatsoever.
- Prem Rawat
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