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If you have a little box, when you go to the jeweler and you buy a ring—right? It comes in a little box. If you have been to a jeweler, you will see that he has many boxes like that—many. Drawers and drawers full of boxes like that. And they’re all empty. And then when you buy your ring, he puts that ring in that box. Right? He closes it and gives it to you.

Before there was a ring in the box, the value of the box was menial—menial! In fact, if you carried that box in your pocket, empty, and somebody robbed you, stole the box, you would laugh! “Ha-ha-ha!” Right? Because you know it’s worthless! Right? But, as soon as the ring is placed in the box, the value of the box becomes the same as the ring.

Now you don’t want to lose the box—“Oh, ooh, yes, yeah! Safe!” This is the box. What is the value of this box? Nothing, nothing! Nothing. You know that, right? Because, without this miracle happening of life, what is your value? Nothing. Nothing! Burn it, bury it, throw it in the ocean—who cares? Nobody cares.

They put you in a box; they put you in a box, put the box in the ground, cover you up, and then walk away! For a party! And go home; some appetizers, some drinks.... And nobody comes and asks you, “You want something? We’re having your funeral. Are you hungry?” No....

That breath keeps coming in you: you are alive; keeps coming in you: you are alive. And one day that breath goes away, and you’re gone.

And what is this thing called life? What is this thing that keeps you alive? Have you ever thought of it? The same thing that has created the universe and universes. You cannot even begin to fathom what that Divine is—but that Divine is what keeps everything going including you.

So, how much is this worth? As much as what’s within it. What is within it? The infinite is within it. This is the drop that has what in it? The ocean. The laws of physics are broken. Something big can hold something small; something small cannot hold something bigger than it. But here it does. In the confines of this is the ocean of hope, because of that beauty that resides in your heart!

So, people say, “What is a heart? Where is it!? Where is it?” So, the place where courage in you resides is called the heart. The courage. The place where clarity in you resides is called the heart. The place where hope in you resides is called the heart, and the place where the Divine in you resides is called the heart. That’s your heart.

- Prem Rawat

We’re going to be talking about seeds. One thing to understand: you work every day. At first, you worked on playing. For this, you needed toys. Hopefully your parents got you toys; maybe you had more toys than you wanted, that you could have a better time with, but at first you wanted to play.

Then you started going to school, and you invested in your education. Your parents invested, but you did too; you had to go every day, carry your homework, do all the things. So you invested in your education.

After that, you came out and you invested in getting a job. And now you invest, every day, in your financial welfare by having a job—by having a job, by taking care of that investment. You come home; you bring the money; you try to invest that—whatever! But you are, one way or the other way, invested.

And your life is how it is. But you know that you need that job to keep that money going. So you invest every day: get up in the morning, go to your job, take care of it, try to do as well as you can, so on and so forth.

So the issue here is that you know you have to invest—in your job, in your friends—well, same thing with your friends,the time you spend on your phone answering all your friends. Your investment—it’s your investment, whether it is energy you invest, whether it is time that you invest, time and energy that you invest—you invest!

Oh, yeah, by the way, we are here to talk about peace. We are here to talk about the possibility of this desert blooming. Aren’t we? How invested are you in peace? You want peace, no? How invested are you? What investment do you make? Every day?

You want clarity in your life? How invested are you in clarity? You want joy in your life? How invested are you in joy? You want understanding in your life. How invested are you in understanding in your life? You want to know yourself. Well, how have you invested into knowing yourself?

How do you invest? What have you done to bring a little peace in your life, bring a little joy, a true joy?

Not that that kind of joy where you go with your friends for a few minutes—and you have your, you know, wine and beer—and whatever they show; they have advertisements of this. And then they have their beer, saying, “It doesn’t get any better than that,” and then everybody wakes up with a hangover.

Not that kind of joy; I’m talking about a joy that emanates from your heart, as a human being—as a human being—where you get to a point in your life where you just start enjoying life, not what’s happening in your life.

You see the difference between the two? Where you actually just start enjoying life itself—the coming and going of this breath, you being on this earth, you being alive, you being able to see, you being able to feel—not what you feel, but enjoying feeling; not loving somebody, but enjoying the love; not enjoying listening to a record, but enjoy listening. Enjoy listening….

I’m not talking about enjoying a particular thing. I’m talking about enjoying being alive.

- Prem Rawat

You have a mind ... and you have a heart. You’re balanced! You’re balanced. If you learn how to use both of them equally ... not only will you be in peace, but you will prosper ... in this world.

Most people only know how to use one. The heart, they don’t understand. I say “the heart” ... and people go, “What is a heart? What are you talking about?” I’ll tell you what a heart is.

Heart ... is the place ... where the human courage resides. Heart is the home of your clarity. Heart ... is the place where the Divine in you belongs and exists. Heart is the place from where you seek the truest gratitude of your existence. Heart is the place where the love, because of reasons—no reason, that love resides.

Heart is the place ... where, in you, the thirst to be fulfilled ... is. That place ... that contains all this that is good ... is called “the heart.” That’s what a heart is. The courage ... the courage ... to seek clarity in the midst of confusion. When every thing is going wrong ... the courage ... to say, “No. No. I want ... clarity. I want ... to be fulfilled.”

Have you ... experienced this courage? Have you felt this courage? Have you understood this courage? Because ... this is your power! It’s your power! It’s your power ... to thrive in this world ... to thrive! To shine! To be! Not the stupid little road maps ... that you have created.

“Oh, yes, please-please-please-please, give me a promotion.” You want a promotion? Work hard for a promotion.
You have something to say to the Divine? Then make it real. And what is it? Only one thing: “Thank you.”

I’m so glad that I’m here, at least, and have this opportunity to talk about something that’s very profound, very misinterpreted, but nonetheless very profound. And of course I’m talking about gratitude.

Now, why is it misinterpreted? Because people say to themselves, “Oh, I should feel more thankful in my life.” But you don’t! That’s the fact. Should you? Yes.

That’s like, you know, making a New Year’s resolution, but you don’t go through with it. Because what will you do the next year? You need to keep that one going, so you can say, “Oh, yeah, yeah, this year I’ll do it; this year I’ll do it.” And this is how we work.

But true gratitude is not manufactured. It’s real! It comes from within you—when the things are right—not when they are wrong, when things are right. So what are the things that have to be right for the truest gratitude to flow from a human being? One of the things that has to happen is, there has to be appreciation. But appreciation of what?

People say—and I’m not saying that this is wrong by any stretch of the imagination: “You should be thankful for your family.” You should be. But you’re only thankful to your family if they’re doing what you tell them to do.

If the situation reverses and the family is telling you to do things that you don’t want to do, you’re not going to be thankful. And, but, you know, okay, this is just how it is. Not right, not wrong, not good, not bad—but just this is how it is.

Your dog is happy to see you; he’s wagging his tail. He’s hoping you will give some attention, maybe a nice little snack perhaps. And when the dog realizes none of that’s going to happen, and you’re going to be busy doing your thing, the dog finds a place and sits down and it’s like, “And, okay.” All that “hah-ah-hah-ah-hah!” goes away.

So, interestingly enough, a few days ago, it was at nighttime, and I was up. And what had come to my mind that night was “Someone loves you”—just that. “Someone loves you.” Now of course, who is this someone?

Because we are very caught up in our names; we are very caught up in our nomenclature, how we address each other, how people address you, so on and so forth. I mean, it’s like, if somebody says—so, if your name is John and somebody says, “Hey Tom!”—you’ll go, “And no! I, it’s, I’m not Tom; I’m John!” What difference does it make?

Because if there is somebody called “Tom,” they’re made out of the same thing as you are—exactly! Maybe you look a little different, but that’s just rearranged molecules.

So, it’s not—the importance isn’t who that “someone” is. So it’s like, pointless to even, even try to figure out who that “someone” is, because you don’t have the capacity to figure out. You can have an imagination, but your imagination will fall short of the reality of who that “someone” is. So, knowing that it’s a futile attempt, I don’t even go there.

Ha! But ‘loves you!’ That’s good! And how do I know this? I know this because this gift of breath comes to me. I have been given an opportunity to be alive.

But when we come across our problem, we are so intrigued by that problem, and so willing to find a resolution to that problem that we blind ourselves to still what is going on around us.

That this breath still comes into me. That I still have an ocean of answers in me. That I have an ocean of clarity in me, that I have an ocean of kindness in me, that I have an ocean of joy in me. That I have simplicity in my life. That I have light in me. These things—regardless of what is happening.

- Prem Rawat

We don’t pay attention to what needs attention. We don’t pay attention to the need of the heart. Because the inspiration to be in peace comes when you listen to your heart. The inspiration to be content comes from your being. The inspiration to be clear comes from here—and you need to listen; you need to hear.

We don’t hear ourselves. We don’t hear the needs that we have. We don’t hear the want, the wish of this heart to be content—simple—to have simplicity in this life, to have joy, to feel the gratitude every single day—to be inspired by the magic of all magics, by the miracle of all miracles, the coming and going of this breath.

You are alive! Best news! If—if you are incapable of hearing this news, and it sounds to you like a foreign language, then I suggest you learn that language. And it is called “the language of the heart.” That’s what I teach. That’s what I go and present to people so that they can learn the language of the heart.

- Prem Rawat

Five Seconds of Heaven.
Just five seconds. If you have children at home, try to make five seconds of heaven for them. Just five seconds. Start with five.

You have a husband? Five seconds of heaven.
You have a wife? Five seconds of heaven.

What would make five seconds of heaven for a husband?
This is what’s amazing. Oh, it’s not a big breakfast. Listen. Five seconds.

What would make five seconds of heaven for your wife?
What about your children? Surely, give them toys. Right? No. Listen.

And the day you want to make five seconds of heaven for yourself, listen to your heart and you will have that five seconds of heaven.

To be fulfilled. To be in real joy, to have savored, to have known the divine because it was so close to you. To you.

- Prem Rawat