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In our lives, we look at the outside spectrum because this is what we’re told: "Look at that; be successful!" What is "successful"? "Well, when you have a big bank account." How big should that bank account be?

Every year it has to grow. The cost of living keeps going, "tick, tick, tick, tick, tick!" So, what you could have when you were back in the forties will not sustain you in 2017.

So, many, many before you only looked at the outside, strived for success, strived for the gains, strived for whatever the world told them, and then they are gone now. Now, the question becomes, "Is that what life is? Or is there something more?"

Is there a world of yours that you are unfamiliar with? Your inner world—in which you don't strive for success, but for happiness; in which you don’t strive for fame, but peace; in which you don’t strive for diplomas, but clarity; in which you don't weigh and measure the accomplishments, but measure your existence by the gifts you have been already given.

- Prem Rawat

Prem Rawat: 

What makes you happy? Is it something you do that makes you happy? Is it a sequence of circumstances that makes you happy?

Because we know the word "happiness," but we haven’t truly felt what happiness really is. We know the word “freedom,” but we do not know how to be free. We know the word "kindness," but we don’t know how to be kind.

Happiness is a state of contentment.

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Happiness

When you are content, not here, but here, in the domain of the heart—in the domain of the heart, when you are content, when this heart is content....

Let me tell you something. When you satisfy this, this gives you a gift. When you satisfy this, this gives you a gift—a very different kind of gift. The gift this gives you is, "More. More." And when you satisfy this, this gives you a gift, too.

When you satisfy this.... You go shopping; you see a suit; you see a dress? This goes, "Buy it. Buy it. Buy it; it's nice! You will—you will look so good in it. Buy it." So you buy it. After you buy it, it gives you a gift. You know what the gift is? "hmmm.... It’s not as nice as his suit."

You buy a new car; you are very happy; you’ve got a brand new car, "So nice," and you’re sitting in your car. And then all of a sudden, a better car comes up, and this gives you a gift: "Should have bought that." It’s called "the gift—the gift of dissatisfaction." This is the gift this gives you.

When you satisfy this, this also gives you a gift. When you satisfy this, this immediately gives you the gift of peace. "Here, peace!" When you satisfy this, this gives you a gift of, "Here. Enjoy this, a little happiness."

The day—the day you can smile and not know why you are smiling, that is the truest smile. The day you can laugh and not know why you are laughing, that is the truest laugh. And the day you can be happy and not know why you are happy, that is the day of, "Ah," the gratitude, "Thank you!"

That is the day you become really thankful because you don’t know what you did to deserve this, but you feel it, and you go, "Thank you! Thank you for being alive." That is the way to live.

People have dreamed of possessing something of value that replenishes itself whenever it is used. That possibility exists. We hold within us a wealth of resources that never diminishes.

It was a Greek philosopher who said once, “You are never happy if you get what you don’t want.” Tricky words. If you get what you don’t want, you’re not happy. And even if you get what you do want, you still won’t be happy because you won’t be able to keep it. That’s the problem.

So many families, finally they get everything going and the husband dies. “Oh, terrible, what’s going to happen now?” Children grow up too fast; they start bossing you around. You’ve been bossing them around? Wait! You will get a taste of your own medicine. They will boss you around. They will start telling you things.

You had the child because you wanted a child—because you thought all these beautiful, lovely thoughts about having a child, “How sweet the child will be.” And now you are going to be on your bed without a second of sleep, thinking, “Where are they? Why are they not home? It’s already past midnight. What are they doing?” You can’t keep it! Can’t keep it!

You finally got your promotion; you finally got your promotion that you had been waiting for, waiting for, waiting for. And after you have got your promotion, you realize that there are twenty other people wanting the same chair. The one before, there were only five wanting that chair. This one, twenty more....

And if you go to the next one, it’ll be forty more, and if you go to the next one it’ll be a hundred more. And now it’s a matter of, you make one mistake—one mistake—and your chair is gone; promotion is gone. Because you can’t keep it! You can’t keep it; you can’t keep it; you can’t keep it.

Because there is a change afoot, and you don’t like changes. You don’t want changes; you don’t want anything to change. You, even though you want your son who is three years old to grow up, you don’t! You want that child to just stay that way. And you want your wife who’s so pretty to stay that way. And you want your husband who is young to stay just that way.

But everything is changing, changing, changing, changing, changing—and so are you. But you don’t know. Why don’t you know? Because you don’t know yourself. You know your friends; you know your neighbors; you know other people, but you don’t know you.

That’s what Socrates says, “Know thyself.” Knowledge of the self! “All knowledges are good; knowledge of the self is the supreme.” When you know yourself, now you know who you are.

– Prem Rawat

In your home is peace. In your home is wisdom. In your home is clarity. In your home is light. In your home is the joy. In your home is fulfillment. But the only one that is not home is you. So, come home.

– Prem Rawat

Does the heart say, "Go to Timbuktu." Does the heart say, "Go to this place?"

No. The heart says always one thing. And it's so simple.

Be content; be happy. Be in that place; be in that enjoyment.

Be. Be. Just be.

-Prem Rawat