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Prem Rawat: 

Is peace still possible? Yes, peace is still possible. Is joy still there, yes; your heart is still there, yes. Is the infinite still around? Of course. And so far the infinite is around, you’re set! If the infinite is gone, then you’re in trouble. But the infinite is around, and you are around? It’s all good.

When I was in lockdown, (hah, hah-hah), a long time ago, I, you know, in the 80s, I had turntables. I had records. So, I said, “You know, I had these wonderful, beautiful records. Where are they?” And couldn’t find them, couldn’t find them, couldn’t find them, couldn’t find them, and then one day, way back tucked somewhere, there they were, all my records.

And I brought them out, started cleaning them. And there they were! They were something that I had gone, I had bought. Some of them had been unopened; they were unopened albums. And there they were from the 70s, all this incredible music and – there it is! I realized, “I’m not going to take it with me. But I’m going to enjoy it, so far I can enjoy it.”

This life, my friends, is about enjoyment. And if you can enjoy the divine, that’s the motherlode. Because there’s nothing like the divine. Always there. Always was. When you were one, when you were two, when you were three, when you were four, five, six, seven.

Isn’t it nice to discover something that is from a long time ago in your life that you liked, and it was wonderful? (Like my records?) Well, the infinite is like that. The infinite was there when you were one, and two, and three, and four, and five – all the way to however old you are.

You have to be careful; you have to be conscious.

If you become unconscious when you’re trying to cook? You will end up putting sugar where you should put salt; you will put salt where you should put sugar. And that’s a disaster.

So! What about life? When you drink water, do you have to be careful? What do you think? Otherwise, you’ll choke on it. And that’s not a pleasant experience, is it?

When you eat, do you have to be careful? Or you slurp? No! You have to be careful. When you live your life, do you have to be careful, or do you ... ? Are you careful? No, you’re not! Nope, absolutely not. Otherwise, this whole “hurt my feelings” thing would never happen! 

That’s like, you’re looking over there and you’re cutting, and “Oops!” And here’s the problem. You’re going to need a sharp knife! To cut vegetables, you need a sharp knife! And of course, if you misuse it, it’ll cut you even more. You’ve got to be aware, got to be conscious.

So, this whole thing of, “Yeah, that person hurt my feelings. That person said that to me, and that person didn’t do that, and that person ... .”  Please, live your life consciously. Don’t let these trivial things happen. It wastes too much money, too much effort, too much energy, too much everything that may be dear to you. It’s not worth it. 

Live this life so you enjoy every day. You need peace. As a human being, you need peace. You have to have peace. Whatever you are trying to acquire… Whatever knowledge you’re trying

to acquire in this world – you need to find peace. Not the Google-search peace. Not the DuckDuckGo peace. But the peace that is in your being.

If you’re not going to make it happen, who is?

MC and host: [Sara Powell]
I just want to get straight stuck in if I may. Something that we’ve had a couple of questions about, and something that really spoke to me from what you said, was “the noise”—that chatter that is constantly there. And I wondered, “What’s the best strategy for coping with it? How do we quieten it down, the noise?”

Prem Rawat:
Well, these are the questions you have sent—I mean, over 200 questions came in—and some of you who have, probably, cell phones that are from different countries, probably are still coming in through, you know, because they go round robin, yeah....

MC:
Yeah, you’ll be getting them till Wednesday, yeah!

Prem Rawat:
And, yeah, exactly. So, the question is, where does this noise come from? I mean, who is the perpetuator of this noise; who is the generator of this noise, and where is the stage that it ultimately plays out on?

So, the stage where it ultimately plays out on is you! But where does it come from? Well, it is something that started a long, long time ago, right from your parents.

Because, whose voices are there? They are included too, and the friends are included, and the boss, and the friends, and the friends of the friends, and the, everybody who has two-cents-worth of advice, and it just gets recorded,

But then the question becomes, “Why did it get recorded? Who had the record button pushed in?” Right? And we allow this to happen. We don’t think we have a choice. Because we don’t live our lives by that tactile feel.

I was watching a show where they were showing this person who was challenged with the sight. And as he moved around the room, he had to feel everything—and where it was and how it was—and there were no assumptions.

And we, the ones who have eyes, are most likely to have that chair pulled out from underneath us or even miss the chair. But not this man, because he knows he has to have that feel. Every step that he takes in his life is taken deliberately. Not just, “Uh, let me see what’s over there.” Do we live our lives like that?

You know, and maybe the noise is a consequence of living a very unconscious life. That if there was a conscious life, then you would say, “Okay! Since I have a tape recorder....” Don’t fault the tape recorder, by the way. That’s really good that you have a tape recorder. It’s the content of the tape recorder that’s bad.

“So, can I put in nice stuff? If I’m going to have noise, let me have some really lovely noise, something that inspires me, something that gives me courage....” Because we all need courage. That’s why courage is there—hmm—because we need it!

Because in life, the mountains that you have to sometimes cross, that we have created for ourselves, are no ordinary hills. Mind you, they are indeed mountains of extraordinary proportions, and it requires nothing shy of courage to even take on the challenge to do so.

So, you know, this is, in a way, what I do. Because, you look at the Peace Education Program—and when it goes to the prisons, their voice, their tape recorder is going, “I am here, and it’s the fault of that person, and that person, and that person, and that person.”

And they go through the Peace Education Program, and they start to realize, “Hey, look at yourself.” And when they do, then they realize that they are standing at a threshold where they can change.

And it is no mistake or an accident that people who go through the Peace Education Program—at least, the inmates who go through the Peace Education Program—have the lowest rate of return back into the prisons.

So, we’re not inmates, are we? I mean, we’re not in a prison system, are we? The prison system you are currently in.... The other prison system, they’ll get out after two years, three years, four years, five years. The prison system you are in, you don’t get to get out till you die—sorry. Huh! You’re in for life.

Folks, it’s really time to start creating your heaven, because there are no options here. The wall is there—and there are no options! And getting rid of that noise and putting the nice noise on is up to you. It truly is—because you’re the one who is doing it: who’s buying into this noise and keeps: “Ah, push play again, please.” And, you know, and has it on “repeat,” so it just keeps repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating.

Life has the possibility of creating your own playlist—your playlist that you like. Do you want to accept that challenge? You know, the issue isn’t just the noise. We can replace it with something beautiful, something wonderful, something you like. Not what I like—you like! Because I want to create my playlist of something I like. You create your playlist, something you like.

- Prem Rawat

We're lost. Why? Everything we look for on the outside—the goodness, outside. You will never find it. And that's what people are looking for. Peace on the outside—world, they don't want personal peace. They want world peace. And I tell them, “World doesn't need peace.”

The crows are perfectly happy; the squirrels are perfectly happy; mangoes are perfectly happy. And if there is somebody that is bothering the crows and the squirrel and the mango? It's you, us, nobody else, nothing else. You need peace.

But do you understand that necessity? Do you understand this need that you have to be in that part of yourself that is good, that is beautiful by nature, by design, by the very fact that yes, light is the opposite of darkness?

 Understand this relationship between darkness and light, and you will understand a lot in your life. Believe me, believe me. I started talking about peace when I was four years old. At nine years of age, my father passed away and I took over the responsibility of taking this message around the world. Since then, I have been doing this. I have talked to people; when I was young, people used to come to me and they would ask me these questions, and I would give them an answer, what I felt, what I understood. What I tell you today is so that you can benefit in your life, that this life that you have is the most precious thing there is. Nothing will be more precious than this life that you have. 

The tragedy, the tragedy is to have this life and not know it, to have the wealth and not recognize it, to have the Divine and never find it. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy. Looking for what you always had and you never found it because you didn't need to look–you needed to discover.

You have these eyes; these eyes see everybody else's eyes, don't they? But do they see themselves? These eyes can see everybody else's face but not yours. How come? Ah, but if you have a mirror, if you have a mirror, then these eyes can see you too. Then these eyes can see themselves as well.

And this begins with understanding that when you are in that darkness, when you are in that pain, when you are in that suffering, understand something: that joy, happiness, that beauty, that light is not far from you.

- Prem Rawat

Who am I? Seventy percent water and I can talk? Seventy percent water and I can actually see things? Seventy percent water and I can think?

When was the last time water thinks? Does that come across the news: “We have thinking water.” And we have thinking water right here! So, who am I? This tourist that has to go one day? Who? What?

What is this life all about? Why do I want to be happy? I mean, well, what is this crazy thing: “I mean, well, I just want to be happy.” Even when I’m sad, I want to be happy. It’s not like when I’m happy, I want to be sad. Then I’m crazy. Then I need to see a psychiatrist.

But why is it, naturally, that when I am happy, I want to remain happy and when I am sad, I want to be happy? Clue? Sherlock Holmes, clue? What is the clue? That I am biased.

“Oh, but, and no human being is born with an instruction manual.” Maybe we don’t need it—because the instruction manual is obvious!

Nobody goes to the church, nobody goes to the temple, nobody goes to the mosque to pray to God, “Too much happiness; please take it away; I can’t stand it.” Too much sadness? “Oh, please, too much sadness; take it away.” Too much happiness? Not a problem. Too much joy, not a problem. Too much clarity, not a problem.

So if this is who you are, what have you done about it? If you are hungry, you need to eat! Or do you need a scientific discourse?

Socrates said, “Know thyself.” Why? Why? I mean, why know yourself? Isn’t your name enough—on a card? Isn’t it? Isn’t it?

But is that who you are? Somebody else had that name, and somebody else will have that name.

“Within you,”—the “Paras” is this mythical stone in India, that when you take this stone and touch it to metal, it’ll turn the metal into gold, the alchemist’s metal, the alchemist’s stone, the famous stone—“that that’s within you too, and the pearls are within you too, and the one who understands the value of these is also within you.” The appraiser is also within you.

“Within you resonates the silence”—the silence. “And within you springs the spring of hope, of joy, of knowledge, of wisdom.”

- Prem Rawat

Prem Rawat: There’s a saying about tradition. (I love it. Really like this saying.) It goes like this: “Tradition, what is tradition? Tradition is peer pressure from the dead.” They’re dead; they’re gone! But the pressure is still there.

And there they are, “It should be this way; it should be this way; it should be this way,” and this is the tape that plays in your head, and this is how you make your selections.

Whatever happens. So much of it is not being driven by our selection as we would like to think it is. It is not being done that way; it is the tape that plays. I call it “noise.” What do you call it?

It’s noise. “This has to be this way; this has to be this way; this has to be this way; this has to be this way; this.... You have to sit on the right; you have to sit on the left; you have to do this and you have to do that and you....” Noise, noise, noise, noise, noise, noise, and this whole life becomes full of noise.

And in the midst of this noise, we want sanity?! In the midst of this noise, we want clarity?! In the midst of this noise, we want to be happy?! You really are asking a lot! You’re really asking a lot. Because that’s not going to happen.

The way we have structured our life, we have made it so difficult, so incredibly difficult, that the path to peace indeed has become incredibly, incredibly difficult.

When the desire for peace is simple, the path going back home.... That’s the only way. That’s the only way you’re going to experience peace in your life, is when you go back home—home here, in you. Not here! But here, in you. That’s the only way you’re going to experience peace.

You’re only going to experience peace the day you get in touch with you! And that process of getting in touch with you is incredibly difficult because we have wandered so far away from our selves.

Now—here is the problem. Here is the real problem. Now, we don’t recognize home. Now, we don’t recognize home. And when you don’t recognize home, you could be standing in front of it, and you will go, “What, that’s my home?”

You already have a preconceived idea of what your home looks like. Absolutely. And when your concepts don’t meet up with it, you go, “That’s my home? That’s not the home I want.”

But “home” isn’t about that; home is home. Home is that place you come to—and you close that door. And you are in your world. That’s what home is. Everything, everything is familiar.