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Here it is. This is the opportunity. You come—automatic: here you are. Basics are provided. And you’re going to go—automatic. And to make it clear, you don’t know when. Because if you knew, you would sit there and lament that day. I mean, talk about waste of life!

You know, we have had these guys come occasionally on the face of this earth, and in no uncertain terms say exactly that: “You want to get the most out of it; it’s not happening again!”

And that what’s here is simply divine, the only place where you can truly understand the manifestation of that Divine. You can look at the stars, and you can be in awe. Be in awe, “Wow.” That there is silence! And what is silence? Silence is the only thing—the true silence, the inner silence—is the call of the Divine.

Not words—but the call of the Divine. To hear that and to understand something—not something complicated but something very simple. And what is that? What is that? That one shortest, most complete sentence in the English language. You know what that is? “I am. I am.”

Until, in your life, that little sentence, until that starts to mean something, forget it. Can you walk the life without the ideas? Can you walk the life without the ideas? Can you wake up in the morning and say, “I am content knowing I am?”

– Prem Rawat

This gift of breath is an incredibly powerful gift that you have been given—incredibly powerful, that you have been given. Do you understand its value? Do you understand that this is one gift that all the money in the world cannot buy?

You cannot write it in the will—in a will, in an agreement—that, “All my breath will go to this person.” No. It’s only for you! Accept it, understand it. Cherish life, cherish consciousness, cherish your strength, cherish your heart, cherish knowledge, cherish peace—and you will understand the kindness of the Divine on every human being.

– Prem Rawat

When you were born, in the whole room they were only focusing on one thing—not if you are a boy or a girl, not your palm of your hands, of what your fortune is going to be. Only one thing: “Are you breathing or not?” This is how it is. If you’re not breathing, the doctor slaps you, “Breathe!” Again, “Breathe!” You go, “Aaaaa!” Doctor is happy; you are breathing.

All your life you’re going to breathe! Do you know how they will figure out you’re gone? “Are you breathing or not?”

In the hospital, if they have a machine and the machine says you are dead, but you’re still breathing, what do you think the doctor is going to hit? You or the machine? The doctor is not going to come to you and say, “Hey! The machine says you are dead!” No, the doctor is going to hit the machine! “You are broken.”

– Prem Rawat

When I first went to the West, I was only a teenager. In fact, it was my first year of being a teenager—thirteen. And all these people would come—much older than me, much more educated than me. And they would sit down, and they were very proud of the fact that they were searching for peace.

And I would say to them, “Why are you searching for peace? Why are you searching for peace when peace is inside of you?” Search not for peace, but search for the way to be able to get in touch with what is already inside of you.

And so the question becomes, “Well, you already have peace, right?” Do you? Or don’t you?

Because nothing is missing. There is nothing missing from the equation. You have in you—this is the way you are made—all that you need you have, and you have been made to take advantage of it.

Maybe you don’t have a temple for it. Maybe you don’t have a song for it. Maybe you don’t have a garland for it. Maybe you don’t have a light for it. Maybe you don’t have a location for it. But it is here, in you.

And if you are unaware, then you’re unaware of something fundamental. And this is ignorance. What is ignorance? It’s a play of words in English, but “ignorance”—where does ignorance come from?

Generally, when somebody does something bad—a little child or something—we say, “Oh, it’s okay. He was ignorant.” 'Ignorant' generally is considered to be an excuse to forgive the person, because “they were ignorant.”

But that’s not where the word comes from. The word actually comes from “ignore.” “Ignorance"—ignorant comes from the word “ignore,” which has to be done on purpose.

See, we say ignorant. "Oh, he’s ignorant; it’s okay.” But “ignorant” actually comes from the word “ignore,” which has to be on purpose—that you ignore something.

Ignorance in this world...we think, “Oh, people are ignorant.” No! If they are ignorant, that means they’re, on purpose, ignoring that which is real. Not a fluke! Not a fluke.

And people go, “But I don’t see it!” You’d talk about the Divine, “But I don’t see the Divine!” So, do you see gravity? Do you see the earth spinning? Does that mean it’s not?

You cannot, in this life, merely live in tangled beliefs. Yes, this is the first time I’m using this, “tangled beliefs.” Because beliefs will get tangled. It is their nature because they are so open to interpretation. But knowing is not open to interpretation.

The Divine, in the same way, is everywhere, and by “everywhere” meaning, also in you. To me, when I hear the word “everywhere”—when I hear the word “omnipresent,” it doesn’t mean just omnipresent. It means “in me as well.”

And if that reality is knocking in me, if that reality is residing in me, what am I doing in my life to feel it, to acknowledge it, to understand it? Because if you want peace in your life, that’s the only way you’re going to get it.

– Prem Rawat

You know, I say—and I have said this at many, many events with hundreds of thousands of people there—and what I say is this: “All the major religions in the world, if they just did one thing, which is to tell their people, their followers, ‘If you want to go to heaven, first make it heaven here.’”

That’s all, that’s all. Nothing has to change. Just add one more thing: “If you want to go to heaven, make it heaven here.” And we would have a different world.

– Prem Rawat