Topics
Who are you? What are you?
When you hear "Do you know yourself?" What does that mean?
Is it some definition that somebody's going to plunk in your head? It better not be.
Because it has to be something that you know from the bottom of your heart-who you are.
That you were given an opportunity to be alive.
-Prem Rawat
That one moment when the universe began. Not just our universe, all of them, just where it began... did not the possibility of life exist at that moment? Has to. Maybe oxygen did not exist, but the possibility of being able to have oxygen existed. Maybe hydrogen didn't exist, but the possibility of having hydrogen existed.
And so from even that moment, your cards were stacked. Okay? Do you feel like you belong? You being here, alive on the face of this earth is made possible by the same possibility that put the moon where it is. Not any different. Put the sun where it is. All the stars in our universe known and unknown, that's the same force. That's the same possibility that has put you here. The same one that has put all the ants on this earth, that has put all the termites on this earth. By the way, there are tons of termites for every living human being. But has put termites on this earth, the blades of grass, the sand on the beaches, the water in the ocean, stars that you see that are and are not there. Has made the same... exactly the same force has made it possible for you to be alive right now.
Do you belong?
- Prem Rawat
When good things happen, you boost your ego.
“I did this. I did that.”
When bad things happen, you lose heart. You lose patience with yourself. And you blame yourself for everything.
That’s no way to live. Like a yo-yo. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Find that stability because that’s inside of you too.
Discover it and hang on to it. Hang on to the good in you.
- Prem Rawat
Wherever I go and I start talking about the subject of peace, most people wonder and ask me, “What about all these problems that we have? Why don’t we have peace? What happened?”
So I would like to tell you a story. There was a man and he had heard about elephants—that elephants were big; they were huge; they were powerful and they were mighty; they could lift a whole tree with their trunk. He wanted to see an elephant.
So he did some research; somebody told him, “You want to see an elephant, go to India!” So he found the village which is very famous, very popular for elephants, and he went there. And when he arrived at the village, he saw all these magnificent elephants standing there. And each one of the elephants had a very thin little rope tied to the leg, just very thin—and they were standing.
And the man was really surprised. He had never seen an elephant before, and he was very impressed by the power of the elephant. But he was also very confused. So he went to the village chief, and he said, “Chief, I have a question!”
He said, “This is the first time I’ve seen these elephants, and they’re strong, they’re mighty, they’re powerful. But you are tying them up by this little rope that is so fragile. Why don’t these elephants just run away? Why are they standing there? It’s not the rope that’s holding them, because they could easily break that.”
And the chief said, “Oh, that. Let me explain to you. When these elephants were really young, we tied them with these little ropes. Then they were not so strong, and the rope was enough to hold them. Now, they are definitely strong enough to break the rope, but they have forgotten their strength, and this little rope is enough to hold them.”
In a way, that is so sad. But that is our story too. That is our story too. We have forgotten our strength. We forget who we are. We forget the compassion in us. We forget the passion in us. We forget the kindness in us. We forget the joy in us. We forget what is a human being.
You cannot talk about peace without talking about the human being, because it is in the heart of that human being that the peace dances.
Right now, I know people say, “Oh, people are terrible. Look what they’re doing! They’re killing each other, terrorizing each other, putting fear in each other.” That’s not the nature of a human being.
There is a lot of good in this world; there is a lot of kindness in this world. There is a lot of generosity in this world. And this is the true nature of a human being; this is your true nature. To adore—to adore peace! To want peace. To be fulfilled! Need I say it? Indeed, to create a heaven right here on the face of this earth.
People talk about, when they die, will they go to heaven? There’s a small problem with that beautiful heaven. You have to die to get there. Why not create an experience, the heaven, whilst you’re alive? Whilst you are alive, whilst you are here?
People say, “Oh, look how many people go hungry.” Why? Have you ever thought of why people go hungry? Is it because there is shortage of food? No! Forty percent of the food that is actually farmed goes to waste. It’s thrown away. It’s unfit for consumption. There is more than plenty of food to feed everybody.
People say, “People don’t have clean water!” There’s plenty of water—believe me, there’s plenty of water. And who makes the water unclean? We do.
It’s up to us to understand our true nature, our power—that if we want the peace, we can have peace. We don’t have to be held back by a little rope of the elephant.
– Prem Rawat
And so under this circumstance, in which there is so much greed, there’s so much pain—and the pain isn’t created by anyone else, but people around us and us—to understand the idea of, "one day would be enough" for anything is hard to imagine. What would be—where one day would be enough when a lifetime isn't enough?
But you haven't given your life a chance to show you the possibility it has. You have given the world a chance. You've given this world many, many chances. "You're fired." "Eww!" "You're hired," "Aaah!" "You're fired," "Euuuh." You’re hired again, "Aaaah!" You're fired again, and, "Ewww." "Sorry sir, you've missed your flight." "Euugh."
I mean, there are these shows, and airport shows, where the people, you know, showing the airline thing—it’s like, "Wow. Wow!"
But have you given your life a chance to show you what it has? What does the world of joy look like? What does the world of understanding look like? What does the world of answers look like? What does the world of clarity look like?
Where you can rest and fade away your tiredness—to become excited about, indeed, every breath that comes into you: "Wow, what a gift!" To embrace reality that is not born of ideas or discussions—but a reality that you feel, that is tactile!
Not just empty promises. Don't you see the difference between empty promises? And what your life wants to show you is not empty promises.
- Prem Rawat
People say, “People are not born with a manual.” I disagree. The manual is so good; it’s innately built inside of every human being. You don’t need to read anything. It’s innately there. And what does this manual say to you? “Listen! Be the bird, not the wind.” Because the day you try to be the wind, you will realize that you will never be successful.
But what you can do is be the bird, extend your wings, and fly. That’s your relationship. Be the bird, not the wind. Be the bee, not the flower. Don’t try to be a flower, because that’s not your nature—you are the bee. Go from flower, to flower; and you have the expertise of extracting the nectar!
Do it! The good! The beautiful. The adoration for peace is your nectar from the flower of every day—you be the bee. You be the bee, and every day that that flower comes to you, extract the most amazing nectar from it.
Be the candle, not the light. Be the candle, not the light. Too many people try to become the light. Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, be the candle. When it is lit, light will be there. That’s who you are. You are the source! What is not in you? Do you know what is not in you?
Do you know that love is in you? Do you know that? Love is in you? The other person is just a catalyst. Love is in you. Hate is in you! Questions are in you; answers are in you. Understanding is in you; misunderstanding is in you. There’s more in you than you realized. Lies are in you; truth is in you. Confusion is in you; clarity is in you. What don’t you have? What don’t you have? And yet, what do you practice?
Driving here today, I was looking at the rivers and the waterfalls and the mountains. And I looked at the rocks, and I said, “The rocks have the rigidity and the firmness. The water is supple and liquid. The rocks, rigid and strong—solid! But, at the end of the day, guess who wins? Not the rock. The water. Water carves the rock.
Do you know the art of water? Water has patience! Water has patience. Do you have patience? Have you understood your own patience? Have you acquired the skill for patience—to understand, every single day, every single day, the possibility that is presented to you? Simple! But profound.
- Prem Rawat