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My Version of Divine

I don't know what concept you have if I use the word "Divine." I don't know what it will conjure up in your mind. I don't know. A 65-year-old man with gray hair, maybe older. 100-year-old man, gray hair. Long white beard, long flowing robes.

I mean, you know, don't let all your imagination come from just one painting. I asked somebody the other day. I said, "You know if you had to be an age for the rest of existence— I mean for the rest of existence for everything—what age would that be?" 70? 80? 90? 100? And the conclusion was 25.

I mean, that's young. You can see things; you can hear things, you can actually go for a walk and come back. You can actually remember things.

You know, when it starts to get to like the 50s, forget it. Memory goes south—I mean it's like "huh?" And you say to yourself, "I will remember that. That's important, I will remember that." Fifteen minutes later, "What was it that I was supposed to remember?"

This is 50. You remember that you were supposed to remember. A little bit further down the line, you don't even remember what it is that you forgot. All you remember is, you forgot. What? You don't know. And once you get close to 70, you don't really care what you forgot, what you remember, what it is, what it isn't. It doesn't matter.

So somebody in their imagination portrays the divine as 100 years old. Wshh! I mean in one way that would explain a lot of things. "Gee! I forgot I was supposed to save those people down there. Ugh! Well, anyways. You know, at a 100 I don't even know what I was supposed to remember."

You go up there, and it's like, "But God, you know, I was calling you." "You were?"

But here, my version of the divine is very different: that it is that power that creates. And it is that power that destroys and it is that power that makes sure that everything happens—not just here on earth, but in the entire universe. It is the power that makes the sunshine. It is the power that contains everything.

Undefinable? Absolutely. Un-comprehensible? Absolutely. And within you? Absolutely.

- Prem Rawat

Do I feel so fragile in my world that I feel that without the concepts, my house is weak? Is that why I need them?

Or can I be free? That word, "freedom"—freedom from what? Ask yourself, "Freedom from what?"

Now, you think.... When I talk about the inmates, obviously they see bars all day long. Goodness, the entire time I was in prison visiting them, that’s what I saw too—bars here, and bars there, and bars there and bars there, and bars there and bars there. It all kind of....

The only place where there weren’t bars was the front door—which only brought you to a little reception room, which was a waiting room. To go past that towards the prison, there were bars. And not one—two.

You came through one when they let you. Then you went to the security room, which was in the middle. And only when you had cleared security, that first door closed; second door opened, and you could go through. And then that’ll lead you to a hallway where they handed you your credentials, the one, the pass that you had to wear. This is the same in every prison.

Then you go somewhere else, and they have to open the gate—and they have to open, and a, “Who is it? Who is it?” And, “Who, what?” And, “You have to show your”—“It’s okay; I just was....” “Okay, okay, you can go.”

But one bar after another, after another, after another, after another, after another—well, you don’t live like that, do you? Do you? You don’t have any bars in your life, do you? Nothing that holds you back, right?!

So what’s the difference? You’re locked up too. You don’t think so, but you’re locked up too! And so far you’re locked up, there’s no difference between you and the inmates. The only difference is, they wear orange; you don’t. Unless somebody’s wearing orange here. That’s pretty much the color.

But when all that is gone, and when clarity settles in, heart becomes full, human beings are full of gratitude, then joy dances with you, and you dance with the joy! That elation wells from within—and it’s not conceptual. Not conceptual, not an idea, not a thought, but something very real, that you can begin to rejoice that you’re alive, that you breathe.

- Prem Rawat

In this life humility is better than pride—to be humble—because it allows you to see, to witness. That to be thankful is better than not being thankful—because being thankful allows you to see a part of your existence that you would have never seen.

So, these are the windows in our life. To try every day—simplicity is better than being complicated. Now one’s effort is to stay in that place. There is all too much in this world—everything, everything!—that pulls on you. It grabs you and says, “No, come here! Do this! Be like this.”

But to remember that that’s the true nature, the true nature of a human being. It is natural for you to have a heart full of gratitude. It is natural for you to be kind. It is unnatural to be angry. It is natural to be kind—that’s your true nature. It is natural for you to be humble. To be in pride is not natural. It’s not real.

Because when you go to that point where it is doubt instead of clarity, where it is pride instead of humility, things happen that you won’t like. And when you are in the place where there is the kindness, where there is the joy, where there is the gratitude—then what will happen you will like. There will be a simplicity.

So, when you’re with kindness, what do you feel? What does it feel? It feels comfortable. But when you are not in kindness, when you’re not in that humility, when you’re not in that clarity, when you’re not in that understanding, when there isn’t that openness, it doesn’t feel comfortable.

And now, that discomfort has been going on for such a long time that you start to get used to it. So then the only time you realize you were uncomfortable is when you truly do become comfortable, and that’s when you realize, “Oh my God! I didn’t know! I got used to it.”

I am not a doctor. I’m not a doctor, but I can tell you that, when it comes to the inner realm, you cannot start taking pills and not take care of what’s wrong. And what is wrong is the understanding. What is wrong—that the clarity has been lost.

When you bring in that clarity, there is a desire, there is a want to be comfortable. And those dynamics persist in our existence. When we lose that focus, we start to become uncomfortable—then everything else happens.

And so my point is, “Don’t lose that comfort.” There are too many things in this world that’ll distract you. This is what you learn. And you always have something to be thankful about.

When it seems like you have nothing to be thankful for, when everything hits the fan and it all goes crazy—I mean, and really, really crazy—like one of those days when you feel like you’ve been singled out for it? I mean everything has got you in the sight? Find something to be thankful for, find something to understand—and it will, like magic, reverse the trend.

So what I’m saying to you in a nutshell is, “Don’t compromise.” If there is a discomfort, it’s because there is a shift in focus on what you should be focusing on. And if that reality remains constant with you, then there will be a comfort. And that’s how you’re supposed to be. That’s how you are supposed to be.

– 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

The day I understood that peace was not a luxury, but peace was a necessity—peace was not a want; peace was a need—I was well on my way to my inner peace.

– Prem Rawat

You have a mind and you have a heart; you’re balanced. If you learn how to use both of them equally, not only will you be in peace, but you will prosper. Most people only know how to use one. The heart, they don’t understand.

I say “the heart,” and people go, “What are you talking about? What is this thing called the heart?” But let me tell you what it is. The heart is the place where the courage resides, the courage to move on, to go forward, to fulfill who you really are.

The heart is the place where your truest wisdom resides. The heart is the place where you will find your passion. The heart is the place where you will find your compassion. The heart is the place where you will find the quest, the thirst for being fulfilled.

All that is good in you—not from the perspective of the world, but that is good in you from the perspective of a human being—is the place where all these beautiful things reside. And that is the place referred to conveniently as being the most important, and thus called “the heart.”

That’s what a heart is. The courage. The courage to seek clarity in the midst of confusion. When everything is going wrong, the courage to say, “No! I want clarity; I want to be fulfilled.”

Have you experienced this courage? Have you felt this courage? Have you understood this courage? It’s your power to thrive in this world—to thrive, to shine, to be.

You don’t need fear; you need strength. And the strength that I am talking about is inside of you. Knowledge of the self, of you! So you can understand, so you can see, so you can feel, so you know.

To welcome every single day like you will not get another one—and that’s when every day starts to become a gift.

– Prem Rawat