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(Prem Rawat) Each one of you has a tape playing in your head. (In my book, I call it “noise.”) You allowed that tape recorder to record. I’m not saying it’s your fault. Because that’s also your nature. You were given an empty tape recorder: “Record.” And you recorded some good things.... (Few and far in between.) Mostly, what you did manage to record was one hundred percent pure noise.

And what do we do? We listen to that noise again and again and again and again and again, trying to make meaning of it. Because it’s in our tape recorder.

And you can’t make meaning of it. It has no meaning. But people listen to that noise; again, “You should be doing this; you should be doing that; you should be more mindful of this; you should be careful of this. You know, you have to pay respect to that person. Oh, but, yeah, well, what do these people think about you?” That’s the big one: “what other people think about you.”

So many of us want to be like other people. If your—if your effort is to be like other people, when in the world will you know yourself? How could you know yourself? When would you have the time to know yourself?

So, what are we trying to solve? When the reality is very, very simple; you are a human being, and your needs are very, very simple. You need to feel peace in your life. Peace is not absence of war. Peace—if you want to say is absence of war—if you want to say is absence of war, then it is the war that rages within you. Not the outside one.

This euphoric scenery that we have created for ourselves, that’s not the reality. The euphoric scenery is, “Everybody will not fight; everybody will get along with each other.... You will give your food to the other person,” (even if they don’t want it).

This euphoric scenery that we have created is not the right one. What we need to do is turn within! Like a mirror. And see and feel, look of who you truly are. Understand your simple needs.

You understand your wants, and at this point in time, it has become so bad, you don’t even know the difference between wants and needs. You can live without wants; you cannot live without needs. That’s the difference.

What have you allowed to come in into you is jealousy, fear, anger.... Not kindness. Not love. Not understanding. And you are expecting what? What results are you expecting? If you’re going to keep inviting thieves in your house, be prepared to have a few things missing.

Anger, fear, jealousy, all of these are thieves; they rob you! And so, a few things are going to be missing! That’s, that that’s what thieves do! They steal!

Understanding, joy, peace, these are givers. They leave you presents; they give you things. What do you want? Do you feel poor? Do you feel rich? What do you want to feel?

When everything is not right, you get upset! When everything is right, you get joy; you get happiness; you get peace; you get kindness; you get understanding. All of these things.

What is my message? And you’ve all heard “peace ambassador”, “peace ambassador.” Don’t, don’t get taken up by that. In my opinion, you’re all peace ambassadors because you all have peace in you. So you have, you’re also peace ambassadors.

But the problem is that word, peace is possible– it’s not a problem if you understand what peace is. If you don’t know what peace is, ‘is possible’ really becomes ‘impossible.’

And as I travel the world and I say to people ‘peace,’ and people have no idea what peace is. No idea. For most people, escaping from their problems is peace. You see? Let me ask you a question. Why do you want peace? Why? Why do you want peace? Well, so what? You want dahl too, no? Do you like rice? Do you like rice? So, you like rice too. But that doesn’t say ‘rice as possible.’ That says ‘peace is possible.’ Why do you want peace? Ahh, to be happy. Oh, how many of you want peace because it makes you happy? Raise your hand.

So, next question. Why do you want to be happy? It feels good? That’s why you want to be happy, because it feels good? Why do you want to feel good? Why do you want to be happy? Why do you want peace? So, is your happiness not always there? Does happiness fall from the sky? Does happiness grow in the field? What is your happiness? What is happiness?

To you, your bus is leaving and you’re not on it, and the bus driver sees you running behind the bus and he stops. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Is that what peace is, getting on the bus?

So, I’m asking these questions because I want to engage you. I want you to think; I want you to understand that peace isn’t running away from your problems. Peace isn’t about your problems. Peace isn’t about the good and bad. Peace isn’t about the confusion.

What is peace? As human beings, we have two parts to us; it’s just a physical rule. You cannot have one-sided coin. Every coin has two sides. Even if you split the coin to get rid of one side, you will still have two sides. Just the law of nature, right? So, every time you are confused, guess what the other side of that is. Clarity—that far away.

When you find yourself in darkness, light is that far away. When you find yourself in sorrow, happiness, joy is that far away. I’m just being, so you can see, it’s less distance than that, believe me.

You have two natures in you. You have kindness. You have clarity. This is your nature too. Kindness, clarity, compassion, joy, light is your nature too. And confusion, anger, frustration is also your nature. So don’t get, you know, like, “Oh yeah, I like that. I like, light is my nature.” No, darkness is your nature too. Darkness is your nature too. But so is light; so is light.

So there is a place in you, the place where that light is ,where that joy is, where that clarity is, where that understanding is, and that, experiencing that place will bring you peace. That’s what peace is. That’s what peace is.

- Prem Rawat

I thought this was kind of interesting, because I just today received a letter from Argentina—and so I’d like to read it to you; I brought it with me.

“Dear Mr. Prem Rawat, we’ve been watching the Peace Education Program for three months running. And we would like to thank you, because your message helps us know ourselves. When we listen to you, we forget that we are in prison. Thank you very much.

“With respect and love, we would like to invite you to this prison unit. It would be an honor for us to meet you in person and talk with you about what we have learned. Kind regards, Men’s Prison, Buenos Aires, Argentina!”

So, there I am at this prison; I said, “Okay, you know, you realize, God is the only one in this entire creation that can’t go from here to here.” And you should have seen their faces; it was like, “Huh? Of course God can go from here to here.”

I said, “No, it’s impossible for God to go from here to here. Why? Because if God leaves here to go here, it’s not possible, because he will always be here. And he is already here, so how can he come here? Can’t go from here to here!”

And when they heard—it was like, it takes a little while, right? Just, “dit-dit-dit-dit-dit, dut, dah-doo, dut, dit-dit-dit....” And then it’s like, “Damn, he’s right!”

Because I’m using that same logic. The problem isn’t the logic. The problem is the thing that created that logic—about “going,” about “coming,” about creating—not God creating us in his you know, shadow, but we creating God in ours. And giving God exactly the same attributes of jealousy, fear, anger, everything else.

“If you don’t do what I tell you to do, I’m going to destroy you.” Well, excuse me, that was the plot all along. So, what’s the news here!? I mean, isn’t that, in the creation, how it’s laid out? “I was, I’m going to be born, and one day I will be destroyed.” So what is this thing of “destroying?”

And it’s like, “Oh, well, if you don’t do these things, they’ll send you to hell.” Well, why do you have to send anybody to hell; it seems like we can create our hell right here all by ourselves; you don’t need a separate department. We, when everything is perfectly good—but there we are, suffering. And you wonder why. “Why are you suffering?”

“Oh, this happened, and then that happened....” So? So? Are you not concerned about what opportunity you have right now? Why are you attached to what happened yesterday—when yesterday has graciously said, “I’m out. I’m out of your life. You will never be able to get to me again!” And you’re like, “Yeah, well that doesn’t matter.”

You’re trying to contemplate, “What’s going to happen tomorrow; what’s going to happen tomorrow? What’s going to happen tomorrow? What happened yesterday; what happened yesterday? I don’t like this guy. I don’t like that guy. I, da-da-da, what’s going on here? Yeah.

“How, how come I’m not with that woman? How come I’m not with that man? How come I don’t have that car? How come I don’t—I’m not rich like that?” Day and night! “How do I get out of my problems?”

So, you see this letter, and the reason why I brought it is that they’re in the prison. They—and it’s not like, “Oh, we heard you and we got out. You know, there was a seven-question quiz and we passed from everything you had said, and then now we’re out.” No, they’re still in prison.

But when they listen and they savor that clarity, the bars are lifted; prison is opened. You’re no longer a prisoner; you are free. And that freedom is felt from within you. It is not sitting there and daydreaming, “Oh, yeah, I’m free.” Reality and dream are not colliding.

Because—and many times I’ve seen that first event that I—the transcript from that first event ever, when I was four years old—the satsang I gave, or the talk I gave. And it’s like, “You have to realize what this opportunity is”—this is that four-year-old talking—“you have to realize what this opportunity is, what you have been given here.

“And in realizing that opportunity, you shall find peace; you will find peace. In acknowledging that, you will get peace. In that clarity, you will find your freedom.”

Because freedom is not an independent state. Freedom is not an independent state; it is merely for those ties, those bonds that bind you to be severed. And when that happens, when that process happens, when those ropes, those anchors that bind you, when they are severed, you automatically go into freedom. It’s, that’s it; that’s how—the only way you can get there.

But the question is, who binds you to these? You do. Other people offer you the rope, but you tie the knot. And who suffers? You do. And then you hear me say, “Cut it,” and you go, “Oh, that’s really difficult.” It wasn’t so difficult tying the knot, was it? Was it? It’s like, “Oh, yeah, okay, another rope. Wow, this is good; this is good.”

Because, you see, when you come to the realm of Knowledge, this is what’s really awkward about it—and really, really—and I have seen this since I was very, very young.

Everything out there has a set of rules, and you have to buy, accept that set of rules. If you don’t, you’re not going to graduate.

What do you want out of your life? Do you want that clarity? Do you want that simplicity in your life? Do you want that beauty that is possible in your life? And I was saying, “This is what’s different about Knowledge.” So, here’s what’s different about Knowledge.

Everything else requires you buy into that set of rules. If you don’t buy into the set of rules, “no go.” So anything you come to, like, “Okay, I want to be this,” or “I want to be that,” or—“Okay, here are the rules; here are the rules; here are the rules; here are the rules.”

Knowledge: no rules. “Just get in touch with your thirst.” If you’re not thirsty, no big deal—till you are! And when you are, look me up. If you are, let me help you.

No rules! This is befuddling to people. “Whaat? No rules?” No rules. “If I practice, just...?” Excuse me. “If I stop practicing Knowledge, will I go to hell?” No! “What? No rules?”

And believe you me, people try to create rules. “There have to be rules, so let’s make some rules. How can we not have rules? If the Christians have rules, if Hindus have rules, if the Jewish religion has rules, if the Moslems have rules, we have got to have rules.” And it’s like, “No. No rules.” And then, like, “Oh my God. What am I to do?”

So people ask, “What’s next?” The answer is, you are. You are next. Because, instead of focusing on everybody else, and everything else that is none of your business.... Instead of focusing on everything else and everyone else which is none of your business—this is not why you’re here—you need to focus on yourself. That’s your business. And that should be the only business you have.

And you are next! And you’d better be next on your agenda, my friends.

- Prem Rawat

You know, you come here; you sit down and you listen—and things start clicking, maybe? And some people are like, “Well, it doesn’t click for me”—because you haven’t made it your business! You are not your business; that’s why it doesn’t click. You’re still caught up in everybody else’s business, which is none of your business.

“How can I,” people go, “how can I have a happy home?” Why are you trying to make your home happy? If there is ever a reason why your home is unhappy, it’s because of you and you alone—because you’re focusing on making your home happy. Home doesn’t need happiness. You need happiness. If you focused on yourself to become happy, your home would automatically become happy.

“How can I make my kids happy?” The only reason why they’re unhappy is because of you. There’s no other reason in this whole world. Because you keep poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. And they want you as far away from them as you can get. And Mars is not far enough.

Nobody is interested in figuring out, feeling in their lives the blessing of coming and going of this breath—but we want the new iPhone. The latest and the greatest gadget—and just like I was saying, when the guy has nothing to say, changing the microphone isn’t going to help.

That’s why, in social media, so much anger prevails. Because the word “social” means “how we get along together.” This is how we don’t get along together. And everything gets manipulated. And then there are the social media experts—and if you’re not one of them, pfft, forget it. And they can make and break the fortunes of millions.

Greed hasn’t gone; nobody has captured greed. They have given another avenue to greed, to proliferate, to go. Meanwhile, whether the greed, no greed; anger, no anger, and just, social media, no social media, new iPhone, new Android phone....

So, stop the noise by hanging onto the clarity, not losing it. How quickly can you lose the clarity? I go that-a-way; you go that-a-way; you walk two steps—gone.

Is that how vulnerable you are? Then where is your strength? Then where is your strength? Where is your strength? Your strength is in that tolerance. Your strength is in the kindness.

- Prem Rawat

The amount of joy you have is boundless! This gift of breath that you have is relentless! And what is possible is beyond imagination. But do you fundamentally take and understand that or not?

Do an audit in your life sometime—all the things you go through, that go in your head, how many you know, because you know—and how many have been dumped into your head? It’ll drive you crazy! It’ll drive you absolutely crazy—you’ll be like, “Oh my God. Oh, oh my God! Oh my God.” You’ll be shocked.

So it’s just one series of misguided information on another, on another, on another, and another. And we actually have a word for it: “If it’s been said enough times it must be true!”

Then, my shoes are not black. And if thirty people say, “They are. They are. They are. They are. They are. They are,” do you think they’ll become black? But there are people who believe they will. Because “it doesn’t matter! This is what people have been saying, and so it must be true; it must be true”—even though it’s not.

So this is what it means to be aware, to be conscious, to say, “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me find this out. Let me feel this. Let me experience this.”

I say to you, “Peace is inside of you.” Do you agree with me? Do you agree with me because I’m saying it or because you have felt it? Clear as mud, huh? That’s it! That’s the point. Just because I am saying it...just because I am saying it doesn’t make it true. If you feel it, then it makes it true. That’s reality!

– Prem Rawat

Just stop for a minute and realize that you are not free unless you really have removed this box that you carry around you all the time.

There’s a box, and this box is full of a lot of noise, a lot of imagination that is not even your imagination—somebody else’s imagination, a lot of ideas. And in fact, this is who you think you are! This is “you!” And this box is the greatest hurdle possible in truly knowing yourself.

You need to know yourself. If you don’t know yourself, you don’t know anything, really! Because it is this being that processes what it knows, or what it thinks it knows. When it does not know itself, the processing is happening by information that has been put there by other people, not you!

The noise that you hear between your ears in perfect silence is the noise that other people have put between your ears. That includes your beloved parents.

We’re not talking about, “You have to hate your parents to get rid of the noise”—no, no. They did it for a very good reason, because that’s what happened to them. That was their reasoning. That’s the reasoning that they’ve always followed.

So, whatever happened to them, they did it to you. And their parents did it because their parents did it. So this is something of your great-great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great, great grandfather’s gift. And I would say grandmother too, but I forgot how many times I said great-great-great.

But that’s the noise. And wherever you go, this noise goes with you. And you can silence all the other noises but you can’t silence this noise—because it’s there. And it defines your good and it defines your bad. It defines your right and it defines your wrong.

It’s you, your life, your existence. You are the major player in this. And if you can understand that, that’s everything.

– Prem Rawat