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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
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
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
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