The Reward Called Fulfillment

AudienceWhat I talk about, you already know. I’m not here to tell you something new, but hopefully to evoke that one beautiful feeling, that one simple voice that has been so persistent in your life, even though you may have done an amazing amount of work to silence it.

The idea of peace did not start in recent times. The idea of peace has been there for as long as people have been around. Everyone has their own picture of peace.

To some people, peace becomes an alternative to our problems. That’s not what peace is. Peace is a feeling that exists within every human being. The thirst for peace has always existed in our life, and the water to quench that thirst has also always existed within. That is the peace I am talking about.

A lot of people give up. When we give up, there is a vacuum, and we fill that vacuum with the reasons we can’t have peace in our life or why truth does not exist for us. Some of the reasons sound so clever and so legitimate that it is very hard to tell they are just reasons.

MaharajiThe only person who can tell is the person who has not given up. To them, it is not a matter of how good a reason might be. It is a matter of not giving up on having the feeling of peace in their life, of having joy. It is a matter of having a commitment for that. Whether you call it joy or peace, happiness or contentment—all those words are names for the same thing.

People want to win, but they don’t know what the race is all about. What are you racing toward? There are a lot of races going on and they all offer rewards, but have you looked at what the rewards are? These rewards are not ones you can keep. You can get your picture taken with an award, but you don’t actually get to keep it. All you get is a picture you can hang on your wall and say, “I won that.”

What I am talking about is the reward called fulfillment, that is called peace, that is called joy. If there is a race for that, that’s the race I want to enter, and that’s the one I want to win. That is the race I know I can win. All I need to be is true to my heart. True to my thirst. True, indeed, to myself.

What is the first step you can take? Make this life, this existence, a priority—make contentment a priority. Begin with that. Make the thirst for fulfillment a priority, and things will begin to blossom. You will find flowers where you never imagined it was possible for anything to grow.

Even in the desert, the most delicate flowers bloom.  As harsh as it is, they lie in wait for the rain. Let the rains of understanding fall. Understand the priority of existence. Let each seed sprout so you may stand and gaze at the amazing beauty that lies before you. Feel good. Feel happy. Be. And let that be for the rest of your life. This is the possibility for everyone.

— Prem Rawat