Looking Deeper

Audience

I have been to many places, told many stories, talked about many things. But it always comes down to us. Who we are. Having this time on the face of this earth, being alive. What does it really mean? There are so many ideas, arguments, philosophies, but it’s not about that. It’s about what we know.

In this world, everybody wants to be credible: I am right, you are wrong. Every argument is looking for credibility. And to find it, we ask: Who said what? Was it a long time ago? Who was this book written by? But consider for a moment that what we know to be true is not from what we have heard, but from feeling, and feeling requires no credibility. If somebody said, “I slept wonderfully last night. The bed was so comfortable,” this would not be a question of right or wrong or of credibility. How did I sleep? Knowing needs no justification.

So the question is: What do you know? Not what you have heard or read. What do you know? What do you know about your life, your existence? This is not an easy task. Trying to separate what you know from what you have heard is almost impossible. There are things we have believed in because we heard it from a credible source. Now we don’t know if it is something we know or something we believe. Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that there is something we want to know.

Prem Rawat

I wonder if we’re looking for something, searching. Not knowingly—unknowingly. The nature of a human being is always to try to find a comfort, to try to find a joy, not even knowing that’s what we are looking for. Perhaps much deeper. Looking, searching for a tranquility—a peace, yet undefined. Not an absence of war. Not a reconciliation between two people. A peace that perhaps can even play out on a battlefield. Looking for a freedom even in the middle of a prison. Looking for friendship not defined by friends, but a friendship that feels real.

Searching every day, looking for stability in a world that is so changing. A breath just came and changed my life forever. We do not pay attention to the breath. We do not see it as a major factor in our existence till the day it starts to leave, and then it becomes everything.

If we’re looking for peace, it is within us. If we’re looking for joy, it’s not far from us. If we’re looking for that friend, it always has been and will be within inside. If we’re looking for the place that does not change, that place is inside. You know this. But you need to understand what you know—not ignore it, but understand it.

The day you begin to understand what you know is the day you truly begin to live, not just survive, because living is a celebration of existence. You need to live, to thrive, every day. Not once a week or a month, but every single day that has been provided to you.

Audience

In juggling all the balls in my life, do I ask: Who put all these balls in my hand? Me! “I’ll do this, and this, and this, too.” Somebody says, “You mind taking care of this problem, too?” “Okay.” That’s the day I became a juggler. Not understanding my primary responsibility is to that thirst inside of me that is calling out to me every single day to be fulfilled.

We forget our true nature. We accept the nature of those around us. Look in the mirror within you and see for yourself who you are: Beautiful, ageless. You’re not the sum of your wrinkles. There is something in you since you were a child, and it will be there till your very last breath. Get to know it. Live your life consciously. Be aware of every day because it’s irreplaceable.

If you are looking, look, but know what you are looking for. If you are searching, search, but know what you are searching for. If you are waiting, wait, but know what you’re waiting for. And if you’re looking for the companion, then know who the truest companion is. The truest companion that will be there till the very end. This is all within you.

— Prem Rawat