The Basic Wish


Audience

Coming back from a tour recently, it was very foggy driving home. We had to drive so slow. The fog was very thick—like soup—and we couldn’t see. Being in that fog reminded me of what happens to us. When the fog comes, it obscures our vision and stops us from seeing what we need to see to proceed on this path of life.

This is important because this is but one life. It isn’t just, “Here I am.” This is everything. It isn’t a question of comparison, of my problems, my dramas, my traumas. Is this a better day? Will tomorrow be a better day?

It is that you exist, that you are alive. It is about listening and understanding your own passion. Your passion. For me, it is to be quiet enough to begin to hear what my heart is trying to tell me. There is a lot going on, calling me, “Do this; do this; do this.” There are a lot of things that disguise themselves as “fun,” but my life, my existence, is not about the “fun.” It is about feeling contentment, feeling joy. These are the needs of every human being—the wants, the desires, the wishes—above and beyond everything else.

Maharaji

People talk about noise pollution and air pollution, but there is a real pollution; it’s called “thought pollution.” A person is constantly bombarded, “This is important; that’s important; yes, that’s important.”

Do you realize what is being sacrificed? Your time on the face of this earth. Your possibility of being fulfilled every moment is being sacrificed. And only you can answer this question: Can you afford that? What is the most important thing to you?

I realize that I cannot afford the fog, and that’s a good realization. Drama, trauma comes—I cannot afford that. I want to understand the passion of my heart. Somehow, this person was created and given the ability to feel. And of all the things that I can feel, I can feel joy, I can feel peace, I can feel that feeling within me, and that is the most magnificent.

What is the basic wish that has already been given to you? Listen to it. Understand what it is saying, how it is addressing you. Then you can fulfill it. But first you need to know what it is. And it has always been the same.

Unless that one thing is fulfilled, all the explanations and ideas can be there, but if that basic and fundamental need is not fulfilled, what is the point? And who are you going to rely on? This is something that you have to do. You have to understand that this is your life. You can make it happen—that joy, that beauty—every day in your life. And it’s very easy. A lot of people think the only way it will happen is if I change the world around me. That’s not easy.

Audience

People think they need to change their kids or their job or retire. Waiting—just think of all the things you’re waiting for. You don’t have to wait anymore. You don’t have to change all the things outside; you can’t. All you need to do is change your priorities. Just rearrange. Take the priority to be content and put it at the very top. That’s all.

Contentment in your life is very possible. That is your possibility. Recognize it. Understand it. Grow with it every day. This is one of those things that does not stop growing. There is no limit. There is no limit to enjoyment.

There is no limit to clarity. There is no limit to joy. There is no limit to truest learning. There is no limit to understanding. You can never say, “I understand this too much.” There is a limit to ignorance, but what limit is there to understanding? Understand every day that there is a beauty that I can fill myself with today. Again and again and again.

— Prem Rawat