Excerpts from Events

Happiness [05:23 min] What makes you happy? Is it something you do that makes you happy? Is it a sequence of circumstances that makes you happy?

Take Advantage [05:26 min] I just want you to take full advantage of every single day. It's an effort, but try. You won't succeed everyday, but you must try. Be conscious, be aware of this existence, be aware of this breath. Be aware that you are alive. Thats what it is, to know yourself. Thats what it is, to know that fundamental inside of you. Thats your potential.
So, I'll bring you very good news. In this day and age, when you look at the newspaper, and it is not nice. And the news is that you are alive and within you shines the sun of joy and peace and tranquility so bright that it can make any darkness go away. Open these windows of understanding.
I have nothing to sell. It is not for sale. People have said to me, "Oh you must sell this." I can't. It's free. It's too precious, too valuable to charge for. It's free because it comes from a heart, it is a gift. For all those people who have this gift, enjoy it. Make that effort everyday.

Looking for Joy [05:30 min] Open my eyes, and let me see the good that is in my heart. Let me admire the beauty of my existence, the simplicity of being. So many people come to listen to me with hope that I will give them something magical- A word that they can speak and all of a sudden their car that hasn't started for 15 years will start. The toilet that hasn't flushed for 30 years, will flush! It's no coincidence that story of Aladdin exists in all the culture in some form. If you open your eyes and see, you ultimate wish has already been fulfilled

Coming and Going of Breath [05:41 min] You want to know how to recognize the miracle, then understand that today is the miracle, and tomorrow when it comes will be a miracle. Your breath is a miracle. If you don't know what you have, how will you know what is lost? You need to know what you have. And you have so much.

Path to inner peace begins with just that- opening your eyes, and looking. And seeing things as they are. Not how could it. Not how it should it. But as it is.

So much, so much goes on. So many ideas come. And you little boat is sailing down the river. I say to you "Captain, wake up!" This is not the time to dream my friend. Wake up. Look, look where you're going. If you don't, disaster is inevitable. Thats not what you need to have in your life. Everyday should be a celebration.

Have you ever seen a sunflower? A sunflower does not have GPS, or maps, or big instruments. But somehow this flower turns at night, and is ready for the sun. Will it be a cloudy day? Don't know, it's just ready. It's facing the right direction for the sun to come. And whether sun is visible or not, it just follows and follows the sun. All the clouds don't stop the sunflower. Because ultimately, its not the clouds that are permanent. It is the relationship with the sun. And the time comes, clouds clear. And once again the sunflower is tracking the sun.

No Blind Faith [05:46 min] One thing that I would like to mention to you is, you need to be fulfilled in your life. You need to have peace in your life. With me, or without me. It doesn't matter. It really does not matter. If I can help. Great! If I can't. Fine! That does not change the point. And the point is, you should be fulfilled. Thats the point. You should be in that peace, that is the point.
Logic will come, logic will change. But we are all human beings. This is what we are, this is who we are. I see rich and I see poor, and then all of a sudden, I just see people. I see educated and I see uneducated, and then all of a sudden, I see just people. Same thing, those eyes looking out to see something nice. Thats all. The ears yearning, to listen to something beautiful. This heart in everyone of us, yearning to be fulfilled.
One journey completed, one journey taken in surety. One journey made real. One life, at a time. You see, you are just like me. And I am just like you. We are both vulnerable in the same sense and we both desire the same thing, and so is our yearning, and so is our understanding, and so is our need. If we fundamentally recognize that need, then thats what it is all about.
What do I offer?
I offer knowledge.
How do you get it?
You listen and make sure that this is what you want. No blind faith. No blind faith here.

The Journey [05:52 min] Where does this journey begin? Do you know? It's interesting. You know how to breathe, right? But I wonder if you know that this saga begins, this symphony begins, with the first breath in.

Kabir- No-nonsense, no philosophical mumbo-jumbo, straightforward poet [05:53 min] There are people are far more infatuated by only two questions

1. Where did I come from?
2. Where am I gonna go?

Then there is certain group of people who are much more attracted by the other two questions

3. Why am I here?
4. Who am I?

In your life you have to focus on which of these four questions, you really want answers to. Which ones? On the subject of first two, there's immense amount of speculations. And somehow the way the nature has it- you can't verify it. It's all hearsay. Whilst the other two question requires tremendous amount of consciousness and clarity and they deal with 'now'.

To put this in perspective I'm going to quote Kabir. My favorite no-nonsense, straightforward enlightened poet. No philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Kabir says:

Ram bulava bhejiya
diya Kabira roye
jo sukh saadhu sang mein
so baikunth na hoye

"God has sent me an invitation- the final call". And upon hearing this, knowing that he's going to die, Kabir starts to weep. For he says, the joy that I find in the company of this truth and in the company of the seekers of the truth. That joy is greater than the joy of heaven.

Promise of Life [05:59 min] I'm not here to tell you what is right what is wrong. I'm not here to try to point out the problems of the world, because there are too many, it will take more than an evening. But you know, despite of all those things that are wrong in this world, there are somethings that are good. Really really good- all the ugliness that is in this world, there is something very very beautiful. All the mistakes that have been made in this world, there is one that is perfect- It's not a mistake. That perfection, that beauty, that right, is in you. And that is what I've come to talk about.

There are people who like to point out all the problems. And I'm glad in a way, that they do. But I think there should be some people who point out what is beautiful. Because this life that you have, despite of all the problems, is beautiful. And sometimes we forget the importance of being alive. Caught up in our troubles, turmoils, ideas, and concepts; we forget what we have been given. Look at the desert, the time to see the desert is not in summer, but when it rains. Because mysteriously even the desert holds in it, the promise of beautiful life; of delicate tender flowers. But it needs the rain. Without rain the rivers don't flow. Even though they hold their shape. That dry river waits, and patiently waits for it to rain. And once again, the water to flow through it. It is ready. It is ready. Who are we? What are we? Are we the sum of all these things that happen around us? Or is there something more? The sum of waking up in morning and realizing one's responsibilities? Or there is something inside each human being that wants to smile. That wants to be thankful, and feel gratitude- To feel the joy!

Is there something worth appreciating? [06:00 min] When we go to a restaurant and your bread is not warm, you say to the waiter "I would appreciate if you could bring me warm bread"
We use appreciate for every small thing, say if someone brings you glass of water, you go: "I appreciate that!"

Do you know what appreciation is? Do you have any idea what appreciation is?
Regardless of your age, this is one of the things that will not change- Appreciation! Even when you're 90 years old and you can't see so well. When your glasses are like binoculars!
The power of appreciation is not going to change. Hone in on it. Last year I was in Portland and I was coming back to the hotel after doing an event. I was looking out of the window, and there was this couple. For whatever reason, they were homeless and they laid down their bed in front of a shop. And she had biggest smile on her face. And I was like "Wow! You've lost everything. You're going to sleep outside and you're smiling!" - Appreciation!
Was that something she was looking forward too? to lose the home and sleep outside? Whatever the reason was- she was able to be happy and appreciate. That is the power of appreciation!

Is there something that is truly worth appreciating? And the answer is: Yes!
What is it? It is this moment in which this breath arrives. It is worth appreciating. The moment that you understand the simplicity of this existence, then it is worth appreciating. The moment you realize your desire to be fulfilled, then this is worth appreciating.
There is nothing you can do to remove the desire to be fulfilled. Nothing!
Your desire to be fulfilled.

Life [06:02 min] Prem Rawat talks about his perspective on life, analogizing to playing a piano.
If you want to look at life, look at it this way. That it's a bunch of layers. Only one sheet is real. The rest are just translucent overlays on top of that one real sheet.

What I do, is I ask people to lift those layers one by one and see that they're only the layers. Every layer is changeable. The only thing that doesn't change is the basic fundamental layer on which everything is developed. Life too is very much like those layers- We've got our relationships, friends, jobs, this and that; pretty soon getting caught in all of these layers that we forget what the main sheet is- what it is about.

Some pianos come with 88 keys. Lowest note- highest note. All songs played on that piano will be contained between those notes. If artist goes beyond those 88- nothing! Doesn't matter how good he is. If someone says "Press all 88 keys at once, and it will play every single song that can be played on the piano". Technically it's true. But it will not sound beautiful, it will have no emotions. A song is not just about playing the key, but the silence in between. That's what defines the song.

In this life, if you take all these notes and mash them together and say "yeah, everything is fine. I'm playing the song." You're sadly mistaken- there's no song. If life doesn't seem quite right, you are not mistaken- It's not being played right. It's about the sequence, the silence, the harmony. This is what constitutes a song. It beings with your existence, your life, your clarity, your song. You playing the song, not some hired artist playing it for you. It is your enjoyment of that song that means everything.