Excerpts from Events

Two Ants [06:05 min] I will tell you a story. Once two ants met and one ant lived on a hill, that was made out of sugar, the other ant lived on a hill made out of salt. They met, "I live on the sugar hill." "Sugar hill- what is sugar?" "Oh, it is this wonderful sweet tasting hill." "Oh, I have never heard of that, I am from the salt hill, salt you know, its salty, you eat it, you get thirsty. This sweet stuff sounds pretty good." So, the ant from the sugar hill said, "Why don’t you come over one day and taste it, see do you like it." So, the ant decided, it is a pretty good idea, new taste. They decided on a date, the date came. The salt ant was on its way. "I am going to this sugar hill. What if I do not like it. What if it is terrible. Then I will be hungry. I know what I am gonna do, I am gonna carry some salt with me. In case I do not like the sugar, I will have the salt." It put some of the salt in its mouth, took off, and arrived. "Oh, I can’t wait to taste the sugar, where is it?" "Here, taste it." Ant put the sugar in the mouth, chewed on a little bit. "This is like salt." "Is it?" "Yes, there is no difference. You call it sugar here, we call it salt. I mean it is the same thing." So, the other ant said, "I do not think so, open your mouth, let me take a look." Sure enough there at the back of the mouth, there is this salt and it took out the salt. "Now taste it." "Unbelievable. So different. So amazing. So incredible. Love this stuff. I am moving."
All this was not to be had the salt remained in the mouth. Thats why clean the table. Clean the plate and taste this. As it should be tasted. Not mixed with something else. Taste this, so you will know what its flavour is. Thats all. This is not a blend. This is about you. This is not about your accomplishments. This is about you, you being alive. I know one thing and this is so simple, its almost ridiculously simple and it is, the coming and going of this breath, is the most amazing thing happening in your life.

Virtual World [06:06 min] There is this place but it's not really a place, it's virtual. And in this place, everything is virtual. It's not real, it's virtual. And you can create an alter personality of yourself. You can fly, and you can do all the things that you always wanted to do, but could never do. But virtually. Not really, virtually. When you fly in this virtual place, you don't actually feel like you are flying.
But, here is the fun part. In this virtual place people buy apartments. Make houses. Buy clothes for their avatar. That's what they are called, "Avatar". And in this virtual place when you buy the apartment, it's a virtual apartment but you pay for it in non-virtual money. It's not like play-money. No,no. It's real Euros, real Dollars, real Rupees. People meet in this virtual place and get married.
I am here this evening, I am telling you this. And I bring you a message. That message that ran true for Kabir, for Meera, for Sahjo, for so many, about reality. On one hand, a message says, that what you are looking for is inside of you. On one hand the world is making a complete idiot out of you.
Don't you think that has to be this virtual thing that you pay in real money for, the biggest trickster game ever invented. Because if you paid with virtual money, it's not, it's a game. And I should be telling you, you should choose. You should choose reality over this.
What are we? Who are we? What is our core? This is the day and age where we need to know this more than I believe any other time. Otherwise our choices would be virtual and consequences will be real. Consequences are never virtual, unfortunately. And choices made would have been virtual. Make believe.
So, who are you? What are you? What is your forte? What do you do the best? What is your real potential? What is this life?

Taking off the mask [06:08 min] Giovanna Tassi, the General Director of Ecuador Public Radio and Television, interviewed Ambassador of Peace Prem Rawat during one of his visits to Ecuador. In this excerpt, Prem Rawat speaks about how the message of peace has helped transform gang members in Ecuador, and the importance of each person seeing their own inner beauty.

Prem Rawat talks about Kabir [06:10 min] Peace is not a disappointment. Peace is a reality. The joy that is inside of you, is a reality. This is an actuality. And you see, this is where it gets a little funny. If I say it, you migth say, "Aww, I don't know, he said it." So, I bring along Kabir. And when he says it, people go, "O Wow! Kabir said that." And it works very well. Works very well for me. Just bring on along Kabir, and get him to say it. And then people go, "Oh yeah, I got it."

In this world, you become absolutely loved and credible after you die. It is absolutely amazing. Death has a profound effect on people. But thats just how it is. When Kabir was alive, did anyone hear him? No! He died penniless. No credit was given to him. He was just somebody battling this stuff. After his death, "Ohh, have you read his stuff!"

And what does he say? That divine that you are looking for, is inside of you. That Kabir said. See, I said the same thing a few minutes ago, exactly the same thing. Thats why Kabir is great.

What is this world like? He says that people are going all over the place searching and looking for that divine, when that divine dwells in you. Like the musk deer who searches for the scent throughout the forest but the scent resides within its own navel.

He says, imagine a pond and on the pond there grows a lotus and all around the lotus, the bees are buzzing. And the same way, he says, this mind wonders buzzing around all that it finds attractive. And who is caught in it, everyone. All the knowledgeable ones, all the intellectuals, all the ones that have all the credentials, all the holy ones. I did’t say that, Kabir did! They are all buzzing around this stuff.

All the while, the divine is waiting for you, to be acknowledged. The church of churches is within you. The temple of temples is within you. And the one you seek, is within you. What do you need? You need someone who can show you the way inside. Somebody who can put a mirror in front of you, so you can see, who you are.

Because You Are Alive [06:12 min] Because you are alive, you will make a voyage and what will this voyage be like, no one knows, you are given a vessel, this human body and by the very fact that it exists, it will make a voyage, it will go truly where no one has been before. All the logic and reasoning precludes reality. And reality is what you have to deal with every single day. Even though you do the same job every day, No two days are alike. Every day is different. It is not just a question of good and bad. It is a question of how you view that. How do you make this voyage, how does it happen? Who are you and what is the purpose of this voyage?

A call from within [06:15 min] "How much money is spent developing arms so that they can destroy- efficiently! How much money is spent for peace? When I talk about peace, people are extremely skeptical. If we dont have peace, we have nothing to be proud of! If we have not accomplished peace, then we would have a fundamental problem. We will not understand what the meaning of life is, what it means to be alive.
On one hand we feed the generations and on the other hand we prepare to kill them. Its a very strange dichotomy.
Have you felt that need? I cannot create the need for anyone. Do you understand what your calling from within has been? I have been looking for something all my life, I dont know what it is, but I’ve been looking for, all my life. Could it be peace? Could it be contentment?
When Socrates said "Know Thyself!" What was Socrates talking about? Now it has become a point of discussion and debate in universities. "Know Thyself!" Because you are the source of what you are looking for!
Do I have a vision for peace? No... I have something more! And very humbly, I say to you "What you are looking for, is within you!" That peace for you as a human being is entirely possible on the face of this earth. Not impossible- very, very possible. Turn within and you will feel it!"

Thammasat University, Thailand "The Greatest Gift" [06:17 min] Prem Rawat addresses the civic leader, government officials and professors at the Thammasat University. Thammasat University is one of the most prestigious universities in Thailand. More than 70 years since its establishment in 1934, the University has produced more than 240,000 undergraduate and graduate students who have greatly contributed to the development and progress of the society and the country. The University’s alumni include prime ministers, top-level politicians and officers, Bank of Thailand governors, as well as most of the city’s governors.

What makes you truly happy? [06:17 min] If you were to lose everything! Can you be happy? When you were born, how many husbands did you have? or how many wives or girlfriends did you have? Did you even, in that time, know that you were happy? Were you incapable of being happy? Have you seen a little baby?
I want to ask you, what makes you truly happy? Is it some thing, or is it you? This my friend (pointing to the heart), is the home of contentment and peace.

To be happy [06:21 min] The thirst is always there to be fulfilled and that is the real thirst.
Those wants that I have in my life, that have not changed since I was a child. Do you know of those wants, do you know, what they are??
The promises, you made to yourself, to always fulfill those wants, have you kept them up? Have you looked?? Have you searched for that? that has always been within you?
You have searched outside but have you searched inside?? This is why this is so different, this is why my message is so different, because everybody points outside, I point inside. I say what you need, you already have

Who are you?? There is one part of you that always was, is and will be. One part of you that makes you, YOU. This (skin) could become a pumpkin, come back as eggplant, because it is just dirt, just dirt. Dirt will mix into dirt and next thing you know, it could be coming up as jackfruit tree, coming up as flower. It could be coming up as eggplant, could be coming up as banana. Actually it’s not much of a difference, because molecules are just molecules, but what makes you as you, is the union of the two the infinite and finite and come together. That one part of you, that always will be, will be, was, but wasn’t you and will be but it won’t be you, you, is those two have come together, and so far those two are together, possibility exists and of all the possibility, one of possibility that exists is that this finite machine can feel the infinity.
As close as they get, you feel. The feeling machine, this is what you have been given, feeling machine-it feels, feels and feels. This is what it does and not only does It feel, it does something else. When it feels something good, it likes it; it smiles, becomes content, and actually becomes happy. This is not me saying this; so many people have said this.
Plug this machine, you keep plugging it into the world, trying to happy just like walking around this world, try this, try that and you know brings happiness when it fizzles out it is gone. Hey instead of plugging into all these things, plug in to that infinite, that’s in you and it fireworks, bliss, contentment, joy, all become yours.

The Ultimate Question [06:22 min] The Ultimate Question, How are you? You get that question too many times, so you do not think about it. But become patient, you want to be learned? You want to become knowledgeable? Ask that question to yourself. How are you? And listen to the answer, don’t think. When you have to say to someone, who asks you the question of, how are you? You say, I am fine, thank you. Thats easy to say. It does’nt matter. You can be tired. You can be miserable. Somebody comes over and says, how are you? You say, I am fine. In reality, that's stupidity. But also, do you really want to explain your troubles to an unknown person? That would be stupidity too. The question, in my opinion. How are you, is meant for you and you should ask that to yourself.
So, How are You? Are you thankful?
Are you in that state of bliss?
Are you enjoying that gift of knowledge?
Is your desert, in full bloom? Three hundred and sixty-five days per year, seven days a week, full bloom. That beautiful aroma in the perfume of fresh flowers. Does it really permeate your life? Do you feel blessed? Do you feel content? Accept, and let that grace bring the rain to your desert. Grace to me is just that, those big billowing clouds coming. Grace is that wind, that turned and where it is dry, brings that moisture and then it can begin to rain. To feel blessed, because you are. So, you should feel blessed. You should feel graced because you have grace in your life.
Be patient and the troubles, they come and let the wind of grace sweep them away. Is that upto me? Yes. Don’t hang on, let go. Hang on to that column, hang on to that garland, hang on to that pillar of breath that comes in and out of you. If you do, nothing can break that link. Enjoy, because you have been given so much to enjoy. Learn, because so much is being taught to you. And above all, be patient and then watch this dance of life unfold. It will unfold. It is going to unfold. Oh, you will see things you have never seen before and hopefully this cup of this heart will get larger and larger and larger. That is its nature. Let it be filled more.The Ultimate Question, How are you? You get that question too many times, so you do not think about it. But become patient, you want to be learned? You want to become knowledgeable? Ask that question to yourself. How are you? And listen to the answer, don’t think. When you have to say to someone, who asks you the question of, how are you? You say, I am fine, thank you. Thats easy to say. It does’nt matter. You can be tired. You can be miserable. Somebody comes over and says, how are you? You say, I am fine. In reality, that's stupidity. But also, do you really want to explain your troubles to an unknown person? That would be stupidity too. The question, in my opinion. How are you, is meant for you and you should ask that to yourself.
So, How are You? Are you thankful?
Are you in that state of bliss?
Are you enjoying that gift of knowledge?
Is your desert, in full bloom? Three hundred and sixty-five days per year, seven days a week, full bloom. That beautiful aroma in the perfume of fresh flowers. Does it really permeate your life? Do you feel blessed? Do you feel content? Accept, and let that grace bring the rain to your desert. Grace to me is just that, those big billowing clouds coming. Grace is that wind, that turned and where it is dry, brings that moisture and then it can begin to rain. To feel blessed, because you are. So, you should feel blessed. You should feel graced because you have grace in your life.
Be patient and the troubles, they come and let the wind of grace sweep them away. Is that upto me? Yes. Don’t hang on, let go. Hang on to that column, hang on to that garland, hang on to that pillar of breath that comes in and out of you. If you do, nothing can break that link. Enjoy, because you have been given so much to enjoy. Learn, because so much is being taught to you. And above all, be patient and then watch this dance of life unfold. It will unfold. It is going to unfold. Oh, you will see things you have never seen before and hopefully this cup of this heart will get larger and larger and larger. That is its nature. Let it be filled more.