Prem Rawat: Tel Aviv 9th April 2008 PWK-040
This speech was released on tw0 separate DVDs, This one, Words of Peace Global DVD PWK-040 titled "The Importance of Being Alive" and on a Peaceflix double header DVD titled "The Importance of Being Alive" along with the speech from the 7th November. The speech appears to be the same in both releases. This DVD promoted Prem Rawat rather than Maharaji. The decline and death of 'Maharaji' was well under way by 2008 and he would be gone and all official traces of him removed from the internet by 2010.
A person might reasonably ask who is this person, this Prem Rawat of whom no-one has ever heard? Why are there CDROMs published with some short interviews of him on them which are being freely distributed for free? The short answer is that this person, Prem Rawat, wishes you to know information about him, supplied by him, for his own benefit. He wishes to impress you, he wishes to convince you of something. How is he able to afford to do this?
Prem Rawat started his career as the son of a quite successful Northern Indian guru who titled Himself Yogiraj Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj. As the name suggests, he did not claim to be an ordinary man. At his death, young Prem succeeded him and became the new Incarnation of God. He came to the West in 1971 as the head of a rapidly growing cult and continued in this role for around 15 years when he decided to drop off his history and Hindu religious trappings and start again as a secular teacher, Maharaji, with the same secret meditation methods he claimed could give you Peace, bankrolled by the 10,000 or so followers he kept. This explains why he qualifies to get up on stage and make ridiculous claims. He has the authority of 10,000 or more long-term followers who pay for his halls, his travel and his luxury living.
Twenty years later he decided to begin to use his followers' donations cash-flow to make him appear to be a respected international inspirational teacher of Peace and slowly drop off the title 'Maharaji' and turn the recruitment of people to his Knowledge meditation into a side hustle, an internet virtual religion only requiring a skeleton crew using online methods of recruitment.
Prem Rawat and his dedicated followers, who still believe he is somehow really special if not still divine, would like and have gone to great lengths to hide his early career as as a boy God. This has not been totally succesful so the point of interviews like these is to provide positive spin.
These are not actual interviews. There are no actual questions designed to elicit answers than can be critically analysed. They are introductions into puff pieces and vanity publishing.
- taking the responsibility for this breath, taking the responsibility for enjoying every single breath. It's an effort.
Prem Rawat: The Importance of Being Alive Tel Aviv
9th April 2008 PWK-040
That's why we are here. To talk a little bit about peace. And I'm not here to tell you what is right, what is wrong. I'm not here to try to point out all the problems of the world. Because there are too many. It would take more than one evening to go through them. But you know, despite of all those problems, despite of all those things that are wrong in this world, there are some things 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 have come to talk about. There are people who like to point out all the problems. And I'm, in a way, glad that they do. But I think there should be some people who should point out the good, the right, the beautiful. Because this existence that you have, this life that you have, despite of all the problems, is beautiful, is wonderful. And sometimes we forget the importance of being alive. Caught up in our troubles, in our turmoils, in our ideas, in our concepts, we forget what we have been given. You 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 flow. They hold their shape. The water has come in the desert and carved the shape. And that river, that dry river, waits and 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 the morning and realizing one's responsibilities. I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this. Or there is something inside each human being that wants to smile, that wants to be thankful, to feel gratitude, to feel joy. This is not my idea, by the way.
This is not something that one day, you know, I was walking somewhere and a big flash of light hit me and said, you know, why you go out there and talk about joy? What I say to you today is my own experience. I have responsibilities. There are good days. There are bad days. And in good days, I want to be happy. In good days, I want to feel peace. In good days, I want to feel like I'm alive. In good days, I want to feel connected to myself. I want to feel centered. I want to feel one, not two and three and four and five. And then there are bad days. And you know what? Even in the bad days, I just want to be happy. I do not come here to try to explain to you the concept of happiness. Nobody can explain to you the concept of happiness. You know what happiness is. Happiness isn't just simply smiling. Happiness isn't simply laughing. Happiness isn't simply a time of day when you become happy. Happiness is happiness because you feel good, not about something, because see, this is what we think happiness is. Happiness is feeling happy about something. Our child passes college. I am so happy. We win a lottery ticket. I am so happy. We get a promotion. I am so happy. Because we think our happiness is associated with all the things in this world. Somehow, this world is going to make us happy. And I say to you that there is only one person in this world who can make you happy. And you know who that is? Ah, it happens to be this person that you know very little about.
Strange. This person that can make you happy, really happy. You really know much about them. You know about your friends. You know a lot about them. Other people, the other associates, the business, the colleagues, but very little about yourself. Who are you? Because you are that person who can make you very happy. Who are you? You came. You are given this gift of breath. You think much about it. You will, but it'll be at the end, when it's getting hard. Then, breath, breath, breath. Life is important. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Life is important. I mean, I see on the highways, people driving, honking horn, going around, yelling, screaming. Somehow, I get the feeling that these people really think life is important. They just want to get where they're going. That's what's important. I want you to take a minute. I want you to take a little time. I want you to understand something, that your life is incredibly important. You're not a number. You're not a name.
This is always, I find curious. I travel so much. You come to a country, and you have to show them your passport, and they could ask you, who are you? I'm me. This is better than the picture in the passport. It's live. It's real. But no, I need a piece of paper to prove I am me. Some countries even issue an identity card. Identity card. This is your identity. A piece of plastic. Listen, I'm not criticizing identity cards, and I'm not criticizing passports. We need those things in this world. But you go believing that, because you are more than that piece of plastic. You are more than the sum of all your goods and all your bads. You are more. You are more. So many people in this world live in fear. In certain places, it's probably a good idea. But there is a place inside of you that cannot have fear. Because in this place, what you should be feeling is freedom.
The freedom that I am talking about is a freedom that a person can feel even when they are inside of a prison. Too much? Inside of a prison. How do you feel free? Ah. You know, we have our formulas. You see, sadness has nothing to do with formulas. And because sadness has nothing to do with formulas, neither does happiness have anything to do with formulas. This equals this equals this equals happiness. This plus this, this plus this minus this equals happiness. No. Either you feel happiness or you feel happiness. Either you feel joy in your life or you feel joy in your life. Either you understand in your life or you understand in your life. Either you feel peace in your life or you feel peace in your life. What do you feel? Do you feel that feeling in your life? Because this is where this is the stage where peace will dance. This is the stage where peace will dance. This is the stage where happiness will sing a song for you. This is the stage. This is what this is about, my friends. This is what it is about. The greatest achievement of a human being isn't going to be that they went to the moon. That will be overshadowed by somebody going to Mars. There will be technology that will be so incredible in the future that they're going to look at us and laugh.
You build a house and you say this is my home. Does the home also say you are my owner? After you're gone, somebody else will move in and they will call it home. And after they're gone, somebody else will move in. Just a very slow hotel. Come, stay for a while, move out, somebody else. What is yours? What is yours? Do you know? You, this life pounding into you, this breath pounding into you. Where does it come from? Where does it go? And every time that it comes, it brings the gift of life. And what, my friends, is life? When you are conscious, this life holds promises after promises after promises after promises after promises after promises for you. Gifts after gifts after gifts after gifts for you. After gifts after gifts. Which gift have you accepted? If you are a stranger to your own self, then you came. You lived a while and like many, ended up living. Came, lived a while and gone. It will happen. Three things, three facts. You were born, this is a fact. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. Second, you're alive. Third, you've got to go. Birth, this is what I'm, what I say and this is how I look at it. Birth has happened. I, you know, when I was born, I really remember. They, obviously I was born, but I, I remember being born. And the last one, going, it's going to happen. I even have to make an appointment. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. I have no control over it. Ah, but between the two, between the birth and the going, I can do something.
And of all the things that I can accomplish, let it be that I am fulfilled, that I know myself. That of all the people I have tried to understand, that I understand myself. Because this is a desert and I want the rain of peace. And I want the rain of understanding to come. There are dry rivers here waiting to flow again. There are seeds here that are waiting to flower, to blossom, to blossom. I have been watching spring coming. Ah, it is so beautiful to watch spring come. In the winter, right outside my office, in my home, I have a tree. And in the winter, it shed every leaf, everything, just completely, everything. Bare bones, just branches. And then, slowly but surely, spring began to come. And not a minute wasted, and not a day wasted for those green shoots to start appearing. This I call dedication. This I call devotion. This I call life. This I call the grand miracle. Once again, not an excuse. Hey, why are we doing this? If that tree was a human tree, it would say, why are we doing this? Because winter is going to come again, and we're going to have to shed these leaves. So, forget about this. Just hibernate. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not logic.
But something that transcends logic. Love is not logical. But even though it is not logical, it doesn't lose its importance. And for these little shoots to wait, and to wait, and to wait, and that waiting, and that waiting. They cannot forecast the weather. They know, hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, I know these two days are warm, but then the next two days is going to be raining again. So, just wait. No, no, no, no, no, no. Here it is. The warmth has come. The sun is shining. The temperature is right. Let's go. And tender, and delicate as those shoots are, even the two days, cold and rain, we will bear it out, and keep growing, keep growing, keep growing, taking a chance, a calculated risk, or a drive that is more powerful. This scene plays out of thousands upon millions upon billions of trees and branches on the face of this earth every year. Your spring has come, my friends. Your spring has come. It is time to reach within and resurface the hope for peace in your life. To see that good, to understand that good, to once again know, to once again understand, to once again say yes to what you have ignored for so long, which has been no one else but you. You. You. Socrates said, know thyself. Why? Why did he say that? Because in you is the treasure.
There was a guy, and he was very poor. And so there was a little piece of farm, and he wanted to buy that. So he saved up money, as much money as he could save, and nobody was using the land. So he went up to the owner and said, you know, can I buy this from you? And the guy said, okay, you can have it. I'll take the money. He took the money and sold him his farm. And this man worked really, really hard, really worked hard, plowed the fields, and the land yielded beautiful crops. And slowly and slowly and slowly, but surely this man, this farmer, he became quite rich. He got married, he built himself a house, he had children. And what he did was he took most of his wealth, and he bought gold, and he put the gold in a trunk, and he buried the trunk in his farm. Time passed, he got old, he called his sons, he said, it's time for me to go. But please, plow the farm, plow the fields. He didn't tell them that he had buried the treasure. He just said, plow the fields. forget to plow the fields, plow the fields, plow the fields. And you will be rewarded beyond belief. He passed away, they did his cremation ceremony, whatever. Lost all interest in the farm, the farm became again, once again, dead, broken, whatever. And somebody came along and said, here is a little money I have, would you please sell me your farm? The sons weren't really interested in the farm anyways, so they sold him the farm. And this man plowed the fields. And one day, when he was plowing the fields, what do you suppose he came across? The buried treasure. Instantly, he was richer than he could have ever imagined. This is the field, plow the field. So now, I'm sure people are sitting there, it's like, well, that sounds really good. How do we plow the field? What plow? I mean, you know, we took a plow, you can't plow this with it. I mean, I know, this is just, are you interested? Are you interested? I mean, have you said to yourself tonight? Yeah, he's saying all these things, but he's not saying how. Have you? Then it must be that I've got your interest. And if I've got your interest, then you have just taken the first step to plowing the field. That's where it begins. Because now you are going to wonder. And you are going to think. And I want you to think. I want you to think that you have a heart. And if you know your heart, I want you to be as curious as you can be about touching your own heart. And if tonight you carry away nothing from here, then at least the idea that what you have is good. Great. Maybe we take that one little second and see the humanity in us. Because a human being today does not see humanity. We are human beings. But we act like human beings. Because a human would have the most compassion for another human. Compassion. You know, you know what it is like to be you. You would go, I understand. You have good times, you have bad times.
No, no. Today it is, I'm going to kill you. All our education, all our learning, all our history, all our Knowledge has brought us to brink of war all over the place. This is not what education is about. This is not the Knowledge that has been spoken about. Have you ever heard this one? It is called the Knowledge will set you free. I have. The Knowledge will set you free. The Knowledge that so many people are involved with is not setting them free, is enslaving and enslaving and enslaving and enslaving and people are ready to kill each other. And more we say peace, the more turmoil there is in this world. Something is wrong. Peace begins with each human being. Peace is, olive trees are not looking for peace. And the reason why I say olive trees particularly, because that's the sign, that's the symbol, olive branch. If something, if someone is bothering the olive trees, believe me, it's human beings. Left alone, they'll be just fine. We need to see our inner potential. Not so that we can be better at work, not so that we can be better at going to the moon, not so that we can be better at exploring Mars, but so that we can be better at feeling the joy that resides within, inside of us.
That's why. So, I have a little voice. I have been speaking about this since I was very young. And this is what I have been saying. People have come to me. People have challenged me. And humility works very well. Okay. All I know is what I know. I say to you what comes from my heart to your heart. I'm not here to change your religion. If you are a Jew, be a good Jew. If you're a Christian, be a good Christian. If you're a good, if you want to be a good Hindu, be a good Hindu. I'm not here to challenge that. I'm not here to tell you how should it be after you're dead. I'm not here to talk to you about afterlife. I'm here to talk about life. I'm not here to talk to you about then. I'm here to talk to you about now. And if you are interested, I can help. Believe me, what you are looking for is already inside of you. And it will be if you never see me again. So a lot of people ask, well, so what do you offer? I'll say this metaphorically.
I offer a mirror. Not a new face. I offer a mirror. And people go, but what if I want to look at the mirror? Even though when you place the mirror in front of you, technically you are looking at the mirror. But one of the most wonderful thing about a mirror is you really see the mirror. You see the reflection in the mirror. And what you will see is you. Be conscious. Be real. Be alive. Because this is the gift you have been given. Understand. Understand yourself. Understand your own humanity. A lot of people think, well, if I give, will that make me better? There are some things you can give. And giving is good. But there are some things you cannot give. You cannot give this breath to somebody. Here, two more. Three more. Four more. You cannot give this time that you have to anybody. Here, take one of my hours. So many people running around.
I have the time. I have the time. I have the time. You have the time. What do you mean you have the time? Who's got who? Time has you, my friends. You are not in control of the time. Time is in control of you. You are only in control of the things you do in that time. You're not in control of the time. Understand. Understand your limitations and accept those with humility. Understand your gifts and accept them with great pride. Great pride. Wherever you go, you carry a lamp within you. You ever, ever have to roam in darkness.
This is what I came to say. It's simple. Maybe you've already heard this all before. If you have, maybe I re-reminded you. If you haven't heard this, maybe you'll think about it. I have nothing to sell because that which you are looking for is already inside of you. So, thank you very much for coming and I hope you get something out of it. I go place to place. I do my best to try to tell people about the possibility they have. Some listen to me. Some. It's okay either way because I will continue. Another town, another place, another few who I can tell about this possibility. And to whom I have shown that lamp, they do enjoy their walks day or night because they have to live in fear. So, thank you very much and a very good night to you. Thank you.
