Prem Rawat is probably one of the last people who should pontificate about wellness as he has been obese and sickly all his life. He began wiith an aversion to exercise and claimed to have jogged once, a very dubious claim. He also derides yoga, sport, other forms of meditation and had claimed to be a vegetarian while secretly eating meat.

Prem Rawat: 99% of our Well-Being Begins from the InsidePrem Rawat: 99% of our Well-Being Begins from the Inside

14/01/2014

Its generally understood that we can survive without air for three minutes. Of course, you have to be in pretty good shape to do that. And then three hours if we have warmth, we need a shelter. Three days, perhaps, without water and three weeks without food. These things are important and we need clean air. We need good and clean shelter, we need clean water and we need clean food because these things are important for our sustenance but sometimes when we forget is that we also need a clean thought. We need to think clearly and we allow ourselves to be bombarded by all kinds of stuff and it pollutes us, pollutes us from the inside and we go around in this world thinking, "Oh yes, I, I am OK but sometimes we do not take account of, or notice of, what's happening on the inside and even if everything was perfect on the outside and it wasn't on the inside, there's going to be some imbalance. There's going to be some deficit, there's going to be some difference, there's going to be something happening that is not good.

We lose the power to observe, to understand and I'll give you a story and it's a simple little story. One day a man was searching, searching for clarity and wisdom and truth and all you know, all those beautiful things we all go around looking for, in our lives And we do so much in this world to get that, a little bit of that. So through his journey, through his searches, he came across somebody who said, "You know, there's a really wise man and he lives not too far from here. Maybe you can go and visit him." So the guy set off on a journey and he arrived where, so called, the Wise man lived and he came over to the Wise man. He says "I want to learn from you." And the Wise man said, "Well, that's that's very possible. I'll, I'd be happy to teach you whatever I can but first I have a condition. You must do this for me and then I will teach you and he said "What?" He says "Well, I'm about to go and get some water from the well and as I put the bucket in the well and bring out the water, I want you to be quiet. Don't say anything. So the guy thought "Great, this is … what a deal. I mean this is great. All I have to do is keep my mouth shut. He's gonna draw water from the well and then I will get to hear wisdom."

Prem Rawat: 99% of our Well-Being Begins from the Inside

So they both walked out into the farm and the Wise man picked up a bucket and he threw the bucket into the well and he pulled it out and the man is watching all this and as the bucket is pulled out, the bucket is full of holes and all this water is just leaking everywhere and the man thinks to himself "Like mmm doesn't doesn't he know that his bucket is full of holes. I mean how does he expect to extract water from the well if this is the situation, if this is the condition so sit back, all I have to do is just keep my mouth shut and then he will teach me he'll teach me the wisdom that he knows." So the Wise man threw the bucket back in and he pulled it out and again just like a sip water just leaking everywhere. Now the guy starts thinking "Hmm, maybe this guy is not that wise. I mean if he doesn't know that this bucket is full of holes and it, there's no way it's gonna retain any water. "Uh maybe he's not that wise but you know all I have to do is keep my mouth shut and it'll be fine." He throws the bucket again and pulls the bucket out and again leaking everywhere and he goes "You know maybe really this guy's not all that wise. Maybe I don't wanna learn from somebody like him because after all he has no cognizance that his bucket is full of holes and it's not gonna retain anything.

So the third time around that this guy had it and started to walk away and the Wise man said, "Where are you going? Don't you wanna ha ha? Don't you wanna learn wisdom from me? He said "Well? I'd learn. I wanna learn wisdom, but maybe not from you because I it's obvious you have no idea what's going on. I mean that bucket that you were trying to draw water with was full of holes. And don't you know that if that bucket is full of holes, you won't be able to keep any water." And the Wise man said "Exactly. I did that because I want you to understand. It is not just a question about trying to learn wisdom, but don't you realise your bucket, your inner bucket is also full of holes. Just like that bucket was incapable of retaining any water. You too are incapable of learning anything with all the holes

So what are the holes in our bucket? Well, all our grand ideas and all our expectations and all our concepts. "And this is how this is. This is how this is. This is how this is." In our daily lives, we don't, we don't think of those things as holes. We think of those things as "Wow. This is incredible. You know, I know so much" but sometimes we don't allow ourselves to feel. Everything becomes so much, so much of just ideas, ideas about what reality is. Ideas about what truth is. Ideas about what clarity is because when there is no clarity, do you know what happens? When there is no clarity, confusion takes over. Nature abhors a vacuum and so when there is no Clarity what comes through? Confusion. Umm and somebody might be, you know, thinking, "Well, what confusion exactly are you talking about?"

Prem Rawat: 99% of our Well-Being Begins from the Inside

Well, look at the situation in the world today. People are confused, confused about some of the simplest things in their life. A human being is willing to kill another human being. That's not clarity. That is confusion. When there is no understanding. When there's no understanding, misunderstanding takes over. Understanding of what? Well, OK, forget about understanding of the world and the universe and everything else. How about understanding of the self. When there is no understanding of the self, misunderstanding takes over and what is the misunderstanding of the self? Who am I? The question remains unanswered. People keep asking it generation after generation, but nobody answers it. And the answer to that question. Who am I? What am I doing here? All those beautiful things that a human being naturally asks. Naturally. And you know what the answer to it is also very natural. It comes from within. That's where the question comes from. And the answer to it also lies from within.

When there is no knowledge then self, ignorance takes over. Ignorance. When there is no knowledge of the self then the person becomes ignorant about their own being. And this causes problems. This causes difficulties. When there is no peace, upheaval takes over. Hmm. Let's see now what's going on in this world? I mean, we glorify wars. Excuse me. That is so anti-life, anti-life. How can anybody glorify wars? Because there is no self knowledge. So in the self becomes filled with ignorance. And here's the problem. Is there a mechanism in our body or in our system that can warn us? "Hey, you've lost self knowledge. You have lost peace and ignorance is taking over." Mmm Mmm mm no no. One goes out the window. The other one comes in and no one is the wiser. It's like "Oh no everything is just fine. That's just how it is!" (inaudible) But you know 20 million explanations follow. If you are hungry and you just continue to feel hungry. Do you have to explain it? "Ah gee um, let me see um no, you don't have to explain it. You feel the hunger. You feel the hunger.

When you don't feel peace and you feel the upheaval. Do you have to explain it? No. Get to peace. When there is no respect. When there is no self respect, what happens? Hatred. Hatred takes over. Because in that respect and where and for whom? First. First, for you. And when that hatred is inside, it's gonna come out. It's gonna come out one way or the other way. I mean, I don't care, you know, when you're not feeling good inside you can you can don on the finest clothes, it's not gonna make any difference. You can put on the grandest make up and it's not gonna make any difference. You can get the best haircut and it's not gonna make any difference. We, we strive for so much on the outside, little understanding of what is within us, and yet 99% of our well being begins from the inside. Well being. When there is no generosity in the soul, then what happens? Greed takes over. "I need, I need, I need, I need. I want, I want, I want." Because inside the abundance of those beautiful things are not being felt because if they could be felt, when they could be understood. It'd be, it'd be a different life for every single being on the face of this earth it would be a different life. And for every human being then instead of being the cause of pain, suffering, anger would be the cause of peace.

Prem Rawat: 99% of our Well-Being Begins from the Inside

Anyways, just a thought. (14:10) Just a thought, maybe whatever you do today you can think about the simplicity, that generosity, that knowledge, that peace, that kindness, that understanding.