Prem Rawat In Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday 24 June 2012
By 2012 Prem Rawat was leaving his Maharaji persona behind and was settling into being just Prem Rawat.
- Rawat confidently and surely berates the audience at the state of the world as he sees it as if the audience is anything but his most devoted devotees. Fortunately he's watched a TV show about dog training and this is the metaphor he uses
- He says that whenever he flew over the place where the Titanic sunk, some of the passengers opened a window to look. A Lear Jet flies at 45,000 feet
- He still uses the phrase "come onto this earth" as if we come from elsewhere. Despite his confident assertion breathing is not the simplest action and rainwater is not 100% pure and pristine because water is an excellent solvent and rain always contains dissolved gases from the atmosphere. It will always be slightly acidic because carbon dioxide in the air reacts with water to form carbonic acid.
Prem Rawat In Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday 24 June 2012
Thank you. Not long ago, I had an opportunity to tell a little story and uh I will say that same story and speak the same story here and I think more or less, there's an element in that story that is so real and it applies somehow to us. So here's this very deep, philosophical story. Once camels were chewing some hay as they do and after a little while the little camel, the son, turned to the father and said, "Hey, dad, do you mind if I ask you a question?" And the father said, go ahead. He says, "What is this thing we have in the back? This hump." And the father said, "Well, it is so that when we go across the deserts, we can survive without drinking water for a long time. That's what that is." "So well, that's interesting." He went back to chewing hay. After a little while again the camel said "Dad, do you mind if I ask you another question?" "Sure." He says "How come we have these big eyelashes?" And the father said, "Well son, that is so that when we are in the desert and there is a sandstorm, it prevents the sand from getting in our eyes." And then the son said "Oh, that's very interesting." Then he said, "Dad, do you mind if I ask you another question?" "Sure." "So how come our feet are like the way they are? Big" and the father said, "Oh, so that when we have to go across the desert, we won't sink in. We'll just be able to walk." And the son said, "Well, that's that's very interesting." Went back to chewing hay. After a little while the again the son said "I have another question." And the father said "What?" And the son said, "What are we doing in a zoo?"
So let me bring this to the point that I'm trying to make. And the point I'm trying to make is, who are we? Who are we? Because we look at all this world around us. Technology everywhere. Buildings, roads, aeroplanes, airports, helicopters, boats. Wars going on. Debates! Judgement, Police! Military! The different divisions of military. Political crisis going on. All of these things are happening. Happening and they're happening and they're happening and they're happening. So obviously I think it'd behooves us to ask the question. Who are we? Because another point that I want to make is, there is a disease. And if you have a disease, it's gonna produce a symptom. It's gonna produce a symptom. And the symptom you may not like. But to get rid of the symptom, the best way to get rid of the symptom is to diagnose the disease and get rid of the disease.
Somebody was walking around limping and I said what happened to you? So I just came out of you know the room and I tumbled and bruised my foot. I said bruised your foot. Did you have it X-rayed? No, no, no, no, no. I It'll be fine. It's just bruised. I said, are you? I I I said to the person Are you crazy? That's your foot. You need that to walk around. You could make this situation much, much worse. Why don't you have it X rayed? So the person, you know, I guess I was very strong about this so they had their foot X-rayed and sure enough, it's broken.
So did anything change? Well, not really, but now there is a certainty, not uncertainty, not guessing. Now there is a certainty to what the problem is and how to take care of the problem. So, when you look at all these problems that exist in the world, and there's a lot, and I'm not interested in a lot of them, but there is basic things I see. Children abandoned. It's like, how could that happen? People hungry when there is no really no shortage of food. Food is produced in abundance. But people going hungry. And you look at this and you start to start to see a picture emerge that here are symptoms. People fighting each other over the stupidest, stupidest things. This aeroplane ventured into our airspace. Excuse me. Somebody draws a line and that becomes yours. It is like that famous thing. Whenever flying over the North Atlantic. I always, you know, on the map. You can see where the Titanic sank. So I always say, you know, and by the way, not always, but as many times as I feel like making fun of this situation. I say, Oh, look on the on the left hand side. That's where the Titanic sank. And some people open up the window. And I was like, What do you think you're gonna see? It sank. But I see this picture. The restlessness. The non understanding.
And the only example I can draw is when a dog forgets to be a dog, what happens? There is a show and I have seen it where they show, you know, dogs misbehaving. So what happens? The dog thinks he is the owner and the owner is the dog. And he wants the owner to be submissive. He bites the owner. The owner is afraid of his own dog. The dog goes and rips every pillow. Rips up the sofa. Things that dog is not supposed to do, but is doing because the dog somehow has forgotten its place. So I ask a simple question. Could it be? Could it be looking at the symptoms of this world? Could it be that we as human beings have forgotten who we are? Could it be? See I'm saying could it be as a question, as much gentler. It's not so confronting. It's easier to swallow. It's but that's what happens. What goes out the window? The human beings' humanity. The value of life disappears.
Evolvement carries no point or purpose. If you have a train that is intact on the tracks and you bring another engine and you put it on that train. Well, it'll go faster because now there's two engines pushing it. But if the train is derailed and you bring another engine and you attach it to that train and push it, you're going to only make the situation worse. So I know. I know what you're thinking. Are you saying? Are you saying that there should be no military? There should be no this. There should we know that. No, I'm not saying that. You're saying that. I'm saying, could we evolve to a point where we could talk. So the first division of the army would be the talkers. But that's not how it is. No, you do this work and then now of course, one of the nation's on this planet Earth has come up with a new one, pre-emptive. I mean, if that's the way the world really worked nothing would function. The policeman would hand you a ticket every time he saw you- you might be speeding, you might speed, you might have a parking violation. So all of a sudden, as soon as you park your car its just your windshield is full of tickets, pre-emptive.
So now, I would like to talk about who are we? On one hand. What we are? Nothing special, really. Listen, really, really. Swimming? No good. Walking? Not really that good. Mountain climbing? Nothing like the goats. Flying? Oh, we're bad at it. So what are we good at? Really good at and this is what makes us who we are. The ability to experience that beauty. That joy that resides in the heart of every single human being. That's it, that's what we're good at. And so I know you're thinking Well, what about the sheep and the goat and the you know, I don't know about them and I would never had a deep conversation with a goat or a sheep or a camel or, you know, but with you, I can. Then you are, like I am, a human being. How does it begin? It begins very simply that I come on to this earth. How does it begin? That my symphony of life truly begins with the first breath that I take. If you are born in a hospital, you take that breath you get to come home. You are born in a hospital. You don't take that breath. You don't get to come home. That breath. The simplest of all actions.
And yet the most profound of all actions. Profound because that is where it begins. That's what keeps happening all throughout your existence. And when that process stops, you no longer exist. I mean, it's really amazing. Yes I know some people are going. Yeah, but I can hold my breath. It's really amazing what happens if you were to hold your breath. If you really managed to hold your breath and you hold your breath and you hold your breath and you hold your breath and you hold your breath. You really managed to hold your breath. You pass out and then he would start breathing normally. (giggles) Because something is happening. This is happening ,when this is not happening, you are not happening.
So now, if you agree with me, because that's that's the first test. Remember when when when a baby is born and I don't know if you've been in a room where a baby is born I have. And of course there's you know before the baby is born. Few months before is it a boy, a girl, I don't know. Da da da da da. There's all these conversations, you know. But that day when that baby comes out, the first focus is, is the baby breathing? Until you from the time you come out to the time you take your first breath, there is almost pin drop silence in that room. Everybody's focusing on just one thing. Breathing or not. And as soon as that baby begins that process of that breath there is a sigh of relief in that room. Haaagh.
And all this time, we breathe but we pay no attention. We breathe. We pay no attention. It doesn't matter to us. We've got our agenda. We've got this to do. We've got that to do. That's where our focus is. This is what's happening in Oh yes, we're going. Oh yes, that's what that is. Oh yes, that's what that is. And then all too soon, way too soon, comes the day when this breath is no more and that's what the doctor checks. Oh he's got all the electronic equipment and everything else but the doctor knows those machines sometimes get undone and declare you dead when you are not. Beep and the alarms go off. Nurse comes running. Oh, I'm OK. This is fell off. So then the last check is, are you still breathing? If you are, perfect. Not, not. So why am I mentioning this breath? Oh my goodness. Excuse me. This is the miracle of all miracles, isn't it? I mean that's a big thing going on, isn't it? It is, of course, it is. 24:24 Now, what is miracle to you? A rock bleeding. A frog talking. Wow! Unusual things happening is miraculous to you. Normalism. Here's existence all around you. The sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean. Somebody said to me, Oh, I'm sorry, it is raining because it's raining outside. I said, did you do this? (laughter) This is my first question. Did you do this? And he said no, no, no. I said I don't know why people think it is so bad when it rains? It is the purest gift from the heavens. Purest. Don't forget you're 70% water. Not 10%. Not 20 not 30, 70% water. How can you be sorry for some more water? (laughter and applause) and pure as pure as it gets. Pristine. The giver of life to everything. But we forget. Why? Because it gets in the way of our socialisation. Now the hairdo that I did. You know that took me seven hours to put together is going to go 'Poof' because of the rain. And when you were a kid, when you were a little kid. Did that stop you? No. Take off the clothes and run in the rain. Hmm. Sometimes I wonder if a person is wiser when they're young or the other way. You lived for the day. That's all that mattered. The morning. I remember that. I remember lying in bed waiting for the morning to come. And when was the morning gonna come? When there was going to be light? And all it took was the smallest inkling out a window, aA little crack, a little scratch, somewhere that there was light and I was up.
This morning I was lying there and there's tonnes of light coming through. And I looked at the clock and it wasn't even 5:00 o'clock in the morning yet. And I'm like Oh my God. I got up. And I looked out the window and it was all cloudy. It wasn't sun shining and all that, was all cloudy and then and that flash. I thought to myself every human being has so much to be unthankful for, unthankful for and every human being has so much to be thankful for. What do we do? We choose. What do we choose? You have to make a choice every single day. You have to. You have to. You have to. And what is it that you choose? Do you choose gratitude? Because if you want gratitude in your life, there is only one way you're going to receive gratitude. And that is if you have clarity. Because if you are wallowing, in doubt. And that is a disease and the symptom is con-fus-ion and the remedy, is there a cure for this disease? Yes. Thankfully, yes, there is a known cure for this disease. And it is called clarity. It can be cured. What is the symptoms? Confusion which will always lead to pain.
I mean, do you notice that with diseases kind of the same thing. All kind of lead to that pain pip bit. And that's what human beings cannot tolerate. We don't like pain. Really. We we really don't. Oh yes you see all these guys you know they're driving a nail through their tongue and they break their leg-straight to the medical emergency. Oh please look at me. You know I my leg really hurts man. Of course. I know I know. I mean it's lying on the bed of nails you think this guy you know that he breaks a leg no problem? No no. People walking on fire, its a trick, it really is. It's not like these have conquered any pain, that would be wrong. Pain was created to get your attention because otherwise you pay no attention to it. To get your attention, to fix the problem. That is what happens. In your life you have to choose every single day how you want that day to be and it takes a lot. And sometimes its beyond a human capacity to keep it together. But it is better to remember and try again and again and again and again and again and again and again than never to try at all and not know in your life what you are capable of feeling. (clappinug) If you are on the right road and you get tired and you decide to sit down. It's OK. It's OK. And if you are on the right road and you take two steps back that's OK too. But if you're on the wrong road and you're lost. Anything you do is just plumb wrong. Sitting is wrong. Going backwards is wrong. Going forward is wrong. Being on the wrong road is just wrong. But being on the right road in your life. What is that right road?
For me as a human being I have the privilege. Me as a human being. I have the privilege of feeling peace. And what is peace? Peace is when all that is within this heart, this understanding, this clarity. is healthy. Healthy. Not just diseased or disease free but healthy, its a big difference. There may be a person who never walks so he has atrophy. His legs may not be broken, but he can barely walk. 37:10 Now healthy is when you are in good shape inside. Now, of course, outside we run and we diet and it's hard, isn't it? Dieting. It's hard. Because there's all these wonderful things like ice cream. Cakes, donuts. Fried food, butter. And you know, eat that. That's not gonna be so good. You're gonna have to exercise. You're gonna have to do this. You're gonna have to do that. Da da da da da. I see you diet. Do you diet? Do you diet?
Do you diet in your life for your inside too? For your heart, for your mind. Are you feeding it junk food? Junk food. Junk. So how fat fat is your confusion? (laughter and applause) Out of shape. Once they took this lady, they took this lady to the hospital because she was complaining of pain and to take her to the hospital they had to get a crane to lift her off the bed. And when they got her to the hospital, they started to examine her And what they found was that one whole area right around here was all gangrene. But when they lifted the area to clean it, what they found was a sandwich. Was stuck in there. And it had rotted. So I don't want to gross you out. I don't. I don't. That was not my intention. But in the realm of the inner self that you have - by the way you do. How out of shape is it? What have you been feeding it? I know exactly what you've been feeding it. Junk food. You know what junk food is for the inner self? Believing. It's junk food. Whatever somebody says, you believe it. Boompf! This doughnut is low calorie. Boomph! This ice cream is sugar and fat free. Boompf! This won't hurt you at all. This Is It. Just believe this. Believe this.
How many things do you know and how many things do you believe? Scary thought, huh? And how many things you think you know because you have believed them long enough. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not going to say it because I don't wanna offend you. I'm not here to offend you. I'm here to just point out the obvious because if I can get you to think clearly, you will be well on your way to experiencing peace in your life for the rest of your life. (clapping) So that's why I am saying what I am saying. Garbage. You think there is a shortage of garbage in this world? If you talk to somebody and you cannot convince them of the garbage that you wanna convince them of all you have to do is print it. I I like books. I do. But I don't understand this fascination that people have that whatever is in black and white printed on this thing called paper now has become the truth. I just don't understand it. It's the same way. Phone rings and people drop everything to pick up the phone. It's like life and death. I've seen people really go through it. I mean, it's like they're talking to me and somebody comes into the room and they will not be disturbed by it, its like just wait a minute. I'm talking to her and the phone rings and I'm nothing at all. Then the person picks up the phone and what do you have? Would you like to buy some cream? No.
You could be in a house. The people who are most precious to you are right there. Your mother, your father, your wife, your children. All. Maybe you're having a big family reunion. And every person that is precious to you is right there. When the phone rings, you'll drop all of them to pick it up because it is a habit. Is it a good habit? Is it a bad habit? Doesn't matter. It's not up to me to decide, but it is a habit. It happens by repetition. Sometimes an unconscious thought. Do it enough times and it becomes a habit. I have heard it takes seven days to form a habit and seven days to break a habit. Repetition. If you do this for 7 days (slaps cheek) you'll start doing this without thinking about it. How many things do you do without thinking about it? Somebody says to you, how are you? You say fine. Are you? Are you? You may not be. You may not be, but it's a stranger. I'm fine. How are you? Do you really wanna know? No, absolutely no. You're never gonna meet this person again in your whole life but manners, habit. How are you? I'm good. And how are you?
So what else do you believe in? You've been fed many lines. Oh yeah. You are here. Study. Study. Study. Study. Study. Work, work, work, work, work. Retire, retire, retire, retire, retire. Die, die, die, die, die. So I see people retire and they go crazy. They can't retire. Some people just go completely nuts. They have to do something. But I say live. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live and only live. Thrive. Be alive till you are no more more (applause) Understand the gift that every day is. It's for you. Haha. It's for you. Don't you understand? 47:16 The saga of the sun rising in the east and setting in the West has played out on this planet Earth for million and millions of years. Countless winters have come, countless summers have come. But you know what's special about this summer? Do you know? You were there. You are there? Will,summers keep coming? Of course. For a while. Then they'll stop too. But you don't have to worry about it. We're talking about millions and millions of years yet. Will summers come? Yes. Will winters come? Yes. Sun will rise in the east. Yes. Sun will set in the West. Yes. In the summer in the peak of it will you have longest days, especially up North, hardly the sun setting? Of course. The difference is you are, you are here. You look at yourself. You think you are brand new. ???. You brand new? Very little brand new matter comes to this earth anymore. All recycled. All of it. That's how Earth works, recycles. That's why they say this is dirt and I mean it. This is dirt and then soon. Well, 25,550 or somewhere approximately that this is, and this is always turning into dirt. I mean all that stuff you clean at home. What do you think that is? Its this. Most of it is skin, dead dry skin. That's what you clean. That's what dust is. Dust to dust.
The miracle is the dust is not turning into dust. It's breathing. It's thinking, it's alive. It can love. Do you know you have the capacity to love? Do you know that? You can love, you can feel, you can sing even though you don't know how to sing. You can sing. There's another singing. It's singing inside, happiness. You can feel happiness. You can feel joy. You is the keyword here. You can feel joy. And joy is so special that if you're not feeling it, something is wrong. That's a disease. That's the disease. And is there a cure? Yes, there is, when Socrates says know thy self. Does that sound. Does that sound like an answer to you or a question? There you go. That's an answer. That's an answer to your questions. And you might say, but you don't even know what my questions are. Don't have to. How big are your problems? I know exactly how big your problems are. I don't even know you. But I know how big your problems are. Do you wanna know how big your problems are? Not this much and not this much. Exactly. (uses fingers to show width of head) This much is the size, the size of your problem. When something is good, when there is contentment dancing inside, all is well. All is well. And when that contentment is not dancing, all is not well. It is in that realm of wellness that peace exists. Accessible to every human being on the face of this earth. The key lies in knowing yourself. And only when you know yourself can you truly answer the question. How are you? Because then and only then you would know how you are supposed to be.
This is the time of the Divinity dancing inside. And so far that Divinity is dancing inside. Shouldn't all be well. and shouldn't you feel that wellness, that peace, that gratitude, that clarity, that understanding that joy in your life. And here is the other big issue. Will storms come in your life? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And will confusion knock at your door? Absolutely. And will you be in traumatic situations?and some of them may not be in your control. Absolutely. But just remember this. Even when there's the biggest storm going on, when there is the biggest chaos afoot. When the night is as dark as it gets. There is still a lamp that is lit within inside that even when all seems to be as bad as it gets. And I will not even underestimate how bad it can be. But so far this breath is coming in and out of you. You still have the companionship of the Divine. When you feel weak. That's what the storms do. They weaken you. They weaken you. When you feel weak no that the greatest strength lies within you. There is nothing stronger than the Divine.
The same Divine creates, destroys, sustains (pause) the universe, known and unknown. Explored and yet not explored. To keep the air suspended without strings, without pillars. The Indian poet and the saint said that you have done a magnificent job, from an imagination you have created this magnificent creation. Without pillars you hold up the sky. In this creation, all is well. The sun is there. The moon is there. The Earth is there. The quadrillion and quadrillions of stars in a galaxy is there and we are where we are and all things are rotating and coming together and going this way and going that way and getting blasted to dust and then recomposing into a planet and all is well. So it needs to be in your universe as well. Everything moving but at the same time, well, coming, going. Yes, there is a chaos out there and there is a order out there. And you are here. When I go sometimes to the malls and stuff. They have a map you know and it says you are here. I like that. You are here and I am so, every time I read that I am so thankful to be here. Next time you are in a shopping mall and you see you are here think about tonight (laughter and applause)
Because you are here and explore all the joys that lie within your heart and peace will be yours. Can't go anywhere. Can't go anywhere. You have more peace in you than you can possibly imagine. Oh, by the way, everything I have said you already have. See people go. They take notes. What can I do to become a better person? Stop wasting paper. (laughter) Because whatever you can write down is not what's gonna help you to become a better person. Believe me, it's not writable. What makes you a good person? It's feelable. Clarity makes you a better person. Understanding makes you a better person. Discovering your kindness makes you a better person. Not having you know buttered toast may help you lose some weight, but I don't know if it's gonna have any bearing on you being a better person or not. There are no magic pills for it. You came this way. You are here. Everything you need you have been given. You have the tools. Discover. Dig. Dig. Dig. And you will find the treasure. Because that treasure is in you. Always will be there.
So anyways, what if you decide not to know yourself? If you say no, no, okay he talked about knowing his I am not interested in knowing myself. I don't want to know myself. Now what would happen? Nothing. Because you still be yourself. You just wouldn't know it. It's a brilliant design. It's really a brilliant, brilliant design. I mean, if you're just not interested one day, nothing actually happens. It's not like the skies open up and boom boom. Nothing happened. It's like okay you will be just living on in your life till one day you're not breathing anymore. And then what happens to you? You don't really care about because you won't be able to find out what they did to you. But so far you are alive That's the opportunity. Opportunity. Whether you take it or not. It's up to you. It's your decision. And you must decide. You must whichever way. Whichever way. Believe me. No. You know, it is like you make a joke about the divine and people go, Oh, the divine got hurt. If your divine gets hurt by making jokes, your divine is too small. Find another divine that's a little bigger. Better divine. Yeah. Immediately.
I mean for so many people. So many people. And I was like that too. Oh god. God. And next thing him. And when God comes, then I realise, wait a minute. Where would God come from? The omnipresent would come from where. And go where? I mean, if you are here and you are here, can you go from here to here? If you are already here and you are already here and all the way in between, and man thinks, man thinks he is perfect. So we take God, say he. We are no good at swimming in his man. Have you been to men's bathroom? Oh, we don't have anything. Eagle. That is what we are good at. We just, we just think, you know, hey, if God made us in his image, we'll make him in our image. Divine. L anguage doesn't play into it. Description. You cannot comprehend with this brain. This can't be done. You have no idea what how big infinite is. None. Zero was invented by the Indians to describe the divine. Zaro. We have no idea what a zero is.
Somebody a long time ago. Somebody came to me. They were a yoga teacher and they said, you know, so what do you think about yoga? And they wanted to. There was a bunch of people in the room and of course they wanted me to say something nice so that you know they would get a little more business for the yoga classes and I said well yoga is yoga, all this stuff is just like zero, and this person got very upset and left because I said the yoga was like zero. If she would have stayed for the explanation she would have understood why I said zero. I said there is a one and there is a zero and it doesn't matter how many zeros you place in front of 1. 1 will stay 1 and nothing changes. Start putting zeros after a one and everything changes 10, 100, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000. 1,000,000,000. Set zeros to zeros. But before the one nothing, you are the one. Everything else is a zero. Is it before you or is it after you? If it's before you? Nothing, bankrupt. All the zeros and you are poor. Put them after you and you're rich. So that's how you can be rich. Start putting zeros after yourself. Not before not before.
Thank you very much for coming and listening to me. This is what I have to say. Everybody's decision every day to make that decision. It's up to you. Some of you have this gift. Some of you don't have this gift, but everybody has the opportunity to start understanding what it means to know yourself. And if you walk on that path like I said peace will be yours. Enjoy this existence. Thank you very much and a good night.