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Peace has to be felt. It is not just a subject of conversation. There is a peace that is fundamental to all of us. Beyond all those little differences we have—skin color, shape of the face, hair, clothes—there is a commonality to all of us. We exist. We are alive.
We all thirst for peace. If we really want to see that basic aspiration, we have to put down all the different-colored glasses we wear and see that one fundamental thing that is so simple and so beautiful that exists in the heart of every individual. I'm not talking about creating anything or achieving anything. I'm talking about what already exists within us. You don't have to get it; it's already there. It is a matter of discovery.
Peace is that joy, that serenity, inside every human being. Peace is not a concept or an idea, but a reality waiting to be discovered, a joy waiting to be felt. Feel peace in your life. Make that the priority in your life. Include peace among those things that are important to you. Make sure that peace is not just a dream, some nice thing that someday you will have, but that peace has become a reality in your life.
Your life, every day that you live it, is a consciously struck note. The instrument you have been given is called life. The possibility of peace dances upon the stage where a heart full of contentment and gratitude can exist. Instead of complaining, "Here are all the things that are wrong" or "I wish things were this way or that way," how about looking at things the way they are?
This existence is your home. Be in that serenity, that contentment, that joy. Don't let a moment go by. Play this instrument to express that feeling that you are alive—that this means something to you, that it isn't a story about a person who got everything and kept nothing.
Changes happen, and changes will happen, but there is one thing that has never changed: your thirst for peace, your thirst for joy. Ever since you were a little child, it has been there, and for as long as you are alive, it's going to be there. Fulfill it. Be fulfilled.
I'm talking about really enjoying yourself. I'm talking about waking up in the morning and saying, "What an agenda I have—I get to live today." You get to exist today. What you are looking for, you already have. If you ever want to see a wonder, I suggest you take a look at yourself. You should be excited that you are alive, despite all the problems you have and all the problems still to come. It isn't written, "A problem means lack of joy." If that is your definition, then it is a definition that you have created for yourself. That's a misunderstanding.
Let problems be what they will be. Do your best to fight against them, but that doesn't mean you have to lack the joy that dwells in your heart. Let there be joy. Let there be that peace in your life every single day.
Maharaji
