Prem Rawat in Chandrapur, 2009-11-22

Prem Rawat in Chandrapur 22nd November 2009

What I have come to share with you today is truly very simple because these days people in this world speak about so many different subjects. Someone wants to show you how you can improve your home. Someone wants to show you how you can beautify yourself. Someone wants to show you how you can get a promotion in your job. Someone wants to show you how you can pass an exam. Someone wants to show you that if you go to a pilgrimage, fast, do this and do that, then you will receive salvation.

Lord Krishna says, "Not by going to a pilgrimage, nor by fasting, nor through charity, nor through good deeds. Arjun, you will not be able to receive my Knowledge. Not through charity, not through good deeds, not through going to a pilgrimage, not through fasting. You will not attain this Knowledge." Because that which is the truth, today everyone is after the truth. So what is the truth? And if you do not know the truth, then whatever you do know, it in itself becomes untruth because you don't know what you don't know.

For example, if you are going to a railway station to pick up someone, you don't know the person's name, you don't know what they look like, you don't know what clothes they are wearing, you have no idea what kind of suitcase they are carrying. All you know is that that person is going to come to so and so station, and you are standing there waiting for this person. How are you going to find them? Every person that you look at, maybe all that you know is that it's a gentleman, not a woman, a gentleman. So every gentleman that passes by, you are going to look at them, going, is this the person? Is this the person? Is this the person? When you don't have any idea what he looks like or who he is, then he could be anyone and people are passing by and you can't catch everyone. Are you the one who I have come to get? What will you say to them? Even if you found the person by mistake, if you do find the person, it will be completely by mistake, because you have no idea who you are waiting for. So even if you grabbed a hold of a person, what would you tell the man? You'll have to say, "Are you the person that I'm waiting here for?" The person will say, "Well, I don't know whether you are or not. Someone's going to come pick me up. If they don't pick me up, I'll take a taxi." And if you don't know their name, and even if that person tells you their name, what benefit will it have for you?

Truth is there and everything that is not the truth is untruth. And if you don't know that truth, that Ultimate Being, then in your life, you will not know whether you are after pursuing the truth or the untruth, just like the example of the railway station. What I speak about, I don't speak about the subjects in the world. Because in this world, there are so many religions. And Kabir Das said something very beautiful.

Kabir says, "There is only one well. Kabir says, "There is only one well and all different people come to fill the water. The difference is only the vessel, but the water in the vessel is the same." Do you know this? You've heard this before. So if you've heard it, then if the water is the same, then why are you after the vessels? You should be after the water, right? The essence is the water, not the vessel. The vessel, the clay pot, it could be a pot made of metal, a pot made of copper, whatever it is. Some clay pots have decorations on them. Some don't have any decorations on them. So the difference is only the vessel. That's all.

Kabir says, there's just one well. There's just one thing that is the truth, which is within you.

Kabir says, There's just one well. Different people, different people are coming to fill the water. And this is the vessel.

This is the vessel. The difference is just the vessel, but the water inside is the same. That Creator, that truth is within you. Not outside of you. Your creator is within you, just like the fragrance is in the flowers. Just like the musk deer searches everywhere for the musk, but it's actually in its navel. Your Creator, whether you call it truth, whether you call it the Supreme Being, whether you call it God, whether you call it soul, whether you call it Allah, whether you call it God, it doesn't make any difference at all. What difference does it make to that power? What difference does it make? It doesn't make any difference at all. But do you know it?

Here there must be people who not only have read the scriptures, but have memorized them. All you have to tell them is the page number. And you can say, on page 15, the sixth verse, can you tell me what it was? And "da, da, da, da, da," they just tell you. They will let it be heard. Does that mean they have Knowledge? Does that mean they have Self-Knowledge? My Master, my father, my Master used to say something and it was very beautiful. And he used to say, "What was the religion of Buddha's great-grandfather?" Buddha wasn't even born yet. So which religion did his great-grandfather follow? How did they achieve salvation? Tell me.

All the things that we do that we think will bring us salvation, what salvation are we to attain? If you are to experience that salvation in this life, you need to have that experience while you're alive, not after you die. All these people that are here in this world who speak about their own thing, someone might say "That when I die, are you going to come with me?" Because people talk about heaven, that if you do this, this, and this, you will attain heaven. If you do this, this, and this, you'll go straight to God. Are those people going to come with you when you die? Because at least if you don't reach the place they promised, then you can hit them with your shoe, right? How are they going to come with you? It's been said that they speak a lot, don't take into action, just blabber away, and they will be very ashamed when they reach the kingdom of God. They just speak, they just say whatever they think. What happened? They came hungry, they came to eat food, they came hungry, and the owner of the restaurant didn't give you food, but he said, "Oh, the dal, the lentils are really delicious, the rice is really good, the roti, which is Indian bread is wonderful, the vegetable dishes are wonderful and delicious." So for one hour he describes the dishes of the vegetables, for one hour he describes the lentils, for one hour he describes the roti, for one hour he describes the pickles, for one hour he sings the glory of the chutneys and the yogurt, and you came hungry, your mouth watered a lot, but you had to leave hungry, that's what will happen. Isn't that what happens?

By listening to the glory of God, by listening to the name of God, your faith definitely increases. When you hear the glory of God, your faith increases. But if you haven't found Him, then truly you came empty-handed, you've listened to everything, but you left empty-handed as well. That's what it is. That just by saying the name, by chanting the name, what happens? If just by saying the name, chanting, He could be found, then it has been said, then if people say "Wealth, wealth, wealth, wealth, wealth" they would become wealthy.

People say "Whatever our condition is in this lifetime is due to our karma in the last lifetime. People say that. They say "I must have done something bad in my last lifetime, that's why I'm having to suffer now." And what has been said? That no one is really poor. Everyone has the treasure within, but because we forget to open that package, to open that treasure, we remain poor. So everyone is wealthy. Are you poor? I say you can't be poor. (applause) When that Supreme Creator resides within you, then how can you believe that you're poor? How have you become poor? When that Supreme Being, that Creator resides within you. People say, "I'm poor because I don't get my two meals a day."

Do you know how many people there are who follow different religions, who fast, and the food is being made right next to them, but they won't eat? Or there are the millionaires and their stomach gets big a little bit, they say, we're going on a diet, we're not eating. They'll stay hungry. There are people who don't speak.

One time, Shri Maharaji had gone somewhere, my Master, he had gone somewhere, and there was a person standing on one leg and he was doing his penance. And Shri Maharaji walked past there and said, "Dear God, you have made one big mistake."

And this person's eyes opened up. And he says, "Who's saying this?" Here, everybody who walks by usually says, "Glory be, glory be." And this person is saying, "God, you've made a big mistake." And he opened his eyes and Shri Maharaji said to him, "God gave you two legs, and you're not using one of them at all." The man got so angry, because on one hand, he's doing a penance. He got so angry, so angry, that he immediately put down his other leg. He couldn't say anything. Shri Maharaji smiled very big and walked away. Because truly, if we have not recognized why we have received this life, then whether we received it or not is the same.

There would be no difference between living and death if we haven't realized what we have this for. So I will show you, why. It has been said, "It is by great fortune that we receive this human body. Even in the scriptures, it says it's very rare to have this human body. It is the resource, it is the means to attain that liberation. This, number one, it's received by great fortune. What does it mean to receive something by great fortune? What does that mean? You are fortunate. You have it, right? (applause) If you're not sure, just pinch yourself to find out if you're alive or not. So if you have it, that is given by great fortune, meaning you are very fortunate. You are fortunate. And what is this? This is the door to liberation. It is the platform to take action to receive and attain that liberation. That's why you have it. Can I tell you one thing? The good and the bad, even the birds and animals know, but this human body is there to achieve and attain and experience this Knowledge.

Good and bad. What is good? What is bad? Even the birds and animals know. Good and bad and do you know what is included in that? In there, your whole world is included. The army, the police, the navy, air force. The good and the bad, right? Right? The good and the bad. To protect you from harm, there is the police, the coast guard, the army, the home guard, there's guard guard, and guard guard guard. Not God, but guard. So all of them are included. So that harm is not done to you.

And to have good, a profit, there's all these big businessmen. (laughter) This is the good, the profit. When I was going to school, when I was in India, 100,000 at that time used to be the lottery. If somebody got 100,000 rupees, that was a lot of money. It was such a big deal to have 100,000 rupees. And now, if you read it in the newspapers, and I won't say anybody's name, it'll say so-and-so person has the wealth of 4,000 crore, and crore is 10 million. So 4,000 times 10 million. I tried it on my computer, and I kept putting in the zeros. I kept counting the zeros, counting them, counting them, counting them, and it still didn't work. Finally, I gave up. 4,000 times 10 million. The good, good, and the bad, even the birds and animals know.

For a donkey, I don't know why a donkey's reputation is so bad. "Donkey, donkey." But if you go like this to a donkey, it will close its eyes. Even the donkey knows, if somebody goes like this to you, you too will close your eyes. And you'll do the same as what the donkey will do. The donkey knows very well that if you came close to its mouth, and if you're harming that donkey, it will bite you. It knows that its teeth can cause you harm. If you come in the back of the donkey, then the donkey knows what can cause you harm. Even a cow knows what to do, and it'll kick you. So the good and the bad, even the birds and the animals know, and everyone is included in this. No one is removed from it.

People might say, "Well, what about religion?" (He laughs, audience laughs) The good and the bad. (laughter) There must be so many temples. There must be so many temples where nobody goes there. Nobody goes there. Will you find a priest there? No. The good and the bad. Many years ago, I was in Malaysia, and I was going to the event, and I saw a little temple, and on the door of the temple, there were these thick iron rods, just like they are in jail., in front of the temple door. And I thought, who is this for? So that God does not escape? It's possible. Maybe God says, "I don't think I want to stay here anymore. I'm leaving." If those steel rods are not there for God. That is there for the good and bad, so that people can throw the money in, but they can't take it out. So advantage and disadvantage. Advantage and disadvantage. Good and bad. Even the birds and animals know.

Everything that a human being has done till now, it has been done to harm someone or to benefit someone, and that is not the human being's characteristic. Everything that has been done thus far is not the human being's true characteristic. Even the birds and animals do the same. Animals also fight. Have you ever seen birds fighting? They fight. They argue. So the good and bad, even the birds and animals know. But the human body is given so that you can experience this Knowledge, and if you don't have this Knowledge, which Knowledge? Whose Knowledge? What kind of Knowledge should you have? Knowledge should be such that takes you within. Knowledge of the self. It has been said that without this Self-Knowledge, a human being wanders from Mathura and Kashi, which are holy places. People sing this. They believe it, but they don't understand it. It's been said that without Self-Knowledge, people wander from here to there, from Mathura and Kashi, the holy places, and people go there. Where are you going? "Going on pilgrimage."

I ask people one question, that where God is, is that the pilgrimage? Or where God was, is the pilgrimage? Now if you know the answer to this, you can speak up. That's fine. If you don't know, then you can stay quiet. That's fine. I'm here to give you the answer. That's why I'm asking you the question. What is the pilgrimage? Where God is, or where God was? Is or was? Is. Yesterday, too, we had an event. ('progtam') Since then, people are really getting into it, that they can give the answers. So if that's true, that wherever God ('Bhagwan') is, where God is, that is the pilgrimage. Then tell me one thing, where does God not exist? (giggles) Show me one place where God does not exist. Not where He wasn't, not where He was, but where He isn't and where is the closest place where God exists? Do you know? The closest place. You go forward, He's there. You go back, He's there. Go to the right, He's there. Go to the left, He's there. Go up, He's there. Go down, He's there. Go wherever, He's there. When you're sleeping, He's there. When you're awake, He's there. And the greatest thing? When you are in pain, He's there, and when you are in joy, He's there, too. So if that Supreme Creator, that Being is within you, then what's the meaning of pain in your life? Heh?

For the person whose friend is the sun, and just by calling out to the sun, it comes, it appears. Does that person need to buy a flashlight or a torch? Does that person need to have candles in his house? Just says "Sun," and the sun appears. He doesn't need the torch. He doesn't need the flashlight. That's what saints and Masters have said. This is your condition. That which you are looking for is within you, and you're searching for it, searching for it, searching for it everywhere. How are you going to find it? Because you're not going to find it on the outside. What is that? Who is that which is within you? This is what Kabir's song says. "That who is that that is within? That which Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh pray to." That which Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh pray to )applause) as well as all the saints and sages, that same Life Force is within you, the indescribable, immortal being. Now people say, "This is very nice what you're saying, but how will that help me?" This is what I'm talking about.

I'm not saying anything complicated. I'm saying something very simple. You want to know and I can show you. (cheers) In this world, there are many people who will have you believe. There are very few people who will have you know. (applause) I am one of them who can help you know. I can help you know. This is what I give. This is what my Knowledge is. I'm not talking about this or that. You want to know.

Because the first thing you'll need to do is be an aspirant. Why? Because you are one of those people who believe. And I need for you to go from a believer to a knower. To give you that experience of going from just believing to knowing and that is being an aspirant. I want to know. Till now, you only wanted to believe. It doesn't take anything to just believe. Just to believe, it doesn't take much. "I believe, I believe." It's like someone in the village, somebody says, "What time is the bus going to Delhi? Somebody says, nine o'clock." So you believe it. The other people believe that it's nine o'clock. Ten other people around you all believe that it's at nine o'clock. And everyone's getting ready for nine o'clock and the actual bus left at six o'clock. So to know and to believe, there's a big difference.

The one who knows, knows. The one who believes, just believes. Until now, you have only believed. Until now, you have only believed. Somebody said something to you, or you asked your father, "Father, what is God?" "Yeah, God, God is everywhere." And so you believed. "Yeah, wow, that's beautiful. God is everywhere." And you believed it. You didn't know. You didn't ask your father and say, "Show me then, where is God? Father, how is God?" And your father will say, "He's very wonderful." We just believed. There are people, they have the photos of gods and goddesses. Have you ever tried to understand where did this photo come from? Because in the time where these gods and goddesses existed, there weren't any cameras. (laughter) Where did those photos come from? Some artist took a pen, he took his idea, his imagination, and made the photos and the whole world is bowing down to those photos. That is believing. To believe.

When Sita was kidnapped and she was taken to Lanka and Sita could have also said, "I'm just sitting here. I believe that at some point Ram will come and I'll just pray to him. And that's okay, even if he doesn't come, it's all right. I'll just chant his name and everything will be okay." No. The first question she asked was what? "When is he coming?" Not believing, knowing. Not believing, because Sita could have said, "How could it be that Lord Ram doesn't love me?" The love was there. So if the love was there, then Sita could have said, "why do I need to ask this question?" But she asks Hanuman what? Not to believe, but to know. She asks Hanuman, "When is Ram coming? When is he coming?" To know, not to believe. She asked. She asked. Those who want to know, ask.

Those who are believers, just believe. They don't ask. They listen and agree. That's it. They don't ask. They don't really want to know. I want you to know and I want you to ask. Ask. Only after you ask, you'll receive this Knowledge. Without asking for it, you will not receive it. What is it? It's simple. It's easy and it bears fruit. Because when you go within and you are in the presence of that indescribable, immortal Being, then you will receive the blessings. And what are the blessings? The blessings is peace. That is the greatest fruit, that is the greatest blessing that you can have, that a human being can have, its not money. Its not a son. Its not children. Its not a daughter. Its not a wife. Its not a house. Its not fame, after which you are pursuing. All those things don't mean as much as peace. Peace is the greatest blessing there is and to experience this peace, the human being needs the blessing of life, the blessing of this human body, the blessing of this Knowledge, and then the human being can experience that indescribable, immortal being. And when they do, they'll receive the greatest blessing, and that blessing is peace. Peace.

Today in this world, all the believers are going around and around, buzzing around saying that when poverty is eliminated, there will be peace. And I want to know, I'm not just a believer, I want to know, and I ask that all the people who are the most wealthiest in this world, are they at peace? Do they experience peace? Forget peace, there are so many people who can't even sleep properly. Why can't they sleep restfully? Because they're worried. Because all the money that they've earned is not 100% clean. Meaning, in the white sugar, sugar should be white, there's specks and specks of black, some dark spots all around, so there's some problems. Peace is experienced by those who have experienced that immortal, undescribable Being within. This is what I came here to tell you. This is what I came here to show you. That if you want to experience it, I can show you how to experience it. (applause)

I won't take money. I won't take money. I won't take money. For this, I will not take money. I do this for free, not because it's not valuable. It is because you would not be able to pay for how valuable it is. If you like it, do it. If you don't like it, leave it. No problem. I couldn't be clearer than this for you. This is the most clear, simple thing that I can tell you. I haven't given you Knowledge, and some people here have Knowledge. They too had to be aspirants. So if you want Knowledge, you need to be an aspirant too. And you have that aspiration and this thirst. Until you understand this thirst, till then you will not be able to move forward. So be an aspirant, listen, understand, ask. And when you will be ready, you will also receive this Knowledge, and you will also receive peace. People talk about world peace. I have also been given the title as the Ambassador of Peace, two different places, one in Italy, one in Brazil. However, the greatest thing is that world peace will happen when peace will be experienced within you, each and every one of you. Now there might be people here who will say, "That's not possible."

My events happen even in jails. Even in jails, these events take place. Because the only qualification is a human being, alive and a human being. And within them, they have this, and they can experience it. Nothing else. Whatever religion you follow, fine. Keep at it, because that is something in believing, not knowing. What are you going to know about it? What will you know about the religion? But this is not about just believing, this is about knowing. Believe whatever you want to believe. It's kind of like that analogy, that if I'm hungry, then if I think if I go home, then there'll be wonderful vegetable dish, potatoes, and there'll be this, there'll be puris, there'll be all these different dishes. I decide my menu ahead of time, so that there's no need to believe. I will know. I know what's being made. What's being made today? Kadhi, which is a yogurt dish, there's a potato dish, there's rice, there's roti. That's it. And they'll make chutney and other things too, and that's it. And if there's a need for anything more, then I'd have to let them know.

So know. You've been believing till now, and believe as much as you want, but know as well and the day that you know, then truly, I can say your fortune will truly be opened. Heaven, you can experience while you're alive. Heaven can be experienced now. The greatest pilgrimage is here. What is heaven? What is a greater heaven? Where you're alive, and where that Divine Being exists too. Look at this earth. Who made this earth? Did your grandfather make this earth? That Creator made this earth. If his hands are in the making of this earth, then is it not heaven? And if you're contaminating the earth, then you should be ashamed. If you're throwing dirt on this earth, then that's not a good thing. Keep it clean. It is a gift for us to borrow for a little while. It does not belong to us. But this is not yours. You are just a renter.

You are just here for a few days, and then you'll be leaving, and then another renter will come and take your place. You are not the owner. You are the renter. Pay the rent and keep on moving. One day, everyone has to go from this world. We are not to stay. We are here just for a short time. This world is like a paper puppet. As soon as the drops of water fall on it, it dissolves. So you are a renter. You're not an owner. Renter, renter. And the owner will come to get the rent, and he definitely comes. And what has been said? That on the last moment, he comes, and he beats and beats that Life Force out of you, the eyes fill with tears. The life force leaves. The vessel remains empty, and all that is left is a photograph. So when that grim reaper comes, he doesn't wait. He doesn't have any patience, because in India, everybody says, just one more minute, just one more minute, just two seconds, one more minute. When that grim reaper comes to get you, he doesn't have any patience. He beats and beats that Life Force out of you. The life force leaves. Empty remains the vessel, and all that is left is a photograph. So this is what will happen. But before this happens, do what you need to do. This will happen to everyone, and it's been said, without the Master, who can save you? That grim reaper holds on to your hand. My Master is this great gardener who selectively picks the beautiful flowers, keeps what he likes, and discards the rest. So save, be saved, understand, know, and fulfill your life. (47:00)