Prem Rawat in Hong Kong, 2009-05-15

Good News - Day One
Prem Rawat in Hong Kong, 15th May 2009

So, we are here and it's a wonderful opportunity to listen, to try to understand as we have chosen this endeavor to realize, to recognize that most important thing that is inside of us. Not everybody in the world does this. There are people who are involved with their ideas, their religion, their doctrines, their theories, the economics, the building of the empires, the destruction of the empires, and people choose different endeavors in their lives.

A few, a few throughout history choose the endeavor to recognize the divine within. There are so many people and what are they involved with? You know, just when I was in Taiwan, I had a meeting with a person and this person asked me a question and the question was, what do you think about the karma from the last lifetime and peace? And I wasn't expecting a question like that, but immediately, immediately, I said, yes, you can believe in karma from your last lifetime or you can believe in the karma in this lifetime. You see, actually, karma is a Hindi word and when you actually say the word karma, it does not mean last lifetime.

It just means action. Karam, the word is not even karma, and what it actually means is what you do. What you do, that's what you will reap.

What you sow, that's what you will reap. But people automatically assume it has something to do with the last lifetime. Technically, no.

Technically, no. What do you do now, today? If you have to, if you're going somewhere and you have to take three buses to get there, okay, three buses, separate buses you have to take to get there. And one you took, one you took and you got to this station and you also know that now you have to take the next bus, right? And then after this bus, you have to take another bus.

So you have already taken one bus. You still have to take another bus and you have to take the one, the one that's going to come at the station that you're at. Let me ask you a question.

Which one should you be most concerned about? Which one? The one you just took? No. The one you're going to take or the one that you are waiting for? See, maybe the first bus you had to take was bus number seven. Then you take bus number 11.

Seven and then 11 and 15. Seven, 11 and then 15. Seven dropped you off.

And all these buses are coming and they have numbers. Which one are you going to look for? Eleven. You understand what I'm saying? What's done is done.

What's done is done. What you do now is important. What will happen, you can worry about that after you're dead.

You will have a long time in your grave lying there and you can think, wonder, worry what's going to happen. But what's important is what happens now when you're alive. This is the karma.

This is the karma that will produce the good and bad, not in a thousand years, in a few seconds. And nobody talks about now. I do.

Now. Everybody talks about the past. Everybody talks about the future.

Nobody talks about now. What is now? What is the good karma for now? The good karma for now is consciousness. To be aware.

The good karma for now is to be thankful. The good karma for now is to have the joy in this heart. The joy in this heart.

Not ideas. Thinking. Thinking.

This is what people do. Thinking. Thinking.

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.

Thinking. And feeling. No one is feeling.

Feeling alive. What is that feeling like? To feel alive. Separated from yesterday.

Separated from tomorrow. To be present in the moment with a heart full of gratitude. Thankfulness.

To be alive. Joy. Simplicity.

Not explanations. Not explanations. Thirsty person does not need to explain to you why he needs water.

Does he? And do you need to explain to a thirsty person that he needs water? Why? It's obvious. You look for explanations. I was in Australia, Amaru, and I said somebody, someone, long time ago, long time ago, long, long, long, long time ago, stood on a hill and he wondered, who am I? And he wondered, what am I? And he wondered, why am I here? Thousands and thousands of years have gone by.

Technological achievements have been made, which this guy could not have ever imagined. Airplanes. Jets.

Space shuttle. Man going to the moon. Cell phones.

Light bulbs. He couldn't imagine that. But he asked these questions.

And today we live in a world where we have all these technologies. But guess what? We still ask the same questions. Who am I? What am I doing here? Because these are the questions that you need answered.

That's why you still have them. For him, what did he think most about? This man, who asked the first time, asked this question. What did he think the most about? Safety.

He was surrounded by animals that would eat him. Eat him. Just like that.

Food. He didn't have the arrogance like we do. He didn't.

He was food. He was a walking hamburger. You know? He was walking wonton soup, basically.

And the animals would look at him and go, hmm. Food. See? He had to hide.

He used fire. He used this. He used that.

The second thing, the second thing he thought most about was food. Where would food come from? So one thing he thought about first was not becoming food. And the second thing he thought about was how does he get food? And so the world evolves.

But the human being doesn't change. And why doesn't the human being change? Because the fundamental needs are still the same. We want to know, who am I? We want to know, what am I? Why am I here? And this cannot be explained away.

This does not lie in the realm of explanation. This has to be understood. Understood.

And only when it is completely understood will this question go away. I'll give you an example. A man is thirsty.

I keep saying man. Let's make this woman. A woman is thirsty.

And so therefore, eventually she realizes she needs water. She lives in a house in which everything is labeled. Labeled.

Every single thing is labeled. Toilet. It says toilet.

Sink says sink. Mirror says mirror. Door says door.

Wall says wall. Refrigerator says refrigerator. Open the refrigerator.

And every cucumber says on it cucumber. Every tomato says on it tomato. Milk says on it milk.

Ketchup says on it ketchup. Butter says on it butter. This is the house she lives in.

So when she becomes thirsty, what is she looking for? She's looking for water. True. But how does she think she's going to find it? She thinks she's going to find it by reading a label.

Because when she comes across water, it will say water. Now a funny thing happens. She comes across water, but it's not labeled water.

Does she drink it or not? It's not labeled. Does she drink it? I'm not saying should she drink it. Should, yes.

Because water is water. Even if it doesn't say water on it, water is water. But will she? That's the question.

We live in a world where everything is labeled. God says God. And that's when we say God.

Everything is labeled. And you come across Knowledge and it's not labeled. Has no label.

It doesn't say religion. Doesn't say God. Doesn't say spiritual.

It's not labeled. And believe me, people have tried to put a label on it. Oh it's spiritual.

It's about God. It's about Hinduism. It's about this.

It's about that. And I say no. Every time somebody puts a label, I peel it off.

No label. So now you are thirsty. You've come across water.

Water called Knowledge, but it doesn't have a label. Will you drink it? That's the big question. That's the big question.

Because Knowledge is not an explanation. It is about experiencing that divine inside of you. Because this life that you have, of all things that you can do in this life, there is one thing that you can do for sure and that is to quench this thirst.

People want to talk about last lifetime. People want to know who was I in the last lifetime. I was watching a documentary once on television.

This man comes up and the priest says to him, you were an elephant. What good, what good, what good knowing that you were an elephant in your last lifetime. What good would it do for you today? So you're going to eat with your nose? No chopsticks.

No chopsticks. Just take the bowl and somebody says, what are you doing? I was an elephant. Then people say, you are suffering because of your last karma in your last lifetime.

Okay, when you were little, when you were young, little, and your father came home and slapped you, wouldn't you like to know why? Would you? Wouldn't you? I mean, if you are being punished, if you are being punished, wouldn't you like to know why you're being punished? Because then knowing why you are being punished, maybe will help you stop doing that thing in the future. So when you suffer, does anybody tell you what karma it was that you did? You don't know. You're just suffering.

And you go, I must have done something terrible in my last lifetime. But what was it that you did bad in your last lifetime? You don't know. So God is slapping you, but not telling you why.

And when things are good, people say, oh, good karma. I would like to know, what was that karma? So I'll do more of that in this lifetime. So in my next lifetime, things will be really good.

But you see, this is all about explanations and Knowledge is not about explanations. Drinking water is not about explanation. When you are hungry, eating food is not about explanation.

When you are tired, sleeping is not about explanations. You can be sitting at the most important meeting, and then it happens. Sometimes people come to see me.

They've been waiting years to come and see me. And then they get excited, and they don't sleep at night. They come, they sit down.

There they are. They finally, they finally have, they get to see me. And they are, I don't mind.

I don't mind. I don't mind. It's okay.

No explanation is necessary. We, we have the opportunity, the opportunity to awaken, to awaken. What is the difference between a dream and being awake? Do you know? In a dream, in a dream, you can be a king.

You can be a queen, and it will make no difference in your real life. In a dream, in a dream, you can fall, and fall, and fall, and fall, and fall, awaken, and you find yourself still lying on the bed. In a dream, you can fly, awaken, don't even try it.

In a dream, you could be poor, awaken, and everything is still there. Everything is still there. The consequence of a dream does not bear in reality.

Dream is a dream, reality is a reality. The fact that you are alive is a reality, not a dream, not a dream. Then why in this reality do you want to dream? When the reality that you have in front of you is beautiful, is amazingly beautiful.

All you have to do is accept. Do you know what acceptance is? What is acceptance? What is acceptance? When, when you are in love, you have accepted. Love is the highest form of acceptance.

When you have a baby, your child, you accept. I have seen mothers holding their baby, holding their child, and maybe that child is blind. Maybe that child has one extra arm.

Maybe that child cannot speak. Maybe that child cannot walk. But to the mother, to the father, they love because they have accepted.

However this baby is, however this baby is, they accept. You have to be in love being alive. Highest form of acceptance.

You have to be in love with this breath. Highest form of acceptance. You have to be in love with this heart.

Highest form of acceptance. You have to be in love with this feeling of being fulfilled. Highest form of acceptance.

You have to be in love with gratitude. Highest form of acceptance. You have to be in love with clarity.

Highest form of acceptance. And when this love will come to you, your life will transform. Fulfill this life.

Enjoy. Enjoy this breath. Master says, enjoy this breath.

Who will tell you this? In the whole world, who will tell you to enjoy your breath? People will tell you, enjoy your meal. People will tell you, enjoy the view. People will tell you, enjoy the flight.

Enjoy the movie. Enjoy the song. Who tells you? Enjoy your breath.

Movie will be over. Food will be finished. But your relationship with this breath, when you love this breath, the highest form of acceptance, your life will change.

For good. In accepting this blessing, in accepting this blessing, this action, this karma is so powerful that 10,000 lifetimes of bad deeds and 10,000 lifetimes of good deeds do not compare to acceptance of one breath. One breath.

To me, I will tell you what is the worst karma. The worst thing you can do is to have come in this world empty-handed and to leave this world empty-handed. Bad karma.

Very, very, very bad karma. To have come in this world empty-handed and to have them full, full of that joy, of that gratitude, of that acceptance of this breath. Very, very, very good karma.

The acceptance of this breath is such good karma that you are sent straight to heaven whilst you are alive. That's how good it is. The doors of the heaven are open to you on earth.

Go. You don't have to wait to die. When you have accepted this, heaven all the way.

I love the play of words. This is great. It is just a play of words, but it's just great.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but this karma of accepting this breath is so good, so good that whilst you are alive, those doors go and you go straight to heaven. An instant gratification. Joy.

On top of it, joy. You feel alive. Alive.

How beautiful is that? How precious is that? I hope you understand. I hope you understand and take it to your heart because this is so special, so beautiful, so beautiful.