Prem Rawat in Montevideo Uruguay 2010-09-23

So, there is a lot to consider, a lot to think, a lot to clarify. Because when you look at a guitar, what is it? What is a guitar? What is a drum? And there are people who take a guitar and they mount it on a wall. They have them in a display, they have them for show. But that's not a guitar. Because guitar is not a shape. Guitar is not a color. It is, when it is being strummed, picked, strummed, played, and it produces those beautiful tones that are distinct, distinct, then this is what truly that guitar is. As a human being, we too, we can dress up, we can have our hair trimmed, we can walk along the street. This is what we do so much of the time. But that's like taking a guitar and mounting it on the wall, because that's not you. There is another possibility, and that possibility is the real possibility of who you are. You think your greatest gift is thinking. You think your greatest gift is to look good. You think your greatest gift are all these other things. And I am saying that's like a guitar on the wall, painted red, painted green, painted yellow, painted blue. There is no sound. There is no melody. There is no rhythm. It is not being strummed. It is not being played. It is not being true to itself. It exists. It looks good. But looking good is not what a guitar is about.

You have to understand this, because you are a human being. So the question becomes, what truly makes you, you come alive? There's congas, different woods. People decorate some congas, but that's not what a conga is about. It's not about decoration. What is a kite all about, to be mounted on a wall? I have seen people mount kites on a wall. That's not when it looks beautiful. That's not when it looks beautiful. The other day, there were some flowers sitting in a pot, and the pot was made out of glass, and these flowers were sitting there in the pot. And I said, oh my God, they will die. They need water. So somebody came and filled the pot with about this much water. And then, just yesterday, somebody said to me, they're fake. They're fake. They're not real. And I looked at them, and I said, really? Because in my imagination, I could almost see them dying without water. And turns out, it would have made no difference whatsoever. The question now becomes, if you understand that it's not really an analogy, because this is what happened, what are you? Are you real flowers, or are you a fake flower? Which one? If you are a fake flower, water doesn't matter, does it? This life-giving substance called water, you understand, water is life-giving, powerful. Do you think that water was doing anything, anything, anything, sitting in that pot with fake flowers in it? Nothing. It was doing nothing. It would have been better, it would have been better to throw it out the window, that it lands on something that can use it. Even put it in a bowl outside the window, so the birds could come and drink some fresh water. Or nothing else. The summer comes, it evaporates, becomes a little part of a cloud somewhere, and goes and rains down on the ocean, and all is well. That would be even better.

But sitting in that pot, it was doing nothing. Time is valuable, is it not? But if you are a fake flower, it does you no good. Truth is valuable, don't you think so? But if it is in the fake flowers, it does it no good. There's been a poet in India, Rahim, and I was reading some of his work, and I came across something very beautiful. He says, seeing all this in this world, I'm really stuck, I'm really stuck. And he says, without lies, without lies, this world doesn't work. And without truth, I cannot find the Lord. So what do I do? Because if I do it, live in this truth, I have to forego the world. If I adapt the world, I have to forego the Lord. It's a poem. Make you think. Make you think of what choices do you want to make in your life. Make you think. What should you choose? Do you have the possibility of becoming a real flower? Yes, you do. Do you have a possibility of becoming a plastic flower? Of course you do. Will the plastic flower live forever? Seems like it, but it won't. It won't. It won't. Plastic deteriorates. It takes a long time, but it deteriorates. Will the real flower live forever? No. It deteriorates too. Which one do you want? One will look good for a long time. Will give no perfume and cannot replicate.

Few months back, actually almost been couple of years now, I came across, first time I came across the new candles. They run on battery and they use a little LED bulb. I don't know if you have seen them. They're becoming more and more popular. So I see this candle and to me it's like amazing. No fire hazard. They now make them where they even smell good. They smell like a real candle. They flicker like a real candle. And at night you cannot tell the difference. They're so good. But when I first saw this candle, at once I was fascinated by the technology and secondly, I was very bothered. It really bothered me. Like for hours, it was like there is something wrong here. This is good. This is very good because in hotels, you know, they don't have nightlights. So you light a little candle, but you take the risk of burning down the whole hotel. So to me, I was like very glad that they had come out with these candles. But it also bothered me immensely. And I kept thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, something wrong, something wrong, something wrong, something wrong. And finally, it hit me what was wrong. That this fake candle cannot light another candle. It can do everything else. It can do everything else.

It can look good. It can serve the function. It can serve the purpose. But it cannot light another candle. So there are natural attributes that you have as a human being. What do you want? What do you want? What do you want in your life? What do you want in your existence? So now let me explain something to you. What is the nature of this world? And what is the nature of Knowledge? What is the nature of joy? What is the nature of the entertainment of this world? By nature, by nature, the characteristics of the true joy are like a stone. I know this sounds harsh. You would think I would say something more beautiful. More poetic. It's coming. It's coming. And the nature of this world is like liquid, liquid. So I'm sure you're thinking, no, it should be the other way. It should be the other way. The nature of the true joy should be like liquid. And the nature of this world should be like stone. But no, I'm saying it's the other way around. The nature of that joy that comes when the heart is full. Because that's when you begin to play. This is when you come to life. This is when you come to life. You think you're alive. You're not alive.

But when your heart is full, this is when you come to life. Before that, it's a guitar on the wall. Pretty. Nice looking. Green, blue, yellow. But just on the wall. Doing nothing. So the nature of that joy which comes when this beautiful melody is played on this guitar is like rocks. And all this world, the entertainment that it, so-called entertainment, the joy of this world is like liquid. So here is the reason why. You are a pot made out of clay. And this pot made out of clay will one day break. It will. And when it breaks, if it is full of liquid, the liquid will spill. Mixed with the dirt, it will spill. But the rocks will remain undamaged. They will be. Liquid is of no use anymore. It's finished. Honey falls, honey jar falls down, honey goes all over the place. What do you do? What do you do? Garbage. Wipe it up. Throw it away. Oil.

Wipe it up. Throw it away. But when the nature of that is like that stone, dropping, breaking the jar remains irrelevant. So what do you want to fill this jar with? Is it going to break? Absolutely. That is guaranteed. One day, it will break. And when it does, all this that you think, that you admire, that you like, that you draw your reasoning from, that you draw your logic from, will become illogical. Totally illogical. Every relationship you have with your house, with your car, with your cat, with your dog, with your wife, with your children, with your uncle, with your aunt, with your niece, with your nephew, with your cousin, with your neighbor, every relationship will be severed. This is part of the package that you received when you took your first breath. First breath. You accepted the package. Good. Bad. Right. Wrong. This is not what I'm here for. That's not what I'm here for. And that's not what I'm here to define for you. People want that. People want that. Not too long ago, I was in one of the Caribbean islands. I arrived there in the evening, and I was to leave in the morning. So I'm driving to the hotel in this taxi, hired taxi.

And I'm talking to the taxi driver. And I'm telling him, I don't even know him. First thing I said, so how is everything going on the island? He goes, oh, it's OK, you know, that, that, that, that, that. I said, do you know everybody lies to you? He was like, what? I said, yeah. Politicians lie? Absolutely. They love it. It's like, who can tell a bigger lie than the other and make it seem like the truth? That's the challenge. The executives of multinational companies, bigger they are, the more they lie. Absolutely. Absolutely. The religious leaders. I don't know when they stopped. They stopped being concerned about God and got more interested in politics. And the day they become more interested in politics, they started lying to him. So I'm telling him, I'm telling him. So he goes, everybody lies? I said, absolutely, everybody lies. Nobody's telling you the truth. And then I said, that's the only truth. He liked that. He liked that. He said, the only truth is that everybody lies. I said, yeah, right now that's the way it is. It's a web that's been woven in which somebody has figured out that you inherently cannot tell when somebody is lying. You can't.

The only way you can tell is if you have prior Knowledge. After that. OK, but before that, because look at it. I mean, do you realize how easy there would be no customs at the airport? Just one big question on a board. Are you bringing something you shouldn't be? And then one guy standing there going, you, you, you. No, they have no idea. That's why they use dogs. At the immigration, same thing. Police, same thing. No policeman comes to you, pulls you over for speeding. You were speeding. And what do people say? No, I wasn't. All this paperwork. Do you know how many trees are cut down to make these pieces of paper? And what do they make you do? They make you sign them because they don't know if you're telling the truth or a lie. Human beings have no heart and cold. We can feel a pen. We can feel loud noise. We can hear bad smell. We can smell too much salt. We can taste. But if somebody is telling a lie, we have no idea. So the world lies. And what do we do? We believe. Not no, we believe.

Do you know how easy it would be for a company executive if he could tell if people were lying? But you can't. How easy would it be for parents? Isn't that the big one? Tell me the truth. Isn't that the biggest struggle parents have with their children? You better be telling the truth. Teachers. Teachers. Then their job would become easy. Did you do your homework? And even the kids who haven't done their homework say, oh yes. And then the teacher would know. Oh, you didn't do it. But we don't know. But in the lie, there is one element, one element, and it's called believing. Believing. The job, you know, when you didn't do your homework and your teacher asked, did you do your homework? Now your mission is to make the teacher believe that you have. Because if you had, you would not have to make the teacher believe. You could open up your book and say, it's done. This is called knowing. Lie has to employ believing. Think about it. Lie has to imply believing. If the person says, I did my homework and I am telling a lie, no believing is necessary. But didn't do the homework and trying to say, I did it, then believing has to come into play. What is the value of Knowledge for you? The value of Knowledge for you is that you can know. No believing has to come into play. That you can sit down.

You can go inside. That's what the techniques do. Nothing more than that. Nothing more than that. They take your focus from the outside. They put it through inside. You turn. And when this happens, when this happens, you no longer have to try to make believe of anything. First thing, there you are going a thousand miles an hour in this world. Thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking about this, thinking about that, thinking about this, thinking about that. And how fast you're going, you don't know. What are you thinking about? Most of the time you don't know. Some of the times you can figure it out. Most of the time it's all too fast. But you sit down. You begin to practice. And something inside slows, slows, slows, slows, slows. And when you are finished, when you are finished practicing, you are not in ten different parts. But you find yourself as one. One. In this world, when you operate, you are in more than ten different parts. Question. As a human being, are you supposed to operate as ten different parts or one? Which one are you? One or ten? Are you a fake flower or are you a real flower? Which one do you want to be? Which one do you want to be? If you want to be a fake flower, don't even think about Knowledge. Don't.

You want to be a fake flower? Go on. Follow this world that will lie to you. And you are so loyal to it. You are loyal to it. You will defend it. You will protect it. There's nothing wrong with this world. There's nothing wrong with this world. Where have you been? Where have you been? One massive lie after another, after another, after another, after another, after another. Enron. You heard about Enron? Everybody. Best stocks. Best everything. Best, best, best, best, best. Turned out everybody was lying. Everybody was lying. Everybody lies. And you defend. You defend this world. You do not defend your heart. You defend the world. Your loyalty every day is to this world, but not to your heart. Because if it was to your heart, sitting down and practicing for one hour a day would be your joy and privilege. But people say, I don't have the time.

Because the loyalty is to this world. I have to give all my time to this world, not to my heart. Not even one hour for my heart. You get 24 hours. And of the 24 hours, you don't have one hour for your heart, but you've got 24 hours to give to this world. You want to be a plastic flower? You want to be a real flower. If you want to be the real flower, then your loyalty cannot be about the looks. It's about the season and blooming. Spring has come. Spring has come. Beginning of the month, I came to Montevideo. On my way to Argentina, to Buenos Aires, I landed here. The weather was horrible. It was cold. It was miserable. It was raining. It was horrible. Didn't even know if we were going to be able to land here. But just for that approach, the weather lifted just enough. Came in, saw the runway, and landed. Then it started raining again. And what was it like? Well, you couldn't see much. Fog, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. And then came today, a beautiful, beautiful spring day.

Beautiful spring day. Beautiful sunshine, sky. And then I saw them. Then I saw them. These little, tiny, wild flowers were blooming in the field. Spring had come. Just a few weeks ago, those flowers were not there. I drove the same drive, and it was just nothing there. But there they were, dancing in the wind. Little yellow flowers, little wild flowers in the garden of God. Nobody planted these. Nobody planted these flowers. They are the gift. They are the planting. They are the gift of that nature. Which nature? The same nature that is making the universe possible. The same nature that is making it possible for this earth to go round and round and round. For the waterfalls to happen. For the sun to shine. No. Sometimes we get so enamored by those manicured gardens that we forget the garden of God. Enamored. Enamored by all that is fake. Enamored by all that is not real.

Enamored by all that is not going to go with you. Enamored by all that is going to bring you tremendous amount of pain and suffering. In this garden. And believe me, these little flowers were as seedlings waiting for this spring to come. And they do not believe in things. They know. They know. Here it is. It's the right temperature. It's the right season. It's the right time. Here we go. Here we go. And I know some of you are sitting there and going, sometimes they get fooled. And they do. They do. They do. There are times when fall spring happens. It just gets, it's not, it's still winter. But just maybe for five, six days. Five, six days. It gets warm enough and the flowers think, spring's here. Let's go. And then it's, winter comes back.

But let me tell you this. In knowing, they may be wrong a few times. But in believing, they would be wrong most of the time. Oh, it's 21st of September. Let's go. Oops. And see, that's our condition too. We point, we point to those who in their lives embraced Knowledge. Embraced Knowledge. And said, this is it. As a human being, this will fulfill you. And when you are fulfilled, you will be in peace and there is no greater achievement that you can achieve than peace in your life. And we look at them. And we say they're wrong. It is better to be wrong once than to be wrong all the time. The world has been wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Generation after generation. Year after year. Century after century. Decade after decade. But you are the followers. It's called this world. It's got its leash around your neck. I went for a walk yesterday.

And so I see this young executive. He had just had lunch. He had just had lunch. I could tell that. His belly was getting big. But he had had lunch. And all of a sudden he was walking around. And then he sat down. Just sat down. Just sat down. And all I could think to myself is rest. Rest well. You have a few more minutes. Because you're going to have to go back to your office. And he, too, was biding the time. Taking full advantage. No different than when the leash is taken away from the dog. And the dog thinks, I am. Yeah, jump up and down. Wag your tail. You have a few more minutes. In which you can have this pretense of being free. Because what I talk about, the possibility that I have brought to you is to be free. Not one day.

Not two days. But every single day of your life. I like, there's a saying, I like it a lot. It says, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is the first day. It is true. Today is the first day. Of the rest of your life. But do you want to be a real flower? Or a fake flower? Do you want to bloom? Do you want to come in season? Do you want to give off that beautiful perfume? Do you want to dance in the wind? These fake flowers are incapable of dancing in the wind. And they will never attract one single bee in their life. Nothing will be attracted to them except us, who serve no purpose for the flower. Nothing. Nothing. Can they create more of themselves? No. Can they help a bee collect a nectar? No. Will one day they be gone? Yes. But it would have been magical. It would have been magical to have thrived, not survived. It makes no difference in the number of days that you have. It makes no difference. Having lived reality? Do you have an aversion to reality? Of course you do. Of course you do. Because you believe... Oh, I don't know what reality is. You believe that if God was here right now, God would judge you.

Don't you? That is incredibly stupid. Because God is within you, and God is not judging you. Why would God judge you if God was just simply outside? And somebody said to you, You are a sinner. They never proved it to you. They never proved it to you. But they told you enough times. And you started to believe. You started to believe. You know, fish. Fish. I've seen fish. They don't particularly look highly intelligent. They don't. But I've seen that people will put worms, food, whatever on the line. And they don't know what's behind that worm. They don't know. They don't know. So they come up, and they go, Okay, I'm hungry. I've heard fish are like this, that they don't actually ever get full. They're like always eating, eating, eating. And they can actually explode, and they'll be like still eating. That's why I said, I don't think fish are... They're intelligent, but they're not highly intelligent. So they come along, and they bite the worm. But they don't know that behind the worm is a hook.

Right? So they bite. And when they bite, they bite the hook too. But once they know, they're hooked. There's no believing. They fight. It's absolute. They fight. They run. They jump. They fight, and they fight, and they fight, and they fight, and they fight, and they fight, and they fight. If human beings were a fish, we would do the same thing. But we would actually jump in the boat. Going, do you have more? Do you have more of those things that got me in trouble? Every justification in the world. Why is this this way? Why is this this way? Why is this this way? Nobody looks at a simple fact. You are existing on a planet that is magnificent. Can you imagine, can you imagine somebody, somebody building a prison for prisoners that was all made out of marble with beautiful rooms, incredibly beautiful, lush beds, sitting area, bathroom, hidden light. I mean, so incredibly comfortable that people who were not criminals would be doing crime so they could have that. Can you imagine that? So, wake up, open your eyes. Look around. Look around on this planet. This is where you sent the unwanted? Ha ha. It's too good. Coconut. Coconut.

Caring. It's sweet water. It's sweet flesh. Taste amazing. Strawberries. Huh? Strawberries. Inappropriate. Inappropriate. What doesn't this exquisite planet have? Chocolate. Where do you think chocolate comes from? Jupiter? Huh? Perfume. Musk. Roses. Jasmine. A list that goes on and on and on and on and on. Everything. Of flavors, unbelievable. Of smells, unbelievable. Of sounds, unbelievable. Of sights, unbelievable. Of touch, unbelievable. The show never ends. Never. Even when the sun goes down, it gets dark, the stars come out. Of course, you can't see it in the cities.

But if you are in an open place where there is no pollution, oh my God. On and on and on and on and on and on. It is a privilege to be here. Privilege. This life. In heaven. Because to me, the description of heaven falls way too short. Of what the description of this earth. And yet. In ignorance, the description of hell falls so short. Of what the condition a human being is in when they are in ignorance. So. No. In your life, no. Know what gift you have been given. Know. That this Knowledge can bring you that peace. This Knowledge can bring you that joy. Know. Not believing. Not hearsay. Know. That you can be real. All it takes is that want.

To be. To fulfill this heart. You talk about efficiency. This is the one thing I've been saying is Knowledge is incredibly efficient. Because the definition of efficiency is minimum effort, maximum result. Knowledge is incredibly efficient. One hour of practice a day saves you 23. That's very efficient. There are people. And you know, it's. I've heard a lot of excuses. Oh, but you know, I get so busy and this is happening in my life. And that's happening in my life. And I don't know. You know, all that that is happening in your life will always be happening in your life. It's really like that. If you have children, you're waiting for the children to grow up. They'll never grow up. Your children don't ever grow up. Other people's children grow up. Your children never grow up. First you were busy with your wedding. Then you're going to be busy with their wedding. And it's going to feel like you're getting married, except it's not you.

You know, and then it'll go on and on and on and on. And you think you will retire someday. It never comes. Not the world's retirement. It never comes. You'll be busy. You will just have a change of jobs. Before you had a boss. He sat in an office and he gave you the commands. When you retire, your boss will be at home and giving you the commands. Do this. Do that. And that's what will happen. All of this. All of this never stops. Take advantage and be fulfilled every day. Because that's your opportunity. The world is not the opportunity. People say, I want to be successful. On the outside or the inside? Which one? You know, when you leave this world, they will put makeup on you. They'll try to make you look as beautiful as possible. You put makeup now, right? Some of you, ladies, you know. You put makeup now. Your lipstick, your eye shadow, a little here, a little there.

Well, when you leave this world, this will happen. It will be a professional, too. Come put lipstick on you. Make you look real pretty. Make you look like a sleeping princess. And young. But believe me, it's not going to be the same thing of what you put on makeup now and then. This is... You want to be beautiful? Then be beautiful now. And there's only one thing that makes you look really beautiful. And it's not your makeup. It's when your heart is full. You look beautiful. Just like a child. A child is happy. Everything is full. The child will smile and play and frolic. And when it's in pain, what do you want to fix? There is nothing to fix. Only to be fulfilled. That's why you came to me. I can show you something that can bring you that joy, that can bring you that peace. Some of you are here, I'm sure you haven't practiced Knowledge in a really long time. Maybe you were busy doing something else. Some people, they go, I don't know about Knowledge, I'll leave. And then, it's like, then they find out, oh my God, I feel really lost now.

Fine. Are you blessed? Of course you're blessed. How do you know? Do you believe you're blessed? Or do you know you're blessed? See, before you had Knowledge, maybe once in a while you felt blessed. And you believed you were blessed. After you receive Knowledge, and you experience the coming and going of this breath. Then you know you are blessed. Is that a big difference? My fish story, right? My fish story. Once that fish finds out, knows, that's it. No more believing, I'm out of here, I don't want to be caught. That's why you need to know. You need the Master. Somebody who holds that flashlight in the darkness. Somebody who has the strong arms, who can row this boat across. From darkness to light. What do you have to do? I was telling that to someone. I said, not much, all you have to really do, and this is all I ask you to do. Sit back on the boat. Sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. That's all you have to do. Don't keep jumping off. Just sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. That's all you have to do. And Knowledge is so profound. So profound.

So profound. I've seen it again, and again, and again, and again, and again. So profound. People come to me. People who are leaving this world, they know. People who have been told, okay, you have only a few days, a few months, a few weeks, whatever. Why do they come? Thank you. Thank you for this gift of Knowledge. Thank you for this gift of Knowledge. And I say, till the last breath. Do you realize there's not too much in this world that can actually make that claim? Till the last breath. Till the last breath. This Knowledge will be there for you. No pressure. No guilt. No screaming at you, you're all sinners. No making you believe something else. Not the way of Knowledge. Not the way of Knowledge. Distracting you? No. No tricks. No tricks. Simple. Practice.

Enjoy. No philosophies. No books. No courses. This is what you have. And all it takes. If you so want. Anyways, thank you very much. Take care of yourselves. I'll see you soon.