Prem Rawat at Amaroo 2012-09-18

Prem Rawat Sitting Near a Fire at Amaroo 18th September 2012

Hello everyone, Prem Rawat here. Tonight I'm sitting under the stars. There's a nice warm fire, nice cool breeze blowing, You can hear the rustling of the trees in the background. Finished a two-day event here in Australia and one event in Hawaii. Looking forward to going to Melbourne, There's the International Day of Peace in Melbourne. Sitting here and in this environment perhaps, looking up, looking at these stars, looking at this fire and human beings for such a long time have looked at these things, They've looked at the stars, have looked at the fire, have listened to the wind rustling in the trees and they have wondered. They have wondered, why are they here? They have wondered, who am I? And in a way these are very simple, natural questions, But in the search for that, who am I? Why am I here? There has been some very profound changes on the face of this earth.

Farming is responsible for putting our civilization in kind of the order it is. It necessitated roads, We have roads today. It necessitated large buildings to store things. It necessitated so many things, Protection, the armies, the kings. And yet fundamentally some things don't change. The things that have to do with you, that come from your heart, that come from a very deep place inside of you, The human. And what I talk about is so much the drama of the human being on the face of this earth. And I call it the face of this earth, but what I really mean alive, The drama that we are here. And we have choices. We can choose wars, or we can choose peace, We can choose to destroy things, or we can choose to preserve them. We can work with nature, or we can work against nature. And I guess being in that space of, I want to do anything I want to do, is okay, but there are consequences to it.

And some of these consequences are on a very fundamental level. I'm not a scientist in that sense, and certainly I cannot go out and predict what's going to happen to the weather, and I cannot predict what's going to happen here, and what's going to happen to the economics of this world, and what's going to happen to the population, and all of these things, even though one gets an inkling that all that is not on a good foot. But there is one thing that I can discuss and talk about, and that is, just as a human being on the face of this earth, what are my possibilities? What is possible for me? What can I fundamentally achieve? What can make me feel good? What can make me happy? What can bring light into my existence? What can bring peace to me? And when I think we start asking questions like that, it goes in a very different direction.

It is not about accomplishments, but it's the accomplishment of the very fundamental things that a human being needs. We have tried to create so much, thinking we need this, and thinking we need this, and thinking we need this, and I'm not here to call it one way or the other way, but those fundamental needs of a human being, the question is, have they been met? Are we happy? Are we content? Or are we dependent upon other things to be content? Are we content because we are content from the inside, or are we content because we are dependent on something else? The other day I was watching a comedy on television, and they had a guy, and it was just a comedy, and the guy was dead. But they had a lot of makeup on him, and somebody made the comment, he may be dead, but he sure looks good.

And in a way, it just sparked off this idea, is that, are we in the same shape? Are we dying, or in a way dead, metaphorically speaking? But we've got enough stuff on us that we sure look good, so where are we headed? Where are we going? What are the possibilities? I talk to a lot of people about peace, and you know, it's really interesting, because when you talk to little kids about peace, they have a very simple perspective about it. Do you want peace? Yes. Do you have peace? I don't know.

Would it be nice if you were in peace? Yeah, I want that. When do you think peace will come? I don't know. Because I think these I don't knows are sincere, and in a way, we have to ask ourselves the same questions, and answer them sincerely, because for such a long time, there has been this one voice that has existed throughout the ages, that has inspired human beings to look within themselves.

The fascination has been with Knowledge, not ignorance. The fascination of this voice, of this thinking, of this beautiful expression, has been about Knowledge, not ignorance. Has been about light, not darkness, Has been about answers, not just questions. And when all this is brought together, and look at the relevance of all of this in today, in a human being's life, so many dreams have been fulfilled. So many dreams, I wish, I'm sure people said, I wish I could go from here to there faster. Well, now we can. Somebody looked at the sky and said, I wish I could fly like a bird, Now we can. Somebody said, I wish I could swim like the fish. Now we can. Somebody said, I wish I could talk to somebody who was far away instantly. Now we can. I wish I could see you, even though you are 3,000 miles away, I wish I could see you. Now we can. So many dreams have been fulfilled, but one cannot help but feel that there is still this twang of emptiness. Because all the makeup in the world isn't going to bring back that person. They may look alive. They may look wonderful, They may look better than they have ever looked. But something fundamental is missing. And that fundamental thing is what I think every human being aspires to accomplish.

But we do not look in simplicity for the answer. We get so intrigued by making the perfect question. We have to have the perfect question. So we get involved with the question. And everybody is trying to have an interpretation of the question. How should the question be? What should the question be? Is this the perfect question? How should we ask the question? How should the question be written? Is it really expressing what we really want to know? But what is it that we want to know? So we get so caught up in the question that nobody actually says, well, answer? I mean, is there an answer to this somewhere? And I have in my life always experienced that you can get caught up in questions.

And questions are wonderful. I'm not saying we shouldn't ask questions. Questions are wonderful if they take you to an answer. If they don't take you to an answer, then you have to abandon that question and ask another question. The question that'll take you ultimately to the answer, why am I here? Why am I alive? What is my fundamental thirst? What do I want in my life? What makes me happy? What will bring me peace? And as simple as this may all sound, it has eluded humanity for a really, really long time. Perhaps the time is now for us to seriously, seriously look at this. To seriously understand the possibility of peace. To seriously understand that if we truly want a future that is a bright future, that it is a good future, that it is a fulfilling future, that it is a future that embraces rather than rejects. Then this is the time to find peace. That it is the time to find that light. That it is the time to find that happiness. That it is the time to find that fulfillment.

Rest? Well, it'll play out as it does. What is the normal? What was I? I was born in 1957. Nine months in my mother's womb, What was I before that? Well, this is what I look around me and I see this dirt. That's what I was. For how long? Earth is 4.56 billion years old, Somewhere I was there too, lying around. That's dirt for 4.56 billion years. Then something happened and I'm alive. What will happen to me? There's that famous saying, dust to dust. So if it is dust to dust, I'll go back to being a dust. Lying around for billions and billions more years. And I was thinking about that. That if that's the norm, then life is an exception. Now the question is, do I understand? Do I make the effort to also make my life exceptional? Because we're not talking about 70 years, 80 years, That's the exception. We're talking about billions of years of that norm, of that dust, lying around. What can I accomplish? What can I be? It's not about my mistakes. It's what I have learned from them. How can I go in the future?

We talk about hope. We need hope. Well, there's no shortage of hope. There's no shortage of hope. There's no shortage of light. Of course, there's no shortage of darkness. But what do you choose in your life? Do you choose hope? Do you choose joy? Do you choose to find the answer? Or do you choose to be just stuck with the question? That's the question. For me, I have chosen something, I have chosen to bring peace in my life. Have I succeeded? I try. And every step that I take, I feel gratitude in my heart that I chose that. Every step that I come closer to myself, I also come closer to peace. The voice that has existed in this world for a very, very long time has said, know thyself. That knowing others is wisdom.

Knowing yourself is enlightenment. Every day, I need to choose. Every day, I need to choose, It is not like you make the choice once and then forget about it. But every day, you need to choose. Every day, I want to choose enlightenment. Being smart, yeah, that would be great. Being wise, that would be great too. But I think to be fulfilled, to be in peace, that would be spectacular, If I can wish that for me, I know you can wish that for yourself. If I can try an inch a little closer every day, then I know you too can try an inch a little closer. How beautiful that that becomes my journey. A journey that will take me to me, to me. That it begins with me and it ends with me. That I have discovered the destination, And the journey is not about experiments, but the outcome of this journey will never be in question. Thank you for your time. Great talking to you, Enjoy your life. Find the peace and be in peace. Prem Rawat, signing off from the outback of Australia.