Prem Rawat in Las Palmas, 2012-03-18

The Voyage
Prem Rawat in Las Palmas, 18th March 2012

Well, last time it was Tenerife and this time it is Las Palmas. So today, I'd like to talk about the voyage and what I need to express I think is applicable to each one of us. In this life, we hear many things. We hear about the road, we hear about what it's all about, what is the purpose of life. But the fact of the matter is, no one knows. No one knows. Each one of you, because you are alive, because you exist, you will make a voyage. And what will this voyage be like? No one knows. You don't know. You're given a vessel. And here's the vessel, this human body. And by the very fact that it breathes, that it exists, it will make a voyage. It will go to truly where no one has been before. You see, you might say, well, isn't it going to be very similar to the person sitting next to you? No, because there's infinite little changes, infinite little variables. And that's what will make your voyage unlike anyone else's. How you perceive, how you think, how you understand is completely unique to you. The world generalizes, everything becomes an average. But if you are to go a little bit beyond the average, the numbers, you will realize that even though the average represents an average of all those things, but in themselves, all those numbers are unique. You see, one can say that if you make a journey on a road, go somewhere, that your chances of not having a flat tire, a puncture, are 99.999%. Fine. Fine. But what if you do? And that is that 0.01%. Would it help you to go, well, I didn't bring this tire, because 99.99%, I was not going to get a flat. All the logic, all the reasoning, precludes reality, when you average, it precludes reality. And reality is what you have to deal with every single day. Not averages.

What will your day be like today? What will your day be like tomorrow? And even if you have the same job, and you do the same thing every day, no two days are alike. And what are these numbers representing? Nothing. Because till you are dead, only that day after you die, can those numbers actually be called and say, right, these numbers actually agree with your averages. Because this is how this person had two years worth of really bad time, five years worth of really good time. But when you live, when you exist, every day is different. Every day is different. It is not just a question of good or bad. It is not just a question of good or bad. It is a question of how you view that good and bad. One day, things could actually be really bad. And you view them as good. Oh, it's not so bad. It's not so bad. You're feeling good inside. You know, things are good. It's okay. It's not so bad. And then there could be another day where things are actually really good. But you're not feeling good inside. And so it's like, oh, no, what's the point? What's the problem? Everything is bad. Because everything is a variable. So how do you make this voyage? How does it happen? Who are you? And what is the purpose of this voyage? What is the purpose of this voyage? Why this voyage? Why does it have to be made? So to understand this, you have to begin with point zero. Not point 100. Point zero.

Why do I say point zero? Because you've heard a lot. You have read a lot of books. You have a lot of information floating in your head. A lot of information. Who God is. Where God is. Don't you? God up there. Everyone up there. Then if you do things good, you will arrive in heaven. If you do things bad, you will end up in hell. Hell is terrible. You don't want to go there. Heaven is good. Yes, you do want to get there. And so you should be like this. You should be like this. You should be like this. You should be like this. And if you do all these things, you will get to heaven. These are all information floating in your head. And that's why I say you need to begin with zero. No information. Let's look at facts. Not ideas.

Facts. So let's look at fact number one. Who are you? What are you? What is this body? Isn't this what it's all about? You try to make this body comfortable. It's nice. You want a soft bed. You want a nice soft pillow. Maybe you don't want to go searching for water at night when you get thirsty, so you put a bottle of water next to your bed. You don't want to sit there and wonder what time is it. So you put a little clock so you can look at it. What do you do when you go buy shoes? What do you do? You just walk into the store and say, give me a pair of shoes. No, no, no, no, no. You don't do that. You put them on. And then you walk a little bit. Why? Why? To make sure that these shoes have not been worn before? Why? Why do you walk in those shoes? You walk in those shoes to make sure they're comfortable. When you go to buy glasses, I see a lot of people wearing glasses. When you go to buy glasses, what do you do? Just give me a pair of glasses? No, you put them on. How do they fit? Then you look in the mirror. How do they look? Your pants. And in this regard, women are infinitely more blessed because they can wear these elastic pants and they don't have to worry about it. They still look okay. Men, the belts, the pants, everything has to fit right. But why all this? You go through a lot of trouble to make sure you are comfortable. When it gets hot, what do people do? If they have a book, they have a booklet, they have a fan.

Why? Why? Why do you have to do that? Because it's not comfortable when you're hot. So you do this. I see one lady doing it here in India. Everybody does that. Anything. Just to be comfortable. To be comfortable. So we spend a lot of time, a lot of energy to make sure our body is externally comfortable. Do we also spend that time to make sure that our body, our existence, our life is internally comfortable? Comfortable. Or do we learn how to live with disparity? How to live with anger? How to live with confusion? Because if this is what we are doing, this would be akin to buying a pair of shoes that has a nail sticking out and you put it on and it hurts and you go, perfect. This is what I like. Cannot be like that. So what is this? What are you making very comfortable? Ah, very interesting. Why? Because this is dirt. This is dirt. And you spend so much time making dirt comfortable. You don't think this is dirt? It is. Bury it. Dig it up. Forty, fifty years. Dirt. That's what happens. Dirt. And you spend a tremendous amount of time making sure this dirt is comfortable.

Why? It deteriorates. Maybe. You're very young. Then as you get older and older and older, it deteriorates, deteriorates, deteriorates, deteriorates, deteriorates. So here's something that's going to go bad. You know it's going to go bad. But you take care of it. Preserve it. Want to be comfortable. Because this is how you are made. It is important for self-preservation of this body that it does not like pain. Something hot? Reaction. In India, it's really, it's really funny. In India, when there's electricians, they're working on electricity. You are supposed to carry a meter and check, make sure that the wires got no electricity before you work on it. Well, Indians don't have the time or the meters. So what they do is they come up, and this is 220 volts, and they touch it. But how they touch it. Because if you touch it like this, and it clamps, the muscles automatically retract. You could actually be grabbing onto it. So they touch it like this, and when they do, it recoils, moves away from the electricity. So they can go, oh yeah, okay, it's live. And 99% of the time, it probably is live. So it's like, ah.

We don't like pain. We will do whatever is necessary to get rid of pain. Then if this is our nature, what have we done in our lives to make ourselves comfortable with it? What? So beginning from point zero, dirt. But why does this, this dirt moves? This dirt moves. It talks, it thinks, it sees, it hears, it tastes, it smells. Why? And not only does it smell, it likes to smell that that brings it enjoyment. Bad smell. Good smell. Hearing. What does it like to hear? That which brings you enjoyment. Seeing. What does it like to see? That what brings you enjoyment. This is how you are. This is who you are. Make no mistake. Make no mistake. So then, is it any different for what is within you that the heart also wants to enjoy? Your existence wants to be fulfilled. What is a good lunch? Food? That's it? No, no, no, no. A good lunch. Maybe you are with your friends. It's a beautiful day. It's sunny. It's cool breeze. You're sitting there.

There's a table. There's wonderful food and you're talking and you're enjoying yourself and then you're also taking in food. This is what people think is enjoying. A good lunch. Not when it's miserable and it's raining and it's freezing cold and you're out there sitting outside. No, you want to enjoy. Enjoy everything you do and you should enjoy everything you do. And what does your heart want to do? It also enjoys. And what can your heart enjoy? This is the question. So it seems to me, if we just look at these facts. Forget about heaven and hell for a minute. Just look at these facts. It seems like we are here to enjoy. I mean, just use a little bit of logic. Don't go there. Oh, no, no, we're not here to enjoy because life is so miserable. No, no, no. Just use facts. You're given a body that loves to enjoy. Hates pain. Hates pain. Loves, loves enjoyment. And you're here. So put the two and two together, as they say, and you end up with something that wants to be, to enjoy.

Happy? Okay. Happy feels good. Joyful? Feels very good. Ah, peace. Feels divine. Peace. So without getting into complex complexities that we are here to actually suffer, so we won't have to suffer, you know, later. I have seen a lot of people. It doesn't matter. They want to be comfortable. This is the body that we have. This is what it wants. This is what it likes. And this is important. Because inside of us, we also want to be comfortable. So perhaps the purpose of this voyage, the purpose of this voyage is not pain, suffering, but to be able to experience the ultimate experience. Now, what is the ultimate experience? What do you think? What do you think is the ultimate experience? Without being a rocket scientist, I would have to say that the experience of the ultimate would be an ultimate experience. Without being a rocket scientist. What is the ultimate? What is the ultimate? Then the ultimate would be that power that makes everything possible, powers it, moves it. In the whole universe. I'm not going to try to define the ultimate, because one of the definitions of the ultimate is it's undefinable. I'm not going to try to explain to you what infinity is. You cannot understand what infinity is. I cannot understand what infinity is.

I'm not going to try to convince you that there is a power that makes all this possible, because anytime you have a question about this power, look up, look down, look left, look right. And courtesy of something, all of this is being made possible. Courtesy of something, all of this is being made possible. Why the wind blows? Why the earth rotates? How the earth came to be? Where the earth will end up? Incomprehensible. Unimaginable. We come into a hall this big and we go, this is a big hall. This is not a big hall. This is not even equal to one little speck of dirt in this universe. How big is this? Unbelievable. Where the light, the star has died, but the light is still traveling. When you look at the stars, some of those stars are not there. They're gone, but the light is still traveling. That's far. That's far. How big is that? I don't know. But it's fascinating that that ultimate that is everywhere right now is also within you. Forget about the fascination of the universe. You will never get it. You will never understand it. Never. There's no measuring tape big enough. Try to explain in light years. It's confusing. It is not like a football field.

People in America, you ask Americans, how far is the moon? And they will tell you, oh, so many hundred football fields. And all that on top of it, ever changing, ever changing. But the fascinating thing for us is not understanding the universe, but that which also powers the universe happens to be within us right now. And this we can experience. Why? Why should we experience this? Ah, this is where it gets really beautiful. Because when you do, you get filled with peace. When you do, you are filled with clarity. When you do, you are filled with joy. When you do, this is when you experience the truest, truest happiness. Well, that sounds like a really good reason. And when I take a look at this voyage and I understand what this voyage can make possible, then I want to take this voyage. Does that mean we'll end up in heaven? Kabir. I don't know if you've heard of Kabir. A lot of people have. Fascinating. He says, God has called me, meaning time to go. God has called me. And Kabir, upon hearing the invitation, cries. Why does Kabir cry? He says, the happiness, the joy that I feel here in the company of the truth does not exist even in heaven. Time to scratch heads. What? Yes. Yes. There is a heaven. And this heaven, at least according to Kabir, is better than the one.

How do you explain this to people? How do you explain this to people? How? When they already have in their head, we are here to suffer. And we get to suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer. Then when we go up there, we enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. How? How? When this machine, this machine is not made for suffering. It doesn't like it. I mean, if you want to suffer, fine. But let's have a machine that really is good at suffering. You smell a rose, and your nose just goes, and starts to bleed, and pain, and your eyes swell up, and your throat, you start to choke. I mean, suffer. Really made to suffer. Really, really, always hot. Sweating, sweating, even walking into a cold room, sweat coming out. Ugly. Ugly, you know. So you look at another people and you go, oh. Then you look at yourself and you go, oh. And you look at the sunset and you go, oh. And in the summer, the cool breeze blows, and you are like in pain, just pain. I mean, I think you get the idea of how it really could have been made to just perfect machine for really suffering. And if you stand up, your legs hurt. And if you sit down, your butt hurts. I mean, it's just like. And you stand up, and you fall asleep. And you fall, and you fall.

You lie down, and you're completely awake. I mean. You know. But you know, and I know. That's not how this is. Smell a rose. Night jasmine. Night jasmine. You're standing there. It's the light breeze in the evening. Full moon. Ocean. Still the light of the sun. And a beautiful aroma of night jasmine just wafting through the air. And you go. You consider this magical. How amazing. How beautiful is this opportunity to make this voyage. And what do you need on this voyage? Do you need anger? Do you need fear? No. This has been given to you. But so has been kindness. There's confusion. But, there's clarity. There is pain.

But, there is joy. And one thing you must know. Which is the absence, and which is the presence. You must know this. It's very good to know this. Darkness is not a presence. Light is the presence. Darkness is the absence. Cruelty is not a presence. It's an absence. Kindness is the presence. Pain is the absence. Joy is the presence. Why do I say this? The person who came up with the idea of light. Whether it is a lamp. Whether it is a candle. This is fundamentally one of the understandings this person must have had. That I need to invent a candle. I need to invent a lamp. Not a machine that tries to remove darkness from a room. Now, can you imagine? Somebody trying to invent a machine that removes darkness from a room. Impossible. But this person. I'm sure.

I'm sure. That way back, somebody lit the fire. And all of a sudden, they could see. They said, hmm. Probably, hmm, hmm. Not too many languages. So, hmm, hmm, hmm. You can imagine their situation, right? There they are in darkness. Rocks. Animals. All of this. Ooh, darkness. Not good. Darkness. Not good. This they found out quickly too. Sun goes down. Darkness comes. Sun, good. Sun, good. Just look at all the ancient civilizations. They all prayed to Sun. Sun was important. This brought them warmth.

This brought them light. This brought them life. So, pray to Sun. Then, the dilemma. How do you hang around at night? Things you need to do. Oh, this is bad. Light removes darkness. Edison invented the light bulb. That's all. But the concept, the understanding that light removes darkness existed way before him. That's why at night in the streets, they used to light candles. You don't have to make a machine that removes darkness. Because darkness in itself is nothing. Bring light and darkness will go away. Bring joy and pain will go away. Bring clarity and doubts will go away. Isn't that easy? You see, to make the doubts go away is impossible. But to bring clarity into your life is very possible. This you can do in your life. This is about absences and presences. In your list, in your existence, in your list, do you have in your list those items that you do not want or those items that you do want? It's a very good question. And the reason why I even bring this up is because most people on their list, there is no one single item of what they do want. There's all the list is of what they don't want. I don't want confusion.

I don't want poverty. I don't want pain. I don't want this. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that. God, I don't want to get lost. God, I don't want to go to hell. God, save me from pain and suffering. Wrong prayer. You are trying to invent the darkness removing machine. Then the prayer should be, I want to experience heaven. Not, don't send me to hell. What is hell? All that heaven isn't. What happens? It's like if I want to build a house and I talk to an architect and I say to the architect, let me show you all the houses I don't want my house to look like. How many books would that take? How many photographs would that be? How many tours would that be? Let's go. Now we're going to explore the southeast section of the city where I will show you all the houses that I don't want my house to look like. So what is it? Not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that, not that and the poor architect is like, what can I do with this? What can I do with a list of nots? I need a list of what you do want. So what do you want? Ah, what do you want? Come back to the same thing, what is this body made like. What do you want? You want peace. Why? Because it feels so good. You want joy because it feels so good.

You want clarity. You want understanding. Then you want to feel your heaven now. Now! You know, I don't understand it. There's this show and it's about airports. You know, I like to fly so I find it fascinating because I don't ever get to experience that part of it and what actually goes on at an airport, inside the airport, all the workings. So people come and some people are something else. You know, they want to travel to another country and they've forgotten their passports. And who do they blame? The airlines and the poor airline crews like, you know, sir how can we let you go? You don't have a passport. Why can't you? I have my driver's license. But they need a passport. Oh and then you didn't tell me I had to bring a passport. When I was making the reservation I wasn't told I had to bring a passport. Do you want to travel? Do you want to travel? Do you want to travel? And you had brains enough to try to book a ticket. It is incumbent upon you to find out what, when, where, why, what am I going to need for this journey. Not the airlines. You don't understand. The airlines is not in the business of transporting you. That's what people think. They're not. They're in the business of making money. When airlines don't make money they go bye-bye. They want to be around and this is how they do it. There is no difference.

There is no difference when you go to the restaurant. It's the same thing. You look at the menu and you go okay I want this and I want this and I want this and when the food comes you make sure that's what you ordered. There are people. And I see they're late. They're late. They're late. And they're like oh why can't you you know hold the airplane. How? Airplanes have slot times to make. But anyways so the airline should say well you know just sit there. It's okay. Just sit there. And one day, one day, someday your flight will come. And then this will be your moment of glory. Your flight will be called on the PA. And with great pride and joy you will be allowed to board the airplane. No no no people are not. Hey why are we late? Why are we late? Why are we late? Why are we late? Go. Go. Now I'm late. I'm late. I'm late. I'm late. Make the voyage.

Make the voyage. Let me help you prepare for this voyage. Because you will pack or try to pack everything. You don't need everything. You need clarity. Most people say I cannot. I do not enjoy my voyage. It's terrible. You're over packed. You can't carry your luggage. It's too much. Your back hurts. From carrying all those ideas. Prepare for this voyage. Lighten your load. Carry the essentials. All that you will need. Clarity. Clarity will see you through most problems. That's how clarity is. You know, it's really amazing. Confusion, even though it's absence, weighs so much that its weight is almost incalculable. Confusion weighs a lot. Clarity weighs so little that when it comes to you, even you hardly weigh anything.

Have you felt that? Pain. Pain weighs so much. And joy. So little that even you feel. These are good things to carry with you. Because they hardly weigh anything. And they make you lighter too. Best of both worlds. Best of both. This is the possibility. Take the voyage. Don't be shy. Don't be shy. Take the voyage. It's a good voyage. Feel the heaven here. If there is one up there, you will have it. Feel the heaven here. Feel the heaven here. Because the heaven here has been designed for you. It's no mystery. Earth was designed for you. Beautiful. Be in that peace. Be in that joy.