Prem Rawat in Moscow, 2012-06-19

Prem Rawat in Moscow, 19th June June 2012

Dear ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Today, on the walls of the State Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow, an extraordinary event is taking place, which is important for our country, important for the university I lead, important for many thousands of citizens of our country and for everyone who values such concepts as peace, dignity, tolerance, justice. For us, as I said, it is very important to be here today and to be involved in what is happening here, because, indeed, in the last 20 years our country has undergone a number of necessary phases of development, transformation, and today it is a state that is open to the world, open to all human tendencies, and which is active.

In this regard, I would like to greet on behalf of the professors, professors, leaders, students of the Synergy University, our esteemed guest, Mr. Prem Naravata. Ladies and gentlemen, students and faculty, first of all, I would like to tell you how thrilled I am to be in this country. This is my first time that I am here, and I am very touched by the hospitality of my hosts, who have made it very nice for me to be here.

Now, I would like to talk about peace, but before I can talk about peace, I need to establish what it is. Each human being on the face of this earth has strengths and weakness. Now, generally speaking, we know about people's weakness, but I'm not here to point out other people's weakness or strength, but what about your strength? What is your strength? When we say peace is important to me, first thing, first thing we think of that peace will be made possible by the world leaders, by the world economists, by some angel coming from the heavens. And what if I was to tell you that the peace that you are looking for is already inside of you? That is one of your strengths. I'm going to say something. If you want to be strong, I know people go and they work out at the gym. They have special diet, everything. They want to be strong. If you want to be strong, then be gentle. If you want to be rich, be generous. If you want to be powerful, be kind. If you needed to be generous, where will you find generosity? Where will you find kindness? Where will you find gentleness? And of course, if you want to be wise, be simple. And by the way, where would you find simplicity? Where? These are traits that cannot be borrowed, cannot be taught. They are traits that are fundamentally inside every human being. What if life presents an opportunity that we do not see? Education, which is so important, presents us with an opportunity. Some people think luck presents us with an opportunity. But what if life presents us with an opportunity? An opportunity to be content. With an opportunity to be in peace. Have we accepted that challenge in our lives? Without understanding our potential, without understanding what we have been given, without understanding who we are, all that we do is merely a repetition with slight changes. From one to the other, to the other, to the other, to the other. Without an emotion, there is no painting. Without an emotion, it is just a hammer hitting strings. But with emotion, the essence of a song is transformed. That emotion of peace, that emotion of joy, that is so fundamental to every single human being, we are indeed an empty cage.

No bird, just a cage. When the reality strikes within you, when you have hope within you, when you have the desire of peace within you, what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? What do you think you are lacking? What do you think you are lacking? I see the world is waiting because somehow the clouds will separate and angels will descend that will go ding ding ding and there will be peace. You know how long we've been waiting for that? Not one year, not two years, not three years, thousands of years, thousands of years. Is it going to happen? Maybe, maybe, but why wait? Let's start the party. And the party is to understand yourself. That joy, that thirst for peace that you have within you. I have a strategy and my strategy is don't try to bring peace to the world because the world really doesn't need peace. If whales are not in peace, it's because of us. If birds are not in peace, it's because of us. So my strategy is not to bring peace to the world but bring peace to people. That's my strategy. Will it work? Let's see. In thousands of years, it's the only thing that has not been tried. Everything else we have tried, including making a better orange juice machine. But what we have not tried is person to person to person to person. And now, I would be happy to take any questions that you might have. Good evening. My name is Delia and I'm a student of Synergy University. I was very touched by your program of rehabilitation for prison inmates. It's a major problem in Russia. Is it real to organize such kind of problem here? Of course. Of course. And, you know, really the whole idea was just to take the message to the people. Because I think the success of the Peace Education Program right from the start is that we don't look at them as prisoners.

That's between the judge, the police, the government, and the prison system. For us, they are human beings. And when I look at them as people, and the messages for them, and it is telling them that they are alive, they have this possibility, that they have strengths inside of them, that they don't have to be a victim of this, they accept this message, they find that strength, and they evolve. First thing should be is the respect for another human being. AcKnowledgement of their humanity. It is the humanity that we need to bring back. We have so much technology. So much technology. Who is working on evolving the humane portion of that humanity? We have to. I see a possibility emerging. This is not a revolution, this is an evolution. Because peace needs to be given a chance. Now. So, thank you.