Prem Rawat in Montreal, 2012-07-11

Peace is a Priority
Prem Rawat in Montreal, 11th July 2012

People are understanding something, having peace in their lives, and you can be a part of the magic regardless of where you are.

Bonsoir. So, that's the end of French, I'm sorry. What I want to talk to you about today is really something that should be obvious to all of us, but it's not. It really isn't, but it should be. So, let me begin with a little story. One day, a little lion cub looked at his dad and said, Papa, I have a question for you. And the lion, if you've ever seen a lion, they're pretty lazy. So the lion looked up at his son and said, go ahead, what's your question? And the cub said, Papa, who are we? Who are we? Upon hearing this question, the lion became very engaged and he said, oh, my son, we are the kings of the jungle. Just the sight of us strikes terror in the hearts of the other animals. We have the paws with nails that can slice open an animal in just one strike. We have legs that can allow us to chase and run down beasts much bigger than us. We are skilled hunters. We are the kings of the jungle. So the cub thought about it and thought about it and thought about it and thought about it. And he said to the lion, he said, Papa, I have another question. He said, what? He said, if that's who we are, what are we doing in a zoo? So the reason why I told you that story is when we discuss who are we, we do discuss, oh, we're human beings, we're the crown of the creation, we're intelligent, we have language, we have so much. We can fly, we can swim, we can, if we can't swim, we can go underwater. I mean, we can do so many things. We have created technology, we have done this, we have done that, we've gone to the moon. I mean, all that good stuff. And so then one has to ask the obvious question that if this is who we are, why are we in such a mess? Because human beings will go on to tell you and we have been created in the image of God and, you know, so then what's going on here? This seems to be a paradox. On one hand, we have the possibility for peace, we have the possibility of enjoyment, we have the possibility of joy, we have the possibility of knowing, of clarifying, of learning, of evolving every single day. Every single day.

But that is not reflected when you look at the situation of this world. Are we not capable of exchanging the bullets for caring and sharing? Good question. Because I said, just are we not capable? And of course we are capable. But then why do we choose bullets over caring and sharing? Are we not capable of creating? Then why do we choose destruction? Are we not capable of knowing? Then why do we choose ignorance? Are we not capable of being fulfilled? Then why do we choose emptiness? And this is maybe a big issue for a lot of people. Complex. Oh, it's not so simple. It's not just that we could choose and it would happen. I mean, how are you going to change the whole world? How are you going to change the whole world? Is that a valid question? In a lot of people's mind, it is a valid question. For me, it is not a valid question. It is not a valid question and it is not a valid question because I have not yet seen anything called the world in my travels. Now you are entering the world. Caution, world ahead. Slow. You know, a triangle, slow. World ahead. It's not the world. It's the individuals. It's every single human being. That's all that truly matters. You. You matter. The composition of existence is such that on the surface of this planet Earth, the ones that count are the ones that are living. That's it. There is a window and in this window, everything takes shape.

The question is, how big is this window? How big is this window? One week, one month, one year, one lifetime, or just somebody comes to you and says something. So, well, it usually works very well with bad news. Somebody says something to you and it's really, really bad news. How long does it take for that bad news to turn your life around? Are you set up for this? Are you set up for this? No, absolutely not. We're set up for tomorrow and day after that. We're set up for five years from today. We're set up for 10 years from today. We're set up. We have the calendar system and you can look at it and you can say, there's January and there's February and there's March and there's April and so on and so on and so on and there's November and there is December. And where is this? Where is this? You see, I told you I'm going to state the obvious. Is this obvious to you or not? Because if this isn't obvious to you, things are not obvious. Obvious means when it's clear. No interpretation is needed. I talk about peace. I travel around. You've already heard that. But I don't go around explaining things to people. I don't say, oh, you know, and don't be confused about chapter 11, line 14, because this is what it really means. I don't do that. I don't have to explain. I merely have to present to you that which is, not which is not, but which is. And I personally find that which is most fascinating. Most interesting. Most beautiful.

Most entertaining. Most satisfying. That my existence, your existence, is not dependent on January, February, March, April, May, June. You cannot look to death and say, well, the calendar isn't done yet. My calendar still goes on, you know. This is just July. It still goes on for August and September. So come back later. December 31st. You think it works that way? Wish it did. Here we are. We're going, you know, wait a minute. You are from this country, and you are from this country, and we love, oh boy, do we love our labels. We love, we adore our labels. People are born in Canada, Canadians. Just a few miles. Arbitrary line, which does not exist, by the way. I've flown over it many times and couldn't find it. Birds don't seem to know about it. They don't come first to the immigration office and say, well, here are the geese coming in. Is it okay? You know, here's our password. Is it all right? Everywhere you go, everywhere you go, even if you go to a country where you don't want to go to, they want to know why are you coming here. I mean, I've been to some countries where it's like when the guy asks you, you know, why are you coming here? You want to say because I'm insane? I'm crazy? I don't know why I'm coming here. This is us.

That is you. Long time ago, that's how it got started. Do mice know about it? Not a clue. Bees know about it? Not a clue. Whales know about it? Not a clue. I'm not being anti-patriotic or anything else like that. I'm just trying to state something that is obvious. Now, has this helped us or hindered us? Or merely we follow it because it's there and there's nothing we can do about it. Of course, there's nothing I can do about it. Absolutely not. Can you imagine trying to convince the British immigration of anything? They don't, it's bizarre. It's really something else. Why are you coming to India? Well, I was born here. We have labels. We have labels for everything. And the people who love to put labels on everything never see labels that others put upon them. Because they won't like it. And oh yes, the label makers thrive. Then there's the poor. Not human beings. Poor. And then there's the rich. Not human beings. The rich.

And then there's the middle class. Mediocrity? No, no, just the middle class. How are you defined? By how much money you make. No value. No value of your knowing. No value of your intelligence. No value of who you really are. The judgment is, this is how much you make, this is who you are. Love your labels? I'm not here to criticize politics. I'm not here to criticize systems. I don't care about them. I am here to make the obvious known to you. So, how many times have you been asked in your life, how are you? How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you? And of course, somebody asks you, how are you? You reply right back, how are you? So, I say, if you don't know who you are, how can you actually say how you are? My logic says, first you should know who you are. Then you can say how you are. Cat, how are you? Meow, good. Dog, how are you? Woof. If the cat, you say to the cat, hey cat, how are you? And it goes, woof. You got a problem? You got an issue at least? So, how are you? First, who are you? No label. Absolutely none. So, who are you? On one hand, you are a shell that has been constructed brilliantly. Bones, muscles, blood, guts, brain. And all you realize, 70% water. That's a neat trick. 70% water can go to the moon.

I mean, if you went to buy a house and somebody said, what is this house made out of? Somebody said, 70% water. You would go, what? I don't know if I want to buy this house if it's made out of 70% water. I mean, I'd like it to be something more. If you went to buy a car and somebody said, what is it made out of? Aluminum, steel, 70% water. Honey, I love you just the way you are. But honey, I'm 70% water. You're falling in love with something that totally does not hold its shape. I mean, there it is. Put it in a round jar, it'll be round. Put it in a square jar, it'll be square. It loves to flow. I mean, you're falling in love with 70% water. The 70% water graduates. The 70% water says, I am doctor, so and so. The 70% water says, I am holy. The 70% water loves to get dressed up. 70% water loves to get dressed up and say, don't I look pretty? The other 70% water sees that other 70% water and it whistles. The 70% water sometimes lies back. And 70% water sometimes is completely in love and has lost all track of everything. The 70% water is in love with another 70% water. So, who are you? 70% water, that's it? Or there's something else going on? The good news is, it's not the 70% water. It's however much percentage of consciousness you have that is going to make the difference in your existence. Consciousness. Even if that is 1%.

Because that 1% is going to decide the fate of that 70% water and everything else. You are then the gift most precious. Because you have the ability to love. You are then the most blessed. For you have been touched. Let me qualify. What do you mean by divine? The divine I talk about neither falls in the realm of a he or a she. Was not born, exists, and will never die. Was, is, and will be. The divine that I talk about favors all. No one label in particular. Everyone on the face of this earth is touched by that divinity. Everyone on the face of this earth is touched by that divinity in such a special way that that divine resides within all that lives. You have the divine within you. That's it. That's stating the obvious. Don't get it confused. I'm not talking about any religion. I'm just talking about you and the divine. Because so far I'm concerned that's the only concern you should have. You and the divine. What else is there? That's the obvious. That is the obvious. The divine that resides within you needs to be known, not believed in.

You need to live your life surrounded by the beauty that is within you. I'll say that again. You need to live your life surrounded by the beauty that is within. This is who you are. Luck doesn't even come close. Luck doesn't even come close. A reality. Every single day. Not speculation. Not an idea. Not a thought. Not some imagination. But every single day honing and honing and honing and honing that skill of being in touch with the beauty that resides inside of you. That's when you become complete. That's when you become whole. That's when you can dance. You can understand. You can care. You can share. You can think. You can be conscious. You can be aware. Not only for yourself but the ones around you. Who don't we love? Labels.

Oh, that's my family. Right? That's a label. Oh, that's my family. That's my relative. That's my child. That's my this. So, what does that mean? They got dumped in your lap? What does family mean? They got dumped in your lap. Or does family mean that at least you can love them? How many people ask their family members, how are you? Oh, no, the guy at the airport. Yeah, how are you? How are you? How are you? Do you really care how he is? Do you care about your family? How are you? How are you? When is it a ritual? And when is it real? Oh, I love you. What does it mean to love? Do you know what it means to love? To deeply care for someone. To give them your best. You probably haven't heard that particular definition abbreviated, but what if that's what love means? To give someone your best. Not your worst. Which is what we do so I can dump on you. I love you so that I have the right to dump on you. It's a label. You see, we talk about peace, we talk about all these things, and sometimes we don't understand. It's just like, why are you saying these things? Because these things should be very, very obvious to you. So why am I repeating it? Because they're not obvious. Should I be talking to you about peace? Should I be talking to you about peace? Absolutely not. That should be standard. For someone to be born being the neighbor of the divine, the last thing they would need to hear, one would think, is, oh, you should be in peace. With the divine within, last thing anybody needs to tell you is the peace you are looking for is within inside of you. My God, don't you think so? When you want to see something in detail, in detail, you have to come closer.

You do. You've seen guys who work on watches. They're like this, and then that's not enough. Then they put the loop on. They got really in there. Now they can see the detail. But the further away you go, you can see a lot more. You can see a lot more. The further away you go, you can see a lot more, but you can't see the detail. A lot of people say to me, you talk about peace. I don't see any peace inside of me. So I say to them, come a little closer, and you will see the detail. I talk about the breath, and people say, well, why? What is in the breath? I mean, I breathe all the time. What is this breath thing? Breath is precious. Yeah, but... You don't see the detail? Come a little closer. Come a little closer. To whom? Not to me. Not to an idea. Not to a theology. Not to a philosophy. Not to a system. But come closer to yourself, because this is where the magic and the miracle of breath is taking place, and you will see what this is. A lot of people listen to me these days. At least they give me a few minutes of their time since the economy downturned.

I'm not kidding you. I am not kidding you. The pump of people before that, I don't have time for this stuff. I'm busy. Success. People paying good money to go to these seminars where they will learn on how to be successful. Hey, you want to hear about peace? Sorry. Don't have the time for peace. Then an amazing thing happened. With all the seminars going around in the world about success, and all the people taking their success classes, and the success being at the top of the game, everything collapsed. And people found that they were no longer successful. Because it wasn't about success. They thought they were successful till one day they knew they weren't. Now, had I been going around the world and telling people, hey listen guys, just be careful. Don't tie your boat to that thing. But people listen. You're crazy. You're weird. What is this weird peace thing? What is this weird peace thing? Now I don't look so weird. For a few barrels of oil, let's kill those guys. Let's kill those guys. Let's kill those guys. This is not who you are, I would say. And people say, no, no, no.

All that matters is money. The people who drove the downturn of the economy in some of the countries were the top notch people at the top of their game with the highest levels of education specialized in their fields. They taught them everything except how not to be greedy. They taught them everything but to believe in the truth. So, people go home. Peace. Maybe I have some use for it. Of course. Listen. You don't have to be penniless to have peace. You can be the richest person and have peace. You can be the poorest person and have peace. There are no labels involved. So, where is this peace? Let's see. If the divine is within you, it's a good bet that peace is within you too. Where else will it be? Where else would it be appropriate for the peace to be? That in the heart of every single human being dancing to be understood, to be felt. That's how simple it is. That's how simple it is. There are people who go around looking for blessings. Oh yes, please bless me. Please bless me. Oh, I need a miracle. I need a miracle. What is a miracle? What is your definition of a miracle? I'm stating the obvious.

What is your definition of a miracle? If you see milk coming out of stone, that's not a miracle. That's an abnormal situation. Milk and stone don't mix. That's not a miracle. That's something wrong. What is a miracle? 70% water. 70% water can hug. 70% water can say I love you. 70% water can appreciate. 70% water can drip a few drops of water in appreciation and still remain 70%. Don't you think that's a miracle? People walk on water. That's a miracle. He walked on water. This is 70% water and it walks every day. Man walking on water, miracle. Water walking on land, not a miracle. I'm just stating the obvious. So, blessing of all blessings, there it is. You. Miracle of all miracles, there you are. You. Immeasurable joy. You. Companion to the divine.

You. Alive. You. Existing in a moment. You. That's the obvious. Did you know that? I know. I don't believe. I know that you know that. I know you know now. For every one of you sitting here, the time has come to evolve, to understand that and feel that every day in your life. That's true evolvement. That is true learning. That is true understanding. That is true knowing. Not some philosophy. Not some guilt. Not some vague understanding. You get to an interesting question and what is the answer? Oh, God works in mysterious ways. That's it? That's all you can come up with? God works in mysterious ways? That's like your mechanic explaining the problem in your car. Ford works in mysterious ways. God mechanic, you're a genius. You figured that out all by yourself. And some people say, if that divine is within me, then how come I don't know that? Good question.

My friend, you are so far away from yourself. It would be a bloody miracle if you could see yourself. You are standing on the sixth solar system trying to identify a human being that is on the face of this earth. Much less you. You can't even see the earth. Most people don't see the earth. Busy destroying what? What am I destroying? I'm not destroying anything. They don't see anything. Solution. Come closer. See yourself. And you will be amazed at what you can feel. There are answers that dance within you that don't even have questions. See, we got so enamored by questions. We thought questions will lead us to answers. So great, let's get on the bandwagon with questions because they will obviously lead us to answers. Now we have been trying this formula for a few thousand years. And it hasn't worked. Hey, do you have any standards? I mean, I know. What I'm talking about is, say you're a parent and you have a child. And he's in school. And he fails a year. Just fails one year. He needs to work harder, study harder, let's pay a little focus, concentration, maybe buy him a few more books, maybe he can watch a few more Discovery Channel videos, and maybe his grades will come.

He fails the second year. Maybe we need to try a little harder, talk to the teacher, you know, what was he, what do you think he's weak in, some solution. Third year. And you're starting to doubt yourself. Is he really my child? You know, maybe we need to have a paternity test here, figure this out, I mean, you know, what's going on? I mean, pretty much after five years they're going to throw him out of school. That's it. This has been going on for thousands, thousands of years. People have been chasing questions and not getting to the answers. Do you think it's time to change the strategy? What do you think? I think so. I think it's time to change the strategy and just start looking for answers. I mean, even if you can't find the question, just find the answer. Just find the answer. We have tried the equation of war for thousands of years and it has not worked. Do you think it's time to change the strategy? Try peace? It'll be cheaper. It won't cost trillions of dollars. It'll be cheaper. And not only that, that is what most people on the face of this earth want. They want peace. They have had enough. Will somebody listen to them? I hope so. Because that's all they want. Now, there are people who like to fight. They could be all taken and put on a nice island somewhere where they can fight, do their thing, whatever. Not a problem.

And we can have immigration there. And every time they fly out of there, we can ask them, why do you want to come here? But even them given a choice, everybody, that's what they want. The little babies, the little children, the mothers, the fathers, that's what they want. They want peace. And the time to change the strategy is here. If you don't feel blessed every day, then it is time to change the strategy. Because whatever you've been trying hasn't worked. Because that's who you are. Every human being on the face of this earth wants to be happy. And once they get in their mind this is what's going to make them happy, they pursue it like there's no tomorrow. That's it. In your life, you should have peace. You should have joy. You should have contentment. And if you don't, time to change the strategy. Where have you been looking for answers? Everywhere. You have been looking for answers every single place except for one. So, stating the obvious, that's the only place left where you haven't looked. I suggest if you haven't found what you are looking for, look in that place where you haven't looked yet. Change the strategy. Look here. Look within you. Look within your heart. Look within your understanding.

How can peace, you just saw that video, how can peace, how can contentment, how can joy come to people living in prison? How? How? That place was designed not to enjoy. You know, I mean, it has like not one single disco light in there, or I mean, that place was just absolutely designed to make life miserable and you can't leave. And then all of a sudden you see a smile, and you see a twinkle in a person's eye, and you see hope, and you see somebody actually saying, imagine if all the prisons had peace. A thought? Could a thought like this exist? And when did this begin? When they started to look at themselves, not at others. That's who you are. So yes, you are the lion, the king of the jungle, made for the jungle. In a nice way I say this. What are you doing in a zoo? That's not where you belong. You do not belong in a world. I just sent an email today, I was reading this article, it's come out of India, and the article was that they had been using the food that was being sent for children in India as chicken feed. So the president of TPRF, I sent her the article, I said here, look at this. Because I keep telling her, this kind of stuff happens. And she goes, she sent me back a reply saying, how do they sleep at night? How do they sleep? I said, I'm afraid very well. They do. Not the chickens. These people who are taking the food that's coming for the children and throwing it out. We've lost our humanity. We've lost our humanity. You think there's a shortage of food on the face of this earth? Do you know how much food is just thrown away in garbage? This earth on which you are produces in abundance. Abundance. It's a giver. It takes care of you. You need to take care of it. That's humanity.

Naturally, that is humanity. Humanity. I have seen cats defecate and bury what they put out. I have seen human beings not do the same. We are human. Before we go and talk about all the pride. Oh, we are this, and we could go to the moon, and we could do this. Let's just be human. Even for a day, let's be human. Let's just be human. I'm not talking about let's be gods. Let's be human. Just be human. And in our humanity, search for the peace that lies within, inside of us. Instead, what are we waiting for? We're waiting for some angel to come out of the sky. Jacob's ladder. Oh, we see the Jacob's ladder as the ladder and the angel comes with the wings. It's beautiful, a beautiful woman's face and flowing blonde hair. And, you know, okay, I am here, your savior. And how long have you been waiting for that? A few thousand years. Time to change the strategy. Because the angel that you are waiting for has come. Has come. And you know who it is? It's you.

It's you. You. Get on with the business of finding peace for yourself. Where to look? That I can help you with. Minor point. It's within you. Good news. Simple address. I'm not the one who's saying, oh, you have to go up on top of that mountain. Wow, I didn't even talk about tests, trials, and tribulations. How can that be? Shouldn't we all be tested? Tested by whom? The one that knows everything? So then the person who knows everything, why would they want to test us? Don't they know we're going to fail or pass? My Ford works in mysterious ways. Not a single mystery. Not a single mystery. The drop begins its journey from the ocean, becomes the cloud, goes to the mountains, falls and becomes the river, flows through the land and joins the ocean back up again. Mysterious? Been doing this for thousands and thousands of years and allowing civilizations to be formed on its bank, distributing water. What a beautiful way. Mystery, there you are. So far this breath is in you. You are alive. One day this won't be and you won't be. Is that mysterious? Absolutely not. If you are in a hospital and there you are and you are breathing and the machine says you're not, what do you think the doctor is going to do? Come over to you and say, hey, stop breathing. Behave yourself. You think so? You think so? That machine costs a lot of money.

No, the doctor will hit the machine, not you. Something wrong with this thing. Your breath. The journey began the day you took that breath. When you were born, everybody was waiting for you to breathe. That coming of the breath is what allowed you to come home. If you weren't breathing, you think you were coming home? Uh-uh. You were going somewhere else. It allowed you to come home and so far you were breathing, everybody was kissing, loving, hugging, and doing everything. And then the day that wasn't happened, off you go. There's got to be some value in there. Got to be some value in there and of course there is. Come a little closer. Come a little closer and see what I have seen. Come a little closer and feel what I have felt. Come a little closer and embrace the peace that lies within your heart as I have because it is so beautiful. Thank you very much and good night.