Prem Rawat in Flekke, Norway 2013-05-22

The Answer is in You
Prem Rawat in Flekke, Norway 22nd May 2013

Hello everyone, I'd like to just say a few words about you, about understanding, and perhaps it would be the most appropriate to start with a little story. Once there was a little turtle, and he climbed up the tree, went out onto the branch, and jumped. Splat. Then he walked back out to the tree, climbed up the tree, out to the branch, and jumped. Splat. And then he walked back to the tree, up the tree, with great effort, went out to the branch, jumped, and splat. And after watching this about the fifth time, the mother looked at the dad and said, Honey, do you think we should tell him he's not a bird? So, in a way, when we look at this world today, there's so much technology, obviously there's more wealth now than there ever has been on the face of this earth. I mean, simply more gold is being dug up, more diamonds have been dug up, more money has been printed. There are more educational institutions on the face of this earth than there ever were. There are more countries now than there ever were. So, why isn't there peace? I mean, wasn't that the whole point of it? That if we were more educated, if we were wealthier, if we were this, if we were this, then, then, then, then, then, then, then there would be peace. And I cannot help but think that in the process of having whatever we have in this world, we have forgotten something very fundamental. And what we have forgotten is the human being. Who are we? Not what are we. Who are we? Who are you? Who am I? There's seven billion of us. Who are we? And this is a question that is more intriguing, and I can see right now, it's going, the computer is kicking over time going, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, is he going to give us an answer? There is an answer. And the answer is in you. There is a question, and the question is in you. There is a reality, and that reality is in you. There is a light, and that light is in you. There is a darkness, and that darkness is in you. You are more than what you realize who you are. All that that happens in this world is not a reflection of one mind, but it is the collective thinking of every single human being on the face of this earth. If there is a war, can we not say that that war is an expression of the war that is also within us? Not simply people over there.

Somehow, in all that happens in this world, we are all connected, and we all have to share that responsibility. And that is why it is fundamentally important for all of us to begin to realize the potential for peace on this planet. What I'm saying to you, I'm not saying it as an expert. Please don't look at me as an expert, because I don't know what an expert is. I don't know what pert is, because then when I see or hear people go expert, so like once you are not a pert anymore, you know everything. No, I don't know everything. I know just this much, that I need peace. In my life, I need peace. And I know this much, that in your life, you need peace. Why? Because you and I are very, very similar. The world points to us and says, look at your differences. Now, what I'm about to say may come off as very controversial, but I'm not trying to be controversial. And at the same time, I'm not just trying to be normal. Because if being normal means what's going on that is not good, I do not accept that. A lot of people will say, well, why don't you talk about all that is so good in this world? I would love to. And I'd love to be proud of it too. But the one bad that we do is so heinous. So heinous. When one man, one human being, has no hesitation to make a life of another because of a cause, then I wonder. People ask me questions, sometimes they say, well, don't you think wars are legitimate? No. I say wars are the expression of the war that goes on in the mind of the human being. This is where it starts. And that, on the battlefield, is where it is projected. There was a very famous battle in India.

Very, very famous battle in India. Hundreds of thousands of people were there in this battlefield. And then, if you are born in India, or if you have been to India for any extended period of time, you are familiar with this. And this was the Battle of Mahabharata. You know why this battle is so famous? Not because of the battle. Countless battles have been fought in India. This particular war is so famous because in the middle of the war, you know what they're discussing? Peace. That's where one of the Indian scriptures, Gita, comes from. It's part of the Mahabharata. And in the middle of the battlefield, Krishna is trying to address the issue of peace to Arjuna. Because peace is about human beings. It is not about causes, explanations, definitions, ideas, philosophies. But it is the fundamental need of every single human being. Have you felt the need for peace in your life? Do you feel the need for peace in your life? I ask you that question. You have come to hear me because I talk about peace. I ask you, are you interested in peace? Have you ever been interested in peace? And why? Why are you interested in peace? Is it because somebody told you, if you get interested in peace, you will win the lottery? Why are you interested in peace? And the reason is not because somebody told you something, but it is a need that you have felt from within. And you see, if you feel the need for peace from within, then it is an issue that is fundamental. And it is in the heart of every human being that the need for peace dances and the solution for peace lies. What are we told today? Oh, end the wars and then peace will be there. No, bring the peace and the wars will end. Not the other way around. Not the other way. If you have a truck that carries vegetables, and you say, oh bring the truck and the vegetables will come. No, no, no, no, no.

Vegetables can come on the back of a donkey, that's okay. But just simply implying that if you have the vegetable truck come around, the vegetables will be there, that's not the case. It is not the case that if we want to end these wars, that if we want to understand, and the wars will end the day we understand our humanity. I was talking to somebody today and I was saying, human beings have forgotten their humanity. How do you teach a dog to be a dog? How do you teach a chicken to be a chicken? How do you teach a donkey to be a donkey? And yet, we have evolved to a point where we have even forgotten who we are. It has become a question. Who are you? And what did Socrates say? He said, know thyself. So we discuss it, of course we discuss it. But we don't understand what it is. Everybody has an idea about peace. People say, I was asking somebody today, I said, how big is your problem? They said, oh, my problem is very, very big. I said, well, you know, let me tell you how big your problem is. It's this big. Right here. Even the perception of universe happens here. You have come to this incredible institution to learn. Then learn not only what has been taught to you, but also learn something about yourself. Learn about the possibility of peace that exists inside of you. Learn and understand your true potential as a human being. Learn about your needs. This morning I was writing something. And it actually had started at one of the talks I was giving in Barcelona. And I don't write what I say. It just comes out.

And so one of the things that came out was, be the envelope, not the letter. So of course I started thinking about it. It sounds really good. But what does it mean? Then I started writing and I wrote, be the bee, not the flower. Be the bird, not the wind. Be the string, not the kite. Be the wave, not the ocean. Be the lover, not the love. And after I had written all this, it sounded pretty good. I said, hmm, which way is this going? What are you trying to say here? What is the relationship of the envelope and the letter? Which one is more important? You see, it's very incredible. Usually when you have your stationery, the envelope is there and the letter is there. The paper is there. What the message is, is going to be on the paper, not on the envelope. And that message is going to be put in the envelope. And the address is going to go on the envelope. And the message is going to be on the paper. The envelope will deliver the message. And to open the message, the envelope will be opened and put aside. Nobody is going to keep reading it. Letter then becomes the human potential. Envelope is this. This is the envelope. The letter is inside of you. And in your heart is the message.

And what does that message say? Is that message about peace? About understanding? Have you read it? Or are you enamored only with the envelope? Wow, look at the envelope. Oh my God, it has been to 40 countries. Oh, look at the stamp. Oh, it's so pretty. Open the envelope. Take out the letter and read the letter. We haven't read the letter yet. We're just playing with the envelope. Oh, you look so nice. Oh, look at you. Oh my God. Oh, do these glasses look good on me? Does this hair do look good on me? Does this jacket look good on me? Does this shirt look good on me? Hey, do I look like a person in peace? Do I look like a person in peace? Ah, there is a letter inside. This envelope will change. It's its nature. The letter says something. And what does your letter say? Have you read it? What it says is beautiful. Because what it says, Be content. Be in that prosperity. Be in that feeling. Be in peace. People say people are not born with a manual. I disagree. The manual is so good, it's innately built inside of every human being. You don't need to read anything.

It's innately there. And what does this manual say to you? Listen. Be the bird, not the wind. Because the day you try to be the wind, you will realize you will never be successful. But what you can do is be the bird, extend your wings, and fly. That's your relationship. Be the bird, not the wind. Be the bee, not the flower. Don't try to be a flower because that's not your nature. You are the bee. Go from flower to flower and you have the expertise of extracting the nectar. Do it. The good, the beautiful, the adoration for peace is your nectar from the flower of every day. You be the bee. You be the bee and every day that that flower comes to you, extract the most amazing nectar from it. Be the candle, not the light. Be the candle, not the light. Too many people try to become the light. Be the candle. When it is lit, light will be there. That's who you are. You are the source. What is not in you? Do you know what is not in you? Do you know that love is in you? Love is in you. Other person is just a catalyst.

Love is in you. Hate is in you. Questions are in you. Answers are in you. Understanding is in you. Misunderstanding is in you. There is more in you than you realize. Lies are in you. Truth is in you. Confusion is in you. Clarity is in you. What don't you have? What don't you have? And yet, what do you practice? Driving here today, I was looking at the rivers and the waterfalls and the mountains. And I looked at the rocks and I said the rocks have the rigidity and the firmness. The water is supple and liquid. Rocks, rigid and strong, solid. But at the end of the day, guess who wins? Not the rock, the water. Water carves the rock. Do you know the art of water? Water has patience. Water has patience. Do you have patience? Have you understood your own patience? Have you acquired the skill for patience? To understand every single day, every single day the possibility that is presented to you. Simple, but profound. You can succeed. Whose success? Somebody else's success? Or the success that you will feel in your life? That's what it needs to be. So, for me, if I can evoke some things today for you that will cause you to look within and to understand and to make every day like for that bee to be able to extract the nectar, wonderful.

Wonderful. If you have any questions for me, I'll be happy to take them now. Thank you. Well, that's a great question. One of the places where we have made the Peace Education Program available is in prisons. And it's really quite amazing how much hope it has brought those people who are in a very hopeless situation such as prisons. I mean, I'm not just talking about one prison. From Argentina to San Antonio, Texas to Mexico to some places in England to South Africa in Zonda Water to India, all of these places there is the Peace Education Program and specifically when it started it was for the prisoners. From a standpoint of just a program, a lot of people were very skeptical that it would ever work because it's a prison environment and one of the fears that a lot of the officials had was that people would just merely go through this to get some credit to get out of prison early and then once they were out they would just resume whatever they were doing. But a very interesting thing happened. After people started going through the Peace Education Program some of them actually insisted that their children also watch. Not in prison. They were asking the people who were facilitating that if those same DVDs could be given and made sure that their children watched so that their children wouldn't end up in the same situation as them. Because a lot of them said if I could only have known about this before I wouldn't be here today. Another thing that is very incredible is that those people then who subsequently left the prison have been helping the inmates continue with the Peace Education Program. And one of the most incredible success that caught the attention of many, many prison officials was the return rate. It was the lowest amongst the inmates. Of any program that was out there people who were going through the Peace Education Program had the lowest return rate. So, can it be successful? Well, if the prison program is anything to go by then the answer would be yes. But all we can do or all I can do through the Peace Education Program is to present a possibility. Ultimately it depends on the people how they accept it. I am presenting a possibility for peace. I'm not forcing. Nor am I saying to anyone that if you don't do this then this will be the consequence and this will be the consequence.

I am not doing that. All I am presenting is the possibility for peace. So I think, would it help based on what I have seen? I think so, but I cannot guarantee anything. All we can do is approach and say if you are interested. There is that old saying you can drag a horse to water but you cannot make it drink it. And that's the same thing. You can talk about peace until I turn blue. But that doesn't mean that people will automatically go, wow, he's blue. It's up to people what they want to do. If they don't see the need for it what difference is it going to make ultimately? Do you have to be interested in peace? Yes, you have to be interested in peace. What if you are interested in peace and then one day you decide you're not interested in peace? Well, that's the reality of it. Just because the sun shines doesn't mean everybody stands outside. There are actually people who close all the shades, put on the little eye mask and go to sleep. They don't want to see the sun. So be it. But at the same token, the sun doesn't stop shining just because those kind of people are there. Both are true. To me, I make my effort and that's all I can do. The rest is up to the individuals. Again, that's a very good question because so you are hungry and you've been searching for water and now you've finally found the water. It's right there. What are you going to do? Drink it or keep searching? Exactly. That's what I would do too. Thinking is a process that can bring you, like searching is a process that can bring you to the water.

But then when the water is in front of you, you have to drink it, not keep searching. So any amount of thinking you do that should bring you to something, and then once that is there, you have to accept that. And so if some people just get into thinking, this is it. Critical thinking, and that's it. And that's why it causes so many problems. I mean, you know, if the amount of planning that goes into a war was to go into peace, maybe there wouldn't be a war in the first place. But people like to think this is what they're paid for. This is what the industry does. There is a lot in this world that's the way it is, and people generation after generation after generation after generation merely accept it, you know. I remember when I was going to school, for me too, it was like, you know, there's this many countries. There was a lot less them, but you know, there's this country, there's this country, there's this country, there's this country. And then when I started flying, I would look out the window, it's like, well, where is it? You know, where is it? And so, you know, there are people, and then it's like, well, this is my country. There isn't a global acceptance of planet Earth. It's my country. It's my little part. I don't care if your room is dirty, my room is clean. Is it going to be easy for people to be able to change these attitudes? I don't think so, because it's just like pounded into them. And this is something that is like, well, now, that's how it is. But maybe it is the younger generation that will see beyond the boundaries, beyond the borders, and start seeing human beings, not people who live beyond that wall, and not the person who lives beyond that corner. And so, I personally believe that all these thinking, if they bring you to a conclusion, and you accept that conclusion, you understand that conclusion, then that's very good. But to just stay on the train without ever getting off, even you see a destination come, the train stops, and you stay in the train. You've gotten so enamored with the train, you don't care about the destination, something is wrong. So, I agree with you, you know. Sometimes when the thinking is only for the sake of thinking, then it's going to cause problems.

I agree with you, there's a lot, a lot that is taught about our differences. Nobody teaches us about our similarities. Nobody teaches us about our similarities. We need to be taught about our similarities. You get hungry, I get hungry. When you get hungry, you have to eat food. When I get hungry, I have to eat food. You have simple wants. When you are tired, you need to sleep. When I am tired, I need to sleep. When you are tired, you need to sit down. When I am tired, I need to sit down. But we say, no, no, no. I am 53 years old, you are 17 years old. There is a difference. You are young, I am old. Are we talking time? Time, we are on the face of this earth for less than this and we're splitting hairs over it. Why? You are rich, I am poor. Is that how we were born? Is that how we were born? No. Who made rich and who made poor? Human beings did. Human beings did. We are not discussing the simplicity of being a human. This is what I started with, if you remember. Human beings have forgotten their humanity.

They have forgotten their humanity and if we had the humanity, we wouldn't be seeing the difference, but we would be seeing the similarity. If we have the humanity, I would understand your pain. If I have the humanity, I would understand your joy, not be envious of it, not be hateful of you, but to understand you are just like me. So it is very, very important, but it's only going to happen, not by continuously reminding, but something fundamental has to be put back in place and that fundamental thing that has to be put back in place is the humanity of a human being. That's what's gone away. That's what I think, anyways. Certainly, I would love to. Can you define mango? Mango. What is a mango? Okay, well, I can define, if that's your definition of mango, I can define peas really easy. It's very nice. It feels really good. You see, there are some things that need to be felt, need to be understood what they are by you, by me, not just talking about it. The problem right now also is people are talking about peace, but not feeling it. You can go anywhere in the world, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, the upside down Mercedes sign, you know, peace, peace, peace. Oh, the peace, and oh, my God, there are people who everything, every morning, they start off and peace, and they end with peace, peace, peace, peace. but that's not going to make peace. There are fundamental things that need to be in place. And one of them is the simple understanding of your own self. If you do not recognize the thirst for peace in you, then you are not hungry. A hundred definitions, what difference does it make? How many restaurants can you pass by when you are not hungry? They don't mean a thing. When you're hungry, ah, let's pull over there, let's pull over there, let's pull over there. Even the smell of food sounds good. And you know, they do that on purpose. They take that and they disperse it so that you could smell it.

and if you're hungry, it's like, yes, I need that. I am realist about peace. I'm a realist. I'm not here to just throw another definition. Peace is the state when you become a vegetable. That's what most people define it as. You have no more desires. You sit on top of a mountain with your eyes closed and a lot of people think that, like, you're a vegetable at that point. No. No. Peace is within you. Right now. Right now. Right now, peace is within you. You know that? Did you know that? Right now, it's within you. Right now, it's within you. You tell me what the definition of peace is. It's within you right now. All of you. All of you have peace in you. So, why don't you define it for me? Feel it. And you will realize there are no words adequate for that description. Peace is when this heart is filled with a gratitude for what? You have been given without wanting more. Gratitude.

Peace is about being in the presence of life. Peace is understanding simplicity in the simplest, most profoundly possible way. Peace is when you understand the value of this blessing called the breath that you have been given. Peace is when there is the profound thirst and an understanding of how to quench it. Peace is to admire that one beautiful lifetime every single day. Peace is to be the most human that you can be. Peace is to feel the joy of being alive. So, I haven't defined it. But I have told you what I feel peace is. It's a smile. It's a tear. It's a feeling. And when you know it, there is no mistaking it. None whatsoever. People fall in love. And that can be mistaken five years down the road. I hate you. The feeling of peace. The real feeling of peace. There is no mistake. And whatever you do in your life, how far away you try to get away from it, it will be there. Because the heart's thirst will only be quenched when there is the real peace inside of you. And then, it's the only time we will see all the manifestations of peace that we want to see. The problem with the world right now is we want to have the manifestations of the peace without peace.

So we want the orchestra to play without any musicians. And that comes to the wonderful, wonderful story of the Nightingale. And you know what that story is. I can tell you very quickly and then we can end because I think the time is finished. But there was an emperor and he loved the song of the Nightingale. He would come to the window. He would open the window. The Nightingale would come, sit down and sing to him. You know the story. One day, another king sent him a mechanical, mechanical, mechanical, mechanical Nightingale. And the king thought, wow, what a great idea. Now I don't have to sit there and open the window and try to listen to the Nightingale. All I have to do is wind this thing up and there it is. And so he stopped going to the window. And the Nightingale, of course, stopped coming to the window. And the king was enamored by the mechanical Nightingale. The mechanical Nightingale, at his wish, at his command, it would sing. And how pretty it was. It was made out of gold. It was made out of diamonds. And how beautifully it sang. Until one day the mechanical Nightingale broke. And the king thirsted in his being to listen to that Nightingale. But nowhere to be found.

The king fell sick. All the citizens had a heavy heart. The emperor, who was so just, was going to die. Then one day the Nightingale came and started singing. And the king recovered. He said to Nightingale, "hank you for coming."The Nightingale said, I will come. Not because of your calling, but I will come because you want to hear me. I will sing for you if you will hear me. There is a Nightingale that wants to sing the most beautiful song in the heart of every human being in the face of this earth. You are the emperor. Open the window and hear the song. But unfortunately right now we are more enamored by the artificial Nightingale. And the whole world is busy trying to create the artificial Nightingale. And this artificial Nightingale is going to break one day. And it's going to make our hearts heavy. Because truly there is a Nightingale in the hearts of every human being. All you have to do is open the window to your heart and it will sing to you.

And when it will you will be content. You will be happy. And you will understand not your shortcomings but your humanity. Then that will be the day we will not look down upon people but we will look at each other to help each other. That will be the day when those manifestations of peace we so eagerly await will have become a reality and not a dream. And people like me people like me can finally shut up and sit down. That would be a great day. Maybe we'll find something else to say. But then that will be the day that the world will be in peace. And if you think this is just a fool with a grand idea I'm not so sure. I'd rather be a fool and talk about peace and make my effort to bring peace to this world as I think every human being every human being regardless of age regardless of culture regardless of religion should be attempting the efforts of us that will bring about peace. It is the efforts of us of destruction that are bringing the chaos. It has to be our efforts that will bring the peace. Thank you very much.