Prem Rawat in Ibarra Ecuador, 2015-06-04

Prem Rawat in Ibarra Ecuador, 4th June 2015

It's a great pleasure to be in Ecuador, and great pleasure to be here this evening talking about peace on the launch of Peace Education Program to hopefully people who are interested in peace. So, this launch of Peace Education Program, for me, this is something very, very important. So you've heard a lot about the Peace Education Program, the interests from different departments of the government, and their perspective, very beautiful perspectives. And now you get to hear my perspective, my perspective of what peace is. We're talking about human beings. So, one story comes to mind. There was a doctor, and he was genius. Amazing doctor. And he realized that he was coming to the end of his life. So he had heard that when death comes, death is only allowed to pick one, the one whose time is up. So he thought, hmm, maybe I should trick death. So what he did is he made an identical replica of himself. Identical in every respect. And when the time came, he lay down next to his replica, waiting for death to come. The death came. Death knew only one. He sees two. Who, who, who am I going to pick? Death started thinking this will be the first time I have come for somebody and I didn't take them back. I have to think, I have to do something. So the death started thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking, and then finally the death came upon an idea. And out loud death said, Doctor, congratulations. You are a genius. You have even fooled me. You make one mistake.

The doctor was lying. Oh, what mistake have I made? How can I make a mistake? And the doctor said, I should be quiet. But he said, I made a mistake. How can I make a mistake? I am the best doctor there is. And just couldn't stand it. And he said, what? And death said, that. So, you know, when we look at this world, a beautiful world, beautiful earth, do you think there is shortage of money? Do you think there is shortage of money? Do you think there is shortage of diamonds? Do you think there is shortage of gold? The country that I was born in, India, you know how much gold there is in India? All the gold, if you took all the gold of United States, reserves, Germany, Switzerland, and the World Bank, there is more gold in India than that. So, one has to ask themselves, what's going on? You think there is shortage of food? 1.5 billion tons of food every year is wasted. You know how much 1.5 billion tons of food is? That's half the production of food in the world. So half the food that is produced feeds 7 billion people, and half of it is thrown away. If we all wanted, I'm not recommending we do this, but if we all wanted to gain weight, double our size, we should easily be able to do that. So you have to question, what's going on? There are people who are poor. There are people who are hungry. We live in the world where there is more schools now than there ever were, more universities now than there ever were, more colleges now than there ever were, and, of course, we have the World Wide Web, the Internet. And so you wonder, how could anybody be uneducated? It's just me, you know. I have to scratch my head, and you can see I have much less hair now. This is all from scratching my head, going, hmm, how could this be? How could this be? How could this be? I'm afraid I will go bald. So I have to stop scratching my head, but I can't help it, because we live in the land of plenty. But then you hear about human beings killing human beings. See, that makes me scratch my head again. A tiger kills a human being? I understand that. Too close. A lion kills a human being? Too close. A human being kills a human being? I don't understand that.

We live in a world of the doctor. We are blinded by the ego. We do not see the greed we have. The greed. What do you replace greed with? What do you replace hate with? What purpose? Again, I scratch my head. What purpose? Hating. A human being hating another person. What would this accomplish? Nothing. But we do, every day. What do we forget? This earth, and there are different variations and interpretations of this, so I respect all of them, but one of them is, the scientists say, that this earth is 4.6 billion years old. So just recently, I had somebody do the math for me. So 4.6 billion years, this is how old the earth is, and even if you lived for a hundred years, how long would that be relative to 4.6 billion years? I would like to explain that to you. But I can't. The best I can do, you ready? The best I can do is that. But that's too long. And I've tried making it faster, but I can't. And that's one second. You, even if you think you live for 100 years, but this is really how long you live for, relative to the 4.6 billion years you are on the face of this earth. 100 years. 100 years. You want to hate? Do you want to hate? What do you want to do if this is all you have? What do you want to do? Argue? Be greedy? Me! Me, me, me, me, me! Or spend that time feeling the divine within you in peace. That's an alternative. Other alternatives could be... Or, or, or feeling the divine within you and being in your choice. You choose.

You choose. People think that if they had peace, they would solve all their problems. Why do you want peace? So you can have shiny shoes? So finally your dog will come to you when you call it? So finally you can go and grab your neighbor's mango and he won't yell at you? Is that why you want peace? If that's the kind of peace you want, I have no solution to it. Because where does peace begin? Peace does not start with the neighbor. Peace does not start with the country. Peace does not start with the government. To me there is a big distinction. And in my humble opinion, the government should build the opera house, not sing the opera. That's what I think. That's what they should do. Because when the government starts to sing opera, it does not come out right. But they're very good at building the opera house. If they're together, they can build beautiful opera houses. And then let the singer, who has the voice, come and fill. To praise. To praise the goodness in us is the sweetest opera there would be. Every single human being on the face of this earth is full of sadness and is full of joy. You think sadness comes from somebody else? You're wrong. Sadness comes from you. And the joy comes from you. Where do you feel hunger? In your neighbor? In your wife? In your child? In your bathroom? In you. And where do you feel full? In you. Food is the catalyst. But the feeling of full is in you.

The feeling of hunger is in you. The feeling of joy is in you. The feeling of hate is in you. As soon as you say no, that person makes me angry. You're wrong. You are wrong. Because now you have given that person more power than you have. No. That person only does things. Anger is felt inside of you. Where is greed? Greed is inside of you. Where is generosity? Generosity is inside of you. What is Knowledge? Knowledge is the key that opens doors. Also, ignorance is a key that opens doors. Not the same ones, mind you. Not the same ones. Ignorance opens doors to pain, to suffering, to hate. Knowledge opens doors to joy, to happiness, to fulfillment, to peace, to understanding. Examine your key. Look at your key. Because if your key is the key of ignorance, it is incapable of unlocking doors that you ultimately want in your life. It is not a mistake that you want to be content in your life. You see, nobody actually teaches you contentment. Nobody.

Nobody. And nobody teaches you to cry. There is no schools, no universities, no classes that teach you to cry. Mother doesn't actually sit down with the baby and say, now baby, mommy is going to teach you how to cry. No, no, no, no, no, no. She knows when the baby is crying, the baby wants something. So she experiments. Is your diaper full? No. No. Are you hungry? No. Maybe you are sleepy. And then, when the baby is comfortable, goes to sleep, no more crying. Could we learn from that? I mean, could we learn from that? No, no, no, I'm grown up. I'm not like that baby. I'm grown up. No, you haven't grown up. You have just become big. But you have not grown up. If you are grown up, you will never stop learning. Oh, I have graduated. No, you haven't. If you stop learning, you haven't graduated. If you keep on learning, you have graduated. You will graduate every day, because you learn, and you learn, and you learn, in this university of life.

Learn. Learn about what? Learn about who you. You can go right now. You can go, and you can learn about how to make cars. You can learn how to make buildings. You can learn how to make radios. You can learn how to make television. Where do you learn about the self? Have you ever looked at a map? Have you ever looked at a map? People use map for two things. One, to go where they want to go. Two, to see where they are. But if you want to see where you are, you have to know where you are on that map. And if you want to go where you want to go, you have to know where you are at that map. You have to know where you are on that map, because if you have your destination, but not where you are, you think you can go where you want to go? You have to know. Very important. I know. How do I know? I'm a pilot. I fly. All those countries you heard I go to, I fly myself. They have this incredibly sophisticated device called GPS. And you know what is the sole function of GPS? They have constellation of satellites in the sky. And the receiver picks up this constellation, figures out from each one of triangulation, basic triangulation, actually it's kind of like with circles, but figures out where it is, where the circles dissect, figures out two positions, one in outer space, one on the surface of the earth, rejects the one on the outer space, accepts the one that is on the surface of the earth, and this is very too complicated, but it does one thing. It tells you where you are. It doesn't tell you where you should go. It tells you where you are.

Only one thing, where you are. It's called present position. All right. I can start asking you one by one who you want to be. When I should be asking you, if I were to ask you who you are, would you know the answer? If you don't know who you are, it doesn't matter where you want to go. It's just a dream. Enjoy your dream, because you're not going to go there. And if you do, it'll be a mistake. That's why Knowledge of the self is most important. And because of that, this is the attempt not to remove the greed, it cannot be done, but to replace the greed with humanity. Humanity does not have to be created. It already exists, by the way. Did you know that it already exists? Every human being carries in them at least humanity, but nobody gives it a second thought. Everything else is, you did this, you're bad, you're bad, you're bad, you're bad. Every person who is in prison, you think they never did anything good? They must have done one thing good. I mean one little, I mean like one little bitty thing. I mean like one little, little, little, little, little, little, little bitty thing good. Did they ever get acknowledged for it? Never. Nobody actually acknowledges anything good. Bad? The finger comes out. The finger comes out, right? And everybody's finger comes out. Look at the finger. One finger that way. Thumb is pointing up, and three fingers are pointing at? One's pointing up, one's pointing that way, three are pointing at me.

Oh, have you ever made tea? To make tea, you need a strainer, strainer. You take some tea, you put it in the strainer. And the purpose of the strainer is to keep the bad and let go of what is good. Can you imagine a strainer where you put the tea in the strainer and it just goes, pfft, it's never going to work. That's just called a hole, a big hole. All you will have is a handle, and that's like, wouldn't do any good. Wouldn't do any good. It's the same exact thing that is going on. If we want to make a difference in the society, we have to get a proper strainer. One last thing, because we're talking about peace. If there is a pot that has a hole in it, how much water can be pushed through that pot? If it has a hole in it, do you know? The whole ocean doesn't have enough water. You can take the whole ocean and put it to the pot, and do you think any of it will stay? When you do not know yourself, there is a big gaping hole. Whatever is put in this vessel, it will never stay. And all the wisdom and everything else, because listen, incredible things have already been said. There are incredible scriptures out there. There are incredible writings out there. There are incredible people out there who have said most beautiful things. But, with a pot with a hole in it, keep pouring it in. It will keep flushing it out. It will never retain anything. We don't need to invent new things. And I say this many, many times. Should I be talking about peace to you? What do you think? No. No.

Absolutely no. Absolutely no. You should know that. You should know about peace. You shouldn't need me to tell you about peace. You should know that the peace is important to you. You should know yourself. You shouldn't have a 5 foot 4 Indian born person coming to you, speaking not in Spanish, but in English, being translated, telling you, you should know. But you don't. So, here I am. And I cannot wait to become redundant. Not needed. That would be wonderful. Because that will be the day that the self is recognized. People understand the value of peace. And humanity would have dawned on the face of this earth. On the inauguration of Peace Education Program. On the launch of Peace Education Program. This is the best way to describe what Peace Education Program is. A program that one day will not be needed, I hope. Because people will know what is important themselves. But until then, this is a small offering from one heart to the heart of all human beings on the face of this earth. Regardless of what it is that they do. People should not be judged.

People should not be judged by their gender. People should not be judged by what they do, what they wear. And it happens all the time. We need to change. And I know, I'm not a psychic. But I know there are people in this audience who are saying it will never be done. It can never happen. Never. When they were sending the rocket to the moon, there were people who said it can never be done. And there were people who said it can be done. They landed on the moon not because of the people who said it cannot be done. They landed on the moon because of people who said it can be done. Please, let us be the people, let us be the people who make it. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you. Buenas noches y bienvenido. Para nosotros es un verdadero orgullo contar con su presencia aquí en nuestra ciudad. Estoy formando parte del grupo que asistimos al curso de educación para la paz. Me siento a medio camino. Me siento satisfecha por los cambios que he tenido en todos los ámbitos de mi vida. Pero sin embargo, siento que me hace falta y a pesar de estar en el curso de 10 horas, todavía siento la ansiedad y una sensación de vacío. Mi pregunta para usted, Tim, ¿cómo puedo seguir avanzando hacia la búsqueda de la paz? Well, that's a very interesting question. And understand one thing, that you're discovering that potential for peace within you, not externally. And once you understand that, you are a universe waiting to be explored.

A universe, exciting, beautiful, peaceful, and it is all within you. Understand that it's about you. It's an investment that you are making. You cannot go wrong, not every single day alone, but every moment. And of course, all of it to be filled. The objectives are beautiful. Objectives are high and objectives are sweet. To feel that peace, not once, but every single day. To feel that commitment and contentment towards that peace every single day and every moment, if possible. So this is exciting. It's finding yourself all over again. Finding the limitless you that you had never thought existed. And not in thought, but knowing from an inner conviction. So to me, don't feel discouraged, feel encouraged every second. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, me, wow, me, wow, me. I mean, to discover the divine in you. Are you excited? I am. I am. Who I thought was so far away. Always, I found here. How exciting is that? Enjoy. Enjoy the ride. Explore the universe. The inner universe.

Thank you. My name is Carmen Santos. I work as an artisanal teacher. And I am part of the Foundation for Social Assistance Montañas de Esperanza, for which it is an honor to work with it. My question is for Prem. It seems easy to say that peace, joy, and fullness are inside me. Why, then, do I often feel that peace is far away at the same time as me? Thank you. Well, that's the whole purpose of Peace Education Program, is not to just put a carrot in front of you and say, just look at this. But it is to actually feel. Feel that feeling of being alive. Feel that feeling that is in every breath that you take. Do you know that every breath that you take is a blessing? Do you know that? Do you know that? Do you know what allowed you to come home? Do you know? It wasn't the wealth. It wasn't your mommy's wishes. It wasn't the doctor's certificate. It was only one thing. You were breathing. And you could come home. And you know what is going to allow you to leave home for good? Do you know what it is? When you stop breathing, that will be the last act that you will perform. For every breath that comes into you, do you understand that to be a blessing? Not just mentally thinking about it, but to know. But to know. When you begin to understand the power that is pulsing through you right now, the same power that created this universe and all the known universe, do you know what you are made out of? A human being, 99% of the human being is made out of hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Do you want to find those things? Look around. And yet, you are alive. What makes you alive? Discover.

Discover what this life is. Life isn't about your responsibilities. Oh yes, there are responsibilities in your life. But that's not your life. Because you will go beyond that. And beyond that. Maybe you are a teacher today. One day you will retire. And who will you be? You will still be alive. Who will you be? Understanding that who is understanding that self. And it goes way beyond. And it is not just words. It is not just words. But to actually feel every day that peace and that joy. If it was just words, there are people who can speak so much better than me. So much better than me. It is not just words. Heart cannot lie. Mind lies every day. You know, every day we see somebody, we say, Good morning! This says it. To a person we don't even know. Good morning! How are you today? Do we want to know how that person is? What if that person says, Let me tell you. No, we don't want to actually know. We are just saying this to just say it.

To pretend we are nice. But the heart remains silent in the matters of this world. But speaks on the matters of the self. And what it says is to be in peace. What it says is to be in that joy. What it feels is contentment. And its reward is happiness beyond compare. I am asking you a question. As it is true, I am a leader of a gang. And I also belong to a group of work here called Peace and Respect Street. It is something impressive what has happened here to my colleagues and me. As the videos say, we have our own angel inside us. But I think God has sent us an additional one, which is Paul Murta, who came with the messages of peace. Who has personally changed my life. And we try to do that with my colleagues and the people with whom we are working in schools, giving our live talks and letting them know and see that committing crimes, stealing, and drugging does not lead to anything good. We have had cases of seeing friends and brothers die. And we want all of that, if possible and if it is achieved, to end. And my question for you, Prem, is how would you take the message of peace to the young people who belong to gangs? Thank you. I didn't know who you were, but I knew you were a human being. That's who you are. Learn to respect yourself. Respect does not mean good manners. You know, open the door for the lady. Say thank you.

Say please. That's just good manners. Respect. Respect yourself. I am a human being. When I talk to human beings, like me, like them, my message comes through loud and clear. And people listen. Even by accident, they listen. Because it is really not coming. I am not here as I know something more than you do. It's not true. It's not about that. You see, even when you were robbing people, you knew one thing. If somebody robbed you, you didn't like it. When somebody stole something of yours, like, you know, stole your earring or something, and, where is that? You knew it, but it's like you were somehow different than the people you were robbing. But you're a human being. Do you know that the breath that comes into you is the same breath that comes into me? The breath says, OK, I'm coming into you. Not going, um, you've been bad, so, OK, time out. No. No. To become beautiful from inside. To become strong from inside. If you want to be wealthy, then learn to be generous. If you want to be strong, then learn humility.

If you want to be smart, learn simplicity. That's what it takes. Learn simplicity. Learn humility. If you want that strength, learn that gentleness towards yourself. A candle has one thing that it can do. And that is, it can light other candles. All you have to be is the candle that lights the unlit candles. It's better than robbing them. Because, you know, either way they will remember you. But one way, they will remember you with fear, and the other way, they will remember you with gratitude. You want to be famous? Light the unlit candle. That's what it takes. If I talk to a gang member, I don't know what to say to them. I really don't. I talk to human beings, I could talk to you all day long. All day long. And that's why I'm talking to you. Otherwise I would have easily said, Celine, please pass on. This is your question now. You answer it. Or Richard, you answer it. You're smarter than me. You answer it.

But, you know, to a human being I can talk. It's true. Have I done things that are wrong? Of course I have. But I learned from my mistakes. There is a saying, if you're down there, pick something up. You're down there anyways. Find something to pick up. And then comes this hopelessness. Oh yeah, but there's no hope for me. Why not? Why not? The breath isn't giving up hope on you. Why are you giving up hope on yourself? Who can you be? Who can you be? You can be anything you want to be. And if you don't know that, then how did you end up being a gang member? You know you ended up being a gang member because you could be anybody you wanted to be. You chose that. Can you change your mind? Of course. That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of it. But this time, be pure of heart. This time, be pure of heart. And that will be your strength. Belong to the gang of the really cool. I'm sorry. My question is for Prem. Do you think it's important the formation of youth leaders for the initiative of spreading this message of peace? Well, it's a very nice question. And I have a very interesting answer.

My answer comes from a realization that I had just a few weeks ago. Because I used to say, oh, the youth is very, very important. And so it is. It is definitely very, very important. But then my realization is everybody is important. Everybody. Everybody. If you are 10 years old, please do something for peace. If you are 800 years old, do something for peace. And if you have only three days to live, please do something for peace. Everybody needs to get behind it. Not just, oh, it's for youth, it's for youth, it's for youth. Yes, youth are very, very important. They have the energy. See, the old guys, they don't have the energy anymore. But you have the energy. You are important. But everybody is important. Everybody. It doesn't matter who and how old you are. Get with it. When I was in this prison, and again, I was not there. I was not arrested. I was visiting the prison.

In Zonderwater. And also in San Antonio, Texas. To actually see prisoners helping other prisoners in the peace education program. They were so impressed by it that they were actually helping other ones. So, anybody, everybody can help. And everybody needs to. Everybody needs to. This is a noble cause. This is a noble cause. It is the noblest cause on the peace of this earth. And it has been dreamt by every single civilization. And it has been dreamt by every single society. And it is about time that it happens.

It's a great pleasure to be in Ecuador, and great pleasure to be here this evening talking about peace on the launch of Peace Education Program to hopefully people who are interested in peace. So, this launch of Peace Education Program, for me, this is something very, very important. So you've heard a lot about the Peace Education Program, the interests from different departments of the government, and their perspective, very beautiful perspectives. And now you get to hear my perspective, my perspective of what peace is. We're talking about human beings. So, one story comes to mind. There was a doctor, and he was genius. Amazing doctor. And he realized that he was coming to the end of his life. So he had heard that when death comes, death is only allowed to pick one, the one whose time is up. So he thought, hmm, maybe I should trick death. So what he did is he made an identical replica of himself.

Identical in every respect. And when the time came, he lay down next to his replica, waiting for death to come. The death came. Death knew only one. He sees two. Who, who, who am I going to pick? Death started thinking this will be the first time I have come for somebody and I didn't take them back. I have to think, I have to do something. So the death started thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking, and then finally the death came upon an idea. And out loud death said, Doctor, congratulations. You are a genius. You have even fooled me. You make one mistake. The doctor was lying. Oh, what mistake have I made? How can I make a mistake? And the doctor said, I should be quiet. But he said, I made a mistake. How can I make a mistake? I am the best doctor there is. And just couldn't stand it. And he said, what? And death said, that. So, you know, when we look at this world, a beautiful world, beautiful earth, do you think there is shortage of money? Do you think there is shortage of money? Do you think there is shortage of diamonds? Do you think there is shortage of gold? The country that I was born in, India, you know how much gold there is in India? All the gold, if you took all the gold of United States, reserves, Germany, Switzerland, and the World Bank, there is more gold in India than that. So, one has to ask themselves, what's going on? You think there is shortage of food? 1.5 billion tons of food every year is wasted. You know how much 1.5 billion tons of food is? That's half the production of food in the world. So half the food that is produced feeds 7 billion people, and half of it is thrown away. If we all wanted, I'm not recommending we do this, but if we all wanted to gain weight, double our size, we should easily be able to do that. So you have to question, what's going on? There are people who are poor.

There are people who are hungry. We live in the world where there is more schools now than there ever were, more universities now than there ever were, more colleges now than there ever were, and, of course, we have the World Wide Web, the Internet. And so you wonder, how could anybody be uneducated? It's just me, you know. I have to scratch my head, and you can see I have much less hair now. This is all from scratching my head, going, hmm, how could this be? How could this be? How could this be? I'm afraid I will go bald. So I have to stop scratching my head, but I can't help it, because we live in the land of plenty. But then you hear about human beings killing human beings. See, that makes me scratch my head again. A tiger kills a human being? I understand that. Too close. A lion kills a human being? Too close. A human being kills a human being? I don't understand that. We live in a world of the doctor. We are blinded by the ego. We do not see the greed we have. The greed. What do you replace greed with? What do you replace hate with? What purpose? Again, I scratch my head. What purpose? Hating. A human being hating another person. What would this accomplish? Nothing. But we do, every day. What do we forget? This earth, and there are different variations and interpretations of this, so I respect all of them, but one of them is, the scientists say, that this earth is 4.6 billion years old. So just recently, I had somebody do the math for me. So 4.6 billion years, this is how old the earth is, and even if you lived for a hundred years, how long would that be relative to 4.6 billion years? I would like to explain that to you.

But I can't. The best I can do, you ready? The best I can do is that. But that's too long. And I've tried making it faster, but I can't. And that's one second. You, even if you think you live for 100 years, but this is really how long you live for, relative to the 4.6 billion years you are on the face of this earth. 100 years. 100 years. You want to hate? Do you want to hate? What do you want to do if this is all you have? What do you want to do? Argue? Be greedy? Me! Me, me, me, me, me! Or spend that time feeling the divine within you in peace. That's an alternative. Other alternatives could be... Or, or, or feeling the divine within you and being in your choice. You choose. You choose. People think that if they had peace, they would solve all their problems. Why do you want peace? So you can have shiny shoes? So finally your dog will come to you when you call it? So finally you can go and grab your neighbor's mango and he won't yell at you? Is that why you want peace? If that's the kind of peace you want, I have no solution to it. Because where does peace begin? Peace does not start with the neighbor. Peace does not start with the country. Peace does not start with the government. To me there is a big distinction. And in my humble opinion, the government should build the opera house, not sing the opera. That's what I think. That's what they should do. Because when the government starts to sing opera, it does not come out right. But they're very good at building the opera house.

If they're together, they can build beautiful opera houses. And then let the singer, who has the voice, come and fill. To praise. To praise the goodness in us is the sweetest opera there would be. Every single human being on the face of this earth is full of sadness and is full of joy. You think sadness comes from somebody else? You're wrong. Sadness comes from you. And the joy comes from you. Where do you feel hunger? In your neighbor? In your wife? In your child? In your bathroom? In you. And where do you feel full? In you. Food is the catalyst. But the feeling of full is in you. The feeling of hunger is in you. The feeling of joy is in you. The feeling of hate is in you. As soon as you say no, that person makes me angry. You're wrong. You are wrong. Because now you have given that person more power than you have. No. That person only does things. Anger is felt inside of you. Where is greed? Greed is inside of you. Where is generosity? Generosity is inside of you.

What is Knowledge? Knowledge is the key that opens doors. Also, ignorance is a key that opens doors. Not the same ones, mind you. Not the same ones. Ignorance opens doors to pain, to suffering, to hate. Knowledge opens doors to joy, to happiness, to fulfillment, to peace, to understanding. Examine your key. Look at your key. Because if your key is the key of ignorance, it is incapable of unlocking doors that you ultimately want in your life. It is not a mistake that you want to be content in your life. You see, nobody actually teaches you contentment. Nobody. Nobody. And nobody teaches you to cry. There is no schools, no universities, no classes that teach you to cry. Mother doesn't actually sit down with the baby and say, now baby, mommy is going to teach you how to cry. No, no, no, no, no, no. She knows when the baby is crying, the baby wants something. So she experiments. Is your diaper full? No. No. Are you hungry? No. Maybe you are sleepy. And then, when the baby is comfortable, goes to sleep, no more crying.

Could we learn from that? I mean, could we learn from that? No, no, no, I'm grown up. I'm not like that baby. I'm grown up. No, you haven't grown up. You have just become big. But you have not grown up. If you are grown up, you will never stop learning. Oh, I have graduated. No, you haven't. If you stop learning, you haven't graduated. If you keep on learning, you have graduated. You will graduate every day, because you learn, and you learn, and you learn, in this university of life. Learn. Learn about what? Learn about who you. You can go right now. You can go, and you can learn about how to make cars. You can learn how to make buildings. You can learn how to make radios. You can learn how to make television. Where do you learn about the self? Have you ever looked at a map? Have you ever looked at a map? People use map for two things. One, to go where they want to go. Two, to see where they are. But if you want to see where you are, you have to know where you are on that map. And if you want to go where you want to go, you have to know where you are at that map.

You have to know where you are on that map, because if you have your destination, but not where you are, you think you can go where you want to go? You have to know. Very important. I know. How do I know? I'm a pilot. I fly. All those countries you heard I go to, I fly myself. They have this incredibly sophisticated device called GPS. And you know what is the sole function of GPS? They have constellation of satellites in the sky. And the receiver picks up this constellation, figures out from each one of triangulation, basic triangulation, actually it's kind of like with circles, but figures out where it is, where the circles dissect, figures out two positions, one in outer space, one on the surface of the earth, rejects the one on the outer space, accepts the one that is on the surface of the earth, and this is very too complicated, but it does one thing. It tells you where you are. It doesn't tell you where you should go. It tells you where you are. Only one thing, where you are. It's called present position. All right. I can start asking you one by one who you want to be. When I should be asking you, if I were to ask you who you are, would you know the answer? If you don't know who you are, it doesn't matter where you want to go. It's just a dream. Enjoy your dream, because you're not going to go there. And if you do, it'll be a mistake. That's why Knowledge of the self is most important. And because of that, this is the attempt not to remove the greed, it cannot be done, but to replace the greed with humanity. Humanity does not have to be created. It already exists, by the way.

Did you know that it already exists? Every human being carries in them at least humanity, but nobody gives it a second thought. Everything else is, you did this, you're bad, you're bad, you're bad, you're bad. Every person who is in prison, you think they never did anything good? They must have done one thing good. I mean one little, I mean like one little bitty thing. I mean like one little, little, little, little, little, little, little bitty thing good. Did they ever get acknowledged for it? Never. Nobody actually acknowledges anything good. Bad? The finger comes out. The finger comes out, right? And everybody's finger comes out. Look at the finger. One finger that way. Thumb is pointing up, and three fingers are pointing at? One's pointing up, one's pointing that way, three are pointing at me. Oh, have you ever made tea? To make tea, you need a strainer, strainer. You take some tea, you put it in the strainer. And the purpose of the strainer is to keep the bad and let go of what is good. Can you imagine a strainer where you put the tea in the strainer and it just goes, pfft, it's never going to work. That's just called a hole, a big hole. All you will have is a handle, and that's like, wouldn't do any good. Wouldn't do any good. It's the same exact thing that is going on. If we want to make a difference in the society, we have to get a proper strainer. One last thing, because we're talking about peace. If there is a pot that has a hole in it, how much water can be pushed through that pot? If it has a hole in it, do you know? The whole ocean doesn't have enough water. You can take the whole ocean and put it to the pot, and do you think any of it will stay? When you do not know yourself, there is a big gaping hole.

Whatever is put in this vessel, it will never stay. And all the wisdom and everything else, because listen, incredible things have already been said. There are incredible scriptures out there. There are incredible writings out there. There are incredible people out there who have said most beautiful things. But, with a pot with a hole in it, keep pouring it in. It will keep flushing it out. It will never retain anything. We don't need to invent new things. And I say this many, many times. Should I be talking about peace to you? What do you think? No. No. Absolutely no. Absolutely no. You should know that. You should know about peace. You shouldn't need me to tell you about peace. You should know that the peace is important to you. You should know yourself. You shouldn't have a 5 foot 4 Indian born person coming to you, speaking not in Spanish, but in English, being translated, telling you, you should know. But you don't. So, here I am. And I cannot wait to become redundant. Not needed.

That would be wonderful. Because that will be the day that the self is recognized. People understand the value of peace. And humanity would have dawned on the face of this earth. On the inauguration of Peace Education Program. On the launch of Peace Education Program. This is the best way to describe what Peace Education Program is. A program that one day will not be needed, I hope. Because people will know what is important themselves. But until then, this is a small offering from one heart to the heart of all human beings on the face of this earth. Regardless of what it is that they do. People should not be judged. People should not be judged by their gender. People should not be judged by what they do, what they wear. And it happens all the time. We need to change. And I know, I'm not a psychic. But I know there are people in this audience who are saying it will never be done. It can never happen. Never. When they were sending the rocket to the moon, there were people who said it can never be done. And there were people who said it can be done. They landed on the moon not because of the people who said it cannot be done. They landed on the moon because of people who said it can be done.

Please, let us be the people, let us be the people who make it. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you. Buenas noches y bienvenido. Para nosotros es un verdadero orgullo contar con su presencia aquí en nuestra ciudad. Estoy formando parte del grupo que asistimos al curso de educación para la paz. Me siento a medio camino. Me siento satisfecha por los cambios que he tenido en todos los ámbitos de mi vida. Pero sin embargo, siento que me hace falta y a pesar de estar en el curso de 10 horas, todavía siento la ansiedad y una sensación de vacío. Mi pregunta para usted, Tim, ¿cómo puedo seguir avanzando hacia la búsqueda de la paz? Well, that's a very interesting question. And understand one thing, that you're discovering that potential for peace within you, not externally. And once you understand that, you are a universe waiting to be explored. A universe, exciting, beautiful, peaceful, and it is all within you. Understand that it's about you. It's an investment that you are making. You cannot go wrong, not every single day alone, but every moment. And of course, all of it to be filled. The objectives are beautiful. Objectives are high and objectives are sweet. To feel that peace, not once, but every single day. To feel that commitment and contentment towards that peace every single day and every moment, if possible. So this is exciting. It's finding yourself all over again. Finding the limitless you that you had never thought existed.

And not in thought, but knowing from an inner conviction. So to me, don't feel discouraged, feel encouraged every second. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, me, wow, me, wow, me. I mean, to discover the divine in you. Are you excited? I am. I am. Who I thought was so far away. Always, I found here. How exciting is that? Enjoy. Enjoy the ride. Explore the universe. The inner universe. Thank you. My name is Carmen Santos. I work as an artisanal teacher. And I am part of the Foundation for Social Assistance Montañas de Esperanza, for which it is an honor to work with it. My question is for Prem. It seems easy to say that peace, joy, and fullness are inside me. Why, then, do I often feel that peace is far away at the same time as me? Thank you. Well, that's the whole purpose of Peace Education Program, is not to just put a carrot in front of you and say, just look at this. But it is to actually feel. Feel that feeling of being alive. Feel that feeling that is in every breath that you take. Do you know that every breath that you take is a blessing? Do you know that? Do you know that? Do you know what allowed you to come home? Do you know? It wasn't the wealth.

It wasn't your mommy's wishes. It wasn't the doctor's certificate. It was only one thing. You were breathing. And you could come home. And you know what is going to allow you to leave home for good? Do you know what it is? When you stop breathing, that will be the last act that you will perform. For every breath that comes into you, do you understand that to be a blessing? Not just mentally thinking about it, but to know. But to know. When you begin to understand the power that is pulsing through you right now, the same power that created this universe and all the known universe, do you know what you are made out of? A human being, 99% of the human being is made out of hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Do you want to find those things? Look around. And yet, you are alive. What makes you alive? Discover. Discover what this life is. Life isn't about your responsibilities. Oh yes, there are responsibilities in your life. But that's not your life. Because you will go beyond that. And beyond that. Maybe you are a teacher today. One day you will retire. And who will you be? You will still be alive. Who will you be? Understanding that who is understanding that self. And it goes way beyond. And it is not just words.

It is not just words. But to actually feel every day that peace and that joy. If it was just words, there are people who can speak so much better than me. So much better than me. It is not just words. Heart cannot lie. Mind lies every day. You know, every day we see somebody, we say, Good morning! This says it. To a person we don't even know. Good morning! How are you today? Do we want to know how that person is? What if that person says, Let me tell you. No, we don't want to actually know. We are just saying this to just say it. To pretend we are nice. But the heart remains silent in the matters of this world. But speaks on the matters of the self. And what it says is to be in peace. What it says is to be in that joy. What it feels is contentment. And its reward is happiness beyond compare. I am asking you a question. As it is true, I am a leader of a gang. And I also belong to a group of work here called Peace and Respect Street. It is something impressive what has happened here to my colleagues and me. As the videos say, we have our own angel inside us.

But I think God has sent us an additional one, which is Paul Murta, who came with the messages of peace. Who has personally changed my life. And we try to do that with my colleagues and the people with whom we are working in schools, giving our live talks and letting them know and see that committing crimes, stealing, and drugging does not lead to anything good. We have had cases of seeing friends and brothers die. And we want all of that, if possible and if it is achieved, to end. And my question for you, Prem, is how would you take the message of peace to the young people who belong to gangs? Thank you. I didn't know who you were, but I knew you were a human being. That's who you are. Learn to respect yourself. Respect does not mean good manners. You know, open the door for the lady. Say thank you. Say please. That's just good manners. Respect. Respect yourself. I am a human being. When I talk to human beings, like me, like them, my message comes through loud and clear. And people listen. Even by accident, they listen. Because it is really not coming. I am not here as I know something more than you do. It's not true. It's not about that.

You see, even when you were robbing people, you knew one thing. If somebody robbed you, you didn't like it. When somebody stole something of yours, like, you know, stole your earring or something, and, where is that? You knew it, but it's like you were somehow different than the people you were robbing. But you're a human being. Do you know that the breath that comes into you is the same breath that comes into me? The breath says, OK, I'm coming into you. Not going, um, you've been bad, so, OK, time out. No. No. To become beautiful from inside. To become strong from inside. If you want to be wealthy, then learn to be generous. If you want to be strong, then learn humility. If you want to be smart, learn simplicity. That's what it takes. Learn simplicity. Learn humility. If you want that strength, learn that gentleness towards yourself. A candle has one thing that it can do. And that is, it can light other candles. All you have to be is the candle that lights the unlit candles. It's better than robbing them. Because, you know, either way they will remember you. But one way, they will remember you with fear, and the other way, they will remember you with gratitude. You want to be famous? Light the unlit candle.

That's what it takes. If I talk to a gang member, I don't know what to say to them. I really don't. I talk to human beings, I could talk to you all day long. All day long. And that's why I'm talking to you. Otherwise I would have easily said, Celine, please pass on. This is your question now. You answer it. Or Richard, you answer it. You're smarter than me. You answer it. But, you know, to a human being I can talk. It's true. Have I done things that are wrong? Of course I have. But I learned from my mistakes. There is a saying, if you're down there, pick something up. You're down there anyways. Find something to pick up. And then comes this hopelessness. Oh yeah, but there's no hope for me. Why not? Why not? The breath isn't giving up hope on you. Why are you giving up hope on yourself? Who can you be? Who can you be? You can be anything you want to be. And if you don't know that, then how did you end up being a gang member? You know you ended up being a gang member because you could be anybody you wanted to be.

You chose that. Can you change your mind? Of course. That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of it. But this time, be pure of heart. This time, be pure of heart. And that will be your strength. Belong to the gang of the really cool. I'm sorry. My question is for Prem. Do you think it's important the formation of youth leaders for the initiative of spreading this message of peace? Well, it's a very nice question. And I have a very interesting answer. My answer comes from a realization that I had just a few weeks ago. Because I used to say, oh, the youth is very, very important. And so it is. It is definitely very, very important. But then my realization is everybody is important. Everybody. Everybody. If you are 10 years old, please do something for peace. If you are 800 years old, do something for peace. And if you have only three days to live, please do something for peace. Everybody needs to get behind it. Not just, oh, it's for youth, it's for youth, it's for youth.

Yes, youth are very, very important. They have the energy. See, the old guys, they don't have the energy anymore. But you have the energy. You are important. But everybody is important. Everybody. It doesn't matter who and how old you are. Get with it. When I was in this prison, and again, I was not there. I was not arrested. I was visiting the prison. In Zonderwater. And also in San Antonio, Texas. To actually see prisoners helping other prisoners in the peace education program. They were so impressed by it that they were actually helping other ones. So, anybody, everybody can help. And everybody needs to. Everybody needs to. This is a noble cause. This is a noble cause. It is the noblest cause on the peace of this earth. And it has been dreamt by every single civilization. And it has been dreamt by every single society. And it is about time that it happens.