Prem Rawat in Melbourne, 2014-09-21

Prem Rawat in Melbourne, 21st September 2014

So, it's great to be here and it's a great subject, peace. Today, quote-unquote, is supposed to be International Day of Peace. People have asked me, what do I think of that? What I really think of that is peace needs to be every single day, not just one day. In our lives, we get so caught up in symbology, push the button, do this, ring the bell, light the candle, you're done, you're good, but that's not how life is. Life is not a concept. Life is not somebody's idea, it's something real. And to illustrate this, there's a wonderful analogy that came to my mind. You've all heard of King Solomon, and in fact, I'm sure you've all heard this story, but I'm going to tell you this again tonight. And the story, and I'm paraphrasing, but the way the story goes is that once in the court of King Solomon, who was a very wise ruler, wise king, two women came with a baby, claiming that the baby was theirs. One said, that baby is mine, the other one said, no, that baby is mine. And after hearing all the bickering between the two, King Solomon said, bring a sword. One of them asked, why? He said, well, it's easy. It's obvious you both want the baby, so what we're going to do is just split the baby in half, give one half to you and one half to you, and that should do it. They both stayed very quiet. The sword was brought. As soon as the sword was lifted, one of them said, wait, wait, stop. Let her have the baby. Let her have the baby. Don't kill it. Don't split it. Let her have the baby. King Solomon put the sword down and said, give her the baby. This baby belongs to her, not to her. Now what's the point of this story? For the real mother, there were no options.

Have half a baby, have a quarter of a baby, no, because she truly was a mother, it was in her interest that her baby lives, that that baby is alive. That's what mothering is all about. And when this condition was put and she saw that this was going to become real, she said, it's okay. I'd rather that this baby live on, even with her, than be dead. Life, my friends, has no options. You have it. You are alive. It's afoot. It's happening. And you know who demands peace? Do you know what demands peace? Me? No. Some book? No. Some frog somewhere? No. Some tribe in the middle of Africa? No. I'll tell you what demands peace. What demands peace is life itself. And therefore, you have to have peace. The whole time, you are alive. That's what it means to be alive, to be understanding those requests, to be understanding what does this life really need? Who am I? What do I really need? What are the components? What are my necessities? What are those things without which, no matter how complete I try to feel, I feel incomplete? We think we have options. Oh, yes, I want to be like this. I want to be like this. I want to do this. This is cool. This is these. In fact, all those are options.

There are people who are completely into bungee jumping. Not me. There are people who love to go and dive out of airplanes, perfectly good airplane. You couldn't ask me nicely or otherwise to jump out of an airplane. It's not in me. It's just not in me. I'm a pilot. I have flown all the way to 51,000 feet in an airplane, and I'm afraid of heights. I don't like heights. These things are options. What is not an option for life is to feel complete, is to feel joy, is to feel clarity, is to understand, to understand what is this amazing thing called life. Amazing. Absolutely. A couple of nights ago, looking at the stars sitting outside, and it was amazing to see these stars, but why was it amazing to see these stars? How was it even possible to see these stars? See, these stars have been there for billions and billions and billions of years. I was only born in 1957. But this incredible miracle called life allows me to look over the heavens, look at those little dots of light, and go, wow. That's the miracle. To us, the miracle is, I mean, this is what happens. This is our mindset. When a magician performs a trick, when a magician performs a trick, which is clearly set out to fool us, make an idiot out of us, he does something with this hand and he waves this one, your attention goes there, and we go, wow, that was good. You managed to fool me. Bravo. Am I saying something wrong? This is what happens. This is what happens.

Can you be fooled? You have experience behind you. You cannot be fooled. And that little trick is performed, and everybody goes, wow. And the most amazing thing is not even a trick. Out of nowhere comes this breath. Do you go bravo? Do you? Do you? What do we say to ourselves? God, I'm bored. Give me something exciting. Will the universe do? Sitting, standing, dancing on a planet. It's made out of dust. Going around supporting life. The majesty of the stars. The majesty of human beings on the face of this earth. The majesty of all the flowers on this earth, the trees on this earth, the fruit on this earth. From dirt, a sweet mango. A cow eats green grass and gives white milk. Bravo? I know that. I know that. Making the car disappear. And you've seen the money trick that the magicians do, haven't you? Where they just take a piece of paper and turn it into $100? If he can do this. Why isn't he buying things? Why is he standing in front of you? Selling $5 tickets. So you can come and he can enter, entertain you. Because you're bored otherwise. You need some entertainment. Open your eyes.

Look around. Look at us. Look at us. I've been to the Louvre. I have seen the painting of Mona Lisa. It's good. It is good. Having no camera, Leonardo da Vinci did an incredibly good job. But I have seen, I have seen the face of a baby infinitely more beautiful. Infinitely more beautiful. I've even seen girls that are much prettier looking than Mona Lisa. Much prettier. What's happened to us? What has happened to us? Illusion becomes reality and reality becomes illusion? Peace, you say? Peace? Oh, I'm not into that stuff. Really? Really? Really? Really? Really? Really? Really? Peace should be your first priority? What's happening? People are trying to preserve institutions of marriage. And they're falling apart left and right. Left and right. Why? I wonder. I wonder. Parents don't know their own children. The children don't know their own parents. I really don't want to put this in a way where it will make me sound really old. I just want to present this as it is. And most importantly, a human being has no respect for another human being. How could this be? Don't confuse respect with manners.

I'm not talking about manners. Manners is when you open the door, you smile, you say thank you. A four-year-old saying thank you because the mother said so. Say now, say thank you. It's so transparent. Does not mean it. That child does not mean it. You know he does not mean it. He's only saying it because he's been prodded to say it. I'm not talking about manners. I'm talking about respect. Because respect for the other only comes when you have respect for yourself. So my friends, I'm talking about a green desert. Not dessert, desert. I'm talking about a desert where the rain has come. And all those millions and millions and millions of seeds that had been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting understand that their time has come. You don't need to make cell phone calls. You don't need to write SMS to those little seeds. Hey, rain's here, wake up. This is what they were waiting for. And the rain has come. The rain of understanding. The rain of reality. The rain of Knowledge.

The rain of clarity. The rain has come. And the flowers, it is now time to bloom. In this desert. In this desert. Because without that rain, my friends, this is a desert. Without love. Without feeling. Without understanding. Without that respect. Who are you? Who are you? Of all the accomplishments that you can have in your life. Which one is the most important? Elections are going to start in America. And there's going to be people who are going to go to be the most important person in the world. The world leader. Have you heard that phrase? World leader? Well, I have bad news for you. There's no such thing, really. The world leaders call themselves world leaders. But they're not leaders of the world. This world is a big place. There are people in the Kalihari Desert who don't even know that there is a place called America. Much less who the president of that country is. They don't know that India and Pakistan separated. Because they don't even know what India is. No, there are people in that jungle in Amazon who have no clue who Krishna was.

Don't tell this to the Indians. They'll freak. No clue that there was a Ram. No clue that there is global warming. No clue that there is a space station. No clue that there is satellites. No clue that there are cell phones. Oh my God. I mean, are these people, they must be living in hell. They can't SMS. There is no Facebook. They can't tweet. Good God. Every time they want to talk to their wife, they have to wait till they're standing in front of her. Ridiculous, isn't it? If they want to say something to their son, they have to find him. And look into his eyes. And see his smile. And see the joy he has of seeing his father. Wow. To find the wife, look at her and have appreciation in the eyes. And to see the little smile. Not a smiley. That's what being human is like. It's about touching.

It's about seeing. It's by looking at a face. And being able to recognize. Why are... They jump up and down because they have face recognition technology. Face recognition technology. And, you know, one of the latest technologies is incorporating fingerprint readers in phones and various devices. This stupid thing doesn't know it's me. And maybe that's okay if I don't know who I am either. Let me see, is it really me? Good grief, it is me! One time I was watching this documentary about this one gentleman. And he was incredibly overweight. He weighed over 2,000 pounds. In fact, he was so overweight that when they had to take him to the hospital, they had to remove the wall and get a crane and lift him. And use actually a truck, put mattresses in the bottom and then put him in there and take him to the hospital. And this is what he used to do. He used to lie on his stomach. And he always wanted the television on. You know why? So that he could look up and know he's still alive. It was very sad for me when I saw that. It was like, oh my God. This is terrible that a person has to have the TV on just so that they can know they're still alive, that they haven't died yet. But then, something very familiar about that. All my trappings lined up so that they can tell me who I am. Who am I? Yes, I am so. Yes, I have accomplished this.

Yes, I have done this. Yes, I have done that. My long list of accomplishments. And in that list of accomplishments is not that one accomplishment. I am alive. And I recognize that. I am alive. A drop of water is powerful. All the way to the point where cutting metal, metal, thick steel, is not an issue. And it cuts it so cleanly, like it was. How could this be? But this is the unity. This is the nature of that water. That is the nature of that water. If we too were to understand our nature, that the nature of the human being is to nurture. The nature of the human being is to feel good. That the nature of the human being is to bring joy, not only to yourself, but to others. That the nature of a human being is not only to respect yourself, but to respect the others. Would we be talking about wars? No. Would I be sitting here talking to you? No. And I think it's wrong. Me coming here and talking to you. It's wrong. I shouldn't be telling people about peace. They should already know that.

They should already know that. I've been doing this since I was four years old. I shouldn't be doing that. People should already know. Because if we could be in touch with this magic called life, then we would know what life demands. And it is indeed life demands peace. That's when it can dance. That's when it can flourish. That's when it can be. That's when it can expand. That's when it can encompass. That's when it can be fulfilling. Without that... all you have is fear. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. Please, somebody, leave the TV on so I know I am alive. Please leave the TV on so I know I am alive. No. That's not how it should be. It should be that the human being understands the gift. I just made a little SMV, which is short message video, for my website. And this is what I was talking about, is that for billions of years, we've been dust. From the dust, we've... You've heard that one, right? From dust to dust? So for millions of years, billions of years, we've been dust. And then... we're going to become dust again. So being alive is the exception.

Dust is the normal. Being alive is the exception. Now the question is, is it exceptional? Your life, is it exceptional? Exception? Exceptional? Sounds good to me. That's what it's destined to be. And we have to choose. We have to choose what we want. People go, people go, oh yeah, our destinies are already written down. Where? Who? What? What are you talking about? That's it? On one hand, there are people who will say, yeah, God did that to you because he wanted to teach you a lesson. God did that to you because you did this, and God did that. And then you come across something that you can't explain because God works in mysterious ways. Excuse me? Excuse me? Your son brings home a A. That's my son. Your son fails four years in a row. He works in mysterious ways. Your son comes home one day and you find out he's got three or four girlfriends all pregnant. I work in mysterious ways, Dad. Nice answer. Nice answer. And you as a dad are going to eat it? You are? Son, I'm proud of you. There's only two people who work in mysterious ways and you are one of them. No way! The officer pulls you over. You were speeding. No, I was an officer. Yeah, but my radar said you were going 80 in a 50 zone. I drive mysteriously, officer.

It's a mystery. I was only going 50, your radar showed 80. It's a mystery. You would never buy that. Next time, just don't pay your debt to the bank. Your credit card. Don't pay it. When they say, how come you haven't paid? I work in mysterious ways. All right, I've taken that too far. just wishful thinking. Wishful thinking. I wish I could do that, you know. Call up my credit card people and say, hey, yeah, you know, I'm not going to be paying my credit card anymore because I work in mysterious ways. I won't have a credit card left. What's the mystery? To see, to see two eyes. And where were they placed? In the front. Good design. Mystery would be two eyes in the arch. That would be mysterious. God, how come you gave me two eyes and put them down there? Can't see a thing. Here. Is there a mystery? Ears. Two. So you can make sense of direction from where it is.

Is it a mystery that the bee knows to go to the flower? Human beings came up with GPS and they were like, we have GPS. You get down to five feet accuracy. Man, this thing is accurate. Five feet. A bee. A little tiny bee. Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz. Finds a flower. A flower. Good Lord. Flower. Just, that's not five feet. Goes back to the hive. Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz. Wiggles his behind. And the next thing you know, they're all making a bee line. Bee line for that flower. And no GPS? No. A mystery? No. They worked on it. And worked on it. And worked on it. And they knew they were going to need to do this. To do what? To extract the nectar from the flower.

We look at a flower, we smell the flower, we go, mmm, smells so good. Ah, there's more going on there. But it takes a bee to know that. It knows. This is full of beautiful, sweet nectar. It knows that. It knows that. A bee is not very intelligent. Excuse me. This is the intelligence it needs. It is. A bird. A bird knows what's good for it and what's not good for it. Bird brain, right? We call that, each other, when we want to insult somebody, you bird brain. But that bird actually knows what's good for it and what's not good for it. Somebody comes along, I don't know about this one, out of there. And an Indian saint once said, what is good and what is bad, everything in this world knows that. Ants know that. Feel you coming, go the other way. But do you know that a human being is capable of understanding that and understanding understanding what fulfillment is? And that the human being is capable of having the Knowledge of the self. I hope, I really hope, you don't hear what I'm saying and say, man, he's really up on human beings. I mean, how come he isn't bashing them? For all the evil that's going on that they do. And believe me, some of it is. I'm sure that if there is a Satan, even he gets goose bumps hearing those things.

I'm not saying that I'm an optimist. Even though I am. I'm not saying that. Darkness and light are the two sides of the same coin. Love and hate are the two sides of the same coin. It is in a human being that there is hate. And it is in a human being that there is love. I'm not just making this up. This is not a shmeal to impress you. See, one of the things I do is I go to prisons. I'm invited to prisons. I go there with my message of peace. And I bring hope. Hope to inmates. Inmates. How can I do that? How is that possible? I mean, what hope are you going to bring them? Some of them, they've thrown the key away. They're not going out not the same way they came in. But they found hope. How? How is that possible? Excuse me, you're in here. This is it. You like nice views? Well, this is the view you get. It's the view of the bars. You may, and no, you may not do anything you want. When you eat, it'll be on a set time.

When you sleep, it'll be on a set time. When you wake up, it'll be a set time. What you do will be dictated. Wait a minute. This is sounding like a normal person. Good God, that's what I do. Dinner time. Time to wake up. This is what I have to do. Check my email. I have to do this. I mean, the other day, I was just reviewing my schedule for 2015. It's complete, but I was just reviewing it. And something flashed in front of me, and I had to stop. This is your life you're going to try to work out for a whole year. And it's about going places and talking to people about peace. And it's a great delight to me. This is what I've been doing since I was four. This is not my job. But to bring hope. And even when I am in those institutions which are purposely built to almost take away the hope, introduce to a human being a human being. Bring on the rain in the desert, and the transformation that you will see will astound you. That you will see not the monotony, but the colorful landscape. For every flower that lay dormant for years has not forgotten.

And all the flowers in the desert, living in a place devoid of the range of colors, have not forgotten their own color. That they will glow. And it doesn't matter how long, they have not forgotten who they are. So, do you know who you are? You don't have to answer that. Not to me. Only to yourself. Not to your wife. And not to your husband. And not to your children. Only to you. In the privacy of the most private moment, do you know who you are? Who you are. Somebody might say, well, I'm a lawyer. Good. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good. But you were not a lawyer when you were 10. I'm a doctor. Good, good, good, good, good. Very good. Especially if you're a good doctor. Very, very good. But you weren't always a doctor. And you aren't always going to be a doctor. Who are you? Your outlook of life is so different when things go your way. Your outlook of life is so different when things don't go your way.

You are completely susceptible to pain. You are completely susceptible to sorrow. You are completely susceptible to joy. You are completely susceptible to happiness. You are completely susceptible to all the dramas. And yet you live. And yet you exist. And there's a thirst inside every single human being that wants to thrive. To understand. Not to be a victim. But every little seed waiting for the rain. So it can bloom. It can bloom. People go, well, you know, I came here to find out about peace, and so how do I get into peace? I mean, how do I get peace? Tell me that. Tell me how do I get peace? I have good news for you. The good news is that peace that you're looking for is already inside of you. Ta-da! You don't have to create it. It's not about putting your legs over your neck. I saw somebody doing yoga. And I went, whoa, no way. I'm not opposed to yoga. It's just not a happening thing for me. If I did some of those things, I'd end up in a hospital. I come, I was born in that country where yoga comes from.

And that same country where Kabir was born, who said this is fine for your body, but not for this life. Not for this heart. This heart that pumps blood into you needs a different kind of exercise. And the heart that is at the center of your universe that pulses with clarity and understanding needs a different kind of exercise. Do you know your universe? That's what Socrates said. Know thyself. I wonder why. I mean, why? One day he had this thing, like, let me see how to agitate everybody. Ah, yeah, I know how to agitate everybody. I'll tell them you have to know yourself. That'll really agitate them. No, this is not about agitation. Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing the self is enlightenment. It's enlightenment. So we know everybody else, right? Because we got the smileys, and we got the Facebook, and we got the Twitter. You can tweet. I am completely into technology. I have an iPad. I have two cell phones. I have a computer. I carry almost 8 terabytes worth of hard drive wherever I go. But this 4-year-old, when he was born, during this war, understood that there was something to look into people's eyes when you told them about peace. And I believe in that.

I'm not against Facebook. I'm not against SMS. SMS is great. You can just SMS, and you're fired. You don't have to put up with all the but, but, but, but, but, but, but. It's great. I don't do that. I don't do that. But there are certain things. I mean, can you imagine a marriage being performed on SMS? Do you take this person to be a wife? A wedded wife? Yes, I do. Okay, he says, he does. No. Look, live. Live a little. Live a little. Even a little is good, because you'll be addicted to it if you start living. Live a little. And that's not about going to restaurants. And that's not about going to disco parties. And that's not about going to movies. And that's not about all that other stuff that you do. Spend a little time with yourself. You all heard this. How important it is to spend some time with your child. How important it is to spend time with the one you love, right? Let me tell you how important it is to spend some time with yourself. Not time of confusion, but time of clarity. To embrace this gift as a gift. Not, don't take it for granted. Don't take it for granted.

What is the situation of the world? The situation of the world is very well illustrated in this little story. One time, there was a king, and he was infatuated with food. So he called upon the chef to make him some incredible dessert. The chef got into it, started making this incredible dessert. The dessert was presented to the king, and the aroma of the dessert was wafting in the palace everywhere. This, of course, attracted the hungry little mice. And the next thing you know, the hungry little mice are everywhere, going crazy in the smell of the dessert. So much so, they're crawling up the king's beard, trying to pick food. They're in the bowl. They're crawling up the curtains. Serious situation. Serious. King immediately calls an emergency meeting of his ministers and says, we have a problem. This dessert was asked for, it was made, and now the whole palace is full of mice. What should we do? What should I do? I need to get rid of these mice. All the ministers came together, had a conference, a G14 summit meeting. The world leaders came. They came to the king, and they said, we have come to the conclusion that we should get cats. They will chase away all the mice.

So the king immediately put out a decree. All the soldiers go get all the cats from the kingdom. Bring them to the palace. Well, the cats were poured in. Next thing you know, the mice are gone. But there's cats everywhere. And they're sharpening their nails on the curtains. And they are lying on the bed. And they can barely walk because everywhere is just cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats. G18 summit. We have a serious problem. There's cats everywhere. We need to get rid of them. Ministers come together. We recommend, sire, you get dogs. They'll get rid of the cats. Decree. Find all the dogs in the kingdom. Bring them in. Let's do this. Next thing you know, cats are gone. Dogs everywhere. Doing their business. Chewing the shoes. Marking their territory. Pretty bad situation. G19 summit. We have a problem. We've got dogs everywhere. How do we get rid of the dogs? Dogs. Meeting. Decree. This is the recommendation. This time, get tigers. Tigers will get rid of the dogs. Find the tigers. Now the palace is full of tigers. And the tigers are everywhere. And nobody can go anywhere. Afraid that the tigers will eat. G20 summit. Come on. We have a problem. We've got tigers everywhere. What should we do? Come together. Huddle, huddle, huddle. Have a meeting. Meeting. Recommendation. Sire, get elephants. That'll get rid of the tigers. Decree. Bring in the elephants. Elephants come. Tigers leave. Now, of course, it's really chaotic. There's big elephants everywhere. Big pies. Big everything. Moving the furniture around. I mean, it's just horrible. Hey, this is the worst situation. Another meeting. Another decree. What should we do? Yes, sire. Bring in the mice. Bring in the mice.

All the elephants leave. The king gives a decree. Don't make that dessert again. Starts with a little greed. If you have to be greedy, be greedy for clarity if you have to be greedy. Be greedy for generosity if you have to be greedy. Be greedy for gratitude. Be greedy to help each other. Be greedy for those things that truly matter. Be greedy for a smile on a child's face. Be greedy for a smile on each other's face. You are human. Congratulations. You are human. And the finest accomplishment of a human being will be peace on. So, thank you very much and good night. Thank you.