Prem Rawat in Osaka, 2014-10-10

Free to Choose
Prem Rawat in Osaka, 10th October 2010

It's been a very long time since I've been here, and even this time it was like, maybe I'm not going to go. And then I said, no, no, I have to go, so I'm here. And I know that Japan has been through a lot, a lot of calamities and disaster and this and that, but it is the inner strength of a human being that holds one together. Because yesterday I was talking to somebody and they said, yeah, Japan has been through a lot of disasters. And I said, you know, disaster is not caused by earthquake, because earthquakes don't kill people. It's what the human beings have created that kill people. Our arrogance in this world. We rule. This is what we think. We are so smart. We are so clever. We are so capable. And then the nature comes and says, let me teach you a lesson. Who are you? Understand who you are. For billions of years, what were you? For billions of years, what were you? You were dirt. And for billions of years, what are you going to be? Dirt. But right now, you're not dirt. You're alive. And being alive, what does it mean to you? Fear in a human being. When I was thinking about fear, what is fear? When we are afraid of losing something, not gaining, losing, we become afraid. Loss of life, loss of health, loss of money, loss of house, loss of job, loss. We become afraid. Fear. Because I don't want to lose.

But then you have to ask, to go from dirt to life, this transition, nothing, something. Could it have happened if there was fear? Could it have happened? This transition from nothing to something. No. No. It's not possible. From something to nothing is possible. Fear. But from nothing to something, it takes courage. It takes transformation. It takes understanding. It takes evolution. It takes revolution. It takes. And it takes something else. Because now, you have in your body, blood, guts, nerves, veins, muscle, bone, yes? And you need skin. To keep it together. No skin, everything would pop out. Blood would just come out. Everything would just flow out. Skin is very important because it keeps it together. It composes this body on the outside. Inside, you also need something that composes us on the inside. Keeps us together. And this is peace.

This is peace. It composes us. It holds us together. Otherwise, everything, out, out, out, out, out, out. And person would not know. There would be no meaning without peace to good or bad. No reference. If I took you to a country that you have never been there before, and they, in this country, have a particular dish, food, which you have never eaten before. Never. And I give you this dish, and I say, taste, and tell me what you think. Since you have never eaten it, how would you know what it tastes like? You put it in your mouth. It could be burnt. It could be raw. It could be prepared in a very bad way. It could be disgusting, according to the people there. But if you don't know, then you cannot distinguish. If you don't understand peace, what is good, what is bad? What is right, what is wrong? What is nice, what is not nice? Everything becomes irrelevant. It is peace that makes it relevant for you. And peace does not come from outside. When you are cold, how do you know you are cold? When you are cold, how do you know you are cold? How? Somebody has to tell you, oh, you are cold. How do you know? This feeling of being warm or being cold comes from inside of you. If you are warm, you feel it. If you are cold, you feel it. Peace, same way, has to emanate from inside.

Hair is shaved. Gray eyebrows, gray beard, saffron, yellow or white robes. So you have peace. Scar, slick black hair, expensive watch, leather jacket. Do you have peace? Only you know. No label. See, we think label does it. If I leave the world and get away, then I will be in peace. No, no. The monkey that bothers you lives inside of you. And wherever you go, the monkey comes. When you lie down in bed, you close the door of your house, you lock it. Is the monkey on the outside or on the inside? Is the monkey on the outside or the inside? No, the monkey is on the inside, with you. Then you go to bed, you take off your clothes, you are very private. Are you private? Are you alone? Are you alone? Or the monkey is with you? The monkey comes with you. Monkey goes wherever you go. Monkey goes to the jungle with you. Monkey goes to the bed with you. You take a shower, you are alone. Monkey is right there, watching you. You take off all your clothes, you hope nobody is seeing you, totally private. No, the monkey is there. The monkey is thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and thinking. But the monkey, what does the monkey think about? So the monkey has heard the word God.

Somewhere, the monkey heard the word God. And now, monkey thinks about God. Monkey goes, huh. Only a monkey can think like this. Is God a man or a woman? Monkey. Monkey. Monkey. And the problem isn't the monkey. The monkey has been there always. For everybody. The problem comes when you become the monkey's follower. Now, there is a problem. Now there is a problem. If the monkey is in the back of the car, not a problem. But monkey is driving the car, now it is a problem. And it begins to drive your life. Everything. So monkey thinks, what is peace? Do you think monkey can figure out peace? Monkey says, like all monkeys do, give me food, give me a place to be, give me some clothes, and I will be happy. I will be happy. I mean, one thing I have been thinking about quite a bit. Poverty is a disease. Poverty is truly a disease. Truly. And you really have to think about it.

Because I was talking to the current president of TPRF, the Prem Rawat Foundation. Happens to be my daughter, Daya. So I said to her, I said, you know, I have an idea of how we can tackle poverty. Because poverty is definitely a disease. So, okay. I understood. We had a nice conversation. So okay, poverty is a disease. We want to get rid of poverty. But then, I said to myself, what is poverty? What is poverty? So this is my definition. If you don't have enough food to satisfy you, so you are not hungry, you satisfy. I'm not talking about big or little. Just sufficient to satisfy. Clean water, access to clean water. A place to keep yourself warm, away from the elements. And you are not content. So you don't have food to satisfy you. You don't have access to clean water. And you don't have a place which can keep you warm, safe from the elements. And you are not content. You are poor. But it doesn't stop there. You have food. You have a place.

You have access to water. But you're not content. You're still poor. You're still in poverty. When you are not content, poverty, you are desperate. You will do anything. And so, people do. They steal. They rob. Anything. But those people who have all the things, they have the food, they have all that, they have a place to keep themselves warm, they have water, but they don't have contentment, they rob too. Practical example, Enron. They robbed. They robbed people openly. Poverty is not just about this world. Poverty is something to do with you as a human being. Without peace, you will always be poor. Without peace, you will always be incomplete. Without peace, knowing and not knowing become equal. Without peace, the difference between dirt and being alive is no more. Without peace, you are not held together. Not held together. No skin. No skin.

This is popping out. That's popping out. This is sticking out. That's sticking out. And it becomes impossible to function. What is Knowledge? What is the meaning of know thyself? And it surely is about discovering, finding, knowing that source of peace within. This is when you transform from being the follower of the monkey to the follower of the divine. That day, you don't ask, is God a man or a woman? Because you know that that divinity is beyond being a man. That that divinity is real. That that divinity is with you. And because that divinity is with you is what makes you blessed. Then you understand what blessing means. Not some holy man's hand on your head. That holy man's hand is dirt. So is your head. Dirt on dirt is not blessing. But blessing is the day you begin to follow the divine. The real. Not the formulas. You begin to walk. We have been told, walk on the footsteps you see in front of you. So it's like mud. You have a footprint. You have a footprint.

You have a footprint. So we're just wasting our time. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. My question is, do you know where this man who walked before you ended up? Do you know? You don't know. He was dirt. And he's dirt. And he's right here. All the great kings. All the great kings. Still here. And all the great kings to yet to come. The prime ministers and the presidents. Still here. Nobody comes from anywhere. Nobody goes anywhere. There's nowhere to go. There's nowhere to come from. What you're made out of is the dirt. And the dirt you were for billions of years. And dirt what you will be for another billions. You have ego.

You have pride. Look at dirt. Oh, where is my father? Still here. Oh, where is my mother? Still here. You see the difference. You should see the similarity. The key to wisdom and enlightenment is not seeing the difference. It's to see the similarity. Who am I? I am as you are. I share this dirt with you. What makes me not dirt is the coming and going of this breath. So simple. So simple. Everything revolves around this. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. The baby comes. Breathing or not breathing? This is the question. Baby comes. Breathing. If not breathing, being born, not being born. Same.

Breathing. Alive. All your life. Breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath. breath, breath, breath, breath, breath, breath. At the end, at the end, what happens? Now, this is one example I give. In the hospital, they have these machines, and they show the heart rate, and they show the, you know, everything. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And if the doctor comes and sees the machine is, no, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, nothing. Everything is blank, blank, blank, blank. And he looks at you, and you are breathing. Who is the doctor going to slap? You or the machine? Is the doctor going to say to you, hey, stop breathing, you are dead? Or is the doctor gonna go, machine is broken, he is still alive? What allowed you to come home from the hospital when you were born? You are 100 years old, what will allow you to come from hospital to home? No more? You don't come home. You lose the breath, and your whole family will weep. Oh, he's gone now. And when this breath is coming, do they celebrate? Oh, he's alive, he's safe. Oh, I'm alive, I'm alive. I ask you, earth is 4.65 billion years old. For all the billions of years that you were dirt, were you not still? Still is home. Home still is how it was, and still is how it will be. Fundamentally, your nature. Your nature. This is not your nature. This is celebration. You are alive.

You get to move. You get to dance. You get to sing. You get to see. You get to feel. You get to hear. You get to understand. You get to laugh. But home, yes, you go to work. It's work, work, work, work, work, work. If your home was the same way, it would not feel like home. Home is where you come. Sit down. Away from all that. You go to a party. Oh, everybody's laughing. Everybody's dancing. Everybody's there. You come home, it's the same way. It wouldn't feel very good. That was there. Done. Now I'm back home. Quiet.

I can be how I want to be. I can do what I want to do. And where I can do this is called home. These are the natures of a human being. And whatever you do, you're not exempt from them. In this life, you have an incredibly powerful tool. Incredibly powerful tool. The most powerful tool. And you know what it is? Choice. Everybody has it. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, tall, small, thin, fat. Choice. And with this tool called choice, you can choose Knowledge. With this tool called choice, you can choose peace. With this tool called choice, you can choose joy. With this tool called peace, make you understand how important choice is. That you can choose peace. Choose. Choose! Choose! And you are free to choose. Choose! What do you want? Knowledge? Peace? Joy? Clarity? Understanding? Light? Choose. And you choose right, you will then begin to feel the blessing. If you make wrong choices, you will not feel blessed. You will not feel blessed. Then, monkey comes in.

And the monkey goes, karma. This is monkey's invention. Monkey goes, karma, you did something bad in your last lifetime. If I am scolding, one of my children or somebody, because they did something wrong, don't you think I should tell them what it is that they did wrong? Otherwise, what's the point of punishment? Punishment should be to correct. Not for fun. So, oh my God, I am this, I am this, I am this, must be because of my last lifetime, what I did. Well, what did you do? Do you know? If you don't know, how are you gonna stop it? That's what people do. Yes, if you do this, you will become a dog. The assumption is that life of a dog is horrible. I disagree. I disagree. I have two dogs. I do. Beautiful, little, little babies. I know there are people who are waiting to see me. When I am home, they see me every single day. In the morning, they are waiting. They know, they know where I'm going to come from, which door, and they wait. And when they see me, they start jumping up and down, and then they have to come to my office. I open the door for them, and they come in, and they go, and they stand, and they look at me. Where is our treat? I give them the treat. They know they are going to get the treat. There is more certainty in their life than ours. There is more joy in their life than ours.

And they're only, I mean, they're only this big. But if somebody comes in that yard that is not supposed to be there, oh, watch out. They are ready, just one of them. The other one just watches. But the other one is ready to just tear you apart. I mean, she's only this big. She couldn't tear anything apart, all day long. Play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play. My question to all the people who believe in karma is this. What karma did they do to be dogs? Because I would like to do that too. They have such a life. I mean, all day long, play, play, and play, and enjoy, and play, and enjoy. I am, I am. Oh my God, this problem, that problem. They have no problem. You have to truly understand your blessing. And how can you do that? Choose to understand the blessing. Choose every day. Choose every day to go within and feel this feeling, choose. Choose to be kind. Choose to be clean. Choose what you want in your life. Choose. This doesn't have to be hell.

It does not have to be suffering. This is a celebration because you are alive. Not from fear because that, your creation happened not because of fear, not fear. Going from water to land, yeah? All these trees, all these plants, they used to be in the ocean. And they made the transition to come from the ocean to land. Fear. If they were us, they would go, oh my God, I don't, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am not leaving the ocean. What is, you know, I'll die out there. No, they made the transition, not because of fear. We have the power and understand that power is choice. Choose. Choose joy. Now, I know some of you are saying, I can choose joy, but what about the rest of the world? No, you choose joy. Don't wait for the world. What is the world? What is the world? Monkey. Ask me. Ask me. I have been talking to people since I was four years old. Four years old. Traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling. So where is the world? There is no world. Just you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, just individual human beings on the face of this earth. Everyone is a candle and every candle needs to be lit.

Not one candle is not lit, but the one next to is lit. It doesn't work. No, every candle has the possibility, the power to be lit and it should be lit. Then it gives light, it gives light. This is the sole purpose. The candle maker puts a wick in the middle of the wax and the purpose is defined. May put decorations, may put perfume, but that's not its purpose. As soon as the wick was placed in the candle, the purpose was defined. Otherwise, why put the wick in? Just make it all pretty, then it'll look pretty, but it'll never give light. Very pretty, but never give light. You have a wick running, it needs to be lit. It needs to give light. You choose, not your neighbor. So people say, I know, people used to ask me this question. What is the point of me feeling good when everybody is working to make me feel bad? What is the point of trying? What is the point of Knowledge? What is the point of joy? I have an answer. There is a program, it's called Peace Education Program, and it is what I say, made very concise, and right now, it is very, very popular in the prisons. Peace Education Program. Military, veterans, police, hospice, hospitals, libraries, universities, all of that. Slowly, it's getting popular there, too, but it's very big in the prisons. And people who go through this program really find a profound change in themselves. They really like it. The inmates really like it. In fact, in Greece, there was a man who was in the prison and he started the Peace Education Program, and before he could finish the Peace Education Program, his time in prison was up, so he was released. He went to the warden and asked if he can continue to come back to the prison to finish the Peace Education Program.

This is how much they like it. There is a university of San Antonio in Texas. They're involved with looking at different means that the law enforcement uses and the prison systems to see if there's any change being made. When they looked at the Peace Education Program, they realized that people who were going through Peace Education Program had the lowest rate of return than any other program. Naturally, they were very curious, and of course, I was invited to that university. I met with those professors. And then these prisoners, these inmates, they write to me, and they say, thank you so much. It has changed my life. Where I used to yell and scream at the guards, now when anger comes into me, I remember your words. I remember to choose, to choose clarity. I wish I could meet this guy. He's better than I am. So, other people write, thank you so much for giving me hope. And of course, once in a while, I go to these prisons. And I went to one of the prisons. Actually, I'm going to one of the prisons very soon to visit, only to visit. But I go to the prison, and everybody who's there has a smile on their face. Smile. And you realize this is a prison. It's not much hope. You don't have a life. They tell you what to do, and you will do it. They tell you when to get up. They tell you when to go to sleep.

They tell you when to exercise. They tell you when to eat. They tell you when to take a shower. And you are surrounded by people who would like nothing better than to kill you. And some of these inmates are in there, and they know that they are not going to leave the prison alive. So when they write to me and say thank you, I'm, wow. You mean the bars, the wars, the fences, the rules cannot take away hope, cannot take away joy? I saw one guy in South Africa, a big smile on his face, and they get to ask me questions, and he said, I'm just so happy. This is his word. I'm so happy you are here. He said, when they told me you were coming, I said, no way is he ever going to come here. I cannot believe you are here. Joy, hope, they come in your life when you choose, when you find yourself down, bottom, remember my words, choose, light. Light over darkness, choose clarity over doubt. Choose Knowledge over ignorance. What can I say? What can I say? You're very blessed, very, very blessed. Everybody on the face of this earth is blessed. Some people know the blessing, some people have no idea. That's the only difference. So connect with the divine, not with the monkey. The monkey may be cute, monkey may look like fun at the beginning, but later on in your life, the monkey becomes a real pain, a real pain. The monkey is following the divine that resides in the heart of every single human being. You are related. See, this is what I go and tell people. You are related, not to the monkey.

You're actually related to the divine. You are a relative of the divine. You don't know and because you don't know, now you have become related to the monkey. And it is true. Monkey, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather and grandmother, monkey. I mean, quite a few great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, not so great. To evolve. To be. It's up to you. Choose. It's the most powerful thing you have and you will always have it. So far this breath is coming into you, you will always have it and you can choose. Make your life heaven, make your life hell, choose. Choose heaven. Please choose heaven. It's good. It's good.