Prem Rawat in New Zealand 2014-11-02

Prem Rawat in New Zealand - Kia Tau Te Rangimarie
The Possibility for Peace 2nd November 2014

Rangitahi, we are Rangitahi, we are Rangitahi, we are Rangitahi. The resolution declared, and I'm quoting, the International Day of Peace will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organizations, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace, and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell, reminding us that our permanent commitment above all interests or differences of any kind is to peace. The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations, and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. And so as we gather here today in that spirit of peace, just as countless others are doing today, we recognize that we all reside on this fragile and beautiful planet. The United Nations Association is proud to share in this spirit, and these actions on behalf of New Zealand today. UNANZ is a member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, and is working as the People's Movement for the United Nations to ensure that the UN is more present, responsive, and valuable in the lives of the peoples that it exists to serve.

We, the peoples, all of us, we're part of the United Nations. UNANZ helps to inform, educate, and mobilize people around the development of the culture of peace through our eight branches, geographic branches, and our youth association. In the past years, heads of state, governments, and mayors have declared proclamations of peace on the International Day of Peace, urging their citizens to observe and celebrate this special time. In this regard, we thank Marian Hobbs for her efforts. The efforts that she and others in New Zealand make are part of an effort of the peacefuls around the world to encourage those governing at every level to adopt the spirit and meaning of this day. By our presence here, we demonstrate our belief in the possibility of peace and the commitment to help to make it become a reality.

And we've got to work jolly hard to make that a reality in this dismal world of ours, but we live in hopes and we hope to hear more about it from our illustrious speaker in a short time. Prem Rawat, from whom we're going to hear very shortly, emphasizes that institutions alone cannot bring peace and that it is both the birthright of every individual and incumbent upon each individual to live a life of peace. Born in India, Prem Rawat was three years old when, speaking at events held by his father, an honored teacher, he started inspiring people to lead a life fulfilled.

He was four years old when his public addresses were first published. Remarkable. At the age of eight, he accepted the responsibility of bringing this message of hope and peace to people around the world. Within a year, he was attracting large audiences in India and at age 13, while on a school break, he was invited to speak in London and Los Angeles. Amazing. Soon, invitations to speak began arriving from nearly every continent and he began to travel worldwide. More than 10 million people in over 50 countries and 250 cities have come to seek his inspiration. We are thrilled to be welcoming him to Aotearoa, New Zealand, to share his inspiration here. Thank you so much for coming.

I know you're halfway between Argentina and Australia, but it's great to have you here. UNANs, our association, recognizes the power and value of your message and we're also indebted to you, your commitment to the United Nations. We're very pleased to see the United Nations flag alongside here. Recently, a very special event was held by the United Nations Development Program at the United Nations in New York to honor the humanitarian support provided by the foundation, the Prem Eawat Foundation, to people around the world. I've read a little bit about that and it's a very extensive humanitarian work that you do. In these troubled times in which we're living, our dream for peace seems too often to elude us.

While we tend to first look to institutions to bring peace, Prem Rawat says that we need first and foremost to look within. As those ringing words of the preamble to the UNESCO constitution say, since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Peace, says Premarat, is possible. His message is valuable, original, and profound. Please join me in warmly welcoming our visitor.

It is a pleasure to be in New Zealand and it's a pleasure to be in front of you talking about a very profound but beautiful subject. And the subject is peace. Now, you've heard a lot about the word peace, but let's try to take a look at what really peace is. Because everybody wants peace. Everywhere you go. Not too long ago, I was in a prison talking to the prisoners. Do you want peace? Of course. You can go and speak in front of people who are in the army. Do you want peace? Yes, of course. In fact, there was a gentleman who was criticizing his mother for watching my message because he was in the army. And he said, this will never happen. One day, accidentally, he ended up listening to what I was saying. And he said, he'll put all the armies out of commission if this really goes through. So everybody wants peace. And then you go and talk to people about, well, what is peace? And here, you get a surprising answer. And the answer is that everybody has their own version of peace. And when everybody has their own version of peace, now we're not talking about the same thing anymore. Because everybody is looking at it from a totally different angle. Some people are optimistic and say it will happen. Some people are pessimistic and say it will never happen. Well, it depends what they're looking at. So what is peace? Of course, it's a very interesting question. The other day I was talking to my niece and she said, oh, I love that color. And I said, you love that color? Or you like that color? She goes, what's the difference? I said, there's a very big difference. Like is really what you want to say.

And you can emphasize that more by saying, I like that very much. But love is a little bit more interactive than that color can provide you. So she looked at me like, hmm. And in the same token, when we are talking about it is quiet, people say, oh, it is so peaceful. All it is, is quiet. People think absence of war is peace. Nobody is fighting. Because people have their ideas of what peace is. There are people who think peace is everybody just walks along very, very slowly in flowing robes with flowers in their hair and everybody greets everybody by the symbol. You don't shake hands anymore. Perhaps the new thing will be just come and you touch these two fingers to the end, peace. And peace. Well, there's no limit to it, is there? But let me tell you a story. Once there was a queen and she had a very beautiful necklace. One day after taking her bath, she was drying her hair on the balcony. She took her necklace out and she put it on a hook. A crow happened to be flying by, saw the necklace shining in the sun, picked it up and took off with it. Landed on a tree, tried to eat it. Of course it was inedible, let it go. It fell a few branches, got caught on one of the branches. Underneath was a really filthy, dirty river that was flowing. Now, of course, once the queen reached for her necklace, found it missing. She threw a tantrum. Where's my necklace? Who stole it? She had everybody searching for the necklace. Nobody could find it. She said to the king, if I don't find my necklace, that's it, I'm never gonna eat again. The king was very concerned. He sent all his army out looking for the necklace. He sent all the people he could looking for the necklace and people looked and looked and looked and nobody could find it. So the king finally made an announcement. Whoever finds the necklace gets half of my kingdom. This really upped the ante. People started looking, seriously looking. One day, one of the generals happened to be going by that tree by that river and he looked down and he saw the necklace. He immediately took off his clothes and jumped into this horrendously filthy sewage-filled river because he wanted to have half the kingdom. He wasn't gonna give it away to somebody else. The minister happened to be going by, saw the general taking off his clothes and got very suspicious, came over and looked and he too saw the necklace and he started taking his clothes off to jump in and get the necklace. The king happened to be going by, seeing his general and his minister taking off their clothes he got very suspicious and he went over there, he saw the necklace and of course, he didn't wanna really give away half his kingdom. So he took off his clothes and all three jumped into that dirty river and started fishing for the necklace. Of course, as soon as the water would get still, they would see it, they'd go to reach for it and it wasn't there. And this was going on and by then, more soldiers had come, the villagers had come, all these people had come and they all jumped in and it was quite a sight to behold, all these people jumping in and out of this river and somebody with a little wisdom came by and said, what are you doing? Ta, we're fishing for that necklace. He said, but that necklace is not down there. The necklace is up there. That's just a reflection. You're jumping after the reflection, you're never gonna get it. And of course, the king said, okay, since you found it, half of it's yours. He said to the king, he said, I don't need your kingdom, you keep your kingdom. Why did I tell this story? Because that's what we do too.

We see the reflection of peace. What is the reflection of peace? It's nice when there are not wars but that's a reflection of peace, that's not peace in itself. All the things that we like about peace are the things that are just the reflections of the peace, not the peace itself. Because peace begins with every single human being on the face of this earth. That's where peace begins. That's the necklace. Everything else. And some people say, well, how can that be true? Well, let me give you an analogy. I said this at one of my events. And you know, and this is an analogy that I'm sure you'll be able to relate to because you have witnessed this firsthand. When you are in a good mood, quote unquote, good mood, feeling good inside, not just outside, inside, what is your nature? You become the very essence of all the things you consider to be good. You become kind. I know that. When somebody is trying to park in a spot that you should have parked at and you are feeling good. It's okay. Have you noticed when you're trying to cross the road and the driver is feeling good? Stops. A smile. But when the person is not feeling good, horns come on, gestures fly. Not the inch is given. This is war. I mean, this is war. And millions and millions and millions of dollars, pounds, whatever the currency may be is spent trying to make the society flow smoothly. Signs are put up, be courteous. And yet nobody pays attention to the fact that when you are feeling good, that's automatic.

Nobody has to teach you to be courteous. Nobody has to teach you to yield. Nobody has to teach you to smile. Nobody has to teach you to say thank you. Nobody has to teach you to stand and view the beauty that the nature has painted in front of you. No one. When the heart is full, when the human being is full, then automatically the person is not in duality, is not in questions, but in answers. Not the complicated, but the simple that we are. This is what we favor. This is who we need to be. This is our nature. Of all those things that we see out there, there are people say that that's our nature. All these wars and all of this, this is our nature. I disagree. I disagree because when we are centered, when we're placed in that equilibrium where our hearts are full, then our true nature shines. And the true nature that we have is beautiful. It's beautiful. It's real. It's real. And that is the place of true peace. That which is so close to us, we look for it so far away. So far away. We have made objectives for ourselves to attain peace that we know are impossible to achieve. Impossible.

Objectives that no one in this world will ever get angry with each other. Not a happening thing. People will get angry. People get angry in family when they love each other. But we think, well, that's what has to happen before peace will happen. Wrong. Because the peace I am talking about is the peace that can be experienced in the middle of a battlefield. That peace. The very essence, the very thing that was established a long, long time ago was know thyself. I mean, today, in this time and age, to come together and talk about peace seems so appropriate. But do you know that thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, people were coming together and saying, peace. Peace is important. The importance, the benchmark for peace has been established a long, long time ago. It is only today. And I've been talking about peace for a long, long time. Even when the world situation wasn't this. And you see that when people feel afraid, then they go, yeah, let's talk about peace. No. Let's talk about peace when times are good. Let's talk about peace when times are bad. That's true friendship. That is true friendship. In times of good and times of bad. Today, the world situation is definitely very, very fragile.

Why is it fragile? Because people can explain away whatever they are doing. That's all they need. That's all they need to be able to do whatever they want to do. All they need is an explanation. And if it's good, that much better. If it's terrible, it doesn't really matter. Because, well, I explained it. That's all that matters. This is not what humanity is all about. People are hungry in this world. Why are people hungry in this world? When you look at the numbers of how many billions of dollars have been just spent on one war. And then look at the world population. It makes you laugh. Oh my God. How many times over could everybody be given money to feed themselves or to do whatever to improve the lot in their lives so that they don't need to be dependent upon food from other people, that they could be self-sufficient. It is astounding that in this day and age, in this day and age, that kind of stuff goes on. That is total unconsciousness. When do we begin to see that we have been given an incredible gift? When do we begin to see that we have been given an incredible gift of existence? Everybody on this earth, everybody on this earth is taken care of. It's amazing. Take away the walls of greed. Take away the walls of all the selfishness and everybody is taken care of because a mango tree never says, you can't pick this fruit. This I belong to so-and-so. It is there for anybody who is hungry to come pick and it will satisfy the hunger of whoever is hungry and has partaken of that fruit. And of all those things, the solutions is not to chase each one of the problems.

The solution is, and this is my opinion, my experience, the solution is within the heart of every single human being. If you want that light, light those lamps that every human being is. It is not a matter of countries. It is not a matter of cities. It is not a matter of counties. It is not a matter of states. It is a matter of every single human being, everyone, everyone. My message, and I'm just very humbly excited that people find something that they can cherish in my message. And a lot of places, and I was just recently in South America and people have been listening to my message in prisons. Now, people can say, well, you know, you shouldn't care about those people, but I'm not a judge. The judge already has done his job or bit and they're in prison. And I'm not paid to be a judge. So why should I be a judge? It'd be a waste of time. So my message goes to them and in that, they see hope. Now think for a minute, how much hope is there for a person who's sitting in prison? But what is that person gonna do when they get out? It's not like they can take their resume to some building and say, give me a job, I've been in prison for the last 15 years. And they're gonna go, right. What? The first time I said this was in India, of course. But I cannot imagine what goes on through that person's mind when they get up every single day and what do they have to look forward to? And I'm thrilled that even in that most hopeless of situations, that there is hope for them. Because this is who we are. This is who we are. There is a resilience, there is an understanding, there is a strength to every human being and that strength is the strength to march towards the gateways of inner peace. Sometimes societies only see what is good for them. Therefore, the individuals must collectively come together for the benefit of society. Here I'm saying, well, you know what? If every person can feel something that is beautiful inside of them, then maybe all that that the society wants will happen automatically.

Because trying it the other way has not been successful. And we are talking about years and years and years and years and years of experiment. I mean, my goodness, if your child failed that many years in school, I mean, you would officially have them dubbed a moron. But here we are. Year after year, we go on. Okay, well, we're gonna have another variation of this experiment. And when does the humanity wake up and say, hey, it's not working. Let's try something that was talked about a long time ago that never was tried. It was talked about, but never was tried. As Socrates stood somewhere and said, know thyself. Know thyself. I'm not talking about religion. I'm not talking about spirituality. I'm talking about every single human being, of who you are. People say, I'm different because I speak a different language. But excuse me, don't you say the same things as anyone else? You do. That's why your language can be translated. If you didn't, it couldn't. Because it's the same heart. It's who we are. Are we happy, glad? Do we see our strength or do we see our weaknesses every day? What do we see? Do we see the possibility of peace in our lives? Or do we see the impossibility of peace in our lives? Do we see the impossibility? In this life, sometimes you have to be as brave as a pioneer. You know why? Because you don't know what the day will bring for you. You don't know. You wish you did.

And you will try very hard to know. But you don't know. You don't know. Your life is this most complicated little story that unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and unfolds and for a new day to come. And each day that you are given is a blank sheet of paper. Blank. Write on it whatever you want. Bonus, at the end of the day, you get to read it. That's the bonus. Because at the end of the day, you could be reading a beautiful poetry because in that day, you wrote one. And it was magnificent. And you lived your life that day in reality. You lived your life that day as being one with yourself. You became your own ally. You became your own friend. You could see the possibility that was included from the day you were born on the face of this earth. One day, all these gifts that we have been given will no more be. Why? I don't know. Is that a good idea? I don't know. But does that happen that way? Yes, I do. Three main events happen in everyone's life. And you know about these. Three most important events. One, you were born.

Two, you get to live. Three, you know. I don't have to tell you, you know what the third major event is. It's not about the first one, it's already happened. And it's not about the last one. You don't have to make an appointment for it. It's about the middle one. And that's where peace dances. That's where peace is. That's where that serenity is. That's where that tranquility is. And what does peace look like? Well, let me tell you what peace looks like. It looks like your face in contentment. That's what peace looks like. Your face. Not some statue. Not some mountain peak. Not a picture of a lake. Not a picture of a river. You know what peace looks like? I know what peace looks like. It looks like your face in contentment. When your heart is in that peace, then peace dances on your face. And you can not help it. That is the nature of joy.

That is the nature of happiness. That is the nature of contentment. That is the nature of peace. Tears, you may wanna hide. But nobody has to try to hide a real smile. A real smile. Nobody has to try to hide a real laughter. Nobody has to try to hide the real light that dances on the face of human beings when they feel peace. Why is it that when it comes to peace, we draw a segregation, we draw a line, and we say only those people who have all their lives sat upon some mountain are the ones that will have it, not you and I. When it comes to getting an ice cream cone, there is no righteousness to it. Let's go get one. When it comes to peace, oh no, only those not us. How many excuses are there for not having peace on this face of this earth? How many excuses are there for not having peace in your life? Well, I for one, I'm here to quell those excuses and say you have no excuse because peace is already inside of you. Yes, peace is already inside of you and that is why you don't have any excuse to be in peace. People say, oh, I will have to give up my family to have peace. Why? How convenient, right? Oh, well, you know, I've got a family. This is like one of those excuses. Somebody invites you to dinner, you don't really wanna go, so I don't have the time. I have tomorrow, I've gotta. Wait, wait, wait.

Why? Do you think your family robs you of peace? There was a gentleman who came home one day and as soon as he walked in, he'd had a tough day at his office, he walked into his home and his youngest son said, heard dad coming home, said, dad, dad, I need new shoes. As soon as his elder son heard the young son asking for shoes, he came out, said, dad, dad, I need a new bag. I'm not going to school tomorrow if I don't get a new bag. Mother heard both the kids talking to dad. She came out and she said, I need a list of these things, otherwise no dinner tonight. This man, he started weeping and you know why he was weeping? He said, I worked so hard to make them happy, but I'm not happy. How can I make them happy? And he began to recognize the importance of that joy, of that peace in his life. It is nothing that can rob us of that peace that dances in our hearts, nothing. Wherever we go, whoever we are, that peace remains with us. Good times, it's there. Bad times, it's there. Of all those things, of all the things that you will accomplish in your life, do one more. Of all the things you will do, do one more. And what is that one more?

A little story. It's one of my favorite stories. I've been telling this at every event I've been having. One day a farmer was walking out through the jungle. He came across a little lion cub, picked it up. The lion cub was in pretty sad shape. Took him home, fed him, took care of him. And when the lion cub was doing quite well, wanted a place to put him, he couldn't find a place, so he put him with his sheep. Well, every day the lion cub would go out with the sheep, come home with the sheep, go out with the sheep, come home with the sheep, go out with the sheep, come home with the sheep. Years went by, the lion cub grew up with the sheep. One day a big lion came out of the forest and roared. And all the sheep scattered, went hiding. And the little cub, who wasn't that little, also went hiding. The lion looking at all the sheep trying to hide and also this lion trying to hide, it was curious. And the lion went up and said, "what are you doing?" Said, "please don't eat me." Said, "what do you mean, don't eat me? I'm not gonna eat you. You're a lion, I don't eat lions." "Oh, please, please, please. You know, whatever you say I will do, but please don't eat me." The lion said, "wait a minute. You have no idea who you are, do you? Come with me." So he took him to the lake and said, "now look." And he saw his reflection in that lake. And he said, "you're right. I'm not like the sheep, I'm like you." He said, "yeah, so stop saying bah and roar like you ought to. Roar like you ought to. And this is one more thing you should do. Of all things you will do, do this too. See your true reflection. Because you're not a sheep. No, no, you know, no insult indented for sheep. But you're not a sheep, you're a lion. Walk like one and roar like one". Especially, especially when you're in the middle of that crowd called problems. Darkness, doubt, roar, roar like a lion. Do one more thing, see who you are. Do one more thing, know thyself. Do one more thing, know that peace that dances in your heart. These are not all different things, that's the same thing. But do that, do that so that each page, each page of your life is truly, truly a magnificent, magnificent poem like it should be. And you read your poetry, why? So you can be delighted, that's why, that's why. When you are at peace, do you know what happens? You delight, when you're at peace, you know what happens? You become happy, those are just symptoms of peace. Awfully nice symptoms of peace. So thank you very much for coming today and thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to talk about peace on this day of peace. Thank you, thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, normally when a person has to do a thank you, they kind of try and emulate or go over the top of, I'm not going to, I give up now, all right? I give up now. There are some things that I have remembered and that I will take away with great thankfulness actually. We are naturally good, I like that. Becoming your own friend, I like that. And knowing myself, I'll try to like that. I have probably lived all my life on, particularly because I was a teacher, that there is goodness in everyone and I will hang on to that all my life. So thank you and I think if I say it briefly, it doesn't mean it's not said deeply and I think I'm saying that on behalf of everyone in this room, there was a marvelous uplifting for everyone present to befriend themselves, to know themselves. Prem, I'd love you to come forward. I'm asking Laurie to come forward. Yep. And we're going to ask you, Prem, to come forward and we've got some lovely presents and memories for you from this day. Thank you. Thank you very much, Prem. I'd like to present this to you from the United Nations Association. This is the story of a Wanganui peace sculpture and it's a wonderful story and it is inspired by Operation Peace Through Unity, which is associated with the United Nations. So we hope that the message of this, which is in tune with your message, which is very inspiring. And thank you very much indeed, Floyd. And this is so much our appreciation.

Well, your efforts for peace are always appreciated. I'd like to offer you this on behalf of the Prem Rowlats Foundation. Thank you so much indeed.

That's wonderful. On behalf of the Prem Rowlats Foundation, I'd like to offer you this. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.