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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all well.

So, last night I was thinking about, again, the training and the Peace Education Program—and I came across something in my head, and what I came across was a question—and actually, it turned out to be two questions. And the question is, “Are you, as a human being, comfortable with yourself?” It’s a pretty important question, I think.

Because if we are not comfortable with who we are—again, that’s a perceived point; that’s a perceived thing. In reality, who you are, that’s totally different; that’s something to be realized; that’s something to be discovered; that’s something to be understood.

But in your perception of yourself, are you comfortable being you? Because if you are comfortable with being you, then this whole lockdown thing is not an issue. Because you’re comfortable being you.

But if you’re not comfortable with yourself, then this definitely becomes a very valid issue, because you now don’t know who you are. And because you don’t know who you are, you are with a stranger. Literally, you are with a stranger.

And there are people in this world who go through a whole lifetime living with a stranger, somebody you don’t know—and they’re there; they’re there every day. And all there is is just expectations, expectations, expectations, expectations.

And you expect a lot from that stranger. What you actually expect from that stranger is what people have expected of you. The world puts a huge amount of expectations on you. You pass that on to this stranger that you live with.

So, what does that mean? It just means, very simply, “If you got to understand who you are, if you understood who you are, then you wouldn’t be a stranger to the self.” And if you’re not a stranger to the self, then you can very easily say, “Yes, this is what I want in my life; this is how I want to be in my life. This is what is comfortable for me—and this is what is not comfortable for me.”

Because, any stage of the game.... You know, when you were going to school, you started with kindergarten; then you went on to first grade. When did you go to second grade? After you had finished the first grade.

Now, it may seem pointless to go to the second grade because, by the time you’re finished with first grade, you are so comfortable with the first grade. But then you have to stop—and you’re ready to take on the next step.

It’s just like climbing a ladder. You climb the first rung; you bring your feet up to it. Then, once you are there, then you take and you put your foot on the second rung—and the third rung and the fourth rung—and this is how you climb.

So, before you start to put expectations on yourself, (whether they are your expectations or whether they are expectations that are created by this world), you have to be very, very clear that “Yes, I’m comfortable at this level. Then I can go on to the second level.”

The second level? A little bit more understanding of myself. Third level, a little bit more understanding of myself—and it’s a discovery; it’s a process of discovery for the rest of your life.

Because you are not static. You are constantly evolving; you’re constantly changing. You want to be stationary; you want to not change. And that’s what Socrates said, that if you get everything, (I’m paraphrasing here), if you get everything you want, you’re not going to be happy. If you don’t get what you want, you’re not going to be happy.

And even if you get what you want you’re not going to be happy because it’s going to change. And change is the fact of life. You don’t like that. You want to be stationary; you want everything to stop—and you can look at it that way; you can look at it being stationary. You want to appreciate everything from that way of being stationary.

So now, here comes this whole issue of reality. What is reality like? And I remember a question that somebody asked me and it was in Portugal. And they said, “If I were to find out who I am,” (because this is what I was talking about to them), “that if I found out who I am and I didn’t like who I am, then what would I do?”

And I gave an answer, whatever the answer was; I went back to my hotel—and I started thinking. It’s like, “Wow, I have not considered somebody ever knowing themselves....”

And it’s not anywhere. You know, you listen to Kabir or you read what so many other people had to say; nobody talks about, “Hey, you’d better be careful knowing yourself because if you got to know yourself.... And what if you didn’t like what you saw?”

Pretty fascinating. It’s amazing; it’s like, “Wait a minute. That possibility may exist in this person’s mind, in this person’s head. But that possibility has not even, ever been brought up.” Because it is a foregone conclusion that when you know yourself, you will like what you see.

And that’s pretty fascinating. It is fascinating to understand that what is there, what is truly you, is beautiful—exceptionally.

Now, you know, it’s like you have a wall—and there’s a big gate. And the person says, “Okay, follow me.” And that person steps through that gate and they’re looking at something and it’s absolutely spectacular. And they’re telling you, “Don’t be afraid; come on in!”

But they’re not telling you what they’re seeing. All they’re saying is, “Come on in; it’s okay. It’s fine.” And they’re encouraging you to come in, but the encouragement isn’t by, “I see this; I see this; I see this; I see this,” so, I wonder why that is.

And in fact, one of the couplets that I had come across is “That when you talk about this experience, when you talk about that feeling of knowing yourself, that it is a bit like a person who is mute, who cannot speak, eating candy. They can taste it—and they are definitely enjoying it. But they cannot tell you how much they’re enjoying it and what the taste is. All they can tell you is ‘Umm, it’s great; it’s wonderful.’”

And this is what it boils down to. That the reality, by its very nature, is beautiful. This existence, by its very nature, is beautiful. (Now, pay attention here.) This existence, by its very nature, is beautiful. This reality, by its very nature, is beautiful. Your life, by its very nature, is beautiful. Your heart, by its very nature, is very beautiful.

So then, why are all these other issues hovering around you? Ah-hah, here is that point. Take that first question I asked, and that question is, “Are you comfortable with yourself?” Because if you’re not, perhaps you’re carrying a huge burden on your shoulders of the expectations that others have of you.

But it’s time to understand who you are, not everything else. Your whole life has been spent, up to this point, understanding everything around you—all the things that go on, this is what we learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn.

And I’m not saying that that’s wrong; it’s not a question of right and wrong. And there are many things in this world that we learn—by their very nature they are bad. But the reality, by its very nature, is good. You, you, as a human being, by your very nature you are good.

And so there is this incredibly learnt behavior, incredibly heavy-duty learnt behavior that other people have, that you have, that is causing all the friction—causes all the friction, causes all the friction, causes all the friction in this world. Not the reality, not the sweet reality of who you are, that that breath comes into you, that you are alive, that you exist.

You exist for a very finite amount of time, but you exist. And in that, you bloom—you bloom. In that, you find that which you didn’t pay attention to.

“Why is this reality hidden? Why is this beauty hidden?” Excuse me, it’s not hidden. Not by any stretch of the imagination is this beauty hidden, is this joy hidden, is this clarity hidden, is this peace hidden. You just never did pay attention to it. You never thought it’s there. Nobody told you it’s there. Nobody said, “This-a-way, in here lies the most amazing thing that you are.”

And so, is it that simple, is it that easy, that all we have to do is pay attention to it? And it will begin to manifest itself; we will begin to see it. And the idea is exactly that: “Get out of the way.”

A lot of people say to me, “You know, I’m searching for peace.” It’s like, “Well, good luck. You’re not going to find it that way.” “Why not? Why shouldn’t I be searching for peace?” Because you already have it. That’s why you shouldn’t be searching for it; you should be enjoying it; you should be paying attention to it; you already have it; it’s there.

It’s like somebody going, “Where are my glasses; where are my”—you know, a lot of people put up their glasses on top of their head. And it’s like, “Where are my glasses; where are my glasses?” Obviously, your eyes can’t see it because it’s at the top of your head.

And, you know, somebody seeing you with the glasses on top of your head—and they’re like, “Kkh, kkh, kkh, over there, you know, on top of your head are your glasses. Why are you searching for them; why are you looking for them when they’re there?” And it’s the same thing, that that beauty is inside of you.

Now, the second question that I’m going to ask you.... I hope the first question clarified itself for you somehow. But the second question is—so, right now we are in the middle of this lockdown. Not a nice situation. But it’s not the situation, but how we react to it, right?

So, here is my question. “Pretty soon—relatively speaking, pretty soon this will be over. What would you have learnt?”

When I began, it was all about “resetting.” What would you have reset? When you come out of this, will you be the same? Are you just waiting? Are you just waiting every day for this to be over—I mean, every single day? Are you scared of this thing? When I have told you that being scared doesn’t do anybody any good? Absolutely not, it’s, that never helps anybody.

But you have to do something. And that takes exceptional courage sometimes. And to say that it takes exceptional courage—would be pointless to say that if you didn’t have it. You have that courage. You can take that step in your life; you can move forward.

And grab this challenge and say, “Okay. This isn’t going to be a waste of my time. Because my goodness, if this is a waste of time, this is a real waste of time, times many, many, many, many times.” This sounds weird but, yeah, “This is a waste of time times many, many times over.”

But it can’t be. It can’t be. As a human race, mankind, human beings on the face of this earth, we’re making history. We got faced by something that we weren’t prepared for—and in a matter of a very short period of time, it has brought the whole world, “world” to its knees.

It is a thing you can’t even see with your eyes, naked eyes; you’d need a microscope or something.... And here we are. And what are we doing?

The governments are talking about extending the lockdown, doing this, doing that. There’ll be some countries that would have gone through it, some islands that would have gone through it and they would be releasing, saying, “Okay, it’s clear—but don’t come here.” You know, the world isn’t going to be the same for a long time.

But here is your opportunity. What do you see—the difference that you are going to make in your life, in this period of time? How will it be better for you, when you come out of this whole thing? (Ideally, everything being perfect—and they find a vaccine; you get inoculated and, you know, now you are resistant to it and you can go on and all’s well, all’s good.) Will you be the same?

Because if we’ll be the same, with no change to the human beings that live on the face of this earth, who share this earth with everybody.... This is obvious! This is obvious, that we share this world with everybody. That we make a difference. We all make a difference.

There are those people who truly are in lockdown and not going out and contaminating people. Yes! You are playing your part; you’re playing your role. You—you are not just one anymore.

When you stay in lockdown, you stop that contamination going from four, five people from you directly, and then four or five people for each one that you would have infected, and so on and so on and so on and so on. You’re not one.

So, give it a thought, of how powerful this is. That what we are having to live through, what we are going through, how powerful this is—and that we can make a difference.

And every, every person that is making a difference, those people who are at the forefront of this, in the hospitals, who are making a difference, the nursing staff that’s making a difference, the doctors that are making the difference, the people that are making the difference.

If we can make that big of a difference, imagine when I say—and you know, people used to always laugh at me; I’m sure that people laugh at me today when I say “Peace is possible.” They’re like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah....”

But here is an example. Peace is possible. We are more powerful than we realize. And come together, united? We can do some amazing things.

But I have always said that it is every individual; it is the strength of every individual that is ultimately going to make the difference. That it isn’t a question of a big light bulb, but it is the little light bulbs that make the difference. A lot of little lamps that are lit can make the difference. You are actually seeing that whole understanding about the lit lamps in action. You’re seeing it in action.

I’m just, pretty soon, in a day or so, I’m going to have a little report that TPRF, what they’re doing—and what RVK is doing in India and what one of the Premsagar Foundations is doing—and people that are making that effort. And it’s a fascinating report at this time of coronavirus, what is happening; I’ll have that report for you shortly.

So, this is your opportunity to transform from a very deep place inside of you. And that’s why I said, “Are you comfortable with yourself”—from a very deep place inside of you, to transform forever. Not just for this period of time, but to transform forever. And if you could transform forever, you could transform your world around you.

So, fascinating two questions, give it a thought. Give it a thought. Thank you very much.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all well. And so much is still happening around the world—but again, I would just like to focus on the simplicity of your existence, of you, me, us, being on the face of this earth.

And what does it mean? Well, it is. Is it a gift—of course. Because none of us put a quarter or a dime or money in a vending machine and said, “Okay, this is what I want,” pushed a button and here we are. And how magnificent, because only through appreciation can you begin to understand what this is all about.

Now, whether you call it “enlightenment,” whether you call it “know-it-all,” whether you call it whatever people call it—but just a very simple appreciation, appreciation for existence, appreciation for life, appreciation for clarity, appreciation for joy....

Appreciation for being included in this beautiful, beautiful creation—of millions and millions and millions and millions of years of experimenting, from one species to another species to another species to another species, evolving. And every one of those species contributing something towards, ultimately, to what we are today as a human being.

So, this has allowed so much to happen. Just recently, not too long ago, they found that there were perhaps, other species, very much—Homo erectus, but other species living with us.

And that’s mind-boggling, from that to where we have come today, all those changes over millions of years, thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years, changing, changing, changing, striving for something better, striving for something better, striving for something better. And in that striving for something better, today we find ourselves at this crossroad.

And in this crossroad, there is an amazing amount of peril. One thing is obvious; we are incredibly fragile. And this is very obvious—as the lockdown happens: “Can’t go here; can’t go there,” people getting very irritated. All of these things happening. And people, scared—human beings, scared what’s going to happen to them.

So, all that that we have created around us does not guarantee anything. All of a sudden, here we are at two thousand twenty, twenty-twenty.

When you think of 20/20 as “vision,” that’s perfect vision, great vision. And in the midst of 2020, so much confusion, so much fear, so much misinformation, so much doubt—that you really have to wonder; it’s like, “Wait a minute; did we, as a species, as human beings—did we actually make a difference? Did we evolve in any way?”

And yet, haven’t we evolved—only if we can accept what that simple and beautiful reality is—that we do exist. And maybe on the outside, we try to create a perfect world. (Maybe we will; maybe we won’t.)

You know, one of the things about this coronavirus—in no way does it seem like a blessing. But let me tell you, that’s what it took to clean up the air. That’s what it took to give a break to the whole nature.

All of a sudden, everything that was just clogged freeways, fumes, factories producing pollution, pollution, pollution, pollution, pollution, pollution, contamination, contamination, contamination, all of a sudden came to a grinding halt.

In our pursuit of the perfect world, we have actually ended up creating an incredibly imperfect world. Will we ever agree to that? Probably not. Because that takes a lot of guts; that takes a lot of strength; that takes a tremendous amount of courage to say, “Yes, maybe we were not on the right path for this perfect world.” Because it’s all about greed.

And yet, when you hunker down and start looking at some of the writings—of Kabir, for instance, of Nanak, of so many people who really took to heart that “being on the face of this earth was more than just the fulfillment of outer greed.”

Then they start to turn inwards in such a beautiful way, to say “No, indeed, there is—if you want to be greedy, then be greedy for that clarity. If you want to be greedy, then be greedy for that fulfillment. If you want to be greedy, then be greedy for peace.”

And you know, it really is a different mindset; it’s a very different way of thinking, that “Inside of me I carry the most profound. I look for it on the outside; I try to create it on the outside.”

Because when people talk to me about peace, they’re not thinking about an internal peace; they’re thinking about an external peace. “Can there be peace on the outside?” I don’t know. Can there be peace on the inside; yes, I do know. And that peace that is inside of me is what makes me. That’s what defines me: my peace. Not the peace outside.

If I went into a room and it was really, really quiet, will there be noise inside of me? Because that quietness of that room doesn’t define me. What defines me is the peace that I carry inside of me. I could be in the most beautiful place—and yet I could be angry inside of me. What will define me, the beauty of the place I am in—or the anger that I carry inside of me?

Someway, I can’t help but think that the time for all of us exists to really take in hand this idea of living consciously. That every day that we are in this situation of lockdown is a day to practice conscious living. To practice, to be conscious of “What is happening inside of me?” Of “Where am I at?”

You know, when anger comes—and I know when anger comes, it comes all too quickly. Before you can put the brakes on, it’s already there—and it’s already done the damage. How can I stop that? Well, you know, to get to that point where the anger can so quickly take over took a lot of practice, in little bits and little chunks and little chunks and little chunks and little chunks.

The time has come, perhaps, to really take this opportunity and practice something else, practice living consciously. To see, to know, “What is it—what is it that I want to accomplish? How will I use the tools that I have today? In this day that I have, how will I use the tools that are already inside of me? How will I summon peace inside of me?”

Because it’s too easy to just, you know, put it on somebody else, “They are the ones who are disturbing my peace; they are the ones who need to be in peace.” But it’s not about them; it’s about you. Living consciously is all about you, not about other people.

And that takes practice, just like everything else takes practice. If somebody is out of shape and they want to get in shape, one day is not enough. And that’s not going to do.... If they went on an exercise bicycle and they went on a treadmill—and then they jogged, you know, tried to jog—well, the reality of it is, if they’re not in shape, they’re not even going to be able to do too much of that.

But everybody knows that every day, repetition, practice, practice, practice, repetition, practice, practice, practice, is what’s going to, one day, take them to that level, to that threshold where they can accomplish some amazing things.

But it’s going to take that patience; it’s going to take that effort; it’s going to take that want; it is going to take that conscious living every day—to say, “Okay, I want to summon peace in me; I want to feel peace in me today. How will I contribute to my peace today? How will I react to everything that happens today, from inside of me?” More importantly, in here.

Very, very simple, if we can look at it one little bit at a time. There is such a concept for peace; there’s such a concept for being good that it can happen at an instant flash. It doesn’t happen at an instant flash. Because even being bad takes training. Even being bad took time. Even being bad had to have a lot of practice behind it. The good is going to require at least that much amount of practice.

Is it possible? Yes, it’s possible. But it’s incumbent upon you. Can you summon those things that are inside of you? At one of these talks, I already talked about “You feeling comfortable with yourself.” Do you feel comfortable with yourself?

Because if you’re not in comfort with yourself, if you’re not okay with yourself.... If you want to be somebody else, you see yourself as somebody else—if that is your goal, (not you as you, but you as somebody else), then there’s a problem. Because you cannot be somebody else. You are you. And you have to be comfortable being you.

Not with your mistakes or this or that, but just in the most fundamental, most simplest way you can imagine, being comfortable with you. And that’s what it takes. That’s the kind of understanding you are going to have to garner.

You know, I really see that, of course, this is not a pleasant time for anybody—to be in lockdown, to be in this situation; it’s like, you know, Groundhog Day, (which is, of course, a movie where the same day keeps repeating itself again and again and again in the...)

In this movie, actually, that day keeps repeating itself again and again—and he’s so bored with that day. And he wished he could have another day. He tries bad things.

All of a sudden, then finally it starts to dawn on him that, “Okay,” maybe it’s going to be the same day again and again but he can make a difference. He can make a difference for himself. And when he starts to do that, he comes out of that “again, same day; again, same day; again, same day,” and something wonderful transforms him in this movie, the Groundhog Day.

And sometimes, you know, when I—that’s one of my favorite movies, so I watch it quite a bit. Because sometimes we get stuck—and then it’s like, “Oh, yeah, it’s the same day again and again and again and again and again.”

But when you turn inside and you take on the challenge of transformation, you are willing to live your life consciously, you’re willing to practice living that life consciously, then something amazing is going to happen; something amazing is going to transform, transform you, that peace will be so much more closer to you than you have ever realized.

The joy will dance at your door, will knock at your door. Your life will be pleasant—pleasant, rewarding. You will then understand why so many have said, “Life is a gift.” You will understand their enthusiasm for that peace, for that joy, for that fulfillment of life, because you understand and finally you would have seen life like it is meant to be seen.

Not weighed against all your list of problems and list of desires and list of wants and list of failures and list of what you consider to be “success”—but against something else, a comparison against what it really, really is.

To see life through the eyes of life itself. To see this world that you live in, that world that has the sun, that has the moon, that has the oceans, that has the stars—to see all of them through the eyes of the creation itself.

To admire. To admire each day that you are alive. To admire each moment that you’re alive. What if you were obsessed, obsessed with that admiration, that you were obsessed with that joy, that you were obsessed with that gratitude? What would it be like if you were obsessed with peace that resides and dances in your heart? Well, it would be a very different world for you, for me, for all of us.

Thank you. Be safe—be well. Be.

View all released episodes of "Lockdown" under the Series tab.

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope all of you are well. Today I thought we would do something a little bit different. And what we’re going to try to do today is just, I’d like to inform you about what TPRF has been doing since this coronavirus thing started.

A tremendous amount of help has been going out. And there is a little presentation I’d like to run by, that would give you some indication of what TPRF has been doing. I mean, of course, we partner with a lot of different organizations that are at the forefront of fighting this coronavirus.

You know, sometimes everything turns to become political—and we get caught in the drama, trauma, news, everything. And it is very easy to lose sight of just the basic human beings that are trying to make a difference.

And TPRF, of course, has always held a very special place. Because we don’t try to look for publicity; we don’t try to look for—you know, I mean, of course, publicity is nice and it’s nice for people to know that such an organization exists.

But one of the things we try to do is get to the core issues, where people are really, really helped by whatever partnerships we forge with different organizations. I mean, when you look at it, there are just so many charities out there, so many organizations. But a lot of times, the help that’s supposed to arrive doesn’t arrive! Because something gets lost somewhere in translation.

And with TPRF, I have particularly made this point over and over again, that we really have to make sure that whatever our efforts are, they really are well-executed—and people do, at the end of the day, end up receiving the help that we set out for them to have.

So, here is the presentation. “The Prem Rawat Foundation, advancing dignity, peace, and prosperity.”

Onscreen text:

The Prem Rawat Foundation

Advancing dignity, peace, and prosperity by addressing the fundamental human needs of food, water, and peace.

Prem Rawat:

“Keeping in Touch. TPRF is providing regular social media posts, website articles, and emails with the latest updates on all activities and how people can participate.

“TPRF is introducing the ‘Lockdown’ videos to new audiences, reaching over 2.3 million people so far,” and this was a few days ago. And these are some of the comments from people.

“‘Thank you for your love and support and daily messages. Hugs!’ ‘I’m loving these broadcasts, thank you so much.’ Another one, ‘Thank you so much for showing us your wisdom, clarity and love in this trying time.’” So, TPRF is making sure that this message is reaching out to people.

“Humanitarian Aid. TPRF is giving initial grants of over $200,000 to provide care, medical supplies and food in areas that are overwhelmed with the coronavirus. $100,000 is going to Doctors Without Borders and International Medical Corps to help people in South Africa, France, Spain, Mexico, the U.S. and various other countries.

“‘TPRF’s support will help our medical teams launch a global response to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences.’” This is a direct quote. “‘—Thomas Kurmann, Director of Development, Doctors Without Borders,’ the USA division.

“$50,000 for CESVI to help people in Northern Italy with care and supplies.” And this is one of the responses. It’s quite a long letter I received, but this is a little quote from the letter.

“‘Thank you on behalf of everyone at the CESVI for your generous donation. It has given us the strength to move forward in this difficult situation. I would like to congratulate you on the aims pursued by TPRF. Roberto Vignola, CESVI, Deputy CEO.’” And we particularly wanted to help Italy because Italy has been hit very hard with this coronavirus.

“$5,000 for Street Peace and Respect, a group of former gang members who were inspired by the Peace Education Program to contribute positively to their community by bringing food to elderly neighbors in need in Alpachaca, Ecuador.

“$25,000 is going to Family Promise to provide shelter and meals to homeless families in the U.S.” A lot of this stuff gets overlooked, and at TPRF we really don’t want that to happen.

“$25,000 is going to the World Central Kitchen to provide fresh packaged meals to thousands of U.S. children, families and seniors in the most vulnerable communities.

“An initial grant of $25,000 is going to help people in Fiji recover from Cyclone Harold, which left people without shelter, food or medical care.” The thing in Fiji is, people are very poor. There is one island, one main island where there are Suva and Nadi. And then there is the big island and a lot of other little islands.

And when natural calamities happen, (and this is a double hit for them, not only the threat of coronavirus but also this cyclone), it’s really, really hard. It’s hard enough on an everyday basis. And then when something like this happens it actually makes it really, really hard.

And I have been to Fiji many times. People are beautiful; people are very simple. And it really is a community effort in Fiji. “The severe tropical cyclone hit as the area was already struggling to treat patients and stem the spread of the coronavirus,” like I said.

“Supporters have donated over $60,000 for coronavirus relief effort. TPRF will continue to provide aid to those in need. And you can contribute to the coronavirus relief effort at TPRF.org.” Every bit helps, always—every bit helps.

“In 2019, over 36,000 people participated in the Peace Education Program worldwide. In 2020, there have been over 5,000 participants”—and that’s the Peace Education Program initiative that TPRF heads.

“Most Peace Education Program courses have been temporarily paused to avoid spreading the virus. People in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, and other countries are starting to facilitate the course virtually”—that’s a community effort that TPRF supports and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that’s happening.

And of course, we’re looking forward to having the Peace Education Program virtually for us too, all of us who are not going through that particular program. I’m trying to still work on it and make a lightweight version of that.

“In Brazil,” which is again—you know, I was just there and when you come out in the rural Brazil area, people are very, very poor. And wherever people are poor, they’re going to get hit really, really hard.

“In Brazil, people from thirteen states are participating virtually. After only one week of conducting these courses from São Paulo, there are fifty participants per day. The participants keep inviting more people. ‘This is the best part of my day, and I am learning a lot about myself.’” That’s a quote.

vThis is another quote, “‘Listening to Prem Rawat has been really helping me understand my life.’ – Pisa Professor. Universities in Bogotá, Colombia and Pisa, Italy, have offered the program virtually.” Again, that’s a wonderful effort.

“In Colombia, the Secretary of Education invited teachers who had been implementing the program to watch ‘the personal messages to humanity’ in the ‘Lockdown series,’ encouraging them to take good care of themselves, and stay at home.”

I mean, I’ve been to Colombia. And again, you know, the country just has been through so much, with the whole, drugs and the revolts and the this and the that. And there is a lot to be said about the power of the people, about the motivation that people have to move forward, to try to make a difference.

Because a lot of things just come and go—but people are there. And they need to bind together; they need to come together to truly make a change. And so it’s really wonderful that the people take this one step further.

“Participants in prisons have been receiving written materials to continue their learning. ‘We are very grateful and find the support very helpful.’ This is from the Prison Director in Colombia.”

Again, you know, in the middle of all this fiasco that is a fiasco to most of us, there are some people who have already gone through the fiasco and are in the midst of that fiasco, and they are the homeless.

“At a homeless shelter and two drug rehabilitation centers where the program has been flourishing, staff are learning to facilitate the program virtually.” I mean, this is like a double hit for those people who are homeless. You know, they have to squeeze into tight spaces—that they cannot afford to have that distancing, the social distancing. I mean, what social distancing?

They’re not part of the mainstream society; they’re just there at the fringe, you know, because whatever bad things have happened to them, they’ve been shoved that way. And it’s very, very thoughtful that the Foundation, TPRF is doing something about them and that they are included—that everybody is included, that everybody gets help. So, it’s wonderful to see that.

“TPRF is providing support for those who want to learn virtual facilitation of the program.” And if you want to get in touch about that, that’s “Email [email protected] to learn more.” And that’s the Peace Education Program effort.

“As regular Food for People,” effort is concerned, “services are paused by government regulations; TPRF is exploring other ways of providing food and aid to people in dire need, including home delivery. Food for People has served over 3 million meals since 2006.” And that’s really wonderful.

And the amazing thing is that there is a sister organization in India that is going ahead and working with the police and with the local officials to provide food to the people, (which is called the Premsagar Foundation). And RVK has been helping in that and has been very, very effective of making sure the food distribution happens.

In fact, I have a presentation by those organizations exactly like this one—except that one is in Hindi, so I will have to have it translated into English. But that’s really wonderful to hear that over three million meals since 2006, have been served.

Onscreen text:

Thank You to all of the TPRF volunteers and supporters who are making a positive impact.

Learn more at tprf.org

Prem Rawat:

And the Prem Rawat Foundation again thanks everyone: “To all the TPRF volunteers and supporters who are making a positive impact.” Because this is a positive impact for our society and the world that we all live in. So, it’s really wonderful to see that TPRF is really shining at this moment in time.

So, thank you. Stay well; stay healthy. Be well. Be. I’ll talk to you later.

View all released episodes of "Lockdown" under the Series tab.

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all well. And the days are slipping by, slowly and slowly. And I, of course, was thinking of, “What can I tell you that will, (well, I guess), enhance or make it easier somehow for you to be able to look at this time and take the most of this time?”

Because whatever the facts may be, certainly with this coronavirus, this period of time that we have with this, there’s no rewind button on it. It is time—and it is just as precious when we’re doing something else. It’s just as precious when we were born; it is just as precious as it was a decade ago, a year ago. And indeed, now that we’re in the midst of all this, it’s still precious.

So my thinking is, “How can we make the most of it?”—not in terms of accomplishing something on the outside, not in terms of fulfilling some objective, but for ourselves, that we feel, we who are caught in this, we feel that we’re making the most of it. That it’s not just time that is being just dwindled away in some idea, some concept, some, (against our wishes), lockdown and so on and so forth.

So, you know, one side consequence of this coronavirus lockdown, globally, around the world, has been spectacular for nature. Even in the big parks in the United States and the beautiful parks like Yosemite, the creatures living there, the animals living there are taking over—because people aren’t there—and they have the whole place to themselves.

The other day I was watching this beautiful documentary, (or a little segment), and it was showing how beautiful Delhi is. And certainly, I remember in Dehradun, the sky used to be a dark pitch blue sky that apparently, you can’t see that anymore.

But due to this coronavirus, even in Delhi you can see a dark pitch blue sky, clear sky. And it’s a boon for all the animals. And it’s really a boon for all those things that we hold so special in our lives, a beautiful day, a sunny day, a warm day....

In fact, I sometimes wonder—you see me wearing a sweater—and it’s like, you know, “Where am I?” Well, here I am in California, and in Southern California it’s cold. It’s not even—yeah, the temperature sometimes hovers around sixty-five, sixty-seven. So it’s quite cold—and when the wind blows, it’s really quite cold.

But anyways, getting back to the point, so it’s been quite a boon—quite a boon. And somebody just sent me a picture from France, from Paris, where the river is just spectacular because there are no boats on it. It’s just still, very still—and you can see the reflection of the clouds. And of course, he’s a professional photographer and sent me this picture and it’s beautiful. And it’s something unique.

So, what’s my point? Well, my point is this—that when we, as human beings, do what we do, what are whatever we consider our “natural, everyday activities,” (and I’m not talking about going to the bathroom.)

But you’ve got to get transportation and get to your job, and then go to your job, find a parking spot. Then reverse the whole thing, come back home. And, you know, this whole shunt. And it’s, “Go for lunch somewhere, go for this, go for that,” all this stuff that we have to do.

And when you take a break from it, everything becomes very quiet; everything becomes very still. And as a consequence of that, (and maybe we don’t even realize that), every day, all the things that we do have such a profound impact on the nature around us. But it does.

So if you look at this nature as the ecosystem—and look at us as this newcomer, relatively newcomer that’s driving everything insane, that’s disrupting everything—then that would be a fairly good assessment of what really is going on.

Because something is being disrupted. So, how does that relate to what I want to talk about? Well, this is how it relates to it—that in our life, in our existence, there’s also a beautiful nature that wants to be, that wants to really come forth.

And whatever, up here, we have decided that we have to do, all our little routines, all our little understandings, all our little things that we think are important are nothing but this obnoxious noise....

That when that is quietened, something beautiful happens; something beautiful comes forth; something beautiful emerges; the birds come out; the creatures that are always so shy and so afraid, they start to come out. And you see the vibrance; you see what it really is like, that it’s beautiful!

That, when I saw those pictures of Delhi, I was shocked. Because I haven’t seen Delhi like that in years—actually, I’ve never seen Delhi like that.

And being a pilot, I’ve flown in India. And my goodness, you know, the visibilities are always horrible, whether you’re coming in by airplane, whether you’re flying with a helicopter. Unless you get way out of Delhi, you know, go east, way out of Delhi, then the visibilities start to come up a little bit.

But in the heart of Delhi, to see this beauty, that, “Wow, it is really beautiful. It is something that we do that is making it not so beautiful.” And so, from a practical standpoint, from a very practical standpoint, so much disruption is caused by this. All the pollution in Delhi, you know, makes people die young and affects children seriously.

And if we were to take that and apply to us, that all these things that we are doing without thinking, without thinking of what the effect of these things is on our lives.... That, off we go—“And we’ll do this and we will have this little thought and we will have that little thought, and we will have this little relief; we will have that little relief....”

But what are the consequences? What are the consequences for us of not knowing ourselves? It is like polluting this existence, polluting the purity of what can be, of what should be. And that understanding gets very confused, gets very twisted.

Because right now, because of this coronavirus, it is not a “do or die” symptom; it’s like, no, you can’t—you’ve got to stay in isolation, otherwise you’re going to get sick. And all those explanations, “Oh, what about your job? What about going to your job; what...?” It’s like, “Hey, no! No-no-no-no, no,” you don’t go to your job. Cool it. This is more important, for you to be alive.

And what can I add to that? I can add to it that it is more important for you to be healthy—not only physically, but mentally, within you, not be polluted by all this pollution that we create. But have the clarity of understanding, of knowing, of joy, of fulfillment.

So, sometimes we wonder, “Why is it like this; why is it like that; why, why is this happening to me; why is that happening to me?” But we never look that we have created such a pollutive environment for ourselves, inside of us—we have polluted ourselves with so many concepts.

You know, the concept could be very, very small. The idea could be very, very small. It’s like that girl in Cambodia, (and it was quite a few years ago; she’s probably a lady by now), but that girl, at that point she was going to school—and she’s devastated because she lost her phone.

That’s the kind of pollution I’m talking about. That’s pollution. She didn’t need to be devastated. She could have gone on. But the pollution of it, just contamination from all the different ideas. It’s because “it’s so important....” From her understanding, it is so important to have that channel of communications with her friends.

Where did that come from? Certainly, it didn’t come from when she was born. She could care less about those friends; she didn’t know about those friends.

But as we grow old, we allow all these things to come in. And they create an immense amount of pollution, but we are not aware of that, because every day we justify how “we need these things.” Every day we justify “how this is important for us”—when what is really important for us is to be in that clarity, to be in that purity of being a human being.

You know, we live in a society—and believe me, I’m not trying to put down society; I know there are wonderful things that have been done in the society. I mean, after all, so many diseases have been overcome; so many technical marvels have been created; so many things have been done. I mean, you know, we could be, on a hundred-degree day, out in the desert and be cool inside.

I mean, all those things, I appreciate that. But alongside of it, we have allowed other things to come in which are actually harming us, which are actually hurting us. And we don’t give that a thought, that “How are these things hurting us; how are these things actually affecting us?”

As a society, yes, we have accomplished these things, but we also have jails full of people—full of, not just people we found on Mars, not just people we found on the moon, but human beings from this earth. What is it?

There is a story about Solomon. One time a thief was brought in front of the king. And the king asked, “What is his offense?” He said, “He was stealing bread.” The king turned to the man, to the thief and said, “Why were you stealing bread?” He says, “Well, I didn’t have anything to eat. I was hungry—and I saw the bread and I couldn’t resist it.”

So the king said, “What you did was absolutely wrong. You have to be punished by being whipped a hundred times, a hundred whips.” The man started crying. He said, “Don’t cry; it’s okay,” Solomon said. “That whipping is not for you. That whipping is for those people in the society that allowed you to be hungry.”

That’s why Solomon is known to be the wise king—that whatever happens in our little world, we are part of it. And at no time.... At this point in time, you can see what the importance of just even one person is.

If one person in a household.... Say, if you have fifty people in a household, and everybody is in isolation and one person decides to break that isolation and go out there—and he could be contaminated—he could be; you don’t know. He could be contaminated—everybody will be scared of that one person: “the power of one.”

I tried to make that abundantly clear to people, but I think I have miserably failed to make the power of one—but this coronavirus has done that for me. The power of one is now very clearly understood.

And this is how it goes. Does it have to take tragedies like this for us to awaken? It shouldn’t be—it shouldn’t be that it takes tragedy for us to awaken, that it takes tragedy for us to learn; it takes tragedy for us to say, “Whoa, I take on the responsibility; I am responsible. And there is something that I can do.” Yes, there is. There’s always been something you can do.

I mean, you know, you look at this coronavirus thing and, you know, this is just a side observation. A long time ago I was in Lucknow—a long time ago; I was a little boy then. And I went to see this palace, and it was the palace of the landlord of Lucknow. And so I was told a story—and apparently, it’s a true story.

So, the Nizam was watching in his palace; he was watching a dance—and all the music was playing and he was watching these girls dance.... And his security guys came and said, “Nizam, you know, you’d better get out of here—but we can see the British army is on the horizon; we can see the dust and everything else, so you’d better get out of here.” He said, “Naah, don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”

A few minutes later they said to Nizam, “You’d better get out of here. The British army is at your front door—of the city!” And he goes, “Ahh, don’t worry about it. Not a problem. You know, it’ll go away; everything will be fine.”

A few minutes later they came and they said, “You’d better get out of here. They are at your front gate, at your palace’s front gate.” And he goes, “Ahh, don’t worry about it.” A few minutes later they said, “They’re about to enter this room!” And that’s when Nizam turned to his servant. And he called out to his servant and he says, “Bring me my shoes.”

Well, the servant had fled—so there was no servant. So the Nizam started running. And the British caught up to him, arrested him. And he said to the British; he said, “If only I had my shoes, you would have never caught me.” Apparently, this is a true story. This is how arrogant, arrogant, arrogant he was.

This thing, this coronavirus was a long time coming. Nobody paid attention. It starts up in China; nobody pays attention. You know, it’s not like this is the first one; there has been SARS; there has been the MERS, (which is amongst the camels); there has been the swine flu; there has been the bird flu. So, you know, a long time, “something, something like this can come.”

There is the Ebola outbreak; you know, that has to be taken care of. So the possibility of this happening, there were ample, ample, ample warning signs that something like this could happen.

But in our arrogance, what do we do? We don’t care. What do we care about? We care about going on every day, making two lousy bucks, two more lousy bucks that we’re, none of us are going to take with us. Absolutely not. You think all this wealth that we are accumulating, we’re going to take with us? Nobody can take anything with them.

Consequence? Consequence is we are losing so many people. It is absolutely astounding how many people have died needlessly, needlessly—needlessly, that those deaths could have been avoided. But it’s the arrogance that does not allow you to see the obvious.

And that same arrogance that doesn’t allow you to see something obvious on the outside, does not allow you to see something obvious on the inside. It does not allow you to see that 36,500 days is all you have, even if you live to be a hundred. It doesn’t allow you to see that.

It doesn’t allow you to see that you are vulnerable; you are fragile. That you’re not, you know, made out of iron or steel. Indeed, you are a human being. And so far you are on the face of this earth, you will always be a human being.

It doesn’t matter what you have in your hands, whether you have a machine gun, whether you have a bow and arrow, whether you have any—it doesn’t matter. You are a human being and there should be no amount of arrogance that does not allow you to see your humanity, your frailty, your, you, as you truly are.

I hope, you know—I mean, it’s something to think about. Because it’s nothing like you have to go out and do and press a button. You know, there isn’t a button, like, across the street that you have to go push. No, it’s just some awakening; that’s what awakenings are—they’re little things that happen inside of us; the puzzle starts to fall in place.

There is a picture. And that picture is all divided up into little puzzles. What is it, you can’t tell, not by looking at little pieces. You start to put pieces together; some pieces go together very easily; some pieces don’t go together very easily.

There is a picture. When all this puzzle is put together properly, (not forced, properly), there is a picture. And you will see that picture and perhaps you will even enjoy that picture.

It’s the little awakenings that need to happen for us to be fulfilled. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about, you know, pain and torture; I’m talking about joy; I’m talking about fulfillment.

As a human being, all the things that we are trying to accomplish, we will not be able to accomplish. Look, in history, we will be chastised for our arrogance. We had so much going for us—and at the end of the day, what happened was this pandemic. Is that what we want? Is that how we want to be remembered in history?

Or do we want to be celebrated: “That these human beings were wonderful. They came together; they had made good preparations.” It is in the time of plenty—it is in the time of plenty that you prepare for the times of the bad, of scarcity, of the famine, of the drought. It is in the time of plenty that you prepare for it.

But when the whole humanity is sunk in greed—and not looking at the obvious, then unfortunately it’s going to be, “If I only had my shoes, you would have never caught me.” I mean, I remember that story and it was like, “Is that guy for real,” you know? But he was. That’s the way people used to be; they were incredibly arrogant.

This arrogance isn’t going to take us anywhere. This arrogance is—you know, this little, invisible little virus is rubbing our nose into it; it’s like, “Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?”

And, you know, we are at its mercy, of all the doctors and everything else out there—to the breaking point. The medical staff, to the breaking point. I mean, they’re working so hard, to the breaking point. And all those resources that we were always proud of, to the breaking point—to the breaking point.

Is this what we have created, ultimately? Well, if this is what we have created, then let me tell you that there is another possibility. And that possibility is about being fulfilled, about kindly being looked down in history.

And said, “No, those human beings had learned something. They stood for something, something that was good. They understood their humanity. They understood themselves. They lived their lives consciously. And they had a heart full of gratitude.” Maybe that’s a possibility. Maybe that is a possibility.

Be well; be safe. Be. I’ll talk to you later. Thank you.

View all released episodes of "Lockdown" under the Series tab.

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all well, feeling well—and you know, somehow putting up with this coronavirus thing. Whether it’s good times, bad times, that’s completely dependent on you; it has nothing to do with the coronavirus.

You know, for the rest of nature, it’s quite a boon to have everybody locked up in their homes—and nature is having a field day with it; it’s like a vacation for nature.

So, last night I was thinking and I came across this word in my ideas, in my thoughts, that actually, I haven’t used too much of. And the word is “purity.”

So, when you look at the definition of purity, it’s “something that is without contamination.” Now, you know, of course, the definition goes on and on and on, but “something which is uncontaminated, something which is without anything else except for what it is.”

So then I started thinking; it’s like, “Hmm, that’s very intriguing; ‘something that is without contamination.’” Something that is what it is—and in its purest form.

So, when you start to think about that, so many things come to mind; it’s like, “Whoa, is life pure? The way I experience my existence every day, is that pure? Or is that contaminated, contaminated from everybody’s ideas, everybody’s concepts and everything else?”

Somebody from Mumbai actually wrote me a question—and I came across that; I’ve got a lot of questions. So I’m getting ready to start answering them one by one, but—I usually reserve those for the weekend. But the question that came up was, “You know, why do people believe in the caste system?”

In the world, a lot of apartheid, in one way or the other way, is exercised—you know, like just even after people found out that this coronavirus came from China (or, you know, it came from where it came from; I don’t think that, you know, China particularly needs a label on it).

But a lot of Americans of Chinese descent who were probably living here, born here, started buying guns! I mean, it’s like they were threatened. Because there are people out there who, it’s like, “Oh, you know, you’re the one responsible for this.” But this is completely crazy, of course.

But we segregate and we, you know, we look at the differences; we don’t look at the similarity; we say, “Okay, that person is from China; that person is from Africa; that person is from India; this person is from, you know, this place, this place,” and on it goes.

And so the question was, “Where does this come from?” And I was with a few people in the room, (my staff, basically), and we were talking. And I say, “Well, how would you answer that question,” I said to them. And they said—nothing, actually. And I said, “Look, it’s very simple. It’s a learned behavior. We’re not born that way; we learned this.”

It’s like, you can take two babies that are, you know, two-years-olds and put them in a room and they’re not going to say “What’s your caste” or “Which country do you come from,” or “What is your origin,” or “Are you Chinese or are you African or are you American; are you Australian?”

They will simply just play with each other. To them, you’re a human being; you’re a being. You’re another person, “very similar to how I am.”

So we learned these things. So, when, in our thoughts, these kinds of things come, is our thought at that point pure? And the answer is, “No, it’s been contaminated by something.”

Now, contamination is contamination, whether it is a positive contamination or it’s a negative contamination; it is a contamination. It is no longer the pure thought, the pure understanding of being a human being. It is not the purity of how you can view your existence.

All these other filters are coming in: “This is important; that’s important. I have to do this; I have to do that; I have this relationship with that person. I have that relationship with that person. That person is there; that person is there.” And it gets contaminated.

Now, you can say “positive contamination” or “negative contamination.” It doesn’t really matter. It’s a contamination; it’s no longer that word, no longer what that word represents, which is purity.

So, purity of what? Well, purity of life. Purity of existence. Purity of thought. Purity of feeling. Purity of understanding. Purity of expression. Purity of enjoyment. Purity of fulfillment. Purity of clarity. Purity of you, as a human being.

So, what do all these things mean? That we feel. But do we really feel what the feeling is—how it should be felt? Should I give you an example? “Feeling of being alive.”

And you know, when a tragedy happens it’s like, “Oh my God, I’m so glad, you know, it didn’t happen to me.” Or, you know, it sets us back and we go, “Oh my God, I’m so fragile; I’m this; I’m that....”

Ten minutes later, we’ve forgotten it. We have forgotten it because we came across something more important: “We’ve got to do this; we’ve got to do this; we’ve got to do this; we’ve got to do this.”

So, “feeling of being alive,” feeling. Feeling of being alive. Do we keep feeling that feeling, consistently? Or does that get contaminated? How many things in our life actually get contaminated? When it comes to even, Knowledge of the self, it gets contaminated by other people’s ideas.

So really, even understanding the word “purity,” just, just for the sake of it, you know, not getting too deep into it and going, “Oh my God, you know, ahh....”

No, just for what it’s worth. Yeah, I guess, understanding purity, purely purity, just purely. Not trying to give it meaning, not trying to give it twists, not trying to give it all these other things, but just, “What is it about, your existence, you being alive, you being able to feel? You being able to feel the reality? In a very pure way, the purity of it?” Your connection to your creator—pure.

And see, this is where it gets very, very tricky. Because for you to have that connection with your creator be pure, you have to have a very pure understanding of your creator. For you to be able to understand what is that pure feeling, you have to know what it is that you are feeling.

What does pure love look like?—that is not because of a reason, that doesn’t have a season attached to it, that doesn’t have circumstances attached to it—but something that is purely love? And that you can feel, without inhibition, without having conditions attached to it, circumstances attached to it: “I love you because....”

You know, and it’s very funny because when children love, it’s love; they love. And children are not the ones who carry a grudge too far. You know, pretty soon they forget and they go on. And of course, the older they get, they can carry that grudge much, much further.

But when they’re really, really young and they want to punish you—they want to punish you as parents or they want to punish you; they want to say something nasty to you.... And you know, of course, they don’t know all the nasty words and this and that, (well, these days I don’t know), but usually, they don’t know the nasty words.

So, one of the things they say is, “I don’t love you anymore.” And it is the cutest thing. It’s like, this is like the worst possible punishment that this child can throw at you, that their love has been taken away. What must be their definition of what love is? That it is unconditional, because even after having said, “I don’t love you anymore,” two minutes later, ten minutes later, everything is fine.

And I remember that one day when my grandchild said to me, “This is the worst possible birthday I have ever had.” And I mean, you know, he wasn’t that old—so it wasn’t like a long list of birthdays that he had been through; he wasn’t like a big veteran that had fought many, many wars.

And then he got the good presents that he kind of wanted; his expectations were fulfilled. And everything was fine; it was the best birthday he had ever had.

So, you know, we go around in this world and every interaction we have, it really is about our expectations being fulfilled. If a loved one fulfills our expectations, “Oh, you’re wonderful. I love you.” But if that person does not fulfill your expectations; they do something really stupid or really weird, you no longer—you will question your love. This is strange; this is not pure love.

So, you know, can there be pure love in relationships? I don’t know. I don’t know. Should there be pure love in relationships? I don’t know. That’s up to you to decide.

My job here is just to point out the purity of love—that there must be some form of love that is absolutely pure. And that had better be used on you as well—and whatever else you want to use it on is one thing, but it had better be also used on you. That you have that love for you that is unconditional.

Because you’re going to need that love. People start to sometimes hate themselves. They don’t know the purpose of their life anymore. They question everything in a very weird way.

And yet, to have that purity of love for the self—and purity of understanding who you are, and purity of that self-Knowledge—for you. Not contaminated by somebody. And it doesn’t matter who they were, you know, what title they wore; contamination is contamination; pure is pure.

So, having an understanding of your life, of your circumstances, the time you are in—and understanding it in a very pure way. Not “this is happening and that’s happening and that’s happening and that could happen and that could happen....”

Because believe me, when those things start to strike you, the possibilities—and especially the negative possibilities, when they start to strike you, they can eat you alive. And there is no cure for it; there’s no pill you can take for it. There’s no cure for it—and just, it can get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. And this has a physical effect.

So, there is thought that has been contaminated by circumstances. So what is the pure thought like? What is that purity truly, truly like? And only the heart, I feel, can verify to the purity—not by definitions that “this is pure”—but the acid test, sort of to say, would truly be the heart—to say “Yes, I understand the purity of it.”

And look, in this world, if things are contaminated, they’re contaminated. You know, so, you get on with it.

A lot of people go to restaurants—and sometimes I go to restaurants. And I always wonder if that food is pure. You know, you don’t know if whatever you have ordered, you know, your carrot halvah or carrot cake could have fallen on the ground and then the chef picked it up and put it on the plate; you don’t know that. But, fine, you sit there and you eat it anyway, right?

But the heart, the purity of those things that matter to me, that are important to me, that carry a significance in my life—that the stronger, the more pure that is, my understanding is, my feeling is, my love is, my clarity is, that without an exception if I have the purity of these, that then I truly stand on mighty ground.

And I have the power of purity. I have the power of that light that shines in my heart, that shines—that repels the darkness of all that that affects me negatively. That that purity is real; that that purity is good—and I feel it. That’s how it has to be, that I feel it.

If I don’t feel that purity, then I have nothing. So, I have to, now, conjure up the definitions of purity in my head. And then I have to go around asking people, “Is this pure; is this pure; is this pure; is this pure; is this pure?” And then I hope somebody tells me, “Yeah, that’s pure.”

And then I have to—and then, I have to believe them. I don’t have a choice. I have to believe them; I have to believe them. My goodness, if I don’t believe them my boat is sunk.

But that’s when you have to know to turn to your own heart. Not somebody else, but to your own heart—because that heart is where that divine is. And by that very definition, the purity resides there; the purity is there; the purity is in you. To be able to look and understand what that is, to be able to weed out all the contaminants to have something that is pure.

In India, they have these trays. And they put the wheat or rice that they’re cleaning and they go like this. And because of that, they—and it’s, I have done it—and the motion is not only up but slightly out, outward. And the rocks have a higher gravity or a higher density, so they go further by when you do this. And so they’re weeded out—and what is good, (the rice, which is lighter), stays.

And they can do it very fast, “Chou, chou, chou, chou, chou, chou!” And the next thing you know, that rice is clean.

And of course, you know, when the chef cooks the rice, he also takes a look at it; he pours in a plate, whatever he’s going to cook. And then he just goes through it very quickly and it’s very easy to see if there’s something dark, (because rice is white); if there’s something dark, you take it and you throw it out; you pick it out.

The purity. We like purity. We don’t like impure water; we like pure water. We like pure food. You know, we like that little label, “Pure olive oil.” You know, “Pure coconut oil,” pure this, pure that.

Anyways, give it a thought, about that purity, how it relates to your existence, to your life. So, be well; be safe. Be. I’ll talk to you later. Thank you.

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Prem Rawat:

Hello, everybody. I hope you’re all doing well, keeping safe, keeping well. And in the midst of all of this coronavirus fiasco and disaster and whatever is going on, I’m really here to tell you about something that’s beautiful in life, that’s beautiful in this existence.

There are many ways to put the same thing. But if we can have an understanding of who we are and what this life is all about—and it isn’t just a question of this time; it isn’t just a question of the gravity of the situation. And like I have said many times before, that, you know, being scared doesn’t help anybody; it doesn’t accomplish anything.

In fact, when a problem comes, whatever the source of the problem is, we disconnect from that source—and whatever the pain is, we connect to the pain. So we like....

You know, whatever the source of the problem is, okay, fine. And that it’s creating this other thing; it’s called “the pain, the sorrow, the suffering.” And we like to bury our heads into that sorrow, into that suffering. And you know, not to make a heavy point of this by any stretch of the imagination....

But let me tell you a joke today. Because I think—I believe this is the twenty-sixth broadcast and it’s about time we lighten up a little bit and look at the world from a lighter side of things.

So, there was a guy and he was sitting at the bar. And he was there, just very somber, very serious—and he was sitting there, about ready to have his drink when this most unfortunate bully, a big burly guy walks into the bar, grabs the little guy’s drink and drinks it all down.

And at that point, the guy who was sitting at the bar just lost it. And he just started crying; he just started bawling. And the guy who had had his drink, he was, you know, like, “Okay, okay, okay, I’ll buy you another one; don’t worry, you know, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was so serious....”

And he goes, “No, no, you don’t understand.” He goes, “What-what-what are you talking about?” He says, “Look, today is possibly the worst day of my life. This morning I got up—and my wife walked out on me. I went after her, pleading and pleading and pleading, ‘And please, you know, come back,’” don’t leave him, everything—but she left anyway.

“Meanwhile,” he said, “I realized that I was really late for my office. In fact, you know, I was like two hours late. And I had put some toast in the toaster for breakfast and the toaster had caught fire, so by the time I got home from pleading with my wife, you know, chasing her down the road, my house was on fire.

“Somehow I got to my office and my boss was so upset with me that he fired me. So I finally came to this bar, ordered this drink—and I poisoned it. I put poison in it so I could kill myself. And along you came and denied me even that possibility by you drinking all that poison.”

When I came across this joke, it’s a funny twist of fate. Because that guy who felt he had had enough, he got saved. Somebody did something really stupid by grabbing his drink and drinking it and now, that guy, that bully guy is about to have the worst day of his life, because he’s going to die because he just drank a whole bunch of poison.

Sometimes it is like that—it is a comedy of errors; it’s a comedy of situations that we bring upon ourselves. So, whatever the problem is, then come the consequences of that problem; we bury our head in the consequences of the problem and now we cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. It gets dark; it gets severe; it gets dangerous and it’s just like, “Oh my God, what am I going to do?”

But what was the problem to begin with? And nobody’s looking at the problem. And when you, you know, detach yourself from that suffering, from that pain, and look at the problem, the problem is going to look like, “I can get around this; I can take care of this. I mean, it may be difficult; I might have to work extra hard; I might have to do something like that. But I can get over it.”

And we forget that this life, its preciousness, the understanding that we should have of going forward, being that warrior that can move and move and move and move.... In fact, like I’ve said many times, it’s not about the battles. Some battles you need to win; some battles you can lose, not a problem. It is the war that you should win; you have to win the war.

Battles come and go. Some you win, great, wonderful. Some you have to win; fine. But some you are going to lose—and no regrets, none whatsoever. Just to move forward, to take those steps that are necessary, that are important.

And to navigate, to navigate those situations that come in life by looking inside, by having a complete perspective, by knowing that it isn’t just one, you know, fixation on one little issue—but you have to always remember the full scope of what existence means.

That yes, this breath is coming and going. Yes, you are alive. Yes, you exist. No judgment is being passed upon you by your breath; no judgment is being passed upon you by your life, by your existence. And that inside of you, still there is a want to be fulfilled, to be content. That there is an ocean of answers within you.

You know, you get a million questions. And if you don’t get an answer to those million questions, (or even one), it can drive you crazy. That’s not what life is about. There is an ocean of answers. You don’t have to tie every answer that you have inside of you to a question. You don’t. Let it be. Let the questions be. But understand that within you is an ocean of answers.

To know. To know that beautiful that is inside of you. And then to look at the beauty that is outside of you—and you can draw a frame; you can draw a reference. Because that’s what it’s all about.

That breath comes into us, brings us life. There is this whole universe, expanding, contracting. The waves that come on the beach, that motion of life is everywhere—is everywhere. It’s bringing existence to everything. You happen to be a part of it.

You are alive, just like there are all these ants that are alive. And they’re so focused; they’re so incredibly focused. They may not be the brightest, you know, bulb on the Christmas tree—but they are focused.

Maybe they can’t figure out what, you know, an algebraic expression is. Maybe they cannot work out a complicated formula. But they have worked out one little formula—their purpose of life in their existence. They stick to it.

They don’t just go wandering off like, “Oh, yeah, let me take a look at this, and let me take a look at”—no, they’re focused. They go; they go; they go; they go. And look at their endurance; it’s fascinating.

Do I want to be like an ant—no, I don’t want to be like an ant; I don’t want to be like a fly; I don’t want to be like a lion; I don’t want to be like a tiger; I don’t want to be like a whale. I don’t want to be like a porpoise. I want to be me. I want to be a human being.

I am in awe of a whale. I am in awe of so many creatures on this planet Earth. And ultimately, I also need to turn within inside of me and be in awe of my existence, of my being on the face of this earth. That there is a respect that I need to give myself, an understanding that I need to have of myself.

Because I’ve been chasing “the outside, the outside, the outside,” the focus of the outside, “what is that; what is that; what is that?” And someday I have to take that question of “what is that” and look at me and go, “Who am I?”

And when that transformation happens and the process of “Know thyself” begins, that is profound—when you’re on your way to that one part of that realization of “Who am I?” And how is that going to ever be?

You know, the path to discovery of the self is not trying to discover yourself; it’s all the other things that are between you and really, who you are—all those ideas that you have of “what it means to know yourself.”

You know, when you learn how to draw, it’s fascinating. Because, you know, people have drawn—and so it’s like, “Oh, yeah, I’m going to go and somebody’s going to teach me how to do this perfectly and do this perfectly and do this perfectly.”

And lo and behold, that’s not what they teach you. They’re teaching you about what a perspective means, a line across a horizon, line this way, line that way, and the references and the lines that, you know, go back. And you have to learn all of that, because that perspective is involved.

In the same way, learning—and the only way you will be able to learn those things is if you can have the ability, the luxury of unlearning, of dropping, of letting go of all of those ideas that are just wrong, that are not how it works. And then when the bucket is empty, then you can begin to fill.

Once a man came to a teacher—and this is a Zen story, so a Zen Master—and he said, “I want to have, you know, questions with you; I want to ask you questions. I want to learn from you.” And the Zen Master said, “Of course; come on in. Let’s sit down and, you know, let me get you some tea.”

So, he made a sign towards the guy who was standing there, his servant, and he said, “Bring some tea.” He brought some tea and he took the tea and he started pouring it in his pot. And he kept pouring and he kept pouring and he kept pouring and he kept pouring and the cup filled and filled over and started overflowing and tea started getting everywhere....

And the Master is just very intentioned; he just keeps pouring in, pouring in, pouring in, pouring in. Finally, the guy just couldn’t stand it anymore—and he looked at him and he said, “What are you doing? Don’t you see that the cup is full? And no more tea will fit in there?” That’s the Zen story.

And the Master, of course, turned to the person and said, “Well, same thing; your cup is really full. And don’t you see, you want to learn from me but nothing will fit because your cup is already full; your bucket is already full.”

There’s another story, the Indian version of it, which is very interesting—which is one day, a man came to this Master and said, “Master, I want to learn from you.”

The Master said, “Fine. I’d love to teach you. But this is what you have to do—is, I’m going to go draw some water from the well. And while I’m drawing that water, please don’t say a word. It’s going to take me a few tries to get the water, but don’t you dare say a word. And if you can hold to that contract that you won’t say a thing, I will be happy to teach you.”

The guy was like, “Hey, that’s easy; I can do that. That’s really easy.” So he walked out there with the Master and the Master took the rope, bucket tied to the rope, put it in the well, pulled it out—and he sees that the bucket comes out with water, but it’s just got holes in it and all the water is just pouring out of the holes. By the time he gets the bucket in his hand, there’s hardly any water left in it.

So, seeing this for the first time, he said, “Oh, well, this is strange—but all I have to do is be quiet. So, I’ll just stay; I’ll be quiet.”

The Master takes that bucket, throws it back into the well, draws it, pulls it up—same thing. The man says, “This is really strange—and he’s done this twice. I’m sure that he can see this; that this bucket is so full of holes that not a drop of water is going to be saved—and he won’t be able to draw any. But my job is to just be quiet; I’ll be quiet.”

The Master throws the bucket in the third time—same thing. And by now the guy’s going, “I don’t know. You know, maybe this Master is not so sane; yeah, maybe he’s crazy. But—maybe all I have to do is be quiet.” So he stays quiet.

The fourth time, he throws the bucket in. Now the guy can’t stand it. And he goes, “Excuse me, sir. Don’t you see that this bucket is full of holes? This can’t hold a drop of water in it.”

And the Master said, “Listen, I had only asked you to observe, not to say a word. But you couldn’t. Your bucket is truly full of holes. You have come to me to learn, but how are you going to learn if you are so full of holes?”

Same thing—we have so many preconceived ideas about “who you are.” And I always say those three things now, “Know yourself; live your life consciously, and have your heart full of gratitude.” In knowing yourself, what do you understand? What do you see?

Do you see only your ideas? Or do you see a question mark, “I don’t know who I am”? Because for a lot of people it’s like, “Oh, yeah, I know who I am.” But who are you? Do you know it by definition—or do you know it by feeling? If you know it by definition, you don’t know yourself. If you know it by feeling, then you know yourself. Because knowing yourself is not a defined point; it is a feeling.

How does that feeling go? When you are in love with someone—and you see their face, is it a definition, “Oh, there goes my lover,” or is it a feeling? It’s a feeling.

Is love a definition or is love a feeling? When the mother sees her baby first thing in the morning, is it like, “Oh, there is my offspring.” Or is it a feeling?

Love is not a definition; love is a feeling. Knowing yourself is not a definition; it’s a feeling. And unless you have that feeling, you truly don’t know yourself.

So anyways, I hope you had a good laugh on that joke. If you didn’t, at least you have something to think about with the rest of what I said.

Know yourself; be well; be safe. Be. Thank you.