1. Perspectives
I travel a lot, and I
have to cross
borders. Some
days, I go through
three or four
immigrations
checks. Someone
asks me, “How
long are you going to be here?” “Just a few hours.” “What
are you going to do?” “I’m just coming to speak.” He has
to look at me and look at the passport and say, “Okay.
That’s you.” But I am me. This is somehow to verify. There
is some practicality to it, but couldn’t it be another way?
Where my integrity is intact not because I have a little
piece of paper saying I’m really me? But that’s how it is.
When you go to school, you are tested on the subjects
somebody else has decided you should know, not on what
you do know. And if you know everything else except
what this person thinks you should know, you fail. Maybe
you just forgot one thing, but you have to prove to
someone that you know it.
It seems we live in a world that is diametrically opposed
to the integrity of just one individual who desires to be
2. fulfilled. I remind people: what you are looking for is
inside of you. If you need somebody to hold up a mirror,
this is what I do, not define how you should look.
What qualifies me? Well, I don’t have a rubber stamp. I
started when I was very young. My feeling was, “Maybe I
can bring some happiness, some joy to people.” My
perspective is very down to earth and simple: One, you
are alive. This is the best news you will ever receive.
Secondly, you didn’t come with a manual, but one was
built into you. No need to have a printed manual when
within you has been placed the want to be fulfilled. Can
this want be fulfilled? Yes. So you are alive, the want has
been placed within you, and the wish that you carry
within can be fulfilled. What’s the problem?
Perspectives. Why
has the most
fundamental need
of fulfillment been
so drastically
changed to, “It’s
not possible”?
People don’t
address their needs; they address their ideas. And today,
ideas have become more important than our needs.
3. It begins with every individual. No world leader is going
to come, shake your hand, and “ta-da,” it’s done. No. The
next time you look in the mirror, understand that lighting
this world begins with one candle—you.
This world is said to be an illusion. The illusion is “me and
mine, you and yours.” The problem with illusion is it
looks so real that you can’t point out what is fake. For all
those people who perform magic, what is the key to their
illusion? Distraction. They have to distract you. You look
over there while they do the switch here. So, in your life,
are you distracted? Oh, yes.
If you have never understood the value of breath, you’ve
been living in a state of distraction—the greatest illusion.
You came, and all too soon, it will be time to go. When you
were young, the clock ran slow. Every five minutes, you
asked, “Are we there yet?” Then, as you get older and
older, whoosh, another year is gone. I know that time
doesn’t change; it is our perception of time that has
changed.
Here’s a little story about that. Once there was a man who
prayed and prayed to God. And one day, God appeared.
“You’ve been praying to me. What do you want?”
The man was shocked, but he had some questions. “God,
How long is your day?”
4. God replied, “Well,
actually, millions of
your years are but
a second to me.”
“So God, how
much wealth do
you have?”
God said, “If you
took all the wealth in the universe and multiplied it
millions and millions of times, that would be just one cent
to me. Anything else?”
So the man said, “God, could I have a cent?”
And God said, “Just a minute…”
The want, the wish, the perspective of time. Do you know
that you live on the most special place in this galaxy—the
most amazing planet around? And, amongst all the
creatures that exist on this earth, you are included. All that
looking here and there is the distraction. Look within you.
Understand the pulse of your existence. Understand what
you’re about. Understand your thirst. Enjoy that feeling
you have inside of you. Live your life fulfilled, not in some
idea but in reality. You will find the reality of this life to be
extremely beautiful.
Prem Rawat