Prem Rawat:
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. I hope you’re all well, safe—and healthy in this time of coronavirus.
So, I’d like to just talk a little bit about, you know, so much that I hear all day long that goes on—a lot of uncertainty, a lot of bad decisions being taken. On one hand, yes, all these things that are happening out there affect us; of course they do. And some of those bad decisions, of course, affect us.
Because you look at the United States; it’s number one now. For the wrong reasons, it’s number one. And when you look at the population of China versus the population of the United States, it’s a lot less than China. And they actually did fare better. (And just, yeah, I’m just looking at numbers, okay; I’m not looking at political situations.)
So, we have to make some decisions for ourselves. And what decisions are those that we have to make? Well, under the circumstances, I cannot guarantee many things. But I can guarantee one thing to myself—that I will feel well within me. This I can guarantee.
Because I can do something about that. I may not be able to do anything about coronavirus; I may not be able to do anything about the testing; I may not be able to do anything about a million other things, the economy, the this, the that. But whatever happens, wherever I end up, wherever the situations end up….
Because, you know, it’s not easy. And everybody would love to know; everybody would love to say, “Yeah, this is where it’ll be.” But it’s very difficult, because it’s just one mistake after another mistake after another mistake—and I’m sure they’re going to keep on making the mistakes.
But a long time ago, when the Arab Spring began and I was meeting some political figures—I was in Italy—and this lady I remember, she was very touched by everything that was going on with the Arab Spring. And she said, “How are people going to survive? How are people going to be okay? This is so bad.”
And I said, “That’s the only thing, ultimately, that ends up being okay—are the people. We have continued to be. Many regimes, many kings, many emperors have come and gone; many civilizations have come and gone, but ultimately, we have survived.”
And that’s a pretty big statement. You know, when you look at these mighty empires that have fallen—but people have gone on. And they have morphed; they have allowed themselves to exist.
So, what can I do? Well, first of all, I have to come from strength, not weakness. Because weakness is not going to allow me to see the possibilities that might exist at that point in time. And the second, most important thing—you have to be flexible.
Last night, this is what I was thinking about—it’s like, you see these trees. And there are trees that are very rigid; they don’t flex—and they break! They’re gone; they’re done. And those trees that are flexible in the wind, in the storm, survive—because they can flex, because they can bend, because they can move.
Now, of course, you know, the way we see ourselves is like, “Well, I’m not mobile; I am this—and this is who I am.” We want to see ourselves as a rock. But when that storm comes, that’s not the best thing to be. The best thing to be is to be flexible. Now, I’ll give you an example.
When I was in Brazil—of course, I left Spain and I flew to Brazil. And the reason why I left Spain is to go to Argentina—and then after Argentina, I was supposed to go to Uruguay. And everything was set—and we were going to do some events and, you know, “going to visit a prison and all that was going to be great.”
So I was looking forward to that. And I flew from Barcelona, flew to Brazil. And I was in Brazil. And then all of a sudden, (it was like, I think, the second day), I was supposed to go. And all of a sudden, it was like, “No, nobody’s coming into Argentina; it’s a lockdown.”
“Wow. What’s going to happen now? Can we go to Uruguay? Naah, I don’t want to go to Uruguay because I don’t want to do an event and have all these people coming to see me…. And that could really, you know, trigger a coronavirus thing. And so, you know, I don’t want that, the COVID-19; I don’t want that.”
So I decided not to go. “So, what am I going to do? Maybe they’ll lift this; maybe something will happen.”
And it was so frustrating. Because it was like, “Okay, let’s go to Africa then; let’s go to South Africa.” “No, you can’t go to South Africa,” because by the time they found out that, you know, we could go to South Africa, then the next day it came out, “You can’t go to South Africa because they’re going into a lockdown.”
And I was like, “Well, wait a minute. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” And then all of a sudden, I realized that the situation was so fluid—it was like water. It was just changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing, changing….
And you know, change is one of those things. Most people are afraid of a change. They don’t understand what that change is all about and so they’re like, “I don’t want to change. I don’t want things to change.”
Well, in that moment, believe me, I didn’t want things to change; I had a plan. And, you know, my plan involved a lot of things. It wasn’t just me. It was all the people in Argentina who were going to come and see me; it involved those people; it involved a whole crew that was going to go down there for the stage setup, for the microphone setup, for the audio, video, all that setup that needed to happen.
And then, all the permissions that had been gotten for the prison, for my visit there. So, it was just this huge preparation that was afoot. And they had been waiting for a very, very long time for me to come. But it’s like, “Okay, stop. Look at the situation. It’s not going according to your ‘plan,’ quote-unquote, ‘plan.’” What is that plan?
You know, we have a camera—and the camera is here. And this camera makes pictures. I didn’t say “takes” pictures, mind you; I said it “makes” pictures. So this camera up here makes pictures. And these pictures are very, very powerful. They are not to be underestimated—and they are the root reason why I have expectations, because of these pictures that are created here.
So, first, first, reaction, “Try to make it happen.” It’s not going to happen; it’s out of your control. The situation is so fluid, you’ve got to become like water.
Now, you know, when you’re packing and traveling, packing, you have to be very careful of liquids. Because even if you don’t tighten a cap completely tight, it will leak out—because that is the nature of liquid. It requires so little space; it is so fluid that it’ll take any opportunity that it gets and it’ll escape. It’ll go where it wants to go.
So, all of a sudden, it was like, “Wait a minute. Why am I fighting all this? Because what I really need to do is be as fluid as the situation requires. Then there is no problem.” Then there is absolutely no problem.
Now, as a pilot, we do this all the time. I mean, if there is a thunderstorm sitting on your airway, you don’t stress. You go, “I’m going to go around it.” You take a look at your radar, take a look at your satellite picture and make a, you know, good, informed decision of which way best to go around that.
You’ll take a look at the wind. And if the wind is blowing one way, you don’t want to go downwind of that thunderstorm. If you can, go upwind. And if you go downwind, you may have to go for quite a while to get around it.
And you make a good, informed decision. You know, see if you’re going to top it, not top it; “Do you need to go around?” And of course, it’s not a good idea to try to top it.
If it’s just a small thunderstorm, it doesn’t matter. But if it’s a big one, you know, and you lost an engine or something; you’re on top of it—then you have to go down? And what are you going to do? Because down below is something you don’t want to get into.
So, what you do is you go around, go around it. So, I realized, “I have to be fluid; I have to go—I have to work with this situation. The situation isn’t going to work with me; I have to work with it.” And then it just all started to make sense. It’s like, “Yeah. In my life, that’s the way it is. I have to be fluid.”
Now, easy enough said under these circumstances. But when these circumstances are not there, do I understand that I have to be fluid then, too?
Or am I just sitting there making pictures—this camera up here is making pictures, not taking pictures, making pictures—and these pictures are pretty powerful pictures. I want things to be a certain way—and that’s it! “If it doesn’t work out that way, it’s terrible.”
And, you know, so, there are people who are going to say, “Well, you know, the rich and the powerful, they have that picture and they work for it.” Yeah, some of the rich and powerful have destroyed their entire fortune because of that picture in their head. And it goes on every day. It goes on every day. The picture gets created. And then it’s like, “I will try to make it happen the way this picture is.”
But it’s not about that. It’s not about making that picture happen. There is something else that has already been created and taken—there is a picture that has already been taken. And that picture is your wellness, your safety, your strength, your courage. You see, that’s the whole thing.
Everybody in this world knows about all the negatives that you have in you. You know about those; no questions asked, you know about the anger; you know about the fear; you know about the doubt; you know about the uncertainty. Nobody in this world has to explain those to you.
But you don’t know about these other things that you have. And unfortunately, these other things are really, really powerful. Kindness—to yourself first. Because unless that kindness is working for you, you’re not going to be able to be kind to others.
I know you want to be kind to others, because that’s the doctrine that you have been preached. But the way it begins is first, that kindness has to be for you. First thing, the clarity, before you can put out any clarity for somebody else, that clarity has to be there for you!
Otherwise, if you are not able to see…. You know, what good does it do for a driver if everybody else can see fine, but the driver can’t see? How long is that bus ride going to last; how long is that car ride going to last? How long is it going to be that that flight is going to be safe, if the pilot cannot see but everybody else can see just fine?
So, and you know, this is the caution that they have for the oxygen masks: “If you have a baby or if you have a child, first put your mask on. Because if you pass out because of the lack of oxygen, you will never be able to help that little child.”
So, you have to have that clarity first—you have to have that kindness first; you have to have that understanding first—and then and then only will you be able to effect it for somebody else.
So, this is what it becomes; this is what it is all about. You, as a human being, have these traits; you have these strengths. But because, whatever—you know, maybe nobody taught you that you had these strengths. But you know you have them. Well, this is the time to use them.
And if you do, if you come with clarity, if you come with understanding, if you come, not with doubt, but just clear, then I don’t see a problem. In the long run of it, I don’t see a problem. You will be able to make steps—especially those pictures that get created in your mind, if you were to be able to put them aside.
It happens—I see it everywhere, everywhere! I mean, I give this as an example. And one time it was my grandson’s birthday, and we had gotten him some presents that we were saving for the later part of his birthday party. And we had gotten him some presents that he got to open before.
He comes to me and he goes, “That’s the worst birthday I have ever had.” And I’m like, “Whoa.” You know, and then when he opened his really neat presents, he was like, “Oh, no, okay, this is a good birthday.”
Where did that come from? Because he had something in his brain, in his mind, of how his birthday should be—and it wasn’t going according to that plan; it had changed.
You look at people who get married—and there used to be a whole show; it was called Bridezillas. And, you know, brides gone crazy because they have this idea of how the whole wedding should be—and it wasn’t going according to the plan.
So this camera that you have up there, makes some pretty powerful pictures. And then you try to weigh everything against that: “How is that; how is that; how is that; how is that; how is that?” And that’s how your world revolves.
So, even in these circumstances, it’s kind of a little bit funny. Because right now, you didn’t know what to expect, so this thing wasn’t really producing any kind of pictures. But now it slowly, as time wears on, starts producing pictures: “This is how it should be; this is how it should be; this is how it should be.”
You know, why can’t families come together and tolerate each other—because of the pictures! “I expect this of you; I expect this of you and I expect this of you,” and it’s all about expectations.
Put those aside and all of a sudden, you have a very fluid human being and you have a very fluid situation—that can move, that can change, that can go with it. And that’s who you are. This is your possibility. This is what you can be.
You don’t have to be this other being that is confused all the time, that is wondering and puzzled and bewildered and, you know, looking at anything of “where is that planet and where is this and where is that? And how does that work and how does that work and how does that…?” No, you don’t have to be that.
You can come from strength; you can come from clarity—and whatever the situation and whatever curveballs the situation throws at you, I want you to know that you have enough strength that you can tolerate any curveball coronavirus or anything throws at you. You can endure it; you can take care of yourself; you can be. You can be safe.
Of course, that’s between the two walls—that’s between the two walls, that’s the possibility. And your life, your existence should mean everything to you, because it is. It is the most precious gift, most beautiful gift that has been given to you, that already has been given to you—and you’re the caretaker.
How fortunate you are that you’re the caretaker of the most magnificent gift there ever can be—and it’s called “life.” It’s called “a human being”—that aspires to be free, that aspires to be content, that aspires to be in peace.
Be in peace. Be in joy. Fulfill those aspirations of the heart—and you too will see the value of life.
So, again, hope you feel good. Be safe and be well. And be. Thank you.