Lockdown with Prem Rawat – Day 20

“Each one of you was a child. That child is still here. When you get in touch with that simplicity, your reward is fulfillment.” — Prem Rawat


If you have questions you would like Prem to respond to, please send them to PremRawat.com (www.premrawat.com/engage/contact)

Audio

Prem Rawat:

Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all doing well, safe, and feeling well. What I’d like to talk to you today about, again, is very simple. Because that’s what we have to, in our lives, really come down to. Whatever the situation may be, simplicity will see you through it. Look at the simplicity of life; look at the simplicity of existence and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

In our lives, we sometimes don’t understand how important it is to have harmony in our existence, to be harmonious with everything that is around us, to be harmonious with this nature, to be harmonious with the people that we are around.

And most importantly, to be in harmony with ourselves, the harmony of our existence, the harmony of this breath coming in, filling us with life—the simple things, the beautifully simple things in life—you, your existence. Your want, put aside—but look at your needs, the simple needs to be fulfilled, to be in peace, to be in joy, to understand.

To question, but then to have the answer, too. To understand that all those answers, the ocean of answers, is within you. To query, “What is this,” but then to find the answer to what this is.

That understanding can only be if there is the profoundness of simplicity in your life, if you understand the rhythm of this joy, of this existence—that it comes, that you exist, that you want to thrive—you want to go beyond surviving; you want to thrive. That what it’s going to take is just that simple thing of simply being. To be, to exist, to see the harmony, to see it in the simplest of ways.

Not the complicated. We like the complicated—oh, we love the complicated. Because when it’s complicated, we feel challenged of, “What can we say; what can be the profound thing?”

You know, and one time I saw somebody who was talking about somebody’s past lifetime, “Oh, you were an elephant. Oh, you were a this; oh, you were a that.” Why are you going there? This is the life you have. Not that. That you had. This is the life you have. And what can you do in this life? What can you be in this life? Can you be simple? Can you see it with the eyes of a child?

What is that? And that is simply to see, to accept something without wondering, “What is it; what is it called? What is its function; what is its purpose?” That’s going to happen later—but there is that one stage where the child merely looks at something and accepts.

Many times I have seen this. You show the child the moon. You bring them out. You show; the night is there; they look up; they see the moon—they don’t know it’s called “the moon.” That’s the parents who go, “Moon”—they give it the name.

But without giving it the name, without anything else, the child is looking at it and appreciating its beauty, appreciating what it is, without having to know “How far it is, what the diameter of the moon is, what the circumference of this thing is, what is a moon; where did it come from”—all that happens later.

But the issue is, “Fine, it happens all later; later we get into all this stuff”—but what about that simplicity? I always ask that one question, “What happened to that child?” You were once that child—that child that was incredibly simple.

And for a lot of people, you know, they don’t see the profoundness of that. I do. To be able to see something for what it is, without having known its name, without having known its characteristics, without giving it a purpose, without giving it a this….

I mean, why does the moon look beautiful? Is it beautiful? Well, when it’s shining up in the sky, it does look beautiful. Why does it look beautiful? It doesn’t matter, so far it is.

Can that be me too? Do I have to give ten thousand different meanings to everything that happens in my life—or can I simply, simply accept, “I am. I exist”?

And can I accept my needs? I want to be in peace. I want to feel good. I want to be in joy. I want to be fulfilled. And a lot of people go, “You know, what is it that we’re going to get fulfilled by?” Somebody just recently asked me a question, you know, “What is peace…? What is peace?” Somebody—actually, many times people have asked me, “What is peace?”

Wow. Really, you want to know what peace is? You don’t want to feel it; you want to know what it is? What is sugar? What is chili; what is salt!? You know, you can give it a name: “Yes, it’s this; it’s this; it’s this.” Taste, taste it!

There is that story where there was this king—and he was sitting in his court and an ambassador came. And the ambassador said, “My king has sent you, as a gift, this fruit that comes from his kingdom.” And so the king that was sitting there going, “What is it?” He goes, “It’s a mango.”

Now, it just so happened that in their kingdom, they didn’t have this fruit. So he goes, “Well, what is a mango?” And somebody said, “Okay, let me go take a look at it.” So they went and looked at a mango. And they said, “Oh, sire, it’s this fruit and it looks like this,” you know, “and that’s what a mango is.” “But I don’t understand,” the king said, “what a mango is.”

So, then their man went and touched it and he goes, “Well, it feels like, you know, gooey-gooey.” And the king said, “I still don’t understand what a mango is.” Then somebody took a bite of it and said, “Oh, it’s really delicious; it’s sweet; it’s got this beautiful aroma,” and the king said, “I still don’t understand what a mango is.”

And finally, this kept going on and on and on and on and everybody was getting sick and tired of it—and then one courtier got up; he took a slice of that mango, put it on a plate, brought to the king and said, “Sire, taste it.” As soon as the king put it in his mouth, he said, “Now I know what the mango is. Thank you.” That’s the power of knowing.

And the power of believing? “More, more, more, believe in this; believe in this; believe in this; believe in this,” because it’s not knowing; it’s “believe, believe, believe.” Somebody is going to go out there and figure it out for you—and then put it in a pill and give it to you. And you’re going to take that pill and say, “Now, I think I know it now.”

But you don’t know. “And I just believe; I believe more of this; I believe more of this; I believe more of this, but I believe more of this,” and the belief goes on and on and on. And then there have to be people who will interpret that belief for you. And so there’s no shortage of interpreters.

And what do they do? They get up and they, you know, open the books. And they, it’s like, “Okay, let me tell you this as in this book, and it’s true because it’s written in this book and it’s not true because it’s written in that book, and it’s true in this….” And it’s like, on and on and on it goes.

But that’s what belief is all about; what is the power of knowing? What do you want in your life, beliefs or knowing? You want to know. And that is being in harmony with the self—not at odds, but being in the harmony with the self, the true harmony, to be in that rhythm.

Otherwise, what is life like? And I can tell you this; it’s like a band playing and one player is playing off beat. He’s completely somewhere else, playing off-key and off beat. Does that sound like your life sometimes, where the music isn’t making sense because somebody’s playing something else? It’s not in the same beat; it’s not in the same harmony.

This life needs to be in that harmony every single day. Every moment that you can be, you need to be in that harmony. With the times right now, that is challenging.

Because this is going, “What’s going to happen?” This is going, “What’s going to happen; when is this going to end? What is this; what is this; what is this; what is this?” And the heart is more interested in what happens every day: “You’re alive,” your life, your existence.

Understand what it means to be in that harmony. Understand how important it is for you to be in that harmony. Harmonize with this existence, for the time you have—for the time you have. And when this is gone, you won’t be able to harmonize. Will you want to? Yes, but would you be able to? No.

This is your chance; this is your opportunity to feel, to experience. And how beautiful that is, that you can do that; you can feel; you can feel peace; you can feel joy. You can feel the goodness of being alive, the goodness of who you are, the harmony, the understanding. And you know, that’s what it has to be. Not the complicated, but the simple.

And when you understand what that simplicity is—and how precious that simplicity is, then everything begins to change. Everything takes on a new meaning: “Wow. How do I capture today? Just be me”—and you will capture it. This is what you want. It’s always a good time, always a beautiful time because you understand what that means.

Not analytical, not through analysis, “Oh, there’s….” We need analysis; I’m not saying we don’t need analysis. We need analysis. And in this world, there are many things that need analysis.

But your existence is afoot. No point in analyzing “what this means, what that means.” Accept. Accept and understand—that you need to be in that simple harmony, in the simplest synchronicity with your existence, with this breath. As simple is it is, you need to become that simple; you need to become that real.

What is real? Not some philosophy that bounces between these two ears. No, no, no, no, no. What is simple; what is real—to you? It’s the coming and going of your breath, your existence. Your…. What is real is your desire for peace, your need for peace. What is real is your need to be fulfilled. What is real is your need to be in that simplicity.

What is real is to have that harmony in your life, your need to have that harmony in your life. To once again, see the world and to see yourself with the eyes of the child. I always say this, you know, “What happened to that child, do you think?” That child is still here. Each one of you, once upon a time, was a child. That child never died. That child is still there.

Get in touch with that child; get in touch with that simplicity; get in touch with that harmony; get in touch with that joy. And the reward for all that is fulfillment, is peace, is the beautiful stuff in life.

Be safe; be well. Be. Thank you.