The Road To
PEACE
Colombia has been in an undeclared civil war for
over five decades with victims on both sides.
In recent years, the urgency for finding a path to
peace has become evident.
Is Peace
Possible?
Medellin, Colombia
Individual 1: [female, translated onscreen]
I’d say, yes, so long as people are more tolerant
regarding certain things and situations.
Individual 2: [male, translated onscreen]
Yes, of course. We just have to do our part
and maintain responsibility for our actions
in everything we do and I think
everyone can have their own peace.
Definitely.
Individual 3: [male, translated onscreen]
Yes, it’s possible.
Individual 4: [female]
I don’t, no.
Because there are lots of problems in society
and every time it’s worse, every time
ambitions are worse and
that’s something I see as difficult.
Do I think it can be controlled?
Perhaps. But to achieve it
one hundred percent? No.
Individual 3: [male]
I think it’s possible if we all coordinate
as a community, independently.
That will make all the difference.
Onscreen text:
The Colombian government is currently involved in one of the
largest peace efforts in history. As part of the 2016 treaty,
they will give amnesty to fighters who leave the conflict
and complete a reincorporation program.
Prem Rawat:
What an opportunity this is, at least, for me, to be able to come to Colombia. And to be able to talk about this beautiful chance, as Colombia tries to rebuild itself to a point where there can be peace.
Onscreen text:
In 2017, Prem Rawat visited Medellin, Colombia to meet
one-on-one with program participants and to give the
keynote address at a Peace Forum.
Onscreen text:
Yenifer Quintero
Victim/Student, Institución Educativa Pedro Nel Ospina
Ituango
Yenifer Quintero: [translated]
I wanted to talk to you. I had a chance to do the Peace Education Program. And that helped me a lot, to see you and to hear you. I want to learn a lot of beautiful things. Because I was a direct victim of violence.
And so, over there where I’m from, you see that a lot more. And this has helped me so much in my own personal effort to overcome what I had been subject to. And it’s such a great opportunity to be able to meet you.
Onscreen text:
COLOMBIA
Martha Elena Pineda
PEP Contact for Colombia
Martha Elena Pineda:
Prem Rawat came to Medellín. There he met with the Secretary of Education of the government of Antioquia and signed this agreement to bring PEP to 500 schools of the small towns that surround the big city of Medellín.
The visit from Prem Rawat really helped us spread the PEP program, because when other governors and other Secretaries of Education found out what we did in Antioquia, they wanted to do the same.
Now there are two, one of them is Huila, and the other is Atlántico.
Onscreen text:
ANA ZAPATA
Secretariat of Education – Atlántico, Colombia
Ana Zapata:
This is a very important program. It would have an effect from now on and onwards on the future of our children and adolescents in Colombia.
Onscreen text:
SEBASTIÁN RODRIGUEZ
Student – Atlántico, Colombia
Sebastián Rodriguez:
In order for us to have peace in the world we all need to start with ourselves. I would like to thank Mr. Prem Rawat and all the other people that are behind this program. You all have changed our lives with this program; it has helped us become better people every day.
Onscreen text:
ARIANDI MIRANDA MONQUER
Student – Atlántico, Colombia
Ariandi Miranda Monquer:
This program has shown me that I’m an important human being, and that I’m a valuable person. I want to say to all of you out there that you are all valuable people, that you should look for your inner peace, beauty, and the light from within, so it can reflect outward.
Onscreen text:
Silvia Gonzalez
Teacher – Atlántico, Colombia
Silvia Gonzalez:
Students who have had the opportunity to attend the Peace Education Program have a positive attitude change. Now we share more, we dialogue more. The school climate has changed remarkably in the institution.
Onscreen text:
VALENTINA MENDOZA
Student – Atlántico, Colombia
Valentina Mendoza:
It’s very inspiring and it’s really useful as it helps us find inner peace, and helping others to do so, too.
Class in unison:
Thank you, Prem Rawat, we are connected with peace!
Onscreen text:
On Finding
Fulfillment
Medellin, Colombia
Prem Rawat:
Today, you have come here to listen about peace. People come to me, “Yes, we want peace. How do we find peace?” So I say to them, “You don’t need to find peace.”
“You don’t need to find peace?”
You came here for peace, right—to hear about peace? Because you’re interested in peace? Would you like to have peace? [Audience: Yes.] Would you like to—would you like me to tell you an easy formula to have peace every day? [Individuals: Please! Yes. I’d like that.] Would you like that? [Audience: Yes. We’d like to have this, please.]
A formula that doesn’t require any exercise, no dieting, no going places, easy to remember—yes? Quick? Yes? [Audience: Yes!] Don’t worry, I can do that. I can do that. It’s very simple. The peace you are looking for is in you.
My friends, the thirsty one is walking the desert and dying of thirst, the one who has in him and her, an ocean of the sweetest, most beautiful water within. The question is, “Will this traveler die of thirst?” And the answer is, “It’s up to him. It’s up to her.” Why?
Somebody said, “That there is a drop in the ocean—there is a drop in the ocean, everyone knows.” Right? “But, ‘There is an ocean in the drop,’ very few understand.”
You are the drop. You are the drop in which there is an ocean. And this ocean is of the sweetest water—not salty water—sweetest water. And when this person is going to die of thirst, what should I tell him or her? What should I say? What should I say? What should I say? What should I say?!
What should I say? “Goodbye; hope your death is not too painful”? Or should I ask him or her, “What are you doing? Why are you not drinking the water that is within you, and satisfying and quenching your thirst?”
You have a thousand questions; I have a few. You have a thousand questions, but I have a few—and my few questions can answer your thousand questions.
Because my question to you is very simple: “When an ocean of joy exists within you, why are you sad? When an ocean of clarity exists within you, why are you confused? When the lamp is lit inside of you, why do you live in darkness? Why? When there is an ocean of hope in you, why do you live in despair? When there is unlimited wealth inside of you, why do you feel poor? Why? Why?”
That’s my question to you. That’s my question to you. Answer me—and you will answer your own questions. Because this existence is a blessing. It’s a blessing! It’s a blessing—the ultimate blessing. It’s the ultimate gift. And it’s been given to you!
So let me ask you, (again, one of my questions), “Are you something?—or nothing?” You answer my question—and you will answer your thousand questions. Because, the answer, you know. You know that so far life comes in you….
And what is this thing called life? What is this thing that keeps you alive—have you ever thought of it? The same thing that has created the universe, and universes. You cannot even begin to fathom…. You cannot even begin to fathom what that Divine is—but that Divine is what keeps everything going, including you.
So, how much is this worth? As much as what’s within it. What is within it? The infinite is within it. This is the drop that has, what in it? The ocean.
The laws of physics are broken. “Something big can hold something small; something small cannot hold something bigger than it.” But here it does. In the confines of this is the ocean of hope—because of that beauty that resides in your heart.
So, people say, “What is a heart? Where is it? Where is it?” So, the place where courage in you resides is called “the heart”—the courage. The place where clarity in you resides is called the heart. And the place where hope in you resides is called the heart—and the place where the Divine in you resides is called the heart. That’s your heart. Where is it? In you.
So, when I say you are blessed, I mean it. If you haven’t found the Divine in you, what is the point in pointing up? If you cannot see the Divine that resides in your heart, how will you see the Divine that resides in the universe—how?
If you cannot understand what your heart knows, how are you going to be able to understand? By trying to search, by trying to go places, by trying to find what is within you, what is inside, how will you find it out there if you haven’t found it in here?
So, let’s see. We were talking about peace, right? And I said, “There’s a simple answer to finding peace,” did I not? See? “In you. In you. In you. In you. In you.”
So far you are here, your heaven is here; your hell is here. What is heaven? Heaven is that place where you are fulfilled. What is hell? When you are not in heaven. Simple. What does heaven feel like? It feels heavenly. And when you are not feeling fulfilled, quenched, in that hope, in that joy? You’re in hell.
Simple as that. So, it’s in you; it’s in you; it’s in you; it’s in you.
Onscreen text:
© TimelessToday. All Rights Reserved.
Video content courtesy of
The Prem Rawat Foundation
Creative Commons
Attribution
International Crisis Group
Notimex TV