You go anywhere in the world, anywhere in the world—and so they have a pizza place. You can get pizza. So you go there and you read in the menu, “Pizza. Pizza Margherita.” So what does it say? It says “Pizza … Margherita.”

So you order Pizza Margherita—right? The spelling of the pizza is the same. The spelling of “Margherita” is the same. Even in Italy—“Pizza Margherita.” “Pizza” is spelled the same way. “Margherita” is spelled the same way. You go to India—“pizza” is spelled the same way. “Margherita” is spelled the same way.

You think they will taste the same?

There. That’s the difference. Just—what you read said the same thing. So why don’t they just taste the same?

You go to Italy, pizza tastes completely different than in New York, than in Chicago, than in Los Angles, than in Hawaii, than in Japan, than in Australia. And the spelling is exactly the same: “pizza.” How can this be?

Because that’s the difference between living and theory. Theory can say, “Yeah, it’s the same.” But living says, “No, it’s not the same.”

In your eyes, in your feeling a snowflake is a snowflake. Right? Snowflake is a snowflake. Look closer, and each snowflake is different.

And then have you ever seen a whole field just full of white snow—maybe two feet deep, just snow, snow, snow, snow—have you? Imagine how many snowflakes there are in that field. And now imagine, each one is different. Reality. Theory? “The field was covered with snow.”

Do you feel cold? There you are sitting in a beautiful 70-degree room; the fireplace is lit; you’re sitting next to it. You’re reading the book, and the book says, “And the field was covered with snow.” You don’t feel cold.

But! In reality, you will feel what is there. In reality, even if you do not acknowledge it, each one of those snowflakes is different than the other. And all the snow in the world, it is not repeated in those flakes.

Is that something to wonder, “Wow….” This is where I live. This is where I am; this is where I’m alive.

So, you know—really—in your, in one’s life, I really think you have to pick how do you want to live, how do you want to be? Because, if you want to be in reality, it’s one thing. If you don’t want to be in reality, it’s another thing.

And then to always know the difference—always know the difference. I can read the menu, but I can’t eat it—that if I am hungry, I have to eat food, not the menu. That’s sanity. That’s sanity.
– Prem Rawat