Prem Rawat

You know, if everybody is fine suffering—why have hope? If you are quite bickering with each other—fear, jealousy, everything…?

There is a fundamental question: Is greed … normal to a human being? It’s a very important question. “Is greed normal to a human being?” So here is the answer. “Up to a certain point, but it’s limited.”

Food, you can only eat so much. After that you will stop. And if others come to eat, you will have no problem. Water, same way. You cannot drink too much water! You cannot drink too much water—after you’re satisfied, your thirst is gone, you will be happy to leave, and let other people come and enjoy the water.

But today the greed for the fame and the wealth has become so significant—and why? I’ll tell you why. I call it the “Bolly-Holly dreams.” (That’s Bollywood and Hollywood.) They are the dream-makers. They are the dream-makers!

They are the ones who say, “You are not pretty because you don’t look like Beyoncé. You don’t sing so well, because you don’t sing like Beyoncé.

“And this is the dream you should have—your house should look like this. And your clothes should look like this. And you should be doing this.” And you go, “Ah-hah, yeah, that’s what I should have; that’s how I should be. I want to look like Beyoncé.”

No. No. No. No. No-no-no-no-no. If you know yourself, if you really understand yourself, you will go, “How come Beyoncé doesn’t look like me?”

You see, you have to ask yourself, “Do you live for yourself or do you live for other people?” All you young kids in here, do you live for yourself, or do you live for your friends? All day long, aren’t you concerned of what your friends are going to think of you?

You want to be socially accepted. You want to be cool! But if you understand, you are so cool—you are so cool—that they should join you, not you join them!You, you are beautiful. You are intelligent. You are full of kindness.

“Know thy self.” Know who you are. Without that, you are lost. If you do not knowwho you are, you will never know what your possibilities are, what you are capable of achieving, who you are, what pains you, what brings you joy, what brings you sorrow, what brings you clarity, what brings you knowledge—you will never know!

You will never know! Do you really want to live your life in confusion? In pain? In suffering? Do you? [Audience: No!] You don’t look good when you are suffering.

I say this to people—I say, have you just heard anybody going to a temple, a synagogue, a mosque, a church, and praying to God, “God, I am too happy. I have been happy for too long. Please take away some of my happiness”—have you? Does anybody go do that?

But what do people do who go there? “I am sad. And this sadness, please take it away. This misery, please take it away.” What does that tell you? We don’t likemisery. We like joy! We like happiness! We like contentment!

Now, the question becomes, “What do you do for the joy?” What do you do for the joy? Do you allow your problems to affect you? Do you allow your problems to affect you? Do you? Your problems come. Do they affect you? They shouldn’t! They shouldn’t.

But if you don’t want the problems to affect you, you will have to live your life consciously.

-Prem Rawat