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Peace Is Within You

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In a lively interview with Spanish journalist Eva M. Peña of Business & Class magazine, Prem Rawat responds to questions like, “If peace is within each person, why are human beings constantly struggling?” and “What do you consider to be the worst ‘evils’ of the twenty-first century?”

Eva M. Peña, a Spanish journalist, interviewed Prem Rawat for Spain’s Business & Class magazine on April 27, 2006. 

You live to spread the message that peace can be found, but what is peace?
There are many interpretations of peace. Some people think peace is the absence of war; some think peace is the absence of sound. But there is another kind of peace, which is inherently within every human being. People have known about this peace for a very, very long time, but in today’s world, it is even more important to be in touch with the peace that is inside every human being.
If peace is within each person, why are human beings constantly struggling?

We are so geared to look for solutions outside us, that when it comes to peace, we look for it on the outside as well. It’s a bit like somebody who has a gold mine under their house but doesn’t know it. Maybe they beg all day long and they suffer, but the solution is so close to them and so simple. If they could find a way to access the gold mine under their house, they would never have to beg again. People struggle because they cannot find the peace within them. That is my message: Peace is within you. And not only that, I offer a way to be able to get in touch with that peace.

Do you think that man is often his own worst enemy?
It is true that the wars that rage on within a human being can be terrible. But if man is his own worst enemy, then he is also his own best friend. When you know yourself, you become your best friend. When you don’t know yourself, you become your worst enemy.
Why, in your view, are so many politicians ready to go to war with those who don’t see things as they do?
Because mankind does not see peace as a solution. People look at all the problems of the world and think that war is the solution. Peace has been talked about but never applied. It has become one of the things we like to discuss over dinner. Yet, when it comes to the practicality of it, it remains a theory, an abstract concept, because people have not found it. But peace is not abstract. It’s very, very real. And it’s within every single human being. That is why I am able to take my message of peace to people who are in prison and to people who are in the middle of a battlefield. Even in those incredible circumstances, people can find that beautiful feeling inside of them.

People tend to do whatever they think is the easiest. Wars are easy to begin. Peace takes a truly cohesive effort. But make no mistake about it, peace has been an ideal of mankind from time immemorial.

What do you consider to be the worst ”evils” of the twenty-first century?

I believe the worst evils of the twenty-first century are the same as they have always been — not being able to understand one’s self, not being able to understand what we are all about. Those become the worst evils because they cause us to distance ourselves from our true nature. Our nature is not war. It is peace. When we are in turmoil, we naturally want to get out of it.

Sometimes you see pictures of places where disasters have occurred, and people are leaving. They want to get away. We don’t like turmoil. We like it when it’s nice, when it’s peaceful. So many people are involved in doing things that hurt others. There are people who go hungry, who go without shelter. They suffer and struggle. All I can say is that if we understood our truest nature, we would understand that compassion is part of it.

Peace is in our nature. If we understood that, we would make things happen that would actually help each other. We would work towards eradicating these problems. We think that external technology is more important. So we don’t develop the technology for peace. We don’t develop the technology to help people not go hungry. We develop the technology to kill each other because we do not understand who we truly are.
Do you believe that mankind might be afraid of freedom?
If we were afraid of freedom, all hope would start to dwindle away. Freedom is a call from inside. And that we cannot be afraid of. Maybe there are concepts of what freedom is. Somebody might say, “If I can do this or that, I am free.” But even if they can do these things, do they really feel free from the inside? You cannot deny what you feel. If you are hurt, saying that you are not does not take away your pain. Freedom is not just a concept. You really have to feel free. We can definitely be afraid of conceptual freedom, but we cannot be afraid of the real freedom that we want to feel.

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Precisely how does your method for finding peace help people? What makes it different and better than other methods?
A lot of people talk about conceptual peace. There are people who say that if you go and live in the mountains, you will find peace. Or if you sit down and be quiet, you will find peace. If you read a book or chant these words, you will find peace. But there is a peace within you, and for that you have to be able to take your focus from the outside and put it on the inside to truly feel peace.

It’s just like when you are thirsty. You can imagine drinking water. You can imagine the glass, the coolness, the clarity, and the sweetness of the water. But all this imagining is not going to take away your thirst. You need to drink the water. Once you have found the water, you don’t have to imagine drinking it. What I offer is a practical means to be able to feel that peace within.

There are a lot of people offering a lot of things, and I’m sure that people are helped by them. And people are also helped by what I am offering. I tell people: Search. And if you don’t find what you are looking for, I am available to help you. So I’m not saying I am the only one — only that if you don’t find it, I am here.

My message is different because it is not about ideas. It is about feeling. Concepts and ideas have their place. It is okay for a family to discuss what they’re going to have for dinner. It just cannot stay at the discussion stage. Somebody has to cook, and those who are hungry have to eat because the discussion is not going to take away the hunger. What I offer is something to take away the hunger.
How is it possible for people who have suffered the effects of violence to make a fresh start? Do you believe forgiveness is possible? If so, how?
I think that when the ideals of people are greater than the sum of all the bad that has happened to them, they rise above their anger, above their fear, to a place that can bring them true peace and tranquility. When people have a vision of hope — not of struggle, or violence, or suffering, but of hope for a better life — they can rise above anything because that is also our nature. We fear what we do not know. We love that which comes from deep within us, something that comes from our heart. Forgiveness has to come from the heart. And peace has to come from the heart. So many people have been hurt, and so much violence has happened. It is going to take incredible ideals. It’s going to take a clear vision of peace for people to rise above their anger. And yes, I think forgiveness is possible.

It is incumbent upon all of us to move toward that vision of peace. If we leave it to one person, it’s not going to happen. We must all play our part in rising to the occasion and fulfilling the dreams we have.
Do you think happiness can be attained?
Each person is born with an infinite mine of happiness. Inside of us, we have incredible sadness and incredible happiness. It depends on what the catalyst is. Light a candle, and it will bring light. If you light gasoline, it will make big flames and possibly bring danger. The catalyst for true happiness is inside us. And the catalyst for incredible confusion and sadness is also within us. Ignorance will bring sadness; knowledge will bring joy and happiness. That’s what we need to understand. We look for these catalysts on the outside, while we need to look for them within.
Thank you very much. It’s been a great pleasure to talk with you.

Thank you.
 

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