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Why peace?
The world will tell you, "This is what the world needs.
This is what the world needs. This is what the world needs."
But 7 billion people on the face of this earth
are crying out for one thing and one thing alone ñ and that is peace.
And peace is not the absence of war.
Words of Peace Global
I travel, not because I like to travel.
I travel so I can say this:
"What you are looking for is inside of you.
And you should be in peace."
Prem Rawat has been traveling for 40 years,
inspiring people around the world to find peace within.
Buenos dias. Shalom. Buongiorno. Guten tag. Bon soir, Montreal.
I go and I talk to people.
And I present them with the possibility of themselves.
Discover the peace that lies within you.
The Quest for Fulfillment
This is about you.
You,
feeling that feeling.
Itís about you
enjoying your existence
because you recognize how rich you are.
My name is Jeff Hart and Iím a swimmer.
I have swam internationally in Australia
and competed internationally here in America.
Iíve been swimming since college on a Masters Swim Team
and there Iíve broken 3 American records and 2 world records.
I was about a half a second away from making Olympic trials.
I ended up promoting to beach life guarding
and thatís what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I can hold my breath for up to 2 1/2 minutes which helps me with life guarding.
It keeps me in shape, Iím making a difference,
Iím saving peopleís lives,
it keeps me motivated, it keeps my void filled.
When I wake up, go swim in the morning
I just feel at peace, I feel at harmony.
In our lives we need inspiration
so that we can do those things
that make the most of this lifetime.
Make the most of being here.
That something that gives meaning
to being here,
being alive.
These are the driving engines
that are going to inspire me to enjoy myself.
This is about you.
Just you, your journey, your existence,
your heart, your contentment.
When you are content, all those attributes that the society wants
happen naturally.
When you are content, those around you take notice.
Long time ago, I was traveling through India,
they had packed a lunch for me
and I was hungry, had a great lunch,
in a car ñ driving, driving ñ then realized there was no water packed.
You know, something is always forgotten out of the cooler.
If there are soft drinks in the cooler, the bottle opener is forgotten.
If the bottle opener is there, the soft drinks are forgotten.
So the water was forgotten.
And to this day ñ this is over 40 years ago.
To this day I remember this personís face.
He was a little farmer on the side of the road
and by hand he was pulling the water up and watering his fields,
and we went up to him and said, "You think we could have some water?"
And he said, "Of course."
And he said, "You know...
I donít have much of a house, its just a little hut,
but Iíve got some bread and Iíve got some pickles.
Would you like to come and eat?"
And I looked at him and I said to myself,
"Who taught him these manners?"
And then I realized, it wasnít manners.
It was this beautiful sweet gift that everyone has been given
called humanity.
To understand the value of humanity.
To provide each other with dignity.
To provide each other
that space to pursue happiness,
to pursue peace.
People who want to make a difference, my hats of to you.
I salute you because you want to make a difference.
And the fact that you can make a difference
is absolutely the evidence
that goodness has not died out.
That you want to make a difference.
You care!
Iíve definitely had certain experiences.
One recent was probably the most difficult decision Iíve ever had to make.
I was life guarding down in the harbor,
I was on the rescue boat,
and I went to go check on a wind-surfer and he was floating face-up lifeless,
and I was by myself on the boat
and I had pretty much no idea what to do.
I grabbed him but I couldnít pull him in the boat
and I was by myself so I couldnít ditch the boat
and even if I did, that was our life raft,
like, what am I going to do in the water with him?
So I pretty much got on the radio with one hand and called for backup.
But I knew backup was going to take at least 5 minutes to get there.
So it was a difficult decision and I was just holding him for 5 minutes
waiting for somebody else to get there, not being able to do anything.
Fire department ended up getting there, they were able to find a pulse on him.
We're able to get him back on pulse but heíd been out for so long,
last I heard he was still in a coma.
I felt that I did the best I could and you know,
weíre faced with those difficult decisions every day.
And it was hard but just makes me stronger and I know that I can do this job.
It furthers my passion for being a life-guard
because I know I can do this and make a difference.
Iím not sure what my purpose in life is.
I know thereís certain things that can be purposeful in my life,
for example lifeguarding. I feel Iím really contributing to the community
and to the public safety
and some people could classify that as having a purpose ñ I just love to do it.
Success comes from your heart
as peace comes from your heart.
Not from here.
Not from your intellect.
You must understand what this is for.
This can teach you how to cook.
This can teach you how to drive, this can teach you how to fly.
This can teach you how to ride a bike.
But the true fulfillment
this cannot give you.
This can give you more desires
but the true fulfillment only comes
from within the depths of your being.
And this is the place from within you
that the peace needs to emanate.
We become philosophical about peace.
Peace is not a philosophy. Peace is a feeling.
One, two, three, four.
My name is Preston Walker and I am a musician I guess.
Iíve pretty much been playing music at least this semester in school
at all times of the day that Iím not in class or studying.
Everything that happens that I do is done on a background of music.
For me, when I listen to or play music that is coming from an emotional place,
it just is like a higher feeling,
itís like different in a better way.
So thatís usually what leads me to sit down at the piano or on guitar,
itís just like a feeling that I need to get.
somehow harness and like put into an understandable thing.
A lot of my writing is based on me trying to understand my world.
"Now Iíve learned to keep my heart..."
Iíve been listening to my dad play various classical and jazz arrangements
since I was in the womb. Itís always been a part of my life.
"Yes for all my silence Iíll know where Iím from..."
I love your stories
Family is something thatís unchanging, unchangingly amazing.
Itís such a consistent source of love, or just emotion in general.
So thatís almost like a go to place ñ the most common inspiration.
The last time that I played a live show was at the Whiskey a Go Go
with this band that Iím in now ñ Alphabet.
And when we started playing, there was something like around here up to my face,
actually inside my body... it must have been adrenaline rush, itís not an original.
Iím sure it was just adrenaline rush but it was like,
"What is going on right now?"
There is something happening, that I donít know,
I donít know what it means but this is amazing and I just...
it was like I was going to burst.
Just the feeling of being a part of that music
and where thatís happening and Iím looking at the audience and...
I feel like thereís something brewing inside.
I donít want to sound cheesy but, inside my soul,
I just want to rain that on people.
Just wanted to shower down on people.
What is a guitar? What is a flute?
What is a drum?
You hear somebody play the flute
and if they donít have that passion it will not be expressed.
If there is frustration,
then the frustration is whatís going to come out.
For the passion to happen,
for this life to be a representative of that passion,
the passion has to be inside.
You have to be in touch
with that beauty that is inside of you.
But the question really is,
"Do you, as a human being on the face of this earth
for a limited period of time,
have peace in your life?"
Imagine, if you will, a guitar
that is beautifully crafted,
mother-of-pearl inlays,
gold knobs for tuning,
the most exquisite wood,
but no strings.
What can you do with this guitar?
You can play it like a drum, hit somebody over the head.
Use it as a table.
Letís see, what all could you do with this guitar?
You could sit on it, if itís not too delicate.
You could definitely beat out a rhythm.
If somebody was trying to steal your luggage you could hit ëem over the head.
Well, basically, you can do anything you want to do with this guitar,
anything you want to do with this guitar, save one!
And you know what that is?
Play it.
If it doesnít have the strings,
thatís the thing you cannot do. Everything else, you can do.
But for everything else, this wasnít made. It was made to be played.
And thatís how it is, that without peace, we can do all the other things.
But in a way,
is that what we were made for?
Is that the reason that we are here for?
Is that not our potential?
To experience peace?
Could you play that guitar if it had finger smudges on it?
So far it had the strings, of course.
Could you play that guitar
if it didnít look all shiny?
Of course.
Because its beauty,
its purpose gets completed when that twang
of the perfectly tuned strings
ñ and the fingers roll across those bars, as the strings are strummed ñ
and music,
music is played.
The smile,
your being, your gratitude, is your music.
And then comes the most incredible part
and the most incredible part is enjoying that music.
That is something that takes place inside of you.
You are the machine that can enjoy.
You are that house
in which that power dwells.
You are that house
in which everyday
the blessing of life comes.
Iím Phyllis Muldavin.
Iíve been an art teacher for 40 some years and an artist,
and Iíve just retired.
My early beginnings were actually near James Bay
where we had no roads or anything into that town.
I came from a remote area and gradually moved south.
I think a combination of living in those kind of remote areas near nature,
that, first of all that touched me deeply
and then every summer my mom and dad
would send me down to Ottawa to stay with my grandparents.
So they would take me to museums and art galleries.
That had a profound effect.
When I finally did graduate and get my degrees,
I began teaching as an art teacher,
so I had hundreds of children all the time.
Not children, young people mainly at a community college
and that became really fulfilling for me
to see not only was I working and developing my dream
but I was passing onto them a love of who they were already.
And if they could get in touch with their own center they could develop something
unique to themselves.
And so I think Iím part of the human race
and what Iím doing here exercising my freedom,
in this particular part of the world,
is I get the freedom to paint and to say what I think
and I guess I want to give back. I want to give something.
So I see two sides of it.
I see that it doesnít matter at all,
and the other side is, it matters a great deal.
So I just live between... right on the edge of both.
Thereís a great satisfaction into doing that
because not only have you had these ephemeral thoughts
but now youíve created form from them.
Thatís fun. I would think people who build buildings must have this,
great photographers who create a great picture and develop it
must have this feeling of, "Wow, I did that.'
And the more they do it, the more exciting it is.
Maybe exciting isnít the word but must be satisfying
that theyíre completing some reason for them being here.
I guess I think, in a childlike way,
that the more of those moments I have would be fulfillment.
But it could be that it just takes one.
Maybe it will just be before I leave this world
that Iíll have a great moment of fulfillment and that would be enough.
I will not want to leave the planet till I know more about that.
So maybe thatís part of my quest is to learn, to be open to life.
If each one of us can be that lamp that is lit.
lit with knowledge, lit with understanding,
lit with clarity
then we hold in us the potential
to light unlimited amounts of unlit lamps.
Thatís the possibility.
Thatís the possibility.
One lit lamp,
one lit lamp can light countless unlit lamps.
So,
not only that it is possible but it begins with you.
The search within you in your heart
about the possibility of peace.
You have to take that first step and that first step is
to begin to have access to you, to your heart,
because it is in the depths of the heart that lies the thirst
that will lead you to the well.
Thirsty can understand the value of water,
hungry can understand the value of food,
and you need to feel that thirst in your life that dwells inside of you.
Your life,
your existence,
means something to you.
That is important.
We see all the bad things that happened to us because we are alive
and we fail to see the goodness of this breath
coming inside of us.
We obviously see all the needs and all the problems that we have in our lives
but we do not see the beauty,
the joy of what it means to be alive.
Look within you and find your thirst, look within you and find your quest,
look within you and find what it is that you want.
Thatís what you got to get to.
And not from looking outside will you find it.
Only when you really and truly learn to turn within
will you even begin to see in the right direction.
And if you want to begin your "search",
then search no more. Find.
Because what youíre looking for has an address.
And in English, itís in three letters.
Y, O, U.
You.
You.
Thatís where it begins.
Excerpts of Prem Rawatís presentations taken from:
Special thanks to: