Congratulations, you are alive. Here you are. Once, you weren’t here. And one day, you won’t be. All your drama and trauma, all your ideas, all the things you like and don’t like, all the things that happen that you judge your life by are but a dream. Just a dream. Dreams are not to be taken lightly, but they are dreams.

In the middle of all these dreams, there is a place within you where you can truly be awake. In that awakening, there is no judgment. There aren’t issues of good and bad, right and wrong. You are not judged. There are no yardsticks and no races. Nobody is standing there saying, “You won” or “You lost.” Just a beautiful reality that you are alive.

You have the ability to understand, to know, to admire. These are your qualities. You have the ability to get angry and the ability to be calm. You have the ability to be in turmoil and the ability to be in peace. Which do you use the most? Frustration. Anger. Disappointment.

Once in awhile, you actually find yourself happy. When you are, it is such a big deal that you think about it for years to come. And when you get older and your short‑term memory goes, you will say, “I remember when I was there. Oh, that was so beautiful.”

You have some other qualities: You can appreciate this existence. You can truly be happy in a timeless way—no camera needed, no special circumstances required. You can be in the joy that springs from your heart every single day.

Most people are trying to understand their mind. People have been trying to do that for an extremely long time. And they never will. They write books and say beautiful things, but it is like having a garden that looks spectacular though every flower is made out of paper and every tree is plastic. The grass is fake, so you don’t ever have to cut it.

The disadvantage is that flowers don’t bloom there and spring never comes. Bees never fly, no flower has a beautiful aroma, and the trees do not sway in the wind. Even though it all looks pretty, it is static—as in dead.

That is why it is so important to have a living experience. Living. Breathing. Existing. Feeling. Thinking. Understanding. Knowing. That’s what is real.

What does your garden look like? Have you smelled the flowers? Have you ever seen a bee? Are there birds in the trees? Is there a season when it looks fine and you are content?

People get used to being frustrated. They get used to being mad, upset. They say, “That’s life. Good times, bad times—it’s all okay.” What is okay? Me being lost? Me ignoring my own nature? Me being away from myself? Me not recognizing myself?

That’s why every one of us needs so desperately to understand that there can be no compromises, that an effort needs to be made every single day to see, to feel what we have been given—from the heart, from our very basic being.

Know that a time will come when all that you rely on will slowly fade away. What will remain? You. You will still be able to experience, but erosion is afoot. It happens so slowly you don’t notice it, but it’s afoot. Every day, every second, it marches on, but above it floats a beautiful reality that is timeless. You are alive. And till the day you are alive no more, you can go inside and feel happiness; you can feel joy.

There is hope. Your heart is knocking on the door. Open up. Feel, see, understand, realize, know. Be in that joy, be in that feeling every moment. Understand the beauty of the possibility to feel clarity, to feel gratitude, to be thankful to be alive. I’m here to remind you: don’t wait. Wake up. See, feel, admire, be a part of your existence.

Prem Rawat

The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) recently held its ninth and tenth eye clinics for India’s poor and received high praise from attending physicians.

Over six days, doctors provided consultations and supplies to more than 3,400 patients, providing eye drops to over 2,100 and eyeglasses to over 2,200. The clinics were held in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan in northern India, and Delhi, the capital city of the Republic of India.

Seven doctors and nine trained assistants worked with the help of the Foundation’s financial support, facilities, management and volunteers.

Among those participating was Dr. Seema Srivastava, who said, “This is the first time I have attended an eye clinic arranged by this organization. Everything was done with excellent coordination and management. Because of this, we could offer our best services in a positive atmosphere.”

Dr. Sandeep Vijay, who has served in more than 3,000 eye camps in the Rajasthan and Haryana regions, said this camp was different. “The working environment was cool and clean. And good quality spectacles and medicines distribution like we had here is a rarity.”

Vimla Sharma, one of the patients, said, “The doctors treated me with such care, thoroughness and kindness. This kind of treatment is hard to find even when you pay for it.”

During the week before the camps, volunteers went to far-flung hamlets in the desert and invited people to take advantage of the free services.

Since 2003, TPRF clinics have reached out to India’s most rural poor, amongst whom preventable blindness is rampant. To date, nearly 19,000 people have had their eyes examined and nearly 11,000 have received eyeglasses. The Foundation plans to hold more camps all over India in the near future.

TPRF works with Raj Vidya Kender (RVK), in collaboration with Premsagar Foundation, in India to arrange the clinics. Besides donating humanitarian aid, both organizations promote the message of Prem Rawat, an internationally recognized ambassador of peace, who is known throughout India as Maharaji.

There is the possibility that one little understanding can change the whole equation of life for you. This life can actually become a joy—not tedious, not living in bewilderment, not trying to duck—but making every day meaningful, filled with gratitude.

A lot of people may think that’s a challenge. It’s not. Because it is not a process of creating something. It’s putting things back where they belong. Things have gotten so mumble-jumbled. What is the key? Place the self above everything that goes on during your day.

I’m not talking about being selfish or the self that says, “I need to be in front of the line.” That’s not placing the self first. That’s being arrogant. The self I am talking about is that which you are, by whose presence you exist and without which you are nothing. You place everything else above that self. And what are the consequences? Confusion, doubt, wondering, coping, trying to explain.

Do you know how much time people spend trying to explain everything that happens? “This is why I got the parking ticket, why my tire went flat, why I lost my keys, why I don’t have a good job, why I lost my promotion, why this happened.” So many explanations.

People today are more content with explanations than with reality. How often do they say, “I can change that. It’s not about losing my keys, getting the flat tire, getting a ticket. It’s not about things going according to my plan or not. But something else is taking place. I am alive.”

One day you will have to go. Don’t look for immortality. Look for the immortal. What is immortal? Can we even imagine what is immortal? No. It’s just a definition—something that never dies. Well, what is it that never dies? Everything that the eyes see will go. One day, the sun and the Earth will vanish. Once they weren’t. And one day, they’ll be gone.

That’s the nature of all that you see. All that you thought is permanent never was. It just pretended to be, and you wanted to believe it, desperately. Do not be saddened by this, but awaken. That’s the point.

You have learned to trust. That’s all you can do. Bank on the kindness. Trust that there is a kindness. That somehow, whatever you go through, whatever happens, it will turn out okay. You are alive. And you have a choice: you can either get frustrated, bewildered, sink in the deep hole of doubt, or you can understand.

Life is a powerful thing. The desire to be fulfilled, to be in peace, is powerful. In these things, I trust. In these things, I find my comfort. Something within me perseveres to achieve that clarity in my life.

This human being is a success story. It is a success that started a long time ago and is still unfolding. And it will be a success story until the very last breath. If the heart is full, that’s it. That is the success.

This understanding, this clarity is possible. To be in that place, to take advantage of the joy, is a conscious choice you can make. It’s all about joy. This is the one life you have. Get it right. Now. Now is never too early and never too late.

Be in peace. Be in joy every single moment of your life. Because it’s possible, and it’s possible in your lifetime.

Prem Rawat

Children crossing provisional bridge into the village of Las Limas, isolated due to flooding.

Los Angeles, December 13, 2007 — A grant from The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) will provide water, canned food and other necessities to families caught in the flood that has left nearly half the State of Tabasco in Mexico under water.

The flooding in Tabasco is extensive, covering more than 15,000 square miles and straining available resources and rescue efforts throughout the region.

To reach the victims, TPRF is partnering with the Mexican nonprofit organization Compartimos Bienestar y Salud Para Los Niños Maya I.A.P., which previously partnered with TPRF to provide the supplies needed to replace roofs on water- and wind-damaged homes in two farming communities in the Cancun area after Hurricane Wilma. TPRF volunteers are giving their time to assist the IAP in the distribution of aid to families in Tabasco.

Michael Dorfman, a TPRF volunteer in Mexico who is working with the IAP on this project, said the team will deliver survival kits to stranded families in isolated areas that government agencies and other relief organizations have so far been unable to reach. In addition to food and water, he said, the packages funded by TPRF will include blankets, T-shirts, plastic sandals, a pot and pan for cooking, and other cooking supplies.

Since the area is still flooded, the IAP and local TPRF volunteers are being supported by Integral Development of the Family (DIF), a social assistance branch of the Mexican government. DIF has offered to provide security protection as well as small boats to cross the waters.

The initiative, which should last for the next three weeks, will bring assistance to more than 800 people.

Man wading through flood waters.

Flooding due to excessive rain, Tabasco region  of Mexico, October 2007.

(AP Images / Moyses Zuniga)

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The Prem Rawat Foundation was founded by Prem Rawat, known worldwide as Maharaji, whose aim is to improve the quality of life for people in need by providing food, water, medical care, and disaster relief.

Discover more about Prem Rawat, his message of hope and peace, and the humanitarian activities of The Prem Rawat Foundation