I hope what I have to say is going to help you in this journey of life. If it could simplify your life even a little bit, that would make me very happy. I’m talking about something that is so simple—your life, your existence, the gift of breath that comes into you, leaves, and comes again. The fact that you’re alive is so simple.

How did it get so complicated? Even though I can say it’s simple, and it is simple, how is it that it doesn’t feel simple, that it feels very complicated? There are all the things that you have heard, that you think about, that you look forward to or don’t look forward to. How does it get so complicated?

Look at the simplicity, and it’s there. The breath comes. You wake up in the morning, and you find yourself alive. It’s not like you have to put in a bunch of coins: “Let me be alive, I’ve got the money.” You find yourself awake. Then you start thinking about all the things you have to do that day, all the schedules you have to keep, all the things you have to remember, all the things that are important and not important. Thus begins your day. And somewhere, the simplicity of being alive is lost.

Make it simple. Exist, accept, understand this moment now. What’s going to happen, what’s not going to happen—just take it one moment at a time. Begin with the basics of who you are.

Look around you. Do you realize there is no other planet like earth for light years around? There are planets that are full of dirt, too hot, too cold, too far, too strange, too violent. The one you live on is magnificent. This one glows blue, has beautiful clouds, lightning you can see from outer space.

Can you ignore and not be thankful for even one minute, one day, that you exist on this beautiful planet? That you are who you are? On this beautiful earth you are alive. See the goodness in you; recognize the goodness in others. You and I get to be alive. People say, “Nah, I’ve got this problem, that problem.” You are devotees of your problems. This is what you think about.

We are on this magnificent earth, with technologies you cannot imagine: vapor rising from the salty ocean, wind blowing it and carrying it over land, then sweet fresh water raining down. A planet so incredible that all you need is a few seeds and a little water, and it’ll feed you. It’ll take care of you.

Here, the perfect distance from the sun is a beautiful light for night called the moon; the breeze, the ocean, the birds, the fauna and the flora—divinity dancing in the wind. Beauty. Out of nowhere. A show of all shows. And for me to exist in this time, I cannot help but to feel gratitude. Don’t ask me for whom. The gratitude wells up, a letter that needs no address. It is a matter of the heart from where this letter comes and to whom this letter will go. But it is my letter to express my gratitude every single day. We have forgotten what it means—the opportunity to be alive, to have the privilege to be able to take this breath.

A lot of people say, “That’s too simple. Talk to me about something my brain can dig into.” I don’t want to. Your brain has already done enough damage in your own life. You have forgotten what you were searching for. You look, and every day you hope. Then all of a sudden, everything comes tumbling down. This is what is going on right now. Optimism and dire panic. Failure and non-acceptance of failure. Greed. Economic crises happen because of greed. As long as there is greed, there will be crises happening again and again and again.

When you recognize this breath, your heart will fill with gratitude, and when it does, you will be successful. That’s true success. Not doubt, not fear. But clarity, simplicity, understanding. I want to enjoy every day I have, all the days I can.

Prem Rawat

Non-profit organizations Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre and ActionAid International USA both receive funding to help Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) during the country’s post-conflict period.

Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan — The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) has granted over US$65,000 to provide food, medication, cattle and livestock provisions, and fruit plants to aid over 10,000 persons affected by the country’s recent internal conflicts, which have displaced over 650,000 people. (World Food Programme, July 2009)

Thousands of families were displaced in May and June of this year due to the escalation of conflict between the Pakistani Army and the Taliban. Now they have returned to their homes to find waterways destroyed, crops and livestock gone, and no seeds to plant for the next harvest.

TPRF has given a US$30,000 grant to Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre to provide food and medication. In the village of Kahzano Dheri, Marden, 2,600 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will receive rice, beans, rice tea, and oil for one month. In the IDP camps in Kachi Garhi, Peshawer, in the Swabi and Buner districts, 5,000 women will receive medication and supplements for two months.

A second grant of US$36,800 was made to ActionAid International USA to provide long-term food security and livelihood rehabilitation. Nearly 3,000 people returning to their devastated homes in three areas of the Buner district, North West Frontier Province, will receive seeds to replant their destroyed crops, construction and rehabilitation of reservoirs for crop irrigation, livestock, and fruit plants to help them rebuild their lives.    

Both foundations expressed their appreciation. Dr. Saman Yazdani Khan, Regional Director for Shirkat Gah, states, “[Shirkat Gah] is delighted that The Prem Rawat Foundation has been able to respond quickly to its appeal to help the IDPs and assist its effort in providing much-needed relief. It will ease the discomfort and desolation of their unwelcome situation.” Peter O’Driscoll, Executive Director for ActionAid, said, “This work is powerful. And, without your support, it would not be possible. Thank you.”