Prem Rawat in the Huffington Post
Here's a review,
in the Huffington Post,
of Prem Rawat's
new book,
NO ORDINARY BOX.
The book,
available on Amazon,
is a compilation
of excerpts
from 20 talks
Prem has recently given
around the world.
Read it and leap.
Words of Peace Global website
Words of Peace Facebook page
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December 27, 2013Seasons Greetings from Prem Rawat
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December 22, 2013One More Thing to Learn
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December 19, 2013The Question of the Day
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December 17, 2013Sweeping the Path
As a middle class American male with a healthy dose of resistance to household chores, the broom has never been one of my favorite tools.
While I've certainly appreciated its timeless design and universal appeal, the act of sweeping has always felt like somebody else's job.
This belief radically changed for me one fine Spring day in 1980. That was the day I got word that my teacher, Prem Rawat, was coming to visit the house I was living in -- a funky old dwelling on Detroit Street in mile high Denver, Colorado.
Clearly, my housemates and I weren't ready. The kitchen was dirty. The bathrooms were a wreck. The lawn needed mowing. Mucho stuff needed to be done.
My task? To sweep.
Grabbing a broom like some kind of over-caffeinated Clint Eastwood on steroids, I pushed open the front door, surveyed the scene, and got busy.
The porch was a piece of cake. A few flicks of the wrist, a few energetic downward strokes in both directions and I was done -- leaves, twigs, and dust sailing over the edge onto the waiting lawn below.
Now it was time for the front walkway.
A sweep to the left. A sweep to the right. A sweep to the left again -- me a human metronome in tune with something beyond time. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
I paused to view my handiwork. "Not bad, not bad at all," I thought to myself.
But though the porch and walk were much cleaner than before, my increasingly perceptive sweeper's vision was seeing things it hadn't noticed just ten minutes ago: a pebble stuck between cracks, a rusty bottlecap, a flattened piece of wax.
Whoosh to the left. Whoosh to the right. Whoosh to the left again.
It felt good getting ready, good preparing the way for the man who, nine years ago, had shown me -- in a heartbeat -- what life was really all about.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Ta da! The porch was clean! The path was clear! All was right with the world! But wait! The sidewalk, in front of the house, was a complete mess. Bits of paper were everywhere. Plastic spoons. Shards of glass. And dirt, dirt, dirt.
Obviously, I had more work to do.
Whoosh to the left. Whoosh to the right. Whoosh to the left again.
I closed my eyes. I took a breath. I opened my eyes again. But wait! The road in front of the house was a wreck -- the very same road the person I loved the most in the world would need to cross if he parked his car on the north side of the street. Cigarette butts, oil spots, and leaves were everywhere. My hands began to twitch. My mind began to race. Wherever I looked, nothing was ready to receive him. Nothing was good enough. The world, it seemed to me, was one gigantic mess.
I wondered how far onto Detroit Street I needed to sweep -- how far I needed to go to prepare the way. At this rate, I might never come back.
And then, like one of those moments I used to read about in Zen Buddhism books, it hit me.
It wasn't the front porch that needed sweeping. It wasn't the path... the sidewalk... or the street. It was me. I was the one that needed to be swept -- swept of my clutter, swept of my assumptions, swept of whatever junk stood in the way of being able to receive my teacher in a way that was clean.
I didn't need to sweep the porch. I didn't need to sweep the street. I didn't need to shine my shoes... or cut the grass... or buy a suit... or lose five pounds... or iron my shirt... or paint the house... or wash the car... or buy a dozen roses. I could, of course, if I wanted to. I could if these things really needed to be done. But something else -- much more central to my life -- was going on.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
PremRawat.com
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December 15, 2013You Are Magnificent
Excerpted from NO ORDINARY BOX
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December 12, 2013Two Quotes from NO ORDINARY BOX
Excerpted from Prem Rawat's new book, NO ORDINARY BOX.
Painting: Lisa Dietrich
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2013Another Mask Comes Off
Excerpted from Prem Rawat's new book, No Ordinary Box, now available on Amazon.
Painting: Lisa Dietrich
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December 07, 2013This Thirst
All of us, at one point in our life, feel the primal thirst for something holy, sacred, and divine -- beyond the commerce and conditions of daily life. This one's for you!
Excerpted from Full Moon at Sunrise
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December 04, 2013VIDEO: Prem Rawat in Long Beach
Thanks to Matt Miller for the link
Words of Peace Global website
Words of Peace Global on Facebook
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:33 PM | Comments (2)
Prem Rawat's New Book Now AvailablePrem Rawat's new book, NO ORDINARY BOX, excerpts from 20 of his talks around the word -- now available on Amazon.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2013Prem Rawat in Miami: MORE EXCERPTS
Big thanks to Pat Barrett for submitting the excerpts
Paintings: Lisa Dietrich
Other excerpts from the Miami event
Words of Peace Global Facebook page
Words of Peace Global website
Online videos of Prem Rawat
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)
Prem Rawat in Miami: EXCERPTSPaintings: Lisa Dietrich
Words of Peace Global
Words of Peace Global on Facebook
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