WRITTEN LAST YEAR AT AMAROO
What follows is something I wrote at Prem Rawat's five-day "Focus 5" retreat in Amaroo, Australia last year. (It just popped up on Facebook, so I thought I would share it with you now.) I hope it communicates a little bit of the essence of the experience of what the illustrious Mr. Rawat is helping people access. It is not "spiritual". It is human. And it doesn't matter what path you walk, skip, hop or jump.
And now for what I wrote last year (that still applies today)...
"It is some time in the very early morning here, but I cannot tell you what time, specifically, because I never changed the time zone on my iPhone, nor do I want to turn my iPhone on.
Let's just say it's the time when the birds begin singing and the first light of day is upon us. It's my second day here with Prem Rawat and 2,800 people who have traveled from who knows where to unplug from just about everything else except what really matters: being in the moment... feeling deeply... and letting go of whatever it may be for any one of us that obstructs and obscures the very best of who we are.
Last night Prem spoke to all of us in the outdoor amphitheater.
So relaxed he was. At ease. Radiant without trying to be. The definition of chill. He spoke. We listened. He laughed. We laughed. He told stories. We went on the adventure with him. You know the expression, "the bottom line?" Well, for me, that was happening, big time. Home base. Showing up. A come as you are party that he keeps throwing.
So much fun. So easy peasy.
This isn't about the mystical or esoteric. This is about life -- what exists at the heart of everything. No need for huffing and puffing. Water seeks its own level and so do we.
Prem has a way of making this universal, non-denominational phenomenon more accessible to everyone. Love is a natural law. Like gravity. You don't really have to do anything to experience gravity. And, where Prem is coming from, you don't have to do anything to experience love -- other than letting the knots that have been tied inside you come undone and focus on what it truly worthy of your attention.
Ahhh...
If I was hitchhiking, I'd want him to pick me up. If I was bummed out at my local bar, I'd want him in the seat next to me. If I was playing poker with the boys, I'd want him at the table, me looking his way for tells. But when I look into his eyes, only one message would be apparent. "Go all in!"
Yes, indeedy! He wants me to put all my chips in the middle of the table, not so he can clean up, but so I can. He wants me to win the big pot. And I do. And yet his stack never goes down. I don't really understand how this works, but it does.
What he is talking about, coaxing people towards, reminding us of every minute of the day, is how to experience the absolute best out of life. And that absolute best, by the way, is already within us. It's not on mountaintop (unless, of course, you happen to be on a mountaintop). It's not in a church or temple (unless, of course, you happen to be in a church or temple). And it's not at the end of a pilgrimage to wherever it is you think you need to go.
And, by the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going on a pilgrimage. Just like there's nothing wrong with yoga, finding your soul mate, buying the home of your dreams, or having all the money you want. It's just that the absence of these doesn't really matter.
None of those things can give you what you already have.
What Prem is saying has been said by many great teachers since the beginning of time. "What you are looking for is within you." It doesn't get much simpler than that.
It has nothing to with how many degrees you have or what your astrological sign is or how many holy books are in your library. It has to do with if you know yourself. It has to do with a heart full of gratitude. It has to do with consciousness -- your consciousness.
Somehow, this man (who like the rest of us used to be 13), has the ability to help people get to this place -- to make the journey from head to heart -- to feel how lucky they are -- to trust, to enjoy and experience the great gift of life.
What do you call someone like that? Well, that's really up to you. In the end, it really doesn't matter.
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", Shakespeare once said.
Words are just words. Names are just names. The menu is not the meal. What Prem is here to do is help each and every one of us enjoy the meal that is our life. And though, we are all different, with our own sets of quirks, beliefs, strengths, and preferences, at the center of the center there is one beating heart.
If a double rainbow appears over your head, it doesn't matter if you are a Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Jew. You look up. You marvel. Time stops, worry takes a back seat, and you experience pure wonder.
This is my experience of what Prem's work is all about. But instead of saying "look up" he's saying "look within". That's where our treasure is. That is the seat of our power. That is where all journeys begin and end.
And it's simple, folks. It's really simple. You don't have to leave your home, abandon your relationships, and become an ascetic. You don't need to do any hocus pocus, join a club, and complicate your life.
Oh, I almost forgot. It's free. There is no charge for the service he provides. Zero. Nada. Zilch. As he has said on more than one occasion, "How can I charge for something you already have?"
Well, dear friends, that's it for now. If I can, I will log on again tonight and babble on a bit. There are four more days of Amaroo, Prem speaking twice a day for those four days.
Whoo hoo! It's a bubble of love here, lots of kindness in the eyes of everyone I meet, laughter, ease, and gratitude. And it's a bubble of love where YOU are, too, by the way, no matter where you happen to be. Indeed, that's the whole kit and kaboodle -- the so-called "secret of life."
Be where you are! Bloom where you're planted! Feel the gratitude! Embrace yourself and your life right now. It's all good.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2023Sweeping 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 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 the core of my 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 Prem Rawat in a way that was as impeccable as possible.
Here's what I understood: 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 deep within me was going on -- something way more central to my life than what things appeared like on the outside.
And that's what I wanted to be as clean as possible.
PremRawat.com
i4Joy.com
TimelessToday.tv
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:09 AM | Comments (0)
