Dignity and Prosperity for Peace

"La Sicilia" newspaper, July 2, 2008

Prem Rawat at the Massimo theater raised a call for world peace and brotherhood

“I have 6.7 billion reasons to want peace on Earth, as many as the people living in this planet.” That’s how Prem Rawat, Indian messenger of peace, also known with the honorary title of Maharaji, opened his speech at the Massimo theater. The Indian master, founder of the TPRF (The Prem Rawat Foundation), a no profit organization promoting many humanitarian initiatives worldwide, spoke for the first time in Palermo, Sicily, after bringing his message of peace and human dignity to over 10 million people in more than 250 cities of 50 nations around the world.

His speech was simple, but extremely profound, rich of considerations which have been disarming and sometimes moving for the audience of the Massimo theater, filled to its extreme capacity. That was in occasion of the event called “Peace, a message without borders”, organized by the association ‘Percorsi’, and patronized, among others, by the president of the Republic, Mr. Giorgio Napolitano.

Before Rawat’s arrival on stage a video told the audience about his life and the activities of his foundation. He spoke immediately after: “Peace is like water, like air: it is something you cannot do without, something you cannot miss. It is inside every person’s heart, and it transcends every boundary, whether they are religious, racial, ethnic or national. Without it everything is out of balance.”

And then an invitation to find an innate need inside each person. “If you want peace – went on Rawat – it is inside of you, it is close to you. Open your heart, and you’ll discover it.”

Rawat strongly condemned wars, especially those fought in the name of God. “The wars happening in the world have no excuses. There are more educated people today than ever, but the need for peace is even greater.”

The address of the Indian ‘guru’ was dotted by many small examples: a way to exemplify peace meant to break thorough to the hearts of the people attending, whatever their culture, nationality, language, religion, as the attendees at the Massimo theater were really heterogeneous. Above all, the example of the lights illuminating a soccer field. “Can you consider the lighting system in a soccer field? – explained Rawat - People do not really realize that without those lights they could not see the players in the field, because everybody is watching the game so attentively. Well, those big lights are composed of small light bulbs. Each one of us should be like a light bulb: we must bring our small contribution to peace, so we can lighten the entire soccer field, which for us human beings is like the entire planet.”

Prem Rawat extended his call for peace not only to individuals, but to the great nations of Earth:

“If a nation is strong – underlined the master, using sentences borrowed by other speakers he met around the world – it should be kind; if it is smart it should be simple; if it is wealthy it should be humble.” But he then pointed: “Every effort institutions and governments make towards peace, every effort for justice among human beings cannot be really successful if it is not have deeply rooted in every human being.”

According to Rawat, peace must go along with dignity for every human being and with prosperity, which, in his words, “you can have when a person is rich within”.

The Indian master concluded his speech expressing his certainty that the future generations will carry on the work for peace: ”This voice is not only Prem Rawat’s voice, but the voice of 6.7 billion people on the face of this earth. And it will be there also when I am not there any more.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCamcAW97hk