We Really Are

(based on the teachings of Prem Rawat)

All our lives we are given names, titles, and roles. We gather achievements and failures, memories and ambitions. These often become the answer to the question, “Who am I?” Yet Prem Rawat reminds us that these are garments we wear for the world. They are not the essence of who we are.

Behind the roles and stories lives a presence that has been constant since our first breath. It is the same witness who has observed the changing seasons of childhood, youth, and adulthood. This silent witness is not defined by wealth, profession, or even beliefs. It is the living awareness that experiences everything — joy and sorrow, gain and loss.

Rawat often points to the breath as our most faithful companion. Every inhale is an unspoken reminder that we are alive in this moment. This breath does not ask for credentials or history. It simply affirms: You exist here, now. To recognize this is to begin to know the self that is deeper than thought.

To discover who we really are, we are invited to look inward, past the noise of the mind. The answer is not in philosophy but in direct experience — the felt sense of being, the quiet peace that surfaces when attention turns inward. That peace has always been within us, like a hidden spring waiting to be noticed.

A teacher, says Rawat, is not there to give us something we do not already have. The teacher points to the treasure within and shows us where to look. The key is ours, but sometimes we need guidance to find the door.

To know ourselves in this way is to remember that we are not lost in the roles and stories of life. We are the living presence capable of love, gratitude, and peace. This discovery is not distant. It is as near as the breath we are taking right now.