TV Channel

Whether we read, speak, hear, or do something, it all has one aim: to attain our realization, our self-realization. It is about how to fulfill this life and how to escape the cycle of rebirth and death. The beginning of our life is far beyond our memory or thinking. We have passed through many changes in past lives, experiencing many good and bad, painful and pleasurable situations. But the one who experiences all this is our jīvātmā. The ātmā itself is never born and will never die. That ātmā can be identified with space. Space cannot be cut into pieces, burned, or destroyed. Whatever is happening, whatever exists—all planets, galaxies, stars, energies, and powers—exists within space. We are limited. Our intellect (buddhi), our imagination, our fantasy is limited. But space is limitless. You cannot find the end of this space; it is anādi, ānanda, without end, without bottom. It is everlasting; it was, it is, and it will be. That is what we are, in reality. But the jīvātmā is the individual one. That individual has personal qualities: ego and ignorance. It is said to be a reflection of the ātmā, a mixture of the self (ātmā) and the non-self (anātmā). The non-self is all that we see, touch, smell, and can describe. Within this mixture, individual qualities develop, and there is suffering. Suffering arises from ignorance, and we must find a way out of this situation. There are many ways. Reading holy books or philosophical works and trying spiritual techniques is meant to inspire you to achieve self-realization. All of this serves the purpose of gaining the inspiration for self-realization. Upon achieving it, there is no more existing karma; there is no destiny. But in our present state, we cannot say we have no destiny, for we are involved in this limited body. Though it is limited, all facilities and possibilities are there. We must try to utilize them. As a human, you have the possibility to use these facilities to gain mokṣa. Where good things develop, bad things also develop beside them. Life is a struggle. Do not think that only good things will develop and you will become freer and happier. That is very rare, because we are deeply involved in material life. We are occupied more with unrealities than with reality. It is very important to know our situation and understand how we can come out of it. Therefore, wake up. Learn, accept, understand, and embrace. Otherwise, it will be a great pity. This life is passing very quickly. There are two kinds of love in this world. The love with nature is a supporting love; it is a positive part of love. To give love and receive love from nature has a positive result. In life, you must find out which kind of interest, love, and support gives you positive benefit, and which takes away from your good qualities and gives you negative things. So, love the holy books, love spirituality, love your practice, love your mantras. In these things, you give your attention. To pay your attention, you detach from other things and concentrate on one thing, though other things exist within you. Your main interest, your attention, is on a particular thing. That will change your life situation and develop your spirituality. Or, if it is a negative concentration, it may change your life in negative ways. If your concentration is negative, your life will change negatively. That is how your mind creates the world. Your mind creates troubles out of relations. You cannot run away from your mind. Your mind is like the shadow of your body. Even if you fly in an airplane, you cannot run away from your shadow. So, keep your mind in such attention and listen towards higher things. How you think is how you will be, and how you think shapes the outer world. If you think you are happy, then you are happy. If you think you are unhappy, miserable, lost, and lonely, then you are unhappy, lost, and lonely; no one can help you. If you believe you are alone, lost, and unhappy, then you are like that, and you cannot help anyone. Even after your death, you will be unhappy. If you die feeling unhappy, lonely, and lost, the same situation will be there after death. It is like having a physical pain, going to sleep and dreaming, enjoying for a while, and then waking up to the pain again. Everything you have is created by your mind. You know your mind very well. As you think, so you are. Even in thinking, if you do something and think, "I cheated someone," in reality you have cheated yourself. It will come back to you. The mind is so powerful. It can destroy your whole happiness. One thought can destroy your joy, hope, confidence, and everything. The mind is a mighty elephant, a hurricane, high waves, a flood, a volcano. And the mind is very cold. Everything is a play of your mind. You become a vegetarian because you think of becoming vegetarian. You are not a vegetarian because you do not think you should be one. Someone explains something to you, but you say, "I don't think like that; I think differently." That is a very clear answer. Sometimes we answer, "Well, that is your thinking, not my thinking. I don't agree." That is your mind. So, if you are unhappy or in trouble, there is nothing to change but your thinking. Even if you are very ill physically, change the mind, accept it. That is life. Keep your body forever with you? That is it. Master the mind, step by step. As Mahāprabhujī said in one bhajan: "Manvā, dhire dhire cal, Gītāṅgara caḍhanāre vāī." (Mind, walk slowly.) Slowly, we have to climb up to the heavenly house. If something bad happened to you, or someone has done something bad to you, and you are still suffering, why? Because you cannot change your mind; you cannot change your thinking about that thing. If someone has done something wrong to you and you cannot stop thinking about it, think about this, my friends. And accordingly, thank God that we cannot remember our previous lives. If we had the memory of past lives, we would be against everyone. So, change your mind. Think positive. Accept it. Take it as it is. If you do not like it, then just avoid it, but do not suffer in thinking. That is why we try so many things: meditations, prāṇāyāmas, āsanas, concentrations, mantras—all to somehow explain to our mind, "Please be satisfied now." We do all these practices to convince our mind to be satisfied, at least for a moment. There was a great yogī, a saint, and many people came to him. The king also went to see the yogī and liked him, so he went every day for darśan. One day the king asked the yogī a question: "Please answer one question. You know I have everything: kingship, my kingdom, my people, my children, my wife, money, position—whatever one could think of in this material world. I am happy and satisfied. And I see that you have nothing. You are sitting just in one small hut. Though you have nothing, we are still coming to you. So, what do you have that brings us to you, and which we do not have?" The yogī said to the king, "You are the slave of my slave. That is why you have to come." The king was surprised. "How is it possible that I am the slave of your slave, yet I am the king? I am the king, not a servant." The yogī said, "No doubt, you are a king. But being a king, still you are the slave of my slave." The king said, "Please tell me, who is your slave, that I am the slave of that slave?" The yogī said, "You see, you are still the king, you are not a servant? Then tell me, who is that one who always orders you to do things? The one who orders you to come to me, go home, and do everything. He ordered you to come to me and then to return. But I do not see him. Who is that?" The yogī said, "You see, the mind is my slave. But you are the slave of the mind. That is the difference between you and me. And that brings you to me. So you do not have the slave; you are the slave." It is our mind that makes us the slave of many, many things: liking and disliking. "I like this, I do not like that." This is our biggest problem. The mind even takes us away from reality. It does not let us believe in God. In different gods, the mind always makes the difference. So the mind is a mighty one. If we master this, we have mastered many, many things. That is very important to observe in life. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya.