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Muladhara chakra. Part two.

The human body is a sacred temple, and the aim of life is to realize the divine consciousness within it. The four petals of a chakra symbolize the four primary aims of human life. The first is dharma, your duty and righteous conduct. Protect your dharma, and it will protect you. The second is artha, wealth, which is good when used to help others. The third is kāma, fulfilling rightful duties like raising a wise next generation. We carry five debts: to mother, father, teachers, the natural elements, and the spiritual guide. Merely fulfilling animal instincts is not enough for humans. The fourth and ultimate aim is mokṣa, liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Your actions must always consider deśa and kāla—the specific place and time. Fitting yourself to these ensures a safe and happy life.

"Always behave and act according to deśa and kāla."

"Dharma also means duty or principles. The dharma of your eyes is to see; the dharma of the ear is to hear."

Filming location: Brisbane, Australia

Know thyself, you are a God in this body. Nara-Nārāyaṇa, from human to God, can become this consciousness, one with that. Baccha Rām, this body is a sacred temple, beneficial to every human. Where the lion becomes a cow, where the mother is beloved. Where the dawn blows the conch, Shyam sings a lullaby. Every child is an idol of the goddess Bālā, every child is Rām. Every child is Rām, whose soldiers on the battlefield recite the Gītā. Where Sītā plays beneath the plough in the fields, where the ideal of life is the abode of the Supreme Lord on every leaf. Every child is an idol of the goddess Bālā, every child is Rām. Every child is Rām. Where karma changes destiny, where labour and devotion are auspicious. The songs of sacrifice and penance are the voice of a singer and a poet. The Gaṅgā of the world of knowledge is pure; it is charming. The idol of the goddess Bālā is the child, the child Rām. There are lotuses here, so many beautiful lotuses in this small pond of the ashram. The lotus has many qualities. All the chakras you saw before are in the form of the lotus. This particular lotus has four petals. Every chakra has a different number of petals, but this lotus has only opened four petals so far. The number four holds great meaning, which varies by culture and mythology. In China, the number four signifies death. When I am in Sydney, I stay in tall buildings. In the elevator, there is no fourth floor, no fourteenth floor, no twenty-fourth floor. I asked why and was told that in Chinese culture, the number four is associated with death. Here, however, the number four signifies, first, the consciousness which enters this planet to develop life. It represents the four ways consciousness enters this world, into physical form, to develop. This is the seat where life begins, the first milestone of human consciousness. The development of the entire individual personality lies dormant in this chakra. When we are born human, the wise advise us to achieve four things in life. Without them, life is not successful. The first is dharma. I spoke before of Dharmarāja, the king of righteousness, and Yama, the king of death. Dharma means duty, obligation. The dharma of the mother, the father, the children, the husband, the wife. Everyone has their dharma in different situations. There are two things you must always keep in mind. You may forget this whole lecture, but do not forget these two points. If you remember them, your life will be happy, protected, and safe. These two are deśa and kāla. Always behave and act according to deśa and kāla. Deśa means the place where you are—which country, whose house. Kāla means the time, the situation. What are the laws of that country? What are the principles of that house or society? If you act accordingly, you will be safe. Otherwise, you will be punished and find trouble. Deśa and kāla. We must use our intellect to fit and maintain ourselves according to space and time. Then your life will always be comfortable and happy. So, the first aim for a human is to develop dharma. People also understand dharma as religion. Yes, in that sense, it is religion. Realize your relation; become religion. Realize your relation, your inner self's connection with the cosmic self. That is the purpose of human life. Dharma also means duty or principles. The dharma of your eyes is to see; the dharma of the ear is to hear; the dharma of fire is to give heat. Vegetation has its dharma, animals have theirs; everyone has their dharma. As the holy scriptures say, dharmo rakṣitaḥ rakṣitaḥ: if you protect your dharma, dharma will protect you. If you do not protect your dharma, dharma cannot protect you. If you protect your eyes, they will protect you. If you do not, they cannot. So first is dharma. If we do not understand dharma, we will perform wrong karma, and the result of bad karma goes not to Dharmarāja but to Yamarāja—Yama, and I do not mean the motorbike. The second is artha, wealth. Do not think money is bad. Money is not bad; it is very good. Only if you use money in a negative way does it become bad. If you have money, you can help many poor people and animals, and protect vegetation and the environment. Artha is important because humans are civilized beings. You should be able to welcome a guest, offer a glass of water, give bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, cloth to the naked, and a place to sleep for the weary. This was said long ago. Now, without money, we cannot even breathe. Every step requires money. At month's end, the telephone bill, electricity bill, gas bill, property tax, insurance, car tax, even police tickets—everything requires money. Therefore, the wise advise that you should have wealth in order to give to others as well. "Lord, give me enough that my family lives comfortably and no one who comes to my door goes away hungry." That is human dharma. The third is kāma. Kāma means to perform your right duties. Your first and second duties are to give birth to a child, to a generation, that becomes a great protector, a wise one, a divine child. It depends on you how you educate your children. Our duty is to give the world a wise man or woman, a great one who can awaken love in all, who can awaken the consciousness of all towards cosmic love, divine love. We, as physical beings and individual souls, have connections. You know, the Aboriginal people of this country have a great relation to their ancestors. You are connected to your ancestors until the fourteenth generation. Like the half-moon grows to full, the soul travels. Lord Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā, "I enter into the vegetation as nectar through the moonlight." The soul travels through that, so you have a relation until the fourteenth generation; after that, you are separated. As a successor, your duty is to help liberate your ancestors, the pitṛs. Perhaps they are already liberated, perhaps not, but your first duty is to pray, to perform ceremonies for them. We have five kinds of debts in life which we must repay. Unless you repay them, there is no liberation. It is not easy to go to heaven. One cannot simply say, "I bless you," or "You are a good person, merciful Lord, forgive his sins." We may wish for this, but it does not work like that. There are many things to consider. At the beginning of November, in Christianity, there are two or three days called All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day. At exactly that time, Hindus have Pitṛ Pakṣa. On these days, everyone goes to the graveyard to give flowers, light a candle, go to church or temple, and pray. I was surprised: when we are buried or cremated, we receive a blessing that we are liberated, becoming one with God. So who is in the graveyard? Either they are still there, or they are liberated. They may not be there, but we are somehow connected. Every creature has this feeling towards its ancestors, its parents. When a kangaroo baby loses its mother, it always returns, thinking, "Maybe I will find my mother again." Kangaroos, rabbits, all creatures search for their mother. The first debt is towards the mother, mātṛ ṛṇa. You must repay it, not with money, but by protecting, serving, and helping her when she needs it. It was that mother who carried you for nine months, who woke up many nights when you cried, who changed you from wet cloths to dry. You cannot repay this with money; money is not enough. The Upaniṣad says, mātṛ devo bhava: the mother is the first god. Who understands the mother? Who understands the womb of the mother? When her child is killed, she feels that pain more strongly than the father. Of course, the father feels it too. If we understand mothers, then no soldier should be killed in any war, for millions of mothers cry for their young children killed in wars, and for other creatures too. Mātṛ devo bhava, pitṛ devo bhava: our father, our ancestors, are the secondary god. Third, ācārya devo bhava: your teachers, who teach you your beautiful profession and give you knowledge. Through that knowledge, you sit here today with titles—engineer, driver, farmer, electrician, doctor. Knowledge cannot be paid for; no amount of money is enough. Fourth, we must develop gratitude for the tattvas, the elements: water, fire, earth, air. Do you pay tax for the oxygen you breathe? We exist because of them; they are our protectors. Every family, at the beginning of its generation, had a special protector, a kuladevatā. You may have forgotten; what a pity if you have. If forgotten, please find out or accept a new one. The fifth debt is towards your spiritual master, who leads you to liberation. So these are the aims: dharma, artha, kāma. Kāma does not mean mere passion or enjoying desires. Humans are not born only to enjoy desires. Eating, sleeping, and procreating—animals are also very active in this. If humans do only that, what is the difference between animals and us? Animals can also build houses; a mouse can dig such a nice hole in the earth that even a human would die in an earthquake, but not the mouse. When a bushfire breaks out, all may burn, but not the mouse deep in the earth. So if humans do only that much, it is not enough. Know thyself, you are a god in this body. Nara-Nārāyaṇa, from human to God, can become this consciousness, one with that. The fourth aim is mokṣa. So the four are: dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. Mokṣa means liberation. Ultimately, the aim of human life is to gain liberation from the cycle of rebirth and death, which we spoke of yesterday—the 8.4 million different forms of life. This is symbolized by the four petals of this chakra. Now we have another beautiful elephant. There are two nice, beautiful, divine figures, and many other things: triangles and yellow colors. I will continue this tomorrow, otherwise it will become too much for you. Thank you for listening, and I wish you all the best.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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