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Love is life

The power to shape one's nature and destiny rests within one's own hands. A person is both a friend and an enemy to oneself, creating these relationships through one's own qualities. Human nature encompasses the potential for baseness, divinity, or wickedness. To see change in the world, one must first embody that change. Recognizing and awakening to inherent human qualities leads one toward the divine; to develop or destroy these qualities is a personal responsibility. Jealousy and distraction can corrupt relationships, even between master and disciple, as individuals may scheme to undermine others. The essence of the teaching is that the choice for life, death, success, or failure is always in one's hands until the moment it is not, like a bird held within a fist or a bullet yet unfired. True understanding requires listening completely, as seeing God in one aspect while ignoring His warning in another is a failure of awareness. The time to wake up and learn is now.

"Man is himself his own friend, and also his own enemy."

"Because the life or death of this bird is in your hands."

Holi Gurujī often used to say in satsaṅg, and many times even in small gatherings with just one or two persons, he would share very nice slogans. One such saying is: "Man is himself his own friend, and also his own enemy." It means you create your friends, and you create your enemies. You are the one who creates friends, and you are the one who creates enemies. By virtue, we are humans; by virtue, we are God; by virtue, we are demons; and by virtue, we are gifts. The bad quality makes one a human, the divine quality makes one God, or a devil. Mahātmā Gandhījī said, "Be the change you want to see." It means, what you would like to see in the world, you should first change yourself in that way. If you want to see friends, then you should first become a friend. And if you are born to see enemies, then you should first become the enemy. Gurujī also used to say, "Prem hī jīvan hai"—love is life. Because life is God. God is love, and love is God. God is love, love is life. Life is God. Therefore, it is said, if you cannot dry the tears of others, then at least you should not become the cause of those tears. We are born as human. But to remain human lifelong is not an easy job. What makes you human? What are the qualities of the human? And what are the values of those human qualities? If you know the qualities of human life, then you will try to remain human. Because then you will realize what these qualities mean, what the value of these qualities is. And when you know the values of human life and its qualities, then you will understand what human rights mean. Humans are born as protectors, not as destroyers. Those who awaken the human qualities, who realize the human qualities, that person, "Narase Nārāyaṇa ban jātā hai"—becomes from human to God. One who recognizes and realizes the human qualities in himself, then he becomes divine; he becomes like God, from man to God. To develop the qualities or to lose or destroy the qualities is in your hands. There is a story. In one college, there were some students who were not so kind or nice to the professors. One student in particular was always very jealous towards the professor. Jealousy is something that can be awakened in you at any time. You can be jealous of your master. And many of you are, no? Say the truth, yes. Our master can be jealous of our disciples. Because when distraction comes, then the students try to make the master jealous for their own sake, for their own distraction. There was a ṛṣi living in a forest, a hermit. At that time, those who wanted to learn spirituality or to be the best students had to live with the ṛṣis there in the forest. The students were doing all the work: going with the cows, grazing the cows, milking the cows, bringing wood for fuel, cooking, cleaning. There was one student who was very brilliant, and the master was proud of him. The other disciples were jealous, and they said, "What can we do so that the master will send away this student, and we will not have him here anymore?" They said, "OK, we shall create a dispute in the mind of the Master." Om Ras Prabhu Om Uchiteya, and this works. You know, many people who don’t come to me, you send them SMS, and telephone, and fax, and emails, and you are trying to put this person away from Swāmījī. Though you don’t want to, you are jealous and try to push this person away. In the story, one day when the Master came, all the few students were standing and talking. One said, "Well, that student is very wise, even better than our master." Another one said, "Yes, you know, even the wife of this ṛṣi, our master’s wife, she also declared this boy is much wiser than our master." And the Master heard this. He said, "What are you talking about?" They said, "No, no, we are talking about how good your student is. But we were thinking that we hope we will not lose you." And now the Master begins to think. And they brought the Master so far that the Master said one day, "You have no more place here in the āśram, you have to go." But the other students, they suffered this karma. So, sometimes you don’t know, but you are causing these problems, and you kill the feeling of someone. And who is jealous of you will speak more sweetly to you. In India we say, if one dies from sugar, why do you give poison? So, you know, many of you are sitting here, you know what you did and what you are still doing. So, the one student who was a little jealous of his professor... He was jealous that it was possible for the professor to know everything. Any question I ask him, he answers. And I am standing in front of him like a stupid one. But today I will ask him one question, and he will not know the answer, then I will gently smile. That is the smile of a jealous person. In Austria, they say, "Man, they say you’re Gruskot," because you’re smiling like this. Gruskot, the face like this. It means those who are jealous, if you greet them, "Gruskot," they will smile a little, "Gruskot," but turn back and say, "Inside is burning." I mean, Austrians are not like that. Don’t misunderstand Austrians. I have to go to Austria tomorrow. So, this student thought: I will ask him a question, and he will not—he can’t answer. And I will say, Master, you also don’t know sometimes. It means I defeated him. Ah, that will be my happiness, the endless happiness. To insult my master in front of all. All the students were already there. And this naughty one came later. And he caught a small bird in his hand, and wrapped it with a little cloth, holding it behind his back with both hands so the master does not see. I will ask the professor or master, "Master, what is in my hand?" And he will not know the answer, and I will say, "You see, you also don’t know." And he asked, "Sir, I’m sorry to be late. But I am proud of you, my master. You are great, simply great. You are one of the greatest, wise, and knower of everything. No one can defeat you. Therefore, about others I don’t know, but I myself am very proud of you. And I am so proud to be your pupil." And the Master said, "Yes, come on, what is in your mind? Why are you giving so many flowers?" He said, "Master, I am so stupid today. Though I know that you know. But still, my stupidity doesn’t allow me to accept that, you know. Therefore, Master, I have one question. And I know you will answer it. And I will be again the loser, and say, 'Yes, sir, you are right.'" Master said, "Go ahead, speak. What is your question?" "What is in my hand, Master? Tell me." Master said, "You have a small bird in your hand." Again. How does he know? He said, "Bravo, master, bravo! I told you, you know everything, my lord." This is the language of a person who has doubts in the heart. "Yes, Master, you are right, I have a bird in my hand. But I have a second question." And the student was thinking, "I will ask him if the bird is alive or dead." If he will say, "Alive," then I will squeeze my fist and kill the bird in my hand and show him, "Master, you are wrong, it’s a dead bird." And if he will say, "It’s a dead bird," I will just let it fly, and say, "Master, you don’t know." So it doesn’t matter what he will answer; I will prove that he is wrong. Therefore, it is not easy to be a master. But it is also not easy to be a disciple. He asked, "Master, I know that you know, but one question more. Yes, you are right that I have a bird in my hand, but is this bird alive or dead?" Master said, "My son, this question I cannot answer." "Why not, Master? You know everything." He said, "But this question I cannot answer." "Why not?" "Because the life or death of this bird is in your hands." He let the bird fly. And he surrendered to the master. So, success or no success is in your hands, my dears. Darś-e Nārāyaṇ, but now, it is in your hands. If becoming a god from a human is in your hands. But you always create negative qualities. Not only do you work against your parents, brothers, and sisters, but you also work against the master and your spiritual brothers and sisters. And if you think you will tell your sorrow to someone and you will be released from this, I doubt it. Therefore, it is still in your hands. When it is gone out of your hands, then you can’t do anything. If the bullet is in the gun, and the gun is in your hand, you have a choice. If the bullet has gone out of the gun, then you can’t help anymore. Think over and be kind to yourself. Don’t waste time. The time which is gone will not come. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said: "Chet, chet, ab jīva, jñānī, avasar, jāvere, guru, sam, jāvere." O ignorant soul, wake up, wake up, wake up. Gurudev is explaining to you, teaching you, learn, wake up. So, "Guru Samjāve Re" is something beautiful. Your Master is explaining to you, teaching you. And what the Master is teaching, you should understand properly. You will do exactly as the Master said, but still you can make a mistake. And then you will say, "But why did it happen wrong? I did exactly what you said." There was another story of a master and disciple living together. They were mostly always living outside of the village’s peaceful area, in the forest. The master was teaching, "Ātmā sohī Paramātmā"—every ātmā is the form of the Paramātmā. "Viśva prāṇi merī ātmā he"—all creatures in this world are myself. "Ghat ghat me mera sāyā"—in every heart, in every one, God is living. Therefore, see God in everyone. One day, a disciple was going shopping. And the village people were screaming. They said, "Mahārājī, Mahārājī, Sādhujī, Swāmijī, please run away, go away!" And he said, "Why?" "A mad elephant is coming." He said, "Ah, an elephant can be mad, but not the god in the elephant. The elephant may be angry or mad, but God is not angry." So the elephant took him in its trunk and, thanks to God, who was living in the elephant, did not squeeze him. It took him in its trunk and threw him far away. Luckily, that side was a swimming pool; he called it a swimming pool. He had an injury, but survived. Now he had a doubt in the Master. I did everything. I followed Guru Vākya. I saw God in the elephant. Master didn’t tell me that I should be careful of the elephant. Master said, "Everyone is God, and God cannot do such things." So he went and he told all the stories to the master. "Master, I did everything, 100% of what you were telling. I was conscious, aware of Guruvakya. Master, I did 100% of what you said, and I was fully aware of what Guru Vakya said." Master said, "Yes, still you did wrong." "Why, Master? I didn’t do anything. I am not guilty. I followed Guru Vakya, and I was sure. I was just walking, that’s all." He said, "You saw God only in an elephant. But you didn’t believe in God, in the people who were warning you, 'Run away.' Aren’t they God?" I said, yes, that I didn’t think, Master. They’ll suffer. Therefore, "chet, chet, abhijīv, agyānī, guru samjāve re." Wake up, wake up,... ignore that one. Gurudev is explaining to you, teaching, Gurujī is teaching, learn properly. "Guru samjāvere avsarjāvere"—your time is going away. So, on this Guru Pūrṇimā, I pray to all our holy masters to bless you, to bless you, to bless you.

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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