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Having the opportunity to do something for one’s own self is a gift. As we heard from Swāmījī today, there is a lot of suffering everywhere, pain. It truly seems that life is governed by pain. It starts with pain, and most of the time, it ends with pain. In between, we feel it as suffering. It seems pain is part of everybody’s life; it belongs to life itself because it is a kind of motor, a motivator to change something. Pain is normal, and suffering is an option in life. Suffering is an option for everybody. It is one’s own decision. I was reflecting today on yesterday’s satsaṅg with Swāmī Gajanan and his words. Why did we come here? What is the driving force? What is the call? It is not simply that we say, "Yes, okay, nice, we see Swāmījī, we have a good time, we see a lot of friends," and we do something for ourselves. But if we look a little bit deeper inside, we are coming here because we are actually not satisfied. And if we look more deeply, we will realize that it is a pain. What drives us here? It is the pain of separation. The separation from that which we actually are, compared to that which we think we are. We all grow up with parents, most of us. We have our own individual history, and it is colored by different types of conditioning, identifications of "don’t do" and "do," of "have," of "must," of "want," of like and dislike. So our personality, our character... it is made out of so many different types of stuff that we are confused. Now, what we are really, who we are really... we are some part of it for a certain time. But then it changes, so we become somebody else again: sometimes father, uncle, brother, and so on. But as long as there is identification with that which we are not, pain will always be there. We come to satsaṅg because satsaṅg is the biggest painkiller. We know you shouldn’t say it too loud, otherwise some company will come and take their copyright on it. And real satsaṅg can only happen through a real saint, a sādguru. Who knows the truth? Not the truth. There are not many truths. There is only one truth. And we are all dancing around that, and we try to catch it. We try to understand it. We are struggling to know or to get to know who we are. As Swāmījī says sometimes, the first step is, of course, how we are. But it’s not enough to be a good person in life. As you know, we are very much bound by time and space. We are governed by certain forces that we call karma, which create our physical existence. And it makes this physical body the center of our movement. Just imagine how much you organize your whole life, your 24 hours, day by day, around your body. And this very so-called caring makes the whole world spin around you. Just look around yourself now. That blanket you have, that bottle you have, that cloth you wear. When you go outside, you move your body, the shoes, the bed, the people around you, everything. So you take extreme care of your body, actually your whole nourishment. Why is that? Because you know you have to take care of your body, because it’s your precious vehicle. Without that body, there is no movement. You carry your instruments with your body, like your mind, your intellect, your emotions, and how happy you are always to play on these instruments. So, different types of melodies to your friends, to the others, trying to spin around to play your game? Beautiful music. Everybody by himself. Everybody is a Mozart. And we like to play so much that we forget, actually, what the real sound is. What is the real nāda? Where does all this come from? Tulsīdāsa said, "When I was born, people were happy, joyful, but I was crying." And when I die, I will be very joyful, but people will cry. And I cried, but when I die, people will cry, and I will laugh, and I will be happy. Tulsīdāsa could say something because he knew why he was here, and he realized what he came for. It’s the self, the ātmā, the soul, whatever you may address it, what we have to realize. Tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, it takes time, we say. So why tomorrow? Why not now? What prevents us from checking now, from looking inside now? Oh, yeah, yeah... there’s so much stuff we cannot look inside, because one layer after the other. We postpone because it’s practical, it’s comfortable. And we say, okay, I’m here now in Jaran, I’m in Jaran Hall in Strelky, and now I have one week’s time or two weeks, and I will really have my saṅkalpa. And I will dig a little bit inside and see what’s there. And I’m ready to take up some suffering, tapasyā, some fire that will burn the impurities, as we say. And then when we get out after this one week or two weeks, we practice suffering further. There are two words that we very often use: selfish and selfless. And actually, we should have more selfless and less selfish. When we go outside in our daily life, in our activities, it’s maybe not our main motivation, but it comes near to that. We have to earn money. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s very good to have money to spend it for whatever you think is proper. Because money is for food and comfort, and when you reach that level of certain food and comfort, food and comfort are for health and relationship. And proper health and relationship in life lead to certain fearlessness, egolessness and selfishness. Most of us have certain ideas about how our life is running or should run. We think we are doing well, and we are a doer. We feel, in certain aspects, in control. And for most of us, life is quite kind. We come in contact with Swāmījī. We have interest in our own self, in our spiritual development. And we can accept certain tapasyā, certain hardship in life. And we think they bring us further. We keep on certain ideas, concepts. And with yoga, we have that concept of karma, which we very much like. Karma functions within certain parameters, within time and space. But what when you want to go out of that? When you want to go to heaven? Karma is a concept that helps us to understand and to become better people. And it doesn’t matter if you believe or not in karma. It works anyhow, and it works in a very miraculous way. Those who can change karma know the law of karma. They know how it works, and they are out of that limited space. We want to be a good person. We want to do good things because we want to have good karma. And we try to avoid bad karma. So we have quite a good concept of how long we want to spin around this good-bad thing. It will work very well as long as time exists. Even if you have a lot of good karmas and your whole account exists only of good karmas, still you will get a body. It’s the bonus, but karma is not equal to karma. Sometimes we think we are doing good things, but it is not so good. Because we have our imagination. In some religions, karma doesn’t count at all. You just do good, you get into heaven. You do bad, you get into hell. But we who believe in karma, I think it’s worse, because with others there is an end. You get in heaven or you get in hell; how long, they don’t say. But as long as we do have karma and believe in it, we have to come back, and we... we have to clean and purify and actually come to the point where no karma is anymore, where no action or reaction is anymore produced. And as long as we think we are the doer, that we are responsible for doing the things, and we can do, and we are so good and so perfect... you get stuck in that. Therefore, Swāmījī emphasizes so much on that "Nāhaṁkartā," because if you consider or just think about that, what is the soul, what is the ātmā? There is no action and reaction, there is nothing good or bad. White or black, there is no dualism, and karma can only function in dualism, in duality. When you surrender and give, automatically this concept of karma, the existence of karma, is dissolved. So what normally we do? Yes, we are stuck in that. And life goes on, suffering builds up, pain builds up, and we come to a point where we really can’t take it anymore. Then we fold our hands and, full of devotion, we approach Swāmījī, "Please, Swāmījī, take everything." And Swāmījī sits there, maybe, and thinks... well, I should take your rubbish? I’m not a rubbish bin. Some say, "Okay, Swāmījī, please, I surrender completely. Please take my head, I offer it." Swāmījī takes out a big knife, you know? It’s that what we are running after, that is these concepts, because... we are coming there out of pain, out of emotional things. But if it comes to the point where we really have to say, "OK, that’s not anymore a question of life and death," but of complete surrender. Of entering, or not even entering, of being nothingness. Who can do that? We have in the Bhagavad Gītā that great thing between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. And be sure Arjuna was not a weak person. He was a hero. A great warrior. Proud and confident, he approached Kṛṣṇa, "Please show me, show me your līlā, show me your being." So Kṛṣṇa said, "No, no, wait a little bit." But he insisted, so he opened just a small door, and then Arjuna saw so many things, universes after universe. And all that existence, what’s there? What’s Kṛṣṇa, actually? What is what he is? And he got quite frightened, so what to say about us? Be sincere to yourself and ask, "Why did I come here? And what do I want? What do I expect?" Is it really that, becoming free from that existence here? Or, do we just want to get rid of some rubbish? Many people tried to come to that point where there is no return. There is always a return in that sense. It’s not that enlightenment is something where you then vanish, where you switch on a light and then everything comes clear. Enlightenment is not something that we can do. Or on what we can work towards. It happens only by grace. We can be good people. We can try hard. We can plow the field. We can prepare everything for the crow. But these things are not up to us. But earlier or later, everybody has to go. If not today, then tomorrow. So why tomorrow and not now? What prevents you from doing it now? That it happens. And then, when we are there in front of the door, and Gurū Dev leads us there and says, "Now you go," what will happen? You can be sure that you will see, or you will know, that you are in the right place because it’s littered with a lot of pampas. Well, I think it’s very... how to say, conceptual. It sounds everything very easy and good. But as soon as we step out of that area, life catches up with us. And we ask ourselves, how can we carry on that what we experienced here, that lightness, that joy, that happiness, that whatever it is? How can we carry it in our daily life? Of course, we can say we have to continue to practice, do our duties, but what is the practical part where we can catch something, where we can hold on? With what we can work, and one thing is, of course, our identification with that which we think we are: that mind, our thoughts. It’s all a creation of ourselves, and we should not blame anybody for that, not our parents, not our neighbors, not our... partners, it’s our creation. We are our God, and it’s also up to us to change it. It has no sense to change your thought by trying very hard to control it or manipulate it. But why not give it a chance by not taking it so seriously? The same is with the feelings. Maybe they’re not that which we think they are or feel they are. And then, slowly, to look inside for self-inquiry, for meditation. What’s beneath that? What do you think we are? The thoughts, the feelings, our concepts, our ideas, our notions? And be sure, there is one very clear indicator where you can’t go wrong, where you can hang on. And that’s it, the one thing or the one part that doesn’t change. It sounds easy, but it is not. That what doesn’t change, what is that, actually? We all try to find that, to come to that, because it’s that. From what, everything God created. It has no qualities; it has no attributes. And it’s so near and dear to you, and it’s always calling all the time, and it’s also called you... Sorry, it was also called the Strelky. And it’s also called the Strelky. It’s called the Strelky. Okay, I see it’s a little bit late already, so... Sorry when I said something wrong, and also sorry when I said something right. But I hope you can take a little bit from that 20-watt pulp and taste also a little bit afterwards that artificial candy. Śrīdīp Narambaghana Kīche.