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Welcome, everyone, to this beautiful Adriatic coast. You all look very fresh, full of prāṇa. Breakfast was good, very enjoyable. We are on the coast, but we see little water and more forest. That is how it should be; we are living on the earth, under the trees. But water is important too. Yesterday we spoke a little about how the individual souls were manifested. One seed can yield millions of seeds. But that one is the origin, the only one. All these seeds originate from one seed. Similarly, these many creatures were created by one seed, one consciousness, that we may call the universal one, the cosmic one, or Brahman. So, out of that creation, numerous suns, moons, planets, stars, etc., were created. Every planet has its own atmosphere, and each has its own specialities and different kinds of life. We on our earth are mostly made of the five elements. Without this, we can’t live; we can’t exist. The creatures on this earth are divided into three categories: Jalacar, Sthalacar, and Nabhacar—the creatures in the water, on the land, and in the air. Now you see the ocean; part of the ocean is a bay here, but there are many different kinds of creatures inside. In this glass, there is water. But there are many different creatures inside; we can’t see them with our eyes. So, there are creatures which are in the water. And then, after coming slowly, slowly, as the earth came out of the water, we developed. So these are the creatures which are living on earth. Then, others, they are very fine, and they are mostly in the air. Jal is water. Jal jahāṁ jagadīś—where there is water, there is God. It means life. For us, where the water is, there is life. And without this water, we can’t exist. But now our nature is that we can’t live in the water. So we need solid ground. And there are some creatures that cannot live on the earth. They are born in the air, they live in the air, they die in the air. These are three different kinds of life. The thing on this earth is the different way; these are the [four] types. One is like what we call the bark of the trees [plants], and the second is the egg. And then, we, like, we are born as the already developed embryo, by birth connected to the mother’s body, and then the bacteria [spontaneous generation]. These are the four different ways to come to the soul on this earth. Now we are separated from water, and therefore we look to the sea, the ocean. When you come in the middle of the ocean, thousands of kilometers, there is nothing. Now, for us, it is very hard to swim through. We cannot swim through the thousands of kilometers of the ocean with the strength of our arms. In our hands, we can’t swim those thousand kilometers. That’s called bāhu bala. Bāhu means the arms, and bala means the strength. So, we like the ocean. The ocean is very important for our life. But if we have to cross, we can’t cross by swimming. On the way, there are many waiting for us. We need a boat. If we have a boat or a big ship, we can cross the ocean. So, symbolically, we call it the ocean of Māyā. Māyā means ignorance. Māyā means illusion. Māyā means temptation. It’s equal for all, not only for humans. When we have a big glass window or glass door, then from outside we see the whole nature inside. On this mirror, we see all trees and water and everything. So the bird thinks it is on the way to the forest. And the bird flies and crashes into the glass. Now, this glass, this mirror, this vision is a Māyā. It looks, but there is not. So, māyā is not only for humans. It means ignorance, and ignorance can be for all. So, that’s why we have a symbolic picture. We are here to develop ourselves, but from this ignorance, if we don’t come out, we will be victims of birth and death. So, great Guru Nānak Dās Jī said, in the Guru Grantha, the holy book, Guru Grantha, he is writing: "Satguru Nām Jahājhe"—the name of the Gurudeva is the big sea, or a boat. "Chadesu Tripa"—those who will sit in will cross the ocean; they will come to the mainland. "Śraddhā Karsevde"—you have to remain inside with confidence. On the way, if you jump out, seasick, a dog jumps out, whatever it is. Endure, to learn to endure, then safely you will come there. Many people have fear from the flying, and you think, "I can’t sit inside," and there is a turbulence in the air. Sometimes an aeroplane is passing like a big speed breaker. And sometimes the aeroplane goes 20-30 meters down and up. And we hold the chair, but holding the chair doesn’t stop that. But our pilot is very expert; many, many years he practiced. He has the knowledge, so remain seated. He will bring us very safely to our destination at the airport. So, life is full of turbulence, and life is up and down. We have many kinds of illusions, but don’t get this temptation; trust in one. That’s God. It doesn’t matter which kind of God you believe in. God is God. Water is water. Let’s say that you are coming from Austria. And you say we have very good water in Austria. And now we are in Croatia. I don’t want to drink Croatian water. Water is water. You purify it, so God is God. The problem is in our minds: my God, their God. So this is a whole world problem. There is no problem in God; the problem is in our minds. We divided the world. God didn’t divide. We divided cultures. We divided races, languages, and even we divided God. We chipped God into many pieces. But each piece, all limbs, these are the limbs of one God. There was a very interesting saying from Mahātma Gandhi. The questions came to divide India and Pakistan. So, someone asked him, "What are you supporting? Pakistan or India?" So Gandhījī said, "I can’t divide. I can’t support only one. Both are like my two eyes. I cannot take out one of my eyes." So similarly, God is for us all one. We have conflicts. We have conflicts, and due to this, we are suffering, we know. So in this way, we can’t cross this ocean. So you see the beautiful sea here. We are sitting on the beautiful coast. And it looks nice, but this is what we have to cross. We have to cross the ocean of ignorance, and ignorance is the māyā. Māyā is not money, māyā is not a man to the woman and woman to man. That is one part of saying, because man or woman becomes an illusion for you. Sometimes you blame your wife, and sometimes your wife blames you. Sometimes you think, "My wife cheated me," or, "He cheated me." This is our illusion, that means ignorance. And so, this ignorance, this temptation, is very tricky, very deceitful, and this māyā, ignorance, illusion, makes a friendship with our weakness. So sometimes this beauty becomes the cause of our entire destruction, of our spiritual work. A human life is the most precious life. But it does not mean that other life is not precious. Because we are the best creatures here. The crocodile listens to this. Crocodile says, "What did you say? We are the best creatures." Then comes the kangaroo. Crocodile, what do you think? We are the best. Snake says, "We are the best." A mosquito comes and says in your ear at night, "I am the best one." So, who are we to judge God’s creation? So, when we say we are the best, it is already the act of discrimination. God gave us intellect so that we can protect ourselves. Other creatures do not have that much intellect. Humans become the most destructive creatures on this planet. Due to our own ambition, our greed, our comfort, and that is also an illusion, this is also māyā. But we developed our way of living in such a way that it is difficult for us to adopt another way of living. Our body, our immunity, our little nature changed. If you go to the people who live in the forest, the ethnic cultures, for example, in Australia, they have Aborigines. They can survive without food for one or two weeks and are able to run very fast. And they don’t get so quickly ill, because they are used to it, they adopt that nature. And we people here, we have one day of fasting, oh God, people become nervous when we announce that tomorrow is Thursday, the day of fasting. The organizer asks, "Please report who will fast tomorrow." Some would like to be polite and say, "Yes, I will fast." Now, this person can’t sleep all night. So many things. Now, similarly, the animals too, the baby of the deer, a small baby, after birth, after a few minutes or hours, begins to run. And they also, all other creatures, they are very active, they run. And even our dogs have bad habits like we do; our dogs can’t run like that. It’s just a training, a way of living. Once someone asked a Swāmījī, "Swāmījī, how do people live in the Himalayas as yogīs with very little cloth on?" He said, "Well, I will answer you in three years." So he went in summer. And he took all the dress away. That is the way of training your own body and mind. He said, "Look, your whole body is covered." How many things do we have here? Three, four, five? We have three, four, five layers. It is cold here. But why don’t we cover our face? This part is trained. Cold wind, cold air. Minus degrees, we are covering our body, the face is empty, open, so on the face we don’t feel that much cold as on other parts of the body. Well, the face is a small part, it gets the warmth from the whole body. Ok, then go without socks. It’s also a small part. Oh God, your nose will begin to run. So habit is the second nature of a man. What kind of habit we have becomes our nature. And it’s very hard to change. Similarly, if someone begins to abuse some kind of drug or alcohol, it becomes a part of your body’s nature. You would like to stop, but you can’t, because it has become a part of you. But it can be changed. But certain damage which is done through alcohol or through other drugs remains lifelong. You give up, but they have protocol. Somewhere in the body, somewhere in your brain. They want to have a small apartment, where from time to time they can come there, and so when a critical situation comes—emotional fear, emotions, there are many different kinds of emotions—when you lose your job, "Use me. I am your best friend, all the time inside." So one who gives up alcohol, and suddenly something happens, he begins to drink again. Therefore, it is said, Holī Gurujī said, it is easy to become free from the enemy... Therefore, in yoga, we have four principles. This is called ācār, vicār, āhār, and vihār. For these four things, you must be very careful. First comes ācār. Our behavior, our words, and how we act. The wise one will act very softly, will filter all the problems. Even you can turn poison into nectar, and you can turn nectar into poison. So, a wise person has control over their ācāraṇ, ācāraṇ means behavior, with you and with others. This ācāraṇ, this behavior, can destroy us or can protect us. And it’s not only when we are in a seminar, but all the time. We know many things will change in life. We know some people will be very nasty to us. But your viveka, your intelligence, and your beautiful, wise intellect, will handle everything with such softness. Don’t lose your nerves. Don’t lose your confidence. Because we have to come back to our happiness. We have only one shelter: to God. One great saint, Sūradāsa said, "Lord, I am like a seagull on the big ship." And my boat is in the middle of the ocean. Thousands of kilometers distance. Sometimes I don’t like this boat. Similarly, blindly, out of temptations and illusions, we forget God, and we jump into the ocean of māyā, but suddenly we come to a situation, and we quickly fly back to the shelter of God. So never give up. Don’t fly too far away. You may make your flying exercise, but to rest, you have to come again there, like that bhajan says, "Mi Le Ta He." Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, after flying here and there, after experiencing all these disappointments, painful things, all, again, we surrender to God. After flying here and there, the bird doesn’t see anywhere in the center. So, Guru Nānak Sāhib said, "Śatguru Nām Jahājhe"—the Gurudev’s name, your mantra is your boat. Sometimes you don’t practice, you work, but again you come to your mantra. Ācār, ācār... behavior. Ācār, conduct. Unless your enemy has lost everything and has become enveloped in darkness, a cāra, vicāra, then comes vicāra, the thinking. How you think, you act. Our thoughts are a mighty elephant, and it is not easy to control him. Your words are the most powerful weapon, worse than atomic weapons, and our words are the most powerful bullet. Therefore, control this; this bomb is our thoughts. When we come to know there is a lying bomb, then you call an expert. And this living bomb, they can neutralize. So when you have anger, hate, jealousy, revenge, greed, then come to Gurudev. Come to the wise person, and the wise person will say to you, slowly, forget it, kṣamā, forgiveness. "Kṣamā badāṁko hote"—the great one can forgive. "Swatāṁko utpāt"—who is a very small thinker, a narrow thinker, will create the troubles. So, words, our thoughts, vichāra, śuddha vichāra, we should have good thoughts. The thoughts with the troubles, or thoughts with the peace. You should have understanding. When a small baby, a few months old, is drinking milk from the mother’s breast, at the same time, with the legs, she is hitting the mother’s face. And what does the mother do? See how this little gentle foot of the child is kissed. Are you able to kiss like this your enemy’s thoughts? You can. You can. If you develop love of the mother, and the same child comes to the father and jumps on the shoulders and holds the whole throat and pulls the beard, but the father is so proud of his son, so we should develop the love of mother and father. That is the divine; all will be peaceful. But as soon as we go out of the lap of the parents, then different things happen. So vichāra, our thinking, that can change the inner world and the outer world. And which is negative, we can’t say that it is positive. Thorn is thorn, but therefore God gave us Viveka. If you have to walk through the thorny ground, then wear the shoes, that’s all. Shoes are protection. Where there are three tapas, three kinds of suffering, fire... These are three tapas that we will come to further. So, vichāra, thinking. Our own thinking makes us troubles and makes others troubles. And we think my thinking is the best. I told you this story, this example, a few times. There was a man, at one o’clock in the night, he dresses, takes a stick in his hand, walks through the residential area, and starts shouting. "Crazy one! Get up! Be alert!" And shouting and beating the stick on the ground. So someone called the police. Police came and said, "Sir, why are you making a noise?" He said, "Who are you?" "Well, I’m police." "It’s good that you came. Don’t you see?" The policeman said, "No, I don’t see anything." "That’s why you don’t see. Because so many wild elephants were here, and I hunted them away. If I do not scream here, I will destroy all the residents here. So I’m hunting them away. Stay with me. Very soon, they will come and show you elephants." So they said, "Okay, you sit in our car." And you, there, can show me an elephant there. We think we are saying good, but that’s our own imagination. Therefore, be careful. Really, really. Slowly, slowly. Vichāra. Always don’t put your thinking immediately on the table. A wise person will neutralize this active bomb. Like a mother or father does. Ācār, vicār, āhāra, then comes the nourishment, what kind of food you eat, like that things will develop in your body. Don’t eat only because you like the taste, but ask your whole body, ask your intestine, ask your kidneys, ask your liver. The liver said, "I don’t need alcohol. I need good water." So what we put in our body, our body does not accept that. In Satya Yuga, people had thousands of years of life, living very healthy and happy. And it is said that in Kali Yuga now, humans will lose their control, and they will not have any control over their bad habits. And the result? Rapidly, their life will reduce. So, after 35 years, or a maximum of 40 years, after 40 years, you are going down again. 40 and 40? 80. My God, 80 years old. So, play your theater till 40 years. And after 40 years, take care of your jacket. What have you done? And now, you will lose. There begins mid-life. You become angry with your wife. "You didn’t let me go anywhere," and she will be angry with you. So, my dear, if we live with ācāra, vicāra, āhāra, and vihāra, we will pull our life till 50 years. The mountain is 1000 meters high. We go 1000 meters up. Then we can’t go any more up, and we don’t want to go still there. Now, a thousand meters, we have to come back. So there are waves of life; you come until there, and then you have to go down. So nourishment, food, sattvic, natural food, for humans, it’s vegetarian. Also, you should know which vegetable, when, and how. As little nourishment, long life. As full as the stomach, and then more, and then more, is the short life. So it is said in German, "Selbstmord, Messer und Gabel"—self-murdering with knife and fork. Āhāra, our food. Then the third one, the fourth one is called vihāra: where to go and where not to go. You get up at night, eleven or twelve, and walk through the streets, and something happens to you. Of course it will happen. That was the time to stay in bed. Why did you go outside? Girls and boys, be careful, because when something happens, then the lawyer, the opposite lawyer, will ask you, "Why did you go outside in such a situation?" You are also guilty for that. Yes, that will be a minus point for you. So God made a good system: sunset means come home and sit. Every bird flies to the nest; all creatures find their center. Only two do not: the hiṃsak prāṇī—hiṃsak means the sinner animal. Those animals, sinners and thieves, they go in the night. We should enjoy our family life. Children are happy. Parents are happy. How nice, every day you have dinner together. Daughter, have dinner in Dubrovnik. My son is in Belgrade, my mother is in Biograd, and my other one is in Zagreb. What a dinner! And the grandfather is in an aeroplane. So we need the love of family. A healthy family creates a healthy society, and a happy, healthy society creates happiness and health in the world. So these are the wise suggestions of the wise people. If you would like to be happy, healthy, and a yogī, āhār, vihār, āchār, and vichār—these are the four principles to cross this ocean of māyā. That’s why this lecture was, because you see the ocean. And after a certain time, when you reach that higher level, when you reach that higher level, then the ocean is behind you. So you see, for me it is behind me, and they became Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar also behind them. But my dear, this Māyā is a friend of yours still, so the real center is at the center of God. Bhagavad Gītā. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jaya, Viśvarūpa Mahādeva, Kī Jaya, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān, Kī Jaya. So, that’s it. We are sitting at the beach of the ocean and thinking now how to cross. Oh, that was long ago. There were the thoughts of Hanumānjī on how to cross the ocean to come to Laṅkā. So next time, this evening again, we will have our webcast at 8 o’clock. I wish you all the best and a nice day, warm and sunny. And go and experience how it is in the māyā of the ocean. What is the best? Dīp Nārāyaṇa Vajrayāna.