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Good morning to everybody. How are you? Good, very good. Once more, good morning to everyone. Blessings of Śrī Mahāprabhujī to all. Nice to see you. Time is passing. We have a very nice time. Time is never bad, and there is no time. Time is created by humans. Otherwise, it is called beyond space and time. We are just according to the Dharma, the universal Dharma. So, there is change. There is change as long as it is connected to matter. When you come into infinity, then there is no change. Chal and achal, these are two. Chal means movements, and achal means no movements. So movement, the chal, is there as long as we are existing in a certain form. Even jīvātmā, the jīvātmā is the mixture of ātmā and artha. Jīvātmā is a bundle of our karmas. When all this will be dissolved, then there is nothing happening. Nothing is there. It is called only ātmā. We always speak about the onion, but there is no onion. We take one after the other layer of the onion. It is called a piece of onion, a piece of onion, but where is the onion? We do not find it. Similarly, manas, buddhi, citta, ahaṅkāra, and our physical being. But we are not this. We are neither this intellect nor this mind. We are not these thoughts nor this body. But still we are, and we are identifying ourselves with our body. Without the body, we are nothing. We need this body. That is why this soul, which is traveling around space, is searching for some object. We project our karmas, our actions. We have a projector, but we do not have anywhere to project; we need a screen. And the screen surprises us, that shows our real picture. So we would like to put it off, but it is said, "Wait." So we cannot give up, and we do not try to get better. O human, look at your face in the mirror. Kitna punniye he, or kitna pāpa terī jīvana me? How many good things you have in your life, and how many sins you have in your life? Postoji u vašim životu, that is the inner mirror. When we close our eyes and we look within with closed eyes, in our own space, we connect ourselves with our heart and intellect. Then we see our reality. We are sometimes happy and sometimes unhappy. God gave us freedom to do what we like. We have free decision to act. But the fruits of our actions, the result of our actions, is not in our hands. That is our destiny, and destiny is given to us through our Vidhātā. Vidhātā is that one which keeps your records when we come on this earth. It is Vidhātā who is presenting all our records. And this is very hard to avoid. Therefore, Mahāprabhujī said in his garden preaching, "The past is gone, do not cry for the past." Even if you cry, it will not help. The present is here. What you do, you should be aware. The future is not there. The future will be as your presence. So God was merciful and gave us this human life so that we can change our future. And sometimes it is difficult to change our past. May someone tell us our past and future, but how to change? Rare are those who can change. Rare are those who try to understand. Even God is a victim of his past deeds, maybe good or bad, that does not say. If you read the Rāmāyaṇa, the past of the king Dhṛtarāṣṭra, why did it happen like that? There is one story. There was one bhakta, a bhakta of mother and father. We have devotion to our parents, we have devotion to our brothers and sisters, you have devotion to your wife, and you have devotion to your husband. Devotion must not be only that you worship and pray, but devotion means respect. Understand, maintain the relation in a pure way, but there are different kinds of bhakti, devotion: towards parents, towards the nation, towards your teachers, towards God, elements, etc. So there was one man, or boy, born, and his parents were blind. So he dedicated his life to serve his parents. He did not marry because he said, "If I marry, then there will be some kind of mistakes which I may do, that I am not fully concentrating and serving my parents." Parents were growing old; he was growing young and strong. There are three kinds of children or disciples. Everyone has different principles, different relations. It is called Kaniṣṭha, Madhya, and Uttama—three: the worst, the middle, and the best. Also, there are three kinds of disciples, and children too. The worst are those who try to avoid everything. Parents ask, "Can you do this?" They say, "Yes, of course." But can your brother? Tell him he can do it. Avoiding, or before you tell, disappears. Such a disciple will not get anything. The middle one likes to do it, but is waiting for the order. If my mother will tell, I will do. Otherwise, leave it as it is. So you have to beg. Please, can you do it? Okay, I will do it. This is the middle one. The scale is like this. Uttama is that one. The best one is when you come to know what your father, mother, or master wants without asking, and they will do it. There is no argument, there is no question why or how. I do not understand these questions. An uttama disciple or uttama children does not ask, because every parent’s wish and doing is best for the children, and every master wishes very much and does best for the disciples. Otherwise, I will not sit here and give you lectures for hours and hours every day. Because I wish all the best for you. That is very important. There is a story which I told you many times about one wasp which finds a kind of worm, makes a mud house, a small mud house, and puts it in. And one day it will turn into the wasp. Even a person who does not know much about it can become great through satsaṅg. Kaniṣṭha, Madhya, and Uttama, these are three qualities. So that son of these blind parents, what was his name? Śravāṇa Kumāra. So you should know that Swāmījī is not creating stories. You have the evidence here. Śravāṇa Kumāra. Well, one day the parents wished, desired to go to all holy places, pilgrim places. There were no cars, no trains, no aeroplanes, no transportation possibilities. Except maybe horse, bag, camel. The servant said, "Yes, father, yes, mother, we will do." So he prepared two beautiful baskets from nice bamboo. And in one basket he put his father, and in the other his mother, and a bamboo hanging on it, and he put it on his shoulder, carrying the parents hundreds of thousands of kilometers. That time was not so nice; roads through the forest. Jungle, up, down, desert. Wherever sunset, they stopped there and stayed overnight. One day, they came to some place, and it was midday. And Śravāṇa put the baskets down. That is called Kavaḍa. We call that Kavaḍa. Not in English, Kavaḍa. So now in the month of Śrāvaṇa, near Guru Pūrṇimā time, you will see in India many, many people that are carrying two water pots on their shoulders. That is the symbol of the servant bringing the water to the Śiva temple, and we call these people Kāvadīyā, who are carrying the Kāvaḍ. He stopped. Midday, hot sun, he was sweating, and he said to his parents, "My dear parents, how much I am doing for you, and I offer my whole life to you. What will you give me?" Like he is asking for the ticket. Father said, "Yes, my son. Of course, we will give you something, but tell me, where are you? Where are we now?" So he told, "This is the place," name perhaps something like that. Father said, "Okay, let us go, carry on. You will get something." After walking a few kilometers, he put the cover down again and began to cry. And telling the parents, "Forgive me, please forgive me. I do not know why my buddhi, my intellect, my mind was polluted. That I asked from you, you gave me the life. Please forgive me, father." The father said, "It was not your mistake. The radiance of that spot where we were standing, that was a negative radiance, and all the constellations attacked you. And we changed the place again, you became normal." So, my dear, sometimes we come to some place, or it can be in your house too, where certain negative energy comes. At that time, do not make any decision, otherwise you will be sorry. If you have one day quarreling with your partner, then wait or go somewhere for coffee. Croatian likes coffee, and all will be okay, but on that time, on that place, do not make a decision. Okay, we will divorce. I do not like you anymore. Wait, wait. Time will bring your good situations. A wise one can wait, a wise man will not argue, and a wise man will not suffer. But I will be happy that I have now got something to work on. My duty is now to digest and neutralize everything into the positive. But inside ego, so proudness, or you may say rudeness, you cannot digest. Like popcorn on a hot pan. So they were traveling. One day, it was evening, nearly sunset. Parents said, "Son, servant, you are tired. And it seems that it is getting dark. We rest here. Beautiful tree. That tree is called Kadamba. Kadamba Vṛkṣa. Beautiful. We will stay overnight here, son. We are very thirsty. Search somewhere for water and bring water." So he was looking. Śravāṇa was looking, "Where can be water?" And he saw somewhere the kingfisher birds were flying, so he said... Where birds are flying, this kind of ducks are like that, there must be water. He said to his parents, "I am going to bring water. Please rest, relax." Mother said, "Son, come quickly. Do not let us wait long." Father said, "Be careful. And bring water." So he had one water pot with him, like nowadays you have water bottles. So the capacity of about five liters of water, or ten liters. It was about one kilometer far, or half a kilometer. Beautiful pond, or a lake, pure, clean water. Now, getting dark, so there was a king who went hunting. I forgot the name of that, you know, who was it? No, it was not Daśaratha, it was another name. Daśaratha was born again. Now, at that time, people were fighting wars and using weapons like arrows. But they had sādhanā; these arrows were functioning according to particular mantras. Now, say that mantra, and the arrow will go there. For a long time, I was thinking about this. But in Yugoslavia, where there was a civil war, in one night the planes came without sound, without light, and dropped the bomb just on that place, that breeze. No civilian was there, and like this. How would this be managed? Technology, computerizing, navigators. So they had, at that time, such navigators, powers of mantras. Now in Kali Yuga, the mantras have also lost a lot of energy. Not the mantra, people, because there is a sādhanā called upāsanā. And if you do this sādhanā, this upāsanā, there are very strict rules. And these strict rules are, if you do not have to eat anything, then you should not eat. You know, in Islam, there are certain festivals also, fastings. And we call Roja in Urdu language, Ramadhan. On these days, till they do not see the moon, 24 hours, even they do not swallow their own saliva from the mouth. If you make coughing, they will not swallow. So they are disciplined. They are fasting, no sip of water, not a coughing chocolate. Or candy, five times a day, making prayers, discipline, devotion to their belief. We could learn from them. And David Provence today, I said about Mauna, and all was singing afterwards on the beach, like in Mona Lisa. All was like that. Fasting? Yes, I am fasting, but this is chocolate, only prasāda. Take it. Okay, prasāda is good. They will not do it; they will take it and keep it. So I want to tell that discipline and quality, no compromise in the operation theater, no compromise. You cannot go in; you have to take a plastic cap, plastic shoes, you have to have a mask. Everything you have, flu and doctor or surgeon is your friend, and you just go in. He will not allow you to compromise. So, upāsanā, if you make a little mistake, that will destroy you. So you should not catch the cobra. And if you want to catch, you should know how to catch. And now, just do not drop him down. To know how to catch and how to free, that becomes successful. Especially in Devī pūjā, Śakti pūjā, there you have to have very strict rules, very strict. Because she is pure and she has no compromise. She plays as a mother, but in certain things she is very strict. Little mother, little child born one month ago, and father wants to give something to the child to eat. Mother is strict, will not allow. She will catch husband, put him out of the door, and close it. The door discipline that time, they could think, and an arrow will go there. So there are many, many Brahmāstras, you know, that was a Brahmāstra. When a Brahmāstra was used, it was like a distraction. Before you take this mantra and Brahmāstra, the whole universe is trembling and says, "No, no, do not do this mistake." Brahmā will speak, "Do not do this." Viṣṇu will say, "Do not do this." Śiva will say, "No, stop." Like now, the atom bomb. If one country tried to use an atom bomb, the whole United Nations and all countries would be against it. Do not do this. This text, no? So power is given, but not for misusing. For the sake of your selfishness, now we are not strong enough. Someone tells you, and you become angry, and you say, "Okay, I will shoot it." That is why your mantra does not function now. You can use those mantras too. I can teach you which one it is, but by evening you will say, "Swāmījī, please take it back." Śabda bāṇa. So arrow, śabda bāṇa. Śabda means the word. Now what is śabda bāṇa? Śabda-brahma is that behind this hill there is some sound, and you are here. Now you order your arrow, and it goes and meets, hits that point, that person, or any other person. That is called Śabdabāṇa. And do not give that weapon to anyone’s hands. Yogya, a good person who is trained, who knows when and where to use. There is a story in this story. Can I tell you? There was a king, and the king had bodyguards. And the secretary and very near people to the king always said that nobody should disturb the king. So the king went to sleep in his room in the afternoon. Of course, when he is sleeping, the bodyguard will not stand with him there. But they trained one monkey, and the monkey got a nice sword. And the monkey was trained that no one should disturb the sleep of the king. So the monkey was standing with this, walking around. One fly came in the room. And a fly was always sitting at the nose of the king, and the king was going. Again, come and sit there. A few times he did like this. He turns to the other side. He turned this side, the monkey thought, my king is disturbed by this fly. I am loyal to him. I am loyal to my teacher. For what am I here? So, I came closer, and the fly was sitting here. Fly flew away, but not alone, with a piece of nose. To such a person, you cannot give the weapon in the hand. So use the viveka, this and kṣaṇa, the place and situation. So they were always trained, and only certain people could have this training. So there was a king. He had a sādhbhāva siddhi. Getting dark. He was afraid of the animals: tigers, lions. And he went to hunt the tigers, so he climbed on the tree and sat there. He knew that this time the animals come to drink water in this pond or lake. Unluckily, that young man came to the lake. And went in the water, and he filled the water in the pot, and water was going in, making a little sound, and he washed his hands and face also. The king thought, "That is a lion now, or the tiger, drinking and bathing." Śabdabāṇa, he used that time, śabdabāṇa, and he shot. It went and it hit. The servant fell down and he screamed, "Father, mother, I cannot bring water!" The king heard a human voice. He got down, ran there, and saw this young man. He took him out from the water. Very sorry. Very sorry. I did not want this. Who are you? Śravāṇa said, "My friend, I do not know who you are. But what happened has happened. But I am sorry, unhappy. In the last minutes of my life, I left my parents thirsty, and I could not give them water. Your parents said yes. Where are they? They are sitting about half a kilometer, one kilometer far, under the kadamba tree. They are blind. Go and give them water." He died. Well, the king took the water pot. And he went there, but he did not dare to say anything. He was afraid. So he said, he went and said, "Water." The blind father said, "Śravāṇa, is that your voice? How are you talking now? What happened? I will not drink water." Again, he said, "Drink." Mother and father, they knew something was wrong. Then he said, "Please forgive me. I did this and this." Blind parents cursed him. "When you die, your children will not be there. And you will die blind, suffering like this." And that became the father of God Rāma, King Daśaratha. And that was the end of Daśaratha, the father of God Rāma. Sādho, vai karma kī rekhā nyārī-nyārī. O my brothers, the line, the faith line of your karma, everyone has a different one. Your left thumbprint. Only how many are we sitting in this hall? Hundreds. And all have different. That is why they say an illiterate person’s signature, you know, who cannot sign, you have to give the thumb. But now, in serious cases, you have to give your finger, your thumb. In many countries, when you go past control, they have to give your thumb print. And not only you, the computer can check how many thousands or millions of people were giving their thumbprint there. Nothing is the same. Similarly, we all sit here, but our destiny is different, my dear. Mukharā Adek Darpaṇe, look your face in that inner mirror. While story is shortening, king got four beautiful sons, and they went to school. One of them was God Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, Śatrughna, and Bharata. Then Viśvāmitra came for protection of the yajña, and so on. Now they married all four brothers. They came to Ayodhyā, and all were happy. And Daśaratha asked Viśvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha. Guru Vasiṣṭha, Vasiṣṭha was the family or king guru of this dynasty of the Raghu King Daśaratha. He said, "Guru Dev, please look, how is the tomorrow constellation, or when is the best constellation? I would like to give now kingdom to my son Rāma." And they looked in Jyotiṣa. And a few were sitting there, and all were saying, "This is Jyotiṣa language, you will not understand." Everyone said, "Immediately donate, you will get more benefit." But how the destiny is playing? The Vedānta lake, what the destiny has written, destiny is laughing. They declared that tomorrow morning, God Rāma will become the king. He will get Abhiṣeka, Tilaka, and a crown. He will be crowned tomorrow. Daśaratha had three wives, and these three of them gave the four children. The mother of Bharata was Kaikeyī, and Kaikeyī was from, at that time all India was one, from Afghanistan. And when she was married, they sent a few slaves with her, you know, and one who was the babysitter all the time, taking care of the Kaikeyī. So the babysitter system is not only modern, which I was telling yesterday. I am sorry for that. I take my words back. It was that time too, and how much power has the babysitter? Be careful, and you can read in the Rāmāyaṇa. The maid, who was the babysitter and the caretaker of the Kaikeyī? She did not want, she hated the Rāma, and she wished that Kaikeyī’s son would become king. But Rāma was the first, so it was everywhere: the first son will be the king. And what she played in the theater, Kaikeyī loved Rāma more than her own son. And she was so angry on that maid. How could you do this? How can you tell about Rāma? This but blackmailing is blackmailing. Black cannot make it white. Pollution, Malavikṣepa, Āvaraṇa is powerful, my dear. Till midnight, she managed that Kaikeyī became against Rāma and Daśaratha. And she played the theater. She went, they had always a room that is called the room of sadness. She went into that room, and they sent the message to the king. She threw all her jewelry out, and this and that. So that is why I should not take immediate action. The second problem was that the king gave his word in a past life to his queen, who was the Kaikeyī again. And there was a battlefield, and she saved the king in the battlefield. She fought for him. And he said, "My dear, I am so thankful to you that you saved my life. Wish anything, I give you." She said, "King, be careful. I give you all my life." So she gave, I think, three wishes. One he fulfilled. And for two, she said, "I will keep it. When I need, I will ask you for what." And now she called him there. Is the story interesting, no? Or should I stop it? You said the maid of the queen, the slave? Mantharā was the maid, or the servant, of the Kaikeyī. Mantharā gave good mantra. She thought it was a good mantra, but it turned into a bad mantra. Then Kaikeyī will be sorry for his whole life. That is how one can destroy poor Kaikeyī. The Rāma was the son, everything what best can be in this world was the Rāma. And for Rāma, he loved more Kaikeyī than his own mother. She was his stepmother, and whatever Mantharā told against Rāma, the Kaikeyī was so angry and so sad, but Mantharā was talking. So bad, and said, "You will be the slave, you will suffer, and you will see that Rāma will just give you as a servant. Your son should become king. Bharata must be the king." "No, I do not want this. What kind of mother are you? You take rights." Of your son away, so you know, family problems, blackmailing not only that person, but all will go. But the Mantharā was so sorry after, so sorry. The king came, and before the king came, she gave her two mantras. Perfect political game. Number one. First, tomorrow morning, before this time, Rāma should be punished. This means send him into the forest, out of Ayodhyā’s kingdom, and for fourteen years he is not allowed to enter Ayodhyā territory, not allowed to go into any village, and not allowed to have meetings anywhere or anything, only to live in the forest. In the forest, this is the first wish you should ask him to fulfill. And second, King, tomorrow should be announced: Bharata as a king. At that time, Bharata and Śatrughna, they were not in Ayodhyā, they were in their parents’ home. It takes a long time to come back. She said, "I cannot do this." Now, she said, "You will do. I tell you, I am responsible for you." Okay. King came. Kaikeyī was playing perfect theater, black dress, all hair were like it, maṇṭra, ṣaṭ, ṣaṭ, you know what is ṣaṭ? Which eyes are big with anger? King, my dear, what happened? Do not touch me. Oh my God, like a cobra. Oh my God, this is, you know all better than me. She said, "Do you remember, King? That time, that life, you gave me a promise. Three. One I asked you, and two I kept it." He said, "Yes, my dear, I ask, I give everything." She said, "You are the coward. You will not give? You cannot give? Do not disturb me. I will die here as it is." So, emotionally, she made him completely powerless. He said, "Ask. Promise me again that you will fulfill." "Yes, my dear, I will do for you. But be happy." She said, "I will be happy if you fulfill them." And the Mantharā was standing behind a curtain. If she noticed that Kaikeyī was getting a little weaker, she was like that. Okay, my first wish is to send Rāma for 14 years into the forest, out of Ayodhyā’s kingdom. He is not allowed to go into any village or any house, and he should take the dress of the sannyāsīs. I say, "Yogī, not anymore like a prince." And 80% of the king’s strength was destroyed. Why? Why should I punish him? I cannot do this. He has done nothing. She said she was standing, and her one leg was on him. I told you, coward, you will not fulfill my wish. Get out of here. He said, "I am broken. I cannot stand up." She said, "Yes, but one wish more. Then we will be funeral. I did not let you die before. And second was, my son Bharata will be king tomorrow." The king fell unconscious. He could not talk, like a heart attack. They carried him into his room. Somehow, around 4 o’clock in the morning, Rāma said, "What is happening here?" And Mantharā sent a message to Rāma: "Look at your father’s condition." And he went, and he saw what happened. He went to Kaikeyī. He said, "Mother, why are you suffering? What you said is my blessing. I will be so happy to be in the forest and meet many yogīs and the like. And how proud I am. My brother is a king. If anything happens anywhere, I will say proudly, 'My brother is a king.'" Like a secretary of the minister has more ego than the minister himself, okay? He said, "Mother, be happy. I will do it, do not worry." He said, "Go and tell your coward father." So he went to the father and said, "Father, you are the hero. You are great. This is nothing. How happy I am. I will be in the forest. I will have time to meditate. See the many ṛṣis, and be happy that Bharata is a capable one. Allow me." King said, "No, no, no." But Rāma went. Sītā went with him. Lakṣmaṇa went with him. Now, out of this suffering, a few days before Bharata came, the king died. No one was with him. He remembered that arrow which he shot at Śabdabāṇa and killed that Śravāṇa. Now, the story goes further, and it is very nice. You should read all of the Rāmāyaṇa. So, my dear, destiny is destiny. We have to be humble, careful, prayer that we can somehow, if we cannot change, somehow make a little bit in our favor. And at least we should not create now more new destiny. Therefore, manas, buddhi, citta, ahaṁkāra, antaḥkaraṇa should be pure and remove this, what we call the māla, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa. We have to work very hard, as Kabīr Dās said in a bhajan, "This human body is colored full of God’s color." When God incarnates, He incarnates like a human. But it is we who do not understand, and we make again the same thing. So karma, destiny cannot be easily changed. Again, I remind you of this story, an old, old story from Greece. The one king had a son, and someone who could read and tell the future. He told that king, "Your son will marry your wife," and he let him throw somewhere in the forest between wild animals. The shepherd found it and took him home, and he grew up. You know what was the name? That is it. So, Uddhava, karma kī rekhā nyārī nyārī. O Uddhava, karma kī rekhā nyārī nyārī. Gopī said to Krishna’s first friend, Uddhava, when Krishna went away. The line of our karma, our destinies, is very different. And when Bharata came back, and he heard all this. He was so angry with his mother, and he did not want to see her face, and he did not accept the kingdom. It is a very painful thing, but in spite of this, God suffers for us. He comes here to liberate us, protect us. So any incarnation, including Kṛṣṇa, suffers very much. Look at the destiny of Kṛṣṇa: to be born in the prison, rescued through the river, and many, many things. And at the end, he was also a victim of an arrow; he left his body. So, my dear, we are all in the same ocean; we are in the same water. Let us do something good, that God is merciful, and we come out of this play, of this cycle of birth and death. So that is very important for us.