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Part 1: The Essence of Human Dharma A small story came to my mind, which also throws light on dharma. It’s about Kabīrdās. Kabīrdās and his disciple were walking, and the master saw that a scorpion had fallen into the water. Scorpions cannot live in water. Kabīrdās tried to save the scorpion. He tried to take it, but when he wanted to lift it out, the scorpion stung him. The sting of a scorpion is very painful. As a result, the scorpion fell back into the water. He tried again to save it, and again he got stung. Again, it fell back, and this play continued. The master always tried to save the scorpion, but the scorpion somehow did not allow it. Then the disciple asked the master, "Master, why are you doing that? You try to save the scorpion, but you see how the scorpion is paying you back, always giving you pain. Why don’t you stop?" Kabīrdās gave a very scientific answer: "You see, it is the nature of a scorpion to sting. It is the dharma of a scorpion. But I am human. It is my dharma to save him; therefore, I don’t give up." So, do not take it personally what happens. He tried to fulfill his human dharma to save an animal which was suffering. Let us make it concrete. When it’s summer and a mosquito lands here and starts a little bit—a small scorpion—what will be our reaction? Let us think about that. What is the dharma of a mosquito? What is the nature of a mosquito? To do exactly that. So now, when we kill it, then we don’t follow our dharma. We could also, in another way, try to get rid of it. Dharma and karma are very closely related. So now let us come to the simple question: what is our dharma? This is one simple question which does not have one simple answer. It actually has several answers. I would say it has three different levels of answers. One is, we are all... at what point are we all the same? We are all human. So that is the first level: that dharma which is valid for all of us because all of us are humans. That is the first question, and maybe the most interesting. Afterwards, we go more into details, and then it will become different for different groups and so forth. So now let us think, what is our dharma? We have to think about the principle of dharma. We said we have to understand the nature of something. Think of the eye and the ear, the cow and the lion. So now, what is the nature, what is specific for humans? That means what we want to find out is not something in general, but something specific, what is specific for us as humans. It means, what dharma do we have which we would not have in the form of a cow, a lion, or any other animal form? And remember, we cannot voluntarily just decide something. We have to find it out in a scientific way. Let us do a little brainstorming. What is now specific about us as humans? What do we have that animals, for example, don’t have? So, what could be specific now for our dharma? We have intellect, which in yoga we call Buddhi. And the highest form of Buddhi is Viveka. Usually, on this point we work a lot, but I know you are Swāmījī’s disciples, so now we are getting more straight to the point. So, we have already three very important points. We have free will, and through this, we have responsibility. Remember, the principle of karma and dharma is valid only for us humans. We have the Buddhi, the intellect, and as Swāmījī used to say, the intellect can be trained, it can be developed limitlessly, and through this we can develop this Viveka. Now, based on this, what could we now say is our dharma? What to do with our life? What to achieve in our life? What can we achieve with this, what we just mentioned? And what animals cannot achieve because they do not have it? We can do something with the karma. We are doing karmas all the time. We can get realization? That’s a little bit too quick. I want now that we really develop it together and understand it together. So, let us maybe look, let’s go a step back and look at our daily life. So many things which we are doing in our life, spending a lot of time, energy, and money for it. Now let’s look at our real daily life. With what are you busy? Working. Eating. Preparing for that. Going shopping. Cooking. Okay, more? Family. And six or eight hours per day? Sleeping. That is now the reality of our life, well, let’s say of practically everyone. So, now let us just look at a bird. A bird is also eating, is also sleeping, and one thing which you didn’t mention also, procreating, has also children and family, and also caring for that, and actually also working, though it’s not so well paid. But just think, when they have children, how they are flying up and down to find something to feed the children, and how busy they are to build a nest. How much activity just to build a nest somewhere. And if it falls down, they will immediately start building the next one. So they are working, they are having family, they are eating, drinking, sleeping. And often, even if, for example, someone tries to attack the children, they fight and try to defend the children. So now we can clearly say, as far as we do only this kind of activity, we are not yet on the point of specific human qualities. This is one sentence. From Swāmījī also, which you might have heard already often: "Khāna, pīna, bhogana, paśubhiḥ samānaḥ." You remember that? That means khāna is eating, pīna is drinking, bhogana means enjoying, and especially, it means also sex, and "paśu" means animal. So in eating, drinking, and enjoying, the animals are also very good. That means as long as we reduce our life on these aspects, we are not living actually a human life. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these activities. They are a necessary part of our life. But as long as we reduce our life to that, we have actually missed the special point of a human life. You can say that we miss the chance of human life. And this is what we have as a teaching in many of our bhajans: "Ceta, ceta, apajīva, ajñānī, avasara, javarī, avasara, javarī." Awake, awake, awake. Your chance is passing away. It’s not so much the time; it is the chance of a human life. The Guru explains this to you. Guru explains to us the principle of what? What is our dharma? So now, we can already exclude certain things. These types of activities which we just spoke of are okay, but not yet typical of a human. Now, in reality, many people actually reduce their life to these activities. And this is easy to understand when we think of the cycle of reincarnation. There are 8.4 million forms of different incarnations, but only one of them is human. So for millions of times, we have practiced these activities as a bird, as a fish, as a cow, as whatever. And now we get a human body and say, "Oh, let’s go on." And we don’t realize that now we have the big chance, like in a lottery you are playing and playing and playing, and one day you win and you don’t look properly and throw it away. So that is now the point of dharma, to understand the greatness of human life, to follow the human dharma and to realize, so what would be now this dharma, which we can approach, as we said, with free will and intellect? How do we spend our life? Understand. Understand, yeah. Now we want to understand. This is generally right, but a little bit too unconcrete. Decide if, through our words and our deeds, we will create on the earth like the heaven or the hell. One thing which we are doing just now: we are thinking about our life. We are thinking, actually, about the purpose of our life, the value of our life. I don’t think that cows or fishes are able to do that, to come to think, "Why am I here?" or, as Swāmījī used to say, "From where did I come? Where do I go? And what am I actually doing here?" This is where our spiritual path starts. This is where Swāmījī always tries to awaken us and to remind us. This is the Brahma aspect of the Guru, to awaken us spiritually. Awake, awake. Think about your life, about the purpose of your life. So here we are, one little step further to think about life, what is possible in human life to achieve. So now, next. What can we achieve? What can we do? It depends on the conditions in which we are born. No, you are speaking now about the general dharma of all humans, independent of the concrete conditions. On that, we will come later. You are right. We have many different dharmas, but now we are speaking about the one general dharma which is valid for all of us. To take life in your hands. Yes. Very good, but still a little bit general: to know who we are. That is an interesting point, so that is a real step forward. That is actually the question of yoga. That is the question of meditation. Do animals have the desire to find out who they are? Do they ever have this question? I don’t think they are able to have such a question. So now, when we have the question, we don’t have yet the answer. That means now we actually become a seeker. That’s already a big step forward. We have a question mark in our life: Why am I here? What’s the purpose? What’s the aim of my life? And who am I actually? Now, what is the next step when you become a seeker? I mean, you all have gone that way. What was next? Like to simplify life through your needs? Like, through limiting your needs, that "I don’t need this, I don’t need that"? I also did this, actually, before I came to Swāmījī, but I mean now, practically, so you have a question but no answer yet, and you are searching. So what’s next? To try all the possibilities which are attracting us until we find the right one. Exactly, so now as a seeker, we start to maybe read different books, go to different events, lectures, and so on, and see what is offered. So now we are searching for guidance, and then somewhere we feel that we find it. Then we connect, and we follow this teaching, and then, as a later step, we become a disciple. And we practice, we do sādhanā. Did you see? I mean, there are books, funny books about cats doing āsanas, but this is rather the other way around: that we observe the animals doing some postures, and then we call our āsanas according to that. But in reality, of course, the animals are not doing sādhanā. They behave, act, and even move according to their dharma, according to their nature. So now we are going on the spiritual path, becoming disciples, and doing sādhanā. And the most essential form of sādhanā is then the meditation and the mantra. So all this is already typical human, or can you say any animal or any plant who can do sādhanā? Yoga sādhanā is not known to me. So this is all only possible based on the free will and the intellect. We can make such life decisions and then really go in a certain direction. And also, work then on ourselves. Sādhanā is always like a mirror. Now we have to look at ourselves. How does Swāmījī call meditation? Self-inquiry meditation. So I want to know the truth about myself. And first of all, about my qualities. And then finally we come to that question: who am I? And what is the guideline for our spiritual path? And when we are serious enough, following a master, and have good karmas, then we can achieve that aim. Can you follow so far? That this is really typical human dharma. Because only as a human can we achieve that. The question of dharma is what is specific for that which we are analyzing. Now we speak about what is specific for humans. Only as a human can you go on the spiritual path and actually realize. That is what you said before, but now I hope it’s a little bit more logically understandable. And then it becomes also clear why the spiritual path is not just a hobby of some specific people. You may have many different hobbies. It’s basically just to spend your time, but the spiritual path, the yoga, is much more than that. It is exactly that which is according to our dharma, so this is the essence. This is the essence of our human life. Or, the other way round, when we don’t do that, when we neglect that, when we forget it, then we miss the chance of human life. Is this understandable and acceptable? So now, if we want to put it in one word, what is the dharma of humans, in one word? Spiritual path, yeah? It’s the aim. This is the path, but now the aim of the path. Yes. And in Sanskrit? Mokṣa. Or bhukti. So, now we have got it on the point. So, the simple question, what is my dharma as a human? Simple answer, mokṣa. Though, a little bit more. Swāmījī, and especially Holī Gurujī, emphasize actually a second point. Think on introduction to Līlā Amṛta, which Holī Gurujī wrote. There he mentions Mokṣa, but he speaks about two principles, like two dharmas. Who remembers? Second is Seva. Seva means now to serve. Seva is the practical form of bhakti. If you say to someone, "I love you," but you don’t care practically for that person, they ask you, "Where is your love? I need your help, and you don’t help me. I’m ill, I’m hungry, you don’t care for me." So, therefore, the practical form of Guru Bhakti is Guru Seva. That Seva, now in the wide sense, as it is said in the golden teachings of Mahāprabhujī, to serve God’s creation, that is actually to serve God. That means to see in everyone, actually, God’s creation and to serve consciously. And that means now all these qualities, which we usually say are human qualities. What could we say would be these typical human qualities when we say, "That’s a very good human person"? To make Seva a little bit more concrete now, human qualities: kindness, compassion, understanding love, understanding forgiveness, not specific enough, so all these typical human qualities. Swāmījī sometimes says a human should be a protector. Not a distractor, or I remember Swāmījī said in a very nice way when I got my mantra, like a life principle for his disciples. Maybe when someone cries, you cannot help him, but at least you should not be the reason for his tears. So to develop these human qualities, that is what we call together, also then, practically, seva. Now, Holī Gurujī and Swāmījī often quote and compare these two, Mokṣa and Seva, and what he says, now comparing Mokṣa and Seva, is that Seva and helping is more important than prayer. You must translate and check. So H.G. simply says God himself was weighing Mokṣa and Seva. And he found seva more heavy. So, he decided for Seva. How to understand it concretely? In Brahmaloka, you are liberated. You are free. No karmas. No reincarnation. No need to come back to this world. But there are incarnations, avatāras. Why do they come? To help, to serve. Exactly. God, Viṣṇu, Mokṣa, and Śiva. He is in Mokṣa. He is liberated. But as Swāmījī said, I heard the call of your soul, and that’s why I came. So these human qualities—compassion, love—this is actually what makes God incarnate. So God somehow renounces his mokṣa to come here into this trouble with us, to do sevā. So when God incarnates, that means actually a sevak incarnates. Someone comes to do seva. We should never forget that when we speak about Guru Sevā. When we work a lot for the Guru, so easily again we identify with this. How great I am in doing Seva. And we forget that actually the Guru came to do Seva to us. The Guru is here for only one motivation: to do Seva. He is not here because of karma. So, to bring it to a short formula, you can say the dharma of human life, which is common for all humans, is mokṣa and sevā. Can we agree on that? Any remarks about that? Good. Now we come to this, what you said, different conditions. So now we come to the second level: the different roles which we play in our daily life in society. And basically, these are now a result of our karma. Already, that we are born as a human is also a result of our karma. We never should forget that it is a huge positive karma that we have the chance to be here as a human. And therefore, this first point we found is the most important: never to forget that only as a human, and now I am a human, I have the chance for mokṣa and sevā. But now, according to our karma, we are born in different conditions, and then later in our life we also make decisions, and these again create a certain dharma. So you can say our dharma is now a result of our karma. And when we follow our dharma, then we create good karma. But when we don’t follow our dharma, neglect it, or do a wrong dharma, then we create negative karma. And this is now quite endless. We could discuss this for days and days. Because there are so many different roles which we play. First of all, for example, we are born as a man or a woman. Then we are going in our lives through different stages, that means we are young, we are older, we are then old. These are old karmas, which we definitely cannot influence directly now. But then come dharmas also, which we decide, for example, if you marry or you don’t marry. So the dharma, for example, of a married person is definitely different from the dharma, let’s say, of my dharma. Then you have to do something after you earn your bread, so you decide on a certain profession. So you might choose to work as a doctor, as a teacher, as a librarian, or as a thief. So you have different dharma. I don’t know what a dharma is, so now you make many practical decisions in your life, and through this, you actually accept certain dharmas. Now, let us look at just a few of them, a little bit. Of course, we could also speak about the concrete dharma. For example, in yoga and daily life, teacher or whatever, concrete, you have a certain dharma in a certain constellation, also in the family situation: the dharma of the parents, the dharma of the children, the dharma, for example, of brother and sister towards each other. So, the different generations also. So this is a quite endless topic, and we are all now actually in many of these groups, so we have not just one dharma but we have many group dharmas. And then comes a very important point that is called Dharma Saṅkaṭa, that means Dharma conflicts. Now it can happen that you have a certain Dharma according to one group to which you belong, but an opposite Dharma according to another group to which you belong. And this is what this Indian ambassador emphasized, that these principles, which I mentioned earlier, are giving a little bit of a guideline on how to decide in such conflicts. Let’s take a practical example. So you are married, you have a family, you need to work. But you don’t find a job. Now the only job which is offered to you is maybe in a shop for pornography or in a butcher’s shop. So now what to do? It’s a very practical dharmic saṅkaṭa. So, do you refuse this, but your family is hungry? Or you work, but this is actually no good karma? And this is now the daily life situation that we often are in. Sometimes subtle decisions: is this better, or is this better? What is really my dharma? Often then, one can also say only... What is my inner motivation? As we said with the karma, the inner motivation, why we act, is also very important. Maybe you decide to work in a shop, which is not good, because in the moment this is the only thing which is possible, and as soon as possible you will change, for example. Or, for example, I know when you work in restaurants, most of you have to always serve meat. It’s a typical dharmisaṅkaṭa, which I know many of Swāmījī’s disciples had. And then Swāmījī sometimes gives the advice, "Try to open your own restaurant if you are able to do that, a vegetarian restaurant, and then you somehow can get out of this dharma saṅkaṭa." So now let us decide about which concrete group dharmas. We are going to speak for a moment, I guess, on one point which is very essential and very important for all of us. This is about the different dharma of men and women. And this is, of course, a topic of many, many discussions in society, so it’s somehow also a political or social and political point. And when you are in political discussions, you often don’t know how to approach that, to judge what is right and what is wrong. So now, let us maybe think a little bit, what is the dharma of a woman? Now we have to think, as we did before, what is specific for a woman, what is specific for a man. So we try to find out not something which is common for both, but what is specific. So you could say also, what is the nature of a woman? So now, be a mother and educate children. I guess we can agree on that. It is quite rare that men have children. Let us just stop. This is definitely a point, and this is very essential. I mean, here are many mothers. What does it mean to be a mother? Already, what does it mean to become a mother? How is it? And you are pregnant. What does it make with you? How does it change your life when you notice you become a mother? Who would like to say something? There is like a bigger duty coming up, a bigger responsibility. How do you feel? Connected with this child, which is in your womb, it’s connected. It’s actually part of you, part of your body. It’s inside, so it is, in that moment, still you. And there is something moving and developing, which means, practically, from a yoga point of view... There is not yet a difference between you and the child; it is one and the same aura, so it’s actually part of you. And what is your inner feeling toward it? I was astonished that the first came duty. This is maybe a little bit the fear; some duty comes, but I mean, definitely, it’s a part of you. Naturally, the love is there. And now it is out of your body after the birth, but it does not change, actually, in this moment. So from one came two. And does it really change? The love is there. Because it was part of you, and now it is aside you, but it’s still changed. Nothing really changed. Part 2: The Dharma of a Woman and the Three Levels of Dharma Before I became a Swami, I underwent a special training. I believe it was so I could truly understand the benefits of the householder life before making a final decision to become a sannyāsin. I was in a special situation: there was a girl for whom I somehow cared a little. She had serious, chronic physical problems and also some mental problems. She became pregnant by her friend. I remember her official therapist said, "You cannot even care for yourself. How will you care for a child?" He openly suggested she have an abortion. She was confused and came to me. I said, "Ah, this is wonderful. This is most probably exactly what you need to develop and to heal." Obviously, my input was stronger, because she decided to have the child. But due to her nature, and because her partnership was a little fragile, what happened? Just maybe two months before the birth, the friend simply disappeared. So now imagine her situation, pregnant, shortly before the birth. She came to me and asked if I could be present during the birth. I was, and it was a great experience for me. There was a situation, maybe two or three days after the birth, which I will never forget. She said to me in a very natural, you could say naive, way: "You know, I read so many books to prepare myself, and I spoke with so many mothers. But one thing nobody told me: that you must love your child." And it came so spontaneously. It was really like in my heart, you know. She said, "When the child cries, you forget everything. You just run and care." That is the nature of a mother: just run and care—love in practice, seva in practice. That does something with you when you really accept it. And did you really live this dharma? I can give another practical example. I was an only child, but one of my early girlfriends was the 11th of 13 children. That’s another story; actually, one of the grandchildren also grew up there. So a mother bringing up 14 children—can you imagine what that does to you? She was a simple woman; she didn’t even speak proper German, but she was such a cloud of love. Such a personality, just through doing that. Honestly, at times I loved her more than my own mother. So this is so strong, the dharma of a woman. Swamijī speaks so often about that. Whenever he speaks about a mother, he speaks about love. Whenever he speaks about love, he speaks about the mother. So, this is obviously the typical nature, the typical dharma of a woman. Of course, men should also develop that, but it’s a little more difficult from the outside. You don’t have this direct approach. It depends very much on how much a father opens to that. But for a mother, it is really like naturally, automatically, you can say. So this is what I think about the dharma of a woman. Oh, but I would say to Swāmī, she also thinks. Now I ask the women, is this acceptable for you? So dharma also means karma. That means the question is, how far do you live this practically? Now we come to a political question. In Germany, for example, just this week they passed a new law about the status of women in companies, that there must be a chance for women to make a career in big companies. This is now the point of emancipation. In modern society, emancipation has become a big point. We also want to make a career. First, of course, we want to earn the same money, which is mostly not the case. We want to make a career; we also want to work and earn money and have a status like a man. On one hand, this is of course understandable. Definitely, if men and women do the same work, they should get the same money. But we are here not for a political discussion; we are here for a dharma discussion. Let us think for a moment from the point of dharma. What do you think about this from the point of dharma? A woman can’t fulfill her dharma when she pursues a career. Concretely, which dharma can she not do? When she has a child and the child is a few months old, she will have to go to some job to make a career, not to lose the job. The relation between mother and child is so intimate. If she wants to make her career, she cannot care for the child. Or, simply to say, she cannot give love to the children. Many try to combine it, but somehow it doesn’t work. Swamījī spoke about this point very clearly. He said the situation in modern society is that children have no proper guidance, that in reality children are brought up in the street by the influence of society, from friends. In the last years even that changed. Now, the internet is the main educator of the young generation. They all sit on their computer and chat with each other, and that is now the education. What they see there is what everyone sees: all the brutal things and all the sexual things. I remember a study they wanted to make in some country, I think in Denmark or somewhere, on how the consumption of pornography influences young people. They wanted two groups: young people who had already watched pornography, and another group which had not. This study was not possible because they didn’t find anyone for the second group. That means it is already a common phenomenon. The internet now influences all young people. So when Swamiji spoke about this point clearly, he says this situation is actually a fault of the women, that they don’t give to society what they should give: love. If we understand equality or emancipation in the sense that women should do what men are doing, then actually the typical dharma of women is neglected. So we could say, in a political sense, it’s a conservative status. But in the true sense, to conserve, to preserve that which should not be lost. I don’t want to provoke anyone who has a politically different opinion. I just want to show how, when we understand the principle of Dharma deeply, it can give us a practical guide in our daily life. For example, in a concrete family situation, you may feel you need more money. The question is, should the wife also go and work? One way would be to reduce your needs so you don’t need so much money. The other way would be to have more income, that the wife also goes to work. This kind of thought may give you an orientation. Dharma is basically meant as a tool you can use to analyze your different life situations and to make wise decisions for your own life. However you decide, it will be your karma. And according to that, the karmic fruit will come back to you and your family. Sita, you wanted something? "I just wanted to say that also with the children, women used to work with children in the fields, and now society doesn’t allow them to work in the fields. She could also be creative in society and with children. I think that she would divide this, either work or children, but like they said. I was now five years with the child, and I can tell you, it’s very isolating and very boring. There should be, maybe, not work the woman in the same quantity of time as a man, but if you are not satisfied, you cannot give it to him. This is a concrete example. I was with my child for five years. I can translate it for you. I was with my child for five years, and there are certain feelings of isolation and boredom. I don’t think that woman is here just to be just a mother. Yes, it’s the main role and the main dharma of a woman, but it’s not the only one. It depends also on the age of the child." And on your concrete life situation. In India, for example, you still have the integrated big family with different generations. Then, naturally, the grandparents would often also take care of the child—a completely different situation. But in our modern society, mostly young people move out early, and the generations are split. You could, for example, think of the old generation. What is their dharma? In our modern society, mostly they are seen as useless, as a burden, just from the financial point—they cost money. So they are put in old-age homes, and these are mostly for profit, so they are not even properly cared for. But if we think of an old person, someone who has gone through many stages in life and collected many life experiences, what would be their special dharma? To give this experience to the younger generation. This can be such a great inspiration. Basically, we all go through different phases in our life. Someone comes and says, "Oh, I have experiences. I will tell you about my life." It can be such a great inspiration. If we allow them to do that, if we are open to allow them to live their dharma... And on the other hand, what is our dharma to old people? To take care of them. First of all, the thankfulness that they were caring for us, that they were bringing us up. And then, practically paying back—seva. Mokṣa and seva. In this way, the generations can live together in a very harmonious way, very fruitful for both sides. Then, for example, the mother also can have a little bit of a different role because she is taking care in another way, very harmoniously. So it is something, basically... I don’t want to give you any dogmas, just to give you a tool in hand which you can use yourself. It depends on your concrete decisions also. For example, if you decide to marry and have a family, or if you decide not to, like a sannyāsī. We should be careful to judge, like one is better or one is worse, or one is higher and one is lower. It’s just different. I will tell a small story from Swamijī. A disciple asked the master about the difference between householder dharma and sannyāsī dharma. The master didn’t give an answer. He said, "Let us go for a journey." They went on a journey and came to another country. Just then, the king had passed away. They were searching for the new king. In this country, there was a rule that the decision was made by an elephant. On a certain day when the king would be chosen, everyone interested could come. They gave a flower garland to the elephant and let him free. The elephant could go wherever he wanted, and to whom he gave the flower mālā, that person would be the chosen new king. This happened, and they were observing. There were many beautiful young men in the best dress hoping, but the elephant ignored them. He walked through all the people and gave no one the mala. But then, a little outside, also observing, was a young sādhu. The elephant was attracted by the sādhu, went to him, and gave him the flower mālā. What is the situation? Everyone was looking forward to getting the mala, but no one got it except the sādhu. The sādhu was shocked, threw the mālā on the ground, and ran away. The reaction of the other people? "He’s crazy! He’s crazy!" They were all looking so much forward to it, and he got it but doesn’t want it. Let us think: was it right or wrong, what the sādhu did? It was very clear: he followed his dharma. As a sādhu, a sannyāsin, you have renounced any kind of worldly attachment—no family, no money, no fame, no influential position. As a king, he would accept all of that. If he accepted, he would not be a sādhu anymore. The guru explained to the disciple, "You see, that’s an example. He correctly followed his dharma as a sannyāsī." Then they went further into a forest. They were resting under one tree. A little distance away was another tree where a family of birds lived. After some time, two men came who had obviously had a long travel. They were completely exhausted and very, very hungry. They couldn’t walk any further; they fell down under the tree where the birds were. They made a small fire to warm themselves. The birds were observing the men who had come to their tree, to their home. The bird father said to the family, "We have guests." In India, a guest is called a tithi. A tītī is someone who comes without a date, without an appointment. "We have guests, we have to care for them. They are completely exhausted and urgently need food; we need to offer them food. These are humans. If we bring them a worm, that’s nothing for them, but we have nothing to offer." With this, the bird father just dropped himself in the fire and offered himself. The man took it and ate a little from this bird. But, of course, one bird for two men is nothing. The mother followed her husband and also sacrificed her life in the fire for these men. Finally, the bird children also did the same. The whole bird family sacrificed their life just to fulfill their dharma as householders. This is what the guru told the disciple: "You see, here you see householders fulfilling their dharma in a perfect way." As it is said, you should see God in a guest. That’s seva, the duty of a householder. This is, of course, a symbolic story to explain the different dharma of a sannyāsin and a householder. At the same time, it makes clear that the householder dharma is not at all easier than the dharma of a sannyāsin. It’s just different. So it is up to us to choose a certain dharma. It means to make certain life decisions. But once we have chosen, then we should follow that path and not suddenly jump out and try something else. A sannyāsī is someone who suddenly leaves family life because he becomes a seeker and wants only that. But this is only possible when he can go out of the situation without creating karma. When you are married, have a family and children, then you cannot just run away. You have to fulfill your dharma till the end—concretely, at least until the children are grown up and not dependent on you. If you just say, "Oh, I search for God," and abandon your family, you create strong negative karma. That’s now a concrete point of yoga in daily life. To go on the spiritual path does not mean to leave everything behind. Yoga in daily life means clearly: no, stay in the life situation you have created. Don’t run away from it, but try to transform it through yoga. Make yoga an integral part of your daily life. When we said Mokṣa and Seva are the highest dharma for everyone, it does not mean you have to become a sannyāsin. You can transform your daily householder life in the same way. In Sikhism, for example, they don’t have any sannyāsīs. Everyone should marry according to their teacher. Let’s take another example about different professions. When you decide, for example, to be a medical doctor or a teacher. What is the dharma of a teacher? To teach. Very simple. But the question is, what is your motivation? Why do you become a teacher? The right attitude would be a love to share what you know with others. It should be an enthusiasm in teaching, sharing, and guiding. Is this really the motivation of every teacher? Or maybe because it’s quite well paid? Or if it’s not well paid, then little motivation? Or maybe for the holidays? A practical example from India: in many government schools, the rate of absenteeism is higher among teachers than among students. They are not very motivated, and their teaching is often not inspiring. As a result, tuition—children getting help in the afternoon from paid teachers—is a very big business. Funny enough, these teachers who give tuition in the afternoon are sometimes the same teachers who teach in the morning in school. Suddenly, they are very good. Because now they get more payment, they are more motivated, and now they know how to teach. That is an indication that the dharma of a teacher is not perfectly fulfilled. Or what is the dharma of a medical doctor? To heal. But it’s very well paid, especially dentists. Many do it for that purpose. It’s like, "I make a career." Now someone is ill at midnight, and already there is a conflict. Dharma is a tool which can help us analyze and make decisions in many concrete life situations. I just wanted to give you this tool in hand so you can properly understand and use it. You can go with this in a scientific way and try to understand and analyze, not in a political or personally motivated way. In the end, when you understand the principle of Dharma rightly, it helps you to do the right karma. I will stop here because this is endless. You belong to so many different groups—workplace, neighbors—which we cannot all speak about. Sometimes there are conflicts between the dharmas of different groups. You must try to find out how you can do it in the best way. These many social groups to which we belong are like the second level of dharma. The third level is "I" as an individual. Even if you are all 35 years old, all married, all have children and many same things, you are still a unique individual. There is no second one in this world like you. We all are a bundle of many karmas coming together, and no one else has exactly the same bundle. This is the third level of dharma, called svadharma—my individual, personal dharma. How to find that out? There are no general answers anymore, no groups. You are unique. How can we approach this point? Exactly. This is the point. Now we have to inquire very seriously about ourselves. You can look at your life. Often in childhood, something does not develop yet. You have certain tendencies: what is interesting for you, what you can do well, what you like to do. Sometimes your hobbies, which you have for some time and then forget, can be an indication. The question is simply: what can I contribute to this society? What are my special abilities? What can I do that no one else can do like me? Sometimes we suppress it. For example, the family has a company and expects you to take over. You do, but actually you’re not interested at all. Deep in your heart, you would like to be a painter. Or you are a painter, and later realize you would like to care for people. This can sometimes be dramatic changes if you really find what deep in your heart is your inner call. When you follow that, maybe suddenly something is blossoming. This is a very important point, but very individual. When Swāmījī, for example, gives a duty to a disciple... Someone can paint very nicely, and you say, "Maybe you like to paint a picture of Mahāprabhujī." With our different abilities, we can contribute to society and our groups in different ways. Sometimes it may be our profession; sometimes it may be our hobby, depending on our life situation. But that is really important for everyone to try to find out: what is the one unique thing which I can contribute to this society? That is really individual, so we cannot discuss it in general; you have to find out yourself. I remember a book about the aborigines in Australia. The different people in a tribe had different names, and the names were like an indication of their dharma. The name already said what they are actually doing and what they are good at—their special ability. One was, for example, the healer. One was the one always finding the tracks of animals. One lady had the name "the listener." Her ability was simply to be inwardly open so others could talk to her, and she listened. Maybe that is your dharma. Often we need someone to whom we can simply talk. If there is someone who is open for that, who wholeheartedly opens himself to listen, that’s all that is needed. It must not be something big, respected, or paid, but maybe something very specific. This was now the three different levels of dharma. The one dharma we all have together as humans, which we summarized as mokṣa and sevā. The second dharma, which is many different dharmas according to the groups we belong to—on this point we have many dharmas, which can sometimes be in conflict. And the third level, our very individual svadharma. Now I give the tool in your hands. Use it or lose it, as far as you want to say. Any questions? Then let us finish by singing the OM together.