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Good evening. Today is our last program, the final evening satsaṅg. At noontime, we discussed a beautiful subject. Do you remember? Yes. Janma-bhūmi, karma-bhūmi, and dharma-bhūmi. This is all connected to our past karmas, our destiny. It is not something you can plan—that your karma-bhūmi will be San Francisco, India, or Europe, for instance, in Strelka. The karma-bhūmi is already decided by destiny. Thus, janma-bhūmi, karma-bhūmi, and dharma-bhūmi are all fixed for you: where you will be born, where you will work, and the field of your spiritual development. This is a glimpse from our earlier discussion. I was asked to elaborate further. Between these concepts, we must go through our karma, what we call destiny. Whether you believe in it or not, you have to go through it. There is a very old story from ancient Greece. A king had a son. A seer, one who could see the future through astrology, told the king, "The prince will be great, capable, and healthy in every way." But he also said, "There is one problem. His destiny states that he will marry his own mother." The king believed this and wished to prevent it, for the good of the queen, the child, and himself. So he ordered the shepherds: "Kill this boy and throw him into the ocean for the fish." His servants were sorrowful. The child was beautiful, just born, and the father's order seemed cruel. But an order is an order. They took the child on the long journey to the ocean. They came to hills, mountains, and thorny bushes where sheep and goats were grazing with shepherds. They decided, "We can leave the child here under a bush. If he has good luck, someone will take him." They left the child there. In the afternoon, a shepherd heard a child crying. There were many snakes, yet nothing happened to the child. As the saying goes: Jisko rakhe saiyān, mārasake na koī, bālan baṅkā karsake jo jagbehrī hoī. Whom God protects, no one can kill. It does not matter if the whole world is against you; if God wishes to protect, no one can touch you. That is destiny. The shepherd took the child home and said to his wife, "Look, I have brought a child for you. You wanted a child, so here he is." She was overjoyed. They cleaned him and fed him. Meanwhile, she already had milk in her breast—that is a mother's love. The child received mother's milk. In all traditions, when a young child is to be adopted, if the adoptive mother truly has motherly love, milk comes into her breast. This is the miracle of a mother's body. They said, "Yes, she has a mother's love for this child and can adopt him." The child grew and became about twenty-five years old. Once, he was with his sheep and goats in Greece. There was a lady there with a clear voice, named Sophie. Many go on pilgrimage to Greece because of the holy lady Sophia. Someone told the young man that he would marry his mother. So he went to this Sophie. From a distance, when she saw him, she said, "Do not come to me. You have no good destiny or karma. You will marry your mother, and that is not acceptable, but you will do it." He came near and pleaded, "Please, can you do something so this will not happen?" She replied, "Destiny is written; it cannot be changed." The young man was completely dispirited, disappointed, and sad. He went away into the forest. He began to turn in a circle with folded hands, praying, "Lord, please show me the right path." He turned many times with closed eyes, then stopped. He began walking in the direction he was facing. Every half kilometer or so, he would repeat this turning ritual. He arrived at a kingdom, became a soldier there, and proved to be very capable, strong, and gentle. There was a war, and the king was killed. This young soldier worked very hard, organizing and helping. The queen saw him—she knew nothing of his past, for only her late husband had known the child was supposedly killed—and she fell in love with the young soldier and married him. Eventually, he came to know the truth. I believe he then committed suicide. If you believe this story, then you must believe in the destiny of your karma. It does not matter what you do; you cannot avoid it. Or, if you are to avoid it, you must follow the grace, the kṛpā, of a wise person. Deen bandhu deena naath, meri dori ha tere haath. O merciful Lord, the friend of the humble, the string of my life is in your hands. I am only like a puppet. Please move me with your string toward you, O Lord, not in the wrong direction. So, destiny exists whether we believe it or not. Religion cannot change your destiny. Religion is a path to research your feelings and follow certain rules. Therefore, it is like this: humans have spiritual, moral, and ethical principles, along with social education. If you are socially educated, you will be a good person. In a house where family members have died one after another, the last remaining person, who is married, might think, "I will marry again now." But that person cannot, because they possess certain education, knowledge, feelings, and are a human being. Otherwise, one falls into animal culture. So, it is a choice between human culture and animal culture. That is destiny. It is said: Karm kī rekhā nyārī, nyārī, Uddhav. O Uddhava, the line of karma is unique, unique. The line which is already drawn, the plan already designed—there is a line on that plan, and you have to walk on that line. The lines of destiny, the lines of karma on the map of destiny for everyone, run in different directions. You understand? You are only together for some days, some years, and then you will all separate. There is a feeder for birds; many birds come, sit, and eat the seeds. But then they all fly away. You do not know in which direction they will fly. This jīva, our soul, jīvātmā, is that bird, and it has its own destiny, its own flight path. We say that in our body, it is written. Our body is the map of our destiny. It begins from the top of the head, from the Bindu Chakra. You see a kind of coil there, and then the Sahasrāra Chakra. But the Sahasrāra Chakra is not the map of your destiny; this is. The map of your destiny is written clearly on your forehead. When you look, how many lines are there? As you grow older, you will see more lines. Everyone has different lines. That is your karma, your destiny. All your destiny is written. When we make a mistake, we say, "Oh God, what happened? I forgot my dog at home, sleeping in the kitchen. We locked the door and left." You remember? You do not say, "Oh God," when things are good. You do not go to the temple then. Only when there is a negative point—you forgot something, or your memory fails and you say, "Wait, let me think"—you touch your forehead. Here is written all of that. Second is face reading. On the face, you can see very clearly what a person is thinking and what they are questioning, especially at a border with a passport controller. They ask you a question, and if you answer uncertainly, your face expresses everything: nervousness, sweating, the face or neck becomes red, or you look around shiftily. This is all part of your destiny. It is written. Furthermore, signs are on your fingers, on the back and the front. Your real sign is on your fingers and on your left big toe. It is said that among millions of people, no two thumbprints are identical. Therefore, it is called a thumbprint. People sometimes say, "This person did not study; it is an unlearned thumbprint." But the thumbprint is very clever and accurate. You can see its impression on a window. There is also the movement of your cheeks. There is a sign like a half-moon. When you smile, it goes upward; when you are sad, it goes downward. All this body language comes from your uncertainty, your destiny, your karma, your actions. Then, very clearly, on the palms: everyone has different lines. I do not have many, so no complications. These lines have meaning. You see the heart line? If you have one, you will marry only once. If there are two—on a man's right hand and a lady's left hand—it indicates a second marriage. More lines can indicate other relationships, but lines for children are separate and change until a certain age. These are indications to analyze a person. If you see correctly, do not ignore it or call it stupid. It is very correct. This is the map of your destiny. Hold the hand; the wrist also has many lines. There is a point called Lakṣmī. On the Lakṣmī line, there should be a mother point. Do you see here, on my hand, a dark point? Do not worry; we have enough money. Relax. This belongs to all of you, my devotees. We will never starve. Likewise, we go everywhere to food stalls. The line goes to the foothold. There are two, three, four, five lines. You must know these lines exactly. The best line runs straight from here to this point. If on this line you again have the mother point here, then wherever this person walks into any house, prosperity will come. That is very good. That is why money comes. If it is on the wrong side, it brings distraction and disturbances to the family. This is the destiny, the map of our destiny, which manifests through our eyesight, our behavior, and so on. A person who has no education and no feeling for others—do not say that what I say is right. When you say, "I am right," you might think, "This person is stupid." You may be right, but when you claim you are right, you should do so with wisdom, humbleness, kindness, respect, understanding, and love. Otherwise, you say, "I am the best, and others are stupid and destructive." That means you are the first to judge. First, you think alcohol is wrong, then you tell others why drinking is not good. How do you know it is not good? Because in your thoughts, it is not good, and you project that. There are many such things in life. First. Second: when the jīvātmā, the soul, leaves the body, this map is no longer valid for the future. It stays here. You will get a new map. If you have a map that is not clear, you become lost. Modern technology is very clever. Wise are those people who, thanks to God, follow spiritual, intellectual, philosophical, wise thoughts and teachings. That is called a guideline. Gurudev gives you a guideline. What is it now? It is called a navigator. Yes, G-P-S. G means Gurudeva. P means path. S means satya, truth. So, Gurudeva's path is the truth. If you follow the guru-vācana, the vākya, then the navigator will lead you. If the navigator tells you to turn right and you turn left, you are lost. You are in a critical position. For example, you should have turned right on the highway to reach the airport quickly, as Gurudev's instructions indicated. But you turned left, and the next access is after forty kilometers. You miss your airplane and must book another. You miss another birth, and you have lost your path. When you do not follow the Guru Vakya, you lose the path. Now you do not know in which jungle you will arrive—in which jungle, which desert. Where you are is your destiny. Rekh pe mekh, kya kya te hain? Rekhā means line. This is the map line. Your destiny is to go on this line. But if this path is not good, where will it end? It will end at the nest of tigers. They are hungry and waiting. Oh God! But you do not know. Rekh, mekh. What is a mekh? A mekh is a needle. Gurudev can use that needle to change your entire plan and redirect your path. Therefore, follow the Guru Vakya. Obey your master. There was one master from Hawaii, from Kauai, named Subrahmaṇyam Swāmī. He was my good friend and came twice to Viyādhāna, giving a lecture at the ashram. He spoke very little; he mostly asked questions. But he said the final path to success is: "Obey, obey, obey your master." Now, the destiny: the soul comes into endless space. There is no direction—up or down, north or south, east or west. You do not know where. The soul is like a dīpak, a flame. When it leaves the body, it goes into the dark space. But if you have trikāḍ dṛṣṭi, the third eye vision, you can see the soul, this lamp, this flame, going straight toward the light, toward the sun, until it merges into the sun. That is how the soul travels. The soul is gone, and you are worshiping here. There is nothing. The snake is gone, and you are beating the line, the trap of the snake. Śaṅkarācārya said: the snake is gone, and you are beating the line, the trap of the snake. There is no snake. So the soul is gone, and we are worshiping here—whom? There is no reality there. So know the reality. Know the Guru Vakya. When you know, you will see what Guru Kṛpā is. Otherwise, those who do not believe in that intellect are like mosquitoes in darkness. A mosquito attacks you when it is dark. When there is light, they sit peacefully, cleaning themselves, giving suggestions, hypnotizing: "Amen, why don't you turn off the light and sleep, amen?" Then you say, "Yes, that's right." You sleep, and it comes near: "Are you sleeping so I can peacefully suck your blood?" Such people are like mosquitoes in darkness, not in the light. The light is knowledge—those who follow Guru Bhaktī and the path of the divine master's spiritual lineages. The line on the paper, on the map, is different, and the paper is different. A white paper, completely blank, has nothing written; your destiny is white in the future. But later, you will see what is printed on your piece of paper; that is your destiny. We can change our destiny through our sādhanā, our mantra, everything we do. Things happen, good and bad, but we should work, learn, and progress. Then, according to that, you leave this mṛtyu loka, the mortal world of destiny, and enter a new world. Again, you are coming there. That is your new destiny, the map of your new destiny. According to that, you will get your karmabhūmi, your janmabhūmi. According to your janma, where are you? Are you a chicken? Then be sure your throat will be cut. Are you a rabbit? Perhaps the same. Or a fish. So where is your Janmabhūmi? The fish might say, "My Janmabhūmi? I have no land. I have only the Atlantic Ocean." Okay, there is no bhūmi, but there is water. So, my birthplace is the Atlantic Ocean—very vast. Are you comfortable? People say, "Oh yes, very." But you know what happens? Somebody is waiting until you grow a little bigger. A fish's life is not easy. A bird's life is not easy. An animal's life is not easy. And now, human life is also not easy. Destiny. Karm kī rekhā nyārī, nyārī, Uddhav. The lines of karma are different, O Uddhava. I wish you all the best. In the next lectures, we will discuss how the jīva comes again to this earth, how it happens, and how it continuously goes. I will tell a story. So, Rekh Parmek Gurudev: your destiny can change only by the guru. Mokṣa mūlaṁ guru kṛpā. The root of liberation is the guru's grace. The changing of destiny and the attainment of mokṣa—these two things lie in the guru's grace. Whether you like your guru or not, it does not matter. But if you are angry with your guru, your destiny becomes complicated. Yes, that is it. So use it or lose it. All the best. Bless you. Tomorrow, before noon, we will have the final program talk in our ashram here in the Oakland Bay Area, San Francisco, Oakland. Good. Hari Om. All the best. Śrīdīp Nayan Bhagavān, Dev Purīśra Mahādeva, Madhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, Satya Sanātana.