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Part 1: The Divine in the Water In the ancient scriptures, it is said: "Jal jahan Jagadīś." Jal is water. Where there is water, there is God. Jagadīś means the Lord of this planet. Thus, the light of God is in every creature. Our planet is created from five elements: space, water, air, fire, and earth. We need all these five elements in balance. To maintain this balance, we humans especially should have an attitude towards nature that does not bring it out of equilibrium. For the last many centuries, humans have worked to destroy nature. Humanity's selfishness has brought us to a critical point: so-called environmental problems, global issues, global warming, and climate changes. Yes, climate change and global warming are not happening for the first time. They occurred in some yugas before as well, but nature recovered very quickly because there were no man-made chemicals, no man-made pollution. This man-made pollution is a production of the human mind. Rain is life, prāṇa, and purification. We welcome such beautiful rain around the world. Everywhere there is water, and no one is thirsty. Can you imagine, in Australia itself? Go a few hundred kilometers, and there is no water. Many people have even died trying to cross Australia in vehicles due to a lack of water. So water is a great blessing. I am happy. I thank God for His divine mercy to this part of Australia, on the Sunshine Coast, where the nice rain is here. So please welcome the rain with positive thinking. Do not say, "What terrible weather. It’s not good." There are countries where, from birth onwards, a child grows up early in life. Even when he was only one day old, there were prayers. Thousands of people were praying for him, and wherever he came or was brought, there was a big ceremony, a big welcoming. When he was only two years old, or one and a half years old, he was reciting Sanskrit mantras: Gāyatrī mantras, peace mantras, Upaniṣad mantras, many, many mantras. Now he is nine years old, and he is wonderful. He has so much knowledge about Sanskrit, mantras, Hindi, English, and some other languages because he is growing with different people from different cultures and languages. You can see that education from childhood—that is classical yoga. Lucky are they who have spiritual parents and from childhood receive such spiritual love, not by force. No, they do not need force. It is from the first day. You speak to a small child. You explain. The brain of the child is hungry, always looking for something to learn, new things. When you do not have something to give them, they want to play, to replace something through their happiness, through playing and so on. Many dear brothers and sisters around the world, you are with us this evening. Those who have a birthday, I wish you a happy birthday. In Jadon Ashram, we have Parvati. She has a birthday. Wish her blessings. If you have someone’s birthday, please come to me, and we would like to give you a birthday present. Good idea. So, is someone having a birthday today? Pity. Yesterday you had a birthday, someone? And tomorrow, okay, three days, "Classical Yoga for the Modern Time," or "Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Time." If you remember last year, the year before, for a few years since I have been coming here, I always mention "Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Time." The people of ancient times, they knew. They were Trikāla Darśī. Trikāla Darśī means knower of the past, present, and future. The situation through which our planet is going is exactly described in the Vedas, exactly described in the form of the Yugas: Satyuga, Dvāpara Yuga, Tretā Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. That science was taken over by astrology. Astrology is known as the third eye of God. It is written for every day what will happen, which month, which year, which hour, and where. That was the knowledge. In the Rajasthani language, we say: Khabar nahī pal kī, aur bāt kartā hai kal kī. It is nice. Khabar nahī pal kī, aur bāt kartā hai kal kī. You do not even know about a second. Like our eye moves down and up, this is called pal. Khabar nahī pal kī. You do not even know what will happen in one second, and you are talking about tomorrow. What ignorance? A wise man said, "What’s ignorance?" So, trikāladarśī, great saints—we adore them. Please, everyone, adore those great saints around the world. Those divine beings, you may call them incarnations or saints. Our adoration to them. Thank you. This is for you. They will say, "My children, bless you," because they are our ancestors. We do believe, we do trust, we do respect, and we do adore those ancestors who taught humans about life, nature, the elements, divine forces, and so on. They are with us. Their spirit, their blessing is with us. We bring a beautiful flower into this room which has a very good smell. After five minutes, you take the flowers away, but the smell is still there. The flower is gone, but the fragrance is here. The great saints are gone, but the fragrance of their wisdom, as a blessing for us, is with us. It will be forever. The blessing will not get lost. And negative energy will also not get lost. It is said, evidence will never die. The evidence will remain as a layer in the entire universe. Sooner or later, we will come and we will cross that layer. So a great ṛṣi is called Trikāladarśī, the seer of all three times. They told us what to do so that we can also become Trikāladarśī. If we know what will happen, we will begin to work on something better now. Let us say we come to know that the day after tomorrow is the last day of our life. What will you do? Can you tell me, someone? We will pray to God. And what will be our physical, mental, or psychic conditions? Terrible. We will not think what will happen to my money. We will not think, "What will happen to my house?" But we think, "What will happen to me?" So thanks to God that He did not give us the knowledge of the future, in order to lead a peaceful life until it happens. Hari Om. Those great saints, they wrote, or they spoke. What was spoken is called Śruti. What I am talking now is Śruti—speaking, giving to you through my words, verbally, Śruti. The Vedas, Upanishads, all Mahābhāratas, Purāṇas, and even all these holy books—Gītā, Rāmāyaṇa, Bible, Quran, whatever we call them—this is a Śruti spoken by someone. Then it becomes Smṛti, memory. Smṛti means memory. Now, what I heard from my master, what I heard from you, what I heard from my other friends or the saints, for me that was Śruti. And now I try to preserve as much as I could. When you go in, careful, there’s a camera. In some countries, they even return armed response. I was somewhere in November; about twenty people were with me, and we went evening walking every day in one big city. Every house in front has security by this company: armed response. So we do not even dare to knock on that door and say, "Please, can you tell me the address?" Before you tell the address, the gun is there. "Hurry home. You get a permanent address, go." There was a time, and there are still some countries, even, where people do not lock their doors. I was in some country, a European country, and went to visit some farmers. They were disciples, very high up in the mountains, about twenty or thirty kilometers far from civilization. They have a farm, cattle, a farmhouse, beautiful, made out of wood, nice nature. They were working about five hundred meters away somewhere. A door was open, and in the kitchen there was a basket. In the basket, there was a piece of paper: "Dear one, there is a fridge: butter, cheese, milk, yogurt. And there is another drawer; there is a fridge: made bread. Please enjoy, have, eat, feel at home. If it is not enough, then here in the basket is some money, take it and go and buy something. The car key, the car is standing in the garage and there is a key. Feel free." Can you imagine nowadays, like, trusting life? But there are people like you who trust others. So, Śruti and Smṛti—what they taught us, we should keep it. They knew what is good for the human. Yoga is designed for the human to be a better human, in order to love and protect the entire divine creation on this planet. Because God gave such an intellect to humans that a human is capable of thinking. If you do bad to someone, you will think, "What will his mother tell me, or her mother tell me, or the father tell me, or the neighbors tell me?" We are thinking. Animals are also thinking, but they do not have a choice. They cannot make that decision toward bad or good. Maybe some animals, like dogs, are trained, but humans understand. And they give special love in the hearts of the humans; that is called mercy, kindness. A human feels pain when someone else is suffering. A human should help—it does not matter, animal or man—the heart of the human will say, "I should help this." And so, yoga was designed for the human heart and brain to keep up to date kindness, forgiveness, understanding, love, harmony, and giving. Give, give, give. Giving means not only money or food or clothes. We can give many things. Someone who cannot swim and falls into the swimming pool, and you are standing there, give your hand to come out. That means giving. So, yoga, classical yoga. Classical yoga began when humans became aware of what it means to be human. Last year, I told you five points. Do you remember? You were not here. Many were not here, and those who were here, they remember. I will only tell the points. Always think that I am human. It means what humans should do and what humans should not do. What makes me human? These two legs and two hands—gorillas also have, monkeys also have, many animals have. The human qualities. Which are the human qualities which make me a human? Guṇa se deva, ava guṇa se dānava vṛkṣa. With good quality you are a god, and with a negative quality you are the devil. So quality makes, quality decides, and quality should remain. Where there is quality, there is no compromise. So, human—those qualities which make us human can be awakened, realized through the practicing of yoga. Then what does it mean for me to be a human? And what is the aim, purpose, or mission of my life? Salad, but in the salad there is a lot of sand. A lot of sand. You are disappointed. You cannot enjoy that salad. Similarly, when you have a spiritual life, when you have a good family life, and you have doubts, conflicts in this world, in your spirituality, you cannot enjoy that. There is a crack in the wall. Doubt means the crack. And where there is a crack, there is no unity, no oneness. There is one poem; it is said, the thread of love is so fragile, do not break it. If it is broken, you cannot unite or join. If you try to join, there will be a knot. So when conflict rises, quickly clear it up; otherwise, it will not end, and it will disturb you forever and ever. So, relation—human to human, human to the other creatures, and to nature. First, classical yoga. Second, limited good nourishment. The disease that humans now have is mostly because humans have too much to eat. And we are talking about eating limited. I always speak, "Eat little and limited." Then my bhaktas, these ladies and gents, men, you know, they bring me a plate. There is a halwa, there is milk rice, there is a pumpkin vegetable, there is a paratha, there is a pie, there is some pichas, so many things. And I tell myself, "Tomorrow you can take limited, or today, let it be, let them be happy." The truth is truth, my dear. It is difficult to refuse, not the stomach. The stomach is always angry with us. But this part of the body, this part of the body is the cause of all illnesses and all troubles and all sin. You drink alcohol? I do not know how it is. But you feel only till here. When it is gone in, then your liver says, "Oh man, in the water steamer, in the water steamer, you put the petrol inside. In the diesel engine, you put the petrol inside, and in the petrol engine, you put the diesel inside." It goes. A little more down, and then the kidney said, "Oh no, again I have to work so hard, many things." So, it is very hard for humans, for us to control the svādindriya. One great saint said, "In this body there are ten senses: five karma and five jñāna—the five senses of action and five senses of knowledge to receive: ears, eyes, nose, taste, and the skin, touch." These are the jñānendriyas, through which we get knowledge. And the karmendriyas: the words, hands, legs, and the genital system. Now, the ten indriyas are under the control of a perfect yogī, but there is no trust in the two, how much the world is insincere. But two you cannot trust: eka-yupastha or ekṣvāda. One is the tejas indriya, or tasteful. That is very hard. And the second, the sexual feelings. Everyone has them, but someone has the knowledge to say yes or no, and someone is suffering from that. These two indriyas, if we have control—not to kill, but control—then you are happy ever. Otherwise, go in a different direction. Therefore, nourishment, environment, movement—all this kind of liquid, solid, mental nourishment—and then comes the movement. There are different sports. In yoga, it is very scientifically designed and proved. It is called yoga vyāyam. Vyayam means exercise, and then comes yoga āsana, yoga postures. There are three different kinds of movements when you practice yoga. First, you do dynamic movements for body warming. If you do not make dynamic movements for body warming, then you will not get benefit, or you may harm your muscles or ligaments. So first, do something that feels very happy and pleasant on the skin. Then you do not search for anything. An unhappy person tries to run outside and tries to fulfill that kind of longing or to forget those different things—maybe drugs, drinking, and different activities. Yoga postures will make you very happy and calm, and spiritual energy will grow. The human quality will awake. Now, it does not matter what you have done. It is in your destiny. May you have had a drug sometimes? Forget it now. We cannot go back. It was. But yoga says that there is a way to get 100% treatment, that drug effect from your body, from your brain, from your blood, from your consciousness will be neutralized, peaceful. I saw many, many people who had some kind of drugs, or what they call LSD and different things. They were completely confused. They were in mental hospitals. Then they began to practice yoga, prānāyāma, meditation, and mantra, and suddenly they changed their lives. So balanced, so happy, ever you see the smiling on their face. I met one lady—I met many ladies—but one lady, she was 102 years old. Can you imagine? And now it was three years ago, and now she must be 105 years or 103. She is still alive, you know? Where was it? In New York, okay? So you see, it is not a story only. And the environment will be hard to remove this pillow, Aśokanangad. So you see, he does not use the pillow. So if you hold your stomach, it will go 10 centimeters inside. And by me, even the mosquito enjoys, because it is very near to the dress. So practice; our body will not lie. The body will tell if he or she is a practitioner or not. So classical yoga, then they put it in a different way. There are four or five different kinds of yoga. First, yoga is karma-yoga. Yoga-karma-sukauśalam. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, yoga-karma-sukauśalam. Your yoga practice will be successful if you do karma-yoga. It means helping others. Humanitarian work, veterinarian work, or making people vegetarian work—all lead you to the success of your yoga. All is sitting and meditating hours and hours, and when you are hungry, you get up and say to your wife, "Is there something to eat?" She says, "No." "Why not? I am hungry." "Yes, my dear, I told you to go shopping, but you did not go. So you did not bring me anything to cook, so what should I cook?" That is it. So, help your wife—that is good karma yoga. Help your husband—that is good karma yoga. Help your neighbor—that is good karma yoga. And help some social center, a humanitarian center—that is good karma yoga. Helping hands have more value than just folded hands. Then comes Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yoga means that something you do, you need willpower to do. And Haṭha Yoga is known as a Ṣaṭ Karma. Sat karma—sorry—Ayurveda took from yoga, pañca karma. They left one out, and that is called trāṭak. So, Haṭha Yoga has six techniques: neti, dhoti, basti, nauli, trāṭak, and kapālbhāti. Those who would like to be 100% healthy, and those who would like to avoid the doctor—not as a friend, but to go and get medicines—practice Haṭha Yoga. Those who would like to avoid disease, what we call now in this world cancer, practice Haṭha Yoga. Those who would like to have a treatment for cancer, do Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yoga is a cleaning process in the body. Very great, very great. So, cleaning of the nose, cleaning of the elementary food channel, cleaning of the stomach, the churning of the stomach to purify the fire, digestive fire, and kapālbhāti prāṇāyāma. And trāṭak is a meditation to purify the thoughts and mind. It is called a candle meditation or meditation on the flame. It is a beautiful practice. Tomorrow we can meditate with a candle, okay. Everybody, bring a candle. We will meditate, okay? Tomorrow. We will practice Trāṭak. After that came people who are very comfortable, people cannot practice, they are lazy, they cannot work, they are active to eat, nice eating, butter, cheese, sweets, laddus, and whatever not. For them, there is bhakti yoga, devotion to God, and offering to God, saying, "Thank you, God, I eat." So in this time, they said, for humans, easier is the bhakti yoga: belief, prayer, and finished, adiom. Though bhakti yoga is not so easy, those who have bhakti in the heart, that is something great. God Viṣṇu said to Nārada, "I am not residing in Veṅkuṇḍa, nor in the heart of the yogīs, but I am there where my devotees remember and chant or sing my name and prayers." Love is the mighty power in the universe, and love is a most gentle power. Though it is very gentle, this can confuse you, disappoint you, or liberate you. So that love, divine love to God, is bhakti yoga. Then comes rāja yoga, yoga of discipline, self-discipline. Raja means the king, but that king you are. You are the king of this body. Part 2: The King and the Slave Tu man indriyāṅkā rājā, ātmā antaryāmī, mat kartā iskī gulāmī. You are the king of your mind, your senses, and your body. O king, why are you a slave of this, your mind and senses? I will not translate the beautiful bhajan further. So, the yoga of self-discipline begins with yama and niyama; then come āsana and prāṇāyāma. What you practice here in the center—you telephone Yamunā and say, "Yamunā, hello, who’s speaking? Yamunā from the Yoga and Daily Life Center. Yes, hi, I want to practice Haṭha Yoga. Do you teach Haṭha Yoga?" Yes. "When do you have classes?" Then and there you come, and what does she teach you? Rāja Yoga. Haṭha yoga is different: cleaning the nose with warm water, drinking two liters of water and then vomiting it out, and once every two months drinking one bucket of water and letting it pass through, and churning of the stomach and kapālbhāti. That is Haṭha yoga. But now in the West, Hari Om, it’s okay; better than nothing is also called Haṭha Yoga. So, Rājayoga consists of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra—withdrawing the senses from the external world—then dhāraṇā (concentration), dhyāna (meditation), and then comes samādhi, where knowledge, knower, and object become one. The three merge into one; that is called samādhi. It means you are now sure that your consciousness will merge into the cosmic consciousness. But you must continue to practice. When you once have samādhi, then you may say, "Oh, now I am self-realized, I am a liberated one." For how many days? There is a glass table, a very nice glass table. In the morning, you nicely clean and dust it. You close the windows and everything, you close your door, and you go to work. In the evening, you come and you see dust on the glass. True? Similarly, pal pal, every second we are getting pollution from the outer world. So do not be proud of yourself, thinking, "I am spiritual and I am divine, now I am self-realized." So what should we do with your self-realization? I was in Oakland four nights ago and gave a nice lecture. Āśā Purī and Vajrānand are taking care of Oakland in New Zealand. After the lecture, one man asked certain questions, and afterward he said, "But you know, I am self-realized, I have ātma-jñāna." So then I invite you to ask questions, then go home. The self-realized have no questions. Unfortunately, there are some people—I wouldn’t say guru—but there are some so-called self-made gurus who come, or if they are also from this part of the world, from the Western world, they are advertising weekend seminars for self-realization. "Register immediately. Limited places, now or never. Minimum donation." To get self-realization in one weekend? I would be the first one to register there. My dear brothers and sisters, how many years are the monks in the church or in the monastery praying? How many hours are they standing on their knees, monks and nuns? How many yogīs in the Himalayas, in Tibet, in India, in Nepal, sitting under the glaciers, in caves, in the cold, meditating and praying and praying... and meditating? How many years have people been sitting in different parts of the world, every day, four or five times a day, praying and meditating for self-realization? Can you imagine getting self-realization in a one-week seminar? Yes, you can. How? Theoretically. The theory: they will tell you, you are not a body, you are not a mind, you are not emotion, nor are you intellect, and nor are you the soul. You are a divine ātmā. That’s self-realization. Hurry home, go home. And then you say, "Oh, I am that ātmā. I am not the body." They will tell you that the ātmā—no weapons can kill it, no fire can burn it, no elements can destroy it, nor can death take it away. No weapon can kill you. No element can destroy you. You are all ātmā-jñānī now. And suddenly, a fire breaks out in this hall. What will you do, my dear? Where is the emergency door? And you will say, "Take Swāmījī quickly out!" But you are an immortal ātmā; no weapons can kill you, no elements can destroy you, fire cannot burn you. Why are you running out? That is the difference. Tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. So practice. Classical yoga means practice every day. And then comes jñāna yoga, the yoga of philosophy or the yoga of knowledge. That jñāna-yoga finally gives the judgment: "eko brahma dvitīya nāsti." There is only one Brahman, only one God. It does not matter through which religion you believe in God. There is only one God, whom we all pray to and believe in, and it is only that one who is the Almighty One. The rest of this world is changeable. Reality never changes, and what is changing is not reality; it is duality. But to achieve that realization is a lifelong endeavor. So when we know that Brahman is satya and the jagat is mithyā, then how to realize that? Through viveka (discrimination), vairāgya (dispassion), satsampatti (the six treasures like śama, dama, etc.), and mumukṣutva (intense longing for liberation). These are the four different kinds of practice that are called jñāna yoga. So these are the five classical yogas: Haṭha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga. This is classical yoga. Now, according to Patañjali, terms should be adopted and practiced according to the nature of the person. Yes, but all these five—Jñāna Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Haṭha Yoga—these five are like the five wheels of a car. How many wheels do you have in your car? Four are the tires, and the fifth is the steering wheel. True? Our car cannot move safely if we do not have all five wheels coordinating with each other. Similarly, you cannot practice Haṭha Yoga without Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga. You cannot practice Jñāna Yoga without the others. So, each and every one coordinates. You cannot do Karma Yoga if you have no love. People who go for Karma Yoga—many Australians come to our Jadan ashram and do Karma Yoga. You know, when they do Karma Yoga for one year, or two years, or one month, they get such energy. But they should continue in their mind, too. It is called sevā bhāva, the feeling of doing sevā, of helping. Bhakti you cannot do without jñāna; otherwise, it is fanaticism. So bhakti should be done with jñāna yoga and with discipline (rāja yoga) and seva; karma is also bhakti yoga. There are many bhaktas working in this ashram, helping Yamunā and Tyāgpuri, or helping the Sydney ashram or Melbourne ashram, and many, many ashrams around the world. Yoga and their life is carried by bhaktas. Sometimes they do not know what is happening with them, but something divine is changing. If doubt comes, then it is like putting a lemon in milk. What happens? The milk is spoiled. No butter, no proper milk, just paneer, that’s all. Therefore, do not let the lemon come near the milk. Have no doubt. Be thankful to God that God gave you the special opportunity that you can work or you can do something. When we help someone, then we are the channel, the channel of cosmic love, and that channel is directed towards you, and it works through you to give further. If you have selfishness in that, then very soon that channel will dry up like a river. Some rivers dry up after the monsoon. So those who have fallen into selfishness have lost the opening of the anāhata cakra. Be thankful to God for every minute, every second, for every step towards doing Śiva's work, every thought towards doing Śiva's work, every feeling towards doing Śiva's work or helping. And that is why it is said: "Lord, I surrender to Thee my body, my mind, my consciousness, and my soul. Let me be the instrument of your love and light, that I may serve thy divine creation," said the holy friends from Assisi. To be the carrier of God’s love is not easy. People were throwing stones at him. They thought he was schizophrenic. Do not worry. God gave them hands to throw the stone. Some god gave hands to throw flowers on you. That is their problem, saṃsāra. Now, my duty is that I will work for God, day by day and stone by stone. He built up the church. So, day by day, step by step, you will build your inner temple, your inner āśram, which will not only be adored by you, but millions of people will adore that temple—the temple of your heart, my dear—and will remember it. It was long ago that the holy saints were there, but still we go on pilgrimage. Many people build their house. Do people go on pilgrimage to their house? No. But who did something for all, for others? So bhakti yoga means karma yoga. Do something; otherwise, you are the lazy one, and the lazy one cannot progress. Classical yoga: practice your āsanas, prāṇāyāmas, mantras; if you have kriyā, meditate and help. So, my dear, to speak about classical yoga, we could talk many, many, many times. But in every yoga, there is one thing that must be present. And now I will tell you one story, okay? You like stories? It is a beautiful story. It is a story between love and being, love and renunciation. Love and Śiva is a heart. God had a beautiful garden, a beautiful park. Every morning, God used to walk through his garden and touch the flowers, and the flowers would say, "God, I love you." This plant: "God, I love you." And God said, "Oh yes, my plant, I love you." "Thorny bush, I love you, God." And God said, "Yes, I love you." Such wonderful love does not need to speak. When you touch, it is already there. In God’s garden, in one corner, there was a bamboo. Bamboo had a doubt in his heart, because inside, bamboo is empty. Nothing remains inside. Outside, it is very hard. Nothing penetrates through. No smell goes in. And if you rub it, you produce fire. So there are some bhaktas, or people, whose inside is empty. What you tell them, they do not understand and do not accept. And if you tell something more, then they become angry. And he had a doubt that God does not love me. But God does not make differences. It does not matter—human, animal, or vegetation. God said, "Yes, my Bāmbū, I love you too." Bamboo said, "Lord, I love you. I have one wish, God." He said, "Yes, my son." "Please let me be in your garden. Let me be in your garden." God said, "Why do you say this? Why do you have a doubt? You will always be in my garden, Bāmbū. I love you very much." Every day, God used to come and touch them, and they would touch God, and he would speak, "God, I love you, like this rain," you know. This rain is a blessing. The god is Indra inside. One day, God had his hands behind his back. "I love you, my roses. I love you, my lotus. I love you, my mango tree. I love you, my needle tree. I love you, my thorny bush." And he went towards the bamboo. From a distance, bamboo said, "God, I love you." And God said, "I love you, my bamboo." But he had a doubt. Why has God hidden his hands behind his back? Every day he comes like this, and today his hand is on the back side. "God, why are your hands hidden?" God said, "Yes, Bāmbū, you are right." "What do you have, Lord?" "I have an axe in my hand." "Master, an axe for what?" "Yes, my Bāmbū, my dear one. Today I will cause you a little pain." "Why, Master? What have I done wrong? I am so innocent. I am in the one corner. I disturb no one. And you told me, 'I love you, and you will always be in my garden, in my heart.' How could you cause pain to someone whom you love?" God said, "My dear, the pain will be little, but the benefit will be immense." "Then, God, explain to me what? Before you do, explain to me." God said, "Bāmbū, I will chip off your arm today, one of the arms." "Master, was my hand knotty somewhere? Why will you cut my arm off?" God said, "No, I love your arm." And that is a love that you cut off? "No, no... no. Bāmbū, you see the humans in the world, their hearts have become like stone. And I want that you make their heart soft like butter." "I do not understand, Master. You chip off my arm, and the heart of the human will be like butter?" He said, "Yes. Explain to me how I can bear the pain a little more easily." God said, "Bāmbū, I will chip off one of your arms, and I will make a flute out of that. And then, I personally will kiss you and put my prāṇa, my breath, in you. And it is only you, my bamboo, that can become the channel of my love and produce the resonance. Anyone who hears this, their heart will melt and love will awaken. Even the birds, even the flowers, my bamboo, you are that one, that you are a channel of my love. Do you agree?" "Yes, Master. If it is so, then do it quickly. Will it be very painful?" "Yes, but I will do it carefully." And so that became Kṛṣṇa’s flute. From that time, the instrument, the flute, came from the bamboo. How beautiful it is. Be there and be useful. "I love you, my bamboo." "I love you, Master." Every day, the same story. One day, Master again came with his hands like this. "Master, I love you," he said. "I love you, my Lord. Why are your hands hidden on your back again, my bamboo? You are very clever. I love you very much. But I need you, my dear." "Yes, I am here. My life belongs to you. Then why do you ask me?" "Yes, Master, but still, why do you have your hands hidden behind?" "I have an axe in my hand." "And for what?" "I will cause you again some big pain." "But my destiny, Lord, though I am in your garden, I have such a destiny and no other plans." God said, "You see, I choose from time to time." Like Jesus said, "Holy Father, why me?" And God said, "My son, I trust you. My Bāmbū, I trust you." "What do you need, Master, from me? In which way? You can shape me into small pieces or make a chutney. I am yours, no one else’s. What will you do, Master, today? Is it painful?" "Yeah, a little more painful." "What?" "You see, Bāmbū, when I go from time to time preaching, and many humans come together, and birds and animals, I am tired. I am standing. I would like to make a spiritual holy throne. Everybody will adore you, my Bāmbū. They will come and bow down to that, my chair, a holy chair. And that holy chair can only be you, my dear Bāmbū. Your life is successful. Ever and ever, as long as mankind exists on this planet, they will bow down to you, my Bāmbū, because you carry me." "Master, is it so hard to become like that?" "Yes, dedication must be. Renunciation must be. Either go through the pain or not." "If it is so, I do not care if people will adore me or not. But if it gives you happiness and comfort, my Lord, my life is for that." So he chipped the bamboo, some branches, and made this, what? The holy throne. So it came to the Sunshine Coast. My God! Adore this bamboo, okay? This bamboo had that pain, and that bamboo is here. "I love you, Lord, so much. I only have one wish. You do what you want, but let me be in your garden, in God’s garden." He said, "Bamboo, you will be ever in my garden." Bamboo was growing. The middle trunk was so big. After a few years, again, God is coming with his hands... on all the plants. They bend like this towards God. "We love you, God." And God says, "Yes, I love you also." All the birds are coming and dancing. The peacock spreads his feathers, and it is beautiful. The fish in the water are jumping. The butterflies. Divine. But God targeted that corner where bamboo is. Who has a doubt has a fear, and maybe that fear has a reason. Bamboo calls, "Love, my God, I love you, Master." "I love you, Bamboo." "Master, why do you have your hands hidden behind your back again?" "Bamboo, today I will cause you very big pain." "Will you root me out from your garden? I am a bamboo. I am innocent. I cannot give you flowers. I cannot give you fruits, not even proper shadow. I think you do not love me, God." God said, "I love you so much." "Then why do you have the axe?" "I will chip off your trunk." "God, help me, I will have a heart attack." God said, "No, no... no. There will be no heart attack. Why? Explain to me." "You see, there is a land, there is a drought. There is drought, and there is no rain at all. And vegetation, and animals, and humans. And they are all thirsty, having no water. In the Himalayas, the high Himalayas, the glaciers are melting, but in there, some drips fall into the rocks and disappear somewhere." "You chip off my trunk, and they will get water. How?" "Yes, they will get. Before you do, please explain it to me again." God said, "My Bāmbū, I will keep you between two rocks, and the water which melts from the glaciers will flow through you as a big channel, like a pipe, and water will fall over the other side, and they will have enough water." "Then, okay, Lord, I am ready to do it." And from that time, the canalization began, all the pipe systems, thanks to bamboo. "What will happen with my roots, Lord? They will be rotten." "No, my bamboo. A cut trunk of a tree will grow again. I will give you new life, and you will have so many beautiful branches, and you will grow." And since that time, though you chip off the trunk of the plants, or the bamboo especially, it sprouts many, many branches again. So this story means: be there, love God in such a way, accept the destiny. Accept money, accept what happens or what comes in your life. Accept it, and it is not easy to renounce. In the way in which you are working, in the way in which your spirituality is going, dedicate yourself without selfishness. Of course, we work to get some money, to pay our bills, to get bread, to get the means for our life, but there should be limitations. If you earn $100, $1 you can give as a donation for a feeder for the birds, a feeder for the animals, or for a poor person to give clothing. Out of $100, $1 is nothing. If you give $1, God will give you $2. If you give $2, God will give you $4. Be generous. Give, give, give. Then you become the channel of God’s love. Then God’s love flows through you, and you are truly purified. You are automatically self-realized and liberated. Classical yoga means not only that you move left and right and this and that, inhale; that is not only yoga, okay? Yoga we have to do with the mental yoga. So thank you very much for your listening, and I admire and thank our dear sister Yamunā, and newly married, her husband, Pyāg Purī, and all other friends who are helping and keep the light of Mahāprabhujī here. I was very happy to see you. If there is something you did not like, please forget it, forgive it, and if you like it, take it with you. I pray for your good health, for your happiness, and for divine protection. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your love and wisdom with us once again this year. Thank you. So, dear brothers, sisters, and all of our international spiritual brothers and sisters, see you tomorrow in Melbourne. Yes. Thank you. Hari Om.