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I believe Swāmījī is guiding us in the right direction by bringing our focus back to the Manomaya Kośa. This is not a subject from a book; we should contemplate how it operates in our own lives. Do not receive this as a lecture. We are conversing with one another. Simply try to apply it to your life, and you will find its meanings become very clear. Otherwise, our life remains very complicated. We are a replica of Brahmananda. Our body is made from the five elements of the earth. Our mind is made from the moon. The Vijñānamaya Kośa, our intelligence, comes from the sun. From the seven lokas, there is one loka concerning the sun called Maharloka. In that loka, all life of this universe begins. We call it Prakṛti. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas also start from Mahatattva Loka. We have Prakṛti, and our Ākṛti, our form, also comes from Mahātma Loka. I wanted to convey that the Ānandamaya Kośa handles the Vijñānamaya Kośa. The Vijñānamaya Kośa indirectly handles the Manomaya Kośa, and the Manomaya Kośa works together with the Prāṇamaya Kośa and the Ānandamaya Kośa. All three function together; you cannot separate them. What is the first role of this Manomaya Kośa, this Manas? It is the house of desires. Mana represents the Puruṣa, and these desires represent Śakti, Māyā. These are all energies. We are all sitting here—all Puruṣa and all Māyā, nothing else. Every activity is a result of Māyā. In our own house, in our family, who is most active? The mother. Mātā. Nobody else. All the children go to the mother. The husband goes to the mother. Even his parents come to the mother for services. She is the Śakti. We speak of many goddesses on this planet. All those goddesses are seated here within us. There are no goddesses outside of us. See where māyā begins. Māyā itself is desire. A woman enters a man’s life as māyā by creating a desire and becomes part and parcel of that life. Now, if we enlarge the role of that māyā, let us see what happens practically in society before marriage. In early life, both boys and girls grow independently through education under parental guidance. There is no question of desire. There are individual desires, individual life goals, and you see everyone working for personal development. We call this Brahmacarya Āśrama. In India, life is divided into four segments of 25 years each. The first segment is Brahmacarya Āśrama. The second is married life, Gṛhastha Āśrama. This is where two meet. This āśrama also extends for only 25 years. All family activities are limited to these 25 years. The next twenty-five years is Vānaprastha, and the last is Sannyāsa Āśrama. In these twenty-five years of family life, Śakti arrives with a dream. She has a dream about life. He does not have a dream; he has a career before him. But those with 20 or 30 years of experience can imagine: we are supposed to live for each other. Yet, because Brahma, Chetan, is not active, he has no dream about his wife. But the wife, being Māyā, has left her parents and everything to join her Puruṣa. She has even changed her name and identity according to the Puruṣa. Furthermore, she finds him like a slab as far as the social and spiritual sectors of life are concerned. Modern education does not speak about manas and the soul. It speaks only about the body and intellect. So when you go to university, you grow higher on the physical and intellectual planes, but your emotional and spiritual planes go down, unattended. That is why you feel so happy in this atmosphere. There is no sweetness in the brain, because it comes from the sun. A woman is supposed to possess all those elements concerned with the heart, feelings, and emotions—not the man. When we discuss the Manomaya Kośa, you will realize this: how the characteristics of love, how she handles children, the elderly, and society represent her own family. Therefore, anyone growing only on physical and intellectual lines is very low on relationships. He is very poor at relationships. A mature woman wishes to see her husband in a proper manner, according to her dreams, because he arrives with a dream from her house. So, in these 25 years of togetherness, she will try to carve that statue from her husband. It is tough work, for she uses only hammer and chisel. This creates conflict because he does not understand why she behaves this way. It is a conflict of ego. He possesses a natural sense of superiority in the family because he is the carrier of the seeds. A woman is on the recipient side; that is why she surrendered her life and came to him. But you see, this ego now grows on both sides because this woman also comes from the same university. She is also very intelligent and concerned more about physics. This means the role of māyā is now leaving life. In a female body, she is like a boy inside. That bond cannot last if both are boys inside. I think this is the fruit society is enjoying today. The bond of the body may last a few years. After that, it is only head to head, and both are hot in nature. The intellect is very hot because of the sun. It is a connection of two heads, but heads are very hot because the sun represents hotness. It only understands disputes, arguments, and the breaking of relationships. A woman is the counterpart on the other side, with her softness, loving nature, and many more attributes God has given her. No more. Now, when these two fight, there is no compromise. Even the mother does not bother about what will happen to the children. Where is society going? Let us be serious about it. We impart no education to our children regarding the heart, the spirit, the soul. They are smarter than us because in their university, things improve with every generation. They are much faster than their parents. But can they control their emotions? Can they handle their mind, the desires within it? They are going to have a miserable life tomorrow. We must return to our Manomaya Kośa. My ego says, "Some person is good to me; some is not." God has not created good and bad anywhere. A glass is a glass—not good, not bad. To some it may be good, to others not. But the glass remains glass. No person is inherently good or bad. It is our perception, and we pay a high cost for this perception. If I say a lady is good, I see no negative point in her behavior. If she is not good, I see no positive point. In both cases, my decision is wrong, and I will pay that cost in life. I told you the same about happiness and unhappiness—both are the same. When we are on the Manomaya Kośa, it contains desires. Desires are of two types: one comes from inside, related to my past life karmas. Another is my present desire, which I think I want to do something from my heart. You cannot change the desire which is pre-decided. We are not born by our desire, and we will not die by our desire. All our children, parents, relationships—our desire does not work here. I do not want to be sick, yet I am. I do not want an accident, yet I meet one. Can we think where our desire is? It does not work anywhere in life. Yet we still feel we want to live according to our desire. If I leave it to you to give me a calendar of your day as per your desire—how you want to live—see what happens. "I will get up at six, seven, eight... I will sleep at ten." If someone needs half an hour from your life, there is no half hour left. Do you think this life is less than any prison? You have tied yourself so much. Which dharma will come and free you? This is something we must truly understand. I repeat it because I said so earlier: we should not challenge nature. We will pay a very dear cost; we cannot afford it. We do our part but forget. We do not keep the fruits in mind. Again, this is very important. I repeat: we start our work with a goal in mind, but the goal is not in our hands. Let us be honest in our karma. And when the fruit comes, let us enjoy it. For all these things, because your heart or mind desires only happiness and nothing else. Puruṣa is Brahma, nothing else. You are Brahma. And ānanda is what you desire. Is there anybody who desires other than ānanda? There may not be anybody. Then ānanda comes again. It resides in the Manomaya Kośa; both Ānandamaya Kośa and Vijñānamaya Kośa are at the centre of the Manomaya Kośa. That is why we say this manas is, you could say, another name of Brahman. And where does ānanda come from? Both are the same. You say bhakti, you say ānanda—same, same. This bhakti has great potential and power. It alone can take you to Brahman. What you are singing, all these bhajans, shows your love towards Gurujī. What keeps you two together? "I am in your heart, you are in my heart." That is prema. If we reach that extent—you travel in my heart, I travel in your heart—we are one. But it is my head which fights for my separate identity. When Śakti starts fighting with Śaktimān or Brahma for an independent identity, do you think any universe would remain? She does everything in the name of Brahma, and there is nothing more powerful than this prayer. I will share a small story before concluding. Of course, there are lessons on training this manas step by step, but since Swāmījī is training you, I need not detail them. Still, I will give you that story from Dvāpara Yuga. You may have heard of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One evening, he was relaxing in his palace in Dvārakā. His wife Rukmiṇī was soothing him, supporting him, massaging him to relieve his tiredness. Suddenly, her hand went to the sole of his foot, and she found a small boil. She was surprised. "Kṛṣṇa, a boil on your sole? How is it possible? I cannot believe it. You do not walk barefoot. You did not run in the sun. You did not go to save a life at a long distance. Yet you have a boil. Tell me how." Kṛṣṇa did not take it seriously; he smiled and kept quiet. "It is just a body; something may happen. Tomorrow it will be healthy." But she did not accept this reply. "Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible. I am not satisfied. You must tell me how this boil came to your sole." A woman, at least an Indian woman, is known to persist for answers. If a woman wants to know something, it takes time for her to find out. Kṛṣṇa said, "Alright. If you want to know the cause, the main cause is you." She was annoyed. "First you avoid the answer, now you blame me?" Kṛṣṇa said, "No, I do not lie. You are the reason." "You must explain." Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes. A few days back, Rādhā came to Dvārakā. You have heard of Rādhā? Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa? Thank you. A few days back, Rādhā came to Dvārakā. I assigned you to attend to her. You were to take care of Rādhā while she was here." She said, "Yes, and I did it. I am sure I made no mistake." Kṛṣṇa said, "I never blamed you for that. What I mean is, even during that period, while serving Rādhā, you were jealous of her." Finally, Rukmiṇī was a wife. So Kṛṣṇa said that you were still jealous of Rādhā. Rukmiṇī said nothing. Kṛṣṇa continued, "With that jealousy, you offered her boiling milk to drink. She drank it. But you do not know, in her heart my charaṇa reside. Where that milk fell is the reason for the boil." I am sure the meaning is clear. This is the meaning of bhakti, of prema, and this is the role of the Manomaya Kośa. It is the centre of our life, no other Kośa. My request to you all is this: when you talk to yourself for ten minutes daily, make small notes. What did I miss? Where did I fail to control my manas? Which of my senses are more powerful than my control? Without controlling your senses, you cannot enter Bhakti, nor can you be successful in any field. What is important in this bhakti? You come to Swāmījī, you bring flowers, sweets, āratī—all given by God. You brought a good apple, good vegetables from the garden. These are all given by God. What you offer from your side is important: my feelings, my surrender. This is mine, and it comes from a trained Manomaya Kośa. Otherwise, we offer something while thinking elsewhere. When we control this manas, every activity of life becomes pūjā. Eating, bathing, working, writing, reading—whatever you do automatically becomes pūjā because you have control over your Manomaya Kośa. So it means all men come to Brahman. What about women? Oh God! Ladies, next life, next time. They want to have judgment. All the time men, the Puruṣa, come to Brahman. What about you girls? Here the majority are... Next time when Gulābjī comes... One second, this would not be fair. I am with all women because they are a hundred times more efficient than men. They have ten hands, eight hands, a hundred hands. Men have only four or six hands. You can do many things at once without mistake. What I wanted to say is, even a woman is Puruṣa, Brahma in the heart. We have the same soul, whether man or woman; only the body is different. Mind it, the role is different. So we are equal, with different roles. Let us not compete with the roles. If you challenge nature by changing your role, nature will not spare you in life. Please be sure in your heart. Let us honour what God has given us. Let us enjoy it. That is all. I see we need them back side, that we need more generation again. Very good. Yes, now we know. You have to stay here because we have to have... Thank you, very nice. Thank you, that is very nice. We have to understand. This science we do not know. She drinks hot milk there, and a drop falls, and the blister is on Kṛṣṇa’s foot. There must be something. Yes, that is why Rukmiṇī was in doubt. I think Kṛṣṇa was there when she drank the hot milk. But it is not like that. Certainly, when one child is naughty to a sibling, the father or mother feels pain in their heart. This is a kind of symbol. The dear one feels more pain, not others. So, dear ones, it means humbleness, kindness, oneness—as Gulābjī was telling. The mind has many, many games. The mind can be so quick. We say one word about Tokyo, and the mind is already there. This is not the kind of mind we usually think of. It is alertness, quickness, everything. So, man maraṇā mamatā mari—we cannot kill the mind because mamatā (mineness) is there. I have told them this many times, so they know. Thank you, Gulābjī, but please bring these gopīs also to Brahmaloka, and all who are sitting, otherwise they will make me guilty. Then there are only two things: either I go to Brahmaloka, or I stay with you. It is like this: how to understand the mind in a different way? If not this, then this, and if not this, then there. So nicely explained, very nicely, according to ancient literature, which makes the Vedas, Upaniṣads, etc. Every human brain is very wide. Everything is there. As we say, yathā brahmāṇḍe, tathā piṇḍe: what is in the universe is in our body, and what is in the body is there. Sajye sab, sajye sab—finally we come to one point. That is: hold one thing and do one sādhanā. You will get all. If you try to get all, you will get nothing. If we get the trunk of the tree, we have got all. If we water the roots, the whole tree gets it. But if we take the watering can and try to water each leaf, the leaves will not get it. So, sajye sab. One sādhanā. But we should know all. That is it. We should know everything, but our sādhanā is one. All that we are talking about, Gulābjī is talking about, is that we should know? Yes, we should know everything. We have examples of glass and water, nicely. We have glass, water, but once more we should look inside and then drink. Rest in the water, drink, and then go. You do not know if there is something else inside. That is why we should know all, but we must have one focal point. That is very important. We used to say all different paths lead to Strelky. So we finally come to that point, which Gulābjī always tries very hard for: the māna. Pantha panthaki mai ek dham, aisi he ja panthi pousenai: "My path is the best." My mother is best, my father is best, my country is best. So we fight, claiming my path is best. So, pantha, pantaki, khīxtā—everybody is pulling to my side. Yes. Pāntā, pāntākī, khīxtā, pāntā, pāntākī, māī, and they are fighting each other inside. There is one place where the panthipa and I differ. You can say different paths, different religions, or different sects; no one will come to Brahma. That is why Gulābjī was boiling his brain to... So come to that straight way. That is good. The sect is not a bad thing. The word "sect" was given by the Pope. When the Asīsī came and went to the Pope, he said his part. The Pope said, "Alright, you can have your path, your sect, your sector." When you go to a hospital, there is a sector for the kidney, a sector for the heart, etc. So these are sectors. In Western countries, the word "sect" is very negative. They say, "Oh, sect," not knowing what a sect is. Jesu Maria. They take it very negatively, but in reality, it is just a division. In India we used to say—now I am making corrections—in India I have good friends, good relations. There is one spiritual path called Jainas, and our dear Gulābjī is also born in that lineage of the Jainas. But it means not dualities. He preaches more Vedas and this than different. We are one. There is no difference. But when they invite me, and Gandhiji is writing for the letters magazine, in his magazine he writes about the Jain sect. I tell Gandhiji—he is an organizer, a director or something, his name is Gandhiji—every time I say, do not say "sect." Many foreigners come to them for conferences, and he says "the Jain sect," and Europeans look there. But for us, there is one path, one master’s teaching, so it is not at all... But if I do not want to take long, because we have prayer time... Because of this word "sect," all India is suffering. The biggest problem in India is because of the word "sect," and we do not understand why. In our constitution, it is written: Christian religion, Buddhist religion, Muslim religion, Parsi religion, Jewish religion, even the Bahá’í religion. But Hindu, no religion. Hindus do not want to be called Hindus. They say it is Sanātana Dharma, and that is not a dharma. It is a way of living, our sādhanā, our way of life, our ceremonies, etc., but not a religion. In India, it is a secular religion, meaning every religion is welcome and no one should humiliate them. But Hinduism is not a religion, and therefore they suffer. They always call it a sect. They call it the Hindu sect, and "sect" is the biggest problem, creating this and that. This is because it was put by the British and Muslims. This is a big, big problem. Still, they do not understand. If you ask, "What is your religion?" they say, "We have no religion. We are Hindu, and Hindu is not a religion." There are so many misunderstandings. In reality, what is a religion? They have put it in such a way, and we also have such a way. The most ancient scripture is written—the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, thousands of years old (generally we say 150,000 years). The Vedas were written at the time of Ṛṣi Ved Vyāsa, Mahābhārata time. Still, in the oldest scriptures, because they are taking from this and putting into their religions, they say this is only dogma. So this is a big problem. Anyhow, therefore it is said: panthā pantake khīchtā, panthā pantake mai ek dhām aisī he jo pantipouse nai. So what Gulābjī talks about is to bring all into oneness, into Brahman. What does yoga bring? Brahman. We do not say Brahmā, but Brahman. Brahmā is the creator, and Brahman is the eternal. We learn every day; we know that. In every lecture we have many things. Brahmā also has the position of time. Like a president serves for five years and then another comes, similarly, Brahmā, after this yuga, retires and another comes. It is written in ancient coloured literature that a small ant can one day become Brahmā, and that Brahmā can come back to being a little ant. There is no time; time is what we make. Anyhow, reality is different. But the negative word brought as a "sect," like these people who are killing each other, and this and that... Most Hindu people have great mercy towards every creature. Missionaries come to India and tell people, "If you become Christian, you can eat meat, no problem." Anyhow, we are not going so far. But our path, our teachings, our knowledge—it is authentic. It is the knowledge. That is what we call the manna. So, which kind of direction will you go, which you will feel? Jaya Jaya... J.