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Part 1: The Essence of Contentment and the Guidance of the Guru I believe everyone is comfortable and feels good here. Happiness is a changeable word, so we do not use it. We use the word santoṣa. In English, it is satisfaction, contentment. To be content is the most precious thing we can have. In Hindi, it is said: "Santoṣī nār satāsukhī." Those who are content are always happy, standing above like and dislike. "I want" is good; "have not" is also good. So contentment, like a son, as a saint—Swāmījī always gives these qualities which make a saint. Main is śānti—peace, inner peace. Santoṣa, śraddhā, confidence. What is more? Santoṣa, Śraddhā, Śānti, Samatam, Uparati. These are all qualities that make a saint. I said to Swamiji, I was cooking in recent days and weeks. Swamiji said, "In this kitchen, I get stupid." I don’t know anything about what is going on around, here and there; I don’t know who is here. I did not complain. No, no, no. It was just a mention, and Tramie said, "This is good." I said, yes, very good, this is good. Because actually, it is not our business. It is not our business to know all these things. For what? Like in the bhajan just now, Kaya was singing "Gurudeva Bina." This is the main thing: the Gurudev. Without him, there is nothing. Our sādhanā is just nothing. Better we go for holidays or do what we really want. Actually, we do not want anything else than to do sādhanā. But without Gurudeva, this is empty. It is like Swamiji once gave the example of one who likes sweets. It is like a sweet box, but without sweets inside. Our mouths will not get the taste of the sugar. This is the example: without Gurudev, our sādhanā, our practice, is empty. It is not only that we should not do our anustāna, our kriyānustāna at home alone, but every kind of sādhanā that we are doing—it does not matter if we are yoga teachers—before we start to teach, we greet Gurū Dev mentally. Or we do our mañcik pūjā when we start our practice at home. Mentally, and with his blessing, everything will be successful. There are three kinds of disciples or students, yoga students, and this we all know from ourselves and from our friends: top, medium, and down. Uttam, Madhyam, and Kaniṣṭha. We ourselves can put ourselves in one category. But especially when one goes very close to Guru Deva in his seva or service, one can observe. One is waiting till Swamiji says something. One is asking now. Swamiji says something immediately now. And one does not even react, waiting for what the other one is doing. And there are some who do before Gurujī is asking, no. What is coming, what is going on? And then we ourselves, we have to put ourselves and always give a push forward into which category we want to belong. Uttam, Madhyam, or Kaniṣṭha. We know the story about the bhakta Upamanyu from the Upaniṣads. Upamanyu always wanted to go to Gurudev, to the master, to do seva, to perform service. He went back there to the ashram, but he was too small. He was only five or six years old, and they said, "No, no, you are too small, you cannot go there. Wait till you are a little bit bigger." But he wanted to very much. He had so much love and desire to go to the service of Gurū Dev and to help him, to go under his training in the school, in the āśram. Finally, they allowed him to go to the ashram. Maybe you remember the name of the Gurujī: Omya Ṛṣi, to his ashram. And he got, like everybody, one duty: to go with the cows and the animals into the field. In the morning, go there, and in the evening, come back and take care of them. Because, like in Rajasthan in the desert, there are wolves and wild animals, and he had to take care of the cattle. This he did every day. There were also other disciples, and they were always pushing him a little bit away because they were bigger and more learned. But it did not matter to him. He was so lovely and kind, like our Gaṇeśjī. Today we have Gaṇeśjī Caturthī. I did not know what Caturthī means. I was asking Swāmījī. This is the fourth day after the new moon, after the Amāvasyā. Is Gaṇeśa coming? And when we saw in the Mahā Śiva Purāṇa the life and the story of Gaṇeśa, then we can understand and also accept that he is the first one. Gaṇeśa, we know the story. He has the elephant head. Pārvatī and Śiva lived up in Kailāś after they got married. He had his duties and had to go many times somewhere to save and help his bhaktas, or he had his meditation, and Pārvatī was a little bit lonely and suffering. Then she started to build from clay a form, a child, and she gave him life—a young man, a young boy. This was her child, and she loved him very much. She gave him food, everything. And one day, God Śiva was out, and Pārvatī told Gaṇeśjī, "I will have a bath now. Please do not let anybody come in. Take care." And Gaṇeśjī still did not know his father. He did not know who he was because he very rarely was there. Gaṇeśa was standing in front of the cave and guarding, and suddenly God Śiva, Śivjī, came back home and wanted to enter. Of course, it is his home. But Gaṇeśa said, "No, no... nobody can enter." And Śivjī said, "Who are you?" "I am Gaṇeśa." He made himself bigger because he was a boy—good, nourished, nice, kind. And Śiva said, "Go." He said, "No." "You go, who are you?" So they were finally fighting. And then Śiva got so angry that with his triśūla he put it to Śrī Gaṇeśa and cut off his head. Śrī Gaṇeśa was crying, "Mother, help me, help me." And Pārvatī was coming out. What happened? She saw Gaṇeśjī lying there without a head, and she saw her husband. What happened? He did not know, she did not know, and she got angry. She got so angry that she became big, with red eyes, angry; she could have destroyed everything in her form. It is like Kālī and Durgā all together, very angry. And then quickly, all came—all goddesses, all, Nārada, all came. Viṣṇu said, "Please, please save us from this rage. What Pārvatī has now, she will destroy the whole universe because you cut off the head of her son, Gaṇeśjī." And then Śivjī was saying, "It does not matter. This head, what you find, bring it and put it on this body." And there was Gaṇeśa, the elephant. So the boy without a head got the head of an elephant. And then they begged, "Pārvatī, please, please, please come again in your divine form. Mother Pārvatī, please come down. Look here, your Gaṇeśa is alive. He is here." And she calmed down and went to him and said, "Oh God, how you are looking, and how is this?" And God Śiva explained to her that this is very special because Gaṇeśa, the elephant, is known as very wise, and he is removing all obstacles. It does not matter wherever Gaṇeśa, the elephant, comes; all go away from themselves. They give way to him. Plus, in one way he is strong, and in one way he is very wise. And so, the son of Pārvatī and God Śivjī is Gaṇeśa. Gaṇeśjī has a very, very fine intellect. I would say more than wise. He always finds a way out from difficulties, and in that way, nobody is hurt, nobody has little, and nobody has too much. In that way, he is acting. Gaṇeśa is not proud. He is so kind-hearted and so loved that one has to love him and one has to support him. So God Śiva said, because he observed the actions of his son—how he is doing, how he is working—and then he said, "You should always be first." So God Śiva gave Gaṇeśa the first place among all the principles, among all the goddesses, because he is that one who will protect. He guides, he gives the way out, he gives the viveka and the knowledge. Then Gaṇeśjī had his time. He came of age and had to marry. He got two sisters: one is Ṛddhi and one is Buddhi. So where Gaṇeśa is, always these two come with him. This is the intellect and all the wealth. All the wealth is coming with him. So this is the life and the story of how Gaṇeśa got an elephant head, and how and why he is always the first. It has to be because he is so loved and he is so wise. Like our Gurudev, we have this bhajan from Śrī Mahāprabhujī: "Where is my Gurudev?" It is this Gaṇeśjī. He always protects and guides with love and wisdom. That we all, in your holy feet, in this your holy land, we are here in your holy feet. Bless us, protect us, guide us, and forget our mistakes. Gurudev, it is all yours. We pray to thee. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhupāda. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu... Dī Haṁsabhādas Prabhusaraṇaparam... The human life is one of the highest in this creation. It is said that God has given this jīvā, this life, this soul, into this body. And in this, we have, and we should know, humbleness, kindness, peacefulness, etc. Everyone has a different nature or has different activities. It means that someone will play football, one will feel the water jumbles, horse riding, etc. Similarly, every human gets a different kind of nature and our habits. We are, and God has given us, different kinds of knowledge—what we call from primary school till the university. They all give that knowledge, and what to do and what not to do. In that way, we go. It is good. And we humans know what to do, what not to do. We make a nice building. But that is nothing. Even animals are making buildings. Even the ants are making their house. There are many, many creatures that make their house in the earth. The birds are making the house. And you know, there are some birds—all birds—they do not have four legs. Only two legs. They have no hands, and they have only one beak. But you know how they can make beautiful nests. There is one bird which creates a beautiful nest in the tiny tree of any trees, and that bird makes such a beautiful nest only once, and again next time. It is hanging on a very tiny branch. When it is very hot, it is a beautiful, nice, cool air. When it is very cold, then it is very nice and warm. It is raining, it is strong, but she does not get even a drop from the rain in her or his nest. And when they are relaxing, then sitting on the very front of the nest, like what we call a swinging cradle. And she cleans out everything that the little baby is doing. There are a few eggs, and after a few days or one week, these eggs hatch and the babies come out. They have wings, but they are not big. They have legs and a beautiful beak. Then the birds have hard work. She is searching for something to get food, and everyone can open their mouth immediately. And she knows how much she gave and did not. And one day they will try to go out of the nest and fly, and the mother is looking. When one is not capable to fly again, she will catch it and bring it into the nest. That kind of bird I have not seen here in Europe. Maybe in Africa, and maybe some other countries; in India, of course, many. This bird only has two legs and one beak, and she brings only one, one by one, the grass. How she puts it there again, and how nice—first she tied it on the little branch of the tree. And that tree has thorns, so other animals cannot attack because there are thorns. What I am talking about is that we should not think that only humans can do it. They also have a brain, yes. Now, it makes beautiful, very nice. Sometimes I am thinking that some little children, in wintertime and summertime also, when it is hot, they have very nice caps. They go through the whole head and down till the chin and everything, with a little opening. This is done by the birds. And so the humans make this, how to do, and that looks exactly like that. It was beautiful. The birds have done it. It is a bird. We know what is air-conditioned. Air-conditioned by both cold and also from the heat. In summer it is warm, and when it is cool, it is warm. That creature is very little, like a little ant, and it makes a beautiful nest in the earth, and that is mostly in those countries where there is a hot climate. So they make this beautiful... they bring from their mouth earth from somewhere, and they are making a beautiful village, a very beautiful story of the still, in which still where you are living. And that they make, and they have given it their name, and that is what we call... This is a name that I will come to in my mind sometime. That is called the... it is a very nice name. And that they are making this, this known as the... this bird, the animals... They are also biting, eating all the trees—termites. The termites, and these termites, they make... it is called... that is the name: colony. So that is a colony, and in the colony there, they are making houses. How is it something? They have learned from these termites how nicely they make it warm, cold, but have everything inside. And even they are making it in such a way that water may go over, but in that colony, nothing will go in. Water will go in, and it will go out the other side. It is a very, very scientific thing that they told them. There is this earth, and that kind of earth, what they are taking through their mouth, from their lips, because they make weight, and then, like cement, we make buildings. Now, that kind of earth, which is there from this colony, they take away. They are one year, or half a year, and then they go away. They make other buildings. But that one, if you have any kind of problems, disease in your body—on the thighs, on the legs, on the stomach, on the head, everywhere painful, swollen—the best medicine is from this earth. How? Because they have a lot of poison for the humans, because they are angry. So they know that what they have, how should they go. So there it is said that we take this house of these termites, then with hot water, or we boil it a little bit in the water. And after, we leave it a little cool, and then we put it on where there is a lot of pain or something. Of course not if the skin is broken—that is not good. But it is like swollen, pain, also burn, the bones, everything. Now, that science, and who made this science, and who made this colony? Name this. And you know the termites, how little, little, little? Similarly, there are many, many animals, the birds, and even the fish; they know how to do what to do. So every creature, what God has given—God has given everyone some kind of science or knowledge, and that we humans are using, and we learned. So many, many houses now have air conditioners. Before, there were no air conditioners, and some of us would give air with our hands, like this. I was in Australia once. We went on a long journey, and there is one part of that. There are some stones, very precious stones, and it is very hot, and water is... we do not know from where to get. But humans, they are digging and digging for some precious stones, but they have made their house underground, so it is nice and cool. We were there with me, maybe someone who was with me. It is beautiful. So all creatures, we should not destroy them. If we destroy these ants, sooner or later, they will bite you. If not, then others, they have the eggs, we know. So what I wanted to tell, about that tree and the bird, she made a beautiful nest hanging up, let us say, 20 meters high, or 3 meters, depending on that tree, how it is. But not on the height, on the thick branches of the tree, so that the snake cannot go and eat. And even if there is a strong wind, it will not break, it will not fall, and rain, etc. That is a beautiful bird. So one day, what happens? It was heavy rain, what we call a flood. So the bird was sitting up and enjoying. Rain, hot, much water. So there was one monkey, and the monkey was sitting under the tree, near the trunk of the tree a little bit. And water was there flowing. Part 2: The Wisdom of Nature A bird had built a fine nest high up in a tree. Seeing a monkey suffering below in the cold and rain, with no shelter or food, the bird spoke to him with compassion. "My dear monkey, my brother," said the bird. "You have two hands, two legs, a mouth, and a tail. You can do anything. I have only two legs and a beak, and wings. Yet I have built this nice nest a little high up. If you had done something for yourself in such a situation, you would not be suffering." The monkey looked up at the little creature. "You are giving me knowledge?" he said. Then he jumped, caught the bird's nest, and destroyed it. Of course, the bird flew away; her babies were already fledged. As she sat on another branch, she said, "That was your nest, brother. You could have done anything for your protection. Do not give me knowledge." That is a very nice poem, known in many parts of India. Oh mankind, do not think that only you are human and great. Even snakes are very clever. Some say they have ears to hear; others say they do not. They have no hands or legs, only two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Yet they are so clever. They have everything. There are certain snakes you should not disturb, for they will find you no matter how far you go. Sooner or later, they may come into your house. People often kill such snakes. It is said they listen through the vibrations of the earth. Our walking, our sitting—everything creates a vibration. They know which vibration is from a human, an animal, or another snake. They are not stupid. Be careful. When snakes—male and female—come together, coiling like a cradle, no one should go near. If you disturb them, they will kill you. It is not easy to go near. I read that for the male snake there are two urinals, and for the female also two urinals. How they are, we do not know. They race together for some days, sometimes in daylight, sometimes in moonlight. Every creature has its own knowledge of what to do and what not to do. A cobra may lay more than a hundred eggs. But when she lays them, she seems to have no knowledge and may eat all the eggs again. So out of a hundred, perhaps ten or twenty survive, either because she eats some or other animals take them. But she knows she has laid her eggs. These animals know, too. Therefore, it is better to be separate. This is similar to what I told you about the termites, called colonies. Birds know how to make a beautiful nest. Monkeys can be stupid. You know, when a young male monkey becomes strong, he will kill all the other males. When a female gives birth, he will run to see if it is a male or female baby. If it is male, he will kill it. If the mother or father attacks him, he will kill them or they will suffer greatly. That is why there are many, many females and one male. He is always vigilant. Generally, they all look normal, but he is very young and strong, and he watches so that no other male is near. He has hundreds of females. One day, a mother who has given birth to a baby boy knows this. She will take her baby to her chest and run away before the male knows. He does not know where she is, and no one will tell him. He bites everyone, asking, "Where is she?" In one night, she will go a kilometer or two away, into the hills, and protect her child. Then she returns with him when he is strong. When her son grows up, there is a battle. The young one is very strong, and the old one must run away. Sometimes, if you come to a garden and see one male monkey alone with no females, he is completely angry, sad, and fearful. That is life. How is that going on? Similarly, my dear, be human. Do not think that we are the only ones; they can do many things. You know the snake? That is what we call in the stories Gurujī told yesterday in the satsaṅg. That is the Śeṣanāga. Śeṣa means one hundred; he has many heads. He is coiled, and Bhagavān Viṣṇu is resting upon him. A part of Lakṣmī, she is sitting with Viṣṇu. It is said that in the ocean, it is Śeṣanāga, the snake, who is holding the earth. One day, when he goes down, you will see a very big earthquake. Whenever there is an earthquake, it is heat; fire is there, otherwise he cannot stand. Therefore, fire has to be in the water. This we have in many books; we should read that to know what is happening. Similarly, my dears, first we should know we should not disturb nature. If we disturb nature, sooner or later nature will attack us as disease, different kinds of disease, breaking down the body, etc. Therefore, oh man, do not make yourself out to be the highest one. All these creatures have life in them. Of course, we have the most knowledge, and that knowledge we should use for good things and not for wrong. Humans go under the earth, take out coal, and when there is no more coal, they let water inside. They also drill for different kinds of stones and oil. How much have we gone under our earth? Sooner or later, when everything is in the water, it will all fall out. What we did, that is it. We think we are very intelligent, that we can do everything, that we are human and the best. Do it, do it. But it is not forever. That is why the yogīs and good people, very knowledgeable people of the science—which kind of science? The human science, in that, is God. That is it. Now, consider nature again. I was coming, and we know what we have: corn, very curvy and nice, high—about two meters in height or more. It has great energy, power. Now they have made it only half a meter tall. It will yield two or three cobs. Why? So we can cut it easily and be finished. But inside, what they have done, you will see very soon or later: our children will become less and less. They told me once that in America, in an area where they did this, people became smaller and smaller. Our wheat for our bread used to be one and a half meters in height, sometimes two meters. It had prāṇa, energy. That is why nature made it so. But now it is also about half a meter. I have seen it even less when I was coming from Vienna. Why are we humans doing this? Therefore, there was a video; someone saw it and said, "The time is coming." This Kali Yuga is still not complete. A very intense Kali Yuga will come. Humans will go down, further down, walking like this. Cows will be small, and there will be no milk. This is shown in a beautiful video from the scriptures. So I hope to take all our children with us to the Brahmalokas. That will be the best of the best. Whether you believe or not, that is how it will be. Why talk negatively? Why fight? Why say, "I am the best one"? That is negative talk; you are negating yourself. It is said that one master guru encountered a man who was being beaten by many people for stealing something. The man was very angry. He was sitting under a tree, sad. The master came and said, "Oh, my son, my child, why are you here, so sad?" The man wanted to run away. The master said, "No, no, come, please sit down. What happened?" The man told his story. "They are all stupid," he said. "You did it? You did it. This is good. But you think all will attack you for one thing you did? You took some money or something? You say they are stupid? Come, my child, please sit down and eat." After a year, that master said, "Do not do like this." But before, he said, "Good, good, you did good. Do not worry, everything is okay. I am with you." We are giving what we call... No, no. Only talking we cannot. So it is said: "O Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, here is your mālā, because my stomach is empty. O Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, this is your mālā, my stomach is empty. So first let me eat, then I will have your mālā again." You will say, "Swamiji, you are telling so many stories." But eating will be nice, warm, and good. So we should be here. This is the knowledge of nature. Where is nature here? A few years ago, I went for a walk. Two or three people were with me, including Bhaktānanda from Czech. He was always like my bodyguard, carrying water and things for me. He is a strong man. We went to a big field of corn. There were many, many bees. He always said, "Gurudev, it is very, very... If we lost it, we lost it; we are losing." I said, "What? In this water, there is a creek." There are tons of honey flowing out. No one can take this honey from the kukurucas? The birds are taking something, and the bees are taking, but no one is ready to take a little for us. So it is in the nature of how many things, everywhere. Yesterday, I was here. There was a little food before lunch in the evening: nice fruits like plums and others. On one side was something else, not fruit. I was eating, and there was even chili. One bee came. She thought, "There is something good." There were nice fruits, full of juice and sweet, peeled plums. This was brought to me by someone. The other food was from a garden or something. This bee was constantly going only to one side. There might be some... So I put the food on the other side. Then the bee went to the other side. It looked at my wife's side and again went there. This means the fruits on one side were artificial, sprayed with something. The bees do not eat from them. They do not sit on them. They are looking to see which one is not affected. You see how the bees know? I hope that day will not come when there are no animals. Then what will you make honey from? Sugar? I can tell you what is real honey and which is sugar or something else. Within half a minute, you will know which is real honey. You can taste it today. Take any cloth—it does not matter what kind, but not plastic. Plastic will not do. Take your cloth and put half a teaspoon of honey on it. It will soak in. It will not create a stain on our cloth, which is not good with honey. If there is some plastic or anything artificial in it, it will remain. You can do it today. There is a lot of honey here. But where is your sugar? You would have to make the sugar very liquid. Then you will see. So which is real honey and which is near honey? That is what nature gives us. And that bee will not come on the artificial one. If she does, she will smile and go. She says, "What you have eaten, I will not eat you, because my quality is pure, and you know that." Not from their mouth; it is from the honey bee. What they give from the flower, that is our honey. How beautiful it is. There are so many things. I was on Facebook; someone was talking about this honey. He told how to test three times which is real honey and which is not. Which tree was sprayed, and if somehow honey went there for bees, that will not come. So we should save our bees and save our birds. Now birds go to sprayed plants, fall down, and die. Our birds are so happy in paradise. We should protect them. We shall make a very big park. There should not be any chemicals. Leave all the creatures, and it will be very nice. There we should lie down. How happy and relaxed in body we will be. Every bird, every animal—animals eat animals, but they are very nice. A bird will come and sit on a tiger or a snake. But no little bird will come and sit on a human. The most terrible situation for nature is humans. That is it. This is good. I have spoken for two minutes more. It will become again dim, dumb, good. You can do this. This is a beautiful place for eating. Here you can eat. Enjoy, enjoy. This is a whole one-week retreat. We are not retreating; we are here for sādhanā. We have a seminar, a good seminar. The Germans have a different way, a little bit. Seminar and ānand. Hari Om. Hari Om. Śrī Dīpna Bhagavān. Devadhī Dev, Deveśvara Mahādeva, Satguru Svāmī Madhvarānjī Bhagavān. And today, Bhagavān Gaṇeś Jī, so we are making praṇām to Gaṇeśjī. Śrī Gaṇeśa, Śrī Gaṇeśa... Bhai Maa, Gaṇeśa, Śrī Gaṇeśa, Bhai Maa. In the evening, we will pray Āratī, okay? Gaṇeśjī does not want Āratī at night because he said, "I am relaxed." His trunk is on one side, but I will ask Gaṇeśjī still there today. He said, "No." Mahāśvarānanda, no, it is just night. He said, no, no. There is still light there. He said, "Where? In America? In America?" He said, "Okay, then it is all right." So I can eat the laddū, but in the dark it does not matter; close your eyes and eat, that is all. We cannot make Gaṇeśa stupid. The best of the best of the best is Gaṇeśa. Gaṇeśa made even Śiva confused. Gaṇeśa went to Pārvatī’s wedding, and Śiva did not invite Gaṇeśa. First, he should have worshipped me. Then Śiva, Bābā Gaṇeśjī was... I think Gaṇeśjī’s devotees, they all are what we call the mouse, and they said, "Himilist? Śiva did not invite you. So what to do?" All the mice said, "Gaṇeśjī, we are your guards. We will not let him go any further, maybe one kilometer, then it is finished." What? "We will bring thousands and thousands of mice, and we will go underground." And Śiva’s chariot could not move at all. Again, then Śiva said, "What is happening? I am going for the wedding, but all are falling down, and this and that." Then someone came and said, "Bhagavān Śivjī, you did not invite Gaṇeśa. And why?" Yes, it is. It will be your son. But you gave him the highest; the highest of the highest is Gaṇeśa. Anything you are doing, we should first say, "Jaya Śrī Gaṇeśa, Jaya Gaṇeśa, Jaya... Gaṇeśa." Then Gaṇeśa says, "Let us go ahead, everything will be okay." Adio.