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Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Te ao mārama, out to the world of light. Swāmījī has done this to me again. He always catches me out. I just came to have tea here tonight because I heard he was in the country, and now I'm here talking to the world. How exciting is that? It wasn't what I expected to happen today, but then, if peace is to be said out to the world from Aotearoa, I suppose anything can happen. I guess that's the reason I'm here tonight. My name is Aniparata. My tribe is Ngāti Awa, Te Āti Awa. My mountain is Taranaki. My awa is Waikanae. My island is Kāpiti, and I am a descendant of those who started the first passive resistance in New Zealand, with Whiti and Tohu of Parihaka. It has been a great journey to meet Swāmījī two years ago, knowing he had been in our country for a few years but hadn't been taken to a marae. So at the beginning of this year, I was privileged to take him onto my marae at Hongaweka, about half an hour to three-quarters of an hour out of Wellington. We're in Wellington, and it's out on the coast. It was a real privilege for my family and those who live there to have met Swāmījī. I saw something else happening from other places of the world, so that has been a highlight for me this year. Always a surprise—I never get many warnings. It's a very quick surprise, so I think that's going to be our relationship for the rest of our lives. The issue of Parihaka: Parihaka was invaded in 1881, mainly because they wouldn't fight. They wanted to share their land with the people that were coming, the immigrants, but that sort of relationship—to share in that way—wasn't heard of. People wanted to own it, and our people only wanted to share it. We have a history of our own warring and anger and violence, but we had stopped that by the time this happened. Te Whiti and Tohu saw a better way, and they wanted us to not fight, to sit and talk if we could. So, being quiet and talking—what they did when the surveyors came to plough up their land and say, "You can't have it"—is they would take the survey pegs out. They would get told off and then be arrested. And then they'd say, "Well, okay then, we'll go with you." So there was a whole journey before 1881 and the 5th of November, when the British Constabulary went onto Parihaka and took away the men and left the women. It's been a grievous time for my iwi up there for many years, until about five years ago when we really started to realize what they stood for, what Te Whiti and Tohu stood for: "Glory to God on the high, peace on earth, and goodwill to all mankind." This is the Raukura, which I don't have with me today, but it was something I saw could go around the world. Te Whiti died 103 years ago, and he said it would go out to the world. He said this would go around the world. During that time of his resistance against invasion, they never fought the whole time, and they came back home. But the sad thing about Parihaka was that the women suffered. I am five generations away from that, and we still have those things that we have to heal within ourselves, and often they can only be done with other people, to show what they had left us behind. When he was released from prison and came back, he restored Parihaka. But Gandhi heard about him in South Africa. He had heard about these native people who had done this passive resistance, and he thought it was pretty good. We didn't have as many people in New Zealand as they have in India to actually fulfill it in the best way we knew how. So he's always acknowledged the fact that he followed us. We've also acknowledged that he was a very part of keeping our culture and beliefs alive because of that. Parihaka still exists today. It's just out of New Plymouth, where there's a mountain called Taranaki, about three or four hours from Wellington. I'm talking to the world so you know where we are—about four hours up the coast on the west coast of New Zealand. Since 1881, or 1873 or 4, when the people came to New Zealand and wanted to take over the land, they started a conversation. It always started on the 18th of each month and went to the 19th. That was to see if we could talk our way through and not fight with each other, and it didn't happen. But the 18th and 19th is still held today; it is kept alive every month. Sometimes there'd be one or two people who'd turn up for Parihaka, but it's always remembered that the 18th and 19th is a day you go to Wanmarae, which is the paipai, and it's a place to talk. It is a place to take your grief from a bereavement you may have had in your family over the month, and it is also a place to talk. On the 18th, you went to Te Whiti's Marae, and on the 19th, you went down for breakfast at Tohu's Marae. That still happens today. I'm actually traveling up there with a dear friend who's arrived from America to take him to see Parihaka this weekend, so I was heading that way anyway. It's a message that we all need to unite in this whole world, actually, when you see what's going on. One of the ways to get strong, even for me as a New Zealand Māori—and we have our differences—is to go and manaaki. Manaaki means to care about somebody else when you're on your own and not understanding you. I see that a lot with all indigenous people: often you have to travel outside your country to be recognized, or you have to go and do things to keep strong in what you believe. I believe that manaakitanga is a really strong word for Māori. It means to care about each other. It means that you know to look after each other, as you have, many of you here that I've met over the last two years of just going to a piece to hear this man that I saw advertised in the paper out of my community. I just went there to listen to him and found out that it was the other way around—I was welcoming him there. So that's been my journey too. I don't know what's to come for the future of myself, but for Māori people, I think we have to unite as tribes. We have to bring a balance back into this country if we're going to have peace here, because I think that we're so far away from the world, and we're a small country, and we can do it because we're Kiwis—you know, we can do whatever we... we're good at doing anything. And we can bring peace to the world. There are only four million of us here, so for some of the people watching around the world, you'd probably... that's your town or your city, but that's our whole country. Within the Māori culture, in 1975, we had this great Māori landmark here in New Zealand, and it was about to bring back those values that were lost. That's what it was; they're just lost. They've been put aside, and we have to bring them back. So in 1975, we started this big journey with a lot of young people, and we're about to see those leaders come into play in the next 10 years because we took them and started to teach them who they really were as Māori, what their values are, and who they are. So they didn't have to actually worry about who they were. They would know, and they would be confident in that world, and they could be confident in any world. That's been a programme that has been happening in New Zealand, and I've been privileged to see the results of taking young people and teaching them about their culture, their values, their tribe, and then them getting older and taking on the role of leadership, and that is yet to come. So I'm a great motivator of people like that. I was a part of helping our tribe. On the Kāpiti Coast, we have three tribes: Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, and Te Āti Awa. We're a federation, and we have our own university now, and that started from a dream. One man had a dream and said that we could do it, and 25 years, 30 years later, we've succeeded in it. Young people are coming out with more of a balance. But maybe there will be more chaos for a little while, but it will turn around. And only the consciousness of all of us can make it change. I think that's what Te Whiti and Tohu did, because they could bring people to a peaceful place within themselves so that they could actually handle that hardness way back then in 1881. In Māori culture, you know, our old people never die because we always remember them. Wherever we gather, we remember all of those people who have gone before us. I think that helps us to stay strong within ourselves. Death also kept us alive because, no matter how much our culture was taken away, we pulled away from it to go to the other world. When we died, we always went home and did it the same way as our old people did, and brought back out the old photos, and talked about the families, and talked about your connections, and that has sometimes been the strength of a family. So it's about communication to the world, and I thank you for this opportunity of actually standing up here and wondering how long I'm supposed to talk for. Oh, and I didn't see him standing here. There is one thing that Swāmījī, you mentioned these three feathers, yes? Swāmījī's actually wearing one tonight, so all the viewers overseas can see that. Can you explain a little bit more what those three feathers are, what they represent? I'll go back to fit in. They actually came from a bird called the albatross, and they represented, as I said earlier, glory to God, and it's about your spirituality. That's about who you are spiritually. And the peace—peace on earth, and peace within yourself, and where is your peace? And goodwill—goodwill to all mankind. It's about us all caring about each other. If he could prophesize that way back in 1881, I think, and it survived all this time, and he said then it would go out to the world... I am so grateful that Swāmījī has this on today because I haven't got mine, but I have it in my heart. He made me. When he came to Raumati and called me up like this to talk about the Raukura and talk about Parihaka, it was uniting a new connection. So I sent things that belong to that, which are very important to our hearts, over to India, because I actually really believe that we needed that vibration to help us restore ourselves as well. Anyway, it's good to see you. Nice to see you again. That's it for the whole world also, all our friends everywhere. So our Swāmījī sends to us all, not only to us all, but also to all Swāmījī's disciples and bhaktas in the whole world, that he is coming just in a few minutes, but I think the few minutes will be a few seconds, because I see Swāmījī very close. Praṇām Swāmījī, we were waiting for you, so we are very happy that you are here already. You see, that's very good. Thank you very much, and thank you to the world. Let's take your seat. Yes, I have that. That's good. Yeah, we want to have a look. You want to have a look. We told everybody around the world that you had them, so yes, I do have. So, Harirā Rāñjī, what did you speak just now when you came? I was going to start your speech. Yes, okay. Oṁ Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ. Sarve Santu Nīrāmayāḥ. Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu. Mā Kaścid Duhkhabhāg Bhavet. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Prabhavatu. Salutation to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Welcome to our Yoga and Life Ashram Center. Also welcoming all our international brothers and sisters around the world who are with us through this webcast in different parts of the world. Dear brothers and sisters, this blessing is coming to you from the beautiful country of New Zealand and the beautiful city of Wellington. This evening, we have beautiful subjects, and that's about mantra. Many of you know what the mantra is. Many don't know what the mantra is. And those who don't know what a mantra is, very soon they will know what that is. Mantra is a positive sentence, a positive word, which should immediately create an atmosphere. Mantra creates immediately a positive energy around you. The word which we pronounce through our mouth has influence. Now, I will give you one example. How does it immediately change? Suppose you have some very urgent work to be done, that kind of work which depends on something you have to do or arrange, some official documents to be finished, and that today is the last date for you. It means a lot if the date is passed; everything is lost. And I would suggest now, in this minute, every baby should go to the baby room. Thank you, all mothers and sisters and fathers. Thank you very much for your kind understanding. Also, you are late to come to the office. I'm talking about how a word, a sentence, can change the atmosphere. As soon as you reach the office, the government office, it's time to close the office. The officer has a key in his hand to lock the door, and you come. He says, "Dear sir, please be so kind. I know that I'm late, but this is very urgent, very important for me. Can you give the stamp and your signature, please?" The person, he or she, will be so touched in the heart by your kind words. "Please, dear sir or madam." He said, "Okay, open the door again, go in the office, take the stamp, stamp it, sign it, and say, 'Here you are. Next time, please be on time.'" Work is done. You created such a good atmosphere in his or her mind that you are a very humble person, a very kind person. Now, the opposite. Instead of saying this, "Please, dear sir," you come and say, "Hey, bloody one, stupid, open the office and do my work." What will happen? You all know what will happen. What kind of atmosphere will be there? So the same person, same mouth, same brain, same intellect, same heart. If you use this positive sentence, positive language, you come through. And if you use negative language, then you are in trouble. Similarly, if we repeat the divine name, then we create a beautiful, positive energy within our own phenomenon. Each individual phenomenon is like a balloon, a big balloon. The soul is within. Every negative thought poisons that balloon. And every positive thought illuminates that balloon. In modern psychology, they say negative thinking means poisoning thyself. Mantra is a way of communication, a way of surrendering, and you can come through. This morning I told one story, and I will repeat it again. In the forest, like Canada or America, big forest, and there was living a very mighty, big, grizzly bear. And every day, that bear used to kill some animals. All different animals came together and had a meeting. How to protect ourselves? The bear has a list of our names, which day, which one should be the victim. So there was one deer. He said, "He cannot kill me. I'm quicker than him, and I'm alert. My ears are very good. My nose is very good. I will see if I'm on his list." Deer went to the bear and said, "Sir, is it true that you have the list of all of us who are living in this forest?" He said, "Yes." "Am I on your list?" He said, "Yes." Innerly, he said, "You can have my name on your list, but you can't kill me. I'm quicker than you," and he went away. Next morning, they found the deer dead, half eaten by the grizzly bear. There came a very wild buffalo, big. He said, "No, the bear cannot kill me. I will go and challenge him." So he went to the bear and said, "Sir, I heard that you have a list of all of us here in the forest." He said, "Yes." "Is my name here?" He said, "Yes." "You know, I'm five times stronger than you. Take care." And he went away. The next day, they found the buffalo dead. Then there was a little rabbit. He said, "Well, I must also go and see if I'm on his list." So, Rabbit went there and asked, "Sir, am I on your list? I have heard." He said, "Yes." "Sir, is there any problem if you can take my name out?" Bear said, "No problem." And so is communication, heart to heart. Similarly, we know that we made a lot of problems in our life, or mistakes. We are still mortal beings. We are simply human. We have our human weaknesses. We are angry. We are jealous. We are greedy, arrogant, many, many things. But if we request God with some good sentences to communicate, we can come through. He can forgive us, or he can solve these karmas, and we will create a positive energy. And so is the mantra. Mantra is a positive sentence where there is a name of God—which God doesn't matter. That God in which you believe. There is only one God, and that God has no form and no name. But according to our culture, our language, our countries, our traditions, we realized that's God, and we believe and we pray to that God. That's the beauty of the world. One American lady came to Mahātmā Gāndhī, and she asked, "Gāndhījī, I heard that in India you have so many goddesses and gods." Gandhijī said, "Yes, but there is only one God." "Gandhiji said, 'Yes,' so what do you mean? There are so many gods India has." Gandhijī said, "The beauty of the garden or the park is there when the many different kinds of flowers are blossoming." Can you imagine all the time the same kind of flowers are there? You know, all this belongs to nature; it is vegetation, it is only one nature. But different colors, different beauty, different openings, different blossoms. And so, the beauty of human life is to realize God in that form which your heart accepts. Not that I tell you, "Believe this God and don't believe that God, and this is our God, and we don't respect other gods." Who are you to instruct someone's heart? We have only one privacy, only one, and we have a right for that, and that one privacy is that we feel love in our heart individually. I cannot change and tell you, "Don't do this, do this, that." No, it's your heart, it's your feelings, it's in your imagination. And God will appear according to your imaginations, or the visions of your love. So, mantra. First, there is a name of God, that God to which your heart surrenders. But it does not mean that the other God is bad. Every child says, "My mother is the best mother." So, which mother is not a good mother? Every mother is the divine, best mother. So we have our own belief, love, imagination, and keep to it. Day by day, try to come closer, communicate. Second, the word in that mantra is forgiveness, or to remove all my obstacles in this life: my suffering, my pain, misunderstandings, my problems. One word has all insight. Negative. Lord, remove this negative energy which is on my way. It can be illness, it can be accident, it can be a problem with social or political issues. Many, many problems we have, and definitely it will help if you use that word immediately after God's name. Third, protection. In the Vedas, in the Vedic religion, Sanātana Dharma, from which also you call the Hindu Dharma, for thousands of years the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures, have always been praying for peace, and peace means on the earth. The water in vegetation, in the herbs, in the atmosphere, peace in the cosmic self, and peace within myself. My inner peace is only possible if my surroundings are also in peace. You are sleeping peacefully, but your neighbors are crying and in pain. Other neighbors had a dog, and the neighbor went on holiday, and the dog was barking; the dog was hungry and thirsty. And in the street, someone had an accident and is now crying in the car, screaming, "Please call the ambulance!" Will you still sleep peacefully? No, we cannot sleep peacefully. So peace, happiness, joy, love, health—everything should not be only directed to me, but to all. We are talking about health. What are we doing for our health? Very, very little. If a human would like to be healthy, and a human would like that our planet and all creatures are happy, then immediately stop all the pesticides. Immediately stop those kinds of chemicals which are very harmful. Only use those things which are very, very important for emergencies, like in hospitals or something. How will our planet be healthy? Global change, global warming, climate change—all these problems will be solved. And in the heart, we should have mercy. Compassion—human lost the compassion. Since human lost the compassion, they begin to suffer. We know that the most restless, most unhappy, most unhealthy, most destructive is the human, and most clever, have intellect, intelligent. Heart, understanding, learned, also the human. Why then are we doing the opposite when we know these good things? Because the greed of the human is limitless. One king announced in his kingdom, "In my kingdom, no one will be poor; in my kingdom, no one will be hungry. In my kingdom, no one will be a beggar. I will do all so that my people are rich, happy, and healthy." And so in his kingdom, everyone had a job, everyone had money, everything was good, and the king was very proud of himself. Ego came. He said, "I am the one who's doing." I—this 'I' is the biggest problem, you know. The 'I' is standing like this. And as long as 'I' stands like this, there will be a problem. But the same 'I', if it goes horizontal, becomes a bridge, heart to heart. It becomes a uniting power. Only, we have to surrender. But if we are like this, then we are lonely, alone; nothing is there. God was thinking, "Now is the time to make clear to the king that it is not he who is providing everything to his people and other creatures. But there is someone else who takes care of their food, from a small creature to the elephant. Every day, who is supplying the food to the little ant? Do you give food to the ant? No, you are spraying the birds." Animals, morning, nine o'clock, the king came out of his palace and wanted to go walking in his park. Proud? Oh, my people are happy, and this, it's me who is a good ruler. Suddenly, in front of the king, stood a beggar. No shoes, torn clothes, long beard, longer than mine, long hair, unwashed, and very hungry, very thin, and he had in his hand one pot. "King, for the last 15 days, I didn't have anything to eat. Sir, please, can you give me something to eat?" The king said, "Where are you living?" "Sir, just near your castle or your palace." "In my kingdom?" He said, "Yes, sir. I always want to come to you, but people don't let me come to you. Now I found a chance that you are alone, so I came to you. Please, I don't need anything. I'm so hungry, dying out of the hunger. I have nothing." King said, "My friend. Now I will give you so much that you will not be any more hungry and poor." And the king ordered his people to bring and give him food. "What do you need, King?" he said. "What do you want?" He said, "Nothing." A hungry person, what need? Nothing. If you give money, I can't eat. You give gold, I can't eat. I need something to eat. So, rice, cooked rice and bread, and they put it in his pot, the beggar's pot, and he disappears. Nothing is inside. They put in, and there's nothing inside. Putting and putting in his pot, everything, whatever they put in the pot, disappears. The king became nervous, and the king asked him, "Who are you? And from which material is the beggar's pot made?" The beggar looked to the king and said, "Lord, the pot of the beggar is made out of a greedy human's mind. A human's greedy mind is never, never content or full." Always desires more and more and more. Whatever one gets disappears from his consciousness; he wants to have more and more. And that's what Gandhi said: "Mother Earth has enough for our needs, but not for our greed." So the problem which we have, doesn't matter which country and which creatures, ocean, lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, the desert, all is created out of the human's greed, and we are standing on the border, we don't know what to do now. So there is the way, there is a remedy: stop all kinds of poisons which we are putting in the water, on the earth, and try to say to yourself, "Enough, whatever I have." Similarly, when we repeat our mantra... Then it will come to our mind, in our intellect: what is the aim of my life? Am I born to work day and night so hard to earn so much money? And suddenly you will die. Will you take your money with you? Will you take your house with you? What will go with you? Nothing. All will remain here. Only one thing will go with you, and that is either bad or good. If you did bad things, it will go—bad karmas with you. If you did good things, that will go with you, and that is your mantra, the name of God, that spiritual name. Where you pray for everyone, for the entire planet, and for all the ancestors who have passed, we pray for them also. But we call them the holy angels. Some divine angels who come to us are your ancestors. Your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your friends. Those who had good positive qualities became the angels. Come to protect you, and those who had negative energy, they became a bad spirit, or what you call a ghost, or whatever you call. Both are there. Those who had bad qualities are still there; they are not liberated from the ancestors' world. Those who have positive karma, good karmas, they become the angels, the citizens of heaven. Both come to you, but we don't want that one which will come as a ghost. But we don't want to neglect them; we should pray for them, and yes, our prayers will help them, and which prayer? Your mantra. So, mantra is a short sentence which can do immense work for you. You will be happy. You will have harmony. You will have clear thoughts, clear positive actions. It will purify your consciousness. All three levels of consciousness are unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. At present, maybe not you, but many of us have three obstacles in our consciousness. That's called māla, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa. Māla means the impurity, impure thought, impure actions, impure language, impure behavior, and so on. So when everything is polluted, then we can't see through. So that is a pollution. Our mental pollution has created the biggest obstacles for our development. When we remove this pollution, then comes the second obstacle. That's called vikṣepa. Vikṣepa means troubles. You are sitting peacefully, very happy, very relaxed, and suddenly you get a telephone call. Your car is stolen again. Or you get a call. Your wife is calling. "I lost your credit card somewhere five days ago." Oh, God, you were very peaceful sitting. So this is a vikṣepa: illness, family trouble, social trouble, the weather—many, many vikṣepa. So there are three major vikṣepa: ādhibhautik, ādhidaivik, and ādhyātmik. Ādhibhautik is the vikṣepa, the troubles, worldly troubles, material troubles. Ādhidaivik, the troubles, as the illnesses. Ādhibhautik, ādhyātmik is the troubles from different creatures, mosquitoes, for example, snakes, spiders, many, many. We are trouble for them, and they are trouble for us. So, there is also protection to become free from these three obstacles; that's called the three kinds of fire. All the sins of these three disturbances can be purified with one mantra. And that mantra is Holy Gurujī's, and he gave us also that mantra. This mantra: Dīpa nirañjana śabda bhañjana. Dīpa is the cosmic light, pure light. Nirañjana is pure, spotless. Dīpa Nirañjana. Sabhā duḥkha bhañjana. Sabhā means all. Duḥkha means all kinds of troubles, obstacles, and bhañjana means to remove. This mantra, if you repeat it, will remove all your troubles to such a level that you don't even know where it happens. And we need not see that God is working for us, or our luck is working for us, on a different level of consciousness or in a different part of the world. But it's directed to you, and you are protected. So, vikṣepa. Now, vikṣepa, I want to give you one more example. Let's say you are here near the ocean, near the coast, and you are going to search for pearls. But there are waves on the water, and you can't see these pearls because the restless or swimming pool has waves. You take one window glass, a window where the frame is higher, about 30 centimeters, and put it... The glass window on the water, the frame will work as a wave breaker, and you can see directly inside because on the bottom there are no waves. The waves are on the top. Similarly, for the restless mind, for the troublesome life and all these unpleasant things in our life, the mantra is that frame of the window which will keep all these troubles away from you. So, māla, vikṣepa. And third is called āvaraṇa. Āvaraṇa means a curtain, a thick curtain that we can't see through. And this curtain means ignorance. We don't know, and we don't believe others, what God should do with us. So, the practice of mantra will purify our consciousness, our intellect, and our heart, so that we can see through and through and understand the pain or suffering of other creatures. That will develop our spirituality, and our soul will come nearer and nearer, closer to God, so that one day this soul will dissolve in the cosmic light. That's called mokṣa, or liberation. Otherwise, this individual will suffer from the very beginning in this endless universe. The soul is fluttering on the waves of time through darkness and light, experiencing happiness and unhappiness. So mantra, mantra is the essence of prayer. Mantra is the quality of all qualities. Mantra is the soul in the body. A body without a soul will be declared a dead body. So the meditation without mantra is like a body without a soul. Practice. You will realize. If you don't have a mantra, create your own mantra. You have heard a lot about mantra. Create your own mantra. Some name of God or some beautiful sentence. Repeat one mantra if you don't know anything: "I love all." I love all. Drive your car. I love all. And you are passing through the green light. I love all. And suddenly someone comes and says, "Oh, God, stupid one." No, you don't love all. From where did the world come, stupid? So many things are hidden in us that we don't know. So create mercy, create love. The best way of love is like the love of parents for their children. Your mother and your father love you unconditionally. Or, when you see a small baby, it doesn't matter, animal, birds, or humans, you know, we love, oh, beautiful baby. It doesn't matter, a rabbit, or a deer, or a dog, or a cat, maybe. Immediately, in our heart, such a pure love awakes. Where was this love? In your heart. So, such a pure love: I love all, I love all. Or God, forgive me. God, forgive me. Just this one sentence does a lot of things. And sometimes in our life, we have such a misunderstanding that we are suffering. Just for a little misunderstanding. So I will give you one story more, and then I think I will finish. Yes, one young man and young woman decided to marry. They love each other, and they were unmarried, both of them. They never had any partner or person before. They came to know each other, and they were waiting for 15 years. Only they had a friendship like with the neighbor. And then one day they said, "We should marry," and they married, very happy. Both were so happy together, and they went for a honeymoon somewhere in New Zealand, on a small island. There was a very nice retreat center, like a kind of hotel with bungalows. So the young couple came to that hotel and stayed, and they said, "We are here for our honeymoon, and can we have a special breakfast tomorrow? And a special table arranged for us?" They said, "Yes, why not? Congratulations. Wish you all the best. It will be done tomorrow morning. In this corner will be your table, reserved for you." Now they both came for breakfast, and again her husband said, "Moment, moment, I will cut bread for you." And he cut the bread in slices, the last hard part from the beginning and the last side. How do you call this? First, he put it on his table, and the soft thing he put on her table. With a good heart, that good thing, soft, I give to my wife. And this heart, I will eat it. She was so offended. She was thinking inside, "For the last 15 years, I have known him. He's always selfish. And I hope that after marriage he will change. But even now, he didn't change. The best part, he took it and gave me this." And then, you know, when a wife is hurt inside or disappointed, then it is said love is lost. One poet said, "There is a bell made out of brass, and when the bell has a crack, then there is no more resonance." Like this, maybe this has a resonance. And this katorī ball, if it will have a crack and you touch, there is no resonance. If it is complete, so it is said, "This bale is broken where the resonance disappeared. Where the resonance disappeared. Milk is spoiled where butter disappears. When milk becomes sour and spoiled, we cannot churn the butter out of it. Where did the butter disappear? This flame is blown off. Now, where the flame disappeared in this room, we don't know. It is visible, it is very clear, it is there, and it's gone off. Where the flame disappeared. Milk is spoiled where the butter is gone. Where the flame is disappeared, similarly, when inside your mind your feeling is broken, where love disappeared, so love is such a tender. Don't let it go like this." One poet said, his name was Rahim, the poet: "The thread of love is so tender, gentle." Don't break it with a little misunderstanding. If that thread is broken, then you can't join again. If you try still to join it, there will be a knot between, and so is the love. You have to cultivate the love. That is the love called living love, day by day growing. And that is another love which, day by day, slowly, slowly, is going down like groundwater disappearing. Like killing throat slowly, slowly. Both sides are suffering. So the young couple had breakfast. The man asked his wife, the husband asked his wife, "No, darling, did you enjoy your breakfast?" "Yes." "You want something more?" "No." "Should we go for a walk?" "No." "Okay, let's go in the room." "Oh, I better sit here." "What do you wish for lunch?" "We will see." In the evening, they were in the room. She said, "Good night." Husband said, "Good night." She said, "Good night." Morning, they got up, and the husband said, "Good morning." She looked in the window. "Good morning." Day by day, the separation took place, the distance took place. Living together, but a very unpleasant situation. And they were not able to divorce because of the neighbors, and the society, and the parents, and the relatives. You know, before 100 years, there was no name for getting divorced. And if you divorce, it is very unpleasant. Everyone was pointing fingers at that family, you know. "The daughter is divorced." Others said, and I asked myself, "What will she do now?" Now, it's, you know, everything is different. Living together without having any communication. When they were outside in public, they were behaving a little bit like they were good partners. Fifty years passed, my dear. Peter, how many years? Fifty. And the husband said to his wife, "Darling, you know, today, in three days, we have our golden jubilee." She said, "I know very well." "I would like to invite you for a holiday or a weekend, as you like." He said, "Please come, okay?" In the same hotel in New Zealand, on the same island, they went, and surprisingly, they got the same room. And he asked again, "Tomorrow is our golden jubilee, please can we have a special breakfast and a special table?" And the waiter said, "Yes, sir, in this corner, this is the best place." And the husband said, "My God, this is how beautiful it was when we were married, with the sun umbrella and everything." They came to the breakfast. Husband was there, wife came later. And he stood up and took the chair a little far so that she could sit. And she was like this. And good man. He said, "Dear, you know today's 50 years?" She said, "Yes, I know." "And you know how our fifty years passed?" "Why do you ask me? You know very well," he said. "That's why I'm asking you. Is there anything that disturbs you?" She said, "Yes." "Please, tell me clearly." "You are selfish." "What? I give everything first to you." She said, "Still, I see you are selfish. What?" "You see, the best part of the bread, the crisp, you put on your table. And this soft one, just like a sponge, is put on my plate." She said, "That's all." She said, "What do you mean, 'That's all?'" So he took these plates. "Here you are, darling." He changed the plate. He took the soft one and this one, and he said, "You know what my problem was?" She said, "What?" "I was always thinking that one day she would offer me the soft part." "Is that true?" He said, "Yes." "Then let us celebrate honeymoon." And so it is, my dear, in our life, a little misunderstanding can make the whole life so unpleasant. So, the best is to get communication. Get the access to the heart like that rabbit with the bear. So, of course, no one who is sitting here has this problem. And if you have, then this is advice for you: surrender. How? This 'I' should become '—', horizontal. Okay? Vertical goes to the horizontal, and that is the way, heart to heart. So mantra, that power, that sentence will purify our heart, consciousness, intellect, and everything, and we will see within us the reality. One great saint, I think it was Guru Nānak Sāhib from the Sikh religion, Guru Nānak Sāhib, he said, "I went to search for some bad person, but I didn't find anyone. Then I searched my heart; no one was worse than me." So the mistakes are within us. And we can solve if someone is a guilty one, and not we, we can communicate and forgive. We should have understanding, the mercy for that. And that's what I call yoga in daily life. Not only doing āsanas and cobras and this. We don't need a cobra here. Cobras should live in the forest. So yoga in daily life means to lead your life according to these beautiful principles. Prayer, surrender, forgiveness, love, and so on. So, dear brothers and sisters, I wish you all the best. Happiness, good health, and harmony, and the Christmas. We are standing at the door of Christmas very soon, and that is one chance for you again, where you can clear up all the misunderstanding with your partner, or with your children, or with your... colleagues or with your friends, it is the day for forgiveness. It's a beautiful time. God bless you. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai.