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Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Today is a beautiful day, a beautiful constellation, that we are sitting all together here in this Bhakti Sāgara, which means the ocean of devotion. In our hearts is dwelling the divine consciousness. In our thoughts, imaginations, and in our intellects is the glimpse of different paths of yoga and the glory of God. Also, at the same time, I would like to welcome our dear brothers and sisters, practitioners of yoga and of life, the practitioners of different spiritual paths, and spiritual seekers around the whole world through this webcast. Especially today, the blessing is coming to you from this beautiful country, Australia. Śrī Devapurījī Āśram, Yoga and Daily Life, Dāṅgoṅg. Today, my spiritual thoughts the whole day were dwelling on all the bhaktas in South Africa. I send them blessings. Good morning to Europe and other parts of the world. Happy to be with you. Yes, in two days, everyone is going to celebrate a various species divine event, at least in that part of the world where the Christians are living and where the other religions, with tolerance, understanding, and respect, like Hinduism and Buddhism. We always participate in every religious festival. In India, we have holidays for Christian religions, for Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. We have the holidays also for Islam, Eid, and also we have for the Buddhists. From the different branches of Hinduism, like Sikhism, Jainism, we also have holidays for all the holy incarnations. In reality, there is only one God, and that God has no form and no name. We humans give the name and form. We humans have dualities and conflicts in our mind, not in spirituality and not in God. There is one God, and that belongs to everyone. Like when the moon is shining, it belongs to everyone. All humans, animals, flowers, the night butterflies, all. Everyone enjoys the moon. No one has a copyright on it. No one can say, "Don’t look to my moon." And no one can tell you, "Don’t look to the moon, this is some kind of sect." You can say it, but it has no meaning. One man came to Mahāprabhujī and said, "I don’t believe in God." And Mahāprabhujī said, "And what does God lose if you don’t believe in him?" If you believe or you don’t believe, for him it doesn’t matter. He loves you in both ways. And you know, there is one consciousness and intellect which humans have, human beliefs. Other creatures may not have that kind of belief. Dogs don’t believe, cats don’t believe, kangaroos don’t believe, koalas don’t believe, rabbits don’t believe, snakes don’t believe, tigers don’t believe, but humans believe. So if you don’t believe, then it is very clear where you belong. Good? Oh, time to time I go to the temple and fold my hands, but my wife is very religious. She does prayers and pūjās for me. So Mahāprabhujī said, "That’s very good, but for her." You think she’s eating and your stomach will be full? No. Therefore, God is one, omniscient, omnipresent, everywhere. But we, mortal beings on this planet, with limited experiences, limited knowledge, we fix our imagination, our image on a particular object where we can give our love, where we can pour our feelings, where we can sit in front of that picture or the symbol and empty our heart, what is hidden, dormant in the heart. An altar is that place where you can become free from all tensions and worries. And that’s why when you go to the ashram or to the temple, synagogue, or the church, whatever you call it. You feel peace, and you imagine something. Something is happening in your heart. Confidence awakens. And so, there are many people who don’t believe in the saguṇa form, the God in form. They do believe in God, but not as a person. That’s right. According to them, that’s right. The question in the Bhagavad Gītā, the twelfth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, Arjuna is asking God Kṛṣṇa, Lord, what is good, to worship a personal God or an impersonal God? Nirguṇa or saguṇa God, a God with a form or a God without form, and what’s better? God Kṛṣṇa answers, "Both are right. Both paths are right, but for a devotee..." For a bhakti practitioner, it becomes easier if one goes with some personal relation, some personal form, and that becomes bhakti yoga. It is beautifully explained, beautifully, and nice questions are given. God Krishna said, "Those bhaktas who do not have conflict with others, who are neither angry nor happy, neither for the name nor the fame," Good friends to all, O Arjuna, that is very dear to my heart. God said, "That is very dear to me." Such a bhakta in the name of God, we should never create duality in the name of God and religion. We should never create a conflict. There are two things very personal in our heart: first, that you have freedom to choose your partner, if you... Don’t love someone, but someone else is forcing you to marry and live with and love, it doesn’t function. It is very, very personal. Second, every human and everyone has a free choice to create a relation to God in the form and in the way which he or she would like. Who are we to tell someone, "Believe this and don’t believe that"? This is our belief, this is our religion, this is our culture. Who are we, you know? For the love, you cannot force. We have many political problems, we have many social problems, we have many family problems, many relation problems, many, many problems, and we are suppressed. But at least we should have... That one altar, one place where you are not forced to believe differently, where you can open your heart, love, and let it flow, your love. So that is a symbol why God incarnates as a person. Sometimes also incarnates half human and half animal. Because it has some cause, some meanings. God appears personally, incarnates because of us. We are limited ones. We have only narrow thinking. We cannot accept or realize him, and therefore he comes to us as we are. And therefore, in Hinduism, it is said, "Never be afraid of God." God is one of your best friends. Yes, there is someone who loves you, and that is your personal God called Iṣṭadevatā. Yes, there is someone who cares for you. Is that your personal God, your Iṣṭadevatā? If such feelings, neutral thinking, open thinking, and positive thinking appear in the heart, then there is no conflict in the world and there is no fighting, but always "I, I... my, my, my." And this "I" and "my," this is not good. But Swamī said we have to remove these two: "I" and "why." He said, as long as you have ego, you are alone. You know, when we write the alphabet, "I" is like this: ego. But he said, when this ego, the loneliness, alone, If surrender is from the vertical form to become horizontal, then it becomes a bridge, a connection between two. That is the way of communication, surrender. That is a bridge which brings us from here to there, that is joining from one heart to another heart. Definitely, human life is given to us to get that realization, ātmā jñāna. In people’s minds, it is always changing, like the weather is changing. Day before yesterday, this time, it was 15 degrees. And day before yesterday was daytime 47. Yesterday evening at this time was 17 degrees, and now it’s 28 degrees, changing now. These changes mean this balance, it’s very hard to find the balance. So some people begin with great love. Joy, yes, I want to meditate, I want to have a mantra, I want to get Self-realization, but you know, Self-realization is not this cherry here, you know. I got you the nice cherries, so I can give them to you, and you can have them. That’s not a cherry which you can just get. But there are some people who are very lazy. There was a man who went for a walk, and he saw a beautiful, nice cherry tree. And cherries were ripe and hanging, the hard cherries, you know. But he didn’t want to work to get the cherry. He just sat there, lay down, and was looking at the cherries. And the tree branch was hanging. Only he had to do like this, though he was lying. Do like this and have one cherry. He said, "No." If God wants to give me the cherry, then He will give it to me. So he was lying like this with his mouth open. And on the tree, there was sitting one crow. And of course, the crow dropped something, not a cherry, and that man said, "God, I don’t believe you that you gave me a cherry. This is a different test." So the next minute, a cherry fell down in his mouth, and that lazy man—that is a lazy man, okay—he said, "Why should..." I move my jaw to work to chew the cherry like this. There are people who don’t want to follow discipline, they don’t want to clean in their heart conflict, negative thinking, gossiping, bad talking about others, and that is what changes. In their life, up and down, up and down, they will never enjoy the cherry like I will enjoy now. Given to me, I move my hand, oh, tasty. It belongs to everyone, you will get. Okay, my European bhaktas will be angry that Swāmījī is talking about. Cherry, because they have winter minus yesterday. It was in Maribor and Vienna, 15 lots of now. Let me eat cherry. Don’t think Swāmījī is making jokes. Devpurījī said a sādhu, a swāmī, a yogī. A spiritual person should be like a child. Don’t be full of arrogance. Sit down and practice this and that, follow the discipline. Then you will realize. Practice every day. Bye bye, not like this. Speak from the heart what comes. So what happens when we are changing our feelings? And when the feeling is changed, then everything is changed. I have a very nice example for you. There was one poet, and he wrote a beautiful poem, a very beautiful poem. And you should know that this poem is just for you and for me. Some part of this poem is for me and also for you. Or it is a warning for us that it cannot be. So it means also for us all. A beautiful poem, very, very nice. One man, a priest or a paṇḍit, a mahārāj, was making prayer in the temple, ringing the bell. The bell, oh my God, this is a beautiful thing. The bell is around that, symbolizing the entire universe. And where the resonance concentrates on the nābhi, the navel of that bell. And that is the first awakening sound in the universe. And then it resonates. The little stone hanging in the veil between, which touches one corner to the other corner, That is our vṛttis, our thoughts, or our mantra. Every time when we practice mantra, "Om, Om," it’s ringing the veil. Beautiful. The veil is made out of brass, and he was ringing. And the bale fell down from his hand. What happened? The bale had one crack. Now, Pandit is moving his hand, but the bell has no resonance. No resonance. Why? Because there is a little solid crack in it. No joint, no union, no connection. That crack is conflict. Conflict between friends, conflict between partners, conflict between parents, conflict between colleagues, and so on, and so on. Though you don’t see that crack, there is a minor crack which doesn’t let resonance produce the resonance. We think, "Oh, doesn’t matter." The minor crack is more dangerous than complete broken. And therefore, one should be very careful that there should be no minor crack through the words and behaviors. It is said, if you are injured by a knife, the wound will heal, but if you are injured by the word in the heart, the... The wound will remain open and painful. Maybe after, you can say, "Sorry, sorry, I love you. You are my friend, you are my partner, you are my brother, sister, or colleague." But you said, "I’m not your friend," or, "I’m not your brother." Or I’m not your child, and so on. Bani aisi boliye, so the one poet, he said, a poem in poem, I have to tell you now, he said, "Bani aisi boliye," speak such a language, "man ka apa khoy," that one is lost in that sweetness of your language. Oran kushital kare, calms down all, gives peace to all. Oran kushital kare, āpu śital hoy, it makes you also happy and peaceful. Bani asi boli, man kā apak hoy, speak such a sweet language, I mean not a grammar, but kindness. When you see someone for just one second, you have an entire life relation on this planet and on other planets. One second, but it is within you. And sometimes you will dream of that person, and you think, "I don’t know who it was, but someone was there." Because it is an impression in your consciousness, even for a second, like a camera. You make a picture, and after, you say, "But I didn’t see behind; what was the background?" But the camera tells that that was your background. So speak that language which will free you from bad karma. And if you think bad about even your great enemy, I tell you that you are destroying yourself, and you are destroying your spirituality. And it will be very hard for you to digest. Very hard. Very, very hard. You can digest everything, but not when you speak negatively and criticize, hurt someone emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, physically, socially, and so on. That is very bad. Therefore, protect. Protection is in protection. And if you have such thoughts and feelings, don’t speak. Swallow down and go to the altar and say, "God, forgive me." Give me sadbuddhi, give me good thoughts. A prayer in the Indian schools, you know. O Lord, you are the giver of happiness, bless us with knowledge, and so on and so on, correct us, everything. So a minor crack is very dangerous; sometimes you don’t see it, but you don’t know when it will be completely broken. So the bell was broken and there was no sound. That resonance, then the priest went into the kitchen to warm the milk and make out of the milk yogurt and gain the butter or the cream from the milk. He begins to warm the milk. What happened? Milk spoiled, it became paneer. Milk spoiled, now he cannot win the butter or cream from that. You can have a paneer cheese. Priest was thinking this morning, "I think I saw the face of some negative person," or when I... Was coming here, black cat crossed my way. There must be something negative. Today is Friday and 13th. There are some people who believe like this. He went to the altar, and he put a lamp for prayer in mess box. There was only One mess stick, and nicely he saved and lighted the flame, bhatti, and he wanted to pray to God without bill, without ghee, and holding it in his hand to pray. And suddenly he begins to sneeze; the flame blown off again. He said that very definitely was... A bad day. He came home and his wife told him, "You know, it is very hard for me to understand you because one day you told me that you don’t love me, but the next minute you told me, ’Forgive me, I love you,’ and so on." But that same word, "I don’t love you," it has broken everything in me. I lost the love. So the poet said, "The brass bell is broken, where the resonance is gone; milk is spoiled, where the butter is gone, or the ghee; the flame is blown off, where the flame disappeared, I can’t see." Similarly, your heart is broken, where love is gone. And this love means not only love for your wife or your husband or your children, your grandma, or your cat or your dog or your mother. Many times a person says, "I love my dog more than my husband." And the husband is sitting there, and he said, "Yes, unfortunately." But he said, "Doesn’t matter, I love my dog also, so I’m not jealous." Here, love is something different: a confidence, a trust in all. That is spirituality. So when your doubt comes, sometimes negative waves of destiny or karma come, black clouds come, and someone puts a negative word in your ear, And you think your whole world is broken. That is a negative power, that is a black power. Therefore, the yogī listens from this side, takes from that side, out, and filters it. So, Mahāprabhujī said once, "Gurujī, you will not be angry, and you will not say, ’Oh my God, he is giving me thorns.’" You will see only this beautiful rose, the beautiful petals, and you will feel that, "Thank you, Swamijī, thank you for giving me such a nice flower." I appreciate it. Suppose I cut off the rose flower and put it in my pocket and give you only the stem with the thorns. What will you say? Swamiji, what happened? Flower broken, no? That’s it. So if you hate someone, you are that broken flower; it is gone, but you are that stem with the thorn. And that will go into your own hands. That’s it. So, yoga is not only these physical exercises. Yoga is not only that you sit down and meditate and repeat your mantra. You don’t care about others. Someone calls you and says, "One moment, please, I have my meditation." No. Be there for all. What you think is yours is not yours. And what you don’t think, or you think that is not yours, it is yours. How do you know that you can tell if it’s yours or not? Still, we don’t have that divine vision. So, this was the subject for today. That we shall keep our heart complete, and we shall tell the Lord, Gurudev, protect, please, that no negative waves, no negative thoughts, no negative feelings enter in my heart or in my thoughts. That is spirituality. Purity, crystal clear. That is spirituality. So, you are all here. I am very happy to see you. And all the ṛṣis and yogīs, they made tapasyā in the forest, endured all comfort and discomfort, went through all the three tapas, ādhibhautik, ādhidaivik, and ādhyātmik, but now we are here. We shall feel maybe we are those ṛṣis that time who didn’t complete their tapasyā, shall to come back. That’s it. And we should never think that people love me because I love them. Don’t think that if I am not here, people will have nothing. In the beginning, I told you the example quoted from the Bhagavad Gītā: Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna was a great hero, very well known, and I think he was a little bit proud of himself. "I am Arjuna," and everybody said, "Arjuna, please, can you send a message to Kṛṣṇa?" Can we talk to Kṛṣṇa? After, "Work this, do this," Arjuna became dominating, but he was a protector. In Dwarikā, India, the palace which came from the ocean is still there, where Kṛṣṇa lived with all his bhaktas. Kṛṣṇa went into samādhi; he went back into the universe. Arjuna remained alone, and they all decided to come back to Mathura, Gokul, and slowly, slowly, people made a distance from Arjuna. And he said, "What are you doing?" And they said, "This is not your problem, what?" He said, "Yes, on the way, what happened? The mountain tribes, they kidnapped." "Most powerful, mighty is the time, and wait, please. Time will bring and show you. Tulsī, Naraka, Kyā Baḍā? Same Baḍā Balavān." Look, what time came? The tribes took the gopīs away. The same Arjuna and the same Gāṇḍīva bow and arrow he had in his hand, but he couldn’t do anything. Powerless, what? Powerless, therefore sooner or later it will come that your power will be less. Now you are a great officer or a politician, but when you will complete your years, then you will retire. You have no power, so don’t think. Never think it’s me who helps bhakti to do yoga in their life work. It’s me who leads the class, otherwise Swāmījī would have to sit here the whole day. It’s me who can do the webcast work. Who are you to say to me? You may go, hurry home, and go home. It doesn’t depend on you or on me. And there’s a little story, a beautiful little story. One farmer, was it one farmer or two, Prakash? There was one farmer, no? Okay. There was one farmer, grandfather, grandmother, from both sides. So, how many are they? Four. Two of them, six. And three children, nine is fine. Two chickens, one goat, and one sheep, baby and sheep. All the luggage on one coach, like tribes or nomads or gypsies moving from here to there. And one dog and one horse. Now the horse is pulling the coach, and the dog was running behind. It was hot weather. Nine people were sitting on the coach, or in the coach: a cat, a dog, two chickens, a goat, a sheep, and a lot of luggage, and a horse, and the whole coach. And the dog is running behind, under the coach, in the shadow. After a few kilometers, the dog said, "No one has mercy on me." I simply can’t carry all of them. The dog is thinking, "I am carrying them." Even the horse, I am pushing him. All sitting on my back, and he’s walking under the coach. But it doesn’t matter, I love them. After one kilometer, he said, "I’m exhausted. I simply can’t." But I have to do. They have to go without me. Nobody will carry them. After half a kilometer further going, he said, "No, I can’t," and he stopped. And he sees the coach is moving further. He said, "What? Who is pulling that? Oh, I thought I am the one who’s pulling. What is going on?" So, who are we to say that we, who can organize and do this and that, "I will not come," or "I will not take part"? It is one supreme power in the universe, one God. He is doing for all of us, so we should be happy and thankful that God is always for us. And we should continue our spiritual sādhanā, our spiritual practice, our devotion, and our path. In this life, many bad things can happen, but the most terrible tragedy can happen to the human. That human will die without God’s realization. Sabī pada re jāyegā, everything will remain here. And along this, all will go. So all my, thy, why, all are here. We have to surrender and find our inner way. Decide your inner god, you will be happy, and say, "Lord, please remove my negative thoughts and my negative behavior." You know, sometimes you need not to say one word. Though you don’t say one word, but the other one knows that within you is a volcano. Anytime this volcano will break out, and therefore they look down and go away. So, inner feelings we can feel it. And when you found your path, then remain. Mahāprabhujī is that greatest one, Devapurījī, that divine one. If you feel love, then remain. But don’t dig the holes here and there and there, and you are nowhere. There is another point. If you practice one, you can get perfection in all. But if you try to do all at once, you will lose everything. The spiritual path is like you have to make a bundle of the watermelons. You have watermelons on one blanket, and now you try to tie them and carry. You can’t carry the watermelon like this; it will fall apart all. And when one goes out, all will fall down. Take it one, and you will be successful in taking it. When you run here, there, here, you will lose everything. And then, the other part of the poem, I don’t know exactly, but I know what it means. It said, if you put water on every leaf of the tree, the whole tree will not get water. But if you give water just in one place at the roots, the whole tree will get the water. So when you have one devotion, one path, one way, then you will become that, and you will get everything. So don’t lose the way. Find always surrender and say, "Lord, if then I am the guilty one, not others." So, welcome all of you, and wish you all the best. We will have prayer, and after prayer, we will have Mahāśivapurāṇa. Okay? Thank you, all bhaktas around the world. And don’t run too much for shopping. Your children don’t need your presents or toys. They need your love. And your children don’t need money. They need your wisdom. And your wife doesn’t need any presents. She needs your faithfulness, that you are honest and you are with her always. And your husband doesn’t need any smile and cake from you. But he needs gentleness from you, that on this Christmas you should surrender all under the Christmas tree and say to yourself, "I will never be hard with my husband, inwardly." Deep Nayan Bhagwān kī Devīśvar Mahādeva kī Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagwān kī Jaya.