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In the Śiva Purāṇa, the devas and asuras are real brothers. How can a brother turn against another brother? It is cruel. This is the nature of āsurī śakti. When it enters a person, you may look human, but your thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and actions become like those of an asura. Through thoughts, words, and intentions, you can destroy many. Therefore, it is said: never listen to anyone who tells you a negative thought. Tell them, "Sorry, stop, please." If you have nothing spiritual to say, then let's have a cup of tea and hurry home. There are many āsurī śaktis and devī śaktis at play. We have learned about both. There were battlefields where poor soldiers were wounded. After seven days, or several days of war, thousands of King Janaka's soldiers were killed. He saw this and wept. One day there was an attack, and again the next day. Finally, he saw enemies everywhere around him. He saw his soldiers: someone crying, arms chopped off, someone's leg gone, someone with a wounded stomach, someone's head injured, some dead, blood flowing. There is a war. May God protect us all from such a situation. When āsurī śakti awakens, even your own soldiers, your own children, stand on the battlefield and think of nothing but killing. Janaka felt very bad. He saw all his young soldiers as his own children, and he saw the enemy armies attacking. Life is dear to everyone. No one wishes to suffer. Janaka saw that no soldier remained; only he was left, and he escaped. He had many wounds on his body, was bleeding, hungry, thirsty, and tired, but he managed to escape into the forest and disappeared. For several days, he spent nights in trees because of wild animals, hiding behind trees during the daytime amidst snakes, tigers, and other dangerous animals and situations. Janaka thought to himself, "God, what have I done that I have to experience this? Why am I a king? Because of me, so many young children died. So many women, so many girls became widows. One day I was such a great king, and even now I am, but at this present time, I am just nothing." Wounded, hungry, thirsty, and tired, he walked with a stick, watching to ensure no enemy followed. He came far. Suddenly, he found a little house, a hut like our camp. He was hungry and saw some fire burning, with smoke. He thought, "Definitely, there are some humans here." So he went there. The lady of the house came out and saw him. He said, "Mother, I am very hungry and tired. Can you give me something to eat?" She said yes. She went into her house, brought some chapatis, and gave them to him. King Janaka had one saṅkalpa—a discipline or principle. Without washing yourself, without bathing, you will not eat, not even drink tea. First, brush your teeth in the morning, wash yourself, and then take something. Perform pūjā, light incense, and then drink and eat. What we do doesn't matter; first, let's come and go in. Like this, animals can also... A kangaroo gets up early and eats. Humans have some principles, some disciplines, and through that discipline, humans develop spirituality: early morning rising. But those who have more sin, more difficulties, tāmas guṇas, with āsurī śakti following, still sleep. My God, fear of God. The sun is already too hot, and you get up then. There is one bhajan: "Oh, my dear traveler, wake up, get up. Why? There is no more night; why are you sleeping? The dawn has risen. Prabhu, jagat hai aur tu sovat hai. Yeh kya reet preet karne ki? Prabhu jagat hai, tu sovat hai." What kind of love is it that the Lord is awakened and you are sleeping? Your lover is awakened, and you are still sleeping in ignorance. Try to get up early. Maybe in the afternoon you can have more rest, or something like that. Janaka asked the house lady, "Mother, is there somewhere a possibility to wash? I am tired and all." She said, "Yes. You see, about 200 meters away is a beautiful, clean, and nice lake. There are two lakes, one on this side and one on the other. This one down here is a lake where we all bathe and wash our laundry. So you can wash yourself." He took the chapatis in his hand and slowly walked towards the water. You see, destiny plays with you. About 40 meters before he could reach the water, a dog came—a big, very hungry dog. It attacked him to take the chapatis away. He tried to fight it off. He had a stick, but the dog jumped on him with both legs, pulled him down, took the chapatis away, and went off. The king thought, "There was a day when people were afraid of my name and of seeing me. And today, not only on the battlefield, but I am not even able to fight with a dog." He felt such pain in his heart. He was wounded, inwardly and outwardly, and he fell down on the ground and hit his head. While falling, he woke up. The dream was gone. This was a dream. And that is why it is said this world is a dream. You dream for a while and wake up in another phenomenon, in another part of the universe. So who knows if you are dreaming now or if it is reality, if you are really living or not? You will only realize this when you have Ātmā Jñāna. King Janaka was in his beautiful sleeping room, everything beautiful and comfortable. No dog, no wounds, nice fruits on the table, nice drinks, dry fruits, not hungry, not tired. But somehow he was confused. Am I dreaming, or am I normal? It took him a few hours to get up from his bed, and all the time he was thinking. Then he presented his problem: he wanted an answer. Was that a dream or real life? And am I dreaming now, or is now real life and that time I was dreaming? Many experts came to tell him, "Yes, the king is like this, and this is only this," and they spoke of subconscious, conscious, and nonsense. One master came. He was very simple, and physically he was very disabled. They didn't let him into the palace. They said, "Where are you going?" He said, "I'm going to give knowledge to King Janaka," and they all laughed. But somehow he found a way to go into the audience where the king was sitting, and all the many learned, so-called highly educated people with titles were sitting there. When his future master, whose name was Aṣṭāvakra, entered, everyone began to laugh. The king looked at him. They were laughing because he looked like a beggar, very disabled in body, small, with his back like this and his head like that. Aṣṭāvakra means eight kinds of defects in his body. How many defects do you have? Mentally, we have many. When Aṣṭāvakra saw that Janaka was also smiling and all the people were laughing, holding their stomachs, Aṣṭāvakra stood and laughed so quickly and loudly. The king said, "Why are you laughing?" Aṣṭāvakra said, "I am laughing at your stupidity." Look, who dares to say this to the king? One's head could be chopped off for saying such a thing, but only one who is more than given, a mukta, can see this. The king said, "What? You said I am stupid?" Everyone said, "What soldiers came to hold him?" He said, "The moment there is a spiritual energy, everywhere everything is sealed. Nothing can happen." The king said, "What do you mean?" Aṣṭāvakra said, "Janaka, why did you gather here all these Śūdras, Cāmārs—meaning those who take the skin out of dead animals?" What do you call it? Tanner. And great learned persons like Dayā and this and that, all with great titles: "I am a pandit," "I am a doctor," and I feel, doctor, and I don't know what everything is. He said, "Us, we are tanners." The king said, "What do you mean? They are all great Brahmins." He said, "No, no, no, king. Who is the tanner? He knows the quality of the skin. So they only see my body and my skin, how I look. They don't know my ātmā." Suddenly, something changed in the king's mind. Yes, it makes sense. Anyhow, the story goes further. Finally, King Janaka, after a long discussion—and that is called the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā, a beautiful book like the Bhagavad Gītā; there is not only one Bhagavad Gītā, there are many Gītās, and it is very good to read the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā; for those who have inside or outside defects, it is good treatment for them, mental or physical, emotional or any kind—Janaka accepted him as his master. He gave the answer to Janaka's question. Aṣṭāvakra said, "Janaka, how do you know that you were dreaming?" He said, "Not only do I know, I can paint it in pictures." At that time, videos and photography were not there. "I can describe each and every one of my soldier's faces and everything. What were you thinking when you were dreaming like this?" He said, "I was thinking of my kingdom, my people, my wife, children, my life, and the lives of other soldiers from other kings I saw. And what did you think and feel when you had to escape into the forest? To save my life, I was sad. I was crying for my kingdom. I was crying for my beautiful people. I was crying and very sad about my palace, my comfort, my wealth. I was very sad. That day, there was a day I could feed my whole kingdom. We have enough. But I myself went like a beggar. I didn't even have anything to eat. And not only that, I was not able to fight against a dog, and I fell down." "How do you know when you are dreaming that you are dreaming, and your kingdom and all that happened?" He said, "Sir, it was not like a dream. When I woke up, then I came to know that I was dreaming. And when I was there, I felt that I am king, and this and that." Aṣṭāvakra said, "King, everything is changeable in this world. Nothing is permanent. Situations change, thoughts change, feelings change, the climate changes. Bodies change, relations change. But one thing is not changing: that eternal, everlasting, immortal, and that is your ātmā. And your ātmā was the witness of everything. That time, it was your Ātmā who was the witness of your being in the dream, this life. And it was that Ātmā, and it is that Ātmā who tells about the dream. It is your Jīvātmā which feels pain, sorrow—your Jīva, individual soul. But Sat Chit Ānanda Svarūpa Ātmā." Then King Janaka realized—of course, it was not in one day—then he meditated, he got the realization, and all the Upadeśa. Upadeśa means the speech, preaching. Up means near, close, and for the disciples, upadeśa. Like the Upaniṣads: up means near, and ṣada means the disciples. So this Vākya was given by Aṣṭāvakra to King Janaka, and King Janaka got the title of Jīvanmukta. Therefore, he is called Janaka Videhī. He became a great master, the son of the great saint Vedavyāsa. Vyāsa was the one who dictated the Vedas. Before Vyāsa's time, the Vedas were only given from master to disciple verbally. Disciples had to learn by heart and keep all this knowledge their whole life and give it as it is further to the disciples. So that was like a spiritual heritage delivered from generation to generation. Janaka Videhī, before that, Vedavyāsa—Vyāsa was known as a Trikāladarśī, a saint who knew very clearly, like you see me now, the past, the present, and also the future, like you see me just now. He knew what would happen after ages and ages. Everything described in the Vedas, and in that time—the Kali Yuga, Satya Yuga, Dwāpar Yuga, Tretā Yuga—and in which Yuga, what will happen? In which Yugas, which Devas, which Aśvinī Śakti, which incarnations will come. Don't think that it is just a joke, but it needs tapasyā, it needs discipline. It's hard not to open, my dear. It's not everyone's job. It's not everyone's job that you can achieve this. You make a saṅkalpa, you choose the path, and you have to remain on that. Otherwise, many came and many went. It's like a flow in canalizations, but rare are those who can escape and come out. So Vyāsa came to know; he could see that in Kali Yuga, in coming ages, people will lose their discipline. People will lose their discipline, their character, their beliefs, their thoughts, and everything will change. Today they will say this, tomorrow they'll say that. At that time, it was said, "Even you have to give up your life, but don't give up your word." Raghukula reet sada chali aai, prāṇa jaya par bachana na jaya. Great Tulsidās is writing in the Rāmāyaṇa: "Raghu kula reet sada chali aai." This was a tradition of the Raghu dynasty, where God Rāma is born or incarnated. That dynasty is called the Raghu dynasty, Sūrya Vaṁśa, that was called the Sun dynasty. So Raghu Kula Reet Sadāchalī, that was a principle, a dharma of the Raghu dynasty. Prana jai par bachana na jai: Even I have to lose my life, but my decision, my word will not change. And that's why God Rāma became, as nowadays, Mārīyādā Puruṣottam Bhagavān Rām. Māryādā Puruṣottam Bhagavān Rām: God, who incarnates in human; Puruṣottam means the best in human, and Maryādā means following all the principles, rules, traditions, and everything. So Ved Vyāsa knew everything that would happen, and he dictated the Vedas. But it is said that Ved Vyāsa, when he was talking—if I am going to write—some said he did not know how to write. Many things are. There become many fairy tales, maybe. But every fairy tale has some sense in it. Because he was sitting in his divine consciousness and tracing out from the entire universe that wisdom and put it into one sentence. That's not an easy job. No? One in all and all in one. The entire wisdom of the universe is to be put in, and what name to give so that people don't have any fighting? Should we write this side or that side, or this title or that title? His excellency or her excellency, or her majesty or his majesty, or his crazy or that place? No. Only one: Veda. What? Veda. That's all. Veda means knowledge. That's all. What is Veda? Wisdom. Everything that you read, and in that Veda Vyāsa, he said, "What in the entire universe is existing, all is in this human body, and what is not in this Piṇḍ." Piṇḍ means the body. What is not in this body, nothing is there in the universe; all is here. He who searched, how high could that person be? How great he could be, so he saw that people will have so small memory. We are here sitting, perhaps some one of you have 10% memory, that's all. Some have 3%, and some may be 20%, maximum, and who have... More than 20% memory? We congratulate you today with nice chocolate. I can tell you immediately, make a test, immediately practical, and that is this: your memory testing now. Okay? Alert. I will not influence anyone. I will only show you. That's your memory. Now, from all of you who are sitting here, who knows, with the code numbers, 20 telephone numbers by heart? Thank you. Fail. Who knows 15 telephone numbers by heart? One. So you have 15%. It's a German brand, you know. It's made in Germany. Ten telephone numbers by heart? One, two, three, four, five. Very good. Five numbers by heart. So, thank you very much. I will not insult you by going down. So, it doesn't depend on me. So, what is your memory? Can you remember the entire Veda? You need that ojasakti. You need that soma to preserve in the body. That's for your memory. And pull out the stupid thoughts, certain bugs which are constantly in your brain, pull them out and clear up your jungle of your vṛttis. That's why Patañjali said very nicely in his Patañjali Yoga Sūtra: "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." If you are a yogī, then through the practicing of yoga, clear up this jungle of the vṛttis. "I am unhappy. I don't like this. I want that. I want my wife. I don't like this wife. I want my children. I don't want to stay with my husband. I want to get divorced. Oh God, my work, my house, my this." How many kleśas are going on in your brain? Forget your wife and husband, and how they will run behind you. That's it. You don't have the self-confidence to know what you need and what you don't need. But in our chittakas, in our chitta, it is a very dangerous jungle. Bushwalk is very dangerous. And to go through your thoughts, vṛtti is like we went yesterday through the bush walk, you know. There are so many leeches, you know, they were climbing up without your knowing, standing on the tail. This is your vṛtti, which makes you stand on the tail. You are ready to dance for anything, but not for that which you should have or should develop, realize in your human life. Human incarnation is not forever and ever. One day will come, you will say, "My Swāmījī was that time very strict, and this, but what he said, I didn't listen to him. I changed my mind always when he said something, but now he was right, but it's too late, my dear. Why are you worried now?" Birds have eaten all your crops when the crops were ripe for harvesting; you were sleeping. In the sleep of ignorance, in the sleep of desires. And when you will wake up, you are 90 years, 95 years, then Surdhājī said, even your wife will shout at you, "What are you doing here? Lie down in another room." Yes. Surdhājī has a very nice bhajan. Wonderful. Not even one cent will go with you, and at that time you will say, "Now I have no power in the body." Why? Because the birds have—birds of the māyā, birds of the thought, birds of the kleśa, and these and these have taken all away. It made you sucked out, no energy. That time you will remember, or maybe two minutes before your death. If not two, then one minute before death, I am sure that you will remember what I said to you, and that will be a plus point for you if you remember me at that time, so maybe you come somewhere, a little, what we call, a blind hen or a blind cock. Chicken sometimes find a car corn, too. Okay, therefore, oh traveler, get up. Now is no time for sleeping. You are sleeping in the ignorance. Everything's gone. So where to be? Actually, it begins to think now, who? Is it capable here in this time to write all that I am thinking? And he went to Ganesh—God Ganesha is still not born, no, in... I hope, where are you now? Not a Narayan, beautiful, but not. A Narayan, at the end, desire will awake the calm Shakti, calm Dave, and they will be, "Yes, yes, that is the calm, calm Dave with the beautiful flowers." Arrow, no? Yes, yes... Unfortunately, this is that you can see coming up again. You can fall down. I think that if you want, you should get original these DVDs, and we can ask Indian from India to bring it, no? The Rāmāyaṇa and these two are very, very important, okay? I will ask the Indian companies somewhere, and we can do it, okay? Where am I? Yes. So, Ved Vyāsa called Gaṇeśjī, went to Gaṇeśjī and asked for a blessing. Gaṇeśjī said, "Ved Vyāsa, Ṛṣi, you look a little worried. You are a great Ṛṣi." Like with nothing, no one is greater, higher, or wiser than you, and you look very serious. Like the poem, poetry of Tagore. Tagore was walking through the garden, and he saw a beautiful sunrise, a sunset, and his hands are over the back and walking and looking to the sunset, and you know, where the sunlight cannot reach, beyond that can go a point. That is a point. That is a wise one. Now, Tagore is thinking, feeling of the sun. The Sun is thinking that the whole world is illuminated by me. All have my light, and this. All enjoyed the light. My day is gone. My day is gone. I am going down. And the darkness will take over this world again. No one is there. No light will be there. Suddenly, in the Śiva temple, the bell was ringing for evening prayer. And Tagore's attention went towards the temple. And there was a Panditjī, in his hand was the ghilam and bell, and he was making āratī. Jai Śiv Śaṅkar Swāmī Paripūrṇa Dev. O Śiv Paripūrṇa Sab Jag Ke Prati Pālak. Sab Jag Ke Prati Pālak Ghaṭ Ghaṭ Me Rahe Hari Om Hara Hara... Now, he's thinking, you know, a wise person, a great poet, or someone who has a particular subject, always thinks of that subject. Poet, artist, he's thinking about his subject. Just one thought was, "The sun is worried now, who will take my place?" This side, that ghee lamp in the Shiva temple, is talking to the sun: "Dear sun. Hey, Surya Bhagavān, Surya Nārāyaṇa, I cannot be as you, but I will try to give the light to the people." Who said this? The flame. So if you cannot be that way, the Vyāsa, try to be an example of the wisdom, light. Otherwise, māyā will swallow you slowly, slowly, like this python caught a kangaroo baby. It took him a few hours, but finally, it was in his stomach. Yes, so finally, this māyā will swallow you down. You are a victim of that. Vedavyāsa told his... All thoughts about the future of mankind, and said, "I want to write this, but I have no one who can write." Lord Gaṇeśa said, "I will do." And Vedavyājī said, "You need a lot of ink, and you need a very good pencil, because you have to write." So Gaṇeśa said, "There is no other good than my own tooth." So he broke his own tooth to keep it, to make it a pen. That's why you see in the picture of Gaṇeśa, one tooth is broken, right? And they had an agreement together. Ved Vyāsa said, "Gaṇeśa, you will write?" He said, "Yes. What agreement do we have, what condition?" Gaṇeśa said, "I will not stop even one second writing. You have to speak Dharavāhī, continuously like a waterfall, no stopping. If you stop for one second, I will put my pen down and say, 'Hari Om, Ved Vyāsit, Bhagavān Gaṇeś Jī, no problem.' But I have my conditions too. Say what? I will not repeat even a single letter again. You have to write very perfectly according to what you call the grammar, poetry, śāstras, and wisdom." Say, okay, agree, both agree. And that's why the Sanskrit language is one of the perfect languages, and so at that time, the Vedas began to write many, many śāstras and purāṇas, and many have been written by Ved Vyāsa. That's why it's called Guru Pūrṇimā, dedicated to Ved Vyāsa. It's called Vyāsa Pūrṇimā, Guru Pūrṇimā, also in India called Vyāsa. And this seat where I am sitting is called Vyāsa Gaḍī. This is the seat of Vyāsa. Only that one can sit or should sit who has this knowledge and can preach. Others will be utilized, will burn, or will be finished like corn on a hot pot or hot stove. Will become corn, will become popcorn. So this Vyāsa Gadi is more respected, more adored than anything. Even a small, younger child is sitting and reading the Vedas. We have many Bali yogīs, small, they are only 10 years or 15 years. We have a 16-year-old Bali yogī, and he reads the Vedas and all the Upaniṣads and so on, and when he's coming to read this, there are hundreds of thousands of people coming. And many old sādhus and saints, but they have to sit down because that one is sitting on the Vyāsa Gadi. So respect and adoration is to this holy seat, like a pope's seat, no? That's it. So Vyāsa. Now Vyāsa had one son. What was his name? I forgot. Śukadeva. Yes. Śukadeva. Now, Śukadeva had a lot of problems. He had a lot of problems. And the story of Śukadeva, perhaps this evening I will tell you, long. But finally then, even though his father was so great—who? What was his name? Vyāsa—but he was not able to give that blessing and that wisdom to Śukadeva. So he advised Vyāsa to Śukadeva Muni. Then he got a name, Śukadeva Muni, a great learned, great wise one. "Go and seek a Satguru, Janaka Videhī." He became a disciple of Janaka Videhī. And Śukadeva was a very small, six- or seven-year-old boy. He went in search of a master and thirsted for wisdom. And Janagavideva was taking the examination very hard, very hard. You will say, "I don't want a Satguru. I go to the Bandai beach." Yes, if I tell you how long it took for Śukadeva just to come face to face with Janaka Videhi, every minute Janaka Videhi was getting information: "What is he doing now? Let him wait ten days on the door to enter in the house of Janaka Videhi." And what we do, even we don't know. We open and go in this, you know, it is a hard nut to open. But who did, who went through, they became today for us a subject of such a talk and such glories and examples for our life. So knowledge, like Janaka, Vidi, Śukadeva, Vyāsa, and many, many. Sanaka, Vyāsa, many, many others. The problem is that, but unfortunately, many of these śāstras are not correctly translated in your language that you can read. I think I will sit down one day and try to translate, no? That would be better than teaching to you. You don't follow the discipline. I tell you to go this side, and you go that side. Uparse bhare, nichese jhare, guru māraj kyā kare. On the top, Gurudev is filling; down you are dripping. What should Gurudev say? You are always empty. Okay, anyhow, beautiful day. Every day is a beautiful day, and I wish you all the best. This evening will be our last satsaṅg this year, this time in Dengong, and let's see when we can see you again. Monday evening we have satsaṅg in Anandalasram, Sydney, and then I will stretch my wings towards Fiji. Fiji means very easy, everything. People are busy, and they are mostly Indians, so it will be very hard. Indians are very good, but not so. When Indians say yes, it means it is still not yes. Okay? Sorry to say, Indians are sitting here, Deepak. All right, dear friends, brothers, sisters, bhaktas here and around the world, all the best, and God bless you. Nāhaṁ Kartā Prabhudeep Kartā Mahādeep Kartā Hi Ke Śānti Śānti... Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Devī Īśvara Mahādeva Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Sat Kiśan Ātana Dharmaka.