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Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Daṇḍavat praṇāms to our Paramparā, Śailā Pūrījī Siddhāpīṭha Paramparā. My daṇḍavat praṇāms to our beloved Gurudeva, His Holiness, Viśwa Gurumā, Māheśvara Māheśvarānanda Purījī. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone watching across the world. Let us speak a little about surrendering and why it is important to surrender to the Guru, and to let go of the unnecessary baggage we carry in life—the ego, the "I"-ness, the ahaṅkāra. These are our enemies, for they pull us down rapidly. It is like climbing stairs or a mountain. You are almost at the top, but then your ego declares, "Oh, I am on the top! Great, I achieved what I wanted." As soon as that ego arises, you go spiraling down. Therefore, it does not matter how high you reach, what you achieve, or how important you become in a company or in life; you must always remember your roots and where you started. Remembering your origin and your journey makes life more fruitful and successful than merely living onward, for you recall, "I was nothing, I worked for it, I made efforts, and now I am who I am." It is good to have wishes, but whether they are fulfilled is not in our hands; it is in our destiny. The only one who can alter or change our destiny in any way is Śrī Satguru Dev. We experience the karma from all we have done in this life and past lives. If we did good, we get good; if we did bad, we experience bad. That is all destiny, but the intensity of it is in His hands. For example, if your destiny states you will have an accident today, the intensity can be lowered through true Guru Bhakti. With faith in your Gurū Dev, the intensity lessens, and you may only get a thorn in your foot. What is written will happen; it will not be completely removed, but the Guru can help lower it as much as possible. That is the Guru's purpose: to guide and help us through all difficulties. The Guru is like a tree giving us shade. Consider the sandalwood tree. It smells beautiful, its wood is great, and around it are many snakes. Yet the sandalwood tree does not take poison from the snakes; it always gives shelter to animals. Surrendering at the lotus feet of Gurudev is essential because we all have expectations. Wishes are fulfilled when we go to God or the Guru with niṣvārta bhāva—without any svārta, without any expectations. I know it is hard not to have expectations, but if you want success and things to come into your life, go to Gurudev without any expectations. Simply bow down and say, "Gurudev, I am yours and you are mine, and I know everything will be okay for me." In India, children go to temples before exams and say, "Oh God, I have my exams coming." They may not have studied all week or month; they read whatever they could the night before. Two hours before the exam, they go to the temple and say, "God, please let me pass, and I will offer you one liter of milk, a coconut, or a certain amount of money." That is svārta. But if you surrender and come to Gurujī not for such reasons—not because people with government jobs want transfers or promotions through connections—but simply saying, "Swāmījī, I have no wishes. I just came for your darśan," then he blesses you. That blessing, that Śakti which flows through him to you without any reason, is more than enough. To be honest, in the beginning, I also had stage fear, wondering how I would manage speaking before people or what I would say. No matter how much I prepare, when I come here, my mind goes completely blank. Then I just close my eyes and think, "Swāmījī, you speak through me." I say whatever comes out; they are not my words. I do not know what is coming out, so that is the easiest way. Last night I prepared a few stories, and now I cannot remember even one. So whatever comes, I surrender: "Gurudev, you speak. You come through me and speak." We all tend to go into the past and think, "What did I do? Was it right? Was it wrong? Could I have done it better?" We think a lot about the past. But can you change what happened? Except for giving yourself stress and white hair—I know from experience, as stress gives me white hair—you achieve nothing. Thinking about the past changes nothing. What happened, happened. Let it go. The same applies to the future. Do you know what will happen? Only Gurudev knows; it is in His hands. Let Him deal with it. The only future goal we should have is Guru Bhakti, Guru Seva, His blessings, and the ultimate goal of becoming one with Him. What will happen when I go back home? What is happening in India right now? I am here with you all, enjoying this time. We are having satsaṅg and bhajans. I am in the present now. What is happening in Jordan is happening in Jordan. What is happening here is happening here. So let us try to be in the present and leave everything else, just as we do in anuṣṭhāna—completely leaving everything to concentrate on the mantra. In the same way, now we are here; let us concentrate on this. What is happening outside, at home, in the family... what is going to happen will happen. You cannot change it. There was once a guru and a disciple. The disciple was always full of himself, thinking, "Yes, I am the greatest, I know everything." That slight part of ego exists within all of us, and we always try to get rid of it. The guru gave the disciple a banana and told him to hold it as hard and tight as possible, gripping it in the middle. Gurujī told the disciple, "Now open it and eat it, but without letting go of your grip." The disciple tried his best. He could manage to open the top part, but Gurujī said, "Do not leave the grip. Open and eat it without letting go." There is a beautiful saying in Sanskrit: "Guru Ājñā Avijñāraṇī." It means, no matter what Gurujī says, our minds will always think, "Okay, Swāmījī told me to do this. Why is he telling me? I do not want to do this." No. Guru Ājñā Avijñāraṇī. What Gurujī says does not matter. It does not matter what you think, whether it is right or wrong. Just do it. He has a certain reason, a certain motive behind it. The Guru will never want any harm for his disciples. Even if he says, "Jump off the cliff," in your head you should know that he will be down to catch you. So have trust in him, let go, and move ahead. Continuing with the banana, the disciple said, "Gurujī, I cannot." Gurujī said, "No, no, try, try," and the banana completely squished in his hand. Then Gurujī asked, "What did you learn from this?" The disciple said, "To let go and then enjoy the sweetness." In the same way, we must let go of our self, our ego, everything inside us. Only then can you open the banana, enjoy its sweetness, and eat it properly without squishing it. Then we can enjoy the sweetness inside. That is why there is a beautiful bhajan telling us to wake up: Guru samajhāve re tacheta avajīva gyānī avasara jāve re Guru samajhāve re tacheta avajīva gyānī avasara jāve re What comes in this life must go. That is the rule, the cosmic rule. What comes, goes. In ten minutes, God knows where I will be. So what comes, goes. The same applies to happiness and sadness. When sadness comes due to any cause, you should also think: if sadness comes, it will also go. What comes, goes. The same with happiness. When happiness comes, do not get overjoyed, for it too shall pass. Nothing is permanent in this life, not even us. We were born with nothing, and we will leave with nothing. You cannot take a single penny with you. Therefore, it is best not to get overexcited when something happens. For instance, when I found out I was supposed to come to Europe this time, in earlier years I would have been excited. Now I am here, in the present, happy to be with you all. But when I found out, I was not overjoyed, for anything can change at any time. And during sad, rough, tough times, just think, "Guru Dev, I know you are with me, protecting me, guiding me. I know everything will be okay. This time shall also pass, and good, happy times will come again." As the bhajan says, it does not matter how much money, wealth, or how big a mansion you have; everything will stay here. Gurujī teaches us, our Master tells us: at your last time—anta means last, samay means time—at your last time, the jīvā, the ātmā, will go alone. Nothing goes with you. That is what the Guru explains. So it does not matter what you achieve in life. Be in the present moment and be happy for what you have right now. Be happy. We often see another person's garden as greener. A person walking sees a cyclist and thinks, "Oh, I wish I had that cycle." Then from cycle to motorcycle, motorcycle to car, car to helicopter, plane—wherever you want to go. But the person walking should realize there are people who are unfortunate, who may not have legs. He should be happy and blessed that he has legs to walk. We should be satisfied and content with whatever we have; that should be more than enough. The tendency of a human being is to always want more, more, more. It will never be enough. We never say, "Okay, I am done, it is enough." We always want more. We get one chocolate and want more. I want this one, I want that one. I do not like dark, I like milk, I like white—it is an endless game. But once you realize, "I am happy and okay with whatever I have," then you will be truly happy. It may be age, growing up, hormones, or whatever you call it, but before, I always wanted more sweets, more technology, nice clothes. Now I am in a state of mind where I am okay with whatever. It does not matter if my clothes are torn, fresh, or new. It does not matter if I am sweating because it is hot. I am okay with whatever. Perhaps I sound like an old person, but I have experienced this in the last one or two years of my life: just be okay, be in the present, and be happy with absolutely everything. You are just happy; do not bother thinking about what will happen to you or how your day will go. It does not matter. What is going to happen will happen. You cannot change it. Just let it be and be now. Let us try to enjoy every single moment as much as possible. Thank you very much.