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Oṁ Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidaṁ Pūrṇāt Pūrṇamudacyate. Pūrṇasya Pūrṇamādāya Pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. With this mantra, I greet you all. You know its meaning well. Pūrṇamadaḥ: that is full. It refers to what is far away, what we cannot see—the unlimited, Paramātmā, God. Pūrṇam idam: here, whatever we see in this world, this is also unlimited and complete. What does "unlimited" or "complete" mean? It means that if you take anything away, no matter how much you remove, the completeness remains. Imagine taking air from this room outside; it remains the same air. You take water from the ocean; no matter how much you take, the ocean does not become smaller. It is complete. The best part is that we are part of this completeness. We just sang, "Śiva, Śiva, Śambhu, Śaṅkara." Śiva, the merciful one who gives blessings. Śambhu and Śaṅkara—all three names denote our divine nature. This mantra is the Śānti mantra of the Vedas, sung before many Upaniṣads. It was described in Mahāprabhujī’s satsaṅg, in Holy Gurujī’s satsaṅg, and in Swāmījī’s satsaṅg. It is one of the most famous Advaita Vedānta mantras, showing that we are one. There is no need for fighting, no need for anything, because we are already one. Although we see ourselves as different, we are still one. There are ten or eleven main Upaniṣads. Among them, the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad is the first. It belongs to the Yajur Veda and is written inside the Veda itself, not as a separate text like other Upaniṣads. In times of change—when wars happen or people come and go—many things get lost. But we are lucky that the Vedas, the knowledge of the ancient ṛṣis and munis, was protected. The Vedas consist of the mantra part called Saṁhitā: the Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda. Each has Brāhmaṇas—extensions, like when we study something and, as we slowly forget, we get another book to help us. When the Vedas became too difficult and complicated, the teachers of old began with Brāhmaṇas, then Āraṇyakas, and finally Upaniṣads. The first three parts are called Karmakhaṇḍa—the duties, all the knowledge we need to survive on this planet, what we need to do to live, which is now taught in universities and schools. The Upaniṣad, however, tells us why we are here. Each of you has read an Upaniṣad. If not completely, at least in part, but most of you have read many. The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad has only 18 mantras. I will go through the first few because they are so powerful; so much knowledge is condensed within them. In India, there is a saying: "gagar me sāgar"—in one small pot, the whole ocean is contained. The first mantra says: "Oṁ īśā vāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ, yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat." It is a powerful mantra. Its sound is great, but its meaning is even more important. Mahatma Gandhi said that if all holy scriptures disappeared but this mantra remained, all our knowledge, ethics, and morality would return. The second line says, "Do not covet other people’s wealth." Do not wish for what others have. Do not be greedy. It is nice to say: "Renounce and enjoy." Do not ask for what other people have. Why? Because whatever is in the east, in this world, whatever we see or cannot see, is permeated, covered, and immersed in God—in the divine force, in nature. Call it what you like. If everything is full with God, it means we already have what we need. We have what is necessary for us. But, of course, the grass is greener in the neighbor's yard. The watermelon is bigger there; the fruits are better. The first line simply says: do not wish for what you do not have. Do not be greedy. This was said not in modern times but tens of thousands of years ago—not from modern science or psychology. It is truly ancient. When you realize its meaning, it contains the essence of proverbs and morality. Everything is covered by God; everything is one. From this oneness, you are also one. In this all-oneness, we are one part, so you have yourself. Why do you want something else? Be happy with what you have. "Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ" is to enjoy. How can you enjoy? If you are satisfied, you can enjoy. When children eat chocolates, they say someone else has more. They are eating chocolates but want more. Only the things change; our mind does not. We have grown up, but we are doing the same thing. We are just grown-up children. The second line says: "Kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchaṭaṁ samāḥ. Evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare." This is about karma yoga, about doing. It is often said in the Vedas that a person should live 100 years. What does "100 years" mean? Until the 1950s, if you were 50, people would say, "Oh my god, so old." In the Middle Ages, 32 was considered very old. "Hundred years" means one hundred percent—live your life fully and completely, according to Āyurveda. Just two thousand years ago, the normal human lifespan was 400 years. Can you imagine dropping from 400 to 30? Now we are somehow crossing 80 again, with lots of problems. Live one hundred percent, completely. What else does it say? "Kurvanneveha karmāṇi"—do your duty. Act. Do something your whole life. Make yourself useful. Fulfill your duty. Do, do... And then the second line says, "Okay, you don’t want to do it? No problem." It says even if you do nothing, you will still be completely enveloped in karma, in duty, in work. For example, you wake up and decide not to get out of bed. You decide to sleep, tossing and turning—this is also work. It is not productive, but it is still work. As long as we have a body, whatever we do is work. So, since we are always working anyway, let us do something useful. Karma yoga, the path of duty, is already present in the Yajur Veda from ancient times. People said, "Do something, make yourself useful. Do something, fulfill your life." How long should you fulfill it? Until you are alive. We are disciples of Viśva Gurujī. Viśva Gurujī stopped working a few months ago due to health issues—80 years of complete work. So, if you are a proper disciple, you know how long you must work to fulfill your life. Sannyāsīs, in any color—orange, yellow, or any other—are supposed to work until their last breath. "Work" means everything: normal duties, not just kitchen work or cleaning, but also japa, meditation, āsanas, prāṇāyāma—everything is work. Then it becomes even stricter. The third śloka says: "asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ. tāṁste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ." These are the places without sun, where there is darkness. People who kill themselves go there. This Upaniṣad is very strict. Unfortunately, what does it mean to kill oneself? Ātmahatyā. In Christianity, it is considered the highest sin; you go directly to hell. Ātmahatyā, the killing of oneself, unfortunately refers to when you do not realize yourself. It is not only physical suicide but living life in the opposite direction from what you are supposed to do—opposite your duties. We all know the thief goes to steal, the killer to kill, the hunter to hunt. They all know inside that what they are doing is not good. Everybody knows what is good and what is not. But because of our intellect, we interpret it differently. We all know what is good. When we go in the direction of light, in the direction of the sun, in the direction of our divine duty—which you need to know—then, as Viśva Gurujī shows us, it is sūryasya lokam? It is sūryasya lokam. We will go to that divine world, which Mahāprabhujī described so many times in bhajans as Sat Chit Ānanda. There is so much light—a light without sun, a light without anything. And the last one, the 18th mantra, says: "Oṁ agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān. yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te nama uktiṁ vidhema." "O God, O Sun, O Agni, the fire principle, what do we do?" We see the sun in the sky and say to it, "I am going from this place to another. Please take me on the best road, where I will have no problems, no thieves or murderers. Let me safely reach where I am supposed to be." So we say to God, "Please, whatever I do, safely take me to the place where I am supposed to be." And we offer our prayers to you. The sun is a representation of the ultimate principle, the ultimate God principle. We know the sun is not God, but if we removed the sun, we would have maybe 30 days to live at most. So I would say the sun is still a very powerful principle. The Vedas speak of principles: Agni, the principle of fire. There are so many beautiful things we can do, read, and learn. What I have told you comes from just the first three mantras of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, which are mantras of morality and ethics. The Vedas contain so many ethical principles. We have had these problems since long ago. After this discussion of unity, there is another part of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, perhaps for another time. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ.