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Life is very precious. It is said that one Creator has brought forth 8.4 million different creations. They are divided into three categories: Jalchar, Thalchar, and Nabchar—the creatures that live in the water, on the earth, and in the sky. This individual self is floating on the waves of time, from space to space, through light and darkness, experiencing good and bad things. It is an endless journey until one comes back to the origin. Life here in this mortal world is just like a dream. The question is this: if we understand what life is, perhaps this is not life at all. You are dreaming. You are caught by the five elements and ensnared in this worldly environment, and we do not know when we will wake up from this dream. When you are dreaming, you have a beautiful world before you. You see everything, you feel, you enjoy, you eat. And when you wake up, within a second the dream world is gone. What is the reality? The dream world is not reality, nor is this world reality. Reality is your Self—the Self who saw the dream and, while dreaming, knew "I am dreaming." That same Self now knows "I was dreaming." Truth, reality, is the Ātmā. Jise śastra kate na agni jalāve, bujhāve na pānī, na mṛtyu mitāve. No weapon can kill that Ātmā. No fire can burn that Ātmā. Death cannot take away that Ātmā. That is the immortal one. The body is born and dies, not the Self. The Self is like the sky. You cannot cut the sky, you cannot burn the sky, you cannot destroy the sky; the sky will always remain the sky. That is the eternal, immortal, everlasting, indescribable Ātmā. Therefore, the great Śaṅkarācārya said: know thyself. It is the answer to all your questions and the solution to all your problems—know thyself. Who am I? I am not this body. I am not this mind. I am not this emotion. I am not this thought. I am the Ātmā. When we attain this knowledge, then we are liberated. So, Śaṅkarācārya said: Who am I? From where do I come? What is the purpose of my coming here? And where will I go? If this question is clear to you practically, then you are liberated. In human life, many things happen. Good and bad tragedies occur. But the most terrible tragedy that can or will happen is that a human will die without Ātmajñāna, Self-knowledge. You cannot gain Ātmajñāna through medicine. You cannot gain Ātmajñāna by practicing āsanas and prāṇāyāma. For this jñāna, you must follow certain principles and disciplines: Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, and Dhyāna. Finally, then comes Samādhi. But even Samādhi requires the Guru's grace, the Guru's kṛpā. Recording location: Croatia, Umag, Weekend seminar