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It is said the Vedas were spoken directly by Brahmā, the creator. The Vedas themselves do not indicate any particular god; they speak of one universal God. Throughout time, there have been many holy incarnations and persons. The Vedas speak more about the universe: how it is created, about solar systems, planets, stars, and the elements—the tattvas. They speak of the nature and harmony within nature, guiding one to lead a life in harmony with it. The Vedas are a pure science, a divine science, for they are the words of God. Originally, there was one Veda, which the great sage Veda Vyāsa modified and divided into four. The Vedas contain thousands upon thousands of mantras. They are not easy to understand, which is why there are not many translations. To understand the Vedas, one must sit down, read a mantra, and then contemplate to gain its knowledge. Merely reading does not impart full knowledge; one must explore the knowledge contained within a single word. A single word could have thousands of meanings—whether an interpretation is right or wrong can only be determined by your vivekā, your discernment. The problem is that you may think something is right, only to come to a different opinion after a few days, and that too may not be right. To read the Vedas or understand this wisdom, we must go to a particular place. There has always been a sacred place for study. Literally, when you study, you need a study room or a corner where you can do your homework, where you can sit and study without disturbances. You need a pure, harmonious environment. With this kind of thinking, the hermitage system began: the āśramas. When you practice your sādhanā here in the āśrama, it has a greater effect than practicing at home. But the problem is we do not all live in Sṛṣṭi (the creation/hermitage). We live in different places, which was the case in India as well. What they did was go to the ashram three times a day, every three hours, for satsaṅg. In the satsaṅg, there might be just one sentence. Like the sentence from Śiva Saṁhitā I mentioned yesterday: Nityam jñānam—the wisdom, the knowledge is everlasting. That is enough. The satsaṅg is finished. Now you must explore this knowledge. You must occupy yourself, not only by thinking and sitting, for that will make you one-sided or introverted, which is also not good. You must be active or creative. For that, it was always mentioned: Seva. It is called Kar Seva. Karseva means work with the hands. You do the seva, and we place this karseva as karma yoga. So now you are active, engaged with materials and things, but at the same time you are contemplating: "The knowledge is everlasting." Which knowledge? For one hour, two hours, while you are working and doing Seva, this is your two-hour satsaṅg. It is not that you can realize this truth—that knowledge is everlasting—or even understand its meaning in a few days. Through karma yoga, bhakti awakens within you. The more bhakti you have, the more receptive you become. And within that bhakti, some doubts may appear, making you unhappy, and then that satsaṅg, that word, that knowledge seems to disappear. So where is the knowledge now? This means the knowledge you had was not the knowledge that was meant to be. Your knowledge was only surface knowledge. Something happened, and vikṣepa—disturbances—remained in your consciousness. It means you still have not fulfilled or realized the one word. For that purpose, the work you do at home is also karma yoga. But what you work for at home becomes more or less selfish. And we should work at home too. Though it is selfish, it supports your life and your family; that has to be done. Working for the family, for yourself, at your house or office, is a duty, an obligation, a karmic duty. You have karmic duties towards your children, your partner, and your parents. This becomes your dharma. If you do not fulfill your dharma, that is also not good. The tree of your dharma should always be blossoming; it must be evergreen. So that is what you are doing: your dharma, your karmic duty, your karmic responsibility. What you do extra—the Seva—that will be counted as spiritual development. With this kind of thinking, throughout the whole world, there are non-profit organizations. What do we understand by profit? There is no individual profit; it is for the general good—humanitarian organizations, or those for wildlife protection, or ecological protection. You are not protecting only your apple tree, but the entire nature. That is general seva. When we do this kind of seva, your spirituality grows rapidly. Then you can see if there is ego or not. For example, you come here and we tell you, "Go and collect the apples." You might say, "Well, I am a lawyer," or, "I am a judge. I came to practice yoga, and someone sent me to collect apples." Here, you are neither a judge nor a lawyer, neither a doctor nor a farmer. You are here as a human being, and you are doing Seva. Now, who says, "I am a doctor" or "I am this or that"? It is the ego. The first duty is to remove this kind of ego through doing seva. You are lucky to have such a beautiful āśram, that you come from time to time, on weekends or for satsaṅg. You have the golden opportunity to do some seva. Seva will develop your knowledge. Nityam jñānam: the knowledge is everlasting. You have to work to realize this knowledge, not only by sitting and meditating and saying "knowledge is everlasting." If you only do that, you will lose much knowledge. Your talent will slowly, slowly get lost. So we should work. God gave us a body to work, a mind to think, and an intellect to decide. That is why the human being is special. There is cooperative work, coordination between body, mind, consciousness, and intellect. A human can have this under control. There is a story from the Vedas. A great ṛṣi became old, 100 years old. Then he came to know what the Veda is, and he wanted to study it. He realized, "The body is old. I will die, and what a pity that I will die without learning the Vedas." So he prayed to God to prolong his life. God sent a messenger. The ṛṣi wished, "I want to have 500 years of life to study the Vedas." He was granted 500 years. After 500 years, he realized he still had not learned everything, and life was going away. Again he prayed and asked for 500 years. A thousand years passed, and he realized there were still many things to learn. Again he prayed, and again 500 years were given. Day and night he sat and read. His body was very old, but his willpower was strong. When 1,500 years passed, he became nervous again. "It will be a great pity if I die." So again, he asked for five hundred years, and he got it. Two thousand years passed. He was sitting in a snow cave. It was very cold, and he tried to learn the Vedas as life passed. Again he prayed, "Lord, be kind. Be merciful, don’t let me die. I want to study the Veda." So God sent him a messenger with a lesson. The messenger came and said, "Come with me." They went onto a rock. They saw the great Himalaya, very long, from one horizon to the other—thousands of kilometers. The messenger raised his hand, and a strong wind blew, collecting some sand and earth upon it. He asked, "Do you know what this is?" The ṛṣi said, "No." The messenger said, "This is sand, dust from the Himalayas." He continued, "In these two thousand years, what you have learned is only this much. And this is the whole Himalaya. Now, how much life, how long a life do you wish?" So the knowledge, the wisdom, you cannot measure. That kind of knowledge is everlasting knowledge.