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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 declare there is only one universal God. Throughout time, there have been many holy incarnations and holy persons. The Vedas speak extensively about the universe: its creation, the solar systems, the planets and stars, as well as the fundamental elements, the Tattvas. They speak of nature and harmony within it, instructing how to lead a life in harmony with nature. Because they are the words of God, the Vedas are a pure science—a holy or divine science. Originally, there was one Veda. The great sage Veda Vyāsa modified and divided it into four. The Vedas contain thousands upon thousands of mantras, which are not easy to understand. This 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. Mere reading does not impart full understanding; one must explore the knowledge contained within a single word. A single word could have thousands of meanings. Whether one's understanding is right or wrong can only be answered by one's own viveka, or discriminative intellect. The problem is that sometimes you think something is right, but after a few days you arrive at a different opinion, and that earlier understanding then proves not to be right. To read the Vedas or to understand wisdom, one 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 work and sit without disturbances. You need a pure, harmonious environment. With this kind of thinking, the hermitage system began—the āshrams. When you practice your sādhanā here in the āshram, it has more effect than if you practice at home. But the problem is we do not all live in such hermitages. We live in different places, and this was true in India as well. What they did was go to the āshram three times a day for satsaṅg. In the satsaṅg, there might be just one sentence. Like the sentence from the Śiva Saṁhitā, as mentioned yesterday: Nityaṁ jñānaṁ—the wisdom, the knowledge is everlasting. That's enough. The satsaṅg is finished. Now you have to explore this knowledge. You must occupy yourself, not only by thinking and sitting. That will make you one-sided or introverted, which is also not good. So now you have to be active or creative. For that, Seva was always mentioned. 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 thinking, "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 knowledge—that it is everlasting—or even understand its full meaning in a few days. Through karma yoga, bhakti awakens within you. The more bhakti you have, the more receptive you become. Yet, within that bhakti, some doubts may appear, making you unhappy. Then again, that satsaṅg disappears, that word disappears, the knowledge fades. So where is the knowledge now? The knowledge you had till now was not the knowledge that was meant to be. Your knowledge was only surface knowledge. Something happened, and vikṣepa—disturbances—remain in your consciousness. This means you still have not fulfilled or realized the one word. For that, the work you do at home is also karma yoga. But what you work on at home becomes more or less selfish. 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; the tree of dharma must be evergreen. So that is what you are doing: your dharma, your karmic duty, your karmic responsibility. What you do for Śiva, however, is extra. 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 "non-profit"? There is no individual profit; it is for the general good—what you call a humanitarian organization, or an organization for wildlife protection or ecological protection. You are not protecting only your apple tree, but the entirety of nature. That is general seva. When we do this kind of seva, your spirituality grows rapidly. Then you can see if there is an 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 sends 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"? The ego. The first duty is to remove this kind of ego through doing seva. So you are lucky that you have such a beautiful āshram, that you come from time to time on weekends or for satsaṅg, and you have the golden opportunity to do some seva. Seva will develop your knowledge. So, nityaṁ jñānaṁ: the knowledge is everlasting. You have to work to realize this knowledge, not only by sitting and meditating and saying, "Knowledge is everlasting." Otherwise, you will lose much knowledge. 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. Because there is cooperative work, coordination between body, mind, consciousness, and intellect. A human can have this under control. In the Vedas, there is a story of a great ṛṣi who became old, 100 years old. Then he came to know what the Veda is, and he wanted to study it. He realized his body was old, he would die, and what a pity it would be to die without learning the Vedas. So he prayed to God to prolong his life. He asked God to send a messenger. He thought, "I want to have 500 more years of life, for what? I want to study the Vedas." Okay, 500 years were granted. After 500 years, he realized he still had not learned all, and life was going away. Again he prayed, and again he asked for 500 years. A thousand years passed, and he realized that still there were many things he should learn. Again he prayed, and again 500 years were given. Day and night he sat and read; his body was very old, truly, but his willpower was strong. When 1500 years passed, again he became nervous; it would be a great pity if he died. So again he asked for five hundred years, and he got it. Two thousand years passed. He was sitting in a snow cave, very cold, trying to learn the Vedas. Life was passing. Again he prayed, "Lord, be kind, be merciful, do not let me die. I want to study the Veda." So God sent him a message: "Go and give him a lesson." God's messenger came and said, "Come with me." They went onto a rock; they saw the big Himalayas, very long, from one horizon to the other, thousands of kilometers. The messenger raised his hand like this. A strong wind came, and some sand with the wind, earth was collected on his hand. He said, "Do you know what this is?" The ṛṣi said, "No." The messenger said, "Yes, this is sand, dust from the Himalayas." He continued, "In these two thousand years, what you have learned is only this much, and that is the whole Himalaya. Now, how much more long life do you wish?" So the knowledge, the wisdom, you cannot measure. That kind of knowledge is everlasting knowledge. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Weekend seminar