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Spiritual guidance

Life is a river flowing between the banks of happiness and unhappiness. We all seek happiness but often lack spiritual guidance. A true master, or guru, leads from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. Material possessions cannot grant lasting happiness; only love, understanding, and respect can. Every creature represents God, and the highest principle is non-violence. Humans possess intellect and choice, distinguishing us, and we must use this to avoid causing pain. True happiness comes from love, respect, tolerance, and forgiveness for all life.

"Gu means darkness, and ru means light. He who leads us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge is the master."

"Ahiṃsā paramo dharma—the highest principle is non-violence. Respect God’s creation."

Filming location: Czech Republic

My dear brothers and sisters, good evening. I am very happy to be here with all of you. We can thank the Lord for blessing us with such divine moments in our lives. Human life is a very mysterious life. Our life is full of experiences, both good and bad, but still life goes on. It is like a river constantly flowing between two banks. One bank is the bank of happiness; the other is the bank of unhappiness. The main thing is that the river is flowing. My life has also had many experiences. Like you all, I grew up with a happy family life. At the age of eleven, I met my master, who is protecting and guiding my life still. From a very young age, as soon as I began to understand something, I was not happy in this world. I didn’t get what I wanted—not a material thing, but some higher sense of life, as our brother Bhante Vimala told us so precisely in poetic language. What I found is that we need guidance. We need spiritual guidance. You in the Western world may better understand this when you read the Testament. What is the Testament? It is a dialogue between the Master and the disciple. The disciple speaks to the Master, and the Master answers the question. Blessed are they who can find such a master. In modern civilization, we need a master for every profession. That master, in Sanskrit language, is called guru. You call him a master. It can be your driving master, a housemaster—domovnik—yes, I know. That is also called a master. So, this word guru means the master. Gu means darkness, and ru means light. The darkness means ignorance, and the light means knowledge. He who leads us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge is the master. For our normal material life, we need a teacher, a diploma, and practice; then you can work. For the highest thing, we need more guidance. That is why, in different parts of the world, and especially in the Western world, people are confused. They have forgotten to accept my life. My aim is the same as your aim: to be happy and to make others happy. If you cannot make others happy, you are not happy. How can we make them happy? By giving them something which will be permanent with them. Money cannot make you happy. Material things cannot make you happy. Some knowledge, sympathy, understanding, love—and not only to humans. I do not like to always say the names of religions, but let us say Hinduism. Hinduism is not a religion; it is an art of life, how to live life. Out of that, many religions came. There we said ātmā, so paramātmā. Every creature represents God. Ahiṃsā paramo dharma—the highest principle is non-violence. Respect God’s creation. He did not create something that we should destroy. According to Hinduism and the philosophy of karma and life, there are 8.4 million different creatures that were created. That makes one cycle, and among these 8.4 million, one is the human. The difference between human and animal is this: humans have intellect. We have choice; we have freedom. We know that someone is happy and someone is unhappy. A human knows that an animal needs love, too. The love of the mother is so tender and so strong. It is maternal love; it is so strong and so tender. For the sake of her child, she is ready to offer her life. Often you can see a lady carrying her child in her arms, and she falls down. She tries so hard to keep the child above her body and her body down. Even if she breaks her hand or shoulder, she protects that child. It could be an animal mother or a human mother. If you kill a creature, the biggest sin you are doing is causing pain to that mother. God kills them, loves them, and feeds them. Ahiṃsā. Everyone would like to be happy. Everyone feels pain. Everyone feels love. I come from a village where even a green tree is not allowed to be cut. If you cut a green tree, you will be punished. So much ahiṃsā is followed there, and respect for every religion. In India, every religion is at home. So love, respect, tolerance, and forgiveness—this makes our life happy. Now I am coming over my time. Thank you.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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