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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 minutes 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 still protecting and guiding my life. From a very young age, as soon as I began to understand something, I was not happy in this world. I did not get what I wanted—not a material thing, but some higher sense of life, as our brother Bhante Vimala told us very precisely in poetic language. What I found is that we need guidance. We need spiritual guidance. You can better understand this here in the Western world when you read the Testament. What is the Testament? It is a dialogue between master and disciple. The disciple is speaking to the master, and the master is answering 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 Gurū. You call a master; it can be your driving master, housemaster, domovnik—yes, I know. That is also called a master. So this is the word Gurū, meaning the master. It means "gu" is the darkness, and "ru" is the 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. When we need, for normal material life, a teacher, a diploma, and practice before we can work, then 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 that 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. And 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 to Paramātmā: every creature represents God. Ahiṃsā paramo dharma: the highest principle is non-violence, respect for God's creation. He did not create something which 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 8.4 million, one is the human. The difference between human and animal is this: humans have intellect. We have the choice, we have freedom. We know that someone is happy and someone is unhappy. A human knows that an animal needs love too. A person realizes, or should know, that an animal needs love too. The love of the mother is so tender and strong. Maternal love is so strong and so tender. For the sake of her child, she is ready to offer her life. She is capable of sacrificing her own life for the child. 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 you cause pain to that mother. God kills them. Love them and feed 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. Recording location: Czech Republic, Usti nad Labem, International interreligious dialog