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After the disciple asks the question, the Master answers. The Master answers very clearly, but the question is whether the disciple understands clearly. Many times we do not understand, and that is a problem. Different people understand different things. All Indian texts, or indeed all holy books, are based on Śruti and Smṛti. Śruti is that which is heard, what is listened to. Smṛti means memory; it is that which we speak from memory, what we recall. There is a big gap between understanding something, then putting it into memory, and again remembering from memory and then speaking it again. In that process, it is lost. But there is the Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya. The authority of Smṛti and Śruti is according to the Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya. Brahmaniṣṭha means the knower of Brahman, the self-realized one, one without a second. They are Trikāla Darśī, the seer of all three times: past, present, and future. One who can see or knows the past, present, and future is called Trikāla Darśī. That Trikāla Darśī is a Brahmaniṣṭha, and one who can speak about this knowledge is known as a Śrotriya. Together, we call that a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya. What the Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya speaks, out of their direct experience or memory, must be the reality. The Ṛṣis were known as such great seers. They were hermits living in the forests, in huts, and were great seers. Śruti and Smṛti, coming from them, are authentic, and from these we get our scriptures. The authentic scriptures we receive are known as Smṛtis and Śrutis. Therefore, what the Master will answer is a perfect answer. But the question is whether the disciple understands, and therein lies the problem. So many things are lost before they come to the right place. A lot is lost without intention. Imagine there is one kilo of butter without any packaging; it is frozen butter. There are about twenty or thirty people standing in a line. The butter has to be brought to the kitchen, which is five hundred meters away. It is not very far, so they form a chain. You take the butter as it is and you pass it further. When the butter goes through the hands of thirty or forty people and finally comes to the kitchen, it is not exactly one kilo; it is only 995 grams. Five grams are lost. From the kitchen they ask, "Please, who ate the butter? Who took the butter away?" They were all angry. "We are so honest; we didn't take the butter away." But naturally, the butter remained on their hands. It is like this with spiritual teaching. What you listen from me, for example, and what you will understand, how you will register it in your memory, and then how you will express it again—there will be a lot lost. According to language, everyone can read the Upaniṣad perfectly. You will understand what a word or sentence means. Grammatically you may know very well, but to grasp the essence of it is not possible for all of us. Only a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya can tell. In their words there is authentic power. There is reality; so reality is different. Many people give some kind of talk about a country, but when a countryman is there, he says, "Well, actually, it's not like what you said; it's different." So now, the Ṛṣi is answering. He is answering perfectly, but whether the disciple is understanding or not, that's the question. To understand Ṛṣi Vākya, Guru Vākya, is many, many years of work. First, it is very important that your Antaḥkaraṇa should be purified. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar