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Why must we suffer? How long must this continue? Can we overcome this terrible suffering? Can we remove or avoid it? We cannot remove it, and we cannot avoid it, because it is your karma or destiny. However, as a human endowed with intellect, qualities, and will, one can change one's present way of thinking and actions. By following the advice of the wise, we become protected by other powers. That other power is a protective power—what we call the life jacket, a bulletproof life jacket. Thus, within the karma, it may be destined that someone will shoot you, but luckily someone gave you a life jacket, so the bullet cannot penetrate. Between us and our destiny, we must bring such a protective life jacket. That is your mantra, your prayers, your devotion, following the Guru Vākya and the counsel of the wise. Then we can change. If you do not follow, we cannot change. This is very important. There was once a king who had children. One evening, as he sat in his room, he suddenly saw an astral form approaching—a subtle body. He was surprised. A woman was coming, like a reflection. Women have many reflections, but they are not visible; sometimes you can feel them. He said, "Hello! Who are you? Where are you going so silently in my house?" She replied, "I am destiny. Where are you going? I am going into your house. Your wife is giving birth to twins, and I am destiny; I am going to write their destiny." The king said, "Please tell me when you return, and I request you: can you write a good destiny for them?" She answered, "I am sorry, sir. Even God cannot order me to write, and if I wrote by myself, that would be wrong. I have only the power to hold the pen in my hand. It is the destiny of those young children that will move my pencil. Sometimes, when good writers finish an article or book, it is said in India, 'It was not I who wrote this; I was only the medium. Another power moved my pencil to write this.' Whatever we do is not in our hands. We are only the tool, and other forces are working through us." The king then said, "At least tell me what you wrote." She replied, "Yes, sir, I will do that." After half an hour, she returned, and the king inquired. She said, "Yes, sir, the destiny of both your children contains many things. First, they will have a very bad and difficult childhood; they will lose their parents very soon. Second, one will become a hunter; he will be so poor he will not know how to survive, so he will kill animals as a sinner and live from this. The second will also be very poor. He will carry burning wood on the back of a donkey and sell it in the village to survive. After some time, they will regain the kingdom. That is all; these are the main points." Then she departed. Within half a year, another king attacked, and both the king and queen were killed. A poor farmer's wife rushed to the palace, took the six-month-old children, and hid them in her house. They grew up but were not good—very naughty. One became a sinner, a hunter who killed, and the other worked very hard. One day, a sādhu came; he was the guru of that king. He asked, "What happened to that king?" People told him the story. "But he had two sons, twins," they said. The villagers exclaimed, "Oh my God, please do not speak of those children. The king was like a saint, but the children are criminals." The sādhu said, "But I wish to see them." They replied, "They have no interest in sādhus. They do not go to the temple or satsaṅg. They do only bad things, and in the villages, no one likes to speak with them." He insisted, "It does not matter. I want to speak with them. Where are they?" They said, "One is a beggar, killing poor animals. The other is a worker with his donkey." The sādhu called for them. Both came to the sādhu, surprised. "Why did the sādhu call us? What does he want from us?" The sādhu spoke to them: "You know, you are the sons of the king. This is your kingdom, and you should both become kings." They said, "This is a fairy tale. A kingdom for us? We do not even have food for the evening. We do not know what we will eat tonight." The sādhu said, "Follow me. Do as I tell you, and you will get everything back." They replied, "But we are not going to meditate. We do not practice mantra, and if you think we will sit and listen to you in satsaṅg, we will not do it. Still, if you want to give us the kingdom, that is your problem." They did not say, "We are thankful"; they said, "It is your problem." The sādhu agreed. He told the hunter, "When you go hunting, make the saṅkalpa: you will only hunt if it is a golden animal. Do not hunt any other animal. It must be a golden animal." The hunter said, "Well, I have never in my life heard of a golden animal, but I will do it." All day he searched. Many deer, rabbits, and other animals came, but he did not hunt them. Just before sunset, a small golden rabbit appeared. It was worth one kilo of gold. The next day, he repeated this. Every day, he continued. Destiny then came to the sādhu and said, "Please, Swāmījī, can you tell him now he can hunt normal animals? From where should I bring him golden animals every day? It is written in his destiny to regain the kingdom." She said, "Alright, in ten days he will be king." Similarly, with the other brother, it was written that he would carry things on his donkey. The sādhu told him, "Any donkey that comes to you belongs to you; sell it. Go into the forest and collect things for transport, but you have no donkey. Destiny must give you a donkey; you take it and sell it. Again, it must bring you a donkey because it is in your destiny. You can refuse things a thousand times, but if it is in destiny, it will come." Destiny returned and said, "Swāmījī, I am tired of searching for donkeys for him. I have to find donkeys that belong to nobody, and I do not know what happens to him. I give him a donkey, and immediately he goes and sells it, and again he is standing there waiting for transport." Swāmījī said, "Well, then write 'kingdom' for him in ten days." So, in ten days, they became kings. How? That I will tell you next time. Thus, we cannot change destiny, and we cannot avoid it. But if we follow the advice of a wise one—even if it is hard for us to do—then our entire destiny can change. It is said that on the lines of your hand, the fortune lines, only your master can put a nail on it. A nail means a boundary, a stop; a new turn of life happens, a better one. So our fortune, our destiny, can be changed through following the Guru Vākya, and these are the wise ones. But if you do not follow, then one thing happens after another, and you must suffer the consequences. So, the final question: do we have to suffer, or can we avoid it? We cannot avoid it, but we also must not suffer. We can change our behavior, and through that, the other will be changed. That is why I recall a very nice thing Mahātmā Gandhījī said, which became a slogan for our conference: "Be the change you want to see." That is it. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar