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A man was performing intense sādhanā in the forest. He attained some siddhis. After sixty-five years of practice, he was sitting under a tree one day and said, "I have gained no siddhis, no power. Sixty-five years here under these trees. What am I doing here? What is Keresa doing here? Sixty-five years, twenty-five years. Did they make spaghetti here? Do they make spaghetti here? Spaghetti Keresa does, it's small, you know. It's called spaghetti now, small has become spaghetti." A bird was sitting above and made something on his head. It came down like a beautiful tilak. He wiped it off, again feeling totally depressed and very angry. He looked at that bird. Accidentally or purposely, it died. Perhaps the bird was already dying, and it made a final act upon his head. As soon as he looked up, it just fell down. But thanks to that bird, it gave him a lesson. He thought, "Oh, I am a great yogī. Look, everyone, this bird died by my gaze." And he decided, "I will go to the villages and tell them how great I am." It took him five days to come out of the forest. He reached a small village. A young girl was drawing water from a well, and he was thirsty. He asked her, "My daughter, can you please give me water to drink?" The girl said, "Of course." She then asked him, "What is your name, please?" He said, "My name is Sitalpurī," which means one who is very calm, peaceful, and blissful. She said, "Yes." Then she drew fresh water again and asked once more, "What is your name?" He replied, "Sitalpurī." She came near him with a bucket of water and asked again, "Please, what is your name?" When she arrived before him with the water, she asked once more, "What is your name? Don't be angry." He said, "Sitalpurī." She repeated, "Sitalpurī, Sitalpurī," and gave him the water. He drank nicely. After he drank, she said, "Can you tell me your name again?" He said, "I am a stupid one, so many times I told you my name is Sitalpurī." She replied, "I am sorry, you are not Sitalpurī. You are a hot purī, a fire purī. You didn't even succeed your name." He became very angry. "Be careful, you don't know who I am." She said, "Yes, sir, I know you. But you should know that I am not that bird you can kill by looking. I am not just a bird that you can look at and it will fly away." He completely collapsed. "Who told you? How do you know? I don't know any human." She said, "I practiced." "Tell me, how did you practice?" She said, "Yoga in daily life." So ego comes very quickly. The secretary of a minister has more ego than the minister himself. Ego is that snake, a very dangerous snake, and it will bite you once through that thing which you like, and you get this. Then you are poisoned, intoxicated. You don't see it, but others can see. I don't see my own eyes, I see everything. My eyes see everyone, everything. But what is very interesting is that they cannot see themselves. To see themselves, they need a mirror. Then you see the reflection, how beautiful your eyes are. We don't see our ego, we don't see our negative qualities, but we see our qualities in others. But when you meditate and look in your inner mirror, you will see, "Oh, how beautiful you are, accompanied by such nice friends." Wisdom, love, compassion, humbleness, kindness, knowledge, the feeling of service to others, tyāga—all beautiful. Or there are the others, like jealousy, anger, hate, grudges, complexes—all these negatives. They have presented you; they present you, and you can see them in your mirror. So the ego is very great. The great are they who can master it—not to destroy it, but to master it. And that is only in Gurudeva's hands. And that is why now you can understand why you don't get siddhis, antarvyakas, samādhis, and everything now, though you have been practicing for many years. Why don't you get siddhi or samādhi now that you have been practicing for so many years? Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Summer Workshop