TV Channel

We are in Vápi, and from Vápi comes the Vápi Cast, in the beautiful country of Hungary. We are at an agricultural college set within beautiful nature. It has extensive grounds, nearly 50 to 100 hectares of land, with very old, protected trees and a protected forest. I think it is a very unique experience to be here, to practice yoga and lead a spiritual life. We have dedicated this program to spirituality and religion. In Hindi or Sanskrit, the word for religion carries a different meaning. We call it Dharma. Dharma is that which is inherent in something by its very nature. The dharma of the body is to be born, to grow, and to die. The dharma of a tree is for the seed to sprout, become a plant, grow into a full tree, yield seeds, and then die. The dharma of fire is to give heat. If fire did not give warmth or heat, we would not call it fire; it would be a fake flame, a wrong artificial effect. The dharma of our eyes is to see. If one is blind, we say this person does not have eyes. Every indriya, every sense, has its dharma. This planet has its dharma. Every season has its dharma. If winter does not bring us snow and cold, we say, "Oh, this year we didn’t have winter." If summer does not give us nice warm weather, we say, "Oh, we didn’t have summer this year." So the plant gives the bud, the flowers, then comes the fruit and the seed, and the cycle continues—that is its dharma. These four pillars of life—dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa—apply not only to humans but to everything created on this planet. There is a purpose; there is a reason why a tree grows, a direction it seeks. Everything grows towards the light. The seed, when it begins to sprout underground, is also searching for the light to emerge. That light is the aim, the goal. We also pray, "Lead us from darkness to light." So, keep your dharma. This means, keep on functioning. What you have accepted, what you have adopted and hold onto (dhāraṇā), that is your dharma. This is the explanation of dharma, and therefore this dharma is known as Sanātana. Sanātana means eternal. This eternal dharma has existed since the creation of the universe began. This dharma is given to everyone and to everything. Every planet has its dharma. Every star has its dharma. Every element has its dharma. Therefore, in the Vedas it is said, dharma will protect you. As long as we hold on to our dharma, our dharma will hold on to us. Mahāprabhujī gave a golden teaching: "Do not go against nature, otherwise nature will take its revenge." You will be the one to suffer the consequences. This is what the whole world is now realizing—we are thinking how to protect nature. We abused nature. We destroyed nature. We manipulated nature, and now we don’t know what to do. This pollution is created from the human mind. Mental pollution is the most terrible pollution. You know, it is human ambition and greed. They drill a hole somewhere in the ocean, in Mexico, searching for oil. As long as they were drilling, it was under their control. But it was against nature, and now the reaction is very strong. We still don’t know how to stop it. This is greed. Out of greed, we can destroy ourselves. In the German language, they say "Selbstmord mit Gabel und Messer"—suicide with the fork and knife—meaning eating too much. Why do you eat too much? It is greed. That greed enslaves you, even though you are not satisfied with your way of life, your health, and everything. If you do not master this, what have you mastered? There is one person who likes very much to eat spaghetti and everything made from flour, eating, eating, eating the whole day like a machine. Now she has so many kilos. Of course, the knees are suffering, the ankle joint is suffering, the hip joint is suffering, the back is suffering. I told her to go on a phalāhāra diet. But there are a lot of excuses: my blood pressure goes down, this happens, that happens, I can’t. Now the doctor has advised her to have an operation to tighten her stomach so she cannot eat too much. You see? So you have to go for an operation. Your intestines will be tightened with a band, leaving only a small hole. I think a buffalo is better than such a person. Once there was a king who announced, "If someone can bring me a goat which has a full stomach and does not want to eat anything for a while." No one succeeded. But there was one farmer who thought, "I will become the king. My goat is very nice, and she follows my instructions. Before coming to the king, I will feed her very much with love and green leaves. It is only for two minutes, standing near the king, that’s all. I’m sure my goat will be able to stay two minutes without eating something, and I will have a kingdom." So he was feeding and feeding his goat, and the stomach of the goat became like a drum. He came to the king and announced that his goat was a beautiful one, a satisfied and content goat. The king said, "Yes, bring it in." He brought in the nice goat. The king had a very nice, fresh salad in his hand, and he put it on the table. The goat came straight to the salad. The king said, "Please take your goat back." So this mind is a goat, and the sense of eating is a goat. It is very difficult to control. One yogī said, in this body we have ten senses. Out of these ten, very rare yogīs have them under control. But you can’t trust two; they can disappoint you at any time. One is taste (eating), and the other is gender. This means you are a slave of your senses. Eating is not a problem. I think Śiva was eating, Viṣṇu was eating, Kṛṣṇa was eating, Brahmā was eating, Lakṣmī was eating, Jesus was eating. If he was not eating, then why was he sitting near the dining table at the Last Supper, giving bread to everyone? So there are some people who say, "Oh, he or she doesn’t eat anything," and not to eat and not to drink is also not correct. Even God was eating. But they all were vegetarian. Jesus was dividing bread; he didn’t divide chicken. Kṛṣṇa was always dividing butter, not sausage. So it is about sattvic food and controlled eating. The dharma of the stomach, or the intestines, is to digest everything and send the energy, minerals, and vitamins to different parts of the body where they are required. One cannot be without dharma; you cannot live without this. The heart is one of our best friends or servants. For 24 hours, it works correctly. It doesn’t matter if you are running, diving, cycling, eating, dancing, singing, or sleeping. Our heart keeps its dharma. And if it stops keeping its dharma, everything is gone. The heart stops, and everything stops. So, dharma is not understood as what people now call religions. What we believe, different people in different parts of the world, is a teaching of one’s sect, and that’s called sectarian. This sect comes from a saint, a holy person who had some extraordinary abilities and knowledge. That is limited; it means a sector. So this is your sector, this is my sector. This is your territory, this is my territory. This is your master’s words and teachings, and this is my master’s words and teachings. At present, what we call religions are the teachings of certain holy incarnations or prophets. Of course, in those teachings there is morality, ethics, nature, protection, love, devotion—all of which are the principles of yoga. Practicing yoga means protecting your body’s dharma, to fulfill your human life’s dharma. In this way, when we speak about dharma, it is not a sectarian thing. Christians believe in Jesus’s teachings. Buddhists follow Buddha’s words. Buddha was a Hindu. His father was a Hindu king, and Buddha was a very divine personality in following ahiṃsā. Even when he was walking, he had to walk so carefully that he didn’t kill ants under his feet—a pure vegetarian follower of Ahiṃsā. The Prophet Muhammad was a vegetarian. He was a follower of Sanātana Dharma. What they call the Sikh religion—their Gurus were Hindus. The Jainas were saints; they were Hindu. So in reality, all is the same; that’s called Sanātana Dharma. Everyone saw the right way for their disciples. But we disciples have jealousy, and we disciples have our ego: that my master is the best, my God is best. This is our misunderstanding, and that’s why there is conflict around the world. They don’t follow the footsteps of their leader or master. For many people, the head of their religion, the origin—that God or incarnation or prophet—has just become a rubber stamp. For Christians, Jesus became just a rubber stamp, a cross, that’s all. How much do you follow? Did you really, with awareness and conscience, read the Bible? You had no time to read it. You had no time to think over it. Actually, there are only about 16 miracles of Jesus, all in all. They are repeated again and again on different occasions. But there is great knowledge inside, love inside, understanding inside, mercy inside. We pray for mercy to Jesus or his mother Mary. How much mercy do you have? If you have no mercy, you are not a Christian. Sorry. Now ask me, what are you? You are just a human being struggling to find perfection. Similarly, if you read the Qur’ān, great things are written inside, if you understand and follow. And the same with the Rāmāyaṇa, the Gītā. But they say only Kṛṣṇa, they say only Rāma, they say only Buddha. This dualistic, so-called religious thinking divides religion. And divided religion means we divide humans. That is wrong. For the sake of your religion, do not give someone any kind of temptation. People give money to people to change their religion, just to be on a list showing they are more numerous than other religions. This is the biggest problem in the world: converting people with the power of money. I used to say, we don’t convert; we convince. Believe what you believe, be where you are. Not converting, but convincing brings harmony, understanding, and love. Such principles, and the protection of that energy, is spirituality. Because it is functioning, it’s perfect, it’s pure, it’s healthy. That will lead us to cosmic consciousness. For that, human life is given. Every creature has its dharma, every tree has its dharma, every stone has a dharma, every river has a dharma. But humans have the intellect to understand and follow dharma. Don’t follow dharma emotionally. Don’t follow dharma because, "Oh, that person is great." That is fanaticism, and that is wrong dharma. There is discrimination. Therefore, be as you are. God is within you. That Ātmā is within you. To realize that, Dharma has been given to us, and that Dharma is our body. Therefore, it is a Dharmakṣetra, Kurukṣetra—the field of Dharma—is this body. All the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas and Kṛṣṇa and whatever you call them—these are our different functions in this body. Our ego is Duryodhana. Our greed is the blind king. Our ambition is Bhīṣma, and so on. So this is the battlefield. Constantly, there has never been a battlefield like that before, and it will not be anymore, but it is there. That’s your life. So you will not be like this again here. Maybe you will be born somewhere else, with a different skin color, different hair, maybe a different gender. I asked many ladies, "Would you like to be born as a man next life?" They said, "Oh my God, what do you think?" And I asked many men, "Would you like to be born next life as a female?" No question, what do you think? So we have this ego, but you never know. The soul has no gender; it is your karma where you will come. You will never be exactly as you are now. It is very unique. This war of religion is within you—all senses, all thoughts, intellect. This is the religion. But it was not given to you to fight; it was given to you to get help. A boat is given to you to cross the ocean. A boat was not given to you to dismantle it in the middle of the ocean. That is what I want to tell you, and we will continue again.