TV Channel

The second point: Mānus tanme āyos svapnme. We say, Yed jīvan svapnavat he: this life is like a dream. There is no difference between a dream and this life. There was once a yogi living in a small Śiva temple somewhere in the forest, on the hills. He had a very peaceful time meditating. Śiva is one of the most merciful, most gracious ones. With a little request, He is pleased, and He will fulfill your wish and grant you darśana. So Lord Śiva thought, "This bhakta has been staying here for so many years, doing pūjā, meditating, and praying to me. I shall bless him." Śiva thought that this yogi had been doing pūjā and meditating for so long that now he should see Him. So one day, Lord Śiva appeared. The yogi was very, very happy. Lord Śiva asked him, "My dear son, what do you wish?" He said, "I want to know what your māyā is." So Śiva asked, "How long do you want to know what my māyā is?" He said, "Well, I don’t understand time—how long or how not. You bless me and let me know your Māyā, and then afterward, I will know how long I experienced your Māyā." Śiva said, "Okay. Tomorrow, when you go down to the lake to swim or take a bath, I’ll show you my māyā." So the yogi went to the lake without any expectations. He went deep into the lake, held his nose, and went under the water. Now, what happened? Suddenly, his consciousness changed, and he experienced that he had died. Because of his bhakti, his prayers, and his good karmas, he enjoyed a divine life in the astral world for many, many years. After that, he spent many years in the world of bhakti meditation, living in the divine world. Then he was born again as a farmer. He had very happy parents, a happy life, a happy marriage, and happy children and grandchildren. After a long life, he died again. After spending a long time again somewhere in the astral world, he was born again as a nomad gypsy. That is called maṅgyārā. So maṅgayāra comes from maṅgayāra. Look at the words, from where the roots come. I don’t mean that you are all gypsies, and gypsies are not bad. To be a gypsy is also a blessing, I would say. The only 'fault' is having no attachment to a house and land. So he was born as a gypsy. He had a beautiful life, and he married. He had twelve sons and five daughters—he was really productive—and he had grandchildren. Now he was nearly 85 years old. They were moving the whole camp from one village to another. They were traveling on and on. After five days, they came somewhere near a small city. At that time, the biggest city was like Vape. There, the king had died. The king had no children, so they were searching for a successor. The king had written in his testament that for his successor, on a certain day after so many days of his death, they should give a flower garland to his elephant to hold in its trunk. And on whose neck the elephant would place the garland, that person would be the king. That should be the king. It was announced in the kingdom that the elephant would choose the king, and on whose neck he placed the garland, that person would be king. So, can you imagine how many people came? The whole kingdom announced that such an event would take place. Someone dressed nicely, someone wore more perfume, someone put on that kind of elephant-like smell. There were a few thousand people waiting for the mighty moment. The elephant got a beautiful garland with many, many flowers. It was a beautiful garland. He took it in his trunk and walked very peacefully. There was a long, long queue on both sides. Someone had a coconut in their hand, someone had a ladoo, and someone had bananas—mastānā. The elephant was very happy and in a very divine consciousness. That’s why the king had trusted his elephant with this task. He was walking peacefully, looking here and looking there. People were greeting the elephant, offering bread for its head, then giving it a morsel. The elephant went out of the crowd. It had been announced that nobody should run behind or leave their place. The elephant walked to where that man, the nomad, was coming. The elderly man was walking, carrying his grandchild in his arm. The elephant ran quickly towards him and gave the garland around the neck of that elderly man. Of course, they had to respect him. He became a king, and his wife became a queen. They said, "We don’t need to search for any place; let’s go to the palace." All were enjoying their life. His camels, goats, chickens, and all were in the palace. One day, he was having a little afternoon rest; he took a little nap and dreamed that he died. He had to leave his kingdom, and he was so sad. And he woke up. This means he came out of the water. The yogi came out from the deep, and there was nothing. All in all, it was about 30 seconds, not even 30 seconds—not minutes, only a few seconds. He went in and came out. Within these few seconds, in his consciousness, the māyā of Śiva began to play. He had lived many, many lives. In his consciousness, he was completely alive, as if he had lived many lives. This life is like a dream. What was yesterday is now a dream. What was this morning is a dream. What was in the morning is a dream. What you ate after noon or for dinner is now a dream. Past time becomes past. So we don’t know if we are also dreaming like this Śiva’s bhakta. Now, is it a dream yet? Where is our origin? So life is a dream. We dream, we wake up in some dream, and then we will leave this body and we will wake up in the astral body. We wake up from a dream, we leave this body here, and we are born in an astral body, or we wake up.