TV Channel

Mānuṣ tanme āyos svapnme. We say, yedjīvan svapnvat he. This life is like a dream. There is no difference between dream and this life. There was once a yogī living in a small Śiva temple somewhere in the forest, on the hills. He had a very peaceful time and was meditating. Śiva is one of the most merciful, gracious ones. With a little request, he is pleased and he will fulfill your wish and give you darśan. So Lord Śiva thought, "This bhakta is staying so many years here, doing pūjā, meditating, and praying to me, I shall bless him." So one day, Lord Śiva appeared. The yogī 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." Śiva asked, "For 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 after I will know how long I experienced your māyā." Śiva said, "Okay, when you go tomorrow for bathing in the lake, that time I will show you my māyā." So he went to the lake without any expectations, and he went deep into the lake. He held his nose and went under. Suddenly his consciousness changed and he experienced that he died. For many, many years, because of his bhakti, his prayers, his good karmas, he enjoyed some divine life in the astral world. 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 again spending a long time somewhere in the astral world, he was born again as a nomad gypsy. That's called maṅgyāra. So maṅgyāra comes from maṅgyāra. 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. This is only the fault which has no attachment to the house and land. So he was born as a gypsy. He had a beautiful life, and he married. He had 12 sons and 5 daughters. He was really productive, and he had grandchildren. Now he is nearly 85 years old. They were moving the whole camp from one village to another. After five days, they came somewhere near to some small city. At that time, the biggest city was like Vape. There, when the king died, he had no children. So they were searching for a successor. The king wrote in his testament, "For my successor, on that and that day, after so many days of my death, you give a flower garland to my elephant in his trunk. And on whose neck the elephant will give the garland, that will be the king." So it was announced in the kingdom that the elephant will choose the king, and on whose neck he will give the mālā will be the king. Can you imagine how many people came? The whole kingdom announced that such an event will take place. There were a few thousand people waiting. The elephant got a beautiful garland, many, many flowers, and he took it in his trunk. He was walking very peacefully, and there was a long, long queue on both sides. Someone had a coconut in the hand, someone had a laḍḍū in the hand, someone had bananas. Mastānā. The elephant was very happy and had a very divine consciousness; that's why the king trusted his elephant. He was walking peacefully, looking here and looking there. People were greeting the elephant. It was announced that nobody should run behind or leave their place. The elephant walked there where that man was coming, the nomad, and he had in his arm his grandchild; that elderly man was walking. 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 any place; let's go to the palace." All were enjoying their life. His camels and goats and chickens and all were in the palace. One day he was having a little afternoon rest; he took a little nap and was dreaming that he died. He had to leave his kingdom, and he was so sad. And he woke up; it means he came out of the water. From this deep, a yogī came out of the deep, and there was nothing. All in all, it was about thirty seconds, not even thirty 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, and 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 morning is a dream; what you ate after noon or 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, and we leave this body here, and we are born in an astral body, or we wake up. Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Summer seminar