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In life, we encounter many situations. According to the circumstances, we develop desires and wishes. Sometimes, these wishes are not easy to fulfill, even in a dream. Suppose you have a desire to eat ice cream. You go to buy some, but then you remember—either before or after the purchase—that your doctor has told you not to eat it. So, you give what you bought to someone else. Yet, the desire remains; you think, "Well, I could have eaten just two spoonfuls, but what can I do?" Days later, that craving for ice cream intensifies. At night, you dream of a lovely ice cream shop selling large scoops in pink, yellow, and green. The tongue is very selfish—it loves taste. The problem is that the tongue doesn't consider the stomach, so there is always disharmony between them. In the dream, you buy a beautiful scoop. Your doctor appears and says, "Now you can eat ice cream; your throat is fine, you are healthy. You can eat ice cream to become ill." Since you are already healthy, you didn't eat ice cream; you became healthy. And now, if you eat it, you will remain healthy. Anyway, you take a spoon, scoop a large piece, and bring the ice cream close to your lips. Your tongue is just coming out to taste it when the alarm clock rings. There is no ice cream—oh God! Not even in a dream could you fulfill that desire. So, in our hands lies only the power to wish. Whether the wish comes true or not is in the hands of destiny. Still, we try very hard. And if it is beyond our capacity, we turn to God, that holy altar, or a master; we come to Mahāprabhujī. "Please, Mahāprabhujī, bless me so that I may get this or that," hoping it will come true. Afterwards, we do not know if Mahāprabhujī helped or if it was our own effort that made it happen. I am speaking about desires—how we think and then attribute them to God, whether good or bad. If a desire is fulfilled, we say, "Thank you, Mahāprabhujī; through his blessing, I got everything." If it is not successful, then we say, "No, even Mahāprabhujī didn't help me. I am alone, I am lost; even God can't help me. I must have bad karma." There is a story of two criminals, thieves. They were going to a village to steal something. On the way, in the forest, they saw a beautiful temple of Lord Śiva, surrounded by lovely trees, a beautiful waterfall, a pond, and many flowers—a divine atmosphere. Upon seeing the Śiva temple, they went inside. Both prayed to Lord Śiva: "Śiva, please help us to be successful. If you help us and we succeed, we will give you an offering—an offering of a human head." They left. Śiva did not say yes or no to them. Śiva said nothing; it was they who entered, made a prayer, and made the saṅkalpa, the promise. Everything was their own imagination. They reached the village, which was ruled by a minor king who owned a few villages. Around eleven o'clock at night, they managed to enter his palace. In those days, there was no electricity, only oil lamps, which had gone out due to lack of oil. They succeeded in reaching the treasure room and took as much as they could carry. Before leaving the palace, they remembered, "We promised Śiva we would offer a human head instead of a coconut. Now, through his blessing, we are successful. But from where shall we get a head?" They were still in the palace and needed to escape. Only the king's son saw them. They went out and, through a back window, entered his room. They killed him and took his head. They returned to the Śiva temple and said, "Thank you, Lord, for your help. We promised you, so here is our offering." Then they went away. Murder is murder. There was mourning and restlessness. The king and his whole family were naturally unhappy, and the entire village grieved, for the boy was very nice. The king ordered his soldiers to find the culprit, who would receive the death sentence by hanging. The soldiers followed drops of blood, which led them to the temple. They found the head and searched the area to see if anyone was there. Beneath the temple was a half-basement room where a yogī lived, meditating—a great bhakta of Śiva, a very humble and kind person. They saw this man. They took him to the king, accusing, "In the daytime, he acts like a yogī, and at night, he commits such crimes." The king asked him, "Do you have any last wish?" The yogī replied, "Yes. I have not done this, but I would like to speak to my Lord Śiva." They took him to the temple, and he stood before Lord Śiva. Now he prayed truly from the heart. Certain circumstances in life awaken us; then our eyes open. The heart pumps, and such prayers come from deep within. Other prayers are superficial, mostly coming from here (the head). "Lord, I want to find work, I want to find a partner. I want to have children, I want to pass my studies. I want to have this, I want to be healthy." We are always praying from here—this is aparabhakti. Aparabhakti means full of wishes, while parabhakti is without any wish. He prayed to Lord Śiva, and a voice came: "Yes, my son, what can I do? You know what you can do. I only want to ask you: is this justice or injustice? I have lived here with you for so many years. Every year I perform Śiva for you; I dedicate my whole life to you. I live only for you, and is this the result of serving you?" Śiva said, "No, no, why then?" The voice continued, "Yes. It was other people; I did not call them. I do not need that. I did not promise them, and I did not ask them for anything. It was their own imagination, their own desires, their own wish, and their own promise. What should I do? I am not guilty. But you, my son, when you were a small child, you caught a locust. You took a piece of iron like a needle, put it into its body, and played with it. It suffered great pain and died. Only the negative karma within you has come back. But due to my seva, you are protected, so only that must trouble you, God. Now you will not be hanged; you will be freed." Everyone heard this. They went to the king, who was a somewhat wise person. He said, "Okay, put him in prison and search for the real culprits." They found jungle people and all the treasures, jewelry, and items they had stolen. They discovered everything the thieves had hidden. The thieves then confessed, saying, "Yes, we killed the prince." The king himself came to the yogī with folded hands and a flower garland. He apologized and said, "Please excuse me. Out of my ignorance, I caused you this trouble, though you were not guilty." The yogī replied, "Yes, I know this. Lord Śiva told me. And it was some of my past karma, for karma will not leave anybody free. Karma will not exclude you, and time will not wait for you. This is one thing you should know." "Secondly, it is your desires, your wish, and you are the one acting. Do not blame God. Therefore, before any wish or desire, you should think carefully. What you will do now after leaving here depends on you."