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Living a normal life, one can be like a saint. A saint does not mean some special color of dress, nor being the head of a monastery or a religion. These are obligations one goes through to maintain a spiritual organization. But to be a saint is very simple: the heart of a saint should be big. Today, while driving from Šliac to Banská Bystrica, I looked at the beautiful countryside—the nice mountains and snow, with everything frozen. A small river was flowing, and there were many, many birds. An elderly lady was standing near the bank of the river with a basket in her hand. No one else was there except this lady and the birds, because it was very hard to reach the riverbank through the snow, and very cold. It is the weekend; still, people are sleeping. That lady had something in the basket or bucket, and she was surrounded by hundreds of birds. Can you imagine what it was? She was a bird feeder. It means she was thinking of others, not herself. It's a weekend, it's cold, there is deep snow. One could think, "If I fall down, I will break my hips; I'm tired, I'm old." No, this kind of thinking does not exist in her mind—only thinking of others. Humans can go and buy food, but where will these birds fly to get food? There is nothing for them to eat. To feed these birds or such creatures is the best karma. This action can only be done by a pure soul. This beautiful Slovakian landscape, countryside, mountains up and down, is full of snow. The trees have no leaves, no green; there are only two colors: black and white. And you know, black and white has a big power. In this Kali Yuga, everything that is in black and white is considered right. Your identity must be in black and white; people will not trust you, but your papers. And this black and white in nature: white snow and the black color of the tree branches. With a lot of snow, the deer can't walk; somewhere there are two meters of snow, three meters of snow, cold wind, sub-zero temperatures. There was a small hut, and one couple was living in it. They had a small oven chimney; the whole space inside the hut was about 8 square meters, like a small kitchen—one bed and a pot for washing. They were cooking on this chimney fire, and nice smoke was coming out of the chimney. It was very, very cold, with wind blowing at minus 20 degrees; no one was outside. It was night, with moonlight—another beauty. The silver moon—I used to say a golden moon, not silver, but people say silver is silver; I see the moon as a gold color. Anyhow, we are not here today to judge anything. Beautiful moonlight was falling on the snow, and this white snow with the moonlight became like a silver color. Very romantic, but very cold. This couple was sleeping inside. At 10 o'clock at night, someone came to their door and was knocking with a foot like this. The lady said to her husband, "It's terrible; they don't let us sleep in peace." The husband said, "Don't worry, someone is in need." You see, even though they are living together, they have a different nature, a different feeling. They opened the door, and outside was standing a donkey. The donkey said, "I am dying out of the cold; it is too cold; can I come in?" The lady said, "It's terrible; this beast wants to enter. A donkey smells; hunt her out." The husband said, "Darling, it is a living being, and it's cold. Doesn't matter, she will stand on one side. She's not going to sleep on our bed." Well, they closed the door. The donkey was very happy. After 15 minutes, again somebody was knocking on the door. She said, "I hope that there is no other donkey there; I hope that there is no other donkey there." He opened the door, and there was one man standing. Of course, the man said, "Sir, can I come in?" The husband said, "Please." This lady said, "But we have only one small bed." He said, "No problem." The husband said, "No problem," opened the door, and welcomed him in. The man was warming his hands on the fire chimney, and the donkey was standing there nicely warm. That lady was inwardly boiling. The man asked again, "Do you want to eat something? Are you hungry?" And the man said, "Yes." The lady said, "Das auch noch." But he gave some bread. When he opened the bread basket, the donkey was looking happy. The lady said, "Na und?" The husband said, "With the island food, now you will feed everyone as long as we have; why not?" So the donkey also got a big loaf of the bread, and the man also got bread. Again, there were two men standing outside—cold, getting minus 27 degrees, with a cold wind in the mountain. Can you imagine? Open door, come in. The lady said loudly, "It's impossible; we have no place." The man said, "We have enough place; please walk in, so we can close the door before it gets too cold inside." He said to his wife, "We will sit on the bed; just the night will pass quickly. We are now two, and they are three; we are six. We will sit on the bed discussing." Again someone knocked. An elderly lady came with a grandchild in her hand and said, "I lost the way; I'm hungry and cold, and my little child is also hungry; can we come in?" "Yes, please." An 8-square-meter space, a donkey, and seven people and a small child and a bed. This man was happy; the man was so happy. He said, "Lord, thank you that even in such a cold winter season—we are hardly nothing to do, and you can't do anything, only wait and see; time will come, and warm weather will come—but you are so gracious to me, my Lord. You gave me a chance to serve; I'm so happy to welcome the guest; the guest is God." And especially, they are in need. She said, "Whom are you thanking? God is stupid, and you are stupid. I'm here by mistake on this planet." He said, "Not by mistake. It's not coincidence. It's karma." And she said, "Off with your karma! Stop with your stupid things. If it is in my hands, I will throw it all out." He said, "Thanks to God, it's not in your hands." During this discussion, again something was knocking. A deer came, hungry. Though the deer is always afraid of humans, he thought he would get something there. They opened the door, and the deer just ran in and under the bed. The deer knew where the bread basket was. The lady asked her husband, "What was it?" He said, "Just a deer, a hungry one. Don't worry, he will help himself." Meanwhile, it was already two o'clock in the night, and someone again came and was scratching on the door. She said, "It is impossible. Please don't open the door. There is no space at all." He said, "Well, we can put the bed off, and we will all stand. Those who are tired can lean on the donkey. Someone can lean on the bed. Very soon the dawn will come and the sun will shine, and we will walk out." He opened the door, and there was a big family of bears. Of course, they didn't ask to walk in; it was self-explanatory, naturally. Inside, well, he opened the door and let them in. There was no place; one had to go out, and that was himself. He stepped out of the house and said to God, "Lord, you gave me so big a heart, but too small a heart. Next time, next winter, please give me a big heart so I can welcome all." And that's the heart of a yogī, that's the heart of a saint. Don't say now, "I don't want more here." Yesterday I heard some people said, "Now we register for only three, and we don't want to let in two more inside." So I said, "This story I will tell to you." These people who were saying like this are very, very far from saintlyhood. They are millions of kilometers far from a yogī, and thousands of kilometers far away from being human. Even in such a situation, animals do not disturb other animals; they will let them come in. And you, as a yoga practitioner, as a spiritual person saying, "I am spiritual," after having such a nice lecture yesterday evening—ashamed that you said, "We register for three beds, and there are five beds, we don't let come in other two." When I heard this, I was really sad, especially that you call yourself my disciple, thinking like this. The greediness, the jealousy, envy is very much existing in you, making actions, showing the fingers, saying certain things. This is not ahiṃsā. It's far away from ahiṃsā. Though we spoke yesterday about equalness, oneness, happiness—yesterday evening I spoke about God-consciousness—so you should have a God-consciousness to know God. You should have a yoga-consciousness to know yoga. To read some yoga book and do some postures and sit down with closed eyes and do the finger exercise for mantra, this is not yoga. They are doing with hair like this and cow dung and mālā. This is exercise; that doesn't make you a yogī. You must have a yoga consciousness. You should have a human consciousness. You should have a spiritual consciousness. And you should have a friendly consciousness. You should accept. And we should have a God-conscious place to know God. So, from this you can say that your spiritual progress is 0.0. You are that blind one who is going round and round and round. So, look within thyself, don't look outside. Just to know how you are, not who you are. It's very easy to say, "I am the ātmā, I am the Self, I am Divine." Only some leaves move lips and tongue, that's all. Thinking you can do also. There was a church or a temple, and there was a very holy day, so thousands of people inside and outside of the temple were praying. On the top of the temple, on the peak of the temple, was sitting one black crow. The crow was so happy that all are praying to him. Another crow came and said, "What are you doing here so long? Let's go." He said, "You are a mortal being. You are not self-realized. You don't understand. You waste time flying here and there. I am now a realized one." The other crow said, "How do you know this?" "You are a blind one. Look, all they are praying to me." He said, "They are not praying to you; they are praying to God in the church." He said, "That's not true. Then try, fly away. If they will pray, you back side like this." Nobody looked at that black crow. So in thinking, you can think whatever you like. God has given you the freedom to think. But what you think, it will return back to you. Therefore, even don't think negative. So develop in your consciousness divine qualities. So purification of the consciousness, purification of your intellect, use your knowledge. Be kind. --- Recording location: Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Weekend seminar