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There is a story about Lord Śiva and his faithful consort, Pārvatī, who had to incarnate again and again. It is said that Lord Śiva wore a beautiful garland of skulls around his neck. The residence of Śiva is the Himalayas, Mount Kailāśa, holy Mount Kailāśa. The entire Himalayas—this is it; the divine souls, the divine incarnations, manifested themselves there. One day, Śiva went for a walk through the hills. He went out in the morning, at nine o'clock, and came back in the afternoon. Pārvatī, Śiva's faithful one, was also there. Where there is Śiva, there is Śakti, and where there is Śakti, there is Śiva. Śiva means consciousness, and Śakti means nature. Śiva means liberation. Śiva means beauty. Śiva means truth. And that is why we also sometimes sing "Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya." There was a great sage, Nārada Ṛṣi. Nārada Ṛṣi had the ability to travel through all three worlds, and he could manifest himself somewhere, materialize, and dematerialize. Nārada came to Pārvatī; she was sitting somewhere on a rock by a fountain in the Himalayas. Nārada came, greeted her with great respect, she blessed him, and he said, "Divine Mother, I have one question for you." She said, "Yes." He asked, "Can you tell me why your Lord Śiva has a garland of human skulls?" She said, "I do not know, but I will ask him, no problem. I never asked him. I thought it is his hobby and he liked it, that is all. I do what I like, and he does his way. This is perfect tolerance." Nārada said, "Divine Self, if he tells you, please let me know." Śiva came back. Pārvatī was sitting there and immediately asked him, "I have one question, Lord. Can you answer me, please?" Śiva knew what was going on. He said, "Must it be now?" She said, "Yes." But Śiva said, "Well, I will have my bath and relax." She said, "No, no, but you can tell me, that is all. What? I do have this garland." He said, "Oh, that is not—that does not matter, forget it." She said, "It does not matter? It does matter. How can you say this? I ask a question." He said, "It is not so important. One day I will tell you." He tried to avoid making her unhappy. But in the nature of the woman—a good thing—what they decide, they achieve, mostly. And if a husband would like to have a happy life, then he should be nice to her. Śiva said, "Well, the time will come, and I will tell you." A few days passed; the discussion faded, and she said, "Now finished. You tell me or not." He said, "Pārvatī, if I tell you, you will be unhappy." She said, "Why? I am not jealous, I am not like this, I am not like that. And I am sure you did not kill someone for this." Śiva told her, "My dear, it is hard for me to tell you, but do you still want to know?" She said, "Yes, Lord, I would like to know. I will have understanding for it." Śiva said, "You know, Pārvatī, we have been together for many, many centuries and centuries, yugas and yugas. Whenever you died or you left this world, I was unhappy. And as a memory of you, to be with me and have you with me, I take your skull and I hang it around my neck. So these are from your past lives. You are this." Pārvatī fell into depression. From that time, depression began. Śiva said, "Dear, what happened? God is Pārvatī. What happened? I told you. Is something wrong?" She said, "Yes." Śiva said, "That is why I tried to avoid it." She said, "That was not good if you would have avoided it. So, you do not want me to wear this garland?" She said, "Okay, that is your choice, Lord. It is not that if you are having this or not, but I am so sad now. Why? You are all the time the same one, and I have to die and find you again. Can't you make me also immortal? So I do not have to die, and you do not have to carry these bones around your body." Śiva was thinking, "Now mankind will be coming into trouble. The creation of Brahmā will be in trouble. There will be traffic jam if I tell her the secret of this science, the science of immortality. And the protocol is this: before this world was created, it was declared as a martyaloka, a mortal world. None of us and no one on this planet is forever and ever immortal. This is a cycle which is going and coming, birth and death, what we call now in this modern science, in the modern world, modern language, a recycling system." So recycling, they put it instead of reincarnation. This is moving constantly. The whole endless universe is moving, working; space, what we see, is also working. But one does not change, and that is the super consciousness, the supreme, the cosmic, the God consciousness, which has no body, nothing. Pārvatī said, "Then please bless me that I will be immortal." He said, "You have to practice long yoga, teach me." The author of yoga is Lord Śiva. Many, many mantras and spiritual philosophies, and all this is by Lord Śiva. He said, "Dear one, this science cannot be taught or learned by anyone. It is against the cosmic law. If you love me, then do it. Hurry home, otherwise I go to my home." Śiva said, "Well, my dear, when I tell you the secret of this science, nobody should hear anything. Otherwise, anyone who hears this will become immortal. I will search for some place." Śiva was on the search, and it is said finally he found a beautiful cave. That cave is known as the Amarnāthjī cave in Kashmir, near Srinagar. Every year, a million people go there for darśan of that cave. In winter, it's completely covered with snow. And now it will open, and in one or two months, people can go there. And there is automatically inside it that remains only an ice Śiva Liṅga. Śiva went there, he searched everywhere. There is one really beautiful and there is a little flat land. So Śiva told his Nandi, "You will graze here, stay here." He left his Nandi there because if Nandi hears the science, Nandi will become immortal too. Śiva had many snakes, and one of the most beautiful, Nāga, is a snake, like Viṣṇu's. He took his snake from his neck, and there is a beautiful lake, and said, "Enjoy this water." That's called Nāg Talāb, Nandigām. That village was called after that Nandi and Nāg Talāb after that snake. When Śiva had this half moon, the crescent moon on his head, he took it and said, "You are free, go." And he opened his hair; it was tight all the time. Look, poor man, what he has to do all for his wife. Ladies, you must be happy to hear this, what a husband can do. Tell your husband this story, okay? Yes, I am sure your husband is doing more than this. If not, then tell him. He went to this cave, and it is said that Lord Śiva first created a strong wind like a storm, and then he told the fire, "Any creature here near, burn it." No, any creature should be alive. Śiva sat there, and it is said, under where Śiva was sitting, there was a nest of one parrot. Parrot? Parrot or parrot? Papa gaya, mama gaya. So, but fire couldn't come near, and they said there were two eggs under. One egg was destroyed. Śiva said, "I am going to sit in samādhi and I will tell, oh Pārvatī, the science of immortality. How to become immortal, but on one condition." She said, "What?" He said, "Whatever I tell, you have to say, 'Yes, Lord.' Yes, yes." Yes, and that's why, you know, "yes" became known in the whole world. Yes, sir. Sir. Sir. Yes, sir. Ano pane. Ano pane. Ano. Ano. Again. Again. No? Yes. Pārvatī said, "Why?" He said, "Because if you are not alert, then you will forget and you will sleep, and I am talking and you will miss everything. I will not reveal it again." She said, "Okay, Lord, I will not sleep." And she said, "Yes." Yes, yes. After some time, I don't know, days or months or weeks or hours, she said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes." And in the egg, this baby said, "Oh God, that would be a great pity if she sleeps and Śiva notices that she is sleeping, and he will be angry and the knowledge will be half given." Dear friends, whatever knowledge you have, you should leave it here in this world. Knowledge never dies, but with your physical death, your knowledge will disappear. Whatever good things you have, not money and house, this is nothing. The wisdom, abilities, that knowledge you should leave here. You develop that knowledge on this planet, and you should leave it. This is a heritage of this planet through your intellect, your mind, your heart. So the baby came out of there and sat near Śiva and began to say, "Yes, yes." And Pārvatī was saying, and when she was snoring, saying, "Papa, yes." He said yes. During this sound, so that Śiva doesn't hear, he said yes. It's called this Amarkathā. Kathā means tale. Amar means immortal. Nātha means Lord Śiva. That's why I call Amarnāth that gufā, the key of the Amarnāth, the immortal Lord Śiva. When it was finished, Śiva said, "Oh, did you hear, Pārvatī?" She said, "Oh Lord, no, I slept." You know, there are many rare men who can control their nerves. When he tries everything and then the wife says, "I missed it." That's your life. I am just reminding you how your life is. But you said, "Yes, yes," constantly I was hearing. In that minute, the baby parrot said, "Ti-ti-ti-ti," and flew away. Lord Śiva said, "He has stolen my wisdom." And Śiva runs behind him, and he is flying here and there. He said, "The tail grows long, I will try to stop it." Where there is a cave and a hut of the great saint known as Ved Vyāsa. Veda Vyāsa, who was dictating and writing the Vedas, is a great sage. So Veda Vyāsa was also somewhere on a walk, and his wife was sitting outside of the hut, waiting for him to come home. And Śiva was running behind his small baby parrot, and the parents' baby was running here and there. And it is said that the wife of Ved Vyāsa was sitting and waiting for Ved Vyāsa, and she was yawning like this. And that little baby parrot thought, "Nowhere can be a safer place than this mouth." And he flew into her stomach. Symbolically, it means nowhere is a safer place than with a mother, either a mother's womb or a mother's lap. Nowhere can be safer than this. "Mātā bhavati na kumātā." A mother can never be a bad mother, except in cases of some mental illness. "Mātṛdevo bhava." For us, the first God is the mother. Mothers have the highest position in the universe. But those mothers who have the highest position everywhere in the universe, what a condition—these mothers are now fighting for emancipation in this Kali Yuga. Lost, Śiva came and was angry, and at the same time came Ved Vyāsa. Ved Vyāsa saw Śiva and said, "Oh Lord, you are here. How fortunate I am. I am blessed, my house is blessed. What can I do, Lord? I could have come to you. Just tell me, and I would have come there." Śiva said, "Ṛṣi, praṇām." He said, "Yes, but Śiva, you look nervous. Today you are sweating. What happened?" Śiva said, "My thief is hidden in your house." "In my house? Does he know any thief, Lord?" "Yes, he is there, and he has stolen from me." "What?" "He stole my wisdom. I will kill your wife now." Ved Vyāsa said, "Lord, you are a God. You can do anything, give life or death. But you told once, Lord Śiva, that to attack a pregnant woman is the biggest sin. And to kill a pregnant mother, you will never get into heaven. It doesn't matter, human or animal's mother. A mother is a mother, Śiva, you said. And you are going to do this. You are free to do it, Lord. I just remind you." He said, "I go." And Śiva went, but that embryo didn't want to come out, and she was suffering and suffering. So they went to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva. They all came and asked that embryo to come out. "Please come into this world." He said, "No, I will not come into this Mṛtyu Loka. There is only suffering, only attachment, only jealousy, and this and that. I don't want to come into this world." So Brahmā promised, "I will take away all these negative qualities of the world. Please come out." So suddenly there was harmony, peace, understanding, and happiness. And he was born, and his name was Śukadeva Muni. Śuka śuka is that parrot, and he becomes a very, very great saint, a great speaker. Śukadeva Muni, in Indian mythology, you can hear, listen, and learn about. So this is how you can protect consciousness, but you have to be alert. See that no negative elements attack your body, mind, thoughts, emotions, or intellect. And therefore, always be aware you are the richest of the rich. Never think that you are poor. None of us is poor. We are the richest of the rich. You may have golden elephants, you may have golden eagles, and you may have diamond mines, but if you have no contentment in the heart, you are the poor one. You have nothing, but if you are content in your heart, you are the richest one, because that richness is in your heart, and that's called "Ānandoham." Like waves on the water, and water in the waves; the ocean in the form of the waves, and the waves in the form of the ocean. The Supreme One in the form of all these creatures, and all these creatures representing the Divine Cosmic Light. "Ānando'ham, āraṇa bhagavān kī." So the same Śiva and Pārvatī were passing through one village. It is said the spiritual Divine Incarnation always looks young and beautiful. Though Pārvatī was very, many, many years old, she was always young. They went through the village. Śiva was sitting on his ox, and the villagers were so angry, talking to each other, "How can this man be so cruel to this beautiful young lady? She is walking without shoes, and he is sitting on the ox. He could walk very soon, but he will die. She has to live long," they were talking. After they came out of the village, Śiva said to Pārvatī, "Did you hear what the people were saying?" She said, "Yes, Lord." So Śiva said, "You sit on the ox, I will walk." So they changed. The next village came, and people said, "Oh God, this is a modern craziness. This poor old man has to walk, and this young one is sitting on it, no respect." And they came out of the village, and Lord Śiva asked Pārvatī, "Did you hear what they said?" "Yes, Lord, I heard it." He said, "Let's sit, both of us, we can sit up." They came to the third village, and the villagers said, "Oh my Lord, no ahiṃsā, poor animal, who is sitting on it? One of them can walk. No, both are sitting. There is no ahiṃsā, no mercy." Śiva said afterwards, "Pārvatī, did you listen to what they said?" "Yes, Lord." "They are always saying, finding some mistakes." Śiva said, "Okay, we will not sit on it. We will just walk, all three." And they came to one village, and people said, "How stupid they are. One of them can sit on the ox. What are they carrying this ox for?" Śiva said, "Pārvatī, did you listen?" She said, "Yes, Lord." "So, did you learn something?" She said, "What should I learn?" He said, "It is like this, my dear. Whatever you will do, there will be many people who will think the opposite. Whatever you will say, there will be many people who will think and say different things. Therefore, in this world, this world has become a very troublesome world. We humans don't feel secure. Therefore, within 24 hours, whenever you can, just relax. If you believe in God, meditate on God and repeat your mantra. If you don't believe in form and this, then just be within thyself, experience your inner happiness. We are connected with death and birth, happiness and unhappiness. Many tragedies happen, and many good things happen in this life. The most terrible tragedy will happen to us, that we will die one day without self-realization. And therefore, karma doesn't leave anyone free, and destiny doesn't excuse anyone. Therefore, we don't know where our destiny leads and ends. So take the time for thyself, and do something good for your body, for your mind, for your consciousness, and for your soul." With this, I welcome you all here, and wish you a very good evening. Now we will go to this little lake because Avatāpurī got one candle with a coconut, and he wants to put it in the water. And there is a small girl, she is very ill. So he wants that we all think of her, pray for her good health. Okay. This is the little girl, she is about 10 months old, 11 months. And suddenly she got a very high fever and became unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital. And so Avatāpurī was very sad when he heard about this. So he was praying and saying the peace mantra. And today he wanted to put this candle in the water. Good? All right then. From my side, I wish you a very, very, very, very good night, a pleasant night. Hari Oṃ.