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Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī. Blessings of Mahāprabhujī to everyone. It is nice to see you after nearly three months. Many things happen in three months—I mean spiritual development, which you do not feel. That is very good. If you were to feel it, then the ego would grow. The ego would begin to dominate, so it is good that we do not feel it. A spiritual person will never feel, say, or think, "I am spiritual." As the poet Rahim says: Rahiman, neha ki kahaani, kab kahey lakh hamaara mol. The great one never speaks about his or her greatness. It is like a diamond; a diamond never speaks, "I am a diamond." But we say that is a diamond. So, be a diamond, but do not speak it. Otherwise, you will lose your value. As long as you are silent, you are the wise one. The moment you speak, you become the foolish one. Therefore, be silent. Spiritual development is internal. You begin to understand spirituality in such a way that you feel you have very little of it. You begin to feel devotion, and you have an inner feeling that you do not have enough. For example, when a relative or someone dies, we think: we could have done something better, they could have lived a few years more, we could have supported them physically, found better medicine. We begin to blame ourselves. Similarly, as much as devotion awakens, you still think you have no devotion. Spirituality is transparent. It is like opening a curtain and looking through a window. Then the window shows you the reality. Consider a great saint, a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, who was blind from birth. His whole life was full of devotion. He never did any bad thing, never spoke badly to anyone. He had such great devotion that he was an example. He did not care about his body, which was nearly as thin as Mahatma Gandhi's. He would go for food while singing God's name, and he himself composed beautiful bhajans. His name is on the list of rare saints who wrote such bhajans. Anyone can write a bhajan, but the kind that moves your inner self, melts your heart, and makes each hair stand on end—that comes from an inner power. It may be in Hindi, Sanskrit, Czech, or Slovak; it does not matter. Only that person can write whose Anāhata Cakra is awakened. Yet, the Anāhata Cakra is often covered with pollution: ego, jealousy, selfishness, subjectivity, greediness, covetousness—thinking only about oneself. This is like pollution over the Anāhata Cakra and the Ājñā Cakra. That is very important. Such a great saint, Sūradāsa Jī, consciously dedicated 22 hours of his day to God. He may have slept two or three hours, but his sleep was Yoga Nidrā, like Mahāprabhujī or Gurujī. Even when Gurujī slept, his mālā was constantly moving in his mind. We try, and when we sleep, the mālā falls down. That is not Yoga Nidrā. It is the practice of long, long years, again and again. So, the holy saint opens the inner curtain and looks within himself. Open your curtain. As long as you have a curtain, then he also has a curtain. Mahāprabhujī said in a bhajan: "Why have you kept a veil on us? I am a lover of your name. Why have you kept a veil on us? Why have you put a curtain between us? I am a lover of your name, my dear God." So, Sūradāsa Jī opens his inner curtain with his inner eyes and calls to God: "Why doesn’t He come? Maybe I have mistakes. Maybe I am a sinner." So Sūradāsa Jī said: "Prabhujī, O my Lord, please do not see my bad qualities. Prabhuji, mere augun chitna dharo. Lord, do not see my mistakes. Some drasti he naam ti haro, chahe to par karo. Lord, your name is equal vision. In your consciousness, my Lord, all are equal; it does not matter if one is a sinner or a holy person." So, when you feel you are practicing so much but still do not feel you have progressed, perhaps there is something there you do not know. "Prabhujī, please, Lord, do not notice my mistakes." Consider a knife made of iron. One knife is on the altar for cutting prasāda and fruits. Another is in a butcher's house. The Paras stone—the philosopher's stone that turns iron to gold upon touch—does not see whether the iron is good or bad. It does not matter if the knife was in a butcher's house or on an altar. The Paras stone does not see what was done with the knife; it simply makes gold. Similarly, when you have that kind of devotion, God will definitely let you cross the ocean. "Prabhupāda, please Lord, do not see my mistakes. Forgive my mistakes." With this feeling, if we proceed on our spiritual path of devotion and prayers, we will come through. You know, it is not easy to be a Sūradāsa, a Tulasīdāsa, a Kabīrdāsa, or a Mīrā. It is not easy to be a Mahāprabhujī, a Devpurījī, a Holy Gurujī, or any of the millions of great saints. Once, Gurujī and Mahāprabhujī were walking near the bank of a river. There were beautiful little stones, very soft and polished. Gurujī said to Mahāprabhujī, "Look how beautiful the stones are. They are round like polished stones, like a Śiva Liṅga." Śalāk Rāmjī also had one at Śiva's altar; it was very nice. Mahāprabhujī said, "Ask this stone how long it had to roll from the mountain until here, and how long it was hit by many, many rocks and stones until it became round and soft." That is the message of this talk. So, go on. Ego always lies. Look within yourself. Do not think, "Why can that person not do this? Why does that not happen?" The time will come. In meditation, constantly feel: "Prabhuji, merī auguṇ chitānā dharo." Then, it does not matter if you are a householder or a sādhu. You will come through. If you do not have bhakti and do not understand spiritual principles, then you are not a sādhu but a svādhu—one who is always running after selfish desires. It is hard to overcome this. Therefore, you have spiritual development, you are doing it, and do not hurry. Do not hurry, otherwise an accident can happen. You hurry and hurry, and then you will say, "I gave up everything. I did so many mālās. Now, after 55 years, Swāmījī, I have no enlightenment." On the day you have such a high level of consciousness, you will not think like that, and you would wish to leave the world. But it is like plugging a 100-volt bulb into 5000 volts—what happens to that bulb? This body is a mortal body and will not be able to resist that power. So it is good that it comes, flows, and goes, that you can live your life and enjoy a little. Because after Mokṣa, there is nothing to enjoy. Otherwise, you could have a midlife crisis, thinking, "I could have done this on earth; I could have done that." Be helpful, be kind. And when something is difficult, I tell you: sit down, I will do it. When you go to India and, after eating, you want to move your plate for cleaning, the host will run and say, "No, no, please, you sit down, I will do it." Another says, "No, no, please, I will do it." And another says, "No, I will do it." Europeans think, "What is happening? Perhaps he wants to keep the plate." But he says, "No, I will keep it." So, when there is work to do, you say, "You sit down, I will do it." Mostly, the younger ones should do it. If you are 50 and someone is 49, the 49-year-old must do it. Even if you are young—five, ten, fifteen years—we teach them this way so that some karmas become lighter. But when there is something nice, like prasāda or giving a lāḍū, then we say to the younger one, "Come, give this to Swamiji." Go, make praṇām. Why? Because that one will get the blessing. The elder even wishes that the youngest one should get everything first. "I will bring chapati for Swamiji." And they say, "No, you do not know how to serve. I will do it." And while discussing, my chapati becomes cold. It is true. Recently, in the Washington ashram (I will not tell the name), many people were sitting. One lady was sitting nearby, looking at me. I felt she was waiting for some service, so I called her, "Come here." She ran immediately. The best disciple comes immediately. The medium one will think, "Did he tell me or somebody else?" The lazy one will look here and there. Uttama, Madhyama, Kaniṣṭha—these are the three qualities. She came. I said, "Bring me a little yogurt." She went to the kitchen. Another person, nearly 40 years old, took the yogurt from her hand and brought it to me. I was a little angry. I said, "Why did you bring the yogurt? I told her to bring it. Take it back to the kitchen and let her come." Then she brought another. So, do not be selfish. We all would like to do seva, but if you can dedicate this opportunity to someone else, you will get more fruits. Holy Gurujī said to Mahāprabhujī: "Lord, if you do not accept my service... then let me serve your servant, that I may serve your servant through your servant. Please accept my service." So, by serving God's servants, you actually receive His service. In satsaṅg, there is no duality. In politics, there are parties; one party argues, another argues. Or one culture versus another, one religion versus another, one nation versus another. In satsaṅg, it is not like that. In satsaṅg, there is only one thing: the whole world is God's family, to which we also belong. Therefore, our duty is to practice discipline. It does not matter what; you must do your sādhanā. Nothing in this world is more important. Everything else can wait. Do your sādhanā. Of course, an emergency is an emergency. If you are meditating and someone has a heart attack, you do not say, "After my meditation, I will call an ambulance." It is never too late. So, use your Viveka, your discrimination. But just spending long hours on the telephone, long hours watching television, long hours gossiping—if you used twenty percent of that time for God's name... Such a life will never come back. This is your only chance.