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A very good morning to everyone. Many blessings on this Śivarātri day. To all dear brothers, sisters, devotees, spiritual seekers, aspirants, and practitioners of Yoga in Daily Life—good morning from the Czech Republic, from České republiky. From České republiky, today is the final day and the last lecture of this retreat. Especially today marks the beginning of Śivarātri; it is a very auspicious day. All your wishes should come true if you pray from your heart to Lord Śiva. Śiva is known as one of the most gracious, kindest, supreme ones who, with a little prayer, is pleased and blesses us. We are all Śiva devotees and we are protected by the supreme consciousness. Śiva is the first and Śiva is the highest, and the entire universe is the embodiment of Śiva's meditation. Three days ago, I spoke about three principles, if you remember from Friday evening: space, light, and energy. Space, light, and energy are there, but they do not occupy space in that sense. They have room, or they have a space, a place for everyone. These three—space, light, and energy—are the universal body (to je univerzální tělo). And this universal body is within you. Space, light, and energy are the radiance of the ātmā (a to je vyzařování ātma). Ātmā is universal; ātmā is only one. And that only one is existing in everyone. Just as one sun gives light to everyone—it doesn't matter whether human, animals, birds, other creatures, vegetation, stones, or water—for everyone the sun is there equally. Similarly, that cosmic form or cosmic cell, what we call Śiva, is the ātmā. Do not misunderstand Śiva just as an incarnation. Incarnations came after, but Śiva is a manifestation. And that is not a manifestation only for one individual, but we humans need a form to understand. We humans need something to hold. We humans need something to touch in order to believe. We humans need something to smell; yes, it is. And we humans like to adopt that beauty which, through our jñāna indriya—the senses of knowledge—we can accept and understand: vision, sound, smell, taste, and touch. These are the five jñānendriyas. In order to receive and understand through our jñānendriya, He has to manifest it. Otherwise, He is only the universal, the highest one in this universe. That's called Śiva consciousness. Kṛṣṇa said, 5,000 or 6,000 years ago, that the ātmā cannot be killed by any weapons. Ātmā cannot be burned or destroyed by any elements. And ātmā cannot be killed by death. Ātmā is unborn, immortal, and that ātmā is our reality. When you know that ātmā, you become a knower of the Self. Then you may say so'ham—"I am that"—and then "I am"; ahaṁ brahmāsmi—"I am the Brahman," "I am ātmā," "I am the ātmā." These are the mahāvākyas which indicate directly towards the ātmā (která vedou přímo k ātmu). When you have this ātma-jñāna, knowledge of the ātmā, then you perceive your body only like a snake's skin. Once a year or twice a year, it likes to shed its skin. It can't even see properly because the skin is also over its eyes. The snake has only one wish: to go to some thorny bush, climb on it, and try to come out of this skin. Then he or she feels liberated and relaxed. When we have ātma-jñāna, then all desires, all wishes, all negative qualities and positive qualities and everything is dissolved or liberated from you. Then everything becomes pleasant. You come to the brahma-jñāna, the ātman. "I am ātmā, ahaṁ brahmāsmi." But it is said that those who have this knowledge will never say, "I have ātma-jñāna." A siddha will never say, "I have siddhi." A rich man will never say, "I am the rich man." But a poor one will say, "Well, I have money." A rich man never counts every dollar or every forint every day. But a poor man, like we all, we count how many forints we have to pay for electricity, for the car, for the telephone, and how much we earn per month as salary. And we speak from that; we go to the supermarket and buy something best. As soon as you speak that you are a wise one, that you know everything and you have your own decisions now, you will lose everything. Therefore, never prophesy, never try to tell someone's future, never say that "I am the greatest one." Always be humble. It is said that the tree, when it gives fruits, then the branches are bending, coming down. So, the more fruits of the seed you have, the more humble and kind you become. You never speak bad words to anyone. Even if someone is bad to you, it doesn't matter. So, never anger, never jealous, never hate, never greed, never be offended by anything. Who is offended? Your ego. That means you are millions of kilometers far from ātma-jñāna. Therefore, God gave the human body to work through this body to attain that ātma-jñāna. That ātmā is within every creature. It is called, "Kaṅkar kaṅkar me Śaṅkar he." "Kaṅkar kaṅkar me Śaṅkar"—Śaṅkar is Śiva; in every corner of the sand, Śiva is there. Everywhere is Śiva-śakti, the power of Śiva. And therefore, the individual one is made. The individual soul is a mixture of ātmā—and ātmā is a shadow, a glimpse of the ātmā—and individual qualities. Both together become one, called jīvātmā, the soul. In English you call it soul, and the soul is not the Self. The Self is the ātmā. The soul is only jīvātmā. And jīvātmā is not the immortal one; jīvātmā is bound to destiny through karma. But, O human, O man, to become from jīva to Śiva, God gave you the human body. And to change from jīva to Śiva, you have to surrender and you have to kill all your negative hearts and negative desires. No anger, don't be sad. Who is sad? That one is sad who is in ignorance. That one is sad who did not understand yet Guru-kṛpā, the grace of the Guru. That one is scared and that one has a different searching. We say now, when I met my Gurudev, all my holy places, all pilgrimages and everything are in the lotus feet of my master. Lucky am I that I got a center in my master. Where should I go to search again for something? Abahama abahama Guru śaraṇa sukhapā sagaralasama sagaralasama I found the happiness, sukha. Unfortunately, it has no translation in English. You can say happy, you can say comfortable, you can say good, but still it's not sukha. Dukha and sukha: trouble is dukha, a painful thing is dukha, what is pain is dukha, and sukha is the opposite. So this jīvātmā experiences in many, many lives immense pain, immense pain. Can you imagine? In the slaughterhouse, one is killing an animal, and it's time for lunch; an animal with a half-cut throat is hanging, and a person goes for it. Can you imagine the pain of that creature? I'm a believer, but how many lives were we facing? Physical, emotional, mental pain in my ears. Now, finally, we got human life to come out of this suffering. So when I found the center in my master, and the master told me, "Don't do any more of that such negative karma; do only good things. That will create sukha, happiness." Therefore: Oṃ Prabhu Dīp Nirañjan Sabdukha Bhañjan Sāgar Lera Samaya Sāgar. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Weekend seminar