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This weekend, we repeatedly explore the same theme: Aparokṣa Anubhūti, self-realization according to the teaching of Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya. Brahmasatyam Jaganmithyā—Brahman, the highest Self, God, is the reality, and the world is unreality. There are 8.4 million different species of living beings. All are created from the five elements: fire, air, earth, water, and ether. These five elements form our body, and God has made Himself at home within this physical body. God dwells in this body in the form of breath. Ātman is a part of God, the essence of God. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya and all realized masters say there is no difference between your own true self and God Himself. For example, we have here in a bottle water from the Gaṅgā. The water is from the Gaṅgā. It is the same water as in the Gaṅgā itself. So, in this small bottle, there is Gaṅgā inside. We have limited it through this small vessel. But the water will remain inside only as long as this bottle exists. Afterwards, the water is reunited with water. And so, dualism remains as long as our body exists. When the body is gone, then the breath unites again with the Paramātmā, the highest Self. But until this breath unites with the Paramātmā and we gather these experiences, this realization, it is a long path. There are several bottles, several perspectives, until the liquid is released freely. And so, we have different types of bodies: physical bodies, astral bodies, kāmāyukta bodies. These various bodies form or remain together according to our karma. Karma holds great significance for all living beings. It is karma, our actions. And the actions are individual. God does not force anyone to do anything. We create for ourselves. We bring something into being. Karma is released. No one is forced to do anything; it is free. And the kind of karma we create will shape our future. There is a small example. A few little faces show that you should not blame anyone if something happens to you. It is your actions, your decision. The fault is always our own. But we try to shift our fault onto someone else, and then we believe we feel lighter or victorious. Everyone wants to have a victory in their subconscious, to be successful. Yes, it is our right that we should be successful, we should have a victory—but how? Not by oppressing someone else, not by being negligent towards anyone. It is to live a life without challenge and competitions. A story tells of a master, a teacher in a Gurukul. Gurukul is a boarding school. In those days, the Gurukul was with the master in the forest or in a hut. The students lived there and studied. Sometimes there are good students, sometimes bad students. And sometimes there are students who only want to play around and annoy the master. There are some masters who allow themselves to be annoyed, and some who do not let themselves be annoyed at all. Some masters give good teaching no matter what a student does. So, there were two or three students. They said, "Today we will test our Master. It is always said the Master knows everything, and we will prove to him that he knows nothing." There is another story: a priest or bishop has a very beautiful room with thick, heavy curtains. When he goes to sleep, the curtain is closed, so it is completely dark, no light at all comes in. He likes to sleep longer, until around 10 o’clock. Then his assistant or disciple comes in the morning and says, "Good morning, Master. It is a beautiful day today, the sun is shining." And he says, "I know it." The disciple thinks, "My God, how is that possible? He sleeps, the curtains are closed, he has not gotten up. How does he know?" This happens repeatedly. Once there was a terrible day, cold and raining and dark. The disciple comes and says, "Master, today is a beautiful day, the sun is shining." The master said, "I know it." The disciple opened the curtains and said, "You know nothing at all. It is a bad day." So, the spiritual masters are not like these worldly masters. There are two kinds of masters: worldly masters, like a schoolmaster—we are all worldly masters—and there is a divine Master, like Mahāprabhujī. The students decided to tease the Master a little. That proves nothing. We will prevail, and the Master will then be inspected. Two or three students came to the master. One of them had caught a bird in his hand and was hiding his hands behind his back. They approached the master and asked, "Master, if you know everything, then we have a question: what do I have in my hand?" The master said, "You have a bird in your hand." He said, "That's right." But everyone was watching, thinking, "What do we do now? Nevertheless, we want him to lose and for us to be the victors." They discussed, and then one of them asked, "Now we will ask the Master whether this bird is alive or dead." It was alive in his hand. Their plan was: if the Master says it is alive, they would immediately press it so it dies, and then prove to him it is dead. If he says it is dead, they would show him it is a living bird. Then they said, "Dear Master, please tell us, since you know everything, whether the bird is alive or a dead bird." The Master said, "My dear disciple, whether the bird is alive or dead also depends on your hand. It is in your hands, your life. It will be as you wish." And so this story ends as it should: your life will be so, and nothing else—not what you ask someone else and someone else says, and you do nothing or do the opposite. Do you have trust in those when you ask something, or do you only test? Do you have enough trust in your master to accept what he says? Or are you merely playing a game and taking a test? We never know whether your master, in what he says, is presenting a test or a teaching within it. A student asks the master nothing, why nothing? When the student understands nothing, he waits, reflects, and prays: "Lord God, dear Master, let me know. May the time come when I know why." And then we will be happy that we have done the nothing which we absolutely wanted to do. Our karma, how our life is now, how it will be in the future, whether we achieve something or nothing at all—we need clear thoughts, trust, and a surrender. Such devotion that nothing and no one can take us away. To realize the Divine Self within our own consciousness, within our own Self—self-realization is not easy. It requires much effort, much discipline. It takes a long, long time. And as long as one lives in duality, one is always in ignorance. Then there exists the self as a person, an individual. So either you want to exist as you are from your own self, or you want to become one in God with God. Be sure: when you are one with God, then you are not God. But God will always be God. And as long as you want to be your own self, then you are also not God. You are your own self as an individual. The difference between us and God is that we possess qualities. And the quality determines whether we possess a human quality or the quality of a demon, a murderer, a Rākṣasa, Asuras, Devas, or the divine Self. As long as there is sugar in the water, the water will always taste sweet. That means sugar exists. But when sugar gives up its taste, then no one can say that there is sugar in the water. The quality is very important, the properties. Every individual has their own property. We should work on purifying these qualities, namely ego, doubt, hatred, greed, jealousy, anger, envy. None of these negative qualities belong to God; God has no negative qualities. And we ourselves know very well which qualities we still possess. We are above things as long as the things are not present. But as soon as they are present, then things stand above us. So, nobody can judge, no one can condemn, as long as one has not been confronted with or encountered it oneself. And this is precisely the point of testing. Like a story from long ago, I have told it several times. A student comes to the master and says, "Master, now I am one with God. I have reached the highest level. Nothing exists within me at all: no anger, hatred, suffering, greed, jealousy, nothing at all, Master." The Master said, "It gives me great joy. To have such a disciple is directly a liberation for the master as well." So that means the Master has fulfilled his task in this world. And now the master himself is the master; he will abide forever with his own highest Self, and he gives tasks to his disciples. But the Master wants to be absolutely sure. He said, "Then sit beside me and show me your state." He said, "Yes Master, immediately. I will meditate, and you will see how far I have come." So, he sits in lotus, sits very straight, strict—that is called a Neuyogī, a beginner. He sits there all tense, and after 20 minutes, 30 minutes, he speaks: "Master, although it is very difficult for me to speak here, because I stand above the Indriyas, my speech Indriyas cannot touch me, but still I have to come back a little, one step. There is absolutely nothing within me: no hatred, no suffering, no anger, nothing at all, Master. You exist within me. I am Nirākāra, Nirguṇa, Niranjana, Siddhānanda, Svarūpa, one with the sky. I am like a sky." And the Master knew where he is. The master takes a bamboo stick and strikes his head, hard, with force. And the disciple jumps out of his meditation with such anger. His eyes were like devil’s eyes, red. And he says, "Have you gone mad? How can you do that? What have I done to you?" The Master said, "You have done nothing at all. You told me that nothing exists within you, but I am surprised—where does this anger come from now? It does not come from me, my dear; it comes from your tremors, from your vṛttis, from your consciousness." And so it is beautiful to always say, "I am healthy," or "I am successful," and so on. But we do not yet know which qualities still exist in which corner of our consciousness. How many black spots do we have on our consciousness? And as long as these qualities exist within us, these attributes, we will always be individual. We always exist as individual beings—not living creatures, but beings. The living being is only referred to here as what is on the physical planes. But the being still wanders in the astral planes, like a soul or spirit or whatever one calls it. He finds his liberation only through the human body, birth in the human body, through good deeds, through devotion, and only through Guru Kṛpā. And to attain this Guru Kṛpā, one needs to understand Guru Sevā and Guru Vākya. The words of the master—one who understands nothing cannot perform Sevā. Some understand the words only on an intellectual level, try them for a while, and then say, "I know this too." Anyone can read a Bible. Perhaps anyone can read it beautifully and explain well what is written in the Bible. But the same Bible, when read by an initiate or a priest, has a different effect on our consciousness. And therefore, the words from the Master, when you hear them directly and receive instructions from the Master, have a completely different effect than when you read them yourself and think, "Aha, so that is how it is." It is so. And that is why the Satsaṅga is very important. Going into Satsaṅga and during the time in Satsaṅga, when someone speaks, in that person speaks the Satguru, Guru Vākyas. The words of the Master are all sacred scriptures: Bhagavad Gītā, or Rāmāyaṇa, or Vedas, or Upaniṣads, or Qur’an, or Bible. All these beautiful sacred books are the words of the Master. So, first understand the Guru Vākya and then the Guru Sevā. One should perform Sevā without expectations. Serve selflessly, not selfishly. Although we have a selfish thought with Sevā—that we will receive Kṛpā, Guru Kṛpā; we will attain our Mokṣa; we will have our development, higher development; we will liberate ourselves from our karmas or sins—but such selfish thoughts are healthy. So, no selfish thoughts for the material world, but spiritual thoughts. If the Sevā is proper and continues for months and years, or Yugas and Yugas, when the disciple performs their Sevā, then perhaps Kṛpā-dṛṣṭi will be a glance filled with grace. And when a glance is filled with grace, those moments become indescribable; in that moment, the master and the disciple are united in the Supreme itself. The master can bestow a glance a thousand times, but it is not the glance itself, because the disciple has not yet attained that purity or that stage. The consciousness of the student should also be transparent. And when the student's consciousness is transparent, then the gaze of the Master is like a sun, shining through and through. To be the sun, there is a deep wall here and curtains. No light enters. And so the master is there; he always looks, he gazes at the disciple, but nothing passes through. We wait for the moments when our consciousness is suddenly pure and the Master looks within. It goes in like a flash of lightning. And therefore, in our lives it is very important that we reflect on what we do, why we are here, what we have achieved so far, how much effort we have made here and there, everywhere. Let us finally, finally decide for something, for eternity. And good deeds always bear good fruits. Good deeds always bear good fruits. Try to be like a flower: very delicate, very gentle, very beautiful. If you cannot be a flower, then please do not be a thorn. Sometimes people say, "He or she is like a thorn in my eyes." We strive that if we cannot be flowers, at least we do not become thorns. That means to forgive, to understand. To give freedom is to have freedom. Realize a sanctuary, understand, forgive, grant freedom, tolerance, compassion. Always try to place yourself in the position or in the state or in the person. For example, your husband has a precious ceramic vase from your great-grandfather, your mother-in-law’s grandfather. So how many generations is that? Your great-grandfather, your mother-in-law’s grandfather, the uncle who gave it as a gift—and suddenly, by mistake, your husband lets it fall from his hands and it breaks. Now you must not start rolling the dough on the poor man. Now think: it could be like that. You are the one from whose hand the vase fell, and now your husband wants to beat you with the whip. How do you feel then? Although there is nothing easier than losing and grieving such a precious vase, it does not matter. It does indeed. But still, a sage says, Śaṅkarācārya says: what is created will one day be destroyed. Whoever is born is destined to die one day. When one has built a house, one day the house will surely be dismantled. And that is it. Ghaṭākāśa, Maṭākāśa, Cidākāśa, Mahākāśa, Ākāśa. So whatever is within the Ghaṭākāśa, within the vessel, the space, is indestructible. But the vessel will eventually, perhaps in three million years, break. And so nothing is eternal except Ātman. Ātman, Jñāna, self-realization, self-knowledge, is the goal of human life. Sleeping, eating, drinking, and building a house—animals can do as well. There is only a small difference between animal and human. Some animals have two [horns] above here, and humans do not. So human beings are here to create something good for themselves, for others, and through good deeds, with good qualities, to return to God, to return to Mokṣa, unity with the divine Self.