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I am very happy to see you all on this very special occasion of Christmas. You have all come, and indeed, this is the first Christmas satsaṅg in Gurujī's āśram. You are all most welcome. We all know the glory of Christmas because we know the Bible. The real sense of celebrating Christmas can only be realized if we follow the teaching of Jesus, the Holy Saint. Every spiritual festival or occasion has a great meaning, not only for humans but for the entire planet. Whenever a spiritual, divine soul manifests on this globe, it is not for a particular person or a particular part of the world, but for the whole world. God's incarnation is for everyone. God-realization, or liberation, is not limited to any culture, country, or any part of the world. It is universal. Therefore, this spiritual realization—God-realization, Brahmajñāna, self-realization—is for everyone, if we follow the principles or the rules. Spirituality needs discipline and continuity. Worldly people, out of worldly desires, often change their feelings, which means they break their discipline. Spirituality is a very rich food, and not everyone can digest it. To be successful, we need discipline. First, we have to become free from those negative powers which are within our phenomenon: Kāma, Krodha, Mada, Lobha, Moha, and Ahaṅkāra. Passion, anger, pride, greed, delusion, and ego. If you have not purified yourself of this selfishness, there is a door closed for you. It does not matter how long you are practicing. It is hard work to change the inner feelings, the prakṛti. We cannot change the prakṛti, but we can purify it. Otherwise, prakṛti is like this: there is a dog or a cat, and you feed your cat vegetarian food. As soon as the cat sees a mouse, she will attack it. She will kill the mouse and eat it. In that minute, she does not think that she is a vegetarian. But there is a difference between a cat and a human. Humans may say for some time, "I don't want anything, only spirituality and meditation." But when temptation comes, that inner desire, like a cat's, attacks, and then you forget again all your pure consciousness, pure thinking, and pure actions. Temptation and desires have destroyed many, many people. Therefore, we have to observe ourselves; we have to guard ourselves. Like there is a security, a very tight security, to guard an entire house from near and far for one person or more, the ātmā which resides within us is a VIP. Your ātmā is a very important person. Now, your buddhi, your intellect—the main duty of your intellect is to guard your ātmā from Kāma, Krodha, Mada, Lobha, and Moha. Otherwise, years and years of practice are destroyed. I see many people, day by day, out of their weakness and lack of willpower, attacked by this inner enemy, and again they are lost. When the cat sees the mouse, she forgets, as I said, that she is a vegetarian. But not only this, she also forgets what is ahiṃsā. One cannot follow ahiṃsā unless one knows what it means. That ahiṃsā you should have towards thyself. Put yourself in the place of the mouse, and then you will see what it means when the cat attacks you. Therefore, in the Holy Bible, it says, "Thou shalt not kill"—not only humans, but all other creatures. Suffering and pain for a living being who is living in the five-element body, where the prāṇa resides, is not easy. We are afraid of a small injection, so what can you imagine when the cat bites a living mouse? At that time, the mouse prays, and he gives the suggestion to the cat: "Thou shalt not kill." But that cat does not listen because its nature is such. So many people fall into temptation. Even when they go to a pilgrim place, they fall into temptation and lose their path. They go to India and fall into such temptation, they lose the path, and not only themselves but they also confuse others. There is a double sin. Therefore, we have to learn and remember those holy souls or holy incarnations who incarnated in this world. They manifested their divine divinity here in divine form, and they were also going through great difficulties. Whoever comes into this world finds it is a suffering world, a mortal world, not an immortal one. But in this mortal body, we can achieve the immortality of realization. Wise are they who overcome Kāma, Krodha, Mada, Lobha, Moha, Ahaṅkāra, Īrṣā, and Dveṣa. Īrṣā means jealousy, and dveṣa means duality. But the dveṣa of duality here means quarreling—not only duality, but with hate. You divide with hate; that's called īrṣā. And in whose heart is īrṣā, there all negative qualities are residing in the heart or the consciousness of that person. Holy festivals like Christmas, or Dīvālī, Rakṣā Bandhan, or Eid—in Judaism there are also holidays, in Islam, in Buddhism—every religion has a beautiful spiritual day. These days remind us about love and unity. Only love can bring unity. Where there is īrṣā or dveṣa, jealousy and duality, there cannot be unity. The problem is this: we have heard this many times, but it is so intensive. Īrṣā is so intensive. I was thinking recently, I was in the hospital, and they gave an injection here in the vein with a needle. I was thinking to bend my arm, you know, and the needle was telling me, "No, no." So Īrṣā is a needle in the heart of a person. It doesn't matter who it is. He who has īrṣā knows this. If I tell Madhu to speak something, Erika will be very jealous. And that is the īrṣā. "Why does Swāmījī tell Madhu to speak?" This kind of quality immediately shows that you are still on the zero point. You are nowhere. Yesterday, I was looking at a video, a little bit about Kṛṣṇa. There is a new, nice story about God Kṛṣṇa, and people say it's very nice. So I wanted to see, and I saw the first episode. There were some questions, and there was Bhakti. She was crying because her two sons were suffering greatly in Kali Yuga. The sons of Bhakti are Jñāna and Vairāgya. In Kali Yuga, there is jñāna, but vairāgya is very little in us. So Jñāna and Vairāgya are suffering in us. When Jñāna and Vairāgya are suffering, then Bhakti is very unhappy, and she is crying because she is lost. So the son of Brahmā, the great sage Nārada, promised Bhakti to find the answer of how Jñāna and Vairāgya can be happy and young again. You will be surprised that when you see the pictures of the goddesses and different gods in Indian mythology, either male or female, they always look very young and beautiful. It looks like a young girl, about 20 or 25 years old, and she's a grandmother or great-grandmother. We ask, why? How is it possible? Because where there is spirituality, there is youthfulness all the time. You are never old. When you lose this, suddenly you have no more aura, you have no more charisma. Very often, I see people who fall into some wrong direction through temptation. Then I often tell people, "Now you see the aura of this person. One who is very spiritual is always young, always beautiful." But Jñāna and Vairāgya were very old, suffering, and crying. They couldn't even get up, because in Kali Yuga, Jñāna is knowledge and Vairāgya is detachment. Anyhow, Nārada went to search for God Kṛṣṇa in the universe, because you never know where Kṛṣṇa is playing his līlā—on which lokas, on which planet Kṛṣṇa was playing, dancing with the gopīs. Nārada was running throughout the entire universe, but he couldn't see Kṛṣṇa anywhere. Kṛṣṇa was smiling and said to the gopī, to Rādhā, "Oh my, I have to go." "Where?" said Rādhā. "Where?" "My one bhakta is searching for me and suffering, but you know, he..." He had a great ego, that's why I'm not appearing to him, and I have to give him punishment. So the master always gives punishment to the disciple to destroy the ego of the disciple. If you are a true disciple, then the ego will be destroyed; you will be free. If you are not right, then you will leave the master and go somewhere, lost in the universe. So the master has to be strict, but it is with love. Anyhow, Nārada was searching for Kṛṣṇa in the universe, and then the merciful Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared to Nārada. He asked Nārada what he needed or for what he called. So we are in this universe searching, and in this mṛti loka we are here, searching for that Kṛṣṇa of our ātmā, our inner self. But you cannot see; you cannot have ātmā jñāna, self-realization, as long as you have this ahaṁkāra, ego: Kāma, Krodha, Mada, Lobha, Moha, Ahaṁkāra, Rāga, Dveṣa. So, it is a clear answer for you and for me. If I have in my heart these qualities, then I know my door is closed. So you need not ask, "Master, do I have jealousy or not? Swāmījī, am I jealous?" I said, "No, you are not." I go, how could it be possible that you are jealous? No, no. You think I am a selfish Swāmījī? I said, "No, no, no. You are never selfish. Only your body is selfish, you know." So this is what you have. Don't ask someone. If you ask someone how beautiful you are, do you think they will say you are ugly? If you ask me how beautiful you are, I will say, "Oh, very beautiful." I will not say you are ugly. Therefore, a blind one, an ignorer, is that one who asks others, "You think that I am jealous? You think I am selfish?" No. You know very well. Don't ask others; ask thyself. And so the holy days—the Christmas, the incarnation day of Jesus, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, or Buddha—this all has a message for humanity and positive energy for the entire planet: to protect the whole planet, to protect all the elements, to protect the vegetation, rivers, lakes, oceans, and all creatures. God is for everyone, and therefore there are no dualities, no boundaries, no limitations. There is no limitation in God's love. God's love is free and endless. Everyone can... A beautiful lake, a beautiful clean river is flowing, and everyone can drink water who wants to drink water. When the river is flowing, and if you are drinking water and another one also comes to drink and you are jealous, then you know how far you are. So that cat does not know about ahiṃsā because this cat is only acting according to its nature. But for humans, God has given intellect, and we shall use this. Use your intellect. Use something which God has given us between two ears here, and that is our brain, and in the brain is everything. In this way, in the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, God Kṛṣṇa said very clearly about the tree. This tree is a human life, and the branches are our limbs. Every leaf of the tree are the hymns, the mantras, the names of God. Our actions are the fruits which are hanging on the tree—good things—and the light is the glory of our deeds. We are born here to bring the light, to be the light in darkness. "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya." Lead us from the darkness to the light. This is the Upaniṣad's mantra: "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya." Lead us from mortality to immortality. And "Asato mā satyam gamaya." Lead us from unreality to reality. From unreality to reality, from mortality to immortality, and from the darkness of ignorance to knowledge and light—we can only proceed if we follow the divine teachings of those holy incarnations, like Jesus, who came, who suffered, but still he remained on his path. For me, Jesus is an idol, an example. What kind of example? Jesus is a great example. That great example for me is this: whatever happened, he didn't change his path. He did not change his opinion. Even he had to suffer on the cross, but he remained for God, for the truth, and with a great heart of forgiveness. So it doesn't matter what happened: hunger, thirst, pain, suffering, name, fame... always. And that reminds me when I sing the song, or when you sing the song, I remember Jesus very much, and that is: Milta hai saccha sukh, keval phalata hai saccha sukh. Ke bhagavān, āp ke caranoṁ, Gurudeva, āpke meṁ milatā hai saccha sukh. Ke Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. And afterwards in this song it is said, "Even I have to walk on the thorns, even I have to go through the fire, but Lord, still I will be for you, because I know." And that's what God Jesus suffered to bring: this message of peace, love, and unity. So, for me, Christmas is a very clear picture of the path to reality, to realization: to follow the master truthfully, not to eat only the cakes and the sweets and make the business. So, Christmas tree—you are the Christmas tree. Everyone who comes to you should find something under this tree. Everyone who takes shelter in thee should find love, forgiveness, and understanding—not the rāga and dveṣa, not the jealousy, and not the dualities. Quit out, purify, and... this all. This time is called like Dīvālī Pakṣa; like this is a Christmas Pakṣa. This is the time. We know exactly on which day he was incarnated, I mean Jesus, but this is the time more or less, and this light is because of the darkness. But if you think of the Christmas tree light, it is because it is dark here in Europe. But what about in Australia? It is the biggest day now and hot, so Australians also celebrate Christmas. Christmas is celebrated around the whole world. You will be surprised: the largest community of Catholics is living in India, more than in Europe. And the largest community of Muslims is living in India, except Indonesia. So, Christmas, God's light, God's name is everywhere throughout the whole world. We can't say from where it is. This incarnation of Jesus is coming from the East. I am always smiling inside. They say that the evening lands or the urban lands are European, that Christianity is a European religion. It is not a European religion. It is an Eastern religion, but we don't think so far. Anyhow, it doesn't matter—east or west, north or south, everywhere. Because sooner or later, the sun will rise here, and also the sun will set in this part of the world. So everywhere it is. So it is nicely said: when the first sun ray reaches that land, it becomes the holy land. So I wish you many, many blessings of God, Jesus, and all holy incarnations. May these days give you sad-buddhi, good intellect, that you will forget all your enemies, the mistakes of all others; forgive them, love them, give them understanding, and purify your heart. Bless your family, your friends, and your country. And I wish you a very happy, prosperous, and healthy new year. Of course, we will see each other many times. So it depends on when we will see. We can say that we will see, but we don't know what happens in the coming days. So let's be happy together as long as Mā Prabhujī's blessing is that we are together.