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The earth was under water, and we can imagine that the first part which emerged was the Himalayas, the highest peaks in the world. We know that when the earth surfaced, most of it was under ice and snow. At that time, the Earth was covered with ice and snow. This planet developed over millions of years. We cannot say when and how this creation began. What came first, plants or other creatures? Everything is only a question mark for us. But we do know of the first principle, called Svayambhū Śiva. Svayambhū means that no one has manifested Him. It is He who has manifested Himself. Svayambhū means it is a phenomenon that no one created; He created Himself, without a father and without a mother. That is the first Puruṣa, the first man. That is what we call the divine will. It is said, "Eko’haṁ Bhausyāmī"—I am one and now I will multiply. This awakening in the Cosmic Consciousness, this will or desire, was awakened. And that was in the form of sound. The entire universe was a great sound. The whole universe is a great sound; that is a revelation, a cosmic revelation. Then began all the different planets and stars from that sound. And that sound is OṂ. That resonance brought the entire universe together. It is that resonance which has maintained or manifested all the planets and stars and suns and moons. From this resonance, all the stars, the planets, the Sun, and the Moon manifest themselves. Perhaps there are other planets on which some living beings live, or they once existed and no longer exist. It is hard to say. But this planet where we are living is a very special planet in the universe. It is the residence of individual beings. This planet is called the planet of karma. It is called Mṛtyuloka. Mṛtyu means death. So birth and death are experienced on this planet. On this planet are dwelling two principles: the karma and the dharma. Dharma and karma are only realized here. And it is the cause of the karmas that leads the individual life on this planet and on other planets. So cause, action, and result—that is valid on this planet. With this cosmic sound, when the creation took place, it is like dust. When you drive a car on a dry, dusty road and the dust comes, or the fog—like this, the entire universe had this sound. That sound is balancing, and that sound is still within us. Each and every blood cell, each and every atom of our body, is filled with that endless cosmic sound that is OṂ. You have to realize that Oṁ. If you realize that at the time of self-realization, you become one with the Aum. You call thyself as Aum. There was a great saint, Swami Śivānandajī of Ṛṣikeśa. He was a self-realized saint and he preached a lot about Oṃ. Constantly, all the time, he was chanting Oṃ. He used to sing, "I am Aum, you are Aum, we are Aum. All is Aum." He would sing, "I am Om, you are Om, we are Om, everything is Om. Om is above, Om is below. In front, on the side is Om. Om is everywhere." That sound itself is the supreme. That itself is the cosmic one, and that is your Self, your Ātmā. For this realization, God has given us life on this planet. The Creator has created 8.4 million different creatures on this planet. It is a cycle of 8.4 million creatures coming and going. So it is experienced here with you, the date. When this planet was in question to be created—because I think that God had some different imagination of the creation—God was thinking to manifest it in form, to manifest His līlā, to play His divine theater, His divine game. For divine play, you need two, not one. You need the knower and the object. So we need knowledge, knower, and object—three things. So this is the divine place where the Divine Consciousness incarnates and plays the Divine Līlā. This Divine Līlā, everyone cannot understand. Only those who have Guru Kṛpā, those who have blessings, will understand. Not everyone can understand what God is. Everyone cannot understand. Rare are they who have this God consciousness to understand God. Normal people sometimes awaken in themselves some kind of realization. They begin to realize there is some spirituality, there is the divine. But again, through their own mistakes and all negative qualities, they fall into the māyā. But again, because of their negative characteristics and their mistakes, they fall into illusion. In this world of death, there are many temptations, māyās, and it is not easy to get out of it. There are some people who tried very hard for a few years not to fall into ignorance. But as soon as they find a chance, they jump into it. Like a dog: you can train your dog to be vegetarian from birth onwards, and after ten years, if a dog sees a piece of meat somewhere, he will jump on it. Though he never saw meat in his life and was always vegetarian, it is a tendency in that dog to be attached to this meat. So there are some people; for a few years they try hard to be on the spiritual path, but when they see some occasions, then they are like the dog. And there are some dogs whose tails are up and rolled upward. If you want to have a straight tail of the dog, you can hold it for a long time. As soon as you release it from your hands, it will roll back. So as long as there is spiritual injection, then you are straight, but as soon as the effect of the spiritual teachings is distanced from you, again you fall into that darkness. And this māyā means ignorance. Māyā means anger, jealousy, complexes, greediness, desires, passion. All this is māyā; this is ignorance. So, especially for humans, the higher they develop, the greater the danger is. The human consciousness is developing very much, and in the last century, humanity made immense progress. But towards the material, we play with material. Materialism is very strong. The consciousness does not have the motivation for spiritual development. Both cannot go together. Either the dark or the light. In the room, there is darkness. It’s dark. You put on the light, but there is no dark. You put off the light. There will be darkness, but there is no light. So this dark part of our development in our consciousness is all this material, the microphone. Before 100 years, or 200—I don’t know since when the microphone and loudspeaker have been existing—but before 200 years perhaps, if you will touch like this, magic, I will touch my head, and sound will be there. And now we know what that is. So all aeroplanes, all this technology, it is something. We did. It’s a very big, very divine development. It is something, but still not that supreme. It is not that cosmic, for what human is born. So you need a God consciousness to realize God. You need a master consciousness to realize the Master. If you do not have this consciousness, you cannot realize. There was one farmer long, long ago. There were a lot of cows and buffaloes. A few centuries ago, man’s wealth was in the cattle he owned: elephants, horses, cows—not for food, but for milk and just as their property. When you want to marry your daughter to someone, then they ask how many cows you have. How many cows will you give with your daughter? A thousand, five thousand. Five daughters—my God. Five daughters, you have to give the 5,000 cows. But the poor man who will get the 5,000 cows and elephants—if someone will come and give you an elephant, what will you do with it? To keep one elephant is not an easy job. One elephant eats one big tree per day. But how will you ride this elephant? Where will you keep him? So we humans have lost these abilities. We are not able to keep these animals. So there was a farmer in a small village, and one master came to that village. He used to give the satsaṅg for about ten days. The farmer still didn’t understand. What is a master? What is satsaṅg? But he came every day to the satsaṅg. He liked talking, listening to what the Master was talking about. Though he didn’t understand anything—Master was talking every day about mantra, Guru Kṛpā, Guru, God—on the last day, the farmer came to the master and said, "Sir, I don’t understand anything. You talked so nicely. I like talking, but after half a minute, I don’t know what you talked. But you taught something, mantra, guru mantra, guru mantra—this I remember. Do you think, Master, that I am ready to get guru mantra?" Master said, "Yes." "Then please give me." So, Master gave him one mantra. He spoke to him, and the farmer was disappointed. He said, "Master, I thought mantra would be something to eat or something big. And you only said something, and that’s all. Even I don’t remember, 'Om Namo Śivāya,' or 'Śivāya Namo,' or 'Namo Śivāya,' I don’t know." Master said, "Well, then say only Oṁ." He said, "I don’t understand anything. But I will say Om. When I go with my cows, I will say to them, Om, Om..." "What did he say? I gave you OM." He said, "You didn’t give me. You just said OM. That’s all. And Guru Kṛpā. Master, at least you can give me this, so I can always have it with me and show everybody that my Guru gave me this kṛpā." Master said that I will give you after some time. "Okay. Good." So the Master asked him a question. "Tell me, what do you think about me?" He asked the farmer. The farmer said, "Master, should I be honest?" He said, of course. Only you have to be honest. "Yes, Master, I think of you. You look like a bull in my cows. That’s all. Always, whenever I see you, you are so many kilos and so heavy, it looks like a bull." Master said, "Thank you. Repeat your mantra, and sometime I will come back." You know, these people are very innocent, but very disciplined. When they promised, they promised. They are not tricky like humans are now; business people are very tricky. We are too materialistic, and we always change our opinion. So he begins to repeat OM, OM, OM. After one year, the Master came, and the farmer was very happy to meet his Master. The farmer was the first one who came there. And after one week, when Master was going, Master asked the farmer, "What do you think about me now?" "Should I be honest?" He said yes. "Yes, Master. We are working very hard to earn our bread and butter. And you are earning your bread and butter while talking." Master said, "Big progress. Big, big progress you made." He said, "So, me, where did I make big?" "You made me from a bull to a human. Keep on repeating the mantra. I will come again next year." So, the farmer was very happy that he made big progress. So, he was repeating more OM, OM... and again in one year, the Master came. And the Master asked, "What do you think of me again?" He said, "Well, we worldly people are innocent and ignorant, and you are a wise man. You have a lot of wisdom." The master said, "You have made great progress." "Master, how big? I don’t see. When will you show me this big? Always you said big, but where is that?" Master said, "You may keep on practicing." Now, at least he made me a wise man. Now, all the time he is thinking of his Master and repeating mantra, OM, OM, OM. And the master came after one year, and the farmer came also. After ten days of satsaṅg, the master asked the farmer, "What do you think about me now?" He answered, "We are mortal beings on this planet, but you are a holy man, immortal." Master said, "You made immense progress." "How many kilometers, Master?" "Many, many kilometers." Master was thinking, now from the wise man, he made me the holy man. "Keep on practicing your mantra." And after one year, the Master came again. Before the Master could ask him what he thought of the Master, the farmer stood in front of the master with folded hands and said, "Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara." Master got the answer, and Master said, "Now you have that consciousness, the consciousness which I want to give you." And he said, "Farmer, dear Master, it was only possible through your kṛpā." The Master asked him, "Have you got my kṛpā?" He said, "Yes, sir. My life is your kṛpā. Everything is your kṛpā. Not a leaf of the tree can move without your kṛpā." And that’s called God-realizing. That consciousness must be developed. And if you do not have that consciousness, you cannot come out of this ignorance. And again you will fall into that darkness. The great cheater is the māyā. Māyā is a great treasurer. She has a tricolour knot in her hand. Any time she can hang you up. Bolo, the Madhurī Bānī speaks a very sweet language. And it’s a beautiful long bhajan. At a holy place, she becomes holy water. In the temple, a statue. A queen for a king. Disciple, for a yogī, this māyā is very tricky and very cheating. So Kabīr Dās said, "The rare are they who can come out of this māyā." So you need to develop this God consciousness. We have to stay in this world. We have to work in this world. We have to eat, drink, sleep, and move. Do everything, like all people are doing. But our inner destination, inner imagination, our inner definition, our idea, should be different. We live in this physical body, and this body is bound to nature. Dharma of the body is to be born, grow, and die. And the condition of the body depends on the nourishment. But it doesn’t matter how well you nourish your body; one day you have to leave it. Therefore, the time, what we call the time, is bounded more, applied more to our planet. And we are every day celebrating the time. Birthday. What does that mean? Again, one year less in your life. Again, one day less in your life. One hour less. Day by day. Every hour and minute, our life is decreasing. It’s getting shorter and shorter. Don’t think that a better time will come and you will do it. Such thinking is only the thinking of a fool, not of the wise. So, the merciful one has given us the opportunity to be human on this planet. And we do understand what life means: birth and death. And this chance is gone, is gone. When you blow off the flame, you can’t catch it anywhere. You are sitting and looking, and the flame has disappeared. Where is that flame? Which window went out? Through which door did it go out? How does the flame disappear? In the same way, you will disappear. Even our dear one is sitting near and holding hands; it doesn’t help. Came alone, and we will go alone. You have to go alone on your journey. Only the destiny can be achieved through your destiny, and destiny is created by our own karma, our own actions. God helps us only if we help ourselves. Therefore, you can only see God if you have God consciousness. You can only see your lover if you have loving consciousness. You can only see your enemy when you have enemy consciousness. You can remember someone only when you have that memory, that consciousness. And so is God’s consciousness. Consciousness is Śiva. And now it is called the Śiva-rātri parva, the day and night of Śiva. It begins today. It will begin early in the morning. Tomorrow the whole day will be Śiva-rātri. Ratri means the night, but it is the day. People are fasting tomorrow and having the celebration of Śivarātri, and after 12 in the night or morning, they will eat something. But if you understand what the fasting means, you take only liquid if it is necessary. But liquid means not vodka. It doesn’t mean vodka, but it means water. But 99% of you don’t understand this. That’s why it makes no sense to talk about it. You need discipline. If you don’t understand, you cannot. A pilot has to follow the discipline strictly. Otherwise, he can’t fly, and they will not let him fly. So fasting means it is a sādhanā. You are aware of that, and you don’t eat anything. Not that you don’t like to eat, or not that you are fasting, but you know why. That consciousness you need—not even a biscuit, not even chewing gum. And I saw people on Thursdays in the satsaṅg. Many are listening to satsaṅg because they are fasting, they are standing, making like this. Like many goats are sitting beside you, chewing gum is also not allowed. If you have a problem with your health, you can take some fruit. But fasting is a holy thing, and for European culture, in Christianity, fasting has a great meaning, and they do fast strictly, and they pray. But many people who came to yoga, they also don’t follow the Christian discipline, nor the Islamic discipline, nor the Hindu discipline. You are between, that’s it. As I noticed about fasting and mauna, it is my 36 years’ experience. Still, I couldn’t bring one disciple to the mauna. That’s hard work. I hope one day somebody will get Mauna. I was looking yesterday at a video about Kṛṣṇa. Krishna brought someone to Mauna, that he could not speak anything then. No, Śāntī? But how he brought to Mauna, that is a different thing. So therefore, fasting, mauna, prayers—if you go to the monastery, there are beautiful monasteries existing in Europe. If you go to Italy, Greece, I think there are also some monasteries in Czech and Slovak Republic also. Unfortunately, not so traditionally existing now, or I don’t know. But in these monasteries, silent. When you go to the church, automatically you are silent. And when you speak, you speak loud. Why? Nobody tells you to keep mauna. Automatically, you are silent. And here, what happens in satsaṅg? As soon as I walk out, there will be so many sounds. So you didn’t understand. So in the monastery, if you live for ten days or five days or go there for some day sādhanā, there will be mauna, there will be fasting, and there will be prayers. So it is not that there is no God here in Europe; in Europe, God is also. God also, you don’t have to go very far away, you can have it everywhere. In this room, you can see God if you have God consciousness; otherwise, you can’t see. If you have a jealous consciousness, then you will see jealousy. So Dayā will think, "Why is Śāntī singing today, and why am I not singing?" If she will have this consciousness, or if Dayā will have consciousness that Śāntī is my elder guru-sister. Elder guru-sister is like your own guru. And Dayā has to go to touch the feet of the Śāntīs. But her ego doesn’t allow this. Even she doesn’t say Hari Om. Order Śānti to the dayā. So, if among these sannyāsīs, this consciousness is not there, how can it be between you? Yesterday I was sitting, Śāntī was sitting, Mantra Devī came in, she greeted me and sat down. She didn’t say anything, Hari Om. Śāntī was sitting there. She didn’t say Hari Om. This consciousness is missing. She was not aware of it, that she didn’t greet. It is not that she doesn’t want to greet, but she was knocked out. There was nothing existing except Swāmījī. It’s her duty to go to Śāntī and bow down and say, "Hari Om." So this is how we miss it. There was a blind man going through the room. He walks by himself and wants to find where the door is. He puts his hand on the wall and slowly walks. When the door came, he was scratching his head and walked far. The door left. Again, walking, and the door came. It was itching here, and the door left. So, at the right time, there is some itching of the māyā, temptation, ignorance, and that is missing in our consciousness. Therefore, fasting, prayers, and silence develop this spirituality. As much as you talk, you lose the energy. And mostly people are chatting, gossiping. So much gushing up, you can’t imagine. And there is an initiation of gossiping. I live in Vienna, so I have more experiences with my Viennese disciples. The beautiful people came to the seminar. And their teachers are so expert, they didn’t teach them more in yoga than initiating them in gush-uping. Not all, but some, so you lose your spirituality. You lose everything. Kabir Das said in his bhajans, "Do not fall into ignorance and attachment. Believe in God. God has given you eyes to see the divine, and a mouth to sing the Lord’s name." God has given you something to give to others. God has given you the whole body for something. But if you do not have this consciousness within this body, then you will use this body in a negative way. All your energy you will spend on negative things. But you don’t have consciousness. If I tell somebody that you made a mistake, they will say, "No, that’s not a mistake." And then, four or five months, this person will always say, "Why did you say that I made a mistake? What do you mean that I made a mistake? How could you think that I made a mistake?" So I said, "My Gurudev, excuse me." I said to this person, "Such a consciousness people have. Spirituality cannot develop." You have to have pure consciousness. Consciousness is where God resides inside. God speaks in you. God acts in you. Ātmā jñāna. I am the Aum, I am the Soham, I am Ātmā, and everyone is Ātmā. I like my whole body, I like my small finger, and I like my small fingernail also. Also, I like my small toe. If my small toe is missing, I will put the socks on so that others don’t see that I have no one toe. I am ashamed of myself that I don’t have a small toe. I love my toes, I love my nose, I love my ears, I love my stomach, everything, because this all is one. So you are all like the limbs of the body, and if you will love in this way, you will have divine consciousness. You will have God consciousness; that’s very important. So, develop the God Consciousness, develop the Śiva Consciousness. Om Namaḥ Śivāya, Om Namaḥ Śivāya,... Om Namaḥ Śivāya.