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The story I will tell you, some will like it and some will not. But the end will be a happy one. That is very important. It is a story about a bhakta, a devotee, who wished to attain Self-realization. In that era, masters were very strict, and there were many difficult and rigorous examinations. You may not understand how a master could be like this, but you will later realize what happened. Of course, you need not do all this. Should I begin? Well, long, long ago, many thousands of years back. The human population was not so large then, and because of this, the planet was more beautiful. As the human population increases, the planet is in greater danger. In that time, the great seers—we call them ṛṣis—were also known as hermitists. This means they lived in huts, like what you might call a weekend house or a cottage. The Master lived in the forest, and disciples would come, stay, meditate, and so on. It was not easy, but it is said: where there is love, there is no pain. Where there is love, nothing is ugly. Where there is love, nothing is discomfort. For the sake of love, one is ready to do anything. There was one ṛṣi living in the forest. One day, a man about forty years old came with a young boy of eight or ten. The ṛṣi was in his āśram, and the man approached him and said, "Sir, this is my son, this young boy. He has one very big wish, only one wish and nothing else: to stay with you and attain Self-realization." The ṛṣi said the boy was still too young. The man replied, "I know, sir, but I have no option. I tried very hard to explain it to him, but from his birth he has had only one longing: to have ātmā jñāna, to know God. No temptation could move him." The ṛṣi spoke with the child: "My son, it is too early for you. Āśram life is a very hard life. For you, it is time to play in the lap of your parents. When you are grown, then you can think over whether you should come or not." The child said, "Master, in many, many lives I have played in the lap of my parents—many different kinds of lives: humans, animals, birds. But now I want to play in the lap of God. That is why I have only one whom I can see, and that is you. Please accept me, young as I am." The master said, "Okay, you will have to work here." The boy replied, "It does not matter, anything. My only wish is to be with you and serve the āśram." The master said, "Okay, your duty is to take the cows into the forest for grazing. Go at eight in the morning and bring the cows back at half past five in the evening." The father then left. That boy's name was Upamanyu. He went with the cows and returned in the evening. No one asked him about food or drink, and no one gave him a place to sleep, so he slept beside the cows. After one week, the Master called Upamanyu. "Upamanyu, you have already been here for ten days. No one asked you about eating or drinking. My son, what do you eat? Where do you eat?" He said, "Master, I go for alms, for begging, and I eat." The master became angry. "How can you eat without offering first to your master?" Upamanyu said, "Master, forgive me. It will not happen next time." So the next day, he brought his food and gave it to the master. The master took it and put it in his hut, in his room. Upamanyu waited for an hour to see if the Master would give him something to eat. The Master said, "You are getting late, go with the cows." He went away. After ten days, again the Master asked him, "Upamanyu, what do you eat? Because the food which you get from bhikṣā, I keep it." Upamanyu said, "Master, I go a second time for begging." The master became very angry. "You are giving trouble to the people. How selfish you are. You are not allowed to go a second time for food and trouble someone. Go with the cows." There was no teaching, no lectures, no meditation, no mantra, no blessing—only shouting and work, and no eating. Who would stay with such a master? There is also another story within this story. There was a modern master who announced Self-realization in three months. He had some training with a Japanese monk, a hard training. So many people came. For three months, it cost one hundred fifty thousand dollars—only one hundred fifty thousand, you know? For many people, that is nothing. So many were coming. He had an āśram, a monastery with a small meditation room where you sleep, eat, and practice. No one was allowed to speak, no one was allowed to ask questions, no one was allowed to say no or yes. Why? Because you paid a hundred fifty thousand dollars. For this, they made a law: once a week, you could ask the master a question, and only in two words or two sentences. And the master would answer you also in only two words. If you had more questions, you had to wait one week. Everyone agreed. They showed them a hole made out of bamboo, with a floor of earth and a layer on it like cement plaster, but no bed. They said, "This is your corner." Everyone got one and a half square meters. They walked out the door and went away. In the morning, they should come and eat, only once a day. After one week, one man was very disappointed. Others were trying their hardest. There was no pillow, no car, no blanket, no mattress. Why? Because you paid 150,000? If you paid only 150 euros, you would get internet after one week. The master came and said, "Twenty-five disciples, were there any questions? Only two words, only two words." All were sitting there after one week of brainwashing. What would you do? You would sit like that. But there was one man. He raised his hand. The secretary of the master said, "Only in two words." He said, "Eating cold." The master said, "I know." The secretary said, "Go to meditate." Again, they had to wait one week. After one week, again they called the disciples. "Any question?" the secretary said. "Only in two words, no one tell anything." But the same man, he raised his hand. So he said, "Only two words." He said, "Bad heart." The master said, "Very good, go meditate well." He was waiting, "When will be the next week?" So, the third week, the master came. "Any problem?" Everyone is sitting like this. The man was looking here and there. Again, he raised his hand. The same man, sacred, said all in two words. The master was looking, and he said, "I go." The master said, "Hari Om. Such a disciple cannot get liberation." Well, Upamanyu was not allowed to go for food a second time. After five days, the Master called Upamanyu. "Upamanyu, you bring one time bhikṣā and you offer to me. A second time, you are not allowed to get. What do you eat, my child?" He said, "Master, I drink milk from the cows." Big mistake. "These cows are not for an individual. They are for all. How can you drink milk without asking? You are not supposed to drink milk from the cows." "Sorry, Master." After five days, again, the Master asked Upamanyu, "What do you eat? You are not allowed to get a second time. You are not allowed to drink milk from the cows." He said, "Master, when the cow is drinking, a lot of foam comes out from her mouth, which falls down. I eat that, just to satisfy my mind that I have eaten something." The master said, "Great mistake. Poor calves, they remain hungry, and for you they let the foam fall down, this foam. You are not supposed to do this." "Okay, Master." After a few days, a big rain came in the night. At one or two o'clock, the master called his disciples—about five or eight of them. The master said, "Finally, rain has come after so many years, and water is flowing out from our field because somewhere the fence is broken. Can you go and stop this? Put earth there." One disciple, like me, said, "Oh, Master, forget it, it will rain again." A third one said, "It is too dark." A fourth said, "It is impossible to stop water." Everyone tried to escape. Upamanyu, an eight-year-old boy, heard this and ran and came. He said, "Master, what can I do for you?" The master said, "Upamanyu, this is not work for you." He said, "Master, I will try. What do you wish? My life belongs to you. Just order, please." Then the master told him. Upamanyu took some tools and went to the field. There was about thirty to forty centimeters of cold water. He found a place where, for half a meter, the wall was broken. He tried to take earth and put it there, but he was not able to close it. Finally, he gave up. He decided and was thinking, "Today I will fail my examination, and that will be something terrible for me—that today I will not be able to fulfill the wish of my Master. God, help me." And he himself lay down there where the broken hole was, and with both hands he tried to put earth on himself. He covered his body up to his throat. The rain stopped. The water stopped. Upamanyu was lying under the weight of the earth. Morning came, already nine o'clock. The cows were still there. The Master said, "Where is Upamanyu?" A disciple said, "Master, there is no cruel master like you. Cruel you are to this boy. And you think that Upamanyu will come back? He was searching for an opportunity to run away." The master said, "No, Upamanyu is not that disciple who will run away. Let us go and look for him, search for him." And they found him under the earth. The master became angry. "What are you doing here? The cows are waiting." He said, "Master, I could not stop the water. And if I would not stop the water, I would not be able to fulfill my Guru Vākya. So I decided myself to lie here to block the water." The master ordered his other disciples to close that hole and said, "Upamanyu, come out, go with the cows." All the disciples were very sad about the treatment of the Master. Upamanyu went with the cows, hungry and very weak. So he ate the leaves of the trees. Some leaves were like poisonous leaves. He lost his eyesight and became blind. He was coming with the cows back to the āśram. On the way, there was a deep hole in the earth, like a water well, and because he could not see, he fell in. The cows came back alone. Upamanyu was not there. The Master asked, "Where is Upamanyu?" A disciple said, "Śarī Master, your treatment is absolutely wrong. The poor boy, the whole night, was under the cold earth, wet and cold. And you did not even ask him for a cup of hot milk to drink, and you sent him straight with the cows. He definitely ran away." The master said, "No. Upamanyu will never run away." Then one disciple said, "Then he died." The master said, "No, without my permission he will not die. Let us go and search for him." So they went to search for him, shouting "Upamanyu, Upamanyu" in the forest. He answered, "Yes, my lord, master. Here I am." And they came to the well. The master said, "What are you doing inside here?" He said, "Lord, I could not resist my hunger. This jāṭharāgni, the digestive fire, was so painful. Just to calm down this jāṭharāgni, I ate some leaves of the trees, and I lost my eyes. I fell into the well, and I do not know how to come out. But my Lord, did the cows arrive well?" The master said, "Yes, my son." The master said one mantra for Upamanyu. And God Viṣṇu, known as Aśvinī Kumār, appeared in front of Upamanyu. The master said the mantra, and Upamanyu got his sight again. Aśvinī Kumāra said to Upamanyu, "My son, I brought for you some warm food. Please eat." Upamanyu said, "Even though you are God, you are giving me bhikṣā, you are giving me food to eat. I cannot eat without offering to my master." Then Aśvinī Kumār, God Aśvinī Kumār, blessed Upamanyu: "Forever and ever, you will be known as the Self-realized one, knower of the Brahmavidyā." Suddenly, Upamanyu attained realization, and his body was as normal as when he first came to the Master. They took him into the āśram. The master said, "My child, I knew that it was hard for you, but it was not you who was suffering all this pain. The suffering was in my heart. My heart was suffering. But you were in my heart, like my soul. I am proud to have you as such a disciple and knower of the Brahma Vidyā, that you fulfilled your aim." So, that was the story which I want to tell to the Aśvinī Kumār Śreṣṭha, the honorary consul of Nepal. So every name has a big meaning. To follow Guruvākya lifelong, no matter how hard it is—that one will be successful. Therefore, it is said: Gurudev, in your shelter there is happiness. I do not want to go away from this. Even if I have to walk through fire and on thorns, may death become the snake around my neck, may I have to leave my country—but Lord, I will not leave you. Bhagavān, āpke Gurudev āpke caraṇoṁ milate he, saccha śukkeval milate he.