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The Kumbh Melā is a very unique experience. The holy rivers—Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī—are thousands, even millions of years old. This festival is not only for humans but for the entire planet. It is not only for Hindus but for all humanity. At the time when the divine Gaṅgā and Yamunā appeared, and Sarasvatī, none of the religions we know by name today existed. This means the festival is for everyone, but Hindus have preserved it. Millions of pilgrims come. None of them are invited by the rivers. It is not any particular organization that invites all these millions of people. And if you were to invite them, they would not come in such great numbers. Yet, the millions of people there are not hungry. There is perfect organization, what we call humanitarian service. Every 100 or 200 meters, there is free distribution of food and drink. Early in the morning, when they prepare hot tea, they even announce over loudspeakers: "The tea and breakfast is ready, please come without any charge." There is also medical aid and first aid every fifty or hundred meters, toilet facilities for men and women. Everything is arranged within a few kilometers on the riverbank, where there is only sand, no solid ground. The streets and roads are perfectly designed, made with iron plates so you can even drive trucks on them. There is electricity. Can you imagine millions of people? Many make an evening fire to warm themselves. Can you imagine how much smoke there is? It is like a fog. In the middle of the Kumbh Melā, if you go in the evening, your eyes burn. Still, people are there. Definitely, there is something in this festival. Blessed are they who can be there. And you will realize there how much austerity, how much tapasyā, people have. You saw in the pictures: people with very thin cloth, in two to three degrees temperature, sitting on the wet sand of the riverbank, waiting for the morning constellation to bathe. Many people traveled for months, barefoot, carrying their little food with them. For example, we had a visit from Australia from Father David, a Monsignor. When he saw these people—how they were coming with their rucksack (or rather, a bundle wrapped in cloth) on their shoulders, no shoes, one walking stick, very thin cloth, in the very cold—he said, "I see God now." Other people who came from Europe and other countries wore thick socks, warm stockings, winter shoes, jeans or warm trousers, underwear, long-sleeved underwear, a warm t-shirt, a warm jacket, a wind jacket, a warm shawl, and had handfuls of tissues. Still, they were ill, mostly coughing. The ill people in the whole Kumbh Melā were in our camp—the Europeans. It is not a joke. A very interesting thing happened. Our people were sitting with wrapped cloth and hot tea in their hands. An Indian came with a very thin shirt and sat there. One Indian said, "I thought they are coming from a cold climate. People from a cold climate should not feel so cold." So it is a habit. The more clothes you use, the weaker your body becomes. You must have tapasyā. You cover your whole body, but you do not cover your face. You do not feel so cold on your face as on other parts of the body. They brought so much flu from Europe. We were about 600 people, and 570 were coughing. The whole time during prayer, when I wanted to make some kalpa, everybody was... It is not a joke, really. I am sure Chidānanda did not record the sound at that time. One of the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras told me, "Swāmījī, these are the practitioners of yoga and their life?" I said, "Yes, but they are beginners." If you do not practice, you will get nothing. You have to have confidence, faith. Whatever you have, that is enough. In old times, masters did not give lectures. They said, for example, "Tyāga—renunciation." They explained what renunciation is and said, "Go. Come again when you have perfectly realized and practiced renunciation, when you are not attached even to a little mosquito." Then you came and said, "Master, can you teach me further?" The Master said, "Where are you?" And he explained, "What is 'Where are you?' Go and realize." So it was their duty to realize and lead a life of Vairāgya. He came back and said, "Master, I have vairāgya now." Of course, the Master was testing them. Then the Master said, "Tapasyā—austerity: to endure cold, heat, hunger, thirst, name, fame, everything." That was it. Nowadays we are running here and there, like you go to a fair exhibition. You go to a yoga exhibition, then to a health food exhibition, then to a massage exhibition, then to a prāṇa healing exhibition, then to some meditation. Running here and there, and finally, you have nothing. Mahāprabhujī Gurujī said, "One in all and all in one." In satsaṅg, he used to recite a very nice poem; I know half, I have forgotten half, but I know the whole meaning. It is said: "Ek saje sab saje, sab saje sab jāe." If you follow one thing, you will have perfection over everything. If you try to run here and there—to this master and that master, this ashram and that ashram, that guru and this guru, this technique and that technique—you will lose everything. Why can we not get Self-realization? The obstacle is within us. It is you who is the biggest obstacle for yourself. Vairāgya, tyāga, tapasyā—all are missing. "Ek sajye, sab sajye, sab... jāe." If you practice one thing, you will have perfection over everything. If you try to do everything, you will lose everything. Then Holī Gurujī gave an example. Imagine a big tree. You want to give water to the tree. You take water in a basket with some cotton and try to put water on every leaf. The tree will not get water. But if you pour this water in one place, at the roots, the entire tree will get water: the trunk, the bark, the branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruits. And you will get oxygen. Why? Because you gave the water to the right place, just to one place—the roots. If you try to sprinkle water on the leaves, the tree will dry out and die. So, running here and there is a loss of your time and a sign of your inner conflicts: a lack of self-discipline, no confidence, doubts towards your master. There was a master whom everyone believed could give Self-realization. A man went to him and said, "Oh Master, you are a great one. Can I stay with you? I do not have much money, but I can pay something. Please teach me siddhi and Self-realization." The Master said, "Okay. Stay in the ashram. Clean the ashram every day. Do karma yoga in the morning, come to prayer, attend satsaṅg. In the evening, come to prayer and practice prāṇāyāma. Chant Oṁ." The disciple thought, "Ah, this master. Very soon I will have siddhi." After four years, there was no progress, only confusion. He said, "This master is not perfect." Then some confused yoga person came and said, "You know, there is another master living who has so much power." He asked for the address and went there, staying for three months, then three years. Finally, he said, "Oh my god, this master is not good." Likewise, he went to ten or twelve masters. Now he had nothing. The result was that he became opposed to the spiritual path, against masters, against yoga, meditation, religion, and spirituality. He decided it was all a fairy tale. He decided to go to the first master, then the second, then the third, systematically from senior to junior, to tell them what they were doing and saying was stupid—to insult them. He did not even remember which master was the first. He came to the first master and began to say something. The Master said, "Well, the mistake is in you." The man said, "This is the policy of every master. They always say the mistake is in the disciple." The Master said, "Well, in ten days I can show you the real path and why you did not get realization until now. You lost 36 to 40 years—two years here, three years there, four years somewhere else. But for these ten days, you have to do everything I tell you." The Master said, "We do not have water to drink. Can you dig a water well in our garden tomorrow?" The man said, "Yes, Master." He worked the whole day very hard and slept very well that night. For those who have sleeping problems: do not take sleeping pills; work hard physically, then you will sleep. The next morning at breakfast, the Master said, "Oh, where are you digging? I want to make a yajñaśālā, a place for yajña. Dig it in that corner." On the third day, the Master said, "I was meditating at night. There is no water there; there is a rock. But I think this corner has a lot of water. Dig there." So he dug the whole day there, with water. On the fourth day, the Master said, "I was meditating. The water is very salty. Better to dig on the back side of the hut." He began to dig there. On the fifth day, the Master said at breakfast, "I was meditating. There is no water. Just dig in front of the hut." So he began to dig there. On the sixth day, the Master said, "I was meditating, and it came to my mind that according to Vāstu Śāstra, the waterway is not good in front of the house. Dig in that corner outside." The next morning, the Master came and said, "Oh, that land does not belong to us. It is the neighbor's land; we cannot dig there." Like this, for nine days, a different place each day. On the tenth day, the disciple stood up. "Master, stop. Do not tell me anything. Why did you not meditate first and then tell me where the good water is? Why did you not decide first? My day is gone, time is lost, I am exhausted, the garden is destroyed, and there is no result." The Master said, "Yes, this is the result. For 36 years, 40 years, you wasted time running here and there. You made so many holes in your heart. You destroyed your field of confidence. Whatever you tried, different practices, all went in vain—no result. If you had stayed in one place with one master, today you would have come to me as a wise man, not as a confused, desperate person with nothing." Therefore, the practice of yoga—what we do, āsanas and prāṇāyāma—is good for our health. But what we get mostly from our meetings is not only āsanas and prāṇāyāma. What you are getting in every meeting with me is indescribable—blessings you cannot value. There is an immense process within you, a spiritual process. As I said, I care about each single disciple. I concentrate and answer every single letter, email, and telephone call. Many, many come; I never say to just throw it in the garbage because I do care. We should know our spiritual lineage. You have not read the Līlāmṛta. If you had read the Līlāmṛta, today you would be different. You have not heard the Guru Gītā; you heard Guru Gītā only as singing, as something. But every word should penetrate through and through—through all your five different bodies, through your heart, through your consciousness, through your intellect. If you had listened to the Guru Gītā with these feelings and read the Līlāmṛta, today you would be a completely different person. What do you know of my condition? Satguru Dev shot an arrow to me, and this arrow hit me. So painful—tears flow from my eyes, but not painful in that way. It is a touching of the heart, divine love: tears of joy, tears of happiness. No one understands—neither a lawyer nor any other person. Each hair of my body is vibrating, each blood cell is vibrating by listening to the words of wisdom. The arrow got me; I fell down unconscious on the ground. That means your ego is destroyed. "Dīp dayāl milyā, guru pūrā kardina chāknā chūr." Mahāprabhujī made me completely different. The awakened disciple will understand; only one word is enough. It is just a hint. If you show your hand like this, you know what it means: a pistol. You understand this mudrā, but you do not understand Guru Vākya. If you understood Guru Vākya, all your searching would be finished. "Śabd tīr kī aise lagī, miṭ gayā man magrūr." The arrow of the Word hit me and destroyed all the ignorance of my mind. "Lālā kahe ab dhokā nai." Lālā Nānjī said, "Do not worry anymore. Sun mein oga sur." Now, within your consciousness, the dawn has risen. Therefore, again, read the Līlāmṛta. We have a very nice Guru Gītā in the Hungarian language already. I do not understand the complete language, but I can tell you that Hungarians should be happy they now have the Gītā of the Guru. I believe there are some CDs available outside as well. Therefore, rare disciples can understand Guru Vākya. Another will say, "My Swāmījī was angry with me. I will never go anymore. He always looks angry to me"—especially my young disciples, you know, these 10-, 12-, 15-year-old boys and girls. I tell them, "At 8 o'clock in the evening, you have to be at home." On one side, they love Swāmījī; on the other side, they think, "We do not like him; we want to go to the nightclub. Oh God, why do we have such a guru in our karma?" But when they are grown, 20, 30, 40 years old, then they will be so happy: "Thank you, Mahāprabhujī, that in my life you sent Swāmījī." So, where are they who understand the Master's words? It is said that the Satguru who is bitter is the sweeter one. The more bitter, the sweeter. It is a very beautiful bhajan of Mahāprabhujī. Even when he speaks hard words... Mahāprabhujī said, "I do not know what to say to you... I have forgotten the magic of the dream of my beloved. I have forgotten God. I do not believe in the world. I believe in it."