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The power of the mantra is the theme of this weekend. Yesterday we spoke about mantra and feelings. A mantra has a more direct effect when you have an inner connection. If you have no inner connection to the mantra or to these spiritual forces, then the effect is not entirely direct. Of course, it is so. It is said there is poison. If you drink poison, consciously or unconsciously, with feelings or without feelings, the poison works and you will die. You could say, "I did not know I would die," but it has its effect on our body. It is the same when you drink nectar. The nectar is the opposite of poison. You drink this nectar and you become immortal, or you realize your non-striving. And then you want according to God's will. It is boring to be immortal. "I want to change, I want to be young again in the next life, and now I am already old, and my God, how long, how many years must I remain old, or is it for eternity?" So, it has an effect. Everything has its effect on our body, our mind, our consciousness, and it liberates our soul from the cycle of rebirth and death, and it grants us or leads us to Self-Realization. The Self is truly very ancient. Ātman is older than we can imagine, from that time, what we think and what we have in our memories. The Ātman is unborn and eternal, immortal. Beautiful, the highest bliss is the Ātman. Ātma-Jñāna. So, all effort in spirituality, regardless of the practices, is for Self-Realization. Seen as the body, the body is an instrument for us, a tool. The body is beautiful and the body has its nature. It is born, it will grow, and it will die. You are merely an observer. You sit in your body, just as you sit in a car. Now you have a beautiful, completely new car. How you feel, that is another matter. But be sure, every luxury car also grows old. And the car ages faster than your body. After some time, you want to change your car. You would like to buy a new one and with hard-earned money you spend again to purchase a new car. And so one day, your soul says, "I need a new body." And with hard, deserved karma, good karma, one wishes to begin a new life again, to have a new life. And so it is an eternal play, coming, going, changing, and so forth. But your Self does not change. And your Self is completely independent of anyone, because there is no one. There is none, no one. There is only one, and that is you. That is good for our ego, isn’t it? That is nice. So, that alone are you. So 'Ham, that am I. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi, I am Ātman. I am the Ātman, I am the Brahman, I am that, that I am.' Ātmajñāna is a liberation from envy, hatred, greed, jealousy, pain, sorrow, suffering, and so on. We know the body grows old, and we know that day by day our body becomes more ill, not healthier. Yes, we take medication or we go for a walk or we begin to do exercises, and so on, so that the condition of the body does not deteriorate so quickly. This is the nature of the body. You can't change it. Now it is spring, wonderfully beautiful, very soft leaves in nature, a beautiful green, beautiful, nice. But tomorrow is different, in three days it will be completely different, it will be harder, it will be stronger, and then it will begin to turn yellow again and will fall. The process is continuous. And thus changes and illness occur in our body. One sees illness, the other says transformation. One person feels pain, while another may feel nothing. But that does not mean now that we all fall into depression. "Oh God, the Master said, it will only become ill." So illness does not directly mean anything that we take or say, like pain or cancer or kidney disease—that is not what I mean. But day by day, it becomes less. The sun rises, a beautiful dawn and the sun, but the sun will also set again. And so a knower, the self-realized one, who speaks of your body: You should not be sad because you have had so many bodies. You have been born so many times and again you have returned your body, taken it, given it, and you are the one who moves on. So your mind, your soul, they reside in this beautiful charioteer. As Gurujī said in his bhajan: "O brother, wonderful, beautiful is my charioteer, with whom I often travel." The Ghoḍā Calā is rhythm, and I have ten horses. They pull my chariot. That means I have ten Indriyas, five Karmendriyas and five Jñānendriyas. The Ghoḍā Cālī in Śrāvaṇa is a strange and extraordinary procession. And the gait of these ten horses is indescribable, indescribable. The Ghoḍā Cālī in Śrāvaṇa is a strange and extraordinary movement. And it has no end, no boundary. And that means, Ajaiba signifies wondrous. And Apāra means endless. And that means, our feelings have no end. Right? No matter how ill we are, this or that, but when we see ourselves, our favorite food, what we want to eat. And the body says, it is no longer allowed to eat. But the whole mouth is full of saliva. That means you are already 90 years old. But you can still taste chili and pickles and all that. So, desire has no end. This is the Indriya. We always want our eyes to be well so that we can see clearly. And when something happens with the eyes and we see a little less, we become very sad. Unfortunately, some people become completely blind, but the inner longing is always there, that "I want to see, I want to see." Indriyāt, the Ghoḍā, these are the ten horses, the Ghoḍā, Calais, Rathme, Ajaiba, Calā, Pāra. Put the reins on the intellect, the mind is like a wild deer. And now I have reined in all ten of my horses, as they say. And this rein is my Buddhi, my intellect. When you hold all ten Indriyas firmly in your reins with your Buddhi. And who holds that? Your mind. My mind is sustaining this through the power of the Buddhi. Then your indriyas will be your charioteers, guiding you so comfortably and beautifully, and bringing you to your goal. And if all ten horses, if you will, run around—one goes behind, one goes to the left, one to the right, one falls behind, another moves forward—your chariot will be destroyed. Your journey ends up here. Then you must find a new carriage. "Biveka Mantrī Rehe Satme. Rājā Ātama Betharat Mahī." And the king sits in this charioteer. And which king? Rājā Breath. The Ātman is the king of this charioteer. Your Ātman, you are the king in this charioteer. Rājā Ātman is the supreme self. And Viveka Mantrī speaks, along with the experience of thoughtful reflection. Viveka. Viveka is your minister. Viveka Mantrī. This is the minister who tells and explains everything, protects, and so on. Viveka. And so all these principles that we have—Buddhi, intellect, mind, the spirit, Viveka, emotions, Indriyas—are all contained within this body. And it goes further. If you drive from here, from Vienna to Linz or Budapest, Prague or Budapest by car, your destination is Budapest. And you are not sad that the two kilometers are behind you. But you think, how many kilometers do I still have ahead? And therefore in Yoga it is said, do not strive too much about what was in the past. Regression is uninteresting in Yoga, because it is gone. It was. Hari Om. What will be in the future now? What will the future be like and what will come? Wake up and keep moving forward now. And so, proceed slowly so that you reach your goal, or proceed carefully so that you arrive at your destination. Always be conscious of your goal. And our goal is that we may realize self-knowledge. This makes our present life easier. Life will become much better now, and we will be able to understand each other much more. We will be able to overcome our problems well. And we will understand our environment better, but not to the extent that we will understand everything well and live happily without self-realization. Yes, it can be like that at the moment. It can be like that for a year, two years, ten years, twenty years, but it is the end. Blissfulness or feeling happy does not mean anything only with your partner. Or not just with your money or your house or your car or anything. Overall. Everything is changeable, transient. Nothing remains, and nothing remains with us. And now, to reach our goal, we need an energy that harmonizes everything within our entire system: our body, our mind, our emotions, our memory, our consciousness, intellect, and so on. Everything that maintains harmony, that keeps balance. And for that, there are many different things. One of them is very important and very good: it is vegetarian, sāttvic food. With food, we can help our body a great deal, and we can also destroy it greatly. And that is very personal. My health is my very personal matter. I am ill, and beside me, when someone lives with me or sits next to me, they will only say, "I am sorry that you are sick." But the one who is next to me has this feeling that I have nothing, because it is very individual, separate, somewhat physically separate. So, I am to consider what affects my mind or my consciousness, my body, what I take into myself. Taste is also a very good thing. Why not? Otherwise, everything becomes bland. In a lecture hall, in a conference room, it was in the parish school and also somewhere in a conference room, on the chairs, on the back side of the chairs it was written, "85% parish." This is it. And so, this is life; life is also given for enjoyment. That is also a joy, also the good. Can you imagine all people living without joy, without happiness? Yes, the rat told me a joke about a man, whose name I have forgotten, maybe he was an Austrian or something. I have forgotten the name, perhaps you can ask yourself, there is nothing there. One of them celebrated his 70th birthday. Perhaps you also know who that was, the Austrians. And he was a chain smoker, smoked a lot. And on his 70th birthday, he said, "Well, I have heard that smoking shortens your life. That is why I am celebrating only 70 today. Otherwise, I would be 75." That is so. "I am only 70 still." That is how it is. Because what is happening throughout the entire body, throughout the entire consciousness, is a different phenomenon, and there is a vibration there, an energy vibration, and this vibration either has, how shall I say, a protective sheath or it does not. And so prayer, meditation, mantra, and your positive attitude along with a feeling of my grace or mercy or compassion for others, that is a protective cloak for you. It is indeed difficult to always be kind to everyone. Yes, it is difficult. But that is your protective cloak. And if at times you cannot be kind, if you are angry or upset, that is also okay. Your meditation shawl now has some holes. Like an umbrella, you have holes, and when it rains, you will notice it dripping inside. And so, that is what makes it a spiritual path. Yes, we get upset, certainly we get upset. But anger has two kinds of anger. Anger and wrath from a wise person. A saint is like when you strike the water with a stick. What is happening? The water is separating. But soon it flows together again. Do you understand this example or not? There is water on a road about 10 or 20 centimeters deep. And you take a stick and strike it in the middle. The water goes out, a little bit, it splashes around. But within minutes or seconds, water flows, it comes together again. You don't see any blows on it. And so it is when a mother or father, a best friend, or a master is angry with you. Then it means with love. And this anger soon disappears again. Mother is stricter with the child, saying, "No, that is not allowed." But after some time, she forgot that she had perhaps said that. And the child too. This is a kind of healthy anger. It is not anger; it is a strictness to educate you or to make you aware. And the second type of anger is called that of one who is not wise. Or Enemy, they say, our enemies. It is like a line on the stone. And it is always engraved within one. Or a notch in a rock. And that separation lasts long. A kind of anger that does not separate you, but draws you back together. And the second kind of anger is the one that divides and does not bring it back together; the gap remains. And such anger is nothing healthy. That's not healthy. And so, when we say something, it should come from the heart. Not something temporary, like "I like this" and then forget, no. When you say, "I love you," your love should be such that it always remains united. Nothing should separate. But this world here, those who have not understood this, then it is in separation, constantly in separation. Thus the mantra, the power of the mantra holds everything together. It is a seat garment. And if you neglect your mantra and the feelings for a minute, an hour, a day, or a month. It is not necessary that day and night, like Hanumānjī, you repeat Rāma, Rāma,... Rāma. Your mother says, "How are you, Rāma, Rāma,... Rāma." Your father says, "What are you doing, Rāma, Rāma,... Rāma." In school, you say, you have learned it, Rāma, Rāma, Rāma. That does not mean that. But Mīrābāī said, "Here is only my body, but my feeling is with you, oh my Lord. My mind, my feeling is eternal and constantly with you, I cannot speak. Here there is only an empty shell, it lies here." And so it is. An empty bucket lies there. What was honey inside is already gone. "And this honey is with you, O Lord. This is an empty bucket lying here." So, that always means being conscious. And at every moment, whenever you look here and there, look through your mantra. This is the mantra, then you hold yourself. Do not let your heart be free. Vacant. In English, one says vacant. Vacant means free, right? It is still empty, the entire hotel is empty. You are not writing that the hotel is empty. In hotel vacancy. Vacant. The space is free. So, in English, let us say in English, do not let your heart be vacant. It is said that when one builds a temple, one must place and consecrate a statue or an image within that temple. If you do not like that, then into this temple the divine forces, the gods or God, the asuras will enter. And then the Asuras enter your empty temple, the awakening temple, then you have awakening thoughts free. And you think, "I want that one or I want, maybe she is a good person or he is maybe a good person." Then Āsurīśakti is in your thoughts and in your heart and separates your eternal, this beautiful power, love, which you have cultivated with prayers, mantras, meditation, and a good, positive way of life, which you have made beautiful, is already broken. Now the Asura lives in your Śakti. And what is the work of the Asura? Constantly pulling yourself away and struggling against your positive energies. This is it. You create a distance. Because the Asuras also want to win. This is an eternal battle between Devī Śakti and Āsurī Śakti. The Asuras wish to destroy Devī Śakti. But Devī Śakti is not so weak either. Devī Śakti also wants to withdraw the Āsurī Śakti. Therefore, God Kṛṣṇa says, "yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata," when the righteousness of Dharma is suppressed and Adharma, unrighteousness, rises up. Then, O Arjuna, I come and destroy the negative forces and restore the Dharma, the positive ones. Justice. This is a battle between Justice and Injustice. So God, Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna very clearly, Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "Arjuna, I do not fight for you because you are my best friend or my cousin’s son. Or I am not against the Kauravas, but I stand on the side of truth, of divinity. And you are also striving for divinity. That is why I support you." So Kṛṣṇa means this divine power, vibration, energy, and so, if you wish to realize your self-realization or self-knowledge, then this positive energy will surely be by your side. This is your mantra practice. So, Kṛṣṇa is the Ātman and Arjuna is the mind. And so, again and again, the mind says, "I am with you"; the Ātman says, "If you stand on this righteousness." Dharmakṣetre, Kurukṣetre, Dharmakṣetre, the field of Dharma, as it is said, the Kurukṣetra, where the Mahābhārata took place. Dharmakṣetra, Kurukṣetra is our field of action. And all these Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas are our systems in Kṣepa, our greed, our blind hope is the blind King. This blind expectation is the woman, what is her name, Gāndhārī, who has bound her own eyes. And Duryodhana is our ego. So, these are the mighty ones, all standing on this battlefield, ready to fight. And there are also the powerful ones, including Kṛṣṇa, who stand on this battlefield as well. And the Dharmakṣetra, Kurukṣetra, is our body, and that is everything; our ātman is Kṛṣṇa, the mind is Arjuna, and the indriyas are those beautiful horses there. It is an inner struggle. And so, when one allows their mind and heart to awaken, then the Vāsanās arise. And desire is indeed the cause of suffering. Holy Guru, you often see in his teachings, "Vāsanā hī duḥkha kā kāraṇa hai." The cause of our pains, the cause of our problems are the Vāsanās. And vāsanās means desires. And here Desires means those that come from Āsurī Śakti. And so, when our heart is awake, there is no feeling of the God in our heart, our Gurudev, then some other power will come and take over. That is how it is. So constantly practice mantra. And that is why in every household, a beautiful altar is established. And there, Pūjā is always performed, in the morning and evening. When you come home, you do not know what kind of energy vibration was in your apartment or in your house. You come home, open a window a little, go to your altar, greet yourself, and perform your Pūjā. Oh, there is beautiful energy, was and is. You sleep at night, unaware of which Āsurī Śaktis have been working or wish to work against you. You were not conscious, yet your altar and your spiritual objects in your rooms protected you. And when you perform the Pūjā, it purifies everything and enlivens the atmosphere in your room even more. And if you have an altar, and today you are very happy with your three friends, you often take your bottle of alcohol and then you drink it and do that, and today you have forgotten, "Oh, I cannot do my prayer today, my father-in-law... is there and they will say, I am crazy." You see, they don’t think you are crazy, but you think you are crazy. That is the problem. Do you pray beforehand? And therefore, it means that someone has an altar or a Pūjā room in their house, and yet you do not perform Pūjā. That means you have invited someone and there is no more food left. From the day you have not performed Pūjā, it means that Mahāprabhujī is still fasting. This is it. It can only be a moment. "Bhagavān bhavke bukehe. Bhava." Bhava means love. Bhava means devotion. Bhava means the price, the value. And when this bhāva is gone, then other vṛttis will arise in your heart, in your mind. And that means Āsurī Śakti shows you a twitch. Or as they used to say, this technique that lured in the poor chickens? With the Kerner and so on, and then she came around the corner, caught her, and beat her. This is it. Such a mantra is the highest energy, the greatest power, a protective cloak that will possess us. Only, there is always a question, namely, someone has had an accident and is very seriously injured, right? came into life. Despite that, Mala had something at the back of the neck, perhaps an image of God or Mahāprabhujī or something like that. And also repeated the mantra, and an accident happened. How does that happen then? How do I resolve this problem? Those were the moments when your life was ready to be tied up. And those moments are when you still had many karmic effects on your soul. And now you must go through this for a certain time. So, we should not set any conditions before God. "If that happens, then I will do it. But if it does not happen, then I will no longer believe in you." Once in Graz, a long time ago, Holī Gurujī was there in 1975, and someone asked, "Gurujī, will it always be like this, that what I wish and say, my mantra, will everything always succeed?" Gurujī said, "Your mantra is not your slave. You cannot command your Mantra. That is all." That means you cannot say, "I do this through my mantra and it should be seen as such." No, your mantra does not follow your command. But you surrender it, that's all. Then your mantra will decide what should be or not. Where you give commands to your desires, it also means you have your ego, selfishness, and you are abusing your Mantra. And the mantra does not want to be done. So, on physical levels, material levels, of course, mantra also helps, but the main purpose of our mantra is for ātma-jñāna, self-realization. There are also magical mantras, which unfortunately I have not learned, and I am happy that I have not learned them. Otherwise, I can do something today. Our Master was sitting there, and suddenly a dove was perched in his hand. I wanted to say, "Let it go," and then I had an apple—it was not a dove. And then I said, "Please, can I have an apple." But there was a stone. So this is currently a manipulation within the elements. You perceive it like this. One person said he could, how do you say, metallize money. And so he said, "Okay, I will materialize money for you. 500,000. And it will only stay with you for 8 hours." So he took the money, quickly went to the bank, and deposited it inside the bank. And after the eight hours, the money disappeared from the bank. No one knows where the money has gone. That is how it is. Such siddhis, such mantras truly need nothing. And that is why Gurujī said, "Tantra, Yantra, Mantra, magic, sorcery are the handiwork of Guru Bhakta." Yantras. Someone said, "I will hang it here, something, and this mantra, that will do good to you, and this." Yantras. Tantras. Jādu. Magic. Trona. This is also a magic that creates circles. Guru-devotee, no kiss, no, Hona. But those who, devotees, Gurudev, who has all powers, have no more effect on you. And so, I can tell you, be certain, one hundred thousand percent certain, I also tell you that you should not fear anything from magical powers. No magical power in the entire universe can harm you, as long as you remain under the shelter of Mahāprabhujī. Guru Bhakti. Guru Bhakti. And when this Bhakti suddenly turns elsewhere, then it is lost. There is a video, I only saw the beginning, I don’t know if it’s about Śiva or Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, something where a young woman comes and suffers and cries, and someone asks, "Why are you crying?" He said, "My two beautiful ones, they are very sick and old." And which was that? Vairāgya and Jñāna, or this? Which are they? Umapuri, you saw that, didn’t you? No, that was, yes. And so, because this Bhakti weeps, having lost everything. Why? Because this Jñāna knowledge was gone. Vairāgya, but Tapas and Tyāga, all suffer greatly because they have become weaker.