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We are still talking about mantra. Mantra, as I have told you, is the source of our life, the resonance of the universe, the sound of our heart, the light of life, and that divine energy which should guide us and liberate us. Therefore, mantras should be spoken in detail, in a beautiful way. So, I wish you a very good evening, and let us begin. I have mentioned several times that there are mantras for different purposes. There is even a mantra for when a snake bites, which can take away the effect of the poison. In olden times, there were no ambulances or many hospitals, so people possessed more knowledge about nature, herbs, and many other things. There were also mantras, and some people still know them. Or, when a scorpion stings you, it is very painful—not for just a second or a minute, but for hours and hours. I hope you have never experienced it, and I wish you never will. It is like a constant piece of fire on your skin that spreads to the limbs, burning from here to here. Yet, there are people who have a mantra to cure it. Many of our Western friends have experienced or witnessed this at the Jadan Ashram, where some workers were stung by scorpions. There is also a mantra for bees. If you want wild bees not to settle on a particular tree, or to go to another tree, or not to sting anyone, you may not believe it, but there is a mantra, and the bees follow your instruction. Now you would like to know what that mantra is. I would also like to know, but this science or wisdom is only transmitted person to person; it is not written down. Secondly, you should never ask for anything in return. If someone bitten by a snake is brought to you, you should not charge anything. Even if you go to their house, you should not accept a cup of tea. If you do, your mantra loses its power. The effect will not be there. So, there are certain principles to follow, and it should be done only as a selfless service, seva. Very simple people do this; in every village, there are one or two. Not everyone knows this. It is not a job for everyone. So, what kind of mantra do they practice? How is that mantra? We do not know. I do not know. If I knew, I would have told you. That is why I do not know. We have many wild bees, and in Jadan Ashram especially, they love to be there, and they are very big. In Jadan Ashram, we have four different kinds of bees. Only a bee specialist can tell them apart, but the villagers know that the honey from the particularly small bees is the best. So we have three, four, or five different kinds of bees; we respect and protect them. It is said that a beehive hanging on your tree is not just bees—it is a whole village. To destroy this beehive means you have destroyed a village in the world. Can you imagine how much love, respect, and care people have there for different creatures? Where bees come and settle is a symbol of prosperity, Lakṣmī. So, people look forward to bees coming to sit in their house or on a tree. Sometimes, they can also be angry. When there is different weather, like low pressure, they are affected. You also have different moods from time to time. The bee is known as the army of Śiva. So if you have negative thoughts, you cannot come near them because Śiva does not like negative thoughts. If you are very positive and moving, they will not do anything to you. Especially if you have some kind of artificial spray on your hair or in your armpits, do not go near them. They think their enemy is there—someone who does not lead life naturally. So be careful. Once in Jadan Ashram, the yogīs were working on building something. There was a very large beehive there, and the bees did not like the noise, so they were stinging some people. The yogīs were wondering what to do. They thought that at night, when it was dark and the bees were sleeping, they would take a plastic bag and cover the hive. One worker among them said, "Yogājī, do not worry. I will tell them to sit on the other corner of the building." The yogī looked at this mason or helper who was mixing sand and cement and said, "Better you work." The man replied, "Yes, I do. But what you have in your mind for the bees is unacceptable. Bring me one coconut, that is all. I will tell the bees to go and sit in another place." So the yogīs brought a coconut. The man washed his hands, feet, and mouth. About thirty meters away from the bees, he sat down, broke the coconut, made a small fire, and chanted some kind of mantra that neither the yogīs nor anyone else had ever heard. He spoke to the bees and said, "Go and sit there." There was a noise, as if they were going to attack. All the workers covered themselves with cloth. Respectfully, the bees moved to another corner and made their nest there. After three days, they took all their eggs. They sucked all the honey, not leaving a single drop for us, only the wax. So, there is a mantra for animals too. Devapurījī could understand the language of animals. He had some dogs. They were not vegetarian sometimes. Devapurījī told them, "Go three kilometers away. There will be something for you. But then, bathe in the water." And the dogs did. That is something. Well, the science of mantra is indescribable. You can learn it, but you must follow the discipline. You can drive a car, but you must follow road discipline. If a truck is coming from the front and you are driving on the right side, and a truck comes from the left, you cannot say, "My svar yoga is not good, I must try the left side." You can try, but it will be the first and last time. So it is said, if you do not follow the principles, if you do not follow the Guruvākya (the Guru's word), then that wisdom will just disappear from you, as if you never had it. For example, you dream at night of something beautiful. In the dream, you think, "I will tell my friends tomorrow." You wake up and know you were dreaming something good, but suddenly it disappears from your memory. You know you were dreaming, but you do not know what it was. The same is true for Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna. The same is true with kriyās. When you give something to someone, you lose it. The other person will also not get it, and you will no longer have it. There is no writing, no recording, but many of you have done this. What is the result? You are practicing, but you are in circular traffic with no exit. The same is true for your mantra. That is why many things were not allowed to be written. Not that they could not write, but they knew it would be misused, and then this wisdom would disappear completely. As I have said, there is a mantra for each planet: the color, the sound, the metal or mineral, the stone, the food, and the particular mantra. Whether you believe it or not, it will help you, one hundred thousand percent. But then you will say, "Well, I did it, but nothing happened." So there is one story. A man, in the middle of the night, always goes crazy. All day he is very happy, kind, and peaceful. All evening he is very nice. The morning is very nice. But as midnight comes, exactly at twelve, he becomes aggressive. It is like a red cloth in front of a bull. This lasts for three hours. Then again, he is very calm, sleeping, and relaxed. During these three hours, nobody should talk to him. His wife leaves the room half an hour before and goes away. What does he do? He goes into the street, shouting, screaming, singing loudly. Some drunkards sometimes sing in the street—no, singing is a good thing. "My boat goes so-so." People telephone the police, who try to calm him down. One day, he was so loud the police came. "What are you doing here? Why are you screaming?" He said, "I am hunting away the elephants." The police said, "But sir, there are no elephants." He replied, "That is why there are no elephants, because I hunt them away. If I did not hunt them away, your car could not come here." So sometimes we think, if a mantra helps me, it could also help others. It was my luck. If the Master can do it, why does he not do it for the whole world? It is not like that. It is completely different. Therefore, Maharṣi Patañjali writes the very first mantra, śloka: "Atha yoga anuśāsanam"—yoga begins with discipline. If there is no discipline, you cannot be successful. Physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual—you should be disciplined. Then the mantra begins to function. You should never order your mantra; you should request it. If you request out of selfishness, nothing will function. Out of jealousy, nothing will happen. You can say many things that will reflect back on you in a negative way. Therefore, it is called tyāga—renunciation, surrender, humbleness. Otherwise, it will not work. About twenty-nine years ago, there was a yogī—no need to tell the name—who practiced and could walk on water. Yes, he could walk on water. Then someone told him, "You will be world-famous. You should demonstrate, and the whole world will see you on television and in the newspaper, that you are the greatest yogī." Ego attacked him. Ego is the most dangerous crocodile sitting beside us. The jaw of the crocodile has, I think, nearly 800 kilos of biting pressure. When the whole jaw of the crocodile hangs on your shoulder, it goes from here till down, meaning it can swallow you. It is a big mouth. There is no chance. So ego is our dead crocodile. Anyhow, some people organized an open-air swimming pool, and many media cameras were standing there. That yogī came, walking around and talking to everybody. He climbed up the stairs to walk over the water. Everybody was looking. He could walk, but ego came. He walked and fell into the water. He was so ashamed that he did not want to come out. But people said, "Okay." He came out and walked away. How did it happen? It functions, but when ego came, expectations came, negative ambition came, the light of wisdom was gone. So your mantra and your spiritual power, your kriyās and anuṣṭhānas, are given to you for your own development and to serve others, to help others, and also upon whom it will function. Anything that happens to us happens according to our destiny. Everything is decided; what will happen, every millimeter of your life's walk, every quarter second or second of your life, is counted on your record—in the record of the Dharmarāja, written by the Vidhātā. Vidhātā is the goddess of destiny. In the first minute or second of your birth, she comes and writes in your life book, and that will happen to you. So, the vidhātā ke lekh, the writing of the Vidhātā, no one can destroy. Even if God Himself incarnates here—Viṣṇu himself or Śiva himself—she will write their destiny: how long they will be here, why they are here, what they will experience or what will happen in their life, and it is signed by Vidhātā. This testament is written in the book of the Dharmarāja. Dharma means righteousness, justice—the king of justice, the heavenly king. And there, the judgment will be made: what your next life will be like. You should never blame the Vidhātā. She says, "Do not blame me; it is not in my power to write your destiny. I just hold the pencil in my hand, or the pen. It is your destiny, your karma. It is some other supreme power that moves my pencil. I am only the holder." The mystery of life, my dear, is indescribable. There are some beautiful bhajans, and in one bhajan it is said: "O Vidhātā, Vidhātā, why did your pencil not stop writing? How much did Lord Rāma have to suffer in the forest? How much did Sītā have to suffer? She was kidnapped. Rāvaṇa gave her a lot of trouble. Jesus had to suffer on the cross, facing many, many obstacles. Why did your pen not stop writing this?" That is a bhajan full of feelings, full of emotion, you know? Very sad. What happened to whom? So, life is a river flowing between two banks. One bank is called dharma, the other is adharma; or one is positive and the other is negative. And you are that water which is flowing between, experiencing everything. Finally, our destination is to merge into our origin, the ocean. You know, when a river begins from its source, this water has to travel many different paths to join a big river, merging with another river. There is much pollution inside, many obstacles, but still the water finds its path—above the ground, to the side of the ground, underground—constantly flowing toward its destination. That is the condition of the aspirant, as well as of all creatures. The way is long, life is short, and therefore try to purify yourself, try to think positively, try to develop universal love, and clean your consciousness and your heart. Anyone, no matter what has been done to you, forgive. Just find your way. Find your way, that is it. So, mantra—different kinds of mantra for different purposes—must be used very carefully. You have a knife in your hand. You should use it very carefully to cut vegetables. Otherwise, the same knife will cut your finger too. You have fire in your hand to light a candle. Be careful, otherwise the same fire can burn you too. So we do not know what the Vidhātā has written in the book of the Dharmarāja about ourselves. That means we do not remember our past, but the evidence is in that record of the Dharmarāja. Evidence will never die. You can fight for your right, but that is different. There is a story. A very greedy businessman died. He never did good things in life. Once, mistakenly, he gave a little money—a donation of one or two dollars—to a blind man who was asking. Now he died, that businessman, and the Yamās—the messengers of the dead—took him to Yamarāja, the king of the dead. Yamarāja ordered the testament from Dharmarāja's office: what is written? It said, "Well, you have five seconds for heaven, and the rest is all for hell." The man said, "Why? I did good things. Once I gave two dollars to a blind man. What about that?" Yamarāja replied, "It should be only two seconds, but I give you five seconds. Where do you want to go?" The man said, "I do not mind. Whether I am in heaven or hell, send me where I can earn some dollars to do something good. Then I will come back and show you that my record is different. So send me where I can get money." They said, "Go back to earth." Here he came again, forgotten. But from time to time he did something good and died again. The Yamās took him and said, "Oh, Mister, you are here again. Now we will put you into permanent prison." He said, "That is not right. I did good." They said, "Yes, but it is too little. It does not matter." He said, "I do not want to go." They pulled him with hot irons. You know, for death, it does not matter. He said, "Okay, I will go where you want. But I have a little good karma. Yes, a little bit. What about that?" They said, "It is finished in our conversation." He said, "That is injustice. I want to talk to God." So they took him to the Dharmarāja. Dharmarāja showed him all the records: how many times he was angry with his master, all with black underline; how many times he was angry with his wife, his children, or the neighbors. The man said, "But sometimes I was nice, even to my master." Dharmarāja said, "Yes, many of you know, you will get back." The man said, "No, I was right, Dharmarāja, God of justice. I do not accept your writings. I want to talk to God. I will make a strike, and all who are waiting here should come and have a strike and form a union." So the union began. Well, Dharmarāja went to God, the Lord, Holy Father, Brahman, or Allāh, of the whole Yamaloka. He said, "He is on strike, so please send some military rules." God said, "Go to Śiva. Śiva can send his army." Dharmarāja replied, "It does not help, Lord. One thing: we are all fed up with this man. He said he will only tell you one sentence, and then he will go away. We know, Lord, that you are very busy, and we do not want to disturb your divine peace. He just wants to say one sentence to you and go." God said, "Okay, bring him." He came and sat there. God said, "Anything? He wants to tell me." The man said, "No need to tell, Lord." God said, "Okay, take him into hell." The man cried, "Lord, that is injustice! You send me to hell? It is not the truth. You said that once you see God, you are ever in heaven. I do not see you only once; I will look at you for ten minutes now. Otherwise, I will strike here." God said, "Okay, send him into liberation." That is the glory of the mantras, and this is the Śloka Mantra.