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Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī, Śrī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādev Kī, Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Gurudev Kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī. Good morning to everybody. A very nice day and good morning from Europe. According to your time, all the best, and a good day. We have spoken much about mantra, and we are now at the final stage of mantra practice, which we call Ajapa Japa. "Ajapa" means it proceeds without your effort; it goes by itself. For example, at night when you dream—whether a pleasant dream or an unpleasant one—you may find yourself repeating your mantra within the dream. The pleasant dream feels sustained by it, or the unpleasant dream dissolves by it, and you may awaken. This signifies the mantra has permeated every level of your consciousness. This mantra then develops within you into what is known as a bīja mantra. A bīja mantra is not something you practice mentally or verbally. It is a mantra that functions automatically within your consciousness, without your conscious awareness. This "without your knowing" does not imply discomfort or influence against your will. There is a saying: "I did not see the yogī meditating outwardly. So how is he a yogī?" It is because the ajapa is functioning inside. You cannot see the vine growing, yet you are surprised to see it has grown a centimeter. With physical eyes, you do not see it grow unless you use a microscope. We do not see the sun moving, yet it is constantly in motion. This is the play of nature. In the same way, your spiritual progress unfolds inwardly. When you begin to think, "How spiritual am I now? Is progress happening?" you will not see or feel it. If you ask someone, "How do you feel your spirituality?"—as journalists often ask me—you must give some answer, but this is not truly a matter for questions and answers. If you feel you are spiritual and special, that is your ego. Therefore, it is said: the more humble and lower you are, the higher you rise. If you think you are great and high, that is merely your thinking, not others'. A crow sat atop a temple while people prayed inside. Other crows called to him, "Come, let us fly; it is getting late." He replied, "You do not understand. I am now divine." "What do you mean? Are you blind? Look how many are praying to me!" They said, "They are praying to God in the temple, not to you." One who thinks, "I am great, I have a high position, higher degrees, higher education," and is proud of this, dwells in ignorance. That is the end of progress. The humbler you are, the more you will be accepted and recognized. There was a competition between an ant and an elephant: who would win? Everyone said, "The elephant, of course." But let us see. In the desert sand, they placed a kernel of sugar. The contest was: who would enjoy eating it? The elephant went first. With its great trunk, it blew—and everything, including the sugar, was lost. They placed a new piece. The elephant sucked it up, but its trunk filled with sand. After expelling the sand, the ant, in her majesty, simply walked up and took the sugar piece, saying to all, "Ahoj!" Humbleness is to be small. When a tree bears fruit, the branches bend down not only from the weight but from the tree's humility, allowing us to pluck the fruit easily. If the branches did not bend, they would break. Thus, it is said: no competition, and humbleness. If you hold a higher position or authority and cannot help others—or if you have the ability to help others physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, socially, or politically—then you should help. But if your ego is higher than your position, it is a problem. It is said the minister's secretary has more ego than the minister, and the secretary's secretary has even more. The one at the front desk can be so strong that even the minister cannot pass without their notice. Ego never... Try to judge how great you are. So what if one is great? What does it matter? What does it mean? What happens when it grows? Like a palm tree: very tall, very big. But if a traveler walks in great heat and wishes to sit in the shade, the palm tree's shade falls far from the path, perhaps 20-30 meters away. The tree's shade is only near its trunk. You may be great, yet you do not help your people. You spend your money going to another country to play golf or other pursuits, taking the money earned in your country out on holiday. How many billions or millions of dollars leave now for summer holidays? But thanks to God, Lakṣmī—wealth—is cañcal, restless. Lakṣmī does not stay in one place. For every amount you take out for holidays, double returns with tourists. Wherever you go, bring the beauty and glory of your country. Keep its name with dignity. Inspire others toward your country's culture and nature. You are born here; you owe something to this land, your motherland. I do not speak from a negative point of view or to discriminate against other countries. I say: do not forget your roots. Help your people. For the traveler, the tourist, there is no shade. And if there is fruit, it is so high—20, 30 meters up—that no one can climb to take it. Let us be like the apple or cherry tree, whose branches bend down so all may enjoy. Therefore, you will not feel your own spiritual development or progress. But one thing you will feel: an urge to practice more and more. Like a drug, the need always increases. If an addict says, "Today I will take a little less, tomorrow less," it does not work. You know how many millions worldwide suffer from alcohol and drugs. Today, mostly humans suffer from alcohol. Many families are destroyed, children scared of the family member who drinks, shouts, and behaves abnormally. Alcohol awakens an energy beyond human quality, leaning toward aggression. If you drink two liters of whiskey daily and think, "Today I will drink half a glass less, tomorrow one glass less," it will not function. You need your dose. If you take less, you are still not awakened. So there is a longing, an addiction—to add more. In German, this is Sucht, meaning sukha, māyā, and māyā sukha—improvement. This is the ego. But if you are in spirituality, you are addicted to the divine. The difference is this will not harm you. Physically, mentally, spiritually, it will only support and help. When people sometimes asked Gurujī, "Do you have any addiction (nāsa)?" Gurujī said, "Yes, chapati and water." Roti or pani. But there must be something more. He said, yes: divine meditation. "Now I am so divine. When I drank the divine nectar, all other taste in this world is tasteless for me." What we speak of as nectar, as ambrosia, is that wisdom, that blessing. Holy gurus express this in a beautiful bhajan: Prem kā pyālā hari kab merā bhar se? Ad na bhikhyārī, hum khade khade tarsī... "O Lord, when will You fill my cup, the bowl of love? When will You fill it? My thought is a thought of love, and it requires love only." Prem kā pyālā—pyālā means the bowl, the cup, the vessel. Prem kā pyālā hari—the Lord. Kab mera bhar se—when will He fill it? Ad na bhikārī ham, khaḍe khaḍe tar se: "I am a beggar at Your door, still waiting, longing. When will You fill this pot of mine?" This is spirituality; this is divine grace, blessing (kṛpā), enlightenment, liberation. Everything physical is changeable. It comes and goes. This body will play many tricks, and the mind will move you here and there. But the inner certainty, the inner feeling... No self-realized saint attained realization without that inner love. Whether through karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jñāna yoga, rāja yoga, kriyā yoga, haṭha yoga, or others—in all, the essence is love. If you have not purified your selfishness, you will survive in this world. To earn money is not a big problem; there are many ways. But you were not born for that. Earn divine prosperity, divine spirituality, divine richness. You feel this when you achieve the state of ajapa, and then the bīja mantra—bīja meaning the seed, the essence of your entire mantra—begins to grow in you and leads consciousness to samādhi. There are levels: savikalpa samādhi and nirvikalpa samādhi, bhāva samādhi, sahaja samādhi—different kinds of samādhi. Samādhi is where you become one. The literal definition is where knowledge, knower, and object merge into oneness. Some samādhi still contains saṃskāras and karmas within. Some levels are absolute, without anything. That is the aim of meditation and yoga practice. That yogī said, "If there is something I would like to know through this, my physical consciousness"—not after death. For that, Patañjali said, "Atha yoga anuśāsanam"—discipline. Absolute discipline. That is practice, your sādhanā, your richness, your wealth. We will continue on the bīja mantra this evening. For now, I wish you a very nice day, very nice practice. I am happy about your beautiful experiences. Every day you are doing it. Now, observe exactly what happens in your meditation. I am happy for you that you will have such divine experiences. But remain on the ground.