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Today is a beautiful and very special day, a divine constellation. It is the day of the divine incarnation of God Kṛṣṇa, Janmāṣṭamī. Among the 23 incarnations, the highest was Kṛṣṇa's. The 24th is the Kalī Avatāra, which should incarnate in this Kali Yuga to remove all these negative energies, negative thoughts, and all that humans are trying to manipulate in different ways—through lies and tricks. Therefore, it is said Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna: Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata. "Whenever, O Arjuna, whenever the dharma begins to suffer and adharma rises up, I incarnate to protect all the spiritual bhaktas, uplift the dharma again, and destroy all negative forces from this planet." It is to establish righteousness or dharma, to protect the dharma, and to protect this Mother Earth. Never in the history of this planet has our world seen so much suffering as now, and this is due to human greed. Kṛṣṇa incarnated more than 5,000 years ago. No doubt he was a great incarnation of God. He had all the abilities, all the powers, all the mercy, all the blessings. He was an incarnation of love and mercy. He was an incarnation of compassion. He was an incarnation of the friend, and he was an incarnation of dharma himself. The birth of Kṛṣṇa was not so easy as we people always think. This evening, we will probably see a video. Many of you have seen it; many have not. You will see how far humans can go, how humans are suffering. Therefore, I pray to the Almighty to bless all of you, especially on this divine, holy occasion of God Kṛṣṇa, who is known as cosmic consciousness manifested in the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa. Around the world, billions of people are devotees, or bhaktas, of Kṛṣṇa. Today, around the world, Kṛṣṇa's birth will be celebrated with great joy and happiness in many ashrams, temples, societies, houses, and communities. People are fasting today; many do not even drink water. They are fasting and waiting for the birth of Kṛṣṇa to release the suffering of his mother. We know his mother Devakī and father Vasudeva were imprisoned by Devakī's brother, Kaṁsa. He was like a devil—no ahiṃsā, no mercy, no compassion, no love for others. Someone told him, "You are very mighty and strong, but the one who will kill you will be born through your sister Devakī." Immediately, he imprisoned his sister. He ordered the soldiers to inform him if she gave birth, and with his own hands, he killed each child. It is said the sixth one would be his enemy. The sixth one was born as Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was born, all the soldiers fell asleep, and all the prison doors opened. His father, Vasudeva, took Kṛṣṇa in a basket, crossing the river Yamunā. It was midnight, raining, thundering, lightning, and the Yamunā gave him way. He could walk through the water; the water stopped. This story you know very well. So God incarnates for many things, not only one. He is counting how far humans are going, how many mistakes they are making, what is happening on this planet. Now humans are very cruel to animals, very cruel to nature, cruel to every element, cruel to Mother Earth, and cruel to each other, human to human. Therefore, it is said the pot of sin is nearly filled and waiting for the last drop. It will explode, and then the Kalī incarnation has to come; it will come. So it is a day of divine joy, a day of cosmic light, a day of universal love, the day of divine mercy—today, where Kṛṣṇa is incarnating. At home, people prepare a small cradle and put a symbolic baby Kṛṣṇa photo in it. Everyone goes and moves the cradle for Kṛṣṇa to sleep. It is the heart of the bhaktas. We play with God in many different ways. You see on Christmas when Jesus was born, all who believe have Christmas trees. Kṛṣṇa, Jesus—even before he is born, he is already bringing presents, placing them under the Christmas tree. It goes something like this around the world. Instead of us giving presents to Jesus, Jesus gives presents to us, though he is not yet standing on his legs. For me, these presents under the Christmas tree are blessings, not material presents, but the presence of the divine on this planet in the form of blessings to all devotees. After midnight, when Kṛṣṇa was born, he was safely brought to Gokul, to Nanda Bābā's house. There, a girl named Yogamāyā had incarnated. Vasudeva was instructed to bring Kṛṣṇa there safely and bring Yogamāyā back to Devakī. Devakī did not know of this exchange, nor did Yaśodhā, with whom Kṛṣṇa would grow. Nanda Bābā came to the river, which was flowing with a high current. But as soon as Vasudeva came near, the river stopped again and gave him a way to cross, for it was a divine order, a divine principle at work. Vasudeva could walk through the river. The prison doors were still open, and all the soldiers were sleeping deeply; even drumming would not wake them. That is Līlā, God's play. God can do everything. It is said in one poem: "What is not possible, Gurudev can make possible." What is going to happen, he can remove. Parabrahma Gurudev hai. His consciousness is the consciousness of Parabrahma. Everything can be done. Vasudeva came back into the prison room. Devakī was half sleeping, exhausted. He placed Yogamāyā near Devakī. All the doors closed. All the guards woke and stood as if nothing happened. Then Yogamāyā began to cry. They discovered the last child was born and called Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa came and told Devakī, "Give me your child." She was crying. Can you imagine a mother's heart, a father's heart? But what to do? A tiger is a strong, mighty animal, but closed in a cage with iron rods. Even a small child can make him angry with a stick. Though he is powerful, he is confined. So, though she was the mother of Kṛṣṇa, she was closed in prison. Kaṁsa said, "Give me the child." How could it be a girl? It must have been a boy. He was angry with the guards. They said, "No, Lord, we have seen nothing." He asked her, and she said, "I am not guilty; I know nothing." In his anger, he killed the child by throwing it against the wall—a fresh, small, born child, one or two hours old. He hauled it by the legs and threw it. That is called anger, jealousy, hate, revenge, ego, greed, fear, and anxiety. That is Kaṁsa. So if you are jealous, within you Kaṁsa is sitting. If you are angry, jealous, greedy—all that I told you yesterday: rāga dveṣa, kāma krodha, mada lobha, moha, and ahaṅkāra. These are the qualities of the kaṁsas within you or me. As long as we do not rid ourselves of these, sooner or later these kaṁsas will commit acts that are not human, not acceptable. You wouldn't do that to animal babies, but greed, anger, jealousy, hate, conflict—all of Kali Yuga will make humans blind. He took that small girl and wanted to throw her against the wall. There was a small window. When he threw her, she went through the window, and a voice came: "O Kaṁsa, your enemy is already growing; he is born and is growing." He became nervous; he heard the voice and knew what was happening. Seeing this video is very painful, even in a film. Yes, it can happen, and it did. That is why, finally, it is said when it is beyond human capacity, when a human becomes inhuman, then God has to overtake. He has to come, incarnate, and free this planet from the Āsurī Śaktis, the devilish powers. Today, Janmāṣṭamī: Janmā means birth or incarnation; Aṣṭamī means the eighth moon day after the full moon, the dark moon. That is why he is also named Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means black. We have two phases of the month: Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa and Śukla Pakṣa, according to the moon calendar astrology. Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa means the dark moon days, from the day after the full moon till Amāvasyā, the dark night with no moonlight. After 14 days begins Śukla Pakṣa, the light phase where the new moon appears and grows day by day. So the dark Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa and Śukla Pakṣa. Kṛṣṇa is born on the eighth day after the full moon, which has great meaning for all humans, all creatures, all planets—not only ours but in all astral worlds across the universe. All divine energies are concentrated, observing Kṛṣṇa's Līlā. Everyone is praying for the well-being of the divine manifesting on this planet. Also, when you are born, when you enter this physical planet, many divine energies observe and wish, observing your path: what will happen, what you will do, and how they can protect you. Mother and father can give you birth, but they cannot give you destiny. Destiny is created by one's own self. Mother and father can give birth, but they cannot ensure a healthy body. A mother has a duty to care for her embryo, but she cannot control how it develops. It is that divine energy, divine force. Many different divine beings take care that you are born complete, not with illnesses. All energies and blessings are concentrated on you. But humans try to manipulate nature, so nature takes revenge. Nowadays, you see how many children are born handicapped. This is the destiny of those born, or they will get such a child. Humans try to destroy seeds—seeds that took millions of years for Mother Earth and her nature to produce. Every seed represents a soul. Every seed, no matter its kind, has a soul inside. The Upaniṣad says when the soul departs and comes to the astral body form, the astral world, after finishing all official work—the bureaucratic process—there is a period: how many days after death will your soul remain around you? How will it go to the astral? What must it suffer? Which process must it go through? How long must it wait for a decision from the Supreme Court? That is the cosmic supreme code, the law, the cosmic law, the dharma. Dharma will decide where the soul will go. It is not sure the soul will be born human. The soul can be born in any form of life. It has taken away your rights, meaning your abilities. Humans have abilities, good intellect, and the ability to study and develop. But humans act against human law, doing inhuman things, so this chance, this right, is taken away—like in democracy. You elect a minister, president, or prime minister. If they do not do what was promised, next election they are gone. Similarly, destiny will decide when we leave this physical world for the astral. The soul is there again, traveling through. Then dharma, the cosmic law, will say: this one goes to the human, this one becomes a spiritual human, this one a holy saint, this one an incarnation, and this one goes back perhaps as a pig, cow, buffalo, mouse, snake, and so on. There are 8.4 million different creatures, forms. You have a choice among 8.4 million, but that choice is not after. Now you must decide what you will do. You will get two things: time waits for no one, and karma comes back sooner or later. You will harvest your karma. Good karma: apple trees, you harvest apples. Thorny bush: you harvest thorns. Then it comes to different layers of the universe, comes in touch with the elements. That soul comes in touch with souls that should incarnate on this planet again. The spiritual world is incarnation; the normal worldly world is to be born. You are also incarnation; you are also born; we are also born. If we have ṣoḍaśa siddhis, or as in Līlāmṛta, Mahāprabhujī's book, 24 siddhis—if you have these 24 siddhis, then you are a complete incarnation. If you have eight siddhis, you are on the list of incarnation. If not, then you are not. You can develop through practice, following discipline, following human dharma, spiritual life, ahiṃsā. Kind days, and that you are far away from your inner Kaṁsa. Did you rent the room inside to your Kaṁsa? There are different apartments in this body. In one apartment, Mr. Jealous has a beautiful apartment with a balcony. In another, Mr. Krodha (anger) sits, ready to shoot through the windows. Then the apartment of kāma, desires—you have not seen properly, but you want to eat the ice cream already. These are the six, seven, eight, nine, or twelve. Twelve is better. There are twelve apartments in which either āsurī śaktis or daivī śaktis reside. You can try to chase out the asuras and immediately bring divine śakti into that apartment; then you are divine, enlightened. Like Buddha was born a normal human; through meditation and discipline, he became Buddha, the enlightened one. That comes to the connection with the elements. Our planet is known as a mortal world, a living planet. The salts come in touch with water clouds. Through water, rain, humidity, the salt comes to the planet, touches vegetation, and moves into it. The soil enters the seed, and the seed is soil already. That seed, when put in the ground, will grow. Mother Earth never loses seeds. She preserves them, taking care like a mother cares for embryos. Even in a very dry desert where it doesn't rain for years, when it rains, everything begins to sprout. A desert with no green leaf for kilometers, after five, six, ten days of rain, becomes a green carpet. After a few days, flowers appear. Where did these seeds come from? Mother Earth never loses seeds. Those seeds go as nourishment, develop in us, and again come to the mother body, developing other seeds. This is the cycle. Now, humans try to destroy seeds. So many old, nice crop seeds are lost. You could grow them again and again in your field. Every farmer had particular seeds, knowing the ground, nature, season, and could grow them repeatedly. Now you must buy seeds to grow. But that seed will grow only once; it is seedless. When you eat the seedless, you will become seedless. Either a time will come when you cannot give birth, or there will be manipulation, missing. Children are born abnormal, which we see daily: small hands, half a brain, blindness, missing legs. This is manipulation of nature. Mahāprabhujī said in his golden preaching in the divine book Līlāmṛta: do not go against nature, or nature will take revenge. Therefore, dear ones, we should try to protect nature, protect all seeds. The strength is in the seeds, not in the seedless. Someone told me they made an experiment, creating crops that don't grow too high—only 30-40 centimeters—for easy harvest. They ate this and found people became smaller. They stopped this technology, but somewhere these small things are growing, influencing our genetic system. We made animals seedless, mixing horses and donkeys to create mules that cannot have children. Similarly, constantly eating such things, what will happen to us? You lose the love feeling towards masculine and feminine. They are departing day by day. Homos are multiplying. Why? Because the nourishment is manipulated, the harmony is manipulated. Very soon, ladies will stand alone, asking, "Is there any man who would go with me?" The world is becoming crazy, and we are playing crazy with it. What to do? Whatever is there, take it or lose it, use it or lose it. If you are hungry, you eat bread, not knowing which corn was inside, how it was manipulated. Therefore, Kali Yuga is becoming stronger. But you know, when your target is to walk to the top of a mountain, once there, your next destination is to come back down. So every yuga, every time, even in our age, there is a time till we become strong. Oh my God, wild water, wild horses—it's hard to keep ten horses under control. Ten horses are our ten senses in the body. Holy Gurujī said nicely in his bhajan: "My coach is wonderful, a wondrous coach in which I sit many times. Ten horses pull this coach, and the mind is the horseman, coachman, driver, rider, controlling the ten horses." Until you come to the top, then it is finished. You go down, down, down—hospital, doctor, medicine, injections—down to the ground, under the ground. There was a day you were mighty, the strongest, but you cannot say every day is my day. Finally, the day comes for someone else. Death observes, smiling, saying, "Let this one run here and there, then they will... okay, take him here." Like in front of you, a beautiful basket of big, juicy, ripe, red cherries. You cannot eat all at once; you take what you want. So death, destiny, will take what it likes. Humans are not strong; human strength is limited. Beyond humans is the strength of the elements: air, water, fire, earth, and space. Beyond the elements is the strength of nature, and beyond nature's power is the supreme power. We are within this limitation. Strength is given to you to grow good seeds, do good things, so you will not come again into this quarreling world. You come to mokṣa; you want out of the 8.4 million cycle. But doing different things, the decision will be made elsewhere. Unfortunately, this decision is not in our hands, but we have possibilities to do something. According to that, the decision will be made. An artist in the Olympic Games has in their hands their strength, skill, talent, energy, concentration to be successful. But how you played, the decision is made by somebody else. So how we are doing it is God; it is dharma giving decisions. Therefore, as soon as you get a human body, as soon as you are in human life, many divine energies look to you and pray. This soul is a light on earth, a great hope, confidence, expectation. This soul in the human body will create love, forgiveness, understanding, humbleness, kindness, and no madness. Madness, badness is not goodness. But as soon as this soul comes into the human body and into human hands—touching first, "My baby is born, clean, comfortable"—oh, this is a more began, "I feel good, nice wrapped cloth, nice cradle, nice bottle..." The child is spoiled. The father's blood boils in anger that the child doesn't follow. Therefore, lucky are those who have nice children. All children are nice, but they should follow principles of ethics and humanity. It is the parents' duty. As soon as we come to human life, human consciousness develops, human tendencies develop. According to Vedānta, spirituality, yoga, the science of consciousness, it is called Śabdabhūmikā—seven different states of consciousness. On earth, you come to Turīya, then Turīyātīt, beyond the Turīya level, which is Divine Samādhi. Yesterday, someone asked me, "Gurudev, will you guide me to my samādhi?" I said, "Yes, when you are there, it will be. Do you know if I'm in samādhi or how far I am?" I told him, "I can see time is very important for you, in which direction you will go. Maybe you will go in such a samādhi, like a ball going in another direction, Hari Om, lying in some hole for many years and centuries—like a tennis ball in a hole, you don't know where it is lying. You think, 'Oh, I am in Brahma Loka,' but you are not; you are in some different Loka." That is why the Upaniṣad says: Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu—in the whole world, at every level of the universe, all should be comfortable, happy. Sukhi means not only happiness; sukhi means you are healthy, capable, have everything, good friends, a good husband. You know, the biggest problem is to find a good husband. Yes. And why can't you find one? Because that good husband has gotten so many lessons from you, so he doesn't want to be a husband—not only a good husband, but he doesn't want to be a husband at all. So you have your own bend. Seven levels of spirituality: the first is within your consciousness. When you are born and begin to grow, expanding visions in the outer world, then Śubhecchā—the first bhūmikā, the first level of your being. Śubha means good, positive, divine, full of love, ahiṃsā, kindness, healthy. One word Śubha represents many things: Śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam, ārogyaṃ dhana sampadā, śatru buddhi vināśāya, dīpa jyotir namostute. Good thoughts, positive thoughts mean: what to do? How to come forward? How to solve problems? God gave me human life; I don't know how many years, but how to pass them? Every year brings more complications: kindergarten, nursery, primary school, high school, college, university—degrees grow, getting harder. Eighty, ninety, one hundred years, still they say, "Run, go ahead." Still we go. What positive can I do in this world? How to get God-realization or self-realization? Good thoughts. Lucky are those with good thoughts: good thoughts about yourself, parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors, society, all creatures, vegetation, the whole world. We wish: Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ—everyone should be happy. This is the first step of spirituality. From here, your spiritual development begins. Or bad icchā: Aśubha, aśubha vicāra. Some children always think how to kick, bite, take away from someone—jealous of father, mother, little brothers. Where do these thoughts come? One child gives; another takes. This comes with karma, destiny, and from parents. Parents should educate children in a divine way. So Śubhecchā or Aśubhecchā is the beginning of your path, the first milestone. There are two indications: one arrow shows Aśubha, the other Śubha—good direction and bad direction, Uthān and Pātan: development or distraction. Now decide where you want to go. Many say, "I don't mind." There was a very greedy businessman. One day, he stood with his car at a traffic light. A poor person came knocking on the window. His wife opened it and told him, "Give him ten dollars." I tell you, do what your wife says; otherwise, you are in trouble. If he didn't give ten dollars, he would spend a thousand. Better the ten dollars gone. But he did not give from his heart; he took ten dollars and quickly closed the window. The next day, he had an accident and died. Yama came—the messenger of death, king of death, Yama Rāj. Yama Rāja and Dharma Rāja are two. When a divine, spiritual, holy person dies, devas, angels come. You are angels, you know. But if you begin to think negative, tomorrow may not come; angels will come, the yamas. So be careful, Śubhīcā—positive thinking. They took his soul to Yama Rāja. Yama Rāja said, "Bring the record of his life." The record is destiny, Dharmarāja's record. Dharmarāja is always correct. They showed it and said, "Mister, you have no good karmas in your life; you must go to hell." He said, "That's not possible. Day before yesterday, I gave ten dollars; that's my good karma." They looked: "Oh yes, good. Would you like to go ten days to svarga, heaven, and then back to naraka, hell?" He could choose: first hell, then heaven, or first heaven. He said, "I don't mind if I go to hell or heaven. Send me where I get my ten dollars back." So Uthān and Patan: uthan means development, progress, liberation, happiness, love, joy, comfort, everlasting bliss; patan means distraction, going down. This first milestone has two indications: Śubhecchā or Aśubhecchā. We shall teach children to develop good desire, not greedy—good Śubhecchā. From Śubhecchā, our spirituality begins to develop. Icchā means "What do you wish?" You ask an ill person who hasn't eaten for days and has no appetite: "What would you like to eat? Kya khāne kī icchā hai kyā?" That is my wish. When you go to a shop to buy cloth, the seller asks, "Which kind of cloth would you like?" Your choice is your Icchā. This Icchā is followed by law till the end of life. The final Icchā is the last will. What was your icchā? To give a house to your daughter or son? To whom? Therefore, all you express, your feelings, desires—think over and always do good, not only for yourself but for all in general. That is divine. We always say, "No, it doesn't matter, as God will." We are clever: when bad things come, we say, "God, please, good things." When good things come, we don't even ask or tell Him. Very greedy, selfish. One of the best Śubhecchā is searching for spiritual development. You came to yoga practice, to yoga in daily life. This is divine icchā—not only śubha but supreme, highest, best, divine. You think, "I would like to be healthy." What better divine wish? "I would like to be relaxed." Why? Because when healthy, you can lead a happy life and help others. If you are ill, how can you help? "I would like to meditate. I would like to have a mantra." Slowly, icchā grows positively. So Śubhecchā is the first milestone where we begin to go positively. After Icchā, Icchā Śakti is still not manifested. Icchā Śakti is a desire: "I want to ride a horse." But how to realize where the horse is, how to find it, is another level: Suvichāra, Subvichāra, Suvichāra and Kuvichāra. Vichāra means your thinking. There is a little difference: icchā is desire; vichāra is thought on how to get it. For example, I love Nirañjan Purī very much; he lives in Dubai. My icchā is I love him. My vichāra is how to come to him: by airplane, car, train, walk, telephone to see if he's there. These are thoughts, the thinking process that will bring realization to finally meet Nirañjan Purī in Dubai. Only from desires and thinking, "I cannot be in Dubai," then I must do something. So Śubhecchā and Śubvichāra are two: icchā and vichāra. You understand? Desire and thoughts: desire has no concrete thoughts; then desire becomes more concrete in thoughts. We will see what the Saptabhūmikā—the levels of development—are. What level must we come to so we can decide clearly, independently, if we follow steps of inner desires, wishes, thoughts, and feelings? Many things are in the seven levels of consciousness. First is Savitarkā and Savicārā; the third is Tanumānasī. Now we come to the mental level to design everything perfectly: go buy the ticket, which airline, which payment? Mentally, we plan everything, designing Tanumānasī. Prepare your mind; make everything clear so whatever decision you make is perfect. Don't say after, "Oh, I made a mistake." Why do children make mistakes? Because we did not measure with our icchā and vichārā; our vichārā was elsewhere, icchā elsewhere, decision something else. Therefore, Tanumānasī—the mental condition—calm your vṛttis, take time to find Tanumānasī Icchā, where your mind is stuck. Where are all your plans successful? Where are problems? How to come out? Śabdabhūmikā, the last, will be Turīya. Turīya means your consciousness expands into oneness. Turīya means the three—past, present, future—merge into one. Knowledge, knower, and object merge into oneness; that is Samādhi. When samādhi is realized, you are Turīyātīt, beyond Turīya. You are neither past, present, nor future, but in Brahman, in ānanda, in the supreme. Then you close your eyes, and your inner self will tell you something. You know what? It will tell you: Ānandoham, Ānandoham Bhagavān, Devīśvara Mahādeva Padopṛṣṇ Bhagavān Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai.