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A mantra is the light of meditation. A mantra is the life of meditation. Without a mantra, meditation can lead you nowhere. Without a mantra, meditation is a blind alley. However, the mantra must come from a Satguru Dev, known as a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya. Brahmaniṣṭha means one who is established in Brahman. Śrotriya means one who can explain, inspire, and guide. The mantra is fruitful only when it comes from such a Master or Sadguru Dev who possesses an authentic Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā, a lineage of authority. This is very important for us. When an aspirant begins life—whether as a householder, student, or retiree—they see and experience the world. Eventually, one thought arises: What is the sense of this life? What is the purpose of creation? Was I born only to suffer, to undergo the changes of mind, emotion, and intellect? What is the mission of human life? Then, one receives a message—from someone, from reading, from parents, a school teacher, a pujārī, or a brāhmaṇa (a temple priest). They tell us there is a God. We begin to think, "Oh, besides this world, there is also God. I have experienced everything in this world. I have seen everything. God? I would like to see Him. I would like to experience Him." Someone says, "But God is within you. Happiness, contentment, peace, and love are within you." We think, "No, that is only fantasy. If God is in me, then my condition would not be like this. If happiness, contentment, and love are in me, then why am I suffering? No, I am a mortal being. I have sins, and I am born here to suffer." That is our weakness. That is our ignorance. You are not a sinner, and you are not born because of your sin. You are born here as a fortunate one, as a human, to show love and protection for all creatures. Some may think, "No, animals are born for suffering. They are only for our use. They should be killed and eaten." That is not correct. To think so means you are creating sin for yourself; you are in ignorance. "I am still not that one," you may say. There is a story in Vedānta that indicates and shows you that you are the divine Self. You are not what you think—that you are a sinner, a mortal being, suffering and lonely, a normal being in this world. A shepherd was going through the fields and forest with his goats and sheep. In the jungle, he found a very small tiger cub, perhaps one day old. There was no mother, so he took the tiger baby with him and gave it goat's milk. He left the tiger baby with the goats, and it always drank from the goat's milk. The mother goat accepted the tiger baby as her own. It ran behind the mother goat, drank her milk, and grew up with the whole herd of goats. If you remember, about a year and a half ago in a California zoo, a tiger mother gave birth to three or four cubs, and they all died. She became so unhappy, depressed; she didn't eat and was very sad. You see, even animals can get depression. Animals are also very attached to their children; they do not want their babies to be killed. Some animal psychologists devised an experiment. They took the skin of the dead cubs and put it on piglets, then carefully placed them near the depressed tiger mother. She smelled them, became happy, and her depression vanished. The piglets began to drink milk from the tiger mother and lived with her; she adopted them as her own children. I don't know how they are now; we should write to them. In our story, the tiger believed he was a goat. He went into the forest, became vegetarian, and ate grass and leaves like the other goats. Whenever anything happened, the goats would get frightened and run away, and he would also run away. His behavior was completely like that of a goat—fearful. One day, a real tiger came to the forest to hunt goats. The goats ran, and the young tiger, now two or three years old, also ran. He had even learned the "mother tongue," bleating like a goat. As he ran, he cried, "Tiger! Stop! My brother, my caste!" He was running and living with the goats, fearful. The wild tiger targeted this goat-tiger, caught him, and said, "You are not a goat; you are a tiger." The goat-tiger closed his eyes and said, "No, it is not true. You are lying. I will die very soon. I am a goat. I am afraid." The wild tiger insisted, "You are not a goat; you are a tiger." The goat-tiger pleaded, "It's a lie, not true. Please leave me alone." This is our situation. We think we are sinners, mortal beings, sad, depressed, ill, and in need of operations. But you are not this. You are Saccidānanda Svarūpa, the Ātmā. It is a very nice fairy tale. The wild tiger caught the goat-tiger and took him to a small lake. He said, "You are a tiger, you are not a goat." "What is the proof?" asked the goat-tiger. "Look in the water. Your ears are different from the goats here. Their ears are hanging. Your mouth is round, long, wide, and big. They have a long face and a small mouth. Look, you have teeth both up and down, and the goat has teeth only on the bottom. Look at the reflection in the water, and now look at me. Look in the water, look at me." This is called Ātmācintan, realization. "Yes, I am a tiger! Look, you have a long tail. How was it possible that I was so stupid, living with the goats?" The wild tiger said, "That's okay. You practiced ahiṃsā, that's very good. You became vegetarian, so now you will have quicker realization." Therefore, it is said—Mahāprabhujī said, Purījī Purījī... "Satsaṅg, mere to e Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī." Gurudev said, "O my mind, give up your attachment, give up your wrong imagination from this saṃsāra. Come with me, I will teach you, and I will show you the Ātmā. Know thyself. Who are you?" While living, born and living in this world, suddenly something awakens in us. A small child plays and fights for toys. One day, suddenly, the child forgets the toys, thinking, "Oh, this is all a toy," and begins to search for another toy. A small child also has attachment, jealousy, unhappiness, anger—toys are everything for that child. If you try to take a toy away, the child cries, gets angry, and becomes jealous. When you are older, a teenager, you search for other toys, and the jealousy, anger, and hate become stronger. Jealousy means an undeveloped personality that depends on someone or something and lacks the self-confidence to exist independently. You think you cannot live without this thing. Many times people write or call me, saying, "My boyfriend left me. I will die now. I will kill myself. There is no more sense in living in this world." You don't know how they talk. After some time, she finds another toy. "Swamiji, thank you. I was so blind. That man was so stupid. Thank you, you saved my life. But thanks to Mahāprabhujī, he sent me such a beautiful, nice man. I am so happy, and he doesn't mind if I meditate for a long time. I can go to the seminar. I don't mind, and he doesn't mind." You see? Everything is in your mind—attachment. After disappointment in one attachment, you search for another toy. That's called a hobby, like having a dog. Some begin to love the dog more than their husband. The poor man has to get up early to walk the dog, take it to the doctor, buy food, clean it, check for ticks—all riding, swimming, hiking, many hobbies. Then someone speaks of spirituality. "What is that?" It becomes a new toy. Then you come to the name of God. "Oh, God." This is a beautiful toy because no one can take it away. Everyone can disappoint you, but God cannot disappoint you. That is something. Once, Holy Gurujī was in a city called Jodhpur. There was a 95-year-old lady, and Gurujī asked her, "Have you a guru? Have you had mantra initiation?" She said, "No, I have been searching my whole life, but I haven't met any guru until now." Holy Gurujī said, "Well, what kind of guru are you searching for? What kind of gurus did you meet?" "Oh, I met so many gurus. But everyone is eating and drinking—of course, vegetarian. They take donations, they speak, they sleep. So why? What is the difference? I want a Guru who doesn't eat, doesn't drink, doesn't require anything, and doesn't go away from me." Gurujī said, "I have one Guru for you like that." "Oh, Swamiji, Gurujī, that would be a great thing in my life. To die without a Guru and without a mantra—human life would be senseless." She said, "Yes, please, can you tell me where that Guru is?" So Gurujī said, "This stone. The stone doesn't eat, doesn't drink, doesn't ask for anything, and you can put it wherever you want. So, accept the stone as your Guru, because you must meet a living Guru, and if it is a living Guru, it will have the same nature—it will eat and drink." So we have to find a Brahma-niṣṭha śrotriya Satguru. Then we must go through three trainings. First, to understand the words of the Master—that is called Guru Vākya. This means following the instructions. If you understand the Guru Vākya, then you proceed to Guru Seva. Guru Seva means serving all creatures. When Mahāprabhujī initiated Holy Gurujī as a sanyāsī, Holy Gurujī asked, "What can I do for you? What is my duty?" Mahāprabhujī said, "Go and serve the world. Serving all creatures is service to me." That is Guru Kṛpā, Seva. When your Seva is accepted—yes, you are doing good things in the world—then you receive Guru Kṛpā, the mercy of the Gurudev. Therefore, it is said in one mantra: Dhyāna Mūlaṁ Guru Mūrti, Pūjā Mūlaṁ Guru Pādam, Mantra Mūlaṁ Guru Vākyaṁ, Mokṣa Mūlaṁ Guru Kṛpā. "The root of meditation is the Guru's form. The root of worship is the Guru's feet. The root of mantra is the Guru's word. The root of liberation is the Guru's grace." Guru Brahma, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Para Brahma. Therefore, the Guru Tattva is Parabrahma, the Supreme. Tasme Śrī Guruve Namaḥa—my adoration to that Gurudev. Then, Gurudev will give you the mantra. Our duty is to practice, to repeat this mantra. Practice, practice, practice. Abhyāsa, Abhyāsa—O Kaunteya, O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, practice, practice, practice. We know all that; we need practice. Practice makes perfect. That is what we call the Guru Mantra. The essence of that Guru Mantra is known as the Bīja Mantra. Bīja means the seed. The whole tree is hidden in a small seed. If you wish to have this tree in your garden, you do not need to dig out the tree and transplant it. You simply take a seed of the tree and plant it in the earth. Therefore, Devpurījī said, and Mahāprabhujī said, "A seed has to die in order to grow into a tree." And it takes time for the tree to grow. Modern science and technology can perform many miracles; they can build a multi-story building in one day. But there is no technology or science that can grow a tree this big within one day. For the seed to "die" means we must kill our ego, surrender, give up our individuality, and offer ourselves for the multiplication of good for all. That is when your spiritual techniques truly begin. Then you receive the mantra and begin to practice. You can use that mantra for anuṣṭhāna (spiritual discipline). We should perform anuṣṭhāna two or three times a year to purify our antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument). There are five different techniques to realize this mantra: Likhit, Bekhārī, Upāṃśu, Mānasik, and Ajapā. These are the five steps of practicing a mantra. In the next session, we will speak about these five techniques. For now, we will do the Bekhārī Mantra. Bekhārī means chanting aloud. Today, again, it will be "Rām." Everyone, open your mouth properly, feel your lungs, and let the resonance fill the sky. So that even in India, where Rāma was, or where Rāma is, he will hear and think, "Oh, I have to go now to the Czech Republic." Okay. Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavānkī Rām Rām... Devpurījī possessed all siddhis; he could even walk on water. After all that, Devpurījī went into the hills of Mount Abu. About 80 or nearly 100 years ago, there was a lot of jungle—tigers, lions, bears, many trees, forests, bamboos, thorny bushes, fruits, and monkeys. When Devpurījī went deep into the mountains, he came upon a cave inhabited by Aghorīs, who eat everything that moves. Devpurījī manifested himself as a small child of three or four years old. An Aghorī said, "Oh, that will be very tasty." Devpurījī said, "I heard that you are very gentle and merciful, and you cannot kill and eat me." One of the Aghorīs said, "Yes, we are, but we will eat you." Devpurījī said, "But you cannot eat me. You have no power." They said, "You are a small boy," and wanted to attack him. He said, "I am not a small boy. I tell you, I came to liberate you." "God? You are? A small child talking in such a way? No parents, no guardian, no one? How did you come here? Which God are you?" He said, "I am Rām." "If all the leaves and trees speak 'Rām,' then we will believe that you are God." So Devpurījī looked at the nature, at the forest, and said to all the trees and to nature, three times, "Rām, Rām." From every leaf came the resonance, "Rām." The Aghorīs were astonished. "We believe, we believe, Lord. Excuse us." Devpurījī assumed his normal form, and they said, "Please liberate us." Devpurījī told them, "This place where you are staying has more or less become a very sinful place. You have done so many bad things. Go to the Girnar hills in Gujarat and meditate there." All of them went there and became self-realized. Thus, the sound of this mantra, the presence of the Lord Rāma—Devpurījī proved that even the trees and every blade of grass resonate with the name of God.