TV Channel

Happiness resides in the human heart. Happiness, contentment, freedom, love, and joy are universal principles. No one holds a copyright on happiness or contentment; that belongs to God alone. Why, then, do we not utilize this happiness? It is because happiness is within us, not outside. Search thyself. You know where you are. You are that one. "Jise śastra kāṭe na agni jalāve, bujhāve na pānī na mṛti mitāve." That ātmā—no weapon can kill the ātmā. Death cannot take away the ātmā. And no element can destroy that ātmā. That ātmā is within you and within every creature. Reality is that which never changes. Non-reality is that which is changing. The body is non-reality. Our mind is non-reality; every time it is changing, along with our emotions and everything. Our soul is also not the reality. The soul is not the ātmā. We often make the mistake of thinking the soul is the ātmā. The soul is not the ātmā. The ātmā is beyond the soul. The soul is individual, and the ātmā is universal. The individual soul is made or created out of our own karma, our actions. The soul has the qualities of the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—while the ātmā has only one quality, which is divine. God means love, and love means God. That love is happiness, and that love is contentment. Therefore, every creature, day and night, is searching for happiness. They would like to be happy. No one wants to die. No one would like to be unhappy. Everyone would like to enjoy life, even the smallest creature, because God is within them. Thus, the great saint Śaṅkarācārya said the first step of self-realization is this: that you see thyself in all creatures. Ātmā, so'yaṁ paramātmā. This ātmā is the supreme one. Therefore, "viśvaprāṇī merī ātmā hai." All creatures in this world are myself. If they all are myself, then how can I harm them? How can I cause them pain? How can I kill them? Killing them means you are killing yourself. According to dharma and karma, the biggest sin is suicide. When you kill someone, it is already suicide, because you killed thyself. Every holy scripture says this. In Islam, the holy Quran states that if you kill one human, you kill the whole of humanity. In the Testament it says, "Thou shalt not kill." It does not say you should not kill only humans. Thou shalt not kill. This is a direct path to God and to self-realization. These are the instructions of those holy saints who realized that universal love in the heart. That universal love we have to awaken by ourselves. No one will come every day to press a button to awaken your love. There is no button to awaken that love. This is within us, and we have to do this within ourselves. That consciousness which is in our heart—the individual quality makes the individual soul. If we think we will die and that is all, then all the problems and karmas will remain here because my body is finished, and "hari om," that's all. But it is not "that's all." Quality decides, and quality remains even in the astral world. Recording location: Australia, Gold Coast, Australian Tour