Dear aspirants, at the school I attended we have a course book for moral science and it has these various expressions in it. I'm not saying any of these things for my part but in that book there are sayings like, "When satsang is held the harmonium is played." "A plant can grow only when we give it water." And, "A crow will start cawing only when someone disturbs it." It's like a crow is only going to start crowing when it sees something that upsets it.

So there are all these sayings. And another saying is that whatever men call animals are not essentially different from what, in essence, a man is. They are another form of man. One saint said that the creation is made for all of us but there is nothing separate, nothing really distinct, about animals. They are just another manifestation of men. Men who act like tigers while in a human form, for example. It's been said, "Those big people who sit on thrones and rule shall become animals after that."

So you see it's claimed that those who sit on the throne and rule will obtain the form of some animal. And supposedly the reason for this is that because a man sits on a throne, he just does anything he likes. He, after a while, thinks that there just isn't any power greater than himself. I mean, because he becomes confused. He thinks he's better than everybody else.

You know, there is a saying in English. Maybe it's "Pride comes before a fall." Well, anyway, there's a saying in English and what it means is that it is good to be humble, it is good to be small. I'm translating that expression into Hindi.

You see, it's like the story of this sadhu who was actually into his ego, into pride. And because of that he worked himself up into a rage and when he went to the satsang program - I guess he was holding a satsang program for the people who were following him - he said, "Give me the microphone. I'll speak."

So he starts saying things which actually are completely irrelevant. "You're all a bunch of fools. You're all dishonest. You're all idiots."

So these people who were his followers said, "Okay. We're fools. So what does that make you? If we've accepted you as our guru and we're idiots, then that makes you an idiots' guru."

I mean, you can't

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afford to get into pride and ego. Because it isn't going to do you any good. It's like there is that expression that if you want to keep your honor safe then you can't let pride trouble you, you can't be enraged by pride.

There's another story I'll tell. There was a sadhu crossing this road and this car was coming along really fast. So in order to avoid hitting this sadhu, the driver had to slam on his brakes. He skidded to a halt. And in his mind, he just couldn't see where anyone was more important than himself. So he started yelling at this sadhu, "You fool! Why don't you watch where you're going?"

After some time, this driver - I guess you could say he was a premie - had his service changed. Instead of being a driver he became a mahatma. And on the other hand, this sadhu gave up his life of renunciation and became like so-called worldly people. And one day he was walking along and here was this mahatma who had yelled at him before, driving along on a motorcycle.

And the same thing happened. The mahatma had to slam on his brakes and he started yelling just like he'd been yelled at. And this guy said, "Look. You don't know how to drive."

And the mahatma said, "What you're saying may be true. But do you remember what happened five or six years ago? I was crossing the road in the same way and you were driving the car. You insulted me then. And today you're in my position and I'm in yours."

It's like there's a story about good deeds and bad deeds - our ideas about them. And in this story there's a grocer who supposedly did a lot of good actions. You know, he gave to charity and whatnot. So when he dies he meets God's secretary and the secretary tells him, "Look. You've done a lot of so-called good and for that, you'll get all these comforts and luxuries of life."

But then he says, "You also have done some evil. And for that, you have to experience five minutes of distress." And then the secretary asks him which of these two things the grocer would like to experience first.

So the grocer thinks this over and then he says, "Well, let me have the five minutes of distress first. Then I'll live out the comforts or whatever, lead a life of luxury."

So for that, he's given the body of a chameleon. And actually when he's ordered into that form it's late at night. And it's late at night and he goes into this park. And he's hungry. There are all these insects all over the place - ants and mosquitos and things - and since he's hungry, he starts catching them and eating them. And for just about the whole five minutes, that's what he does.

It's like, to that grocer, he had his concepts. And just at about the time that his five minutes are up, he thinks about this expression he knew. One of those sayings. And the saying goes that in school, there can be a really good-looking boy in the classroom. But however handsome that boy is, if he does a lot of wrong things, he's still going to get punished. And the grocer suddenly thinks that he's doing a lot of bad things, no matter what physical form he's in - he's killing all these insects. So he thinks, "Let me get out of this sinful life, killing all these creatures."

But the secretary is there and says, "No. You can't do that. You just have to continue right on living this life."

And the grocer says, "But you said it would be only for five minutes."

The secretary just says, "Yeah. But you ate all these insects in just a few minutes. You tell me. Is this something sinful or is it something good and charitable?"

So the grocer said, "It's a sin."

And the secretary just says, "Well, you ate up all these insects so it looks like all those fruits of all those good actions you did in your life are outnumbered by the

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sins you have committed just now. So now it looks like the gate of hell is wide open for you."

So there go all those so-called good deeds that he had planned on getting so much advantage from. And there's a saying that anyone who gets into his pride, gets into his ego, and makes decisions based on his ego, that person finds that whatever good fortune he has breaks down. Like a water pitcher breaks down and wears away over time from the force of water, a human being will wear away under the force of that pride, under that water of ego. Then all these worldly attachments beat upon us. We become lost and broken.

Okay. But then we have to ask, "How will this ego, this pride, ever be removed?"

And for that there is Knowledge. There is that Name of God within inside of every human being.

Maybe some people say that the Holy Name is found in scriptures or books. But then if that were true, why do they still need to go ahead and build statues in temples? Why aren't they satisfied with the paper book? And those stone statues are the result of ignorance. It's because of ignorance that this world has become lost; it's because of ignorance that this world has forgotten its purpose.

Look at Arjuna. He was supposed to be brave. He was supposed to be a valiant man. But then, where was his valor, where was his strength, when he tells Krishna, "Look. I'm not prepared to fight"?

Arjuna says, "Look. These are my uncles. They are my grand-uncles. All these relatives. These are the people who taught me what I know. They are like my gurus."

And Krishna says, "Arjun. You talk like a scholar but you act like a fool. If they continue in this world, it isn't known to you just how much misery they will cause, how much evil will increase and increase in this world."

And we can look at this and ask that. It's true. We don't know how much misery and suffering those people may have caused if they had lived. It isn't known to us. So couldn't God have put them to death for the welfare of humanity?

So when somebody is giving advice, the thing to do is see what good exists in that advice. And when you give advice, you don't need words like, "You stupid fool." You can take those words out of there and then what will remain is just the advice.

Look at how much trouble Guru Maharaj Ji takes for you. But you don't care about that. You don't take any care for Guru Maharaj Ji. You don't obey him. How many times have you been told not to touch Guru Maharaj Ji's Feet when he's walking? But even then you don't do it …

You will have the darshan of Guru Maharaj Ji as it's offered to you …

Like in the army, to maintain order, there is a general and a colonel and for them there is a facility. Then the rest of the soldiers may sit anywhere. It is like that.

But do you think that by sitting up front you'll get more? No. Those people who sit here don't get anything. Those who are sitting on the ground are at least sitting in Guru Charon Raj (dust at the Feet of Guru Maharaj Ji). It's better to sit in that dust.

… Do you think that if you sit up front people will look at your face? So? People look at your face when you walk down the street, too. You don't have "better darshan" by sitting closer. You'll receive darshan on the ground also.

So today you'll listen to satsang and it would be better if the satsang lasts the whole night. On the last day it should be prolonged so that the gap of satsang in your life for so many days will be made up. (I mean to say you should finish your meals and then sit. And don't keep moving from here to there and getting up and sitting down again.) Your devotion can be made stronger and I'll also know I have so many devotees …

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