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There have been many great saints, such as our Mahāprabhujī, our holy Gurujī, Lalanānjī, Bodhāranjī, Kabīr Dāsajī, Nānak Dāsajī, Mīrābāī, and countless others. What is their significance? They bestow knowledge upon us. Take Kabīr Dās, for instance. He lived in Kāśī, where his seat remains, along with his many beautiful bhajans and poems. In these songs, the word bhajan itself is key. Bhaja means to behold the glory of the Supreme, the Highest. "Madhkar moha"—do not be attached. Moha means attachment, and it does not matter what kind. We have many attachments: to money, property, family, husbands, wives, children, and countless other things. Earlier, Jasrāj Purījī Mahāmaṇḍeśvarjī was singing a bhajan that contained many names. "Matkar"—the master. There are many masters. In this age, there are so many. You may call them guru. Even in childhood, someone who teaches us to ride a bicycle is our guru. The one who teaches us to drive a car is also a guru, a teacher. What does the guru give to the student? They impart knowledge without any material exchange; this is something we must learn. You can buy a car with your money, no problem. Someone may hand you the keys and say, "Please, this is your car." But if you do not know how to start it or where to go, what then? You might start driving, but in which direction? How many accidents will occur? This is about knowledge. And who gives this knowledge? The master. Nowadays, we say a teacher asks for money or other things. But that essential knowledge does not ask for any money from a true master or teacher. Consider this: ten or fifteen days ago, we could not drive our car. Then the master came and taught us how to drive. Slowly, you became a driver. What did the master give you? Two more eyes? Four legs? Another pair of hands? Nothing in your body changed—only the knowledge. That knowledge, now in your mind, tells you that you are skilled and can drive the car. You could even fly an airplane. If someone claims to be the best, say, "Yes, please, sit in the plane and take off." They will not be able to. A pilot learns from a master; he sits, and with hundreds of people onboard, he takes off and lands smoothly. This illustrates the relationship between master and disciple. Similarly, there is the spiritual master, the relationship between guru and disciple. We encounter many gurus in our lives, especially in this era and in certain countries. In India, one might say, "Okay, no, not necessary," but in countries like Australia, New Zealand, or Fiji—where the Indian community is stronger but others are not—they cannot survive without a Guru. This is very important. In India, a person with no formal study might get up, tinker with something, and make an electric circuit work in a car's body. No one asks who did it or how. But here, one must be a certified doctor or electrician, having studied everything from specific companies and institutions, to be considered a master. The ingenuity of some Indians is unimaginable. God save us—those who have not studied or done anything formally yet manage to fix things. A person might take a live wire in their mouth, bite and break the cable, and walk away. It works, but if something goes wrong, it is not good. First, the Upaniṣad says: "Mātṛ Devo Bhava." First, God is the mother. The master is first the mother. "Mātṛ Devo Bhava." Second, "Pitṛ Devo Bhava"—the father. Then, "Ācārya Devo Bhava"—the teacher, your school teacher, all such instructors. Then comes "Satguru Bhava." Thus, there are different kinds of gurus. You may call them "mister" or "teacher"; in our language, we say "master." Beyond a master, we can say guru. So we have an electric guru, a cycling guru—these are for what we are learning. Then there is the spiritual guru. It is not easy to attain such a guru. Now, I am speaking about God. The mother is the first God. There are 8.4 million different life forms. But one distinction of humans is that our brain possesses knowledge that can be learned. We have dharma, pāpa, and puṇya. Pāpa means sin. Puṇya means good deeds, merit. What is puṇya? It is said: pāpa and puṇya. Who goes to heaven and hell? One goes due to sin, the other goes towards God. Animals do not have this; they are already in that state. They possess no further knowledge and are simply going through cycles until they reach the highest stage: the human birth. Humans have knowledge and should know. Therefore, humans have puṇya and pāpa. Puṇya is the good, the merciful; pāpa is the sin. This is the interplay between the two. Now, within this, we speak of the Trinity, three gods. The first is Śiva. Śiva is everything. Sometimes people ask a joking question: "Mahārājī Swāmījī, you are a great scholar. Can you tell us which came first, the bird or the egg?" People ask us this. So I asked my Gurudev, and he gave a very good answer. Anyone who learns this can explain it precisely. "Eko'haṁ Bahusyām"—"I am One; I shall become many." Who is that? Not the Rūpa Parabrahma (Formless Supreme Reality). It is that Parabrahman. It is only resonance; there is nothing there. From this emerges the five elements and all we know. But the first is only Śiva. And before that, there is space, Ananta. Ananta means endless. We are limited; that is limitless. Ask someone, "How far is the horizon?" I do not know. As you go closer, it recedes again to the origin. That is endless, and that is called space and consciousness. "Chetan ke ichchhā nahīṁ, jar se kush nahīṁ hoī." Chetan means living, conscious—not a body like this. But that consciousness has no desire at all. Similarly, earth and stones have no desires. So how did creation begin? You can ask any Mahārājī, Yogījī, or Swāmījī: how did creation begin? Between them is yoga. What does the word yoga mean? Not āsanas, not prāṇāyāma, not meditations—it is something different. We call it yoga, but yoga has many meanings. Yoga means something is happening. "Yog hua, merī gāḍī kharāb ho gayī." (A yog occurred; my car broke down.) "Aisā yog āyā ki merā accident ho gayā." (Such a yog happened that I had an accident.) "Aisa yog ki merī ko bahut acchhā ek vakti mil gayā." (A yog happened that I met a very good friend.) If we can understand what yoga is, we understand everything. That is called yoga. So yoga is space and consciousness together. Yet, it is neither space nor consciousness alone. Who is that? This or that? Then, between space and consciousness, there are three principles: the Trinity. This trinity means harmony, balance, and oneness—becoming one. These three principles reside within. Still, the whole universe, with its many stars and suns, is within. That is yoga. That is why one who is in that state is called a yogī. What we do—our ups and downs, left and right—in yoga practice, we say "I have come to yoga," but you may not know that yoga means spontaneous union. That yoga is when suddenly I attain everything, or something negative occurs. The rest—physical postures for good health—is for our body. Within this, then comes the resonance, the sound: "I am one, and now I shall multiply." But who says this to whom? Where is it? It is only the resonant sound. That resonance, that sound, is the Supreme, the Highest, God, whatever we may call it. Resonance. And there are resonances in this world: negative and positive. Someone is angry and speaks harshly; others speak of good things. This is also sound—negative sound and positive sound. Thus comes Śiva. Then from Him come the five elements: space, fire, air, water, and earth. These five are within, yet there is still nothing, and so Śiva emerges. He is within that part of the body, so to speak. First comes light, fire, and the other elements. There, He multiplies by Himself, and there exists the interplay between Śiva and Śakti. He creates the halves: masculine and feminine. This is how things proceed further. The half, or more than half, of feelings reside in the man. Prāṇa's powers and feelings are in the human body from the female. Females have more energy and are moving in that sense—from head to foot. It is not merely what we call emotional, but complete within our body. Therefore, they are also together, serpentine. And so, it is that Nādarūpa Parabrahma (the Supreme in the form of Sound). That resonance comes there, and that resonance gives you the egg and the bird—the bird and the egg. All this insight leads us further. So, yoga. "He Uddhava, hamē batādo, yog se vyog kyā kām hai?" (O Uddhava, tell us, what is the purpose of yoga and its opposite?) When Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa arrived, there were all the gopīs and gopas. Gop means the male devotees, disciples. Gopī means the female disciples. Here, how many female disciples are sitting? They are gopīs. And who is sitting as a man is a gop. That is the language from where Kṛṣṇa was born. There is a gopī—I will not go too far into this, otherwise the bhajan will not be completed. I am speaking for the sake of that bhajan. So, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa—how this came about, I do not wish to elaborate further. The gopīs were Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa's disciples, and Uddhava was a close friend and disciple of Kṛṣṇa. The gopī said, "Now Lord Kṛṣṇa has left, but tell us, please." She asks the question: which path should I take? She is asking, "Please, O disciple, tell me now, what is the difference between this and that?" What is the difference between this and that? "Yogīs are always in the mind, and the sadness is in the heart. Tell me, please, now, what is the difference between this and that?" The difference? The sadness, dukha, means a terrible situation, you could say, pain. In this, O yogī, what is the difference between Bhagavān being gone and yogīs being in the forest? So, Kākī, the yogī and the yoga practitioner, they are both. Yogis are only in the forest somewhere, but who is in pain? That is in my heart. Similarly, every bhajan tells how the master, the guru, comes in between. So Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva—Śiva is the first, then come Viṣṇu and Brahmā. Śiva is the creator and liberator. I will not say distractor, but liberator. He appears and He departs. The sun rises and sets—that is all. Viṣṇu is the protector. Kṛṣṇa, etc., are protectors. They protect and oversee; they have their times. Brahmā is the creator. Śiva is the beginning and the end. Let us say this is the parliament. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva are in counsel, with all the devas, deciding what to do. They bring, they give the chants and the goals. But how? Who is to liberate? Therefore, it is said: "Dhyāna mūlaṁ guru mūrtiḥ, 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.) So, the grace of the Guru encompasses all three; they are all one but have their duties. Similarly, the Guru has the same duty, the fourth. Thus: "Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Guruve Namaḥ." They all worship the Guru. But which guru? Not this physical body like ours. Yes, this understanding is finally given in the last moment of life. Only then is the guru complete. Otherwise, one might say, "I am very complete," and tomorrow do something else. Therefore, it takes time. All gurus and all ṛṣis in their time walk the path. You walk the path, you may fall down, you rise again. Like people in the ocean clinging to a piece of wood—maybe plastic or wood. Similarly, how many times do you fall? A person may be an expert swimmer but has fallen many times, gone under, come up halfway—anyhow, good. So finally, it is said that mokṣa, liberation, comes from the guru. Now, there are two aspects of God, or two forms of Bhagavān. One God is Nimitta (the instrumental cause). One God, whatever you say. Sometimes Brahmā becomes Śiva, and Śiva becomes Viṣṇu, and Viṣṇu becomes... perhaps they have their duties, but in the beginning, first was Śiva. So how does it come? First, it is said, Nimitta Avatāra. Avatāra means a very high, divine person descending. So: Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, and now Kali Yuga. Like this, there are many yugas. "Kei Kalapam Vityaram. Kei Kalapā Kalapāḥ." If you wish to know about this, look somewhere on Google. What is it about? We speak of years and such. In the yogic tradition, what do we call that? About yogas, many yogas. And so, when the end comes, then God Viṣṇu appears. Otherwise, He is waiting. But then, what about others? So nitya and nitya. Nitya means every day, so that God comes every day. Nitya, and from time to time—that is what we call His coming. These sādhus—it does not matter if they wear orange, white, or black dress—but who is renounced and upholds dharma? "Dharma rakṣita rakṣita." That sādhu, that priest, or whoever it may be—if he or she can be a true dharma rakṣita (protector of dharma). Dharma means the rules: not killing anyone, protecting all. That is dharma. "Rakṣita rakṣita"—if you protect dharma, dharma will protect you. You protect us, and we will protect you. So, coming and going, coming and going. Now, not everyone is like that. We have had many ṛṣis. Even in the West—Europe and the U.S.—all was once under snow. Everything was very sparse. The first human, it is said, appeared near the Himalayas, where Śiva resides, at Kailāśa. People say the first human was born or appeared there. According to this, from there, further coming and going occurred. So we were all like that. Therefore, it is said that after that came the ṛṣis. I tell you now about the ṛṣis. What does ṛṣi mean? There are many ṛṣis, but there are sattva ṛṣis. At that time, there were the Saptaṛṣis (Seven Sages), and they are still in space. They are in their place, visible as stars. Their place is still there. These ṛṣis gave further knowledge, and therefore Indian traditions maintain that lineage. So it does not matter which person, where they are, or what position they hold. One might ask, "What is your name?" Okay, the name is this. And, "What is your caste?" But caste is not what they think. What is caste? Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said the head represents the Brahmins, the arms the Kṣatriyas (warriors, those who give work and sustenance), the thighs the Vaiśyas, and the feet the Śūdras. This is our body within us, so there is no doubt. They said it came from which ṛṣis, and they had their duties. So one will be a Brahmin. They said this. Many of those ṛṣis are still... in our blood, that which reaches that. If you remain in that, it is not that a weak person is deemed "not good." Someone to whom the Guru gave authority was a king. What is a king? The Guru gave that position to a person who was good, humble, and took care of everybody. To them, He gave the position of king—not that they are kings in a worldly sense. So this duty, therefore, makes them the king. But the Guru is Mahārājā. They are Rājā and Sādhu—what do we call them? Yes or no? What do we call our Sādhus? Mahārāj. Whoever it is, Mahārāj. This does not mean the Mahārāj should be proud, thinking "I am a Mahārāj." No, that title is given by the ṛṣis. So we are in the lineage of the ṛṣis. It does not matter where you are. Now, they say that in Australia, the origins of the name "Australia" are from India. Their behavior, and that of South Indians—applying white tilak here and there—they are all doing similar things. It does not matter. But others have lost their paramparā (lineage, tradition). If yogīs come back again, then we will be restored. But we got lost, we lost it, and we are suffering. Therefore, one should come again in human form. For animals, there is no sin or merit, but humans have both. So God said, "I gave you everything." You are God, but it depends on you. If you do bad, you will go to hell. If you do good, you go to heaven. That is it. And so, O men, you should know in your heart that you are the protector of all creatures and humans. Therefore, Kabīr said in a bhajan—what was the bhajan? "Where are you? Do not have attachment." Yes, throw attachment away. "Matkāro moho" means this: "Matkāro moho tu, matkāro moho tu bhajan kya?" Hari bhajan ko ma—yes. Believe and meditate, worship God. That is the first duty, O human. That is your chance now to reach the Highest and Supreme. Otherwise, you will suffer again.