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Arihi oṁkāra-bindu-saṁyuktaṁ tyaṁ dhyāyanti yoginaḥ, āmadam mokṣa-dhāṁ chaiva, oṁkārāya namo gaṅgātaraṅgara-maṇīya-jaṭā-kalāpaṁ, gaurīraṁ taravibhūṣita-vāma-bhāgaṁ, nārāyaṇa-priya-manaṅga-madāpahāraṁ, vārāṇasī-pura-patiṁ bhajāmi sva-nātham. Mannāthaḥ śrī-jagannāthaḥ, mad-gurū śrī-jagad-gurū. Māmātmā sarvabhūtātmā, tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ. Śrī alak-puruṣa mahādevakī, śrī śrū deva-puruṣa mahādevakī, śrī dīpa-nārāyaṇa bhagavānekī. Hindu dharma samrāṭ parama, śrī savim maduvana purūjī bhagavānekī. Viśvagurū Mahānāmaṇḍaleśvara Parampūjya Paramyogirāja Paramahaṁśrī Svāmī Maheśvarānandapurījī Gurudeva Bhagavāne Kī Śrī Kāśī Viśvanātha Bhagavāne Kī Syaāvara Rāmacandra Bhagavāne Kī Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Namaḥ Pārvatī Pataye Hara Hara Mahādeva Salutation to the Divine. Om Śrī Ālāgpurjī Siddhāpīṭ Paramparā. I bow to the holy feet of His Holiness, our beloved Gurudev, Viśvagurujī, to all divine spiritual seekers, spiritual masters, all the sannyāsīs of this paramparā, and all the divine bhaktas of Śrī Mahāprabhujī and Viśvagurujī. I say Hari Om to everyone. Good evening. Once again, we are here under the divine blessing of Viśvagurujī, the divine umbrella of Mahāprabhujī. We are always thinking about ourselves: how we are doing, how we are working, how we should work, where we should go. What should we do? All these questions exist, but there is only one answer. If we come into the shadow or the blessing of the divine master, of Mahāprabhujī, or into our divine paramparā, then we get all the answers. With Gurudev's blessing, we are doing our best in every way, everywhere we are. With his blessing, we are on the divine journey of human life. I believe this is the third lecture where we are discussing human life and its purpose, a topic we explored in the last two lectures. We have the same question again, but the answers are many. The ways are many. If we want to go to Delhi, we have many options: by car, bus, train, flight, or walking. Similarly, there is one question—what is the purpose of human life?—and there are many ways, but the answer is also one. What is the purpose of human life? It is to know yourself, to understand "Who am I?" If we think deeply, we are always searching for one thing: who am I? We are searching for eternal happiness. This curiosity, which every human possesses, is called Tattva Jijñāsā. Our aim is self-realization, to know yourself. Ko aham, katham idaṁ jātam? Who am I, and how did this happen? This is very nicely explained in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where great saints discuss human life. They ask each other, "What is the purpose of human life?" The purpose is self-realization. But if this is the purpose, why are we all humans working? We have many kinds of responsibilities and duties. We eat, work, sleep, and do many tasks. Those who live in the ashram perform karma yoga. When you go to your home or your countries, you also have to work. Everyone is doing some work; we are also working and doing seva. So why do we do all these things? A śloka explains it very nicely. We all work. Why do we work? For food. You want to protect your body. So we work, at least to fill our stomachs. If you ask any human why they work, they will say, "First, we need food, energy." Āhāra-artham karma-kuryāt manuṣya. A human works, does a job, fulfills duties and responsibilities to fill his or her stomach, to eat food. So, a question arises: you are working for food. Why? Then a second question: why are you eating food? Why do you need food? Because if we do not eat, our body will not be maintained. You may have heard in Vedānta, or from Viśvagurujī, about the pañca kośas. There is one kośa called the annamaya kośa. This body is built or made by the annamaya kośa. With the annamaya kośa, you are born from food. As you grow, you also need food. When you die, you merge back into the earth, which is also Anna (food). Thus, with food you are born, you grow, and you merge into food. That is why this body needs food. Without it, your body will not live; it will become weak, and you cannot work or live a life. That is why you need food. First, you work for food, and you eat food to maintain your body, to make it strong and healthy so you can work. Why do you want to make it strong? Why do you want to live? Why do you want to remain alive on this earth? It is said that if you have food, you get energy. You have heard in medicine about vitamins E, C, and D. If you eat certain fruits, you get vitamins. If you eat vegetables, all this food gives you energy. This energy is called prāṇa. If you do not eat, you do not get energy; you do not have prāṇa. Without prāṇa, you cannot live this life continuously. So you eat food to protect your prāṇa. Without prāṇa, you cannot do anything. That is why we protect our prāṇa. Now, a question arises: why do you want to protect your prāṇa? What is the reason? They sing, "Prāṇa sandharaya tatva jigyāsana artham." I said the first question is about Tattva Jijñāsā. The purpose of human life is to know yourself, self-realization. This leads to the next point: prāṇa sandharaya. Why do we want to protect our prāṇa? Because we want to know "Who am I?"—the Tattva Jijñāsā, the curiosity about the truth of human life. We want to protect Prāṇa because we want to know our Self and achieve self-realization. You want to achieve self-realization. You want to know yourself. But if you know yourself, what will you gain? What is the reason? It is said that when you know the Self—when you realize "Who am I?"—you will not be born again in this world. The cycle of 8.4 million births, of repeated birth and death, is a very painful circle. Taking birth is very painful; dying is very painful. This circle will be closed. You will be free from the cycle of birth and death. That is why you want to protect your prāṇa. If you have prāṇa, you will search to know yourself. If you know yourself, you will not be born again in this world. But why do you not want to be born in this world? Because this world makes us suffer. We are suffering. Consider from childhood: it is said in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam that when you enter a mother's womb, it is the greatest pain in your life. This has not happened before and will not happen again. It is a very, very hard pain when you live in the mother's womb. "Garbhavāsamam duḥkham na bhūto na bhaviṣyati." It has not happened, and it will not be. That is why you want to be free from this circle—the cycle of birth and death. This is also very nicely mentioned by Ādi Jagadguru Śaṅkarācāryajī, describing what happens in the birth and death circle. Again and again, you take birth. If you take birth, it is fixed that you will die. In the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā, God Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "Hey Arjuna, why are you worrying? Why are you thinking? Any creature born on this earth will die. It is fixed from the moment of birth." Jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyuḥ—whoever is born will definitely die. And whoever dies will be born again, definitely. It is fixed, so do not worry about these things. We take birth again and again. Śaṅkarācārya says, "Oh God, we are taking birth again and again." And when you take birth, you will die again and again. Punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam, and punarapi janani jaṭhare śayanam. When you take birth, before that you sleep in the mother's womb. Punarapi janani jaṭhare śayanam—you sleep there for many months. It is very painful; you do not know what you are experiencing, but God knows everything. It is a very big chapter. You sleep in the mother's womb. "Hey God, oh Divine Master, oh Gurudev, it is very painful. Please free me from this circle. This world is very painful, very hard for me. Again and again, I come into this world. I am not attaining eternal happiness. Please save me, please protect me." This is what Śaṅkarācārya mentions. Thus, it is said that when you come into this human life, it is very painful; you suffer. How do you suffer? When a small child is born—ten days, fifteen days, or one month old—if a mosquito bites the child, the child cries. The mother does not know exactly where the pain is, and the child cannot express what it feels. The mother thinks the child is hungry and gives milk. She may think the child has ear pain and gives medicine. But no one knows what the pain truly is. You suffer in childhood, you suffer throughout life, and when you die, you also suffer. This human life is always suffering. If you want to escape from this, you must know yourself. How will you know yourself? Kabīr Dāsjī said it very nicely. Standing in the market, watching a grinding mill, Kabira cried, "Between these two stones, who can save the grain?" Kabir Das Ji stood and watched the grinding. Two stones were grinding the grains. In the past, there were two stones like this for grinding; now we have machines. Grains went inside. He looked at that grinding and cried. Why did he cry? He said that any grain that comes between these two stones will not remain; everything will be merged into powder. Similarly, whoever comes into this human life, who remains? Only those who are in the divine blessing of the master, or who are connected with God through the blessing of Gurudev, will remain. Otherwise, all will merge again into the cycle of 8.4 million births and deaths. Therefore, what is the purpose of human life? To know yourself. How will you know yourself? That is also explained. If we have a great master like Viśvagurujī, he has shown us the divine way, the divine path, the divine light of Mahāprabhujī. We are a lamp. Gurudev tells us we must merge into the divine light of Mahāprabhujī, or the divine light of the supreme Ātmā Tattva. How will we attain that? By following the Guru Vākya, by performing satsaṅg every day, by doing good karma. When you perform karma, always offer it to God or to Gurudev. This purpose of human life is always present. We must always think about what we are doing, which way we are going, whether we are going right or wrong. Everyone has many things in life. Everyone makes mistakes because we do not know the correct things. Only Gurudev can correct us, and he is correcting us. If you have made mistakes previously, just forget them and take the lesson: "I have made this mistake. Now I will be careful. I will not do it again." Take the lesson and move ahead so you can reach your target, your aim. This is the divine blessing of Viśvagurujī: we receive satsaṅg, and through satsaṅg we draw nearer to Gurudev, to God, to the divine light. Always think, always chant your mantra, always practice the meditation Gurudev has taught us—the divine self-realization tips. There are many tips. Gurudev is always sharing and guiding us, and he guides us now through each other. You help me, I help you. We all help each other, and we all proceed on the divine path that Viśvagurujī has shown us. Thus, the purpose of human life is self-realization. Next time, we will change the topic, as it can also be interesting to change. Otherwise, we could talk about the human purpose for a month. We can finish this topic here and see the next topic in the next lecture. See you again in the next lecture. Enjoy, have a good time, do your satsaṅg, do your seva, love each other, help each other, and protect each other with the blessing of Gurudev. Hari Om. Thank you for listening, coming, and helping. Deep Nayan Bhagavān Neki, Dev Puruṣa Mahādev Neki, Alak Puruṣa Mahādev Neki. Madak Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Neki Viśva Guru Mahāvandaleśvara Param Pūjā Param Yogī Rāja Paramāṁśir Svāmī Maheśa Om Namaḥ Pārvatī Pataye Har Har Mahādeva Hari Om.