And that is a really, really popular philosophy today. Back to the idea I was speaking a little bit earlier. We are all God, right? This is what “the yogis” tell us. Hey, they came from India, man, they know everything. It is going to be the truth. The guy is from India, he has got long bear, white hair, you know, wears robes too, he has got an ashram, many followers. He is going to be telling the truth. He says we are God, he says he is God and we all are God. He did not mention to me that the difference between him and me is that he knows it and I do not. But he says, «You can know it just like me, then you can be like me.» (Of course it is not good for the guru, because when I become as good as the guru what do I need guru for, you see? If I am God and he is God and he just brought me to the point when I know I just the same as him, then I do not need him anymore. So it cuts off may be some revenue.) But anyway, why pursue a path that is not going to lead us to what we are looking for? If you go down the wrong path – you go down the wrong path.
The Vedas under the guidance of true perfect masters and teachers, who do not tell things that are not correct, tell us: you are only going to find what you are looking for in loving relationship with the Supreme Person, the Supreme Lord.
This is the design. We cannot change the design. Unfortunately we are always trying to. We are always trying to make it different then how it really is. Why? Because we want to be God. Remember, we have all the qualities of the Supreme Lord and therefore we have this tendency to be number one. To be the controller, to be the authority.
This leads us into bad places, it brought us into the material world and it takes us lifetime after lifetime into failure. Failure means two things. One is: I do not find this happiness and satisfaction and love that I am looking for. And the number two failure is: I am still in the material world, I do not go back to my original home, in the spiritual world. I am still here on the wheel of birth and death experiencing again and again the four problems of life – birth, diseases, old age and death. We all have those four problems. We have all kind of problems but nobody really is trying to solve the major problems of birth, disease, old age and death.
Birth is a problem. We do not see it like that. Under our illusion, covered by all of this contamination and misunderstanding many times we see birth as a wonderful thing, «Oh, wonderful thing.» Not true. The soul is not supposed to be in the material world. Taking birth indicates I failed last time. In my last life I did not make it out. I am still here and my taking birth is proof that I failed. I am having to repeat it again. Birth just by its nature is very painful, there is a lot of suffering involved.
In the womb the baby suffers immensely. We suffered in the womb a lot. The baby is in there in the small little space and as he grows the more cramped it gets. Actually in the later stages he is trying to get out, «Hey, let me get out of here.» And the mom says, «Oh, my little baby.» The baby is kicking and she says, «Oh, how nice!» The baby is not feeling so wonderful about it, «I have got to get out.»
And it actually is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam, which is one of our Vedic truths, that in the womb the baby actually is crying to God, «Please, help me out of this crazy stressful situation. If you allow me to escape from this I will serve you, I will be with you.» And then of cause after sometime as arranged by nature – boom, we leave the womb, shot down the birth canal. Head is this big, canal is this big. Have you ever seen a new born baby? They do not look too good: twisted, pink. You say, «Hey, men, where you had been, what happened?» – «Oh, do not talk about it, I do not want to go there”. It is so painful that we forget it. Anybody remember being in the womb? We all forget, it is nature’s arrangement. We do not remember that, but it is a reality.
An interesting thing: one time I gave a lecture in Moscow and I talked about this. After the lecture this man came up to me and he said, «You know, when you were talking about life in the womb and all that…» I said, «Yes.» He said, “You know, I do remember life in the womb, I remember being born. I remember my mom taking me and putting me on her breast. I remember my first drink of milk.» I said, «Wow, amazing. Can you describe it for me?» And he described it almost word for word as it is described in Srimad Bhagavatam. Not that I had any doubts before that, but it is just additional confirmation.
But again, we don’t remember, we forget all these things. That is one of the things that keep us in illusion – forgetfulness. We don’t remember the pain. One little bit of pleasure – oh, we remember that. But so intense pain – after time… They say, «Time heals all pain”. We have got to forget it. That is why we do not remember our last lives. If I could remember all the past lives I have had, and the pains, and the sufferings, and the deaths, and all those disappointments and the broken hearts and the destroyed relationships and all those things ¬– how could I enjoy in this life? How could I be optimistic about this birth? I could not.
But I do not remember. And I come out of the womb, I look at the world through rose colour glasses: “I am the enjoyer, this is my world, this is my home. I am number one here”. And I say, «Wow, I am going to have a good time, I am the controller.» And right away I begin by the controlling mom. I figure out if I scream and cry and make a lot of noise, she comes running. In the middle of the night, no matter, she comes running. “You see, ha-ha, I have got you in my grasp”. I continue, I grow up and I continue to control, trying to control. I get more freedom, my range of control expands and etc., etc.
That is the game we all play. And when we cannot control we are very disappointed. And when we can control we still are disappointed, because it did not produce a happiness I thought it would. It is all illusion, it is all fake. It destroys our life again and again. That is birth.
Then there is disease, we get diseases whether we like it or not. No matter what kind of diet we follow, how pure we live, what water we drink, the cleanest country we live in, it does not matter. We are all going to get sick, it is a part of the plan. And every little sickness is so unpleasant. Just a little cold, a little flew is so unpleasant. But hey, that is the way it is. That is disease.
And then if we get through the first two obstacles then we come to number three – old age. Not fun. People say, «Oh, what are you worry about, that is the golden years.» That was said by some guy in the young body. Talk to the old people, go to the old age home, «Oh, how do you like the old age, congratulations.» It is a hell. I have been to many old age houses, I was just in one two weeks ago, we went out and tried to give people mantras, chanted to these people, who are at the last stage in this body, before they will meet the final problem.
Death – that is a big problem. We don’t even want to talk about death, we don’t even want to think about it, we are in denial about it. We spend a whole life trying not to die. We do anyway.
What we do?
— Oh, I am going to eat.
– Why?
– Because if I will not eat I will die.
– Oh, I am afraid to do this.
– Why?
– Because I might die.
Why am I looking when I cross a street? Because if I will get hit by a car it will kill me. «Oh, what it is going to be, oh, I am afraid, because I might die.» We all afraid of death and we spend a whole life trying to avoid it and we cannot. We die anyway. And then it starts again.
This is the wheel we are on. It is not the wheel we should be on. We are told to get off this wheel by the Vedas. While we are on the wheel all of our natural tendencies come out. So a need for a relationship manifests itself again and again and again. Because we are conscious people, we need relationships.