(Excerpts of a lecture by Yogi Bhajan on August 21, 2001) At an early age you ask this question: “Why are we born? What is the purpose of birth on this planet Earth?” When we are almost middle aged, when the heat of the young blood is gone, and a little cold seeps in, we start asking: “What is my purpose?” The fact is that whatever you have achieved, it is because of the karma. It is because of the karma of previous lives. Opportunities, wealth, health, happiness, relatives, friends—they are all part of the karma. This life is to settle the account, to pay for the karma, and to progress on the path or dharma—whichever dharma you may have. Somebody was telling me that he had committed a blunder. I asked him a question. I said, “Did you know it was a blunder?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Why did you commit it if you knew that it was a blunder?” He said, “That’s what I am wondering.” You do all wrongs because there is no commitment. When there is no commitment, there’s no character; when there’s no character, there’s no dignity; when there’s no dignity, there’s no divinity; when there’s no divinity, there’s no grace; when there’s no grace, there’s no power to sacrifice—and then there’s no happiness. It’s a simple rule; it cannot change. All fruits that grow on a tree are not going to ripen. Some are going to drop when green, some will ripen, some will be picked, and some will be served to nurture to pay their karma. Likewise, when you nurture somebody and serve somebody or nurse somebody—bring happiness—you are paying karma. You are not doing any favor. Rather you are being favored to do your karma. But this head, this crazy head, this egomaniacal head is only involved in the self. This head says, “Don’t bow, don’t bend, don’t give in, no! No, don’t!” We need a window for our higher selves. There is nothing you can do, or you can lose, or you can gain, except that you have to give one idea to yourself, “I belong to my God, and I am with my Creator, and He is with me.” All we do is called karam: getting up in the morning, taking a bath, meditating, concentrating, cleansing ourselves, trying to have thoughts. What is meditation? Meditation is a very simple thing. When you meditate, every dirty thought in your subconscious comes out. People tell me, “I was meditating and I was in bliss.” That’s a lie. Meditation is a simple process in which a person lets loose subconscious dirt. This is all that happens in meditation. What you have seen, what you have desired, will show up in the subconscious—you chase girls, you chase money, you chase wealth—all that is there. That is why you use mantras in meditation. When your subconscious releases thoughts into your conscious mind, and you say “Wahe Guru,” “Brahma,” “Allah,” “Jesus,”—whatever you want to say—that cuts it so the minus (-) become plus (+). And when you reach such a state that your thoughts cannot bear to be negative, then you understand you are a human. Otherwise, all that you think, see and watch is in you. You are the pictorial self for all there is. And then you process it through dreams; you process it through daydreams; you process your thoughts; you keep on doing this. Mostly, you are never in yourself: you are somewhere else. The process of love is you concentrate. The process of love is that you dive deep into yourself. The process of self is that you find your roots. The process of self is that you enjoy your happiness. Who cares if you have a big mound of money in the bank or if you are a big boss? Why does anybody care? There’s a chance to find yourself, your creative self, your applied self, your applied mind, your projective mind and your rational mind, to sit and analyze, and within that scope to see who you are—why you are the way you are. Some people are very depressed. It’s a white depression. It’s very subtle. Do you mean God is a fool? If you have to send a message to God, Who is the universe around you, then you have to concentrate on your nerve centers first. Prayer without total concentration of the spine doesn’t work because the entire vibratory system, the nervous system, is in the spine. It is simple. God has given you eyes to see Him. But do you see God with your eyes? No, you see things. God has given you ears to hear His grace, His totality. There are so many things—not just the leaves, but their growth, their green color, the wind, the breeze, the lightning. The ears are there to tell you the sound of Nature. If you start realizing the sound of Nature, then you can realize Shabd Guru, the sacred sound. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you go to a shop and see something and you say, “It’s horrible, it’s miserable, its color and line are not right, this is not right, that is not right,” the shopkeeper will say, “Please, go to another shop, I don’t want to sell anything to you.” When you are moody, and you are depressed, you insult God badly. And then you expect your prayer to be answered! Why? Why? Why? “Stupid” is not the word for this. “Stupid” is a very polite word for it. First, you insult yourself, to which you have no right. And then, you are not only insulting yourself you are also insulting your Creator. You insult God in many ways. You insult other people that He created. He created the Universe which you insult. Then you insult everything you know, and you want to be prosperous? You want to be recognized? You will be very well recognized by God. Do you know how God will recognize you? He’ll send you to a gourmet party, give you thirty, forty dishes to eat, and then give you indigestion. He has His ways. You have your ways. He has His ways. Because Saas, saas Simrao Gobind. “The One Who maintains you, with every breath, appreciate Him.” You don’t even appreciate yourself; you don’t appreciate anybody. You find fault in everything. Why? Because you have been taught to sell yourself emotionally. You have no strength “to be” in your life—to be in compassion. Not for yourself, nor for anybody else. You know what parents teach? Be a doctor, be a genius, be an MBA, be this, be that. Have you seen any parent who says, “Be a human being, and a nice one, and compassionate, and kind?” Even when people ask me, “Yogiji, bless me with this, bless me with that,” I don’t say anything to them. You know what I do? I say to God, “They could have asked for anything, but what they have asked for is not enough. Give them more. They don’t know how to ask!” When you ask God, ask Him for nothing less than the heavens. “Give me the heavens!” That is life when you have a face-to-face relationship with God. This face, which is given to you by Him, is what He likes the most. So, face to face. Word by word. What can He do to you if you ask Him for that? What? Will you die? Die you must anyway; nobody can do more than that. Send you to hell? Fine. It’s warm. He’ll burn you? God is in you—if He burns you, He’ll burn Himself. Why are you so upset? Don’t you ever separate from Him. “God and me, me and God are one.” Ek Ong Kaar - what Nanak said was very simple. It will solve all of your problems—physical, mental, worldly, and heavenly.