This is why in all the stories, when you hear about wars between the devas and the asuras — the creatures of light and the demons — who wins first? Always the demons.

The demons take over the positions of the senses: the eyes, the ears, the tongue. Lust, greed, and hatred take over. Our gaze becomes lustful, our speech becomes impure. The lower nature takes control of all the positions that should belong to the divine.

Then the gods go to Brahma, and from there to Vishnu or Shiva, and divine intervention happens. A great war takes place, the demons are removed, and the gods are restored — but only for a while, until the demons return again.

If the demons are in control of the senses, they want indulgence. They do not like dharma, they do not like boundaries. For them, God is in the position of an enemy — the one who will destroy their enjoyment.

But for the one who disciplines himself, who takes the mind and the senses and turns them toward the soul, who purifies the senses and the mind through practice, through tapas, then God is no longer an enemy.

God created the world, and He placed Adam and Eve in the garden. And He told them: enjoy everything — all the fruits, all the experiences.

But for what purpose? To recognize that everything comes from God. That the body, the senses, the intellect, and all experiences come from the One. By enjoying, they were meant to develop gratitude, to praise, and to glorify the Divine.

But what happened? The snake came — the lower nature — and told them to forget God, to become like God, independent of Him. They desired the fruit, they took it, and there was a downfall.

The same thing happens within us.

But the one who has purified the senses, purified the mind, and removed the lower tendencies that seek indulgence — and who finds joy in loving God, in devotion, in praising and offering everything to God — for him everything becomes the same.

Whether it is a clod of earth, a stone, or gold — everything becomes equal.

The yogi is not interested in the object itself. For him, everything is an indicator of God.

It is said about Ramakrishna that even if he would see a prostitute, he would immediately go into samadhi. Why? Because it became an indicator of his beloved Divine Mother.

For the yogi, wherever he looks, whatever he touches, whatever he experiences — everything is an indicator of the Divine.

Everything was created by God. Everything is governed by God. Everything becomes a means to reconnect with God.

So he is not enjoying the object — he is reconnecting through it.

The yogi is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is theoretical — what is learned from scripture. Wisdom is lived — what is realized.

There are three kinds of knowledge:

• Direct knowledge (Pratyaksha): through the senses
• Indirect knowledge (Paroksha): through scripture
• Non-indirect knowledge (Aparoksha): direct realization

For example, you see a book — that is direct knowledge. Through scripture, you understand that the book is made of many elements, all coming from God — that is indirect knowledge. But when you realize directly that this is God, that is non-indirect knowledge.

This is the difference between knowing how to do a headstand and actually doing it.

When the mind is purified and awakened, everything is known as God.

Kutasta means unchanged, like an anvil. Many things are shaped upon it, but it remains unchanged. In the same way, the yogi remains unaffected by all experiences.

He is not elated by gold, nor disturbed by anything else. He remains steady, established in the Divine.

Nothing in the world can affect the yogi. He remains the silent witness.