How can we reach the Supreme?
Satsang is association with truth and truthful seekers, not merely scriptural study.
Knowledge from books is important, but it is not the living cosmic reality. One may read for a lifetime and not complete the understanding. A story tells of a rishi in the Himalayas who read the Vedas for ages. When messengers from Dharmaraja came to take him, he repeatedly refused, saying his study was incomplete. They finally showed him that the dust in his hand was all he had learned, while the entire Himalayas represented the limitless Vedas. Study alone leads to an empty interior. One must catch the essential point beyond mere repetition. The Guru's living word, the Sabda, is the key, not just recited mantras.
"They think they have it there, from the Vedas, but they say it is theirs."
"You have not learned that much. Only from the Vedas have you learned this. But the whole Vedas are the Himalayas."
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Gurudev is a goldsmith
Welcome to the spiritual home. Its atmosphere is a blessing of presence.
You have entered the Ashram, which is a Paras-stone. Contact transforms your substance, like iron to gold, but three qualities remain: sharpness, form, and danger. The Satguru, as a goldsmith, can break these with the hammer of knowledge. This process is a beautiful pain. We are here for lectures on Nāda-Yoga and practice. Questions can be submitted for public or private answer. Prayer and singing happen daily. Prasāda, a blessed offering, is distributed. It grants Satbuddhi—good intellect and thoughts—which leads to world peace. It brings Siddhi: health, joy, and prosperity. The divine itself seeks blessing. True value is understood through devotion, not transaction. Distribute prasāda intuitively, not by counting. We also celebrate birthdays and offer collective prayers for specific intentions. Heartfelt good wishes are a powerful blessing.
"An iron knife is united with the Paras. What happens? The knife turns into gold."
"Prasāda means blessing. Blessing means Prasāda."
Filming location: Strelka Ashram, Europe
DVD 224
The Seed Has To Die To Become A Tree
Knowledge is an endless well, not a finite resource to be exhausted.
Great saints of the past have spoken, but they only consumed the butter, not the cow itself. The cow—Sarasvatī, the source of knowledge—remains with us. Feed it with love and devotion, and you can milk it day and night; the well of wisdom is infinite. We have just begun to explore the Manipūra Chakra, the jeweled city within, which is the foundation of life and holds immense spiritual energy. True wealth is not external money but the internal treasure of contentment; desire is what makes one poor. We originate from the endless, void-like Ākāśa and are waves of the primordial sound, Nāda. Like individual raindrops, we separate but ultimately return to the ocean. The navel is the center of this universal process. The vital energies, prāṇa and apāna, flow through channels like the Vajranāḍī, and their balance is essential for life. Our physical form began from the navel, a truth symbolized by the lotus emerging from Viṣṇu's navel. This spiritual knowledge is a feast to be consumed slowly, bite by bite.
"They ate the butter, not the cow. Feed the cow with love. Milk it day and night."
"Those who have the money are the poor. Those who have no money are the rich."
Filming location: Vép, Hungary
The Ocean and the Drop
The individual soul is a drop from the divine ocean.
We are all that divine essence, like a drop from the ocean. Modern science can be used for good or harm, but the ancient yogic science guides only toward good. Our true nature is divine; each cell in the body is God. We are the drop that has temporarily separated. This drop may land in a barren place, but it will inevitably return to the ocean. We are very close to that unity now. All names and forms are of the one God. The soul does not die; it merges. Our prayers should extend kindness to all life. Among billions of life forms, only humans possess the understanding to realize this truth. The path is within, through the heart and meditation, using practices like mantra to return focus inward. External roles are just garments; the inner realization is what matters.
"All animals, all, but humans more, we know that. And we are the drop of that."
"Only life, the soul, the life have only one door."
Filming location: Vienna, Austria
Dharma and Karma
Yoga is the eternal path to self-realization, a source of endless knowledge beyond mere postures. The universal Self, or light of God, dwells within all beings, yet we are blinded by illusion. Human life aims to return to this origin, guided by dharma and bound by karma. Education from parents teaches spiritual principles, while worldly knowledge is far from the divine light. Space and consciousness are balanced in perfect oneness through yoga. Our duty is to help others and all creatures, for harming them is harming the light within them. Purification comes through discipline, meditation, and sattvic food, awakening the dormant energies within.
"Yoga is like a forever milky cow. Every day it gives you new milk, fresh milk."
"If you see yourself in everyone, this is the first step of self-realization."
Filming location: Vancouver, Canada
