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Part 1: The Gift of Darśana and the Practice of Awareness Hari Om, dear friends, dear brothers and sisters. Today is a very special day for us because today is Swāmījī’s birthday. We are happy and we are fortunate because we have Swāmījī’s birthday twice a year, due to the moon calendar and the sun calendar. According to the moon calendar, Swāmījī was born in India. But I said we are fortunate, and we have one more chance according to the solar calendar, and today is that day. We are here at the webcast in Hungary. The hall is completely full, and Swāmījī said that I must speak like a football commentator. I know the people in the hall know all about this. For nearly two hours, one and a half hours, we had darśana with Swāmījī. Thousands of people came, gave their love and flowers to Swāmījī, and also had darśana. Darśana—viewing, seeing Gurudev—is the most important thing in the life of a disciple. When we start practicing yoga, we think the satsaṅga is most important, but not just the satsaṅga; the lecture of Gurudev is the most, most important thing. I remember, over twenty years ago, I was always complaining about such big crowds and so many people coming to give flowers and mālā to Swāmījī, because we wanted to hear the lecture. But with Swāmījī, only those few seconds and bowing down to the Gurudev is the most important thing. In that moment, everything is intense. I remember once, it was Guru Pūrṇimā somewhere in Austria. The hall was full of people, and all the time there was a queue. We had only a few minutes of Swāmījī’s lecture, and in that moment, I was thinking, "Oh, only a few minutes’ lecture." But when we sat in the bus going back to Zagreb, we were so full of energy and full of this atmosphere, from being and having darśana. When we are in India with Swāmījī, we have a satsaṅga. Many, many Indians come to greet Swāmījī. In a satsaṅga like this, so many people come to Swāmījī, greet him, get darśana, and get a blessing. That moment is so full and so inspiring for many, many weeks and months after. For the webcast, it might not be so interesting to see so many people in the queue, but at the same time, we have bhajans. All the time, we are singing bhajans. That bhajan is the essence of the teaching. As Swāmījī said, if you sing a bhajan alone, you have a satsaṅga. When you have problems and you don’t have inspiration and you don’t have strength to practice meditation, just sit and sing bhajans. Or if you don’t know how to sing bhajans, just listen to bhajans. That bhajan completely, almost, changes the atmosphere in your home and also completely purifies and changes your mind. I think in such situations and such big festivals, like Guru Pūrṇimā, Swāmījī’s birthday, or Mahāsamādhi, where we sing bhajans all night, we have few opportunities. First, to sing bhajans, but it’s also more important than only listening. Because if we only listen, we are only users. But if we sing, we also give energy into that. We make good karma. Through our mouth go these holy words of the Master. We have more benefit. Every time when we are in satsaṅga, try not to be only a user, only a listener, only one who is behind and looking for some entertainment. The most important thing is to be in that situation. Be in the honey, and we will have this nice, sweet taste inside of us. In one bhajan, it is said—I don’t know how to say it nicely in English—but I think it is: it will be a very big misfortune and great misery in my life if I don’t see and be with you, my Gurudev. I think for all of us, today is a very, very important day. Because Swāmījī was incarnate on earth, he is incarnate on earth. He is with us, and our life now has sense because in saṃsāra, in this world without sense, now we have sense, and we have darśana with our Gurudev. Many, many greetings and good wishes for the birthday. I think for all your disciples who are not here with you and who are now watching the webcast. We wish that Swāmījī will be with us for many, many, many years, and we wish you good health. And also, we wish that we will be much, much better disciples, that we will practice, and not just practice, but be better humans. Many, many good wishes for your birthday. Well, you know, always for everything. Those who are listening to my webcast should try to find out some good people who can make the techniques always and who can work on the time. One thing is that you don’t show only what you like to show. But what people like, that is important. You think that many people are standing in the queue and coming and greeting Swāmījī. It’s a private thing. But you know, there are thousands of people around the world, or more than that, at least that they can see our Guru, brothers and sisters, and mentally they are also with that queue, like mānasik pūjā. Also, it’s not only that if Swāmījī speaks we will show, but there are many others who speak, also very, very good. And therefore, the cameraman should be very neutral. This whole morning, people were waiting. So they said that it was a little bit on the web side, and then it was finished. They don’t know when it will happen, what will happen. So it was on the web now for half an hour, then they switched on the Strylki. Now they don’t know if we are in the Vape or in Strylki. A few telephone calls came between our Saganji from Rani Rajpali district, and he said, "Swāmījī, are you in the Vape or in the Strylki?" So this is the job work of the cameraman, that they should always make clarity. So Vivek Purī said that we will be better disciples. I am sure you will be, because I am working on that. That’s it. So the work still has to be done, a lot. So, always we have to respect the interest, the opinion of the people, and not always like a fixed one speaker, like he’s speaking in the photo frame. So, television is like a photo frame, a nice portrait, and suddenly, the portrait begins to speak. So today, many, many Indians around the world and many people who are interested in Indian culture are watching. This weekend, people had time to prepare themselves for the weeks to come or not. So you have to give the information to the people, the subjects, what will be spoken, how the programs are, and so on. Anyhow, thank you for your good wishes. And thank you for giving so many chocolates. So that our children will be happy during the whole week, and then the dentists will be more happy to take some money out of the pockets of the parents, and the children will get rid of their beautiful teeth. But what to do? Now, from the viewpoint of health, we are often nourishing ourselves not well. And that is a problem with our health. I think the best is that you learn how to make the sweets at home without mixing chemical things. The homemade sweets are most tasty, and they have the love of the mother or father who is making them, brother or sister or grandmother. It is a family love inside, and they will not put rubbish things inside. So again, try to come and give the children those sweets which you can make at home. Now, around the world, slowly, slowly, people are giving up the plastic bags. If you know, recently, about two weeks ago in India, all kinds of plastic bags and cups, these are banned. The first step was in Rajasthan. Our Rajasthan government made this step, and it was welcomed by people more than anything. Then it was also getting more different states of India, because many problems with canalizations were the plastic bags. About two years ago in Mumbai, there was a flood. That flood was caused because of the plastic bags. The canalizations and bags were filled with water. One bag, two bags, thousands of bags blocked the water. You remember, I think it’s already four years ago, that in Prague, in the history of Prague, there was never such a high water in Prague. It was overflooded, and also in Olomouc, the city of the Czech Republic, and that was also a problem. They didn’t tell, but it was a problem of the plastic bags. Because the canalizations, which are done perfectly by engineers, there was no problem. Water could have flown easily out. Similarly, the plastic bags cause many days of the sea life. And so on, you know, all of this. So, thanks to God, humans are realizing this again. Now, if you see these chocolate pockets, and it has a nice paper cover box, but over that is nice plastic. Now, don’t think it’s not a little, it’s a lot, because they do not produce only one box of chocolate, but thousands or millions. So, how many square meters or how many meters of plastic is used to have some chocolate pocket like this when they produce about, let’s say, 500,000 pieces? It is a plastic from Budapest till Frankfurt. And how much waste is out there? So this is a problem that we don’t see. So what is the best solution? The best solution is: don’t use it. If there are no consumers, there will be no more, what you call, the manufacturers. And so, simply avoid. You can say, "Oh, thank you, but this plastic over, we don’t like." The seller will say, "Okay, I will take it away." You can say, well, now, to take away doesn’t help. For us, it’s like the operation was successful, but the patient died. So if you begin to avoid such things, then they will overthink also and produce different. So now in India, again they came to the old system. They all give you fruit in a paper bag. Now what happens? The newspapers were thrown away. And the school books and school copies, where the children used to write, were thrown away. Now, people collect and they are sitting at home, making small bags and selling them. So when you buy the fruits or something, they put them again in this bag and give it to you. So it is recycling people. People got some job, and it is healthy. So we have to learn to say no, and not only no because of this. Simply, very simple things, how people don’t understand. I just flew yesterday night from Delhi to Vienna via Zurich. And you know, Swiss Air and Singapore Air, these two had a good name in the world, and this time I chose Singapore Airlines. Ah, sorry, the Zurich, Swiss Air. 90% of things changed. That’s why it’s no wonder that Swiss Air went bankrupt twice. The Swiss Air, yeah. Now, I had a ticket, what you call business class. And they offered me also the first class with 50,000 kilometers of my frequent flying, buy this. But I said, no, I don’t want to. So every aeroplane in different classes offers different kinds of food. And they took off at 1:15 at night, or early morning, a.m. Austrian Airlines takes off at a quarter to two a.m. And so on, and they’re in business class and different classes. They offer good food. But you ordered, so they came simply and said, "Dinner is here, please." And I was sleeping. But you know, sometimes one is greedy, so I was greedy to know what kind of good food Swiss Air would give, and they brought me what you call the chickpeas, soaked in water, taken out, and a little lemon on it maybe, and a little piece of paneer. And two salad leaves on it. The Austrian Airlines would give you this as an appetizer, but better spices on the side. And then they brought one plate; there was a kind of pieces made from potatoes and from meat, and the fish. All was lying on one tray, and a lady came and said, "This is not vegetarian, this is vegetarian." And Monica said, "But I’m vegetarian." And she said, "Yes, so this is vegetarian." She looked into her eyes and she said, "But it is not vegetarian now anymore." When it’s together, it’s not eatable. She said, "Aha, aha," and went away. So this, what I want to tell you, is that still people cannot understand why. But in German they say, Die können nicht mehr denken—They are not able to think anymore. Anyhow, I was eating one bean after the other, slowly, slowly. And all in all, the old beans were that much, you know. You see my hand? That’s all. And it turned time: quarter past, twenty past two. And then she came and said, "I just want to take the plate away." And I said, "And where is the food?" And she said, "You ate just now." I said, "That’s all?" She said, "Yes. Who will eat three o’clock in the night?" That was the answer of the Swiss Air. Didn’t explain anything. Just take away the plate and hurry home. So you see how the humans are changing, how humans cannot understand. And the breakfast was also just nearly nothing, and I was so hungry. And I was angry at myself, why I didn’t take Austrian Airlines. So, really, the first time I was sure is that I didn’t take Austrian Airlines. So these are the things going on the internet, you know? And who knows how many millions of people are listening? Is not good advertising for these airlines. They should understand, and I hope some journalist is listening and will give good commentary on it. So let’s come back to the other world. So it means that people do not understand why we should not put plastic over the chocolate box. And you know, they don’t put maybe some animal fat in the chocolates, gelatin, but they are already putting in the, what you call, in dairy where they are doing the milk work with the milk, so there is a mix also, animal fat. Means it kills animal’s fat, so there are a lot of things which are not appreciatable for a vegetarian to eat this. And for many people, it’s not good for their health. Day and night, you are trying hard to eat healthy food and be healthy, and you think you are buying something which is healthy, but it’s unfortunately not. One lady, after eating salad, had to go to the hospital. Part 2: A Talk on Food, Family, and Foundations They said to her, "But you ate fish." She replied, "No." They asked, "Are you allergic to something?" She said, "Yes, to fish." "Then what did you eat today?" She answered, "I ate a nice salad with tomatoes." The doctor in England explained, "Now it is all clear, because tomatoes are now manipulated with fish genes. So if you eat them, you have an allergy as if you had eaten fish." And now we do not know which tomatoes are those. So I always tell people, "Please do not put salad on my tomatoes, only home-made tomatoes, home-grown tomatoes, if you know they are from the old, old seeds." Those who know this keep real old seeds at home. Please do not lose those seeds; cultivate them. In this way, what you like—ketchup, for instance—is also not good. Or a vegetarian pizza: they put something on the base, grind something on the floor of the pizza; that is also not acceptable. So many, many things around the world—these greedy people have manipulated human foods in such a terrible way. Not only animal feed, but also human food. So you are a good boy, a good husband, or a good father, and you cook at home for your children. And you are a good mother with knowledge about cooking, so help your poor husband to learn cooking, so that if you divorce, he does not starve. Everyone should learn. Make sweets at home. If you do not know how to make a sweet, then just buy sugar, put it in water, put something in the rice, boil it and eat it—sweet rice. But all other sweets we buy in the market... because at home your mother will cook a quantity of half a kilo, or one kilo, or two kilos maximum. But in big, big companies, they make two tons or three tons at once. And you know what happens, what falls in. That is it. Once someone told a joke about the Austrian Empire and Franz Josef. He liked very much to eat a special kind of food called Kaiserschmarrn, which is made from wheat—like an Indian halwa. In his large kitchen, a lady was cooking and stirring. The emperor, while walking, looked into the kitchen and was happy that today he would get this. He looked a little further, and the lady who was cooking said, "Now, sir, your highness, it will be tasteful." He said, "Yes, but it depends." Again she asked, and again he said, "It depends." He stood there, and she was happy that he was watching her cook. Again she said, "It soon will be finished, and I’m sure you will like it." He said, "It depends." She asked, "What does it mean, Lord? It depends." He said, "It depends where it will fall." She said, "What?" Because she had a long hanging from her nose, and he was only waiting to see where it would fall. So your mother will take more care. That is it. Anyhow, we spoke now about eating, and I wish you a good lunch time. Our cooks in our kitchen are much better at taking care of how we eat. The afternoon program is as usual: Yoga Nidrā, and around 4:30 or 5 will be the Darśan program. If it is not raining, then in the tent. And at evening 7:30 will be prayer, Satsaṅg, and some lectures. So, I wish you all the best and good appetite. You have been sitting here already for three and a half hours, and not only you, but me too. So Hari Om, and bless you. If someone is going home, I wish you a good journey. Dīp Nālai Bhagavān Devīśvara Mahādevakī Dharmasamrāṭ Satguru Svāmīmādhavānandajī Bhagavānakī Satyasanātana Dharmakī. Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Gurudev, I would like to say on behalf of all of us that we are very happy that on your birthday today we can be together with you and partake in darśana. I avail myself of the opportunity, on behalf of all of us, to express our love, our devotion, and our respect with a bunch of flowers and faithfulness. We are deeply grateful that you are with us. Thank you. Kérem szépen. Szívesen. It is a pleasure. We are happy that we can be together with you in the next two weeks. And we also try to contribute as much as we can to develop, and we are going to strive for the divine light that you would like to see in us. We wish you all happiness and a very, very, very long life. Praṇām Gurudev. Evelyn, you keep this flower for me, okay? Tell Grandmother Svāmījī’s flowers. Again. Again. Keep it with you. Keep it with you. Take it for your room, okay? Okay, so I think now Dr. Radha is coming. The car is parked in the wrong place, RI2-0204. It is a Volkswagen Caddy. Please remove your car. Is there? Please remove your car from Rijeka, RI2-0204. If there was no microphone, I am sorry, I did not hear any words which were spoken before. So I am a little uncertain about what I should speak. But what I know is, first we have lots of jubilees and celebrations in front of us. First, of course, I want to express our congratulations and best wishes from the Vienna people, from the Austrian people, and for your birthday, Svāmījī, from all who are here and who are not here, who could not be here. And the next events or celebrations will be in 2011. It is 35 years that we celebrate the eternal light in Mahāprabhujī’s ashram, Śikanidagase. It was the enlightenment and inauguration of the ashram in 1976 in Angoroponima. This will be the next jubilee, and then next year... Harry, since I sat at the back and there was no microphone, I did not hear what Svāmījī said, so I am a little confused. But first I would like to give the opportunity to Svāmījī, the Viennese, the Austrians, and the non-Viennese to wish you a very happy birthday. And I would also like to share with you that big celebrations are coming, big anniversaries. And then in 2012, this special year, everybody is waiting for this year, and we hope it will be a good and great year. It will be exactly 40 years that Svāmījī came to Europe, according to his passport at least. We found this date: that he came in 1972, the first time he set his holy foot on European land. And we all look forward to 2012; it will be a very special day, because according to Svāmījī’s letter, he put his holy foot down on the European soil in 1972. I think it was in Great Britain, the first visit. And so we will celebrate, of course, these 40 years. So every year now we have something. And yes, something is waiting also this year still. And so we would like to... don’t to mention this actually, but Svāmījī always is telling we shall... Okay, not to mention. Thank you. So now we will come to our... Thank you. So today is also a day for India. It is very great, significant. It is the Independence Day of India, when it became a republic. After a long struggle to get freedom—occupied by the British and before that by the Mughals—for India it means a great deal. So today is the day of the national independence of India. So everywhere, like for every country... They are doing their national day, and also in Christianity, it is also something about the Maria and having holidays. Also, I think it is the Christians who believe or call themselves like Catholics, so that is also good, and it happens to be every year also. It is funny, it happens every year that you congratulate me on my birthday. Thank you for that. I should have been today in Jordan School, and the children were very unhappy that I could not be with them. But we have, twice a year, this kind of national day. The second is then the 26th of January, where the constitution was signed. And that is on the 26th of January, so also that time I am in Jadon. Well, the main thing is that we are here together today, and the aim of our coming always together is to come further, to cross the more miles of this spirituality. And I know that we all try very hard. We do our best. And I am sure that we will come to our destination. From time to time, some people make mistakes. They cannot follow the disciplines, but generally, you are all trying your best. Now is the time for us to be alert, be aware, or be conscious and be in clarity, because the local situations in society are changing, and we should not change with that change. There are a lot of things happening nowadays in human societies which are not acceptable according to the ancient way of thinking, culture, traditions, spiritualities, and so on. There, our ancestors, our great sages, our philosophers made a solid foundation for human society. That foundation stone was based on human nature: the ethics and morals, the spirituality and protection—the protection of the humans. One person was entirely responsible for the whole village, for example. People were proud to be citizens of that village, citizens of that city, and citizens of that country, or so-called kingdom. When people emigrated from one kingdom, it was for a king a shame, a very big shame. That king was not able to keep his people. So altogether, for them it meant a lot to protect humans in the best way. And now, what is happening—including the drugs and many other things—is not acceptable. You see, some people are fighting because it is human rights. But human rights cannot be to destroy the human constitution, human life, or human dignity. We do make distinctions between other creatures and humans. A human stands above all, meaning as a protector, as a leader. And so we should value the human constitution. That constitution was created by great personalities of every country: philosophically, the spiritual way (you may call it religion), and the cultural things. It was so that ill elements do not enter into our society—elements which harm the human, which abuse humans, which misguide the humans. They lose their faith, and they are misguided through the powers of money or politics. And so now is the time where we humans become great slaves of money, and we are always struggling to have power. So, what do we call now the three powers? Media, money, and ministry. These are three M’s. In old times they used to warn us from three W’s. Now you are writing www, and so on. That is our website, is it not? That is the internet. But in old times, these three W’s had a completely different meaning. In every English-speaking country, they used to say, "Be careful or be gentle with these three W’s." These three W’s were wealth, wine or whiskey, and woman. So with these three, you have to deal with gentle things. And now these three are abused, and you see the wise men’s predictions are coming true. So we have to be now more aware, more alert, and especially you have to understand your children and tell them that if your old friends are doing like that, it does not mean that you also should do like this. The biggest mistake of the parents is this: they try to compromise, and they say, "Now all are doing." And then those who are doing like this and thinking like that have problems with their children when the children are grown. They try drugs, then they have mental problems: depressions, anxieties, and they are even against their own parents. So the mistake is the parents and society, that they were not able to protect the children. We know the children are the future of tomorrow. Children are the culture of tomorrow. And the countries, all the world will go in the direction where the children will go. So whatever you do, and whatever you create, it should have a good foundation. And you cannot all the time keep it in your hands. One day you have to hand it over, but we pray that the next one, the follower, will also be with the same feelings and with the same aims. When things are not taken care of, things are destroyed, spoiled, and you see with your own eyes, but you cannot do anything. Then you say, "It is a great pity." It is more painful, more hard. With great concentration and hard work, you create something. You dedicate your time for your children, and then you see how your children are suffering, and they do not follow you at all. They do not follow you; they blame you. And you sit down and you think, "Yes, maybe I was wrong." Yes, you were completely wrong, that you could not give to your child what you should have given. And this is now the time that children and young kids who are sitting here should not say, "Well, all my friends are going there." Let them go. Some many young kids said, "Yeah, now it is a tradition after 10 years or 12 years you can go outside with your friends, stay with them overnight, and this and all are doing. Why should I stay home, you know?" This is a new illness that has come into the human brain. And one way we are angry, and we cannot imagine, and we do not accept the young children’s marriage. But you do not know what marriage means. That is it. You think that on a piece of paper is marriage. That is not a marriage. So in this way, tell your children not to do that, and do not say, "Everyone is going, so why should I not go?" But you must tell why you should not go, and I am sure that your children love you more than anyone and anything, and they listen very carefully with love. But when the parents are doing the opposite, then children do not know where to begin. So it is hard work to have children and educate them. That is very important, but it is very hard. So if you have children, then you should give this world some quality as a guide, a leader—but not a leader in those destructive ways. So we have to preserve, we have to protect, we have to keep, and we have to utilize the ancient principles for humanity’s protection, to protect the entire world. That is what I wanted to tell today. So try, please, your best and explain to your kids. That is it. All okay? Any questions? Anyone want to speak about something today? Any child, any woman, any man, any husband, bhajan band, any band, then just smile. Photo, not photo, water. So everybody, take your mālā, close your eyes, and repeat your mantra. Meditation.