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Good morning, everybody. We thought the topic of the Vedas is a little intellectually demanding, so we will give you a break and continue with it tomorrow. Today, I thought we would speak a little about a topic somewhat related to that: Hinduism. We could say it like this: all these Hindu gods, what do they actually mean to us as yogīs? This question sometimes becomes very acute. When you get a yoga name, and Swāmījī gives you the name Śiva Purī, Kṛṣṇānand, or whatever, then you ask, "What does it mean for me now?" It was the same for me when Swāmījī gave me the name Gajānand. What does it mean? Gajānand is another name for Gaṇeśa. So I did my own research on this topic, and I would like to share it with you. Using the example of Gaṇeśa, the elephant-headed god, we will try to understand a little what these aspects of God really mean for us, practically. It is said that when you start something—for example, you start a satsaṅg or any other ceremony—you should first invoke Gaṇeśa. You first pay respect; you first call Gaṇeśa. We have two or three bhajans: "Padaharomera Ganapati" and "Summaro Gananami." There is another one where, in the last line, it also says, "You are the Gaṇeśa for me." And we have two Gaṇeśa dohās, which are mantras. We have two dohās for Gaṇeśa; they are mantras. "Gajānanda Ānanda Karo" from Lālā Nanjī. And Holī Gurujī also made such a dohā in 1999: "Gajānanda Ānanda Mūrati." Let’s start with that one, "Gajānanda Ānanda Mūrati." We start with the last one. Gajānanda Ānanda Mūrati, Kṛpākāro Mahārāja. Sopāl karo saba kāja, Padhāro mere Gaṇapati. Gajānanda Sukharūpa, Sabā Devan Medeva Bara. Mahābhūpaṇa Kebu, Gajānanda Gaṇapati. Riddhi Siddhi Kī Dātāra, Jñāna Megha Pādhārajo. Śrī Madhavānandakī, Ānandakaro Gaṇanāmī Gurudeva. Viśvadīpa Harī Apāra, Dījo Caraṇa Kī Śiva. This was a dohā which Holī Gurujī wrote. Actually, these are four dohās. A dohā is a type of mantra. Do means two, so this mantra has two lines. It has two lines and a rhyme. So, what is the meaning of this dohā? "Mūrti of Ānanda"—you are the personification, the incorporation of divine bliss. Gajānanda, you are the embodiment of divine bliss, the embodiment of happiness. "Kṛpākāro Mahārāja"—O Mahārāja, great Lord, please be merciful to me, to us. O great Lord, be merciful to us. We invite you; please come to our satsaṅg. "Sopāl karo saba kāja." Kāja is the same as karma. And sopāl—there is a word phal inside, meaning "fruit," so what is fruitful is successful. Please grant that our work, what we are going to do, will be successful. Gaṇeśa is seen as the one who removes obstacles. Therefore, you always invoke Gaṇeśa first. When he removes the obstacles, then what you are going to do will be successful. That’s why we remember Gaṇeśa first—so he will remove obstacles and whatever we do afterwards will be successful. Gaṇeśa has many different names. Gajānanda, for example, is one name. Holī Gurujī used it right in the beginning: "Gajānanda Ānanda Mūrati." And here come now two more: Gaṇādīśa and Gaṇarāja. This is also your name. "Gajānanda Sukharūpa." Gajānanda, you are the form of happiness. "Sabā Devan Medeva Bara." You are the greatest of the gods, the most excellent of the gods. In this, you have the word bhū, which means Mother Earth. Here is also a play of words: the lord of the earth is called Bhū or Bhūpān or Bhūpāl or Bhūpati—all the same, the lord of the earth. So you could say, you are the king of kings, the greatest one. Gaṇapati—another name for Gaṇeśa. "Riddhi Siddhi Kī Dātāra." You are the bestower of ṛddhis and siddhis. You are the one who offers everything with ṛddhi and siddhi. Riddhis are more spiritual perfections; siddhis are more worldly abilities. "Jñāna Megha Pādhārajo." Jñāna Megha means the cloud of wisdom. Please come and bring with you the cloud of divine wisdom and shower it down as a divine nectar on us. Rain on us like a divine nectar. "Śrī Madhavānandakī Ānandakaro." So Holī Gurujī says, please grant the bliss to me. "Gaṇanāmī Gurudeva." You are the Gurudeva with many names. You are the Gurudeva of many names. "Viśvadīpa Harī Apāra." You, O Lord, are the light of the whole universe. You are the king of the whole universe. "Dījo Caraṇa Kī Śiva." Please grant me that I can serve your holy lotus feet. Grant me that I may do Guru Seva. In this bhajan, Holī Gurujī picks up the traditional, you could say, Hindu attitude to Gaṇeśa. It is good to invoke him first. So whenever you start something important—like, for example, a marriage—definitely Gaṇeśa will be invoked first. Weddings are a big deal in India, so there are thousands of invitation cards for weddings, but on every one, Gaṇeśa will be on the top. When you build a house, Gaṇeśa will be invoked first. And in the entrance of the door of the house, or in the entrance room, definitely you have a picture or a statue of Gaṇeśa. So when you now ask the Indians, "Why is it like this? Why are you doing that?" then, usually, they will answer by telling you certain stories. And these stories come not from the Vedas. The Vedas are the real high scientific wisdom of India. I leave this to Sādhvī Pārvati. But all these stories, they come from the Purāṇas. This is a big book, a story box. The biggest one, I think, is the Skanda Purāṇa. We have already half of that in the Jadan Library. All these stories are meant to bring spiritual wisdom to normal people. They can easily understand these stories. So when you now ask about Gaṇeśa, they will tell you, for example, the following story about Śiva and Pārvatī. When Śiva was away for a longer time, Pārvatī was thinking, "When I go to bathe, some stranger could enter, so I must find a way to protect myself." Śiva was away somewhere, and Pārvatī said, "Now I’m going to take a bath, but when someone comes to see me, I have to find a way to protect myself." You know, the chastity of women in India is very, very highly respected. And it’s actually the power, the base of the strength, the power of women. So she was thinking, "I need someone who will guard the door." So what she did was simply create someone. Because she is God, she is divine, so no problem for her. From clay, she made a boy, and then she made him alive, and that was now her son. The son immediately recognized her as a mother and was loving and obedient to her. And she explained to him that his duty would always be, when she is in the bath, to guard the door and to let no one, without any exception, no one enter while she is in the bath. And day by day he did like that. Until one day, a complication came: Śiva came back. He was searching for his wife, found out, oh, she must be in the bath, and wanted to see her. Now, the problem was that this boy and Śiva did not know each other. So when Śiva wanted to enter the bath, the small boy came and said, "No, you are not allowed here." And Śiva got upset. A dialogue ensued. Some kind of fighting came between them. And you must understand, it was not a fight between a man and a boy. It was a fight between divine powers—Śiva’s power and Pārvatī’s power. So somehow it could not be decided. There was no end to this fight. But Śiva was so upset that in the end he used some not-so-fair means to kill this boy. He cut off the head, and the head rolled far away from the boy, and the boy was killed. The head was all far away, and no one could find it anymore. And then he entered the baths and met his wife. And she had quite ambiguous feelings. On one hand, she was happy to see her husband. And on the other hand, she was wondering, how did he manage to enter here? So now they had some arguments. You see, even between gods, that happens. And she knew very well, by normal means, he would not be able to kill this boy because of just her Śakti. So finally, Śiva admitted his fault and apologized to her. And apologizing is not enough. He now had to awaken this boy to life again. Which is no problem for a god like Śiva. He can do that, but the problem was that the head had rolled away and no one knew where the head was. Now they had a boy without a head. So then Śiva called some servants and said, "You go out and search. The next living being which you come across, you bring here." So Śiva called his servants and said, "Go and bring the first living creature you will find." And it happened to be an elephant. So now he took the head of the elephant, put it on the top of the boy’s body, and revived this one. And that became now Gaṇeśa. They put the elephant’s head on the boy’s body, and now this is Gaṇeśa. Gaja means elephant. And now, also to apologize to the boy, he actually gave him special honor—that he always will be respected in a special way, and first of all, he should be invoked before all other gods. This is one example of the many stories which are there, which will explain to us why there is a human body with an elephant head and why Gaṇeśa is always invoked first. And this is how most Indians are viewing Gaṇeśa, or through other stories, other gods. Now, Hinduism is the most tolerant religion in the world. Everyone chooses his own god. This is called Iṣṭadeva. For a Hindu, there is no problem also to accept Buddha or Jesus or whomever. It’s just one more God. No problem. You choose your own God. So in this way, many Indians see Gaṇeśa as their iṣṭadeva, and they pray to Gaṇeśa, they love him. This is their channel to God. Now, when we look at our bhajans, is it like that also? No, it’s different. Ask yourself the simple question: was Mahāprabhujī a Hindu? Do you know the Līlā Amṛta? When Muslims and Hindus had conflict, they went to Mahāprabhujī, because they understood he would understand both of them. When you think on the chapter on Mauna Satsaṅg, he is teaching to each and every group, each and every religion, in their way that they understand, that they get guidance. It gives an answer to every religious question in them. When you take a closer look at our bhajans, many of them are directly from Mahāprabhujī, but we also have many bhajans actually addressing Muslims. For example, you have Mecca, Medina, you have Allah. It’s a clear bhajan, not a Muslim bhajan, but addressing Muslims. Also the Fakiri bhajans, which we sing usually at midnight, "Hā Fakiri." Fakir is a Muslim word. These are the Muslim sādhus. So read the Līlā Amṛta carefully, and you will realize—Mahāprabhujī, Holī Gurujī—you cannot, if you read Mahāprabhujī and Holī Gurujī, you cannot put them in any category. Divine knowledge is beyond religious boundaries. So now let us sing one of our main Gaṇeśa bhajans, "Padharo Mere." And then we will inquire a little bit: what is now really the point here in this bhajan? Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. Palaka palaka merī yahī ārādhana hai, rakho caraṇa meṁ dāsa. Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. Kṛpā karo Gurudeva Gajānanda, Karuṇāvāsa dilāpana. Anubhāva Vāṇī pragat kījau, jaisā prakāśa. Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. Śaraṇī āya ku sada sukha dījo, kījo sarva dukkha nāśa. Kāla Jāla Sāpa Kūpa Tāla Jā, mito yama kī trāsa. Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. Cara acara meṁ āpa virajo, vyāpaka jesa ākāśa. Gaṇapati dhyāvata sada sukha pāve, pūra mana kī āśā. Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. Dīpa dayālu gaṇanāmī, simaru śvāsa u śvāsa. Śrī Mādhāvānanda nitya arjaka, rahat mohi darśana kī pyāsa. Padhāro mere Gaṇapatī Deva, Gurūṅ sa. That’s one of the bhajans which we usually sing in the beginning of a satsaṅg to invoke Gaṇeśa, that he should come. But whom do we now actually invoke? At least, I cannot see any boy here with an elephant head around. Let’s look at the text. "Padhāro mere gaṇapatī." Padharo is a very polite way in India to invite someone. When someone comes, you say, "Padharo." To make him sit down, you say, "Padharo." So, but here now it says, "Padhāro mere gaṇapati deva gurūṅ sa." You just must put it the other way around. Deva gurūṅ sa is actually guru, deva, and sa is jī, so guru, deva, jī. So here in the first line, we have already the most important statement: for the Gurujī who wrote this bhajan, the Gaṇeśa, the Gaṇapati, is his guru. So the most important announcement of this bhajan we have in the first row. For Gurujī, he is Gaṇeśa, his guru. "Palaka palaka merī yahī ārādhanā raho caraṇāmṛta." Palak means every moment, with every blink of my eye. This is my request to you. Dāsa, you know, the servant—please let me be the servant at your feet. In other words, give me the chance to do guru-sevā. "Kṛpā karo guru-deva gajānanda." Guru-deva Gajānand, please be merciful. "Karuṇāvāsa dilāpana." Please, I offer the temple of my heart to you. Please, come into my heart. "Anubhāva Vāṇī pragat kījau." Vāṇī is the voice, and anubhava means experience, that you really hear a voice. Please awaken this inner divine voice in me. Speak to me from inside, from my heart. This is the inner guidance from our antaryāmī, our inner guru. When God is in our heart, then this voice comes automatically. Just like when the sun comes out, the light will automatically spread. "Śaraṇī āya ku sada sukha dījo." Those who come in your shelter, please always make them happy. "Kījo sarva dukkha nāśa." And remove all suffering and problems. "Kāla Jāla" is the net of death. This physical world, including our physical body, is governed by the Lord of Death. We cannot escape from that. Please, destroy this net of death. "Sāpa Kūpa Tāla Jā." And also destroy the kubuddhi. You know the word buddhi, the intellect? Ku, you know, from kusaṅga, so the negative intellect. Destroy this negative intellect, negative thinking; stay away from this. "Mito yama kī trāsa." Remove all my fear of death. "Cara acara" means what is living and non-living, what is animate and inanimate. "Meṁ āpa virajo." I see you in everything, the whole universe, animate and inanimate. "Vyāpaka jesa ākāśa." You are pervading everything, like space. "Gaṇapati dhyāvata sada sukha pāve, pūra mana kī āśā." My wholehearted hope is that those who always meditate on you will find happiness. That is my request, that those who meditate on you may find happiness. "Dīpa dayālu gaṇanāmī." You, my beloved Gurudeva Mahāprabhujī, you are the Gaṇanāyaka. You are for me the one named Gaṇeśa Gajānana. You are the Gaṇeśa for me. "Simaru śvāsa u śvāsa." Śvāsa u śvāsa means inhalation, exhalation, with every breath. And simaru is the same as sumaru, sumaraṇa, so I repeat your name with every breath. "Śrī Mādhāvānanda nitya arjaka, rahat mohi darśana kī pyāsa." I, Madhavānanda, constantly ask for this from you. I live according to your darśana, according to your presence. So here we have now a very clear statement that for Holī Gurujī, he does not sing on these stories from the Purāṇas when he sings on Gaṇeśa. For him, the remover of obstacles is not a god with an elephant head. For him, the remover of obstacles is his Gurudeva, Mahāprabhujī. So this is the understanding in our bhajans. We address Gaṇeśa not so much as Iṣṭadeva but as Gurudeva. Whatever we need in life, we see that Gurudeva is the one who removes obstacles. So now, looking at the watch, I have done maybe half of what I wanted. Maybe we continue in the evening satsaṅg, because we have another beautiful bhajan which will explain everything. It will explain much more, but this is long and better translated, so it will take some more time. So I guess we will continue this topic in the evening then. We have now found two aspects of Gaṇeśa. The Gaṇeśa which you can worship, you can take as your Iṣṭadeva, pray to him; or you see the qualities of Gaṇeśa in your Gurudeva and you invoke him. And that is, I think, in reality, our attitude which we have toward Swāmījī. When we have trouble, we say, "Swāmījī, can I have a consultation?" And Swāmījī will say, "But I have taught you everything, yoga and daily life, just practice." So I guess here on this level we find ourselves much more already, but this is what really is in our bhajans. Look carefully in the bhajans. So our bhajans are not Hindu bhajans; these are yoga bhajans. But it’s good to know all these as background knowledge. So, okay, let’s finish for now, and we will continue in the evening satsaṅg. Hari Om.