TV Channel

Oṁ Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī, Devapurīṣa Mahādeva Kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters, here in this hall and in different parts of the earth. Blessings are coming to you from Śrī Viśvadīp Gurukul Āśram, Jāḍaṇ, Pālī, in holy Bhārat. Dear practitioners of yoga, spiritual seekers, and all aspirants. For the last five or six days, you had a webcast from the Jaipur Ashram with different speakers and different views about spirituality, the way of life, and the aim of life. I believe you received much information and inspiration. A common thought arises in the human mind: How does spirituality influence our life? Not religion alone—though religion is a part of spirituality. Where there is spirituality, there is religion. Where there is religion, there is spirituality. The religion we call Sanātana Dharma. Sanātana means the eternal—the part of you belonging to eternity, your eternal nature. Dharma literally means principle. It is said, dharyate dharma: what you adopt, what you accept. Dhāraṇa karnā has different meanings: to wear clothes is dhāraṇa karo (to adopt), to accept a resolve is dhāraṇa karo, to follow a spiritual principle is dharma dhāraṇa karo. So dhāraṇa karo means to take it, accept it, adopt it. To wear a shirt is to take it upon yourself. Through this saṅkalpa (resolve), through this commitment and these decisions, you have to realize. Therefore, dhāraṇā karo leads to realizing your aim. What aim? To realize your relation. "Realize relation"—in Latin, 'relation' also means connection. Realize it, fulfill it. So realize; your relation becomes a true connection. Apne sambandh ko hamāre jo sanātana hai, usko pehchano. Yahī dharma hai. In the 15th chapter, God Kṛṣṇa said: "Mame vāso jīva-loke, jīva-bhūta-sanātana." "I live in this world, in the heart of every creature"—not only humans. Jīva-bhūta-sanātana: all these beings, these entities, are my relatives, they are my aṁśas (parts), my essence, my light. To realize our relation means to realize my connection to the cosmic One. So'ham: So means "That," ham means "I." I am That, and That I am. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am Brahman. I, this ātmā, am Brahman. Tat tvam asi: That thou art. You are that Ātmā. Spirituality is what you follow accordingly. Religions in the world are of two kinds. One is the eternal religion, not made by any god or incarnation in any form. That is called sanātana dharma, the eternal, original principle of the universe. Through that sanātana, our body communicates with all its organs and functions, and with all the seasons. Without that Sanātana, not a blade of grass or a leaf can move. The second is known as man-made religion. When there was an incarnation—God Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha, Jesus, or the teachings spoken by Prophet Muhammad—these were spoken in human form. Then believers or disciples wrote them down as holy books. They wrote true instructions. No dharma, no religion on this planet is wrong, destructive, or bad. All religions are good, uniting, preaching love, faith, confidence, peace, harmony, understanding, and more. It is written in the Quran: if you kill one human, you kill all humanity. The question is: if we all understand this and follow it properly, that is the main thing. If we understand and follow properly, there is no problem. The problem is not in religions; the problem is in people's minds, where ignorance resides. They do not understand. They change their opinion and their feelings. It is very hard for some people to be confident, full of faith and loyalty. Look, some dogs are very loyal to their keeper, their master. But there are dogs that, suddenly, an illness attacks their brain and they attack their master. There are also dogs that, after becoming old, develop a disease in their mind and harm their master. In our Marwari language, we say: if you raise a dog, you will catch a dog. Isn't it clear? So like this, some get a certain conflict due to their karma, which lies deep and suddenly awakens. But lucky is that dog which does not develop such a disease in its brain and dies with great dignity and loyalty, leaving the whole family unhappy. Spirituality means being loyal to the holy preachings. All preachings are good, holy teachings. But we do not understand, and we fight. Those with negativity fight and speak negatively. Those with positivity speak positively. You ask me, "Swamiji, can a little child have a toffee?" My God, I want to give the child a toffee, but I have no toffee. What should I give? I will say, "Well, I have a key." If I had a toffee, I would give a toffee, but I have the key, so I will give the key. But the child says, "No, you can do miracles; you can make toffees." I said, "No, I cannot make miracles. It is very difficult." But sometimes you can do miracles, and then the toffee comes. The toffee of the key came. So you can only give what you have in your pocket. To understand spirituality, Gurujī told a beautiful story. There was a holy saint named Dungarpurī, living in a district called Jalor, next to Pali. This story is about 150 to 200 years old, when the saint was living. At that time, the human population was smaller, with less civilization, many forests, jungles, thorny bushes, and wildlife. Some yogīs or sādhus lived in huts in the jungle, growing vegetables and fruits. One day in the afternoon, around two or three o'clock, Dungarpurījī was sitting in his grass hut, doing his mantra. A hunter came, saw Swāmījī sitting outside, threw his gun into a Tahorani bush, and went to greet Swāmījī with praṇām. Swamiji said, "What did you throw there in that bush?" "Nothing, Gurudev, nothing." He said, "No, don't lie. You did throw something." The hunter said, "Yes, I am a hunter. I am very poor. I kill some animals to bring for my children to survive. I have no job, nothing." Dungarpurījī said, "Don’t kill innocent animals. Killing them is a sin. Don’t kill. Meditate, practice mantra, read holy books." The hunter said, "I don’t know how to read." "Then go to satsaṅg. You will be happy. You will have peace, harmony, and love in your house, and God will give you money, everything." The hunter thought, "My God, this is very good. I don’t have to do anything—no running in the bush and killing animals. Just repeating mantra, happiness, peace, a good family, work will come, and money will come. How nice." So he said, "Swāmījī, where should I go to get a mantra? You can give me the mantra." Swamiji said, "Okay." There was an old garland in the hut. Mahārāj gave him the garland for repeating the mantra. The hunter thought, "When I get a mālā and mantra, I should give something as a token of my appreciation." But he had nothing, so he went to the bush, brought the gun, and gave it to Mahārāj as a donation. Maharaj said, "What will I do with it?" He said, "Whatever you like to do; it is yours." Mahārāj did not touch the gun. He said, "Put it in the hut. Hari Om." The hunter went home. His wife was in the kitchen, waiting for him to bring something to cook—maybe a rabbit, dog, fox, or goat. But he came home with the mālā in hand, chanting his mantra: "Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa..." She was angry and said, "Where are the animals? You didn’t hunt them." He said, "No killing from today on, no sin. The master said there will be peace, happiness, and love at home, and God will give everything." She was furious. She took her cooking pot, made of clay (mṛttikā vartan), and threw it at his head. The pot broke, and he was injured, blood flowing. The hunter said, "A sādhu told me you will have peace, harmony, and love at home. If this is a symbol of peace, harmony, and love—this restlessness, anger, hate—and he said, 'You will be happy, practice mantra.' When will I be happy? Look, blood is flowing. I have only been practicing for two hours. If I practice a few days, my wife will sit on my chest and kill me." He went back to Mahārāj in the jungle and said, "Mahārāj, you are a bigger cheater." "Why?" "You gave me one mālā which cost only two paisa (two cents), and you kept my gun, which cost two hundred rupees. Here is your mālā. Please give my gun back." It is said: what you have donated, you have no right to ask back. But he said, "Take it. I didn’t ask you to give it to me. I am not telling you that you can take it away. It is yours, take it. I didn’t even touch it." But it is said: what you have given, you have no rights. Dān pe tumhārā koī bhī adhikār nahīṁ hai. Aur māṅg rahe ho to pāp hai. Even asking back your donation is a sin. He said, "Mahārāj, you told me there would be peace, harmony, love, and understanding in the home. Look what my wife has done." After only two hours of practice, he took the gun and wanted to leave. Swamiji said, "Give my mantra back." He took the gun and went away. Maharaj said, "I didn’t take the gun, but give me the mantra." The hunter began thinking how to give the mantra back, because Gurujī had whispered the mantra into his ear: "Oṁ Śohaṁ Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi." He said, "Take it as you gave it. Just like you gave, take the mantra as you gave. Why do you have to recite it?" Then Maharaj said, "Swamiji said there was a very nice stone plate where he sometimes sits and meditates." Maharaj told him, "Now dust your ear on this stone." Us pathar pe bolā, "Tere kān ko jharkā de." He shook his ear on the stone, and from inside came out kesar (saffron). What came out? Ādhā camac—half a spoon of saffron powder. The hunter went away. This is a real story, not made up. Then Dungarpurījī wrote a beautiful poem: Kacche ghare nīr nahīṁ thare, aur nahīṁ thare kāgaj meṁ parā. Bugalā motī ko kyā kare, motī haṁsa kā chārā. Kacche ghare nīr nahīṁ thare: When you want to make a pot out of clay, and this clay pot is still not burned—it's still wet, not dried—you cannot fill it with water. First, you have to put it in the fire. You can’t carry quicksilver in paper. If you try to put quicksilver in a paper pocket in your pocket, it will run away. What does a kingfisher do with a pearl? The pearl is the food of the swan (Haṁsa). So, kacche ghara: those aspirants, those practitioners who still have not undergone tapasyā, guru-bhakti, guru-kṛpā, guru-sevā. They are kaccha (unbaked). They are like that pot which is not burned through the agni of tapasyā, the fire of endurance (tīkṣā); then it will fall apart. They will miss the way and not know the value of spirituality, mantras, and blessings. The kesar came out of this. So we have to understand: we have to go through sādhanā, but live a normal life. Practice confidence. Chand tale, sūraj tale, mahā puruṣa kī bachan kabhī na ṭale. Even the moon and sun may change their direction, but the words of the saint or guru will never change. Power is in the mantra. Sahodrī Gurujī used to say a beautiful poem: Jab se nāma hirade dharā... Since that time when I placed the name of God in my heart, my mantra in my heart—jab se nām hirade dharā—in that moment, on that day, in that constellation, which was one of the most beautiful and divine constellations of my life, that I received the mantra. But you did not know the value of the mantra. You dusted it out, that’s all. In human life, the most precious and best constellation is when you receive initiation. Jab se nām hirade dharā, hirade means the heart, dharā means accepted or placed in my heart. Bhayo pāp ko nāś: the sins began to destroy. How? I have sins from many, many lives. How will this one mantra destroy my sins? Gurujī said, "Yes, yes, yes. How? Master, explain to me." Jaise cind kī āg kī paḍdī purāne ghās. There are tons and tons of dry grass. A little spark of fire falls on the grass. What happens? It begins to burn. A little piece of fire can burn not only tons of grass but the whole forest. You see bush fires in Australia, in the Aravalli parts in summer, in the Himalayas. Tomorrow, I will tell a story about bamboo and sandalwood. Just to say now: believe, trust, keep it hard, it’s valued. It is said that you will see all cars much burned, but you will remain like a precious jewel inside, untouched by fire. There is spirituality, there is sādhanā, there is confidence. Slowly, slowly, my friend, slowly, everything will come. Like a gardener gives a lot of water to a tree, but when the season comes, then the tree gives fruits. Similarly, in your life, a time will come when you will harvest the spiritual fruits or seeds to give to the world. But before that, if an illness attacks your brain, you will not give fruits but only thorns. When thorns are there, remove them. Don’t spread thorns on the way. That’s spirituality. So, slowly. Śikhara ghara chaḍhanā re bhāī, śikhara ghara chaḍhanā re bhāī. Man vā dhīre dhīre chāla, gagana-ghara chaḍhānāre bhāī... (A devotional song follows about proceeding slowly and steadily towards the spiritual peak.) For today, that is enough. I wish you all the best, and a very good evening, good night, or good morning—depending on where you are on this planet. God bless you. Till next time, adiós.