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Part 1: The Holy Seat: Āsana, Gāḍī, and the Channel of Grace Om Śānti. Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai. Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai. Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Satya Sanātana Dharma Kṛṣṇan. Good evening and good morning. Some countries say morning, and some countries say evening. Today I received a phone call from Mauritius. They said, "Swāmījī, we are so happy, and we saw the lecture, and it was beautiful." So, around the world, there are many bhaktas who have benefited. For some it’s good morning, for some it’s good evening, and for some it’s a very good night. This morning, we were receiving the blessing of Mahāprabhujī. What is prayer, and what is the power of prayer? Yesterday I shared a poem: God himself begins to speak. The place, the seat that we are sitting on, from which one gives a lecture or a course, is spiritual. This has a particular name; you may call it a holy chair, a holy seat. We call it a gāḍī. Gāḍī means that holy seat which is passed traditionally from one successor to another. Only they have the right to sit upon it. Just as in your White House, there is one seat only for the president. When the president goes into another room to eat and people are standing there, they will not go and sit on that chair. They could, but by protocol, it is not correct. We call it Gāḍī, and we also call it the āsana. Āsana means where you sit. Āsana does not only mean yoga postures; you have your own āsana, your yoga mat. Whenever a holy person moves or travels, they carry an āsana with them for sitting. Also, āsana can be where you sleep. That is your āsana. This āsana, your particular seat, is something on which nobody else should sit, because energy from others can transfer to you. All practitioners should carry their own āsana—your yoga mat, or a nice, clean cloth, white, green, blue, red, or yellow, as you prefer. It should be about one meter by one meter, or 80 by 80 centimeters, depending on your size. That cloth is a very fine cotton. When you sit, you place it down and sit upon it. It can be made of cotton or wool. A more pure and effective āsana is called kuśāsana. Kuśa is a type of grass, and from this grass they make a very nice mat. Those who were with me in Nepal saw how beautifully it is made. Many people, especially Europeans, brought them to Europe and some to Australia. At the border, officials took it and inspected it, but it was fine, so they could take it with them. Now our Mukti, dear Mukti from Vienna, she carries her kuśāsana. How did you bring it over the border? This is the real kuśāsana, and it is very nice for meditation. It preserves your own energy. It does not absorb energy from elsewhere. It is very, very nice. A cold floor does not affect you; a hot floor does not affect you. Negative radiations from the earth, perhaps from underground water flowing or other kinds of radiations that can cause blockages, are mitigated. Even in case of an electric shock—if you have a floor which is not so natural and everyone sitting in that room could get a shock and go into samādhi (though we would need someone to help)—if you sit on this āsana, the electric shock will not come through. It holds your own energy. Certainly, in America there is also such grass. In the Guru Gītā, sitting on the kuśāsana is mentioned. It is very healthy and very good. Your meditation becomes very, very good. We can import them, of course. The American Agriculture Department would require some kind of test to ensure there are no bugs, and then it would be all right. But this is a proper āsana. When you go to practice your meditation and yoga, if you bring a thin linen cloth and put it on a shared yoga mat, you do not know who sat there before or what kind of energy or vibrations they had. Whose socks were not clean for a few days, as I said yesterday. So, on a shared yoga mat, you place a nice cloth, or have your own yoga mat with a cotton cover over it, and wash it from time to time. That is perfect. This kuśāsana is very, very good. Also, when I first spoke about karmakāṇḍa, yajñas, and pūjās, I mentioned that they sit on the kuśāsana and make a ring out of it for performing the yajña and havan. This particular grass is very pure, very holy, very divine. So, this is kuśāsana. If you sit on it, you will feel very pure, very relaxed, and very good. It is also soft and nice, and you carry it with you like a yoga mat. This is your kuśāsana, preserving your own spiritual energy and preventing other energies from entering. When you meditate and sit, others should not touch your body. Do not sit with your knee touching another's knee. Sometimes people lean on others, and that is okay. But to recharge your energy, this āsana is very important. Now, this āsana is also called the Vyāsa Gāḍī. Bhagavān Vyāsa, the great saint, Ṛṣi Vyāsa, was the Trikāla Darśī, the knower of past, present, and future. Thanks to him, he dictated and wrote the Vedas. Before that, nothing was written. Knowledge was only verbally given to disciples, and whatever disciples remembered, they passed on further. A Śrotriya, a Satguru Dev, is known as a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya—a knower of Brahman who can inspire and impart knowledge. Brahmaniṣṭha means one who knows the essence of Brahman. Śrotriya means one who can speak, inspire, and give knowledge. In that time, the Satguru Dev was a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya. The Śrotriya would speak the knowledge received from his master. What he remembered is called Smṛti, memory. So, there is Smṛti (memory), the Śrotriya (speaker), and you are the Śrotta (listener). But as time passed, many mantras were lost because people, lazy like us, did not remember and forgot them. They were selfish, lazy, and so on. Bhagavān Vyāsa thought that in Kali Yuga, this knowledge would be lost and all mankind would be in darkness. He decided to dictate the knowledge, but he could not write. He searched for someone who could write for him, but such persons were rare. Bhagavān Vyāsa said, "When I begin to speak, do not ask me questions, please. Do not ask, 'What did you say?' My wisdom will just flow; it will not come back. I need someone to whom I speak, and who writes perfectly, exactly, with no mistakes." It is said that Bhagavān Gaṇeśa, Gaṇeśajī Bhagavān, said, "Ṛṣi Vyāsa, I will do this for you." Vyāsa said to Gaṇeśa, "But there is a condition." Bhagavān Gaṇeśa said, "Yes, what is it?" Vyāsa said, "I will not repeat what I have spoken." Gaṇeśa said, "Okay, I agree." But then Gaṇeśa also said, "I also have my condition." Vyāsa asked, "What is it?" Gaṇeśa said, "I will not stop writing for even a second. You must not pause for overthinking and then tell me to stop. My pencil, my pen, will just flow without stopping." Vyāsa agreed. And so, continuously, the Vedas were written. That great Vyāsa was born on a full moon day. That full moon day is coming—not this one, but the next. That full moon day is acknowledged as Guru Pūrṇimā. The name of that Guru Pūrṇimā is also called Vyāsa Pūrṇimā. So, Vyāsa was that Gurudev who spoke and wrote many literatures and the Vedas. Where he sat, no one else was allowed to sit. Only the successor. This is called the Vyāsa Gāḍī. You sit on this; this is your āsana of Bhagavān Vyāsa. When you sit on this Gāḍī, you should be physically, mentally, emotionally, and intellectually very pure. Otherwise, it can turn you to confusion. For many ages, this Vyāsa Kathā has existed. Now in India, when someone gives a spiritual talk—whether reading the Rāmāyaṇa, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Gītā, or other spiritual literatures—that person sits there. That person is acknowledged as a Vyāsa himself. And that book should be placed higher than where he is sitting, because the book represents Vyāsa, the holy book. This is what they call Guru Grantha Saha. In the Sikh tradition or religion, the holy book, which contains the words of the Gurudev, is called Guru Vākya. Finally, it was written, and with Guru Nānak, they said that in Kali Yuga such a Guru would not be easily found. Therefore, they closed the lineage. So, all in the Sikh traditions take that book as the Guru. They have a Guru Grantha. In that Guru Grantha, Guru Nanak writes: "Guru Granthako Janiye." O my devotees, disciples, know the Guru. Grantha means the book, the holy book. Know that holy book, the Guru Grantha. "Pragyat Guran Ki De"—that is not a book; it is the embodiment of your Gurudev. That is not a book. In the heart is the truth, a devotion. They see the embodiment of the Gurudev in the book of the Gurudevs. So, the book of the Gurudev is not a normal newspaper or something. Always adore bhajan books; we should always keep them respectfully. In Mahāprabhujī himself, in Devpurījī, Holy Gurujī, Kabīr Rājī, Mīrā Bāī, Nānak Rājī—in all holy saints—to put such a book down under your feet is a sin. Because through that, light will reflect on you. When you sit on this holy seat, do not think that you will talk. If you think that you will talk, then your talk will be confused. Instead, you become a medium, a channel of that Satguru’s wisdom. Then, through this channel, the Guruvākya will transfer into your heart. And from your heart, the Gurudev is speaking; you are only the medium. So, become the channel of divine wisdom, become a channel of divine love. But if you take it as a selfish channel, the flow will block again. If you think you will take it for yourself, there will be a blockage. It is said that what flows in you should flow further. And that happens through words, through satsaṅg. When you give, it flows further. So, whenever I speak, I think: "Nāhaṁ kartā, Prabhudeep kartā, Mahāprabhudeep kartā hi kevalam." He is only talking through me. Devapurījī is taking care. Holy Gurujī is guiding. There is this trinity—Devapurījī, Mahāprabhujī, and Gurujī. They bless. And when I close my eyes, I see, from all sides, light comes from their palms or from their face. Gently, Gurujī tells me, "Yes, go ahead, speak." That is my experience. Whenever I speak, always some new wisdom comes. From where? You see, when I come from here to my room door, I do not have many books. I would sit and read and read, but then it comes to me: I have no time to read. When I come, there are many telephones, and now more of what we call the webcast. There are many 'castes', and one more 'caste' is called the web caste. It was the broadcast, and now from broadcast is the webcast. I do not know what will come next, 'caste'. But it is He who speaks. "Aisā merā satguru andar bole," Mahāprabhujī said. Like that, my Gurudev speaks in me. So, the āsana, gāḍī, seat, has to be kept clean and adored. When we go to Khattu, Mahāprabhujī’s bed is there. Everyone goes and bows down and adores it. No one goes to sit on that bed. Even a person who knows nothing about it automatically feels a surrendering bhāva, a feeling. Or when we go to the Kailash ashram, where the Devapurījīs' Gāḍīs are, no one dares to sit on them. Similarly, in the Nepal ashram, Gurujī’s seat—no one will dare to sit there. Automatically, that Vyāsa Gāḍī gives you energy and everything. So from there, "sab ghat mera sanya"—in every heart is the Lord. "Koigat?" No heart is empty without God’s light. But my adoration, I surrender to that heart in which He himself appears and dwells, His presence is there, and He speaks. Therefore, satsaṅgs are very important. For example, when there is a satsaṅg and I am not here, someone should sit on this chair. This is your gurugāḍī, so you have no rights; only the successor will come and sit. If you do it without that right, it is a sin. Negative energy will come, and it will destroy your devotion and everything, because you did not respect the principle. But the principle is that in the satsaṅg, when someone speaks, they should sit in front of you on a chair. That person will automatically receive devotion and clarity. So, try this when I am not here. You should ask, "Next satsaṅg, who will give?" And that person should come and sit on that chair. You can place an āsana, a white cloth, it does not matter—sitting here or sitting there, or sitting on the floor, but in the front. See the miracle of how it unfolds. These fine feelings, this tradition—it is not a material tradition; it is spirituality. People got lost, and so there is dry knowledge. You will do exercises, this and that, and say, "Oh my God, but my yoga is very good." That then becomes a whole deal. Okay, your body is torturing you, and you are torturing the body. So, the light of prayers throughout the whole world, in every tradition where humans exist—it does not matter which culture or language—there are prayers in their own way. Even people living in the forest, who were not so civilized, they were praying. In Satyuga, be sure, they did not have nice cloth like you have, synthetic cloths. Sometimes they had animal skins, and mostly they had grass. But their meditation, their sādhanā, their prayers were verified. Now, if you cannot pray so much, having karma yoga, seva, that replaces your prayers. Part 2: The Power of Selfless Service One day, the time will come when you have to pray. There is what we call the place of the Mahābhārata, the time of Kṛṣṇa. Mahā means the great, the biggest, and Bhārata means the battlefield, the fight. It took place in Kurukṣetra in India. That was a fight between two brothers, born of greed. The elderly brother was not the king; the youngest brother was the king. The tradition is that the elderly one should become king, but he was blind. They said, "We don’t want a blind king," so the youngest one became king. That blind king was married to someone from the place we now call Afghanistan. Her name was Gāndhārī. At that time, India extended all the way to Turkey, the entire Middle East, and all the islands—Indonesia, Bali, Thailand. Thailand’s king and kingdom were given by Rāma’s kingdom. Every king’s successor is called Rāma. The whole world belongs to God; now there are political borders. Gāndhārī’s brother wished very much that his brother-in-law, the husband of Gāndhārī, should become king. If not, then at least Gāndhārī’s first child should become the next successor. You know the whole Mahābhārata. You can see that because of greed, a brother becomes the greatest enemy in the struggle for position. When parents die, you see how brothers and sisters fight over who will inherit what—who will take how much money, or land, or the house. There you see the reactions between sister and brother. But it must not be all; there are many who are very good. They say, "Brother, take what you like," or "Sister, you can have it." But in this case, they were brothers fighting. Before that, there was God Rāma and his stepbrother Bharat. Bharat’s mother asked that Rāma should not become king, that her son should become king. But Bharat said, "Never. Only Rāma will be the king." You know the whole story. You should look at the Rāmāyaṇa. You should look at the Mahābhārata. The Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata are within us. You will see it all; it is your own quality. It is very good. You should watch one or two episodes a week. There are versions with English subtitles. At that time, when God Rāma-Kṛṣṇa was there, God said: "Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata..." You know this mantra. "O Arjuna, from time to time I manifest myself from my yoga māyā. When dharma is suppressed and adharma rises, then I incarnate to destroy the adharma and re-establish dharma, to protect all the spiritual people and devotees." There is nitya avatāra and nimitta avatāra. Nitya avatāra is a saint, and nimitta avatāra is like God Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, and so on. There are 24 avatāras according to the counting of the Vedic culture. At that time, when Kṛṣṇa was there, there was one king, Śiśupāla. Śiśupāla turned away; he joined the other negative societies, he turned to kuṣaṅga or kudharma, not dharma. He turned against Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. He began to shout at Kṛṣṇa, blame Kṛṣṇa, and made so many mistakes. It is said that God came to remove this rākṣasa energy, these rākṣasas. There was a meeting, an audience with many kings, and Kṛṣṇa and all the Pāṇḍavas were there. Śiśupāla began to speak very badly, shouting at Kṛṣṇa. They all said, "Kṛṣṇa, what are you waiting for? Remove this devil from here." Kṛṣṇa said, "I am waiting till the pot is full, the poison pot." One more drop, and it will explode. His negative words were still coming. It was written in his destiny that he would make many mistakes, and then would come his end. Then Viṣṇu said, "I will overtake." Draupadī was there, you know, the Draupadī of the Mahābhārata, and Arjuna, and Bhīma. Śiśupāla was so wild, talking so negatively. Then Kṛṣṇa said, "Now, that was the last word. I was waiting till then." Kṛṣṇa made his index finger like this, and what appeared on his finger? The Sudarśana Cakra. When the Sudarśana Cakra comes into his hands, then there is no more chance. It chipped off the neck of Śiśupāla. The Sudarśana Cakra disappeared again. But when it went so quickly from the finger of God Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, blood came. It was a little hurt. Blood began to flow. Everybody said, "Oh God, Kṛṣṇa’s finger is hurt or injured!" They said, "We should bring some medicine or something." But Draupadī was standing beside him, and she quickly reacted. She acted quickly, took her beautiful, very precious sārī, tore it, and wrapped it around the finger of Kṛṣṇa. Everyone was sitting; everyone had some nice cloth, a turban or something—they could have done it too. But they were all just thinking, "Oh God, oh God." There is a story within a story. A disciple and master were living in a hut. One day, Gurujī wanted to know if his disciple was really a disciple or was selfish—if he had truly surrendered, if he loved him. Gurujī said to the disciple, "I think this is my last day, beta (my son). I have such a pain in my heart." The disciple said, "Gurudev, what can I do? Tell me something; I can do everything to save your life." Gurujī said, "I need a new heart. If anyone can give me a heart." He said, "Yes, Gurujī, please hold on. Just relax." He ran to the village, and he ran to everybody, saying what had happened. "Can someone give a heart for Gurujī?" Everyone said, "No, well, I have children..." He was disappointed, and he went back. Gurujī said, "Did you bring the heart, my son?" He said, "Gurudev, no one is ready to give a heart." Gurudev said, "But you have a heart. You could give me yours." Yes, that’s it. Saibhādevī, you also have the heart. So, that is that. How far is the disciple in his surrender? So, Draupadī immediately acted and tore her own sārī and put it, like a plaster, on Kṛṣṇa’s finger. What did Kṛṣṇa do? He looked at Draupadī and smiled. He smiled and said, "Draupadī, tumne mujhe terā reṇī manā diyā." Now I have become... what is the word for being in debt? Now you have given me a debt, oh Draupadī. One thread of this sārī—how many threads are there? For each thread, I will give you back billions of times when you will need it. This is our karma yoga, this is our sādhanā. When we act, we should not expect the fruits of our karma immediately. Do not say, "Oh, I did so much work, and people were not nice." To me, do not say who is not nice. Surrender, do your action. The fruits will be given by God. You have the right to do your karma; you are free to do it. But you have no right to choose what kind of karma you should get back as fruits. God sees, and He will give. Just go ahead. But when you act selfishly, then you get doubt in your heart and lose clarity: "Why did this happen to me? Why, my Gurudev?" He or she can be Gurujī too. Anyone can be a Guru, male or female; there is no duality. But you have to achieve that. The story goes further. You know many things happened. There was greed, and then the Pāṇḍavas were suffering. The Kauravas were doing so many tricks. One weakness the Pāṇḍavas had was Yudhiṣṭhira. Yudhiṣṭhira was addicted to playing dice. In his playing, the uncle of Duryodhana, Śakuni, played a trick, and Yudhiṣṭhira began to lose and lose. He lost everything. Nothing remained. Then Duryodhana and his uncle Śakuni said, "But you still have..." They said, "What? Your brothers." So he played all his brothers and lost them. "You have something more." "Who?" "Yourself." So he played himself and lost. "Now you have nothing. Now, Draupadī is not yours because she is yours; she is ours." The story goes along in this way. Very terrible things happened. They wanted, because he had lost more, to bring Draupadī to this playhouse, this gambling house, and they wanted to pull her sārī away, her clothes away. No one could help her. The Pāṇḍavas were lost; they could not get up. Bhīṣma, the mighty Bhīṣma, was sitting and holding his chair, but he could not do anything. Duryodhana was very strong, but also Droṇācārya could not do anything—Guru Droṇācārya, Kṛpācārya and all. And the blind king was sitting there and smiling. So Duryodhana said to his brother Duśāsana, "Go and bring her." She refused; she did not want to come. She closed the door, but they broke it. He held her hand and pulled her to the gambling stage. She was standing there. No one helped her. No one could help. Everyone was sorry and looking. Śakuni and the Kauravas were laughing. Duryodhana said to his brother Duśāsana, "What are you looking for? What are you waiting for? Go and pull her sārī down." He went and touched her sārī to pull. When there is no one for you there, then only God remains. So she began to pray to Kṛṣṇa. Within no time, cloth, the sārī was supplied from nowhere, from the sky. Duryodhana was pulling and pulling, and the sārī was endless; he was not able to make her body naked by one centimeter. He pulled and pulled until he was completely exhausted, sweating and tired. He fell down, but still Draupadī was completely dressed. The sārī was supplied by whom? Kṛṣṇa. She remembered. He had said, "Draupadī, each thread of your sārī, billions of times, I will pay you back." And so our good deeds, our selfless seva, our karma—God will never forget and will give it back to you millions of times. But just become a servant, just become a devotee, just become a helper. That means selfless service; that means volunteer, no? Volunteer, sevak. So you do a good thing, you enter into that divine state, and that you will get, and you will become rich for lives and lives. So never say, "I’m tired, I’m old, I can’t, I don’t do it, people don’t come and help me." After the satsaṅg, they all go home, and I am alone cleaning the kitchen. That is your great luck. Lucky are they who can go and do the seva, clean the kitchen. When Kṛṣṇa was in school, once his Gurujī, Sandīpanī Ṛṣi, gave a feast (bhaṇḍāra) to many, many sādhus. Sandīpanī Ṛṣi asked all the brahmacārīs, all the students, who would take which responsibilities: to bring the āsana for them, to bring the plate for eating, who would serve this and that. At that time, they were serving food on banana leaves. Everyone took all these duties, but one duty no one took. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa was looking. Sandīpanī Ṛṣi said, "Kṛṣṇa, why are you silent? What will you do? Which duty will you do?" He said, "I am waiting to see what remains for my brothers to do; I will do that." So the Ṛṣi said, "What will you do?" Kṛṣṇa said, "I will remove and clean the plates after they eat." You call it dirty, but we do not call the used plates dirty. No one was ready to clear all the plates that others had eaten from. Kṛṣṇa said, "I will do it," you see. So there is ego and selfishness which should be given up. Therefore, our seva, our volunteer seva, our support—everything we do—God sees and it is recorded by Him. And so, in spirituality, do not think... "That I will only meditate? I have no time to meditate. I have no time to read. I am always working in the office and at home." Yes, you are working well for your bread and cheese, for your bread. But you should also work for something else: your nectar of immortality. That kind of seva. Whoever does not understand seva has doubt. Then it is sad. Then they look for something different, or look for a chance to go or disappear. Seva. Janam janam kī sevā—for lives and lives, I want to do the sevā. Therefore, God himself measured on a scale what is better or what is more: seva or mokṣa. He put on one side of the scale seva, and on the other side mokṣa. And the seva was far heavier than mokṣa. So God himself gave up all the comfort of Satyaloka or Veṅkaṭaloka or Svarga, whatever you call it, and comes to this earth, to this planet, for seva. So lucky are they, blessed are they, who can do sevā. And when you begin to say, "No, nobody is here, I don’t like it, I’m tired, I can’t do it," no—you have to awaken people to this consciousness, to what seva means. So, seva is the greatest divine path, sādhanā. What can you do? That’s all for today. I wish you all the best. There are many, many examples—not man-made stories, but real stories. Many, many like this, not only one. And therefore, when someone gave to Mahāprabhujī—some Gurujī used to come from his tour—whatever he had, he surrendered all to Mahāprabhu. And when Gurujī was going somewhere, Mahāprabhujī said, "I give you some pocket money or something." Gurujī said, "No, no, no, Gurudev. Give it to me where I need it. Why should I carry it with me now? Give it to me when and where I will need it." And then Mahāprabhujī said, "Don’t worry that you don’t know where you will go or who will give you food. Even if you are sitting somewhere in the mountains where no human can reach you, and you are hungry at the time for eating, I will personally bring you the food." That is a Gurudev. There is another beautiful story I will tell you tomorrow. There was an Empire, Satrapati Śivājī, the king of the Maharashtra province of India, where Mumbai and all this belongs. A beautiful story that will be for tomorrow evening’s satsaṅg. Remind me, or I may forget and tell you other stories. So, Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Devīśvara Mahādeva, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, Sanātana Dharma. Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti.