TV Channel

I invite you all to come here for the darśana of our Gurudeva and to celebrate this day with him together. Let us share a spiritual evening, meet our spiritual brothers and sisters, listen to bhajans, and perhaps later, some Christmas songs. For this occasion, Swāmījī prepares a small gift for you all every year. This year, for every family and every home, there is a beautiful picture from the Devpurījī cave in the Himalayas. Swami Shanti was there again a few months ago with Muktānanda and a few others. They took a very nice picture and also made a film, which you will probably see. This picture is from that time. You will receive it after the satsaṅg. I wish you a pleasant evening. Enjoy your time here together. It is, of course, wonderful to be here in our spiritual family, but Christmas time is also very important for our blood-related family. Try to be with your family—your parents, brothers, sisters, and grandparents. They are like a paramparā for your physical existence here, and you should not forget this. Without them, you likely would not have been born into this physical body. Perhaps you would have different karma; perhaps you would have found our Gurū Dev by a different path. I am thankful that we can all come here today, and especially to our Guru Dev. He brought so much light from India to our Western world, and I hope we are always conscious of this. Thank you very much. Thank you to the President of our Fellowship, Mansukh Rampuri. Many of you know him; some do not. He has been with us for more than 38 years and has four beautiful boys. What names has he given? First, his own name is Mansukram. Man is the mind. Sukha means giving pleasantness. And that is Rāma. So, Man Sukh Rāma—the God who gives pleasant feelings and pleasure to our soul. Mana is also mind, which connects to the soul. And the name of his wife—which I have forgotten; he should tell us—is one of the most holy rivers: Yamunā. On one side is the Gaṅgā, and on the other is the Yamunā. These two merge at the Kumbh Melā, along with the Saraswatī, which flows underground from Badrināth in the Himalayas. On Wednesdays, that river emerges to merge with the Yamunā and Gaṅgā. So these are the Saraswatī, Yamunā, and Gaṅgā. Now, what we call the Vedas are the holy scriptures. They are called the Vedas. "Holy" signifies that which is good and divine. This knowledge was always taught by the master to the student. Disciples had to remember all these Vedas by heart. This is called Smṛti and Śruti. Śruti is what we listen to from the master—remembering the master's teaching. Smṛti is memory, so that one becomes the master or the great receiver who knows everything by heart. The Vedas are vast. To learn just one Veda, first only through chanting, takes six to seven years. And there are four Vedas. You recite these Vedas without knowing the meaning, as they do not teach you the meanings initially. The entire scripture is learned by heart. If you ask the teacher who is instructing you, "Can you tell me the meaning?" he says, "No, I do not know," because the next step is grammar. When you learn the grammar, then you try to understand what the Vedas say. Further teaching comes from the Master. This is a very extensive education. So if you can learn one Veda, be happy. Some may complete two Vedas. Therefore, there are schools where you learn the Vedas. But the great saints realized that in this Kali Yuga, human memory is gradually being lost—Smṛti. So in smṛti, it is lost. Thus, many parts of the Vedas were lost. Therefore, the great saint Vedavyāsa—who was known as Trikāla Darśī, a knower of the past, present, and future—came to know that people would lose their memory. (Because they don't have oxygen, so we have to open the windows, otherwise my memory will go. Anyway...) Bhagavān Ved Vyāsa knew everything by heart and had learned it all by heart. At that time, perhaps they did not learn writing, or maybe there was writing—I cannot say exactly. Bhagavān Ved Vyāsa decided to write down all the Vedas. But who could write? Most people were ordinary; they knew what was good to eat and how to prepare vegetables and fruits, etc. Ved Vyāsajī was a little sorrowful. It is a great pity if the Vedas are lost. The Vedas are the first scriptures, and that was the Sanātana Dharma. At that time, there was only one Dharma. Towards the end of this Kali Yuga, more dharmas developed: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc. Then Bhagavān Gaṇeśa came. Gaṇeśa has the best, highest memory, which is why Gaṇeśjī is worshipped first. Ved Vyāsajī asked Gaṇeśa, "The Vedas must be written, but I cannot find anyone who can write for me." This is the real story. Bhagavān Gaṇeśa said, "I will write." Ved Vyāsa was very happy, but he questioned Gaṇeśa's wish. Who can question Gaṇeśa? Because he is everyone, everything. Whatever you wish to ask is immediately within him. So Gaṇeśa says, "Yes, I will do it." Gaṇeśjī asked a question of Vedavyāsa. "What can I do?" So Gaṇeśajī said, "Yes, I can write." Vedavyāsa said, "I will not repeat again. Do not ask me, 'What did you say?' Gaṇeśa, you will fail. I will speak, and you will write it." Well, Gaṇeśa said, "I also have a condition." Ved Vyāsa said, "What is your condition?" He said, "Ved Vyāsa, if you stop dictating, my pencil will stop. I will not write anymore." This meant Ved Vyāsajī had to speak constantly. If there was a mistake in his speaking, there would be mistakes in the Vedas. "So I will not stop. You should not overthink. You will say something and then think it over. Then it is said, 'I will not try it further.' You must dictate completely, and I will not ask you what you said." Now, there is a cave in the mountain in the Himalayas. Ved Vyāsa was sitting there, and about 100 or 200 meters away, there is another cave where Gaṇeśjī sat. What Ved Vyāsa thought and dictated in his mind, Gaṇeśa listened to everything and immediately wrote it down. If you see the Himalayas, there are many different kinds of rocks, and the Himalayas are one of the youngest mountains. But when you see the Vedavyāsa Jīho Gufā, it is as if books have been placed one on top of another. The whole hill, the mountain, is bigger than this hall. You could say the whole of our castle, and you will see it all, like books. If you do not believe it, go and see. Perhaps we will see it today in the video. Now, what happened? All the pencils that Gaṇeśa had, he used them. All the wood, everything was used. He writes and writes and writes. He had no time to get new ones, so he used so many pieces of wood; it was all he had. Gaṇeśa said, "If I go to take my pencil and come back..." Vedavyāsa's knowledge is like a river. You cannot dip into the same river water again. You dip in the water and come out; that water is already a few meters gone. Other water will come. Gaṇeśajī is in the form of an elephant, so what should he do? He took one of his tusks, broke it off, and used that. So now, wherever you see a picture or statue, there is one tusk missing. This is that story. Second, when they took a rest, perhaps, Gaṇeśjī complained to Vedavyāsa: "Vedavyāsajī, here flows a river, Saraswatī, and the noise of the river is so loud because the water is falling from the rocks. It disturbs me." Vedavyāsa said, "Saraswatī, go far away there, into the earth. No more sound, no Saraswatī." And that Saraswatī comes back to Ilābhāḍu, Manā, Kumbh Melā. Now, when you go to the Himālaya, to Badrināth, the last village of India is called Mana village. Then there is a river and a Bhīmpulā. It is said, "Look here, Parāś, she wants to go, so you can go and see." That whole river goes under the rock, and we do not know how far it goes before emerging there. So the Vedas, the Śruti and Smṛti... Śruti is also that which is spoken and which we are listening to, and that memory is called Smṛti. So śrota and śruti. Śrota is the speaker, and śruti is what enters our brain as memory. According to this, what we receive is that knowledge, and to know this is all learning. That was the knowledge. Now, there is a story. A yogī, whom they call a ṛṣi, was in the Himalayas. Suddenly, he came to know the Vedas. He obtained the Vedas and wanted to study. He listened, learned, and learned. He became very old. Dharmarāja sent for this ṛṣi, saying his life was finished and he should be brought. So Dharmarāj said, "Now your life is finished; I will take your soul to the Satloka." The ṛṣi said, "No, tell Dharmarāja I want to learn the Vedas. After that, I will die." "How many years do you want?" He said, "One yuga." So, in one yuga, he is learning and learning. Then Dharmarāja comes again. "Now it is time for you to go." He said, "No, I have not finished. How many years? A hundred years." Again, a hundred years. Likewise, a few times the messenger came from Dharmarāja. The ṛṣi was very old, just bones and skin with little flesh, still learning and learning. Dharmarāja said, "Go and bring him." They said, "But he is a ṛṣi; no one can force him. He is above everything, and I cannot tell him to come because I cannot deny his wish." Then Dharmarāja himself comes and says, "Ṛṣi, it is time for your body to go." He said, "No, I have to learn the Vedas." Dharmarāja said, "Okay, stand up." He stood up. "Now hold your hands and look toward the Himalayan hills." A strong wind came, carrying very fine sand, and some grains came onto his hand. Dharmarāja said, "Do you see something in your hand?" He said, "Yes, what is that? The dust of the Himalayas." "My dear Ṛṣi, till now, what you have learned is only as much as the dust in your hand. And the Vedas are like the whole Himalaya. How long should we stay here?" Then the ṛṣi said, "Just let me be in the Himalayas. My soul, my ātmā, let me be in the Himalayas." These are the many, many layers of knowledge. The Vedas, knowledge, yoga—all come from yoga. First was yoga, nothing else. So whatever you will say—this yoga, rāja yoga, dā yoga, pyār yoga, khyārā yoga—all is yoga. Cooking yoga, washing yoga, eating yoga, dieting yoga, everything is this. But we learn and we do. We have to practice; we have to go. So, my dear, practice, practice... We have time every day, and some holy days. Now is Christmas time. Can you imagine if one person had covered Jesus in his hands? All hands would fall down in front of him. Now, people do not believe. That is their problem. Whether you believe or not, see how that time was, and that time will come again. Some people think he is not a god because he was born. Then go to Śiva, because he has no father, no mother; he was not born, and he will not die. And beyond that is called Brahman. So you can say Brahman, or they call it the Holy Father, or you call it Allah. They are all the same. This is how we continue in our life. We have the Himalaya, and we have the Kumbh Melā. This year, I will go for only three days to the Kumbh Melā. If you want to go, you are welcome, but it is a very short time for us. I will go on the 30th of December, be there on the 31st. On the 1st of January, there will be the procession, and the same day in the afternoon, we will try to go back because I have so much work and duty. Otherwise, we have to organize a lot, and that is also a problem. I am searching for some hotels; we will try to find something because we will not make our camp. So, if you still want to go and have a bath there, you will have one day, and you can go to the Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Saraswatī. Why did I tell you this big story? Because of Mānsukram’s wife: Yamunā, Gaṅgā, and Saraswatī. And do you know the children's names? Yes, the first is called Sītārām. The second is Rādhēśyām. The third is Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa, and the fourth is Satya Nārāyaṇa. Satya is the truth; Nārāyaṇa is that God. Can you imagine what has come out of that family? Our fellowship president is very, very kind and very good. I told him I want one child more; then we will be the Pāṇḍavas, five. He said, "Mansukram said, 'The fifth one is me.'" Then I said, "Okay." So, my dear, Christmas day. You see, it is not easy to be a mother. That soul which should come to a mother—every mother is a mother, whether of animals, other creatures, or humans—but what kind of purity does that mother have? It is not a question of, let us say, emotional love. That is okay, but you are then not at that level. What kind of rules, thoughts, and feelings did Mother Maria have? We know it was not an easy life. And when you also want to have small girls now, then you can teach them. Otherwise, we are all like a car that is going. A long time ago, I was watching television to learn a little German, and there was a children's program with a red bus on a road, or something like that. So we are that one now. But still, through meditation and practice, we can take it out of the body, mind, thoughts, and feelings—everything. Then you may become like that and give this light to others, to the world. All incarnations had a mother and a father, and all these great saints also had a mother. So this is the day for us all. If we cannot do more, then at least we shall create peace in the family, in the street, in the villages, in the cities, in the countries, and in the whole world. We pray for that. Peace we cannot get anywhere. Mahatma Gandhi jī said, "Peace is in your hand, in your heart, and that peace of your heart you can give further." So not only to have nice cake and sweets, but peace. And we see what peace or restlessness is in the world. There are certain people who, even on Christmas Day, do not put their guns down. So, everywhere. We pray that every religion should be happy, but we shall create peace with love. This is my message for this Christmas, and I wish you all the best. I wish you all the best.