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Oṁ kār kī triguṇā māyā, is māyā se jagatara chāyā. Oṁ kār me jīva rahe, śabade ādhārī re. Śrī Śālapurījī Mahādeva Kī Jai. Śrī Śālapurījī Mahādeva Kī Jai. In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful, God of the universe, God of the universe, God of the universe. Śrī Guruvē Namaḥ. Man Nātha Śrī Jagannātha. Mad Guru Śrī Jagad Guru. Māmātmā Sarva Bhūtāt. Mātāsmē Śrī Guruvē Namaḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to the Śrī Ālāpurjī Siddha Pīṭa Paramparā. Salutations to the Śrī Ālāpurjī Siddha Pīṭa Paramparā. Uctivé pozdravení Jeho Svatosti Paramahaṁsvāmīmu Maheśvarānandajīmu. Who is watching us through Swamiji TV? It is a beautiful, hot evening. Let us enjoy the heat, without comparing it to India, which is only about 10 to 15 degrees hotter. Today we will talk about Lord Hanumān. Every country or place has a unique selling point, a USP. America has liberty and freedom. The UK has the royal family. India is known for many things, but one of the most important is the spirituality that emanates from its land. How do you identify an Indian? Not by skin color, but by other traits—like shaking a shampoo bottle to get every last drop, or rolling a toothpaste tube with a chapati roller until everything is out. More importantly, India is known for its spiritual people and saints. As we were on the topic of the Rāmāyaṇa, Hanumānjī is a great example for all of us. A real man is not known merely for biceps, muscles, or a six-pack. People say men do not have emotions, that men do not cry. That is not true. Men are also human beings. Once, Lord Rāma sent Hanumānjī to search for Sītā Mātā. Hanumānjī went to Laṅkā. He opened every door, entered every house, and searched every place in the whole of Laṅkā, but he could not find her. He sat down and fell into depression. He said, "I cannot find her. What will happen now? How will Lord Rāma live?" He decided, as many of us do in our lives, that he had had enough. That point comes once in everyone's life. Hanumānjī also reached that period. He thought, "I cannot find her, my life is finished, my goal is not achieved, so everything is ruined." He reasoned it was better to suffer once and be done with it than to suffer and die inside every day. He considered three options: sitting and fasting until death, jumping into a fire, or drowning himself in the nearby ocean. Everything was prepared and ready to be done. Then he glanced once towards Ayodhyā. It is said in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, in a verse about Hanumānjī's thought process at that time, that even the air coming from Ayodhyā is a blessing, carrying the waves and energy of Lord Rāma. Look how close we are. Ayodhyā is very far away, but we are so close to Gurudev. Swāmījī is always blessing us, and that energy flows in the air now. Even a glance from the Guru towards you contains more than enough energy to give you that push in life. We are blessed to always be near him, blessed by his presence and the energies flowing into all of us. So Hanumānjī looked towards Ayodhyā, his face turned in that direction. He said, "No, I cannot give up. This is not the end." Where there is a will, one must try to do what one is meant to do. When his face turned, he saw the Aśoka Vatika was just nearby. He realized, "I searched the whole of Laṅkā, every single part, but this is the only place I have not searched yet." He went and found Mātā Sītā in the Aśoka Vatika. If we end our lives and decide to do something foolish, it will not affect many people, and only for a certain time. But if we live on and make a change in the world, people will remember you forever. That is what Gurudev has done—brought such a big change to the whole world. His name is Ajar Amar, which means it will always be there. There is a saying: until the sun and the moon exist, your name will be known. These are the roots. We are like a tree. If the roots are very deep and old—from the paramparā, the tradition, the knowledge we are gaining—then that knowledge cannot be shaken or removed by tornadoes or wind. Śrī Alakpurījī said the big paramparā's roots are very long. That is why we are all blessed to be part of this paramparā. We are all blessed and thankful to have a guru, our beloved Deveśvar Gurujī, in our lives. He has changed the lives of millions and saved many lives—of animals, bees, cows, children, everyone. This is the greatness and the happiness we get from Guru Bhakti. Money cannot buy us this happiness, which we find in the presence of Gurudev. I experienced an example about money and happiness. A friend from a rich family bought a Rolls Royce and invited me to see the car, do pūjā, and go for a drive. We went for a drive and stopped at a traffic light. Someone in the neighboring car was staring at the car. Then he looked inside and saw an orange-clothed person, and his eyes grew even wider. Before I could open the window to tell him it was not mine but my friend's, the light turned green and we left. Later, when we said farewell, my friend was crying. I asked, "Why are you crying? You have a fancy house, ten different cars to drive every day, you have everything." He had personal issues, but that was when I realized money cannot buy happiness. I thought, what brings me happiness? Chocolates? Pizzas? No. The presence of Gurudev, to be with him, is more than enough. That gives me satisfaction and happiness. I do not need anything more. If we all have him in our lives, we do not need Rolls Royces, Ferraris, or anything. That day I understood the proper meaning of: Guru Kṛpā Hi Kriyā Vilam Śāstra Kriyā Ānanda Maṅgalam. When you have Gurudev's kṛpā, his blessings, then the disciple's life is filled with happiness and joy. The day I surrendered to his lotus feet and said, "Gurudev, I am yours, you are mine. Whatever happens, happens," since that day, there has not been much sadness in my life. I no longer need to ask Swāmījī, "I want this, I want that." Whatever I need comes automatically by His grace. As long as we think, "I want this," Gurudev is not going to give it to you. The moment you say, "Okay, Gurudeva, I give up. Give me what you want, you decide what my life becomes," then you will get that which you have been thinking of for years. Your life is passing. Do not waste it. Just do the sumiran of the Guru Mantra, and you will get everything you want. All the bhajans of Holī Gurujī, Mahāprabhujī, Lālā Nanjī—they contain the essence of all spirituality. You will find everything in those bhajans. It is written that when you go to Gurudev's lotus feet, all the tīrthas, all the holy places and pilgrimages, are there. So what do we need? The blessings and the kṛpā of Gurudev. That is all. That is why for Gurudev we sing: Yuga yuga jīva Maheśvarānandajī, yuga yuga jīva Maheśvarānandajī, dhanyā bhāgabhāratabhūmikā pragate balamukunda. Dhanyā bhāgā, Bhāratabhūmikā pragate balamukand trītāpaka pāpaharatahe, jaise pūnamachand yuga yuga jīvo Mahēśvarānandajī. Dī Padāyaluke Amṛtaya Śiṣanitta Baraso Ānanda, yuga yuga jīvo Maheśvarānandajī. Bhakti, jñāna, aura yoga sādhanā, brahma-jñāna sukha kandha, viśva vijayī ho, mahāsamaraty avichala jñānabhaṅga. Yoga, yoga, jīvo Maheśvarānandajī. Yoga, yoga, jīvo Maheśvarānandajī. Prabhu dīpadāya loke amṛtāya śiṣya netāvaraso ānanda. Prabhu dīpadāya loke amṛtāya śiṣya netāvaraso ānanda. Juga, juga, jeevo, Maheśvarānandajī, samajha karā sabako karateho nirabandha. Apana rūpa samajha karā sabako karateho nirabandha. Jīvana mukta kare bhakthoko binā svārtha niṣkāmaṅda. Juga, juga, jeevo, Maheśvarānandajī. Yuga yuga jīva Maheśvarānandajī padāyālu ke amṛtāya śiṣya nita varaso ānanda prabhu dī padāyālu ke amṛtāya śiṣya nita varaso ānanda. Yuga yuga jīvam Maheśvarānandajī dīpanārāyaṇa rakte āpaneśam. Śrī Madhavānandajī Ānandase Kete Meto Sabadukha Pand Śrī Madhavānandajī Ānandase Kete Meto Sabadukha Pand Juga Juga Jīvo Maheśvara Ānanda Jī Bada Yaluke Amṛtaya Śiṣya Nithabaraso Ānanda Prabhu Dī Bada Yaluke Amṛtaya Śiṣya Nithabaraso Ānanda. You can see the greatness of our Gurudev. His Gurudev, Hindu Rām Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsvāmī Śrī Madhavānanda Gurujī Mahārāj, wrote this beautiful bhajan for Swāmījī. If a guru writes a bhajan dedicated to his disciple, and we are the disciples of that master, how lucky we are. In the bhajan, Gurujī says that Gurudev always tells us in the evenings, "You all are in my heart, I am in your heart." Holī Gurujī says that Swāmījī treats everyone as his own, removes all blockages, and frees us from them. Without any svārtha, without any eagerness for anything, he makes his bhaktas jīvanmukta, he frees all the devotees. This is the greatness of Viśvagurujī. That we can all be sitting here in this beautiful nature, in this beautiful heat in the ashram, is also his blessing. Without him, who knows where you all would be, where I would be, if I would even be in this universe. This is all His grace. Without any payment, without any power, without any discrimination, without treating anyone differently, to unite everyone from the whole world and bring them together—that is all He can do. In life, whenever you feel low or depressed, remember Hanumānjī and remember Gurudev. Then no more problems exist. If Hanumānjī, a strong, muscled man, could be depressed and then gain energy just by looking towards Ayodhyā and feeling the wind from there, how much more can we gain? We are touching Gurudeva's lotus feet. He takes all our bad karmas, gives us blessings, helps us, and gives us that push. That is all we need. If we have Śrī Viśvagurujī with us, what is there to worry about? Charan means lotus feet, and rakḍī means when we place our head at his lotus feet. Then what cintā do we have? We are all happy, blessed people to be here in the presence of Gurudev, always having his love, mercy, and blessings. Thank you, Gurudev. Now, chanting the Guru Paduka Stotra. We will repeat the first śloka from the morning and then continue with the second one. Bhakti-dābhyāṁ vairāgya-sāmrājya-dāpūjā-nābhyāṁ namo namaḥ śrī-guru-pādukābhyāṁ kavitvāvara śiśikarābhyāṁ śiśikarābhyāṁ kavitvāvarasi śikarābhyāṁ kavitvāvarasi śikarābhyāṁ. Kavetvavarasi nisakarabhyam, kavetvavarasi nisakarabhyam, kavitva-varashini-sakarabhyam, kavitva-varashini-sakarabhyam, daur bhagya-dhava buddha-mālika-bhyāma, dourbhāgya-dāvam buddha-mālika-bhyāma. The m is half, so just join it. The m and b when you sing the whole line. The m is only half, so you can connect the m and b. So not Durbhā, Gyā, Dā, Vām, Bu, Dham. When you sing it together, it is Dūrbha, Gya, Da, Vam, Bu, Dham. You connect them into one sound, m and b. Daurbhāgyadāvam budhāmalikābhyām kavitvavarāśīniśākarābhyām. Daurbhāgyadāvam budhāmalikābhyām kavitvavarāśīniśākarābhyām. Daurbhāgyadāvam budhāmalikābhyām dhuri kretanāmra. Dhuri kretanāmra.... Dhuri kretanāmra... In vyāpatti, the "th" is a double "th." So vyāpatti, you make it together, so vyāpatti, you put pressure on the "th." So vyāpatti, tha, bhyām. In vyāpatti, there are actually two th’s on each other. Dhuri kṛtānām rave patitābhyām namo namaḥ śrī gurupādukābhyām, namo namaḥ śrī guru-pādukābhyām, namo namaḥ śrī guru-pādukābhyām. Kavitvavara-śiṇiśākarābhyām daurbhāgyadāvam budhamālikābhyām dhūrīkṛtānāmravipattitābhyām namo namaḥ śrī-gurupādukābhyām. Kavitvavarāśiniśākarābhyāṁ daurbhāgyatāvaṁ budhamālikābhyām. For those of you who are writing, please write. Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which are the ocean of knowledge, resembling the moon. Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which are the ocean of knowledge, resembling the full moon, which is the water that puts out the fire of misfortunes. Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which are the ocean of knowledge, resembling the full moon, which is the water that puts out the fire of misfortunes, and which removes the distress of those who prostrate before him. With this deep greeting. Bhakti-dābhyāṁ vairāgya-sāmrājya-dappu-janābhyāṁ namo namaḥ śrī-guru-pādukābhyāṁ kavitva-vara-śiśiṣakārābhyāṁ daurbhāgya-dāvaṁ budha-mālikābhyāṁ. I am not so good with rāgas, but you get the point. Rāgas do not suit me at all, but at least you can guess roughly. Oṁ Śānti, śānti,... Oṁ Śālapurījī Mahādeva kī jai, Devadevadeva Mahādeva kī jai, Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī jai, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsasvāmī Śrī Madhavānanda Pūjya Satgurudev Bhagavān kī jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsasvāmī Śrī Maheśvarānanda Pūjya Gurudev kī jai, Sat Sanātana Dharma kī jai, Āp sab bhaktōṁ kī jai, Praṇām Gurudev. Hari Om, dear brothers and sisters. We heard such a nice lecture. Somehow, we did not plan it, but we started to talk about the Rāmāyaṇa almost every day. I remember a few seminars, summer seminars, when on the web and in the strilky, Viśva Gurujī was giving not just translation, but explanation, commentary on the Rāmāyaṇa. That is the most important thing: the commentary, the explanation of the Satguru. Those who really know have the knowledge about what is in the book. Thank God we have a Rāmāyaṇa translation in the Croatian language. Our dear brother, friend Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Śvarbhānej... works and translates into Croatian. He translated it into Croatian, and it is a really heavy book, approximately three or four kilos. It is really for reading. What we said is that the Rāmāyaṇa is the best mirror. Inside it, we are able to find every situation in our life and also find the explanation of how to cure that illness, that problem. Now we heard how the strong, mighty Hanumān gets depression and thinks about suicide. In that moment, you see that it is possible for every one of us to have the same thoughts. That is completely normal. But inside this cure, how do you cure that problem? You need proper explanation. When we printed the Rāmāyaṇa in Croatian, we made a few promotions of the book. The first was in Zagreb. We invited for the promotion talk Gyaneshwarji, an online professor of Sanskrit from the University of Zagreb's Indology Department. Also, there was one professor from the university, but Croatian. He also gave a little talk about the Rāmāyaṇa. Oh my God. Swami Anandi and I lost our nerves. I lost my teeth. Because I was... and you cannot tell anything, because you invited that person, a professor, somebody who is in charge in the Indology department and also knows about the Rāmāyaṇa. He said one good thing that I did not know: that the Rāmāyaṇa, written by Vālmīki, is the first known writing in poetry. When I think Brahma, or I do not know who, said to Vālmīki that he would write the Rāmāyaṇa, Vālmīki said, "But I do not know how to write and read." First known poetry. They said professional, professor at the university. But after that, he started with, oh my God. He said, "Yes, everybody said for Rāma that he is great." But he made something wrong. He killed Vālī from beside, and that was not honorable. Okay, that is true. That is written inside. But if you do not know the meaning of that, it is a disaster. Also, reading ancient scriptures without having knowledge and explanation from the guru, who really knows the meaning, and you do not have the guru's explanation from someone who really knows that meaning, what it is so far, then we will be completely confused, completely lost. What is the meaning of Rāma killing Vālī from behind, from the back, and putting his brother Sugrīva in his place? Vālī's idea of life was just to enjoy the senses. One of his ideals was sleeping with all the ladies. Also, he wanted to sleep with his brother's wife. He was strong and asked for one siddhi: that nobody would be able to defeat him, and if somebody came to duel with him, immediately that person would lose half of his energy and strength, and that energy would go to Vālī. What is the meaning of this? Everybody who is a little addicted to chocolate, alcohol, coffee, anything, knows what happens. You say, "Okay, now I will not drink coffee," or especially with drugs or alcohol. When you say, "No, I will stop drinking alcohol," and you are not drinking, but in front of you suddenly stands a bottle of whiskey or a nice chocolate, immediately you lose 50% of your strength. Everybody with a little addiction knows this is the truth. Immediately, you lose this. How will you defeat that? You are battling alcohol, chocolate, or addiction. Not from the front. It does not go from the front. You will not say from now, "I am not drinking alcohol," and then go to your old society and tell them, "No, guys, from today I am not drinking anymore." They will say, "In 15 minutes, you will be the most drunk person in that bar." It is not possible. You must go away from that society and not go into temptation. Because of that, Viśva Gurujī many times said, "Avoid temptation." When Gurujī spoke about temptation, he usually told the story from this morning about a bear in the water. We think we are strong enough, but if we once taste the drug, that bear will hold us and pull us down. Never. Always pray, "Never put me in temptation." Because of that, if you want to kill Vālī, you will go from behind. You will not sit in front in the bar and say, "Now I am not an alcoholic," but from behind you will go and defeat your temptation. And Rāma put Sugrīva in the place of the king. Sugrīva. Why? Because it is a translation of "nice necklace." But a better translation is what horses have: reins. Uzda. Koňská uzda. It means our mind must be well under control. And Rāma, God, with which kind of mind will he be able to work? Only with a mind that is really under our control. If you know this, it is only one little story in a big book. You will find the solution to your problem. You know what you need in your life: a mind that is really under control. Rāma, you know, many years ago Swāmījī told us that we need to know the meaning of the first letter of our name. For me, it was completely science fiction, what Swāmījī told us. Okay, my name is V. Start Vivek Purī. What does V mean? I do not know. He will say victory or something like this. How stupid what we in the West think. I started to dig a little and tried to figure it out. Rāma. What Rāma means is that light which is in us, that light in our heart. What does God have to do with us? We need the mind under control, and that is that story in the Rāmāyaṇa. I told you how a professor at the university, in the department of Indology, thinks about that story, and what the reality is. One is a story without deep knowledge, and we will be completely confused. The other is a story with explanation, with the commentary of the Divine Soul. Swāmījī's lectures on the Rāmāyaṇa, if you look in the past on DVD or other media, are so nicely explained. Listen to the lectures. Really, only one story is enough for a whole life. Like what we heard a few days ago: only one word from the satsaṅg is enough for saving your life. Because of that, the Rāmāyaṇa is the mirror in which you are able to see situations from your life and also how to solve them. You need not go anywhere else. You are so good.