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Good morning. Welcome to Strelka Ashram for the morning lecture. There are fewer people today because they are having the fellowship meeting this morning. We can start already with the satsaṅg, and for the beginning, we have a great announcement for you. Viśva Gurujī’s autobiography, Yoga in My Daily Life, has this morning arrived at this ashram. Now I will give the microphone to Rado, who arranged the publishing of the book, and then I will say something more. This is a very specific book. It was published by the Vishwagurujī Publishing House. Many of you pre-ordered this book already, but many of you may wish to buy it now. For both, we have parked the van in the yard, and after this program, it will be possible both to pick up and to buy the book. Many of you may still be thinking that we should wait for the Czech translation. But there are a few reasons why you should consider buying this first original Viśvagurujī autobiography in English. Even though this book is just a few days old, there are already things we can call miracles connected with this physical book. As you will see at the evening program where we will speak a little more, this book is blessed with the touch of Vishwagurujī and Mahāprabhujī. It is not only living light; inside the book itself is life, and you will see much more. The content of the book is written in such simple English that you can use it to start learning English. It is the autobiography, part one, which covers Vishwagurujī’s life from the very beginning to 1984. The subtitle is "My Life in India and First 12 Years in Europe." It captures Vishwagurujī’s childhood, his life with Holī Gurujī, his coming to Europe—Czechoslovakia, Hungary, ex-Yugoslavia, and also Greece. There is one final chapter at the very beginning of the Om Āśram project. You will find many photographs, but the main point is the text: "Vishwagurujī’s Life in His Own Words," captured there. The main introduction to the book will be in the evening. For the evening, I would like to read you an excerpt about Swāmījī’s birth, because it is his birthday today, celebrated this evening. But now, if you allow me, I have chosen a few small paragraphs about his dream, just for you to have a feeling of how it is written and what it is about. The story is approximately in the middle of the book, from his first years in Europe. "In the dream, it was a beautiful warm June afternoon, and I was sitting inside the house on the sofa in a room full of people who had gathered for satsaṅg. I was thinking about what I was going to talk about, and suddenly I saw Mahāprabhujī sitting next to me. Of course, I jumped up right away and respectfully greeted him with folded hands. 'Sit down,' he gestured, adding, 'I came for satsaṅg.' 'What luck,' I rejoiced. 'I wouldn’t know what to talk about, but we have you here to share your wisdom with us.' Unfortunately, I don’t remember what Mahāprabhujī talked about. However, the essential thing was to happen at the end of the satsaṅg, after the prayer. This was the time for prasād. Mahāprabhujī had with him a small white bag, which he now opened, and in it I saw beautiful big Rudrākṣa beads. 'This is today’s prasād, Mahesh. Distribute it.' He invited me and poured the entire contents of the bag into my shirt, which I held for him. I started to distribute the beads one by one. Seeing how many of us were there in the packed room, I thought maybe there wouldn’t be enough beads for all. What if there wasn’t one left for me? I would so much love to have a Rudrākṣa bead directly from Mahāprabhujī. I would put it on my mālā. It occurred to me that I could keep one bead aside for myself in my pocket. In that moment, Mahāprabhujī called me back to him and told me, 'Don’t be greedy, Mahesh. Whatever I gave you, you must pass on. You are here to give, not to take. Give away all you have.' I gave away everything down to the last bead and came back to Mahāprabhujī. 'Dobře,' approved Mahāprabhujī. My task is to give utterly and completely, and this I have followed ever since. I have given away countless mantras and mālās, as my dream symbolically showed me. And the more I give, the more I truly get. It is a general principle, however, that it does not apply only to me, but works for everyone." It was just a short excerpt of how Swāmījī’s life goes on, and this is what he does actually. He distributes all he has, and though it is his birthday today, he is bringing us a great gift. You will learn more in the evening during the satsaṅg. You can buy the book or take it if you pre-ordered during the day at the yard. We thank you for your attention, and now Svāmī Gajānanjī will continue with the lecture. And one more sentence: You can really try to get your own copy of the book and see how it will influence your body and your mind immediately. So, try to get it now after the program. Until the evening satsaṅg, maybe you will be able to share something with us. One more thought at the end: try to buy or raise your own copy of this book and try to watch how it affects your body, your mind, and maybe... In the evening, you will be able to share this experience with us. Hari Om, Hari Om. We will speak today about a certain type of mantra. In our bhajans, you know, actually, the word "mantra" never appears, but always "Hari Nāma." I don’t know if you can notice, but in bhajans the word harī nāma often appears—the name of Hari, the name of God. So let’s sing exactly that bhajan. [Bhajan is sung] I have a question. Who among you has received a mantra? Either you got a full mantra from Swāmījī, or you got maybe a bigger mantra, a short mantra from Swāmījī, or maybe both. Sometimes Swāmījī gives a person who is very young first a bīja mantra, but later then a long mantra. So if you have got one mantra, please raise your hand like this. If you have got both, please raise your hand like this. So now I have a question. Who among you has got another mantra from Swāmījī? No one? I have. And I tell you, most of you also have. You are not aware of this. That’s the point of my lecture today. What could this second mantra be? Guruvākya? You got this from Swāmījī, and you are supposed to use it very often. What could be this second mantra? It’s your yoga name. The point of the yoga name is to use it, right? You see, most of us, we all want a yoga name, and we have got it from Swāmījī. It’s his blessing. How I got mine was actually a little funny. It was 1987, and I had just gotten my mantra from Swāmījī, but I had heard about the yoga name, and I wanted one. I had heard about Swāmī Nārāyaṇānanda, a very complicated name. I wanted a yoga name, but it should be short. And because I always had the tendency to become a monk, even before I came to Swāmījī, and I knew the typical ending for Swāmījī’s names is Ānanda, I said, "Yes, I would like my yoga name to end with Ānanda." But it was only in my mind; I didn’t tell anyone. Then we were in one village, and at that time, actually, everyone was supposed to wear orange. Swāmījī had spoken with a tailor who had orange cloth. There was an announcement: everyone who wants can come. The tailor will take your measurements, and then you say if you want one or two dresses, and he will make orange dresses for you. I also went there and said, "Yes, I want two dresses," and went away. Then I thought, "But wait, I forgot to say my name." Others told me, "Swāmījī told your name," and he said, "Gajānand." I didn’t speak to Swāmījī, but he fulfilled my wish even indirectly. I didn’t notice it in that moment. So short, ending on Ānand: Gajānand. Since that time, I actually am Gajānand, or try to be Gajānand. But I observe in our yoga society very different approaches on how to deal with the yoga name. When someone who doesn’t know you comes to you and says, "Who are you?" how will you answer? That’s a question. Let’s say there’s a girl whose name is Natasha, and she has got the yoga name Nārāyaṇī. She could say, "I’m Natasha." Or she could say, "I’m Nārāyaṇī." Or she could say, "I’m Natasha, and my yoga name is Nārāyaṇī." This expresses different relationships to their own name. Who says "I am Natasha" has identified with that name. Yes, I am Natasha. It is my name. Who says "I am Natasha, my yoga name is Nārāyaṇī"? Okay, I have a second name, but my main name is still Natasha. So if someone says "I am Natasha," they are not identified at all with the yoga name. It’s the same thing as getting a mantra from Swāmījī and putting the paper somewhere and forgetting it. It has no value for you. Just to remind you of the story which Swāmījī told quite often: two disciples came and wanted to take mantra from a master. The master said, "I will test you. Not now, later you will get." He gave both a seed and said, "You take care of this seed, and when I come next time, maybe in a year or in two or three years, then you return this seed to me. Whoever can return this seed to me will get a mantra. If not, then you will not get the mantra." Now, one was thinking, "Oh, I must protect this. I will put it in a box, put it in a cupboard, and lock the cupboard so no one can steal it." But the other was thinking, "It’s a seed, it’s a seed for a plant," so he planted the seed. Plants came out, and new seeds. The master was not there; again, he planted. So it became more and more. About four or five years passed until the master really came. The one who had it put in a box said, "One moment, I will bring it." But when he opened the box, he saw, unfortunately, a small moth had come inside and eaten the seed. "Swāmījī, unfortunately, it is gone. I cannot bring it to you." The master said, "Why? It is just one small seed." "No, no, please come." And he brought him to his farmhouse and showed him a whole storage full of millions of seeds. The master was very happy and said, "You understood. What is the point of having a seed?" So he got the mantra. The mantra is not something to have, but something to use. Using means for us what? Repeating it. When we now think of the yoga name, how often in daily life are we using our name? You introduce yourself by the name others call you; they speak to you with this name. Let us just think a moment how important the name is in our daily life. It is really like our identification. Where is it in daily life important? First of all, when you are born, you get a birth certificate with your name. Your driver’s license. Your insurance. If you rent a flat or buy a house, it’s in your name. Whatever contract you sign in your life, buying or selling something, it’s in your name. When your parents die and you get the inheritance, it’s in your name. And when you die, there will also be a certificate. In your name. So basically, the name is our main identification throughout our whole life. And that’s a problem, because what is the root of ignorance? Identification: "I am this body." So when did you get your name? When you were born. No, not you were born, but your body was born. So it is directly connected with your physical body. The soul is eternal, but the body is not. The identification is directly connected with this body. And because we are born and identify with this, then we are also afraid to die. So somehow the identification with our old name is, you can say, the root of our ignorance. So it’s not a small topic. Now think, what is the quality of our name which we get when we are born? First name and second name. The first name is given after birth by your parents. They choose according to their liking, according to their feeling. And there are certain fashions also, which names are in style now, like with the Olympic Games. I guess many parents will now give the name according to some sportsman or maybe some pop star. "Oh, this name, our child should have this name." Maybe the child doesn’t like that music at all, or some famous person or some model. So definitely not a spiritual vibration, except you would be born as a child of a saint. Is there someone? Not so often. So that is the quality of the feelings and the fashion that was at the time when you were born. And what is the quality of your second name, your family name? Very often, it’s indicating a certain karma from your lineage, from your ancestors. Very common, for example, certain professions: the tailor, the carpenter, and whatever. So this is also not so spiritual. It’s not giving us really positive identification. Now, what the master is doing when he gives you a yoga name is replacing this name of low energy with a divine name. And it’s not only that the name is always with a lower worldly vibration, but sometimes the name can be like a curse. When I was in India, I was once invited for programs by Mr. Money. I think the vibration of this name is very clear. So everyone thinks of money when they meet this person. And he had a high position. Then, one of our yoga brothers and sisters—I will not say who—also got a very doubtful German family name, Eitelboos. "Eitel" is something like "vain," and "boos" is something like "bad" or "malicious." So definitely, it’s not such good karma to have such a name. This person got, of course, from Swāmījī a beautiful name, and you all know this person. The worst thing I ever experienced when it comes to a cursing name was in Germany. For half a year I had some duty as a teacher. When I had the first class in the morning, my duty was to check if everyone was there. So I had to read the names, and they said, "Yes, here, here,... here." One girl had the name Beate Fick. As you may guess already, "Fick" in English means "fuck." That German word "Fick" basically means the same as what in English is "fuck." Every morning. Can you imagine how it is to be in her skin? What a blessing it would be to get another name. So the name can really be a curse. But definitely it is not something, how to say, spiritual usually. Now Swāmījī gives names just the opposite. Often, for example, the names of some gods or goddesses. Look, my name, Gajānand Gaṇeś, or Śiva, or Śivānī, or all the different names which many of you have. These types of names, for example Śiva, are divine. Sometimes, it is some divine qualities. For example, Satya, truthfulness. Satyānanda or Satyadeva, such names are also very beautiful. We had one girl in Hamburg, she died unfortunately, Ahiṁsā. Prem, Premananda, Prempuri, such names. So there are all these qualities: Santoṣa, Santoṣānanda also. Especially these, which we have in the Yamas and Niyamas from Patañjali. So these names are beautiful yoga names. To be honest, I would have preferred the name Satyānanda because I always want to speak the truth. This is really in my heart. But sometimes these yoga names which Swāmījī gives are also tricky. For example, in Hamburg, we had two times: one girl died, and the other is there as a yoga teacher. The girls with the name Sarita. Sarita means the river, so it feels first more like neutral. You have to think deeper about the meaning of what the river really means. You can say maybe the river of life, the river of divine love, or whatever. In this way, you have a little bit to go deeper. What does the river mean for me? One girl came to me when she got the name Kāyā. Kāyā means simply the body. For a while I was also irritated and thought, what, that’s a strange yoga name. Because basically, we want just to overcome the identification with the body. Then I was thinking, yes, it’s a girl, Divine Mother. Yes, this whole universe is actually the body of God. So the divine father is like the formless consciousness, and the divine mother is this universe. In this way, the yoga name is also something to explore, to go deeper. The same is valid for every mantra. Most of you, I guess, when you got the mantra from Swāmījī—now I speak about the normal mantra—you got some translation. And when you practice the mantra and go deeper and deeper, it will happen that after some time you say, "Oh, there is another meaning in this, a deeper meaning." It means slowly you go deeper in your consciousness, and you may experience or explore different levels of understanding your mantra. That is the effect when you really practice your mantra. So we basically really try to identify with this mantra and go deeper and deeper. The essence of the mantra is the name of God. That’s why we sing the bhajan of harināma. It is said the name of God is more powerful than God. Now we get somehow a divine name with a yoga name. Remember this story which Swāmījī told about the power of the name. There was one quite worldly, selfish person. When he got a child, a boy, he loved it as usually everyone does, and gave it the name Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa is one name for Lord Viṣṇu. In India, it’s quite common actually, also for normal worldly people, to give such names to their child. So it’s quite a blessing because you get, like, a yoga name already from the beginning from your parents in India, but not so much here. He really loved his son. Then he grew older, and it came time to die. In this moment, his son was not close. He was longing to see his son one last time. He was calling him. "Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa,..." and then he died. When he died, immediately the angels of death came to take him to hell, because he had been such a selfish person; there was basically nothing positive in his life. But then the angels of heaven came and interfered. They said, "No, no, you cannot take him." He called God. Then they had a dispute. "But he was only calling his son." "No, no,... he called Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. So he has to go to heaven." So that was the one good thing which he did in this life: to call Nārāyaṇa. This is the power of God’s name. So, for those who don’t yet have a name and are thinking about that, I would say, please take the name only when you really want to use it. When you don’t use it, it has no value, like a paper in the cupboard that you forget. You really identify with this name, and others identify and call you with this name, and this becomes your real name. So that is your second mantra, which most of you have got. Okay, any question about that? No? Of course, one has maybe just an addition, a little bit. Use common sense also. It’s not everywhere, for example, in your profession. Maybe not everywhere you can use the yoga name, but here, for example... Oh, we have time. We can sing maybe one bhajan more. What should we sing? Oh, yes, I know. Because officially we have the celebration of Swāmījī’s birthday today, I’d like to sing one song from the heart. Not by heart, by intellect, but really by heart. [Bhajan is sung] Swāmī, while I was singing, another experience about mantra and forgetting came to my mind—forgetting when one doesn’t use it. For the many years I lived in India, I always came to Germany, to Hamburg for holidays in summer, and then also to yoga seminars. One day I was in a public park in Hamburg, sitting and meditating for maybe an hour or so. When I got up, an old lady came to me. She was really old—later it turned out she was 83 years old—and very politely she asked me, "Can I ask you a question?" I said, "Of course." "You see," she said, "I saw you meditating here in the park, and I wanted to ask if you can tell me something about meditation." I was quite astonished because it’s not so common for old people to ask such a question. So I started to explain to her a little about meditation. Then I came to the important point: how important is mantra. Then she astonished me a second time by saying, "Actually, you know, I got a mantra." "From whom?" "What was his name? The guru of the Beatles." "Maharishi Yogeś?" "That’s wonderful." And she said, "No, there’s a problem. You know, when I got the mantra, my family was not so happy, so I had a little problem with the mantra. First I practiced it, but then I stopped. Somehow it was still in my mind, but later I even forgot it. Now I have some trouble with my brother, and I know the mantra would help me, but I don’t remember my mantra." What should I tell her? I don’t know her mantra. I cannot say, "Oh, this is a mantra." I cannot give her a mantra. It was in Hamburg, and she was, I think, from Vienna. I cannot say to this really old lady, "Just travel to Vienna and go to Swāmījī," or "Wait until Swāmījī may come, maybe in one or two years, to Hamburg." So I was really in trouble, and inwardly, I called Swāmījī. "Swāmījī, what should I do?" And then something happened. She started smiling. I asked, "What happened?" "I remembered my mantra." In that moment, she remembered her mantra. That is really interesting. The mantra was Śrī Rām. I told her, "Please immediately write it down so that you don’t forget it again." And she was so happy. I invited her to our ashram, and she really came and spoke in the ashram about this experience. When we think about that, this is really something profound, very similar to the bhajan of Swāmījī. What actually happened? This lady has a problem, contacts me, and I cannot help her. I connect internally to Swāmījī, but I don’t get an answer from him. But in a shortcut, it goes straight to her. What happened? This is something really deep to understand about the guru. "Swāmījī, you are my inner self." That is the point. In the end, the guru is in each one of us. What I hold or perceive in myself is, in fact, in each of us. She finally connected to her inner self, and so she remembered that mantra. It was a great experience for me also, teaching something deeper and understanding the guru.