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Part 1: The Guiding Light: A Story of Surrender and Family sadāśivasamārambhaṁ śaṅkarācārya-madhyamām asmadācārya-paryantāṁ vande guru-paramparām. gurur-brahmā gurur-viṣṇur gurur-devo-maheśvaraḥ, gurur-sākṣāt-para-brahma tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. mannātha śrī-jagannātha mad-guru śrī-jagad-guru. māmatmā sarva-bhūtātmā tasmai śrī-guru-veṇamah. Oṁ Śailak Purādhī Mahādeva Kī Jai. Devadit Devadeva Viśvam Mahādeva Kī Jai. Śraddhā Pārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai. Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Mādhavānanda Purī Sādgurudeva Bhagavān Kī Jaya. Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Maheśvara Ānanda Purādhi Gurudeva Kī Jai. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śailak Pūradhī Siddhāpīṭ Paramparā. May I now pronounce to our beloved Guru Dev, His Holiness, Guru Mahāmudrā Śrī Maheśvara Nandājī. Oṁ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇa to Mahāmudrā Śrī Svāmī Phulpārījī Mahārāj. Om Namah Nārāyaṇa to all the sannyāsīs present here. Hari Om and good evening to all of you who are present here, and good morning, afternoon, and evening to those of you who are present or who are watching through webcast. As we were talking about it yesterday, the Guru is that boat which is carrying us. Without a Guru, it is impossible to cross that ocean. That’s why in our human lives, it is very important to have a self-realized guru, a living guru, who is guiding us and who is carrying us forward in our journey. What comes now? Once upon a time—I’m famous for stories, so I stick to that—there was a boy. He was Yoganidrā. His name was Yoganidrā. Not Yoganidra. Yogendra. Yes, we had too much Yoganidrā today, no? So he had a wish to get Self-Realized. Nothing personal; it’s a fictional story. He heard about a mountain called Mount Self-Realization, and he had to climb that mountain. But when we climb Mount Everest or any big mountain, you usually have Sherpas or guides. The fictional Yogendra said he doesn’t need a guide. He said, "Why? Who needs a guru? The guru only puts, tells... rules and regulations, and nothing else. I am the guru, I know the way there, and I will reach there." So he packed his backpack. He went on Temu and ordered orange clothes, and he also ordered rudrākṣa beads, all set for the expedition. He started his journey, and the first thing he saw were rocks and many barriers on the way. It’s a fictional story. The first barrier was jealousy. The second one was self-pride, but he fell down on the ego rock. He had an ego trip, so he tripped on the ego. Suddenly, one man showed up and lifted him up. He said, "My dear, this mountain is not for solo travelers. You need a guide. You need a guru." "Gurus are too strict. They always tell you what to do and what not to do. You have to wake up early, and you need to do this, and you need to do that." And he says, telling you what to do and what not to do, you have jyoti for that—that’s his wife, girlfriend, something. And for waking up early, the alarm clock also wakes you up, so that is also bothering you in a way in the morning. You have an alarm, and then you have to snooze it again and again and again. Suddenly, out of nowhere on the same path, came Viśvagurujī with all the family, the Yoga and Daily Life family, our beautiful family which is sitting here. They were also on the same journey. He asked that man, "Who is this who is coming with the white beard, the long white beard?" He said, "This is Gurujī, this is Viśwa Gurujī." "And why are all these yellow bananas following him?" Yogendra was innocent, so he didn’t know how to call them. So he said, "These are the beautiful disciples, the family of yoga and daily life, and this is a guru who is guiding them and leading them to the same path which you are trying to go." This time again, something broke in Yogendra. Not the bones, like when he had an ego trip, but his heart melted when he saw Gurudeva. Because when you are around that energy house, things change. When you put a wax candle near a big flame—like what we had that day in that Tilak Friendly—then that wax will melt. In the same way, when he came to the firehouse full of energy, he melted. And he said, "Gurudev, from today onwards, I am yours and you are mine." And Gurudev also said, "Okay, from today onwards, you are also mine, and I am yours." Slowly, slowly, they progressed in their journey. But he felt the difference when he was traveling alone or when he was traveling in a saṅgha, in a family. Surely, when he was traveling alone, he had no one. But when he was traveling with the family, then they had small... "Is better normal masala chai, or better is chai without milk, or better is black tea?" This and that, but still they were all together. Bits of confusion are everywhere. But when we have a guiding light which is uniting us, then we all become one and we all move together. Maybe not about chai, but we all will have certain things which we don’t like about each other. We will always have some bits and these things going amongst each other. But the main point is that we stick together as one united family and move further in our spiritual journey with the guidance of Gurudev. Because we’re doing karma yoga, we are burning our karmas. We’re doing bhakti yoga, and we are progressing with all these paths. They’re all, like Phulpurījī was saying, different rivers which are uniting in the same ocean. When we do karma yoga, we burn our karmas. When we do bhakti yoga, we all proceed on the path to the ocean into which all the rivers flow. Different rivers, but merging in the same ocean. And when we surrender ourselves completely, then we get rid of our ego and all these things. We say, "All is yours." These things will always arise. This will not disappear once you surrender. You think that, "Okay, now I’m done with all this karma." They will come back, but we will then have someone to guide us and to again bring us back down in our journey. In our spiritual path also, we have these rocks which we can trip on. But that’s why we have a guide. That’s why we have that divine jyotī, which is Gurudev, who will always be there. That is one eternal flame which cannot be blown off. That is one flame which is lit in all of us, because he gave part of him in all of us. So he is residing in each and every one of us. That flame we need to keep there, and we need to keep on putting the ghee or the oil inside of that flame to keep it burning. That ghee or that oil is our sādhanā, it’s our mālā, it’s our spiritual tools which are given to us by Gurudev. Even if there’s a very strong wave of wind which you think will blow it off—that strong wind which can blow it off is our personal things, like personal problems or anything that we are dealing with in personal life, which can shake that flame—but it’s not going to blow it off. If we have faith and trust in our Gurudev, then we know that it doesn’t matter how strong that wind comes, there is always that balloon in which we are, which is stopping or reducing that wind very much. When we are in that bubble, it doesn’t matter what happens, we are protected. But then we say that the balloon is light; it can fly off. The balloon is very light; it can fly off. And that’s why we are not one; we are all, all in one, one in all. When we are all in that same balloon, it can’t fly off because it’s so heavy. Why did Holī Gurujī always say, "All in one, one in all"? Because we are their beautiful family. Father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on. Or if he is angry or is anything, then we know that the father is still there, and we can go crying there and say, and he will say, "Everything will be okay." And if that father is Gurudev, who can even see everything before the child even runs to him, then all problems will automatically be solved. That’s the best part of having a father like Gurudeva. He sees it all before we even see it. The father will never want anything bad to happen to their children, so if something is even about to happen, he will fix it. And even if something has happened already, and we go to him with his blessings, all will be cured. The best part is, Gurudev is residing in all of each and every one of us, in our hearts. So when we have some problem, we go within, we invoke him within, we ask questions, and see that questions will be solved, that problems will be solved. But we need to have that trust and faith in him. Because, you know, I might say that this chocolate is very tasty, which it is, I like it. But until we don’t taste it ourselves and our tongue doesn’t confirm it, we don’t really believe what everyone says. So try having blind faith, blind trust. I know it sounds very weird that now, okay, now I just need to give up everything and I don’t have self-control and this and that. No, kṛpā is very important, what we were discussing. That’s why Gurudev was teaching us so many satsaṅgs about Viveka. That we use our Viveka, we do what we need to do, but we should have that faith that He is protecting and guiding and showing us and helping us in every single aspect of our lives. In other words, we will say, "Oh, Gurudev is doing everything. I will sit at home and do nothing, and everything will happen good for me." Now, what is written in our... if we chopped 100 billion animals in our last life, we will have to go through that karma, and that will have to go. That is the universal law, but the effect of what is going to happen will be reduced if we have faith in Gurudev. If we were supposed to have a car crash and end up in the playground, instead of that, we will have a thorn, and we will not end up there. Those of you who don’t know the context of the playground will be reminded again by Vasant on Thursday. I love it, even maybe Vasant doesn’t like it, but I love it because at least this is something for those who know, who were there on the first week; it makes them laugh, and those of you who were not there... will laugh on Thursday. But we know it’s a serious topic, I know, but the context was very interesting for me personally, so again, don’t take it personally. But when we have that, just remember that we have Gurudev always there guiding. He is that one guru from darkness to light. He is the one who is bringing us from that dark dungeon in which we are all hiding, and bringing us out to the beautiful meadows of Strelky. It doesn’t matter how dark our life looks, it doesn’t matter how bad we think our life is, it is beautiful. And this life is very precious; we should not waste it. Satsaṅgs might seem boring. It might seem like we are all sitting here, working, doing karma yoga, sitting in the sauna, doing many other things the whole day, from 4:30 in the morning till 9:30 in the evening. But the effects and the changes which you will see, that we will see within, and that we will see the changes within ourselves happening gradually. And it doesn’t matter how hard things are, we should know that everything will be okay. Running away is not an option. That might seem the easiest option at the time. But instead of running away from that, we deal with it, we go ahead with it, and we know that there is that force, which is kicking us from the back, to move. And sometimes when we get stuck, we need that push; we need that kick from him. But that is everlasting, omnipresent. That is always going to be there, no matter what. Just try to let go of all your problems. Everything will be okay. Everything will be as He wants. We are just the puppets who are dancing with the strings which He is playing with. Love, devotion with love, and understanding with love, and knowing that He is there, He will always be there, no matter what. That is the meaning of omnipresent, everlasting. If he is everlasting forever and ever and ever, that is a bond of a disciple and a guru which can never be broken. We know that he will never break it, but we might have doubts with ourselves, and that we should remove and know that once a guru, forever a guru. It’s not that we are having one guru, and then after some time we see someone who is having more bling-blang or more fancy-schmancy guru, and we want to run to him. Not working at that. Knowledge can be gained from many people, from everyone. From wherever you get knowledge, gain it, take it. But if you are following one path from one guru, that stays, that is our Sadguru. Teachers, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, anyone who gives us knowledge is a guru. But that Śrī Sadguru Dev is only one. And only one should remain. Guru Dev only needs our love, our support, our dedication towards him, and then everything will move. All the barriers will move, everything will clear its way for you to go ahead, everything will be okay. We are in his heart, and he is in our heart. Nothing else should matter, which means if we have Śrī Viśwagurujī with us, then what is there to worry about? Nothing to worry about. Śaraṇa me rakha diyā javā mat toki śabad kī cintā, which means when we put our head in his lotus feet and we surrender, then what is there to worry about? Nothing. So don’t worry, we are all his children. And his blessings, and he himself is with us always. You had dinner or no? I don’t hear you. Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsavāmī Śrī Māheśvara Ānandapurījī Gurudeva. Kījai. Better. Satsaṅgatāṁ Dharma. Kījai. Haraṇaṁavāpārvati Pataye. Harahara Mahādeva. We are one. We are one family. Remember, do not forget: wind can blow away one person, but wind cannot blow away the whole family. We should stick together. It doesn’t matter what. Please, till you have the chance, talk to your people. Talk, sort out things, remove all the problems, and stick together. One united family moves forward. He will be the happiest father ever. Now, Mama Ṛṣu Svāmī will enlighten us with his words. Śrī Alak Puruṣa Mahādev, Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādev, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Madhvānandī Bhagavān, Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Yogī Rāj Parampadā Parameśvar Parampūjā Śrī Satguru Devakī, Salutations to Allak Purījī Siddhipīṭ Paramparā, My adoration to Viśva Gurūjī’s holy lotus feet. Respected dear brother Swāmī Avatāra Purījī Mahārāj, All divine sannyāsīs present here, And all yoga in daily life, these spiritual seekers and aspirants. Presence here, the Living Light Mahāprabhujī Deep Satsaṅg Foundation in Strilky Ashram. And through the webcast, many blessings to all of you from Alakpurī Siddhipīṭh Paramparā, and as well from Viśvagurujī. Every day is an experience day for human life. Vedic means the ancient, and the Vedic, created by God, the scripture, Veda, that’s called Vedic paramparā. And from there, the given lesson to human life is their special month, day, and many, many auspicious days. So, this morning I was mentioning that today, yesterday was Monday, and today is Tuesday. You, in the European calendar, may they have divided this day and dedicated this day, maybe. I don’t know that, but in the Vedic calendar, every day is dedicated to particular gods and goddesses, like this month is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and this Maṅgalvār Tuesday is dedicated to Lord Hanumanjī, so thousands of people, all devotees, the spirits, they are worshipping the Lord Hanuman. And Hanuman is also the incarnation of Lord Śiva. It’s called the 11 Rudras. So this day is dedicated to Hanuman, and Hanuman was the greatest devotee in the world. Part 2: The Uniqueness of the Āśram and the Glory of Hanumān Like the glimpse of Viśva Gurujī, the Om Āśram is unique. Nowhere else in the world is there an Aum Āśram. Just as the moon is one, the sun is one, the earth is one, the sky is one, the water is one, and space is one, similarly, the Aum Āśram, the building established by Viśvagurujī, is one. Similarly, Hanumanjī is the one in the world; there is no second Hanuman. 'Hanuman' can be the name of many, many devotees, but the incarnation Hanuman is one. And how he was great, why he was great, you know? When Rāma came to this planet, Mūrti Loka, Hanuman was with him, and his glory was written by the great ṛṣi Tulsīdās. He wrote the glory of Hanumān and the glory of Rāma too. He wrote it in the Rāmāyaṇa, and this is also called the Hanumān Chālīsā. Śrī Guru caraṇa saraja raja, nija manu mukura sudhāri, Baranau raghuvara bhīma jasu, jo dayaku phalacāri. Buddihīna tanu jānike, sumirauṁ pavana kumāra, Bala buddhi vidyā dehu mohiṁ, harahu kalesa bikāra. This glory was written by Tulsīdāsjī. Even when he wrote Hanumanjī’s glory, Tulsidās was writing the glory of Hanumanjī first. But he first prayed to the Guru. Śrī Guru Caraṇa Saroj Rāj. Śrī means prosperity. Caraṇa means feet. Raj means the dust from where the Guru walks. When this dust is put on our head, the beginning of our destiny can be changed. Baranau means, "I pray to Lord Rāma also." The fruits I will get from my wish—that is what Tulsīdāsjī is mentioning. Buddhi means wisdom or knowledge. Buddihīna means 'without knowledge'. He is praying to Lord Guru, his Guru, Hanumanjī, and Rāma—all three of them. That is the worship of Tulsīdās. But the question was, why is Hanumānjī such a great devotee? Hanumanjī was helping Rāma every step of the way. But one day, when he came to his home, Ayodhyā, Mātā Sītā wanted to give some presents to Hanumān. Sita wanted to give Hanuman something. So she gave him, from her necklace, a diamond mālā, to Hanuman. But Hanumanjī was looking to see if the name of Rāma was written inside or not. Since Rāma’s name was not written there, he gave it back to Māṭājī, to Sītā. Other people sitting next to him asked, "Why didn’t you accept it?" People asked him why he didn’t accept the gift. He answered that these things do not bear the name of Rāma; these things are not useful for me. Then he said, "Where is Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa?" And he opened his chest, showing that God resides inside, within his heart. Nowhere in the world are there any devotees who open their chest and say, "God is hidden inside my heart." This was the great glory of Rāma and Hanumanjī. Today is the worshipping day for Hanumānjī. It is a great celebration of Rāma and Hanumānjī. Tulsidāsjī wrote what is called a Chopāī in the Rāmāyaṇa. Chopāī means a slogan or śloka. Binu satasaṅga viveka na hoi. Without satsaṅg, we cannot get viveka (discrimination). Rāma kṛpā binu sulabha na hoiṁ soī. Without the blessing of God, no one can succeed in this world. Sata sudhāre satasaṅga pāī. Sat here means a foolish mentality. What does such a crazy mentality mean? Paras—you know paras? Yes, the philosopher's stone and iron. When they touch each other, the iron becomes gold. Similarly, the blessing of the guru is like the paras and iron, but the guru’s blessing is higher than paras. Paras can make iron golden, but the paras itself does not change. But the guru can make his disciple a guru. How many of you are sitting here—yoga teachers, yoga instructors, giving knowledge and teaching around the world? You are all gurus. This Vishwa Gurujī is blessing how many yoga teachers around the world. So the Guru is great. The Guru gives light to the human, from darkness to light. Similarly, there is also this glory from the Rāmāyaṇa: Śrī Rāmacandra kṛpālu bhaja mana, haraṇa bhava bhaya dāruṇaṁ Nava kañja locana, kañja mukha kara kañja pada kañjāruṇaṁ Kaṇḍharapa aganita amita chāvī, nava nīla nīraja sundaraṁ Pāta pīta maṇahu taḍita ruchi śuchi nomi janaka suta varaṁ Bhaja dhīna bandhu dīna sādhava, Detya Vaṁśa Nikandanam Raghunanda Ānanda Kanda, Kośala Caṇḍa Daśaratha Nandanam Śire mukuṭa kuṇḍala tilaka, cāru udāru aṅga vibhūṣaṇaṁ Ājanu bhuja cāpa dhara... This is the glory of the Lord, Rāma. So Rāma is the incarnation of Viṣṇu. There are twenty-four incarnations: Nārada Ṛṣi, Nārāyaṇa, Kapilāchārya, Dattātreya, Yajña Puruṣa, Rāja Pārthu, Dhanvantari, Mohinī, Hari, Haṁsa, Vyāsa, Hegrī, Vara, Narasiṁha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma, Śrī Rāma, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Buddha, etc. And in Kali Yuga, the Kalkī Avatāra will come. Lord Rāma was the incarnation of Viṣṇu, and He gave the message to humans on how to live in this Mūrti Loka. Especially how to live in a family. He gave lessons to humanity. When his mother told him—he had three mothers, as his father had three wives—his second mother told him, "You should go to the forest." And he responded, "Mataji, thank you. I will make my praṇām to my father, and I will go." He obeyed his mother’s words, his mother’s vākya, his mother’s wish. It shows how much he loved her, that when his mother told him to go, he went. He went to the forest for fourteen years. And what was his duty? To take care of his wife. So when the demons stole his wife, he went to bring her back. And his duty was to take care of his brother. Bharat, his brother, took a saṅkalpa: "My brother, if you do not come exactly after 14 years, I will go into the fire. I will burn myself." So Rāma wished to come, or he had to come, otherwise Bharata would not have lived in this world. He tried his best, and he came to save Bharata. It was, I think, within an hour's distance, and Bharata was already prepared to go into the fire. Hanuman appeared there. "Oh Bharata, what are you doing?" He told Hanuman that Rāma didn’t come, so he did not want to live. Hanuman requested, "Please wait, Rāma is coming." And Rāma came. When Rama came home, Bharata’s immediate responsibility was to give the kingdom back to him, and he immediately handed it over to Rama. Later, it happened that in the kingdom again, some kind of dispute arose—Sītā and Rāma were not happy. So, for the sake of Dharma, to make her husband happy, Sītā asked Rāma, "What happened? You are my dear one... are you not happy?" He may not have answered, but he thought that he was not happy. So Sītā went to the forest. People write many of their own thoughts. They say and write that Rāma gave up Sītā or that Rama sent her to the forest. It was not like that. Sita herself took the decision to go to the forest because her husband was not happy. So Rama was a great king, a great son, a great husband, and a great brother. This is a lesson for family. He came; every incarnation came into this world, and they gave lessons to humans on how to live in a family. From time to time, they come as incarnations and give lessons to humanity on how to live and how to receive the blessings of God. Śrī Rām, Śrī Rām,... Śrī Rām,... Śrī Rām. Maṅgala means good, Maṅgala means prosperity, Maṅgala means happiness. A Maṅgala Hārī—the disturbance, the dispute, the unhappiness—all are removed by God or the Guru. Jahāṁ su mati, tahāṁ sampati nānā. Jahāṁ ku mati, tahāṁ vipati nidāna. Jahāṁ su mati—su means good, mati means thought. Su means good, happiness. Sampati nānā: endless wealth and happiness. Mati also means thought. Ku means not good. Vipati nidāna: vipati means disturbance and all the struggles coming in life. This is written by Tulsī Dās, this very great yogī, a being of very higher consciousness, a ṛṣi, a yogī, a tapasvī. They have a direct cosmic light connection. That writing is not easy; we cannot write even one such poem. How great he was! He writes a divine, divine, divine glory of God and a lesson for humanity. So it is called Anantahari. Anantahari kathāy, Anantahari, Anantahari kathāy kahe sune bauvidhi sab santāy—endless God’s name, endless God’s glory. Kahe means the preaching. Kahe suni bahu vidhi sab santah: many, many... thousands of thousands of ṛṣis and devotees are listening day and night to get out of this materialism and come into oneness with the divine God, purification. It is very hard to purify our mind. When water has fluoride inside or some kind of dust, we can use an aqua guard or some machine, and the water is filtered. For human life, the filtration is satsaṅg. The scriptures, the guru, and God’s glories: if we read, if we sing, if we listen, then our mind will come out of pollution. In this way, the Divine Guru and the Holy Guru write such glory.