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Sadāśiva-samārambhaṁ Śaṅkarācārya-madhyamām, asmadācārya-paryantāṁ vande guru-paramparām. Gurur brahmā, gurur viṣṇu, gurur devo maheśvaraḥ, gurur sākṣāt paraṁ brahma tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. Man-nātha śrī jagannātha, madh-guru śrī jagad-guru. Māmatmā sarva bhūtātmā tasme śrī gurave namaḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śilāk Pūrja Siddhāpīṭa Paramparā. My devoted praṇāms to our beloved Gurudev, His Holiness Viśvaguru Mahāmudrāleśvara Maheśvara Ānandapurījī. Om Namah Nārāyaṇa to all the sannyāsīs present here. Good evening to all of you who are present here, and to those watching through Swamiji TV. Yesterday we began with a topic. What was it? Many topics. We covered yama and niyama, the eight limbs of yoga. Now come āsana and prāṇāyāma. So we are now at the first floor, you could say. Yesterday we laid the foundation. Āsana has nowadays very much become a form of athletics, gymnastics, or competition, which is not its true meaning. Āsana is something very important, but not as a competition. It should not be about competing to do something or showing off our flexibility. It is for our inner peace. Even in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras, Maharṣi Patañjali wrote that āsana siddhi is the most important siddhi. Āsana also means the seat on which we are sitting. That is also āsana. But āsana siddhi is when we sit in a posture that helps us to sit for a longer period of time. There are many āsanas we can do, but the main ones are Padmāsana, Vajrāsana, and Sukhāsana, which we are mostly sitting in now—the most comfortable one. There are many types of āsanas, but these are the ones good for meditation or for activities that aid our inner journey. Sukhāsana is the easiest. We all are enjoying Sukhāsana, and that is its sukha—happiness. Sukha means we are happy, comfortable, and okay with sitting in that position. Vajrāsana is the one we sit in after eating; it is good for digestion and many other things. With āsanas, we are not trying to force our body into a certain posture. Instead, we are working with our breath. We can work with our breath in every āsana, even when doing Kaṭapūrṇa. I like speedy Kaṭapūrṇa and finishing it quickly—that’s a different thing—but if we are doing it properly, exercising properly, doing the āsanas, then it should be done with the breath: knowing when to inhale and when to exhale. The same applies to prāṇāyāma. Prāṇāyāma is also something we do for our well-being. It helps a lot with many things. Prāṇāyāma is good for relaxing, for calming ourselves down when stress levels are increasing. Everything related to our mental state of mind can be fixed or healed by prāṇāyāma. There are so many techniques, and we are so grateful that Gurudev created the system in which we are living, which is Yoga in Daily Life, where he taught us everything about āsanas and prāṇāyāma. In this field, I think you all are much more experienced than me, so namaste. Regarding niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma—you have done much more practice than I have, that I can say very clearly. The sādhanā aspect and these aspects are different, but concerning āsana and prāṇāyāma, I don’t need to give a lecture because you all are much more advanced than me. Yet, we can see how much it affects us and changes things within us. All these techniques we have were in one book, the Yoga Sūtra. I think there are 84 lakh, 840,000 āsanas. How do you say it? 84 lakhs, 8.4 million. So, 8.4 million āsanas, out of which 84 are in that book. Out of those, only eight are used for deep sādhanā. In those eight, there can be people, ṛṣis, munis who are sitting for thousands and thousands of years in that position. Because once we get into that position, we feel the energies flowing through us, and we become much more... it becomes much easier to sit in a certain position and be concentrated and aligned with our inner self. When we are doing those types of yoga techniques, there are always steps. That’s why Gurudev made it easy for us and created levels in our yoga book to make it accessible, easy, and doable for all types of people: old, young, anyone who wants to do it can do it. That is the beauty of our system. Otherwise, if you go to others, read other yogī books, you will not be able to do it. That is why the guidance of a yoga teacher, the guidance of a guru, is very important. Without a teacher, the student cannot progress properly. It is necessary to have a teacher. That’s why we have teachers in schools and colleges. We can read as much as we want, go through those books as much as we want, but it will not be fruitful until it is properly dealt with. You cannot properly learn and see it if you don’t experience it or learn it with a teacher. That’s why gurus are most important. The same applies to our spiritual journey, our spiritual path. To progress, to ascend, to reach other levels of consciousness in our living being, we need an enlightened master. Otherwise, all this—yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, samādhi—we won’t reach those levels. To reach any level, even the ground level, we need to be guided. In all these complex things, we can read as many books as we want, but the techniques can only be taught or given to us by a living guru. That’s why we are very blessed and grateful to have Gurudev in our lives, who teaches us, guides us, and shows us. Even King Janaka, the father of Sītāmātā, was known to be one of the most spiritually driven, intellectual kings. Everyone used to come to him for advice. But even Janaka was not content, not happy, not at peace. He also needed to find peace somewhere else. Where was that? In the lotus feet of Gurū Dev. He called a meeting, a gathering, and announced that he wanted an enlightened Gurū, someone who knows what he says and can show him the right path, guide him in his journey, bring him inner peace, and make him happy again. Many ṛṣis, munis, sādhus, and paṇḍits came. He was not satisfied. But one was unique: who was that? Aṣṭāvakra. "Ashta" means eight. There are many in creation. You have "three." In Sanskrit, three is trīṇi. There are many words: catur, pañca, ṣaṣ, sapta, aṣṭa. In many languages, you will find Sanskrit here and there because Sanskrit is the jananī, the mother of all languages. Bhrātā, brother, is also in Sanskrit. So you will find many words here and there. Aṣṭa means eight. Aṣṭāvakra means he was deformed in eight different places of his body. He arrived, and when he did, all the ministers and the gathering started making fun. "Oh, what will he do? How can he preach to such a great yogī, the king who knows absolutely everything? This kid is very young. He doesn’t know anything. What will he do? Nothing." That’s why we say, "Don’t judge a book by its cover." We see the cover before we read a book; we judge it and make our conclusions already. Until we don’t read it, until we don’t know a person, until we do not get to know that person or that book individually, we cannot judge their views or perspective. One person can—Gurū Dev—because he is trikāladarśī, not us. So let us not judge. He came and sat. "Mahārāj, what will he teach us?" The knowledge which Aṣṭāvakra gave King Janaka was so profound that from that day onwards, Janaka renounced everything and said, "From today, he is my guru." He listened to him for everything. When your wife or husband stops listening to you and starts listening to their best friend, what happens? Jealousy, right? The same thing. All his ministers felt jealous. "Now he doesn’t even take our advice anymore. The king doesn’t listen to us anymore. He’s completely devoted and stuck with this Aṣṭāvakra. What does he know? What are they talking about?" They tried everything. "Your kingdom is on fire, Mahārāj, you need to protect it." He was just sitting in his dhyāna. He was inside, completely at peace; he couldn’t care less what was going on outside. He said, "For me, what is most important? I have my guru." They even said, "Your wife is kidnapped." It didn’t work. Then Aṣṭāvakra had to come and say, "That king, you are still a king. You were always a king, but inside you were not a king. Now, inside you are also developed. You are a king inside and outside, so now go and rule." In the same way, there was another king once upon a time named Rāmānand. It’s a fictional story. There was a king in the kingdom of Strīlki, and he also sought a guru. This is an example of how anyone who teaches us anything can teach, and we can learn from that person, no matter their age or what they do. Anyone can teach us anything. There is always something to learn from each other, something to gain from each other. We all can learn something from each other. That’s why I like it, and even Gurudev wanted other people to speak also. Why? Because we can also learn something from them. If there’s a doctor talking about scientific facts, why not? I don’t know those things. I’m happy to listen and gain that knowledge. Anyone who gives you any type of knowledge is, in a certain way, a guru. So the king decided... Once he was very restless; he couldn’t sit in one place. He heard somewhere that yoga and meditation are very good for calming. He said he couldn’t sit for more than two or three minutes. His wife said, "You have too many obligations, too many duties. You should detox, go incognito for a month. Go into the city as a commoner, find a true guru, learn from him, and then maybe some things will change. You will come back a changed man." For us, guru ājñā avichāraṇīya. For husbands, the wife’s ājñā is avichāraṇīya because when she says something, it’s easier just to listen and follow, not to get into an argument. The same for a husband; the wife should also listen. So he said, "Okay." He changed into normal attire so no one would notice who he really was and went into the kingdom. He went to a few temples and ashrams but was not satisfied. One day, while walking, he saw a man sitting in full Padmāsana, meditating, not moving. Nothing was affecting him. He was sitting on a rock. The king went near him and poked him. "Don’t tickle me, otherwise your karmas will tickle you." It was a joke—I see my jokes are not the best. So he poked him and said, "Your karmas don’t tickle me." Others, your karmas will tickle you. After which, he said, "How are you so still?" Curiosity arises within all of us. We are all curious to learn something, to get to know something. So he said, "How can you be so still?" "Because I am at peace." "How are you at peace? I also want to be at peace," he said. "Come, I’ll teach you." "Sure." For ten days straight, the man, who was a taxi driver, made him clean his taxi and the whole taxi stand. Why? Any guesses? To remove his ego because he was the king. "I have everything. I have a castle, a wife, kids, luxury, all the materialistic things I want in my life." But he lacked peace. So to reduce his ego, the taxi driver made him clean his taxi and the taxi stand for ten days, to make everything neat and clean. He somehow digested all his ego, managed to overcome and pass that, and endured those ten days. After that, the driver said, "Now you are okay. Now try to sit." "I cannot. I need a throne." "No, no. Sit on the floor on a kuśāsana." Do you know what a kuśāsana is? Kuśa grass. It is an āsana made out of grass. "Sit on this." "I can’t. It’s hurting my legs. This is hurting, that is hurting." You know, when we freshly start doing yoga, when we do something out of the blue which we’re not used to, then our muscles start aching. The same for him. He said, "Everything is aching." The driver said, "Patience. Practice makes a man a master, or a woman." So he practiced with him every day, sitting down, guiding him. Eventually, slowly, he managed to sit in that position. That’s why when you freshly join yoga classes, you don’t immediately start with the eighth level. No, you start with Sarvahitāsana from the beginning, then slowly go up and up. Practice, practice... Giving up is not a solution. He didn’t give up, and neither did the guru. In India, we have a saying which means if the guru is very generous and patient, then the disciple is always very strong—like all of us. We are very strong. We are one united family. We move together. We know things. That is all by the grace of Gurudev. So the driver was patient. He taught him all the techniques. Finally, after one and a half months, he was a completely calm, peaceful man, and he came back to the kingdom. His wife was so shocked and surprised. "Who is this person?" Sometimes people are shocked to see me here talking and then me in normal life, and they think I’m two different personalities, but actually it’s the same. Here I’m flowing; there I’m me. It’s always me. Yes, in the same way, we all can be at peace, but practice makes the master. So we need to practice, and we all can feel the change. We all can see the calmness within ourselves. We all feel that change within ourselves when we are in our homes, when we are working, when we are in that chaotic world. Feel how you feel at that time and see how you feel now. You will see the difference. Someone was telling me that in Vienna they go for walks in the park thinking they get fresh air, but when they come out of strife, then they know what fresh air is. So it’s not only about the air or the atmosphere; it’s also about our community, about what we hold—that connection, that love, that bond which we all have for each other. We all sit under the same roof. It doesn’t matter where we came from or what age we are. We are still here. Why? Because of the love which he gives us and the love which we have for him. That is what is necessary, nothing else. In our lives, everything else functions, and we are all on our path. We are all on the right path, and we should continue on this path. So, yama and niyama we did yesterday. We discussed what to do and what not to do. Āsana and prāṇāyāma—you all are experts. Dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi are the next steps, but now we will do dhyāna. How do we do dhyāna? I’ve got a suggestion in the box, so we are going to do that: Oṃ chanting 108 times. I don’t know whose suggestion that was. Anyone want to disclose? Very good suggestion, whoever it was. So we will chant Oṃ 108 times with full dhyāna. What dhyāna? Dhyāna towards what? You can look at Gurudev. You can have Gurudev inside of you. Go into that meditative state and feel that energy. Feel the vibration of Oṃ. Feel the chant of Aum flowing through your ears, through yourself, through the inside of you. And you will see how the energy of the mantra works. It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to have a whole long book of mantras. You can just chant "Oṃ," and even that is so powerful that you will feel it. That’s why Gurudev made Oṃ Ashram. First three times "Oṃ," and then "Oṃ" again, but 108 times. Devā kī Jai. Swasti prajābhyāṁ paripālayantāṁ nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ. Gobrāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham astu nityaṁ lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu. Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. Heen Har Nama Parvati Pate Har Har Mahādeva Śambhu Vandam Brahma Śukadam Kevalam Jñānam Urati Śrī Alak Puruṣa Mahādevakī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādevakī Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānakī Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Madhvanandī Bhagavānakī Viśvaguru Mahāmudrāleśvarī Yogīrāj Parampitā Parameśvara Parampūjya Śrī Ṣaḍguru Devakī Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai. Salutation to Alak Gurujī Siddhi Pīṭa Paramparā. My adoration to Viśwa Gurujī’s Holy Lotus Feet. Respected Brother, Dear Brother Swāmī Avatār Purījī Mahārāj. All the Divine Sannyāsīs and devotees, Yoga in Daily Life followers present here, the Living Light Mahāprabhujī Deep Satsaṅg Foundation Ashram in Strelki, and through the webcast around the world. Many blessings to all of you from Alāpurī Siddhī Pīṭha Paramparā and, as well, from Viśva Gurujī. This is a very great opportunity we have. It’s a divine day and divine cosmic light. It’s always giving us such opportunity for the divine path, satsaṅg. It is a human’s aim. Satsaṅg is one part of a human’s life. As we need economic support, similarly, spiritual support is also required for human life. Around the world, everywhere, the bhaktas, the devotees, and people of different religions also do such seminars, organizing many programs to learn spirituality, to gain spiritual knowledge. And whom are they remembering? The ancient yogīs and guru paramparā. Like we have Alakpuri Siddhi Paramparā, the gurus. How many bhajans, how many systems they have to give us to learn, repeat, and get inner joy. Because there is only one way, especially in this Kali Yuga. This is a poem or slogan called Chopāī from the Rāmāyaṇa. The beginning of the Rāmāyaṇa was written by Vālmīkījī in Sanskrit. After many, many years, what is required for the devotees? Tulsīdāsjī wrote in Avadhī. So this is Avadhī: "Māyābā barosa he Hanumanta." It means, "I believe, Gurudev, or my friends, I believe, without the blessing or cosmic light... 'Santa' means the saint or yogī. We are not capable to meet them. It is only blessing, only blessing. The cosmic light, the universal God light, is his blessing that we got the opportunity to meet our Swāmījī or our holy Gurujī. And now we are on his divine path, day and night thinking about the gurus, about spirituality, about anuṣṭhāna, about the mantra, and about bhajan. Beginning, when the Rāma... today especially it is Hanumānjī day, so I am all remembering the Rāmāyaṇa: Hanumān, Rāmāyaṇa, Hanumān, Rāmāyaṇa, Hanuman, Rāmāyaṇa, Hanuman, and as well our Gurudev—also all are one. Ekam, Saddhā, Viprāha, Bahudhā, Vajanti. The truth, all the cosmic light is in different forms playing on coming earth, but finally they are one. So, first slogan from the... also I want to mention that Rāmāyaṇa: what does the word mean? The explanation: "Rām" means Rāma, "ayan" means the journey of Rāma. The whole Rāmāyaṇa scripture is written—Rama’s journey from birth until the event to Brahmaloka. This entire journey of Rama is written one way. We call the Ramayan the glory of the Lord Rama, and second, it is a journey of Rama. The journey of the Lord Rama is called Ramayan. This book, or holy book. Second, that beginning when they wrote the Rāmāyaṇa, that day, the beginning day, Vālmīkījī was meditating somewhere. They call it the Śrīu River, Śrīu River there—Tamasā, sorry, Tamasā River. Śrīu was in Ayodhyā, near the Tamasā River. He was meditating. The yogis are always meditating where they are completely forest-like. Swamiji, like this forest, and our Parvatījī thinks that he got the environment peacefully: no pollution, no noise, and under the sky we are meditating all here. So similarly, he was meditating there, Vālmīkījī. And what happened there was some cranes—you know, one bird, it’s called crane. We also call it crane. This one bird, the two, male and female, were near the river just, you know, enjoying. I mean enjoying, or they were enjoying nature there. Suddenly, one hunter came, and he shot his bow at the deer. When he shot the arrow, one of them was killed. He was looking at the scene, and suddenly he could not control himself. At that time, and now also, the ṛṣis only have two things in their heart: blessing or curse. They give blessing, or second they curse. So the ṛṣi was so unhappy that the birds, two birds, one of them he killed. So he wrote—he didn’t write, he just told him—he cursed him. This is the first slogan from the Rāmāyaṇa, beginning the Rāmāyaṇa. Start from there. What does it mean? Vālmīkījī gave a curse: "Oma Nishad" means the hunter. "Pratiṣṭhātvam"—you will not get peace because you kill one bird out of two. It is a very big sin to kill any creature. If we do not give life, who are we to kill them? So similarly, he gave a curse. Then after, he was a little bit sad, and after, he went near his disciple and told him this story: "I was not happy, and so on." And then Ṛṣi Brahmā appeared there. He told him, "You will write the Rāmāyaṇa. Lord Rāma’s glory will be beginning from that day, and you will write all Rāmāyaṇa." So, beginning that, the Rāmāyaṇa started. Now, only five minutes left for me, so now is slogan second. Actually, no, slogan is a lesson for Bharat. Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa were in the forest—you know the forest journey—near the river, and they went there. And Bharata went to bring Rāma back home. Actually, this is brother. Brother was living together. Brother, they don’t have a dispute, but other people make some kind of confusion, and they create a dispute between brothers. But even they don’t know what happened. So when Bharata got to know that Rama went to the forest, Bharata took his whole army, family, mother—carrying mothers, three mothers, carrying with somewhere, different times or different ways to go in the forest or carrying. So the soldiers, carrying mothers and families and elephants, all went to bring Rāma home back. Without Rāma, the kingdom will be empty. So when Lakṣmaṇa got to know that Bharata was coming, and he noticed that, okay, his mother was sending us to go to the forest, and he comes here to kill us now, because after 14 years we will go back. So he got doubt. "Now Bharata is coming, Bharata is coming." And he went near Rama, and it is Rama, he telling Rama, "God, give me, please give me, let me go, give me blessing, let me go, allow me, I will kill it today, Bharat, with my arrow." So Rama is saying, "Calm down, please. What happened? No, no... I’m, I’m... I will not let him come here because he is coming with his whole army, and he will kill us." So even Rāma is explaining to him, "Please calm down, it is nothing. Bharata is not like that; he is our friend, and so his brother is not like that." But Lakṣmaṇa is Lakṣmaṇa—too aggressive, by God, and he’s ready to go now to fight him. And at that time only, Avtar Puri knows, maybe you also know that India has the Akashvani. It is one radio that was there many years running before the telephone system and before any internet system: Ākāśavāṇī. Ākāśa means sky, vāṇī means the words, or vāṇī means they come there from their message come to Ākāśavāṇī. That time came. This ākāśavāṇī came, and Lakṣmaṇa looked, listening. Lakṣmaṇa said, "Rāma, what happened?" Rāma said, "I was planning. You please be calm. Bharat will... nothing will do. Bharat is his Bharat, our brother. He is my brother. Will do nothing, and now Ākāśavāṇī is explaining." Explanation: This is what I was telling or mentioning. "Tat" means sun, "pratāp" means your ability. Everyone is telling that you are able to do this work. You will kill him, but after, can you give life to him? No, you are not capable to give life to him. You have only the ability to kill him. So, when you take any decision, before, think. Think and take advice, and then after, think: "Is this good for me? But it can be good for my family? It can be good for my neighbors? It can be good for the country? It can be good for the world?" If three point, four point, if we think in our life, you never think, never happen disturbance in the world. So now time is over. Oṃ śānti. So please fold hands one minute, I will take... extra, no, no... We have this, we follow it, okay? So, Rāmāyaṇa today is a... this is a two-three slogan for our listening lesson for humans. We list, we follow or not follow, this is our, our conscious allowed. But it’s Rāmāyaṇa giving lesson for human: the Rāma and Bharata and Lakṣmaṇa, Śatrughna—they came on this planet to give a lesson to humanity. So, Śrī Alak Puruṣa Mahādevakī, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānakī, Dev Puruṣa Mahādevakī, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Madhvānandī Bhagavānakī, Viśvaguru Mahāmudrāleśvarī Śrī Yogīrāj Parampitā Parameśvara Parampūjya Śrī Sadgurudevakī, Śraddhā Sanātana Dharma Kī Jaya, Hari Om.