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Part 1: The Four Blessings: A Discourse on Dharma and Grace sadāśiva-samārambhaṁ śaṅkarācārya-madhyamam asmadācārya-paryantaṁ vande guru-paraṁparām. gurur-brahmā gurur-viṣṇur gurur-devo maheśvaraḥ gurur-sākṣāt-parabrahma tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. mannātha śrī jagannātha mad-guru śrī jagad-guru māmātmā sarva-bhūtātmā tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śrīla Purujya Siddhāpīṭ Paramparā. Mai Dhanvat Pranām Swāmilāyut Gurudev. His Holiness Vishwaguru Māmundeśwar Maheśwar Ānandpurījī. Om Namah Nārāyaṇa to all the sannyāsīs. Hari Om and good evening to all of you who are present here and for those who are watching through Swamiji TV. Sorry, I was a bit late because, as I told last week, some medical something, so I was dealing with that. All good, don’t worry. Dharma is something which we all have and which we all fulfill in our day-to-day life. We have our personal dharmas to follow. We have duties in our livelihood and normal days, which we follow. So we take many aspects of life as dharma, but sometimes it’s easy to get diverted from our dharma. As we were talking yesterday, dharma and adharma are two aspects: the path which is right, the path which is true, or the path which is not true or not good to do. Adharma is the opposite. If we are in satsaṅg, if we are not cheating, if we are not lying, then we are doing our dharma. Then we are following dharma. Actually, if we are lying, we are cheating, we are doing other things, then that is going to adharma. It is like a chariot without wheels; it won’t ride. A car without wheels, a chariot without wheels won’t drive. So that is adharma. That is dharma without its essence. We have a car, we have a chariot, but we don’t have wheels. Then it’s not there. Or it is like a lamp without oil. There are many examples which we can go through, but the main point is that we follow our dharma, we follow our true dharma. We all have personal dharmas, but we all see that the neighbor’s dharma is better, or what he is doing is better. We are getting less, he is getting more. As soon as we get those thoughts of jealousy or ego, then those aspects pull us down from following our dharma. Even in the Bhagavad Gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa said, "Dharma rakṣati rakṣitaḥ." He who protects dharma, dharma protects him. Dharma protects itself, and the same is true for Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Yesterday, we had two stories of Kurukṣetra from the Mahābhārata. So when there was the battle of Mahābhārata, Kurukṣetra was the place where the Mahābhārata battle happened. In Kurukṣetra, when Arjuna was on the chariot, he was stuck in that dilemma: what is his dharma, or what is not dharma? On one hand, he was fighting against his relatives, against his family. On the other hand, Dharma was Yudhiṣṭhira; he was Dharmarāja, the protector of Dharma, the eldest brother. So on one hand, is he protecting the Dharma by killing the Kauravas, or is it a Dharma by killing the Kauravas because they are family? So he was stuck in his head a bit. But then Lord Kṛṣṇa says to protect Dharma, you need to remove the Kauravas because they are doing Adharma. And even Lord Kṛṣṇa, or Lord Viṣṇu, said that every time when Adharma rises too much, when there is too much evil in this world, then he incarnates in this world. Already, 23 Avatars are done. The last one, when Adharma will be on the super high level at the end of Kali Yuga, then he will be reborn again as Kalki Avatar. Then he will again destroy all the adharma, and then bring dharma back, and then after which pralaya will happen. Nothing is permanent. Even this world is not permanent. We are not permanent. Thoughts are not permanent. This whole seminar, we stretched by not what, how things are not permanent. We are born, we die. Thoughts come like a storm. The rain will come, but the clouds will pass away. Same are thoughts, same as life, same as this world after the four Yugas: Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, and Kali Yuga, which we are in, which, as I said last week, is just a baby. Approximately 5,200 years have passed only, and this is just the beginning. We still have many years to go, and it is said that till the end of Kali Yuga... anyone remembers what we said about Kali Yuga last week? Hmm, yes, what is it? Oh, best, Dharam Devī is talking about Dharma, I love it. At the end of the Kali Yuga, the people will be so small, we all will be midgets. And we will be able, the whole city will be able to have shelter under one tree. That’s how small the people are going to be. The girl who is nine years old will be a grandmother already. So basically, the lifespan is approximately ten years. Cannibalism will be normal because we, all human beings, will be eating each other. There will be no more dharma left. They will be killing, chopping, stealing, cheating; everything that you can think of is going to happen. So we are very blessed and very happy to be born in this era, which may seem like not the best time because of wars, and because of this or because of that, but if we read the Śāstras, then we will know that this is still a very good time to exist, and it’s very rare that great Sadgurus like Gurudev are incarnated to help us all, and to hopefully liberate us all and give us mukti, give us freedom from this cycle of death and birth. Because after, what will happen is you can’t even imagine, but it’s all in our mind. We all are, we are the people who are making it, the humans. The God created us. Then, what did we do with it? It’s up to us. It again cycles back to kuṭṭī kṛpā, four kṛpās again. Let’s do it again, why not? How many of you remember it? Okay, few people, huh? So, first kṛpā, deva kṛpā. You may remember or write it down. Because we have many years till I will have seminars, and I will be asking it many times, so first, the kṛpā is deva kṛpā. Deva kṛpā means the kṛpā or the blessings of the God and Goddesses. We may ask why, because if we are born in this human life, in this human body, we have passed through 8.4 million creatures. After passing all the snakes, cats, dogs, insects, spiders, mosquitoes, frogs, fish, birds, every single species, after we cross them, I don’t know the name of 8.4 million of them, sorry. So after we cross all 8.4 million of them, finally we get the human life. Then when we get the human life, then we think, "Okay, finally we get human life," very simple. All sorted, done. Then it depends: in our human life, what are we doing with it? Kusanga, satsaṅg, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, dharma, adharma—what are we doing with the human life? If we’re going to spend it every single day being drunk in a pub, doing absolutely nothing, being lazy, sleeping, no chanting, no any type of spiritual activities, killing animals, then we will be born again either in one of those species, or if we manage to accumulate somewhat of good karma, then again a human life. So it still depends. If we are, as Gurudev said, you cut one chicken, next life you become a chicken. So, let’s say, for example, finally we dissolved all the karmic aspects, the bad karmas which we did before, and then finally we are on the path of dharma, but still not completely devoted, and there’s still bits and parts missing. Then we are reborn into the same human life, living the same things, and trying to fulfill it in the next life. If somehow we get the kṛpā of Gurudev, finally we get some senses, some viveka, and we do something good. Again, it is said that there is one saint in India, he is living, I know. He says that it is his 13th life doing pūjā of Mahādev this Śrāvaṇ month. Good, uh, good topic. Tomorrow morning, as you all know, we have abhiṣeka at 4:30 in the morning, so I hope to see all of you, except the ones on anuṣṭhāna, because Nirañjan requested that if you come and wake up early for the abhiṣek, then you will fall asleep in the anuṣṭhān, but the rest of you, please, most welcome to come and join me in abhiṣek, and even the ones who are in the Roman Bednar’s class, you will also be here, and we will have meditation here after the abhiṣek, and then you are free. But abhiṣek, we will talk. That’s how I came to that Śiva abhiṣek we are doing here every Monday. But that saint who I know, he does on the Śrāvaṇ month, like daily abhiṣekas, he does anyhow. But in the month of Śrāvaṇ, in the month of Lord Śiva, he sits 23 hours out of 24 hours. He sits in a cross-legged position, does abhiṣeka 21 times throughout 23 hours, then one hour he has to get up, which he can’t because it’s completely jammed, so people somehow manage to lift him up. He goes to the Ganges, takes a dip, comes back, changes, and sits again—23 hours of mauna, one hour of somewhat speaking, changing, showering, meeting whoever he wants, Haridwār Kailāśanānjī. So he says that it will take him approximately a hundred lives of doing that pūjā to finally get liberated. But for us, we don’t need a hundred lives, we need one life, because we believe in Guru Kṛpā, and we have Guru Kṛpā, and we have that great Master. That’s why if we do Śiva abhiṣek, it is very good. If we do Hanumānjī’s pūjā, it is very good. If we do any type of pūjā, very good. That is doing many things. But the most important thing is that every god even had a guru. And when we have a guru, then all these things are good substitutes to energize us, to get the level of good karmas and puṇya, good deeds, up. But most important is to have Guru Kṛpā, because without that, life is incomplete. Coming back to the first Kṛpā, getting born in a human life, Deva Kṛpā. Gurudev always said when I was young, "This human life is very precious. Do not waste it." How do we waste it? Through kusanga, obviously we all have that much viveka, and we managed to distinguish between kusanga and satsaṅg, and we decided to come on our weekend here for satsaṅg instead of being in a pub and drinking, which will give us temporary happiness. We will be happy, jolly, drunk out of our mind for a span of a few hours, until in the morning you have a bad hangover, and then you will go to work. That’s one option. Or, the second option is we come to satsaṅg, we listen to bhajans, even that vibration of bhajans, that sound of bhajans which goes into our ears, changes the pattern. I think there was some test I was seeing somewhere. They did with the chant of "Om," how the crystals formed into an ice block or something. I was watching that somewhere, so that is the power of mantras. That is the power of the vibrations which come from the mantras. Even if we don’t know how to sing the mantras, even if we don’t know how to do any type of pūjās, just by listening to the mantras, that energy changes. That is why when we step into the ashram, or that is why when we step into some temple or any spiritual place, even your homes where it’s spiritual, you can see the difference, you can actually feel the difference between your workspace where you’re working, because that vibration completely just changes you, you feel so tired, heavy at work. You come home, yes, you’re tired from the work aspect, but still we feel that energy of our own sādhanā when you’re at your own home, you’re doing your own sādhanā changes the vibration of the space, and the ashram is consecrated by Gurudev with the energy of Gurudev and all of us. All these energies are put into one space, and that space becomes divine then. Not only the pūjās which are done to consecrate the land, but also the energies which are put into that space throughout the years. Gurudev’s energy, which he has done for so many years, is why we call this Triliki or Europe his tapasthali. Tapasthali: tapa means where he did tapasyā, and sthali means the place. So why do I call it his tapasya? Because the majority of his life he spent here in Europe, he spent in the West. And when great saints like Gurudev incarnate, they have options. One is their own mukti, which probably they were already in Jīvan Mukti, they were already free, they were already liberated, but still they got a choice if they want to get reincarnated, to help other people to become. It would be much easier if he would just stay in peace and be where he was, but no, he decided to come back into this māyā loka and this mṛtyu loka. Why? Not for himself, but for us all. Then, even when these great saints are incarnated, they again have options. Be in a cave, do absolutely nothing. There are many great Mahāpuruṣas. There’s one, Kālārāj Gurujī, he lives in the Himalayas. He came down, I think, three years back around COVID, he came once down to Rishikesh or Haridwar or somewhere. He is 700 years, 600 years, and people have seen him, but very rarely. So they are great saints who still live in the Himalayas, who have this great lifespan. So if they wanted, he could peacefully just sit there in the caves; no one would know about him, nothing. But no, he was incarnated for Dharma. His Dharma is to liberate all of us, to fulfill the ultimate goal of us, and we are a gyānī manuṣ? We are people who do not have gyāna. We might have the knowledge from the books, from the scriptures, but not that inner knowledge which we all are craving for, which we all need. And for that, these great saints incarnate to this world to help us, move. It’s like a boat in a vast sea. That knowledge is a vast sea, but when the boat is there to help us, that sea is full of waves. Life is full of waves, but there’s a boat which is helping us to cross that wild sea, and that boat is there, but then we go to the fourth chapter, which will come later. The second chapter, that’s lovely. You know, I start with one topic and then I end up somewhere else, and then I remember and come back. I was always impressed how Gurudev used to manage to jump from many topics back now, I see. That’s Guru Kṛpā, you know, they flow through me, so it functions somehow. So, the second Kripa is Śāstra Kripa. Śāstra Kripa is the Kripa or the blessings of the Śāstras, of the scriptures. Now we may think, "Which scriptures?" Don’t worry, we have many. We talked about that, I think, a few days back. We had four Vedas, 18 Purāṇas, 108 Upaniṣads. Then we have the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, the Bhagavad Gītā. Then we have endless other Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣads and all other Upaniṣads. Then we have the scriptures from our Paramparā, Līlāmṛta, Hidden Powers. We have the "Yoga and Delay" book. We have many other books which Gurudev wrote. So all the scriptures are books. If we read books, but how do we read books? We need to be taught how to read and write. Either our parents taught us, or at school, at kindergarten, we learned. That was also a guru. A guru can be many ways. Teachers are gurus. Parents are gurus. Elders, guru. Youngsters, guru. Friends, brothers, sisters. Anyone who gives us any type of knowledge is a guru in one way. Because we think that we know something, but then suddenly someone tells us something, and it’s something new which we didn’t know. So it doesn’t matter from where we can gain any type of knowledge; we should because every knowledge which goes into us is going to be useful somewhere, here and there. So, to read those scriptures, we needed a guru first of all. But even when we have those scriptures and we know how to read and write, still, to understand the depth, to understand the true meaning, even our bhajans, even now, today, for me, if I read some bhajans, they do not make sense to me. I need someone to actually explain those bhajans to me. So that knowledge, it’s such a vast knowledge which can’t be just understood by reading it. We need someone to explain to us. So that whichever knowledge, even without the explanation part, goes within us, that is the kṛpā of those scriptures. Then comes the third kṛpā, which is Guru kṛpā. Guru Kripa, which we all have, that Kripa which is helping us in every aspect of our life, that kṛpā is always going to remain with us. But Holy Gurujī said, the fourth Kripa is the most important, which is Khudkī Kripa, which means the Kripa or the guidance of ourself. The Guru will show us the right path. He is that Deepak, He is that light who brings us from darkness to the light. He is that torch when we are in the dark room, and He still shows the torch, and we see the way. He will show us the way; He will point us the way. That boat is there in that ocean. But where does Kṛpā come? He doesn’t need to pull our hands, and He will not pull our hands and force us into something when we don’t want it. For example, when Gurudev, this example I think I already told, but okay. There was one high-ranking officer in India. We know him. He was in Nepal Ashram at that time. I think Holī Gurujī was also there, and Swāmījī told, "Wait, wait." He wanted to go. He said, "I need to go." Swāmījī said, "Wait." In his head, then immediately when someone says something to us that we don’t want to do, immediately comes anger. Why? I want to go. It’s my wish. I want to do this. I have work to do. Even though we know that that work, or whatever we are planning to do, can wait and surely can, because most of the time when we say we don’t have time, or we do have time, it’s usually we make time if we tell our partners, friends, whoever, there’s no time? There is a way how to find time. Within anything, you can find time here, there, not today, then tomorrow, but sometime we will find time. So he said, "I need to go." So Amjad said, "Wait." Second time, after half an hour, he said, "I need to go," so Amjad said, "Wait." Third time, he said, "I need to go," so Amjad said, "Okay." So, the Guru can warn us, the Guru can show us, tell us, but then we need to do Guru Āgyā Avichāraṇīya, which means do not try to find the logic behind what the Guru says, do not try to figure out why he said it or why not, because he is Trikāla Darśī, not us. He is the one who sees the past, present, and the future, not us. Once we become enlightened, then when we see it, it is good. But still, even when we get enlightened, then what happens? The ego boosts up. Then again, you are back down where you were. So, what is the sense of enlightenment when we are in here, going to come down? So first we remove this whole thing: Ka, Makro, Dhamma, the Lobha, Aṅgāra. Finally, when we remove all these bad qualities which are pulling us down, then finally some spiritual awakening can happen. Then, when we feel something, some people have dreams, some people have visions, some people see the Divine Light, some people see Mahāprabhujī, some people see this, see that, yes, we see everything, but then what do we do with that? Any guesses? We go to our friend, you know what happened tonight? This happened, you know, "I’m so great, I’m so great yogī, that today I saw this or I saw that." One way is to say, "Okay, I had a vision, this, that," but one way is to brag about it. And when we are bragging about it, then what is there? He goes there. These old things which are going to pull us down, so then back we are back to nowhere. We do a hundred steps of good things, one bad thing, we are back down to zero. So the first step is to calm our thoughts, which we’re discussing also, because thoughts are made by yes, this is a problem. If there’s a lock, there has to be a key. So, if there’s a problem, there has to be a solution to the problem, right? So, if there is a problem, then there’s always a solution, but instead of, and even if the key is not with us, it will be somewhere. If we can’t find it, we can make a duplicate key. If we can’t make a duplicate key, then the guru comes and breaks that lock. No problem, there’s always a solution, but our mind will make one problem into 10 problems, into 100 problems, into a thousand problems, then finally we will solve the first problem, but then still we have 99 or 9,999 left. So first we calm our thoughts, and finally we manage to, I wouldn’t say give up, but not to tap into the thoughts, even when we are meditating, doing our mala, sitting here in satsaṅg, right now we are sitting here. Somewhere there is going on, "I have to go home today or tomorrow." Somewhere there is going on, "What will I do in three days?" Some of you are already in Rīekā next week, some of you are somewhere else, I am... where is Swāmījī? How is he? We all have different things, different waves in a... I don’t know, I think in one of the guest speakers last week or two weeks back, they were mentioning how many thoughts come into our mind in the period of a few seconds or minutes or something. It was a lot. So instead of tapping into a certain thought, it doesn’t matter if it’s a good thought, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bad thought, it doesn’t matter if it’s a scary thought, it doesn’t matter. We do not tap into any thought. Even if it’s a good thought, we do not tap into it. We let the thoughts come and go. The sky is stable. The thoughts, the clouds, will come, but those clouds will pass. Now, the speed of the passing of the clouds is different. Sometimes it’s going to be a strong wind, and the clouds will go quickly. Sometimes it’s going to be a slow wind, so the clouds will go slowly. But even when it is slowly passing, and even if it’s a dark cloud which is going very slowly, even then, what does he want? Another one, yeah. So even when the clouds are passing slowly, it is passing. So eventually, whatever comes will go, so those thoughts will pass, then new thoughts will come. But when we manage to somehow, through our peace of mind or by meditation or by guru kṛpā, or somehow manage to give up those thoughts and... please, in some way we manage to somehow surrender those thoughts and say, "I am okay as I am." I am satisfied as I am. I am content with what I have. Because most of the time we are having everything that we need, everything that we have. But then one of these qualities comes in: greed or jealousy. Even when we have enough, we will see someone else having this thing or having that thing and say, "No, I want this, or I want this, or I want this." It is in all of us. When I was a kid, always, you know, he has a better this. He has a better, that he has a better. It is always wanting more and more and more, even with the food, our tongue will say we want more and more and more, but the stomach, the body, doesn’t need that. It is enough to eat as much, but if we eat too much, then what comes, Pramod? What is Pramod? Laziness. When laziness is there, then what comes? Hmm. More eat when laziness comes. Part 2: The Five Qualities of a Student Then Niranjan comes in Dhanuṣṭan and says, "We are sleeping? No sleeping, sit straight, eat less, this, that." That is why the five rules for students apply. Does any one of you remember the five rules? No? Very good. Shall we do it again? Kākaceṣṭā bakodhyānaṁ śvānanidrā tathāiva ca alpāhārī gṛhatyāgī vidyārthī pañcalakṣaṇam. So these are the five rules or the five methods which are practical and good for students. In a certain way, we are all students. We are all studying certain things here and there. The five things are: 1. Kākaceṣṭā: the determination of a crow. Not the crane on a construction site, but the bird crow. Many of us know that story: there was a jug or a pot with a long neck. It had a little water, but the crow could not drink because its beak was not long enough. How determined he was to complete his mission! He picked up pebbles and stones one by one, putting them in slowly. He did not give up. He could have flown a few kilometers to find another pond, but no. He put one rock, another rock, until the water level finally rose to the surface so he could drink. That is the determination of a crow. 2. Bakodhyānam: the concentration of a crane. This is the bird crane who stands on one leg in a pond. His concentration is straight towards the fish. He does not move; he does not do anything. He is just concentrated. Once the fish comes, he grabs it. Done. That determination, that concentration, should be for every student, so we are focused on what we are doing. 3. Śvānanidrā: the sleep of a dog. When a dog is asleep—except for some overly lazy ones you might have at home—in general, dogs are very aware. If you walk past them, they will wake up and jump. That is the quality of a dog. At least in India, stray dogs will surely jump up, bark, and chase you away if you pass by. So it is the awareness of a dog. When a student is sleeping, even in class—you know the backbenchers—when the teacher comes, we wake up suddenly. That is the awareness. 4. Alpāhārī: to eat less. Oh, that is how we came to this topic. Alpāhārī means to eat less. Why? Because of sleep and laziness. We want more and more, but our stomach needs little. If a student eats too much, they will feel lazy. If they feel lazy, they cannot study. If they cannot study or work, life will not function. 5. Gṛhatyāgī: In olden times, we had the Gurukul system, and now we have boarding schools. We are away from home for a certain period. Why? Because the love of a mother, the love of the family, is sometimes too strong and can spoil you. That is why, when I was young, Swāmījī always told everyone, "You are spoiling him with chocolates, you are spoiling him with this and that," and finally he sent me to Haridwar where no one could spoil me. We are sent away because a child might feel it is torture. You do not want to be in the hostel; you do not want to wake up on time. You just want your mom to cook breakfast and bring it to you in bed, and give you more care when you come home from school: "Oh, how are you? How was your day?" No, that spoils us. That is why the Gurukul system was created, to place us in a zone where we are not surrounded by all that. Then, during vacation, we come back home. These are the five aspects, or five rules, for every student to follow, and they apply to all of us. Then, after the third kṛpā, comes the fourth kṛpā: Kuṭṭī Kṛpā. We need to listen to ourselves; we need to follow. We have to make the initiative to do something. If we do not make the initiative, we will not do our mantra. If we do not make the initiative, we will not come to satsaṅg. It is we who are driving from all different countries to come to Strelka. Guru Kṛpā is there; Gurudev is here; his energy is here; the satsaṅgs are here; the beautiful atmosphere is here; our beautiful family is here. But the decision has to be ours, to dedicate our time and money to come here and spend time in satsaṅga—in the company of truth, in the company of people on the same page. There are different books on different shelves in a library. In the world, there are a thousand different qualities of people, a thousand different books. Among them, there is one book called Yoga and Daily Life. In that book, there are many pages. We are those pages. So at least we are in the same book. Then Gurudev tries to bring us to the same page. When we are on the same page, then at least we are working on the same wavelength. That is why it is necessary to be surrounded by people of truth, where there is satsaṅg, the company of truth. In kusaṅga, we are in different books. They do not understand us; we do not understand them. But some books are bigger and thicker; they attract us more. If we are bookworms, we like to read more books, so we want to experiment and go into those cool saṅga parts. Then we realize that is not for us, because it gives temporary happiness, not permanent happiness. When we come to satsaṅg, this is long-lasting happiness. This is a happiness which will last for one month, or one week. For me, it lasts one and a half to two months, and I remember it the whole year. It is the same for you: you come here for two days, one week, two weeks, five weeks, six weeks—as many weeks—and that energy will still stay in you. That is long-term happiness. Then we go back home. We are still on the spiritual path; we still do our mālā; we still remember to do our bhajans, mālā kriyā, and listen to Gurudev. In those aspects, it is long-term happiness. Then there are two types of dharma: svadharma and paradharma. Svadharma is the dharma to ourselves. What is dharma to ourselves? To love ourselves, to accept ourselves. Only when we love ourselves will we be able to love others or anything around us. But how are we going to love ourselves? By accepting ourselves: "I am the best version of myself. I am doing good. I am in satsaṅg, not in kusaṅg. I have guru bhakti. I have my mālā." And just know that he is Trikāladarśī; he sees everything. So even if we decide to do something wrong, he will find a way to stop us. Personal experience: if you try to do something, he will make sure you either do not do it, or you realize it, or if you go overboard, he will make sure to stop you. So do not worry about that part. You do your dharma; you continue. Do not give up. It does not matter how dark the clouds are. Get this straight in our heads, please: giving up is not a solution in life. We think everything is a mess in our life, everything is bad, and the only solution is svāhā. That is not the solution, because what will happen then? We talked about this half an hour or twenty minutes ago. We will end up again in the same life, or in a worse life. We will be in this circle of death and birth, death and birth, until we do not understand and accept that the only solution to be free from this cycle is spirituality, is dharma, is the path of righteousness. Because if we finish it and do svāhā, we will come back and redo all of this. And when we are reborn, you do not know if you will find the same guru. To find such a great guru in our lives is the greatest achievement we can ever do. Actually, he did not—you did not find him; he found all of us. But still, technically speaking, we do have him, and we should be very grateful that we have him in our lives and that we are born in the same time span as he was. Otherwise, this cycle of death and birth would go on. I love one example of saṃsāra: You are born, then you are in your mother’s lap, then you go to the cradle: mother’s lap, cradle, mother’s lap, cradle. We grow up a bit: school, home, school, home. We grow up more: work, home, work, home. Finally, when we are done with work, we are getting old. We go into vānaprasthāśrama. Then what? Before that: pension, hospital. But Swāmījī said—this part I love the most—Swāmījī said, "Pension is not pension; pension is tension." Why tension? Because all your money is going to hospitals. Then it is hospital, home, hospital, home, and finally death. Then we think we are done? No. Then it is life, birth, life, birth, again and again. So finally, to get liberated and free from this—this body might not be tired, but as we know, the ātmā is that which does not die. The body is like clothes which the ātmā is changing. That ātmā is tired. So, not for this body, but at least for this ātmā, free it. And how do we free it? By the grace of the guru, by listening to guru-vākya, by doing as he says. What he says—the greatest gift we as disciples get from our guru—is the guru-mantra and that bhakti which we hold within us. So, coming back to svadharma: dharma to ourselves by loving ourselves. Because of that, we can do paradharma: dharma towards others, dharma towards humanity, dharma towards nature, the atmosphere, everything else. First is svadharma. When we fulfill our dharma to ourselves, when we accept ourselves as we are, when we are okay with things as they are, when we do not jump every time and say we want more and more and more, then finally, hopefully, we can manage to do paradharma, which Gurudev is doing all his life. Svadharma is going on inside, but he is doing paradharma: freeing all of us, liberating all of us, helping all of us. And for that, we do not need to come to Gurudev and ask him, "Gurudev, I have this problem, solve this, solve that." He is always working with each and every one of us. We might think it is not possible, but it is. We all have experienced it; we all have seen how life has changed by being in the grace of Gurudev, how many things he has fixed for us, how many problems he has solved for us, knowingly or unknowingly. We might think it is us who is fixing it, but in the back, there is a certain push, something happening in the background which we do not feel. In modern times, we say, "Do what makes you happy." But dharma says, "Do what is righteous, what is the right path." Maybe that will not make us happy, but that is the right thing, which eventually will end up being the right thing. So when we follow dharma, we follow happiness; it will automatically come. But for doing dharma, we need viveka. For needing viveka, we need a guru. So everything circles back to guru tattva. And the greatest bond we can have is the bond between the guru and the disciple. Where there are bhaktas, there is God. How do we become bhaktas? Again, with the grace of the guru. So everything is cycling back to the same thing. A guru is necessary to achieve a certain aspect in our life, to move on, to progress, to do anything. We need that tattva. He has lit that fire inside of each and every one of us. The deep is lit inside of us, but the oil we are pouring—what is the oil? Our seva. Now, there was a question I was reading about selfless seva: how can we do selfless seva? Again, coming back to what we spoke about: when we accept things as they are and we calm our thoughts, then will come the progress where we will remove the karma, grow the mother, lobe, ahaṃkāra. And when that is removed, then we do seva, and that seva is selfless seva. Anything that we do should not be done to brag to people or to show people. The seva which is done without anyone knowing is the best seva, because that is selfless seva. If we go specially to cut the lawn when Gurudev is about to come—when we know, "Okay, now it is 10:30, now Gurudev will be walking out of his house coming to the hall"—and then suddenly we start plugging the grass or picking the rocks or doing something, that is not selfless seva, because we are doing it to impress him. Why are we trying to impress him? Because we think that by impressing him, he will give us more attention. It does not work like that. We do not need to show him what we are doing for him to love us more. It is not that we are all higher or lower; he loves all of us equally. He loves each and every one of us individually in the way he loves himself. And the greatest spot that we can get is not the graveyard; it is not the fire; it is not the place where we die; it is not our home. It is in someone’s heart. And if Gurudev says that you all are residing in my heart, what does that mean? We have achieved the best place to be, which is His heart, where we all are. What do we do? We also give the best place, which is our heart. But to put someone in our heart is necessary: bhāva, devotion, love. When we have that love towards ourselves, we will have love towards others. When we have love towards others, we will be able to place him in our hearts. We all say, "Oh, Gurudev, you are mine, you are in my heart, you are this, you are that." But then something messes up in our life, and we say it is his fault: "Because I joined yoga, that is why this happened," or "Because I did not listen to my friend, and Swāmījī told me to do this, and then this happened and that happened." Yes, maybe some things will not happen the way you expected. But if you would have continued and Swāmījī would not have stopped you, maybe something much worse would have happened. So maybe he actually protected you from something much worse. Yeah, coming back to the story, we go back to Nipple. Swamiji told that person, "Sit." He said, "No, no, I need to go." Then the third time—that is how we ended up in Kuṭṭī Kṛpā—so the third time Swamiji said, "Go." What should he do? But even the third time, at least he managed to delay the process, because when he is a guru, he can do things. He is protecting us. We are in that bubble where nothing can penetrate. So if the effect is going... I remembered another story. First, let us finish this one. In this one, he said this is a true story. In this one, he said, "Okay, go." As he was a very high-ranking officer, he had many enemies. So while driving back—still, he did not listen. If he would have waited, if he would have stayed longer, maybe this incident would not have ever happened. But because he did not listen and he did go, still that protective bubble was there. His car was shot from every angle possible; the bullets came through the windows, through everywhere. But the only thing that he had was one bullet hole through his shirt, which did not even scratch him. The whole car—tires, glass—got it, but he was just... there was a hole in his sleeve. That is it. Yes, he will still protect you, even if his bhakti decides to leave him. Even if we decide, "No, it is all messed up, I am not going to stay anymore, this is a living hell for us"—but maybe it is not; maybe it is a living heaven for us. But our mind, because it is a monkey mind and because our thoughts are so crazy, it will say, "This is hell. My kusaṅga life, where I will be drinking with friends and enjoying my life, that is much better." But even then, if once he accepts us as his disciple, he will be there to protect us. The bond we talked about yesterday, Rakṣābandhan—the bond of protecting—is not only between siblings, not only between spiritual brothers and sisters. That bond is also between the guru and disciple. Sometimes he might shout at us; sometimes he might chew us off; sometimes he says, "Go, get lost," whatever. It does not matter. He still loves us. If you love your child and your child is naughty, and he or she disappears from home, it does not matter; you are still concerned about that child. You do not disown that child. In the same way, no matter what we do to him, he will never do anything bad to us. So even if he did not listen, even if he did not stay there for a longer period which might have avoided that incident, he still protected him. In the same way, we all have these types of experiences. But it is up to us what we choose. If we fully surrender, if we fully say, "I am yours, you are mine," finito. Nothing else we need. He will protect us; he will guide us; he will show us the right path. But we need to do the effort. He will protect us; he will help us in every way. But I cannot just sleep in my room and do absolutely nothing and expect everything to function. That is where personal dharma comes. Do your dharma. Do not worry about the fall. Kṛṣṇa said, "Karma karte ro, phal kī cintā mat karo." Do your karmas. Do your dharma. Do not worry about the result. The result will be good. The result will be as it is. Do not worry about that. Leave it in his hands. Good or bad, do not give up. Because most of the time, what will happen is some chemical reaction gets a short circuit in our brain. What do we do? Something bad comes? No. Something good comes in our life. Instead of enjoying that moment of goodness or happiness, what will our head make us do? "This is good, but..." There is always a "but." It does not matter. "This is good, but I know that this will be gone, and I will be... this will happen after this, and this will happen after that." We do not even know what will happen, but our mind will make sure we get crazy enough in our heads that it will make us believe something bad will happen. So instead of thinking about something which is absolutely not relevant, which does not exist—at least for that moment, and maybe will not even exist—because most of the time we are manifesting our own thoughts. When we go to sleep, if we are thinking—that is what I love to do; you all can try it. That is what I found out after ten years of me unknowingly doing it. I found out this is basically some stage of yoga nidrā. Basically, what I do is, before I go to sleep, I think about whatever I want to think about. Sometimes I manage also not to think about absolutely nothing; that is peaceful sleep, but that is later. First, we come to the part where we think about something nice, whatever we want. Then we fall asleep to that thought. That thought becomes a dream. Then it is basically showing and proving that we are actually manifesting what we want. If we are going to sleep and we have a certain thought in our mind cycling while we fall asleep, and then we are dreaming about that, then comes the part which I unknowingly was doing for quite a long time: if I woke up—I usually do not wake up, but if I do wake up and go to the toilet and come back—I could restart the dream from wherever it ended, or if I did not like the story, I could change the story anywhere I missed. In the same way, in life, if we are thinking about something that is not even there, we might manifest it because subconsciously it is there in our mindset, and that will make it a reality. So if we want bad things to happen, we think about bad things, and eventually it will happen because it is in our subconscious mind. Subconsciously, we are thinking about it constantly in the background, and that becomes a conscious doing which we might not want to do, but it will happen because we were so much into it. That is why we should not tap into thoughts. If we do not tap into thoughts, none of this will happen. Where were we? Yeah, before the story or somewhere else, but it does not matter. Okay, you are going. Another one, moja? Okay, you want to choose? Okay, choose. So, yeah, negativity and positivity. As prosim—how do you say? Welcome, huh? Get quim, and then comes what? Prosim? Yes, prosim. So we will manifest what we want. Good things and bad things are true. So when we think that something bad will happen, being in the present—we were talking about—so we are now here, we are in satsaṅg, but we are thinking about something else: what will happen, what is not surely going to happen, but we are thinking about it. So instead of thinking of something which we do not know... Because the past happened. If we go into the past, either we go into regret mode: "Why in the world did I even do this?" What will regret bring? Sadness. What does sadness bring? Depression. What does depression bring us? Being low, which we do not need to be. If we do not go into regret mode, then we have another option: we learn from our mistakes and do not repeat them. That is one thing you can do. But best is if we do not even think about anything in the past, because it happened; we cannot change it. There is no sense in going back to it. The future we do not know, but we want to know it. We do not know it, and it is better not to know it, but yes, we still want to know it. And we go into the future, thinking about scenarios which never existed, but we are making them exist because we are thinking about them. Let him deal with that. Why do we want to make our mind a complete future-past-present confusion, a mixture of absolutely all three aspects of life? Let the future be in the future. What will come will happen, good. Why? Because we have Gurudev, who is protecting us, who is guiding us. The past is gone; forget about it. Be now in the present. After satsaṅg, you will go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. Do we even know if we will wake up tomorrow? No. Let us be in peace whenever it is possible. The ashram is giving us outer peace. Our homes, wherever there is dharma, wherever there are positive energies, are giving us outer peace. Now, what is missing is inner peace. Inner peace we will get by the grace of the Guru, but he already gave us the tools: Mālā, Kriyā, Āsanas, Prāṇāyāma, Anuṣṭhān, Satsaṅgs, Bhajans, Kīrtans. All these things are bringing us inner peace. Let those things pass by; let the thoughts pass by; let the clouds go.