TV Channel

Oṁ Pūrṇamadah, Pūrṇamidam, Pūrṇāt Pūrṇamudacyate, Pūrṇasya Pūrṇamādāya, Pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. With this mantra, I greet all of us. You know very well the meaning of this mantra. Pūrṇamadah—that is full. It refers to that which is far away, which we cannot see, the unlimited, Paramātmā, God. Pūrṇam idam—here, whatever we see in this world, this is also unlimited and complete. What does "unlimited" or "complete" mean? It means that if you take anything away, no matter how much you remove, the completeness remains. Imagine taking air from this room outside; it will still be the same air. You take water from the ocean; no matter how much you take, the ocean does not become smaller. It is complete. The best part is that we are part of this completeness. We just sang, "Śiva, Śiva, Śambhu, Śaṅkara." Śiva, the merciful one who gives us blessings. Śambhu and Śaṅkara—all three names are the same. They denote our divine nature. This Śānti mantra is from the Vedas. It is recited before many Upaniṣads. It was also described in Mahāprabhujī’s satsaṅg, in Holy Gurujī’s satsaṅg, and in Swāmījī’s satsaṅg. It is one of the most famous Advaita Vedānta mantras. It shows that we are one. There is no need for fighting, no need for anything, because we are already one. Although we see each other as different, we are still one. There are ten or eleven main Upaniṣads. Among them, the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad is the first. It is in the Yajur Veda. It is even written inside the Veda itself; it is not a separate text like other Upaniṣads. In times of change—whenever something changes, when anyone comes, when any war happens—so many things get lost. But we are lucky that the Vedas, the knowledge of the ancient wise people, the ṛṣis and munis, was protected. The Vedas consist of the mantra part, called Saṁhitā: the Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda. Each of them has Brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇas are certain extensions, like when we study something and then slowly begin to forget, we get another book, and then another, to help us. So when the Vedas became too difficult or complicated, the teachers of old began with Brāhmaṇas, then Āraṇyakas, and finally Upaniṣads. The first three parts are called Karmakhaṇḍa—the section on duty, covering all we need. This is the knowledge taught in universities and schools—what we need to survive on this planet, what we need to do to live. The Upaniṣad, however, tells us why we are here. Each of you has read an Upaniṣad. If not completely, at least in part, but most of you have read many. The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad has only 18 mantras. I will go through the first few because it is so powerful. So much knowledge is condensed within it. In India, there is a saying: "gagar me sāgar"—in one small pot, the whole ocean is contained. The first mantra says: "Oṁ īśā vāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ, yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat." It is a powerful mantra. Its sound is great, but the meaning is even more important. Mahatma Gandhi said that if all holy scriptures were to disappear but this mantra remained, all the knowledge, ethics, and morality we had would come back. In the second line, it says, "Do not covet other people’s wealth." Do not wish for what others have. Do not be greedy. It is nice to say: "Renounce and enjoy." Do not ask for what other people have. Why? Because whatever is in this world, whatever we can see or cannot see, is permeated, covered, and immersed in God, in divine force, in nature—call it what you like. If everything is full with God, it means we already have what we need. We have what is necessary for us. But, of course, the grass is greener in the neighbor's yard. The watermelon is bigger there; the fruits are better. The first line simply says: do not wish for what you do not have. Do not be greedy. This was said not 20,000 years ago, but it is really, really old. When you realize its meaning, it contains the essence of proverbs and morality. Everything is covered by God; everything is one. From this oneness, you are also one. In this all-oneness, we are one part, so you have yourself. Why do you want something else? Be happy with what you have. "Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ"—enjoy through renunciation. How can you enjoy? If you are satisfied, you can enjoy. When children eat chocolates, they say someone else has more. They are eating chocolates but still want more. Only the things change; our mind does not. We grew up, but we are doing the same thing. We are just grown-up children. The second line says: "Kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchaṭaṁ samāḥ." It is about Karma Yoga, about doing. It is often said in the Vedas that a person should live 100 years. What does "100 years" mean? We know that until the 1950s, if you were 50, people would say, "Oh my god, so old." In the Middle Ages, 32 was considered very old. "Hundred years" means one hundred percent. Live your life fully and completely, according to Āyurveda. Just two thousand years ago, the normal human lifespan was 400 years. Can you imagine dropping from 400 to 30? Now we are somehow crossing 80 again, with lots of problems. Live one hundred percent. Live your life completely, Samāḥ. What else does it say? "Kurvanneveha karmāṇi"—do your duty. Act. Do something your whole life. Make yourself useful. Fulfill your duty. Do, do... And then the second line says, "Okay, you don’t want to do it? No problem." It says even if you do nothing, you will still be completely enveloped in karma, in duty, in work. For example, you wake up in the morning and decide not to get out of bed. You decide to sleep, tossing and turning. This is also work—not productive, but still work. As long as we have a body, whatever we do is work. So, since we are always working anyway, let us do something useful. Thus, Karma Yoga, the path of duty, is present from the time of the Yajur Veda. For so long, people have said, "Do something, make yourself useful. Do something, fulfill your life." How long should you fulfill it? Until you are alive. We are disciples of Viśva Gurujī. Viśva Gurujī stopped working a few months back due to health issues. For eighty years, he worked completely. So if you are a proper disciple, you know how long you will have to work to fulfill your life. Sannyāsīs, in any color—orange, yellow, or any other—are supposed to work until their last breath. "Work" means everything: normal duties, not just kitchen work or cleaning. It means japa, meditation, āsanas, prāṇāyāma—everything is work. Then it becomes even stricter. The third śloka says: "asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ"—these are the places without sun, where there is darkness. People who kill themselves go there. This Upaniṣad is very strict. Unfortunately, what does it mean to kill oneself? Ātmahatyā. In Christianity, it is considered the highest sin; you go directly to hell. Ātmahatyā, the killing of oneself, unfortunately refers to when you do not realize your Self. It is not only physical suicide; it is living life in the opposite direction from what you are supposed to do, opposite to your duties. We all know the thief goes to steal, the killer goes to kill, and the hunter goes to hunt. They all know inside that what they are doing is not good. Everybody knows what is good and what is not. But because of our intellect, we interpret it differently. We all know what is good. When we go in the direction of light, in the direction of the sun, in the direction of our divine duty—which you need to know—then, as Viśva Gurujī shows us, we go to Sūrya Loka. We will go to that divine world, which Mahāprabhujī described so many times in bhajans as Sat Chit Ānanda. There is so much light there—a light without sun, a light without anything. And the last one, the 18th mantra, says: "Oṁ agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān." "O God, O Sun, O Agni, the fire principle, what do we do?" We see the sun in the sky and say to the sun, "I am going from this place to another. Please take me on the best road. Take me on a road where I will have no problems, where there are no thieves or murderers. Let me safely reach where I am supposed to be." So we say this to God: "Please, whatever I do, safely take me to the place where I am supposed to be." And what do we do? We offer our prayers to you. The sun is a representation of the ultimate principle, the ultimate God principle. We know the sun is not God, but if we removed the sun, we would have maybe a maximum of 30 days to live. So I would say the sun is still a very powerful principle. The Vedas speak about principles: Agni, the principle of fire. There are so many beautiful things we can do, read, and learn. But what I have told you—the first three mantras of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad—are actually mantras of morality and ethics. In the Vedas, there are so many ethical principles. We have had these problems since long ago. Whatever these problems were, people had them long ago. The discussion of unity and everything else is another part of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, perhaps for another time. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ.