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Part 1: An Introduction to the Guru and the Essence of Life I have the honour once again to present to you a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, who is also an Ācārya. Due to this terminology, 'Ācārya Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara' is a position within our Akhāṛā. We are not merely calling him that; he truly is an Ācārya. 'Ācārya' means one who has crossed a master's degree in Indian sciences. He is Ācārya Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara. He teaches all Vedic knowledge and any Purāṇa. There are 18 Purāṇas and 18 additional ones, making 36 in total. Out of these, he regularly teaches the four or five main ones. He was in Nagpur, which is in central India. He had to fly from Nagpur to Delhi, then to Jodhpur, just to come for this program. He arrived yesterday, and the program finished on the fifth, so he was essentially travelling for about 24 hours. He has around ten ashrams that I know of. His main ashram, Jīna Jīrā, is in Panjāb. I was present at the opening of a beautiful, huge ashram temple in Batindā, which is on the border of Rājasthān and Panjāb. He has a huge five-story ashram in Haridwar, and others in Surat, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and so many places. He is one of the youngest Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, and we are so happy that wherever we have any problem or whenever we come, he is always more than willing to help us. At this Kumbha Melā, we organized a camp together—actually, he organized it and we joined—and it was a truly beautiful and great experience. So, I would like you to welcome our dear Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Svāmī Ātmānanda Purījī Mahārāj. Yad bhadraṁ tan nasu vāma śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. Yo dheyam sadaparibhavāgṇam aviṣṭadoḥam tīrthas padam śivavirañchinutaṁ śaraṇyaṁ vṛttyarthīhaṁ praṇatapālabhavāvdīpotaṁ vande mahāpuruṣa te caraṇārvindaṁ. Vande mahāpuruṣa te caraṇārvindaṁ. Gurur brahma, gurur viṣṇu, gurur devo maheśvara, guruh sākṣāt paraṁ brahma, tasmai śrī guruve namaḥ. He travels in America, Australia, and everywhere, so I was hoping he would speak in English. He has greeted all of us here. I will make a short translation because each of the titles he mentioned for Viśvagurujī has a long meaning. He says that the revered and respected Viśvagurujī, Paramahaṁsvarī Maheśvarānandajī, who created this Om Āśram and enabled all of us to come to this place, believes that this tapasyā, this kind of sādhanā, will bring millions of people in the future. In Indian tradition, there is great importance of the guru. Our Guru Śaṅkarācārya says, "If there is someone greater than God, then he is the guru." If we have not seen God, then Gurujī is in front of us. Our commentators on spiritual texts say there are three very rare things in this world: first, being born as a human; second, reaching the divine consciousness; and third, the satsaṅga with the great saints. We believe human life is not available all the time. Two things are important in the human form: one is the intellect, which no other living being has, and we are free to do whatever karmas we wish. So, intellect and karma are something specially made for humans. We have very limited time, and we have to do good in this time. The Vedas say that if you are born as a human, you must reach enlightenment; otherwise, there will be much suffering. To show this path, we have great saints, and one of them is our Gurudev Viśva Gurujī, who has taught hundreds of thousands of us. But how to realize oneself? The Vedas say that we should have as much belief in our Guru as we have in God. This is a very pious tradition: Param Śraddhya Svāmī Alagapurījī Mahārāj, Svāmī Devapurījī Mahārāj, Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Prabhujī Mahārāj, Śraddhya Svāmī Madhvānandajī Mahārāj, and Śraddhya Viśva Gurujī Mahārāj. Our paramparā, our lineage, is very holy and very old. It starts from Alagapurījī, continuing to Devapurījī, Mahāprabhujī, Holy Gurujī, and now Viśva Gurujī. You are very lucky to get such a Guru and be protected in his shelter. Because of that, you will be able to reach your destination, final liberation, and you will be free. Short and sweet. Kī Jai! Svāmī Ātmānandajī Mahārāj, Kī Jai! Svāmī Jñāneśvarapurījī Mahārāj, Kī Jai! This was, I think, an introduction to the lecture, as I know he speaks for a minimum of three hours, so this was very short and sweet. In India, there is a saying, "Gagar me sāgar," which means that in a small pot, you fill the whole ocean. He just explained the essence of human life—why we are here, why we are in Om Āśram. I will continue a little with one or two ślokas from the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad. As you remember, the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad is the first Upaniṣad, found in the Yajur Veda. Oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate. Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. We have reached up to the fifth śloka. I will briefly tell the essence of the sixth and seventh. The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad's first three mantras gave us moral and ethical principles, then it began to describe God, ātmā, or divine energy. The person who sees all beings in oneself and sees oneself in all beings cannot hate, simply by knowing we are all one. You can find this sentence in almost every coaching or self-help book today, and this is tens of thousands of years old wisdom. The problem is in realization. Can we realize yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāni? When that person realizes oneself, what sorrow can touch them? This is what our Ācāryajī was speaking about. This is the realization of human life—why we came to this planet. We have two things: we have the option, the free will to act, and we have limited time in which to do it. With our intellect and free will in limited time, the problem is we are bombarded every day with things that take us away from the divine. We identify ourselves: "I am from Europe," "I am white," "I am this," "I am that." We should identify ourselves with "I am myself. I am ātmā. I am divine." That is what brought me to this path, to Śaṅkarācārya Jī, who said the ātmā is the same in the elephant, the same in the human, and the same in the ant. The one who knows oneself, knowing we are one with everybody, has no more suffering. It continues to express how the divine ātmā, how God—Īśa—actually looks. I am very nervous because I have Ācāryajī here who knows this by heart, so it's like I'm showing off in front of him; my apologies. He, or ātmā, or God, is all-pervasive, everywhere, pure, without body, without any wounds or damages, without any taint or spots, without anything. Sin cannot touch it; there is nothing like sin in that realm. He is omniscient, the ruler of mind, transcendent, and self-existent. He has duties according to the yugas; He decides. This ātmā decides what we will do. If you realize we are that ātmā, then we can decide what we want to do. We are the ones deciding: "Yes, I will do my mālā. Yes, I will do my prāṇāyāma. Yes, I will do my āsanas. Yes, I will help people." Why will you help people? Because there is nobody there except you; you are helping yourself. We just had the previous two mantras: this ātmā is all-pervasive, everywhere in the universe. This is how the Upaniṣad starts: whatever is in this world, at every single point, there is no point where there is no God, no ātmā. It is all-pervasive. So, when you start your day thinking like this, how will your day look? Just imagine, just try the experiment. You wake up in the morning and, as Svāmījī said, "I am a human." Then you say, "I am ātmā, I am divine. I am omnipresent, everlasting." Or you wake up and say, "Oh my God, another day. Okay, two days till Sunday. Oh, Monday is tomorrow—no, it's today." The difference is immense. You can choose, and the choice is yours. I just wanted to start with these two points because I was asked about two very strange mantras from the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad. I will mention them and then stop. The one who worships ignorance—here, ignorance is not ignorance itself, but rather, one who is concentrated only on the work and duties of this world, like learning to drive or anything on the physical level—who concentrates knowledge only on that, will finish in darkness. That's fair enough; we know this. But then it says those who are engaged only in spiritual sādhanā go into even deeper darkness. So, if you study architecture, physics, or cooking, you go into darkness, and if you study spirituality, āsana, prāṇāyāma, you go into deeper darkness. This is the first step of a longer topic. It tells us that the only way is to unite; you have to work and learn to live in this world, and with this knowledge, you can overcome the problems we face. Then, with spiritual knowledge, we cross over after our life and duties are done. It is a combination. The second line says you have to do, or rather, you will do karmas. So, choose to do proper ones. As long as you live for a hundred years, for your whole life, you will do karma. Choose which karmas: do both. Do the things you need to be alive here, and do those you need to cross over. This is the beginning of karma yoga. Karma yoga starts from the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad and goes further. I will not go deeper, as karma is treated differently now than five or ten thousand years ago, but it is all about duties and what we must do, combining both spirituality and work. That is why, in Om Āśram, we have karma yoga plus yoga and daily life practice every single day, plus prayers and all else. Siddhiṁ Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī che, Devādideva Deveśvara Mahādeva kī che, Hindudhāraṇa Samrāṭ Maravanānjī Bhagavān kī che, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Svāmī Ātmānandajī Mahārāj kī che, Viśvaguru Svāmī Mahāśivānandajī Gurudeva kī che, Viśvakarāṇjī Mahārāj kī che. Again, we have an honour, we have luck—it is called bhāgya. We are the lucky ones to be here, present with all these saints. As the head of these saints, we have Rājguru, the teacher of the kings of Bikaner. He is Ācārya Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the highest position in the Mahanirvani Akhāṛā. He is one of the highest, oldest, and most respected saints in all Akhāṛās. The Akhāṛās can include both Sannyāsīs and non-Sannyāsīs. He is a very, very learned person who knows the Purāṇas and Vedas by heart, speaks Sanskrit, and always says that prārabdha, our karmas from a previous life, brought us together. But for me, it is his love towards us and his love towards Viśva Gurujī, towards our Svāmījī, that kept us together. Karma can bring us together, but his words, deeds, and behaviour are what actually kept us all together. Swami Rajendra Purījī and Swami Avatāra Purījī were honoured to be in his sevā. It was not easy, because from a distance it's all okay, but when you come close, the colour burns, the fire burns; you are a hot iron which is smashed. We are grateful that for even a small invitation, Ācāryajī is willing to come, and I truly hope his love for us will never stop. With these words, I would like to request our beloved Ācāryajī to bless us with his words. Śrī Madhubhāgavatākya Dhāma Bhāṣati Raseśvara Preyasī Pañcādhyāyalasattānur Vijayati Raseśvarī Rādhikā. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Kṛṣṇa jinn kā nām hai, Gokul jinn kā dhām hai, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām. Kṛṣṇa jinn kā nām hai, Gokul jinn kā dhām hai, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām, Vallabh ko hamārā praṇām. Śrī Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa jinn kā nām hai, Mathurā jinn kā dhām hai, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām hai. Aise Bānsī vāle ko hamārā praṇām hai. Aise Rukmiṇī Nāth ko hamārā praṇām. ...kā nām hai Ayodhyā, jinn kā dhām hai Ayodhyā. Aise Śrī Vadhū hamārā praṇām, the one whose name is Ayodhyā, whose abode is Ayodhyā. God is our refuge. God is our refuge. God is our refuge. Rām jinn kā nām hai, Sāket jinn kā dhām, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām. Rām jinn kā nām hai, Sāket jinn kā dhām, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām. Aise dhanush dhārī ko hamārā praṇām. Dhanush dhārī ko hamārā praṇām. ...no jinn kā nām hai, Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām. ...no jinn kā nām hai, Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām. Aise Lakṣmī Nāth ko hamārā praṇām hai, aise Lakṣmī Nāth ko hamārā praṇām hai. Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise gadādhārī ko hamārā praṇām. ...nū jinn kā nām hai, Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise gadādhārī ko hamārā praṇām. ...nū jinn kā nām hai, Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise cakradhārī ko hamārā praṇām. ...jinn kā nām hai, Vaikuṇṭha jinn kā dhām hai, aise cakradhārī ko hamārā praṇām. Śaṅkar jinn kā nām hai, Kāśī jinn kā dhām hai, Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām hai. Śaṅkar jinn kā nām hai, Kāśī jinn kā dhām hai, Śrī Bhagavān ko hamārā praṇām hai. Aise bole bābā ko hamārā praṇām. Aise bhagavān aise āṭh ko jinn kā nām kā dhām. Aise śrī bhagavān aise āth ko jinn kā nām kā dhān. Aise śrī bhagavān aise āth ko jinn kā nān kā dhān, aise triśūl dharī ko hamārā, aise chandra... In the same way, teaching starts from the first primary class, going all the way to Masters and PhD. Similarly, teaching in adhyātma, in spirituality, begins with the first class of our Hindu Dharma. There are ten basic entrance books, primary books. First is dhṛti. Dhṛti means to hold on to something—endurance, patience. This is like when Viśvagurujī is with us and we tolerate, or are ready to support and bear everything happening around him. Whatever Viśvagurujī gave you—the mantra, the teachings—you have to follow. This is called dhṛti, endurance, patience. The first one was patience, and the second is to forgive. So, whatever anyone does, you either forgive them or forgive others. Part 2: The Foundation and Journey of Spiritual Life In the first stage, a husband and wife should think about God. The third step is about non-attachment. Whatever money or possessions you have, you should not be attached to them. Purity is very important. For purity, consider the example of an aeroplane: I take only water or air because people offer vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and other impure things. They are not pure; they are not clean. Therefore, we should eat, drink, think, listen, and act in such a way that our life grows and we move upwards on a higher trajectory. It is written in our Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad that your diet must be pure. Your diet will be pure, your behavior will be pure, your body will be pure. Then you will be able to grasp and understand the spiritual teachings given by Viśvagurujī. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad states that if your deeds and food are clean, you will comprehend whatever Viśvagurujī is trying to teach you. The mind should be used in the best possible way. Dheemānī buddhi. It is said that the mind, which is dheemānī buddhi, becomes powerful by consuming purity. So our intellect and mind should be oriented towards good. It should be pure, and this originates from our food. Vidyā, knowledge, is that which does not entangle you. Sā vidyā yā vimuktaye—that which liberates you is called vidyā. Knowledge is that which frees you, not what binds you, not what covers you, but what makes you free. You are pure when you are free from all attachments to this world—mādh, moh, rāg, dveṣ, and so on. In the Vedas, two teachings are given at the very beginning: speak the truth and follow dharma; follow your duty. Thus, the first class of spirituality is conducted within these principles. For any sādhaka, any bhakta, any disciple, for any human being, all these primary things are necessary as a foundation. There is only one road with different names. Some call it Yoga, some call it Jñāna, some call it something else. There are no different roads. Just as when you start from Bombay going to Surat, it is called the Bombay-Surat Road. When you cross Surat, it is called the Baroda Road, and it continues further. Similarly, all spiritual paths are essentially going in the same direction. The middle path is the path of Yoga. The path of Yoga is called Yoga. The middle school is Yoga. In Yoga, there are eight limbs or subjects you must study and master: Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, Samādhi. Yama means to restrain oneself. Niyama is the book which tells us how to control ourselves. Niyama means to follow the law, to adopt it, to apply it in your life. To follow the laws and rules and implement them in your life is called Niyama. After Yama and Niyama comes Āsana: setting the body, aligning its points, and making it fit. Along with that is Prāṇāyāma; our body functions through air (prāṇa). Keeping that air clean is called Prāṇāyāma. Keeping the body fit is called Āsana. The third subject, Āsana, teaches us how to keep our body clean and strong. The fourth, Prāṇāyāma, is about how to control the air and use it for purification. Āsanas purify the body, just as Prāṇāyāma purifies the five types of prāṇa that service our body properly. After that comes Pratyāhāra. The meaning of Pratyāhāra is to withdraw. Pratyāhāra means to contemplate within oneself and sever all external contacts. It is to withdraw from the outside and turn inward. Now, in spirituality in India, people do a lot of yoga, but they often speak only of two things: Āsana and Prāṇāyāma. They do not speak about the foundation of Yama and Niyama. They mention only Āsana and Prāṇāyāma, which are simple for the physical body. Nowadays in the world, yoga is very famous, but it only mentions Āsanas and Prāṇāyāmas—what is good for the body. But Yama and Niyama, the rules of outer and inner conduct, nobody tells. After Āsana and Prāṇāyāma, the real inner work should begin, but today's yogis start their business. After Āsana and Prāṇāyāma, the business should start, but people started business even before Prāṇāyāma: "This is my toothpaste, this is my brush, this is my Vaseline, this is my skin cream, this is my chyavanaprāśa, this is my gulqand, this is my that." The day was supposed to be short and sweet, but it became business (vyāpār), transaction (vyavahār), and expansion (vistār). Therefore, that is not good for Yoga. Instead of Pratyāhāra, which means coming inside, it is vyāpār, which means to expand. This is not good for Yoga. After this comes Dhāraṇā. Dhāraṇā is the judgment of the self, the acceptance of the self, the decision of the self, the capacity of the self, and the declaration of the self. So Dhāraṇā is the fifth subject, which speaks about our own capacity and capability. Dhāraṇā also means concentration. For instance, consider a dholak player. If he is asked to take sannyāsa, he might say, "No, thank you." Someone once told me, "You are a great person. You have purified and helped 21 generations of your family lineage cross over saṃsāra. You are a great person." So I said, "Okay," took my shawl, put it around that person's neck and said, "Okay, now you become a sanyāsī. You also take your 21 generations across this world." The person said, "No, no... thank you so much." So, desires in this life are not fulfilled for such a person, and his concentration and dedication towards God are not there. After this comes Dhyāna (meditation). Before meditation, you need some knowledge. Nowadays, this knowledge has become a business. Meditation classes and the like are often just a type of business. But before you actually start meditating, you must have some knowledge. For example, if I tell you, please take money from me, and I offer you 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 500 rupees, which one will you take? You will take Rs. 500. If offered Rs. 2000, you would take that. So, you take what you value most. Similarly, Dhyāna is when you value something greatly. Whatever is valuable in your eyes, whatever you think is good or best, that is what you concentrate on. In your life, the importance of your wife, children, and family is there. Even if you stay in a meditation center for two hours and are taught something, after leaving, your attention will go back to your wife and children because they hold more importance in your life. If you have children, a wife, or a husband, and you go for meditation, even during the meditation you may continue thinking of them because they are valuable to you. In a human being's life, there is family and the world, but a person's focus is often more on gold because gold is valuable, important, and useful. For any human, life, family, and the world are valuable, but gold is often seen as most valuable. Samādhi is when you feel only yourself. There is no connection with your body or this world. You have a connection only with yourself. There are two types of Samādhi: Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa. Savikalpa Samādhi is when there is a God whom one understands and desires something from, i.e., with some desire or aim. In Nirvikalpa, there is neither disciple nor guru; they both merge into God. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi—I am Brahma. Now, what is the 12th class? Bhakti. This is what we call Bhakti. In the course of Bhakti, there are nine books. The first is listening (Śravaṇa): listen only to what Viśvagurujī says, nothing else. The second is Kīrtana or remembrance (Smarṇa): remember only the verses of Viśvagurujī, nothing else. Smarṇa Bhakti is when you remember only God and Guru, nothing else. There is nothing except God and Guru. Then comes surrender (Śaraṇāgati). These are different ways to surrender yourself to the lotus feet of the Master. If you perform some pūjā or ceremony, do it for God and Guru. If you follow someone, follow Guru and God, because otherwise you can get lost. When we start glorifying the importance of the Guru and God, this is called Vandanā. Daśya Bhakti is the attitude of a servant or disciple. Next is serving: to serve the Guru and God. A servant (dāsa) is one who renounces all of one's "I," all egoism, and dedicates life to the service of the Guru. When you have faith in Guru Gobind, then God and Guru consider you as their own and treat you as a friend. This is called Sakhā Bhakti. The next step is when you trust your Guru so much that he becomes like your friend. When Arjuna went close to Kṛṣṇa on the path of Sanātana Dharma, the Vedic path, and the Bhakti path, God did not let him remain merely a servant or devotee but made him a friend. Ātmanivedana is when you say, "I am going with you tomorrow morning. I will go with you wherever you want." It is a request of the soul to live in that condition, to live in such a way as God lives. The Master's degree, the pinnacle of knowledge, is the final stage, an introduction to supreme knowledge. There are seven books in it. The first book is Śubhichhā (auspicious desire). Say, "Gurujī, now I will remain with you only. Please remain with me." Śubhichhā is one's own pure desire: "Gurudev, I want to live with you." The second is Vichāraṇā (right inquiry). When the disciple's thoughts meet the Guru's thoughts. Gurujī says, "Okay, then take sannyāsa." When your thoughts and the guru's thoughts are equal, you are thinking like your guru. The knowledge of the Guru begins to flow into the disciple. This is why it is called Tanmānasa—connection. It is like a connection from a big tank to a small tank. So the next stage is Tanmānasa, when the Guru's knowledge slowly transfers to the disciple. Sattvāpatti is the fourth stage. The fourth book... because of that, in the Guru and the disciple, one form, one expression, and one thought process emerges. That is called Sattvāpatti. It is the stage when there is no difference in thinking between Guru and disciple. The next step is when you don't even remember any sweets or any food you like. There is nothing there. And if you have gold, if you consider gold and a stone as equal, this is called Padārthabhāvanā—detachment from objects. It is when a stone or gold are equal to you. Asaṁsakti is when you do not think of attachments, and you can go back to your family, brothers, sisters, wife, parents, and children with the understanding: "There is only one thing I know: there is nobody of mine, and I am nobody’s." The Śāstra calls any achievement in the world that does not affect oneself as Asaṁsakti. Only after you detach from your family can you come to this detachment from worldly things like gold. In our Bhagavad Gītā, there is an example of a snake. If a snake comes, will you remain seated or run away? So, like in the Bhagavad Gītā, there is the story of a king's curse. This is that stage, Padārthabhāvanā: there is no fear of snakes, no fear of death, no fear that fire will burn you, that you will drown in water, or that anything will happen with any element. This is the highest form. Turīya avasthā is when material objects are all around you, whatever is in the world, and you have no attraction, desire, or involvement with them. Afterwards, there is the state of mind where anything around you does not compel you to act; it does not affect you at all. In this way, the one who started from Gurujī should prepare for all these classes. One must pass all the books and tests in life, and Guru Gobind should be happy. So in our lives, from the starting point, we have to pass all these tests and convince the Guru and God that we have done so. We must show that whatever investment and effort was put into us was successful, that we passed all these exams. This Ācāryajī is telling us that we should succeed, we should pass, and we should successfully fulfill all of Viśvagurujī's tests and efforts. We should fulfill all his wishes. Pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudhacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī. Jai Devadhī Dev Deveśwar Mahādeva Kī Jai, Indudhāran Samrāj Maravānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Rājguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśwar Ācārya Mahāmaṇḍaleśwar Śokhānand Bhārtījī Mahārāj Kī Jai.